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    Nov. 22, 1861.] &%$ ft****** 1105

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    - -J5B DEATH OF THE KING OF HANOVER. Tii...

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    THE BRITISH NAVY AND THE AUSTRIAN BLOCKA...

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    Nov. 22, 1861.] &%$ Ft****** 1105

    Nov . , 1861 . ] & %$ ft ****** 1105

    - -J5b Death Of The King Of Hanover. Tii...

    - -J 5 B DEATH OF THE KING OF HANOVER . Tiine Ernest of Hanover is dead . He died on Tuesda y morning , about seven o ' clock , in the eightynnd year of his age : the last of the sons of geCOI jtt G ° on 2 known as the Duke of Cumberland , famous English annals for his despotic passions , his J ? ftTOUeh , and not wholly censurable , contempt for « , iblic opinion ^ his staunch Toryism , and fierce partiship , not to mention the rumours and accusations S ? orivate immorality , the death of Ernest Augustus oi some moment to us . One after another the faction of which he was the chief have died out , , intil there is scarcely one remaining ; and although the Duke of Cumberland has been politically dead to us for fourteen years , his actual death to a great

    tent marfcs a political epoch in the history of Europe . About the Northern Courts , in some corners of France and Italy , and in some odd nooks of England , a few re lics of the generation of politicians among whom the Duke of Cumberland took his stand , still survive ; but virtually , the flight of Metternich in , and the general break up of that famous year , killed the party . And by an odd reverse of circumstances , at this critical moment in the history of T oryism , Ernest of Hanover had become a firm constitutional monarch in his little kingdom . These two things constitute the kernel of his history . The very bad English Peer became a more than average constitutional King .

    Prince Ernest Augustus was born on the 5 th of July , 1771 , a * Buckingham Palace , then called the Queen ' s House . Hia earlier years were spent at J £ ew in company with his younger brothers , the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge . Their tutors were Mr . Cookson and Dr . Hughes , and the young Prince Ernest is reported , by one of these gentlemen , to have been remarkable for his aptitude in the acquisition of learning . From Kew the three boys were sent to Gottingen , each accompanied by a " governor , " a " preceptor , " and a " gentleman . " Lodged in one mansion , obsequiously attended , magnificently

    supported , Ernest studied German under Meyer , Latin under Heine , theology under Less , and moral philosophy under Heyder . Each of these worthies received £ 400 a year . And thus Prince Ernest -was educated apart from English notions , habits , and principles ; and this course of training , combined ¦ with his naturally despotic temper , made him the very model of a German Prince of the past century . After he left the University in 1790 , the Prince entered the army and served in theNinth Hanoverian LightDragoons , a regiment of which he subsequently , in 1793 , became commander . The following year the

    command of the First Brigade of Cavalry , having charge of the outposts , was intrusted to him in Marshal Walmoden a army . In the campaign of this summer he is said to have behaved with great courage , to have been an excellent dragoon , and at Tournay he received a severe wound in the arm , and lost his left eye . A short retreat from service ensued , spent in England , Ernest rejoining the army again the same year . He was one in the sortie from Nimeguen , where he performed one of those striking feats of soldiership , which the physically strong alone can accomplish . His sabre was broken , and a French dragoon was in front , with uplifted weapon . Ernest

    parried the stroke with the broken blade , and seizing the Frenchman in his arms , lifted him off his horse , and carried him triumphantly into the British quarters . Otherwise , "beyond desperate dragoon practice , his military life was not remarkably brilliant . We find him nominally commanding the rear-guard in the celebrated " retreat through Holland , " commanding in 1796 , at " tho line of demarcation in Westphalia "; retiring into Hanover at the peace between Pitt and Uonaparto ; and commanding the cavalry whioh never disembarked in . the blundering expedition to tho Hekler . In 1798 he was made a Lieutenant-General , and in 1803 a General ; his Field Marshal ' s commission dates from 1813 .

    After an absence of ten years , he returned to Englan d at the peace , or hollow truce , above mentioned , and remained until near the fall of Napoleon almost unemployed . In 1799 , he was made Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdalo and Earl of Arinugh , and a Pension of £ 12 , 000 a year was voted to him . Unti l 1810 nothing remarkable hai > pened to the Duke . Occasionally George III ., who disliked him On acco unt of his alleged immoral life , found him petty dip lomatic appointments connected with the Catholic question , and tho University of Dublin elected him thei

    r Chancellor . But during all this period tho -Uuko of Cumberland ilgurod in the House of PeerH , peaking frequently , tiometimes with effect , and always with the fierco intolerance of a partisan , supporting tho war and opposing vehemently evory step re wards Catholio Emancipation . His whole Parlia" entnry career , in fact , consisted in resisting popular ^>» C (! Haion 8 and despiHin $ r public opinion . And in this <> urno lio hIul ulreU ( iy won sufficient unpopularity xii , in 1810 , a tragic event occurred , which , with tho r ... P the people Boaled his bad reputation , and

    en ii t () t " ° « ou » and inquiring occasion for nai T " fruitlcag goshii ) . The Duko hud a valet Li . til 8 elh » » and ono morning Sellin wa » found with *•*¦ wu-oat out , lockod iu hia room—tho key being on

    the inside . On the previous night the Duke of Cumberland , according to his own statement , had been attacked while in bed , and cut over the head with a sabre , whereupon he rose in the dark , striking at random , and the assassin running away inflicted a wound oiKthe thighs of the Duke . People put the two things together and asserted that the Duke had murdered Sellis ; ' the jury meanwhile , of which Francis Place was foreman , bringing in a verdict of

    felo de $ e . From time to time the charge was revived , and dark hints wrapped around it ; but in 1833 , received its quietus . An action for libel was brought against the publisher oi a book reciting the slanderous accusation ; the Duke was defended by Sir Charles Wetherell ; and the jury found for the Duke . Since then , critics have recognized pretty generally , that the case was one of great mystery ; and that in the absence of evidence the accusation ought to be rejected .

    In 1815 , the Duke was married to the Princess Frederica-Carolina Sophia , third daughter of the then Duke of Mecklenherg-Strelitz , and niece to old Queen Charlotte . The Duchess had been twice married before : from her first husband , Prince Louis of Prussia , she was divorced ; and her second , Prince of Solms Braunfels , died in 1814 . She was married to the Duke of Cumberland with the consent of the Prince Regent , but against the avowed desire of Queen Charlotte . Consequently , for that or some more recondite cause , the fastidious old Queen who

    prided herself on the selectness of her Court , refused to receive the new Duchess , and no representations , neither those of foreign potentates nor the King ' s Ministers , could induce her to flinch from her resolve . When George IV . ascended the throne , then the Duchess of Cumberland was duly presented and honoured , but not before . No addition to his pension had been made on his marriage ; but after incessantly worrying the authorities , and being repulsed by the House of Commons , he finally , in 1819 , obtained an extra £ 6000 a year .

    From 1820 to his final departure from England on the death of William IV ., the Duke of Cumberland was a kind of political bugbear , menacing the island with despotism in the event of his suceeding to the throne , and thus rendering revolution a necessity . Nor were these fears entirely groundless . The Duke made dragoon charges at every popular measure in the House of Lords . He was against Queen Caroline ; he opposed the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts . He cheered the Duke of York when he

    declared himself-against Catholic Emancipation , and he led the Opposition in defiance of the defection of Wellington from the ranks of bigotry . But after the passing of the Belief Act of 1829 , the Duke took little part in politics . He voted , but did not speak , against the Reform Bill . But it was understood at the time that he was prepared to oppose the Reform demonstrations , as Castlereagh and Liverpool would have opposed them , had the King wished it , by force of arms .

    The Duke of Cumberland , as is well known , was a decided Orangeman , indeed Grand Master of the Orange Lodges . In this capacity he was implicated in the questionable proceedings of those bodies from 1830 up to their dissolution by the Government . The Duke was the next heir to the throne to the present Queen of England ; he was chief of this Orange party , and also representative of absolutist notions in England . In 1835 , it was known that there was great activity in the Orange Lodges , and

    sufficient evidence of treasonous designs oozed out to warrant Mr . Hume in moving for a committee of inquirj . The result of that investigation clearly established the fact that a wide-spread and secret organization existed , with branch lodges in the army , the chief of which was the Duke of Cumberland . Ernest himself distinctly denied being privy to the designs of his supporters ; but there is reason to believe that his denial was an equivocation . Indirectly , the House of Commons censured him ; and directly , the Government dissolved the Orange

    associations . In 1837 , King William IV . died , and Victoria ascended the throne—tho first man to take the oath of allegiance being the Duko of Cumberland—thenceforth King of Hanover . He at once proceeded to take possession of his now kingdom . At first the Hanoverians , who had got accustomed to the jog-trot Government of the viceroy Duke of Cambridge , had no reason to be satisfied with tho advent of a king . He was at once vigorously mischievous . Immediately after his arrival bo prorogued tho Assembly of Estates . His next step was to announce in his

    letters patent his intention of setting aside the constitution , and in a month more he dissolved tho l & statca , nhd annulled , tho existing regime . There was a ferment . The Gottingcn professors refused obedience ; tho students applauded the professors ; but the King was wilful , and the professors were bunished or imprisoned , and the students were put down . The question was , however , not merely llunoverian , but German ; and the Diet interfered , restoring the old constitution , and thus niter muny quarrels between the king and his Parliament , opening tho way for his Majesty to grunt ¦ with a good grace , in 1840 , nearly ull that the Estate * .

    not very clamorous , had wanted . Since 1840 , the king and his subjects have been on good terms . As German kings go , he has been a good king , which is saying very little for him ; and in 1848 , when there were revolutions all over Europe , he evinced a tact and discretion of which few believed him capable , and , by his timely concessions , kept out of his dominions that torrent of dangerous sentiment and dreamy sedition , which were so disastrous to so many other crowned heads in Germany . He called Herr Stiibe , the liberal and long-imprisoned deputy for Oanabruck , to his councils ; he promised the enfranchisement of the press ; and he talked vague nothings , which were wiser than open rejection , in reference to " German unity . " The latter idea he never entertained , and his triumph was in the confusion which

    other monarchs produced by their timid encouragement of it . But there is no reason to doubt that he meant , so far as they were practicable , all the other reforms demanded from him ; and his language , at once of firmness and conciliation , certainly induced his people to put confidence in him . Democracy in Hanover was at no time of a very eager description , and since 1848 , has received no sympathetic aid from without . The mild form of liberalism with which he had to deal , the king , well advised , was easily enabled to manage ; and that . he has managed it , generally with good and really national results , is the news of the day . Had he not , during 1849 and 1850 , laid a solid foundation of popularity , he would never have been able to carry , in 1851 , his commercial concessions to Prussia .

    Such was Ernest Augustus , Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover . In England the mere dragoon of politicians , haughty , bigotted , insolent , fierce ; in Hanover , still a dragoon , but a responsible king , instead of being irresponsible . He said what he meant , and never retrograded from a concession he had once made . But on the whole , although he had good points , yet were they so few and so marred by instinctive and acquired habits of thought and action , that Ernest of Hanover , Duke of Cumberland , will descend to posterity in the same category with his infamous ancestor , the victor of Culloden and the butcher of Glencoe , as the enemy of civilization and the bigoted antagonist of real progress .

    The British Navy And The Austrian Blocka...

    THE BRITISH NAVY AND THE AUSTRIAN BLOCKADE . ( From the Daily News . ) Lest any particle of free opinion might penetrate into the remote provinces of the Austrian empire , the roada from Vienna have not only been for along time virtually closed by the refusal of passports , but the Government has thought proper to prohibit the use of their seaports to the men of war of foreign powers—id est , of England . Venice is on no account whatsoever to be entered . At Trieste the commander of a man of war is to state for what purpose he has come , and how long he intends to stay , but the latter will depend on the governor of the harbour . Stress of weather will be taken as an excuse for sailing into Pola or Lissa , but no other pretence will suffice . To fully understand the importance of these regulations , it must be remembered that the trade between England and its Mediterranean possessions , with the Adriatic ports , is daily becoming of greater importance . The traffic which used formerly to be carried on between Dalmatia , Albania , and Venice , is being fast concentrated at Corfu , whence it is conveyed to Trieste chiefly in English bottoms . It is , therefore , necessary for the security of our traders that we should have cruisers on the

    Adriatic station , and consequently there has always been one , either at Venice or Trieste . But of all seas the Adriatic is the most stormy , and when the Bora , or North-East wind , sweeps down from the mountains , in the course of a few hours a fearful sea arises , and makes it necessary to run into the nearest harbour for shelter . Now , the Italian shore being , with the exception of Brindisi , Ancona , and Venice , deficient in harbours , ships are obliged to make for the east coast , and it is therefore for this reason that Pola and Lisaa have been

    exempted . Ii in , however , a most difficult point to decide when a man of war should run into a harbour fiom strese of weather ; if it is a friendly one , people arc willing to put into them as soon as it comes on to blow fresh ; but when people are obliged to say that they put in because they were afraid to keep out at sea any longer , that puts them on their mettle , and many would be apt to run all risks sooner than accept such hospitality . Hut let us look at the regulations attending a vessel which has to put into tin Austrian port , and let us bear in mind that they an ; relative to men of war of friendly powers , at a timu supposed to be of profound peuce .

    1 . There shall not be admitted , at any one time , within gunshot of tho harbour batteries , more than one large or two small nailing vessels of the same ( lug , except in ou . se of a previous sanction of the Austrian Government . 2 . Kuch bhip or steamer of war shall proceed and anchor in such place only as nhall be pointed out by the authorities . 3 . If the armament of Ruch ship allow of it , such ship should forthwith snluto the Austrian flag . 4 . On the arrival of a nhip of war of a foreign flag , her commander must acquaint the governor of the port of the cause of hi * visit and intended length of stay , which he m not to prolong without leave . 6 . Foreign men of war will not bo allowed to fire morning or evening gunn in the hurbour .

    Now , the mouning of theme instructions in nothing more or less than tliat the Austrian authorities aru in a constant state of alarm at tho sight of more thun one man of war and that , thereforo , aucft a force myatrcraaiu out of

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 22, 1851, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22111851/page/5/