laremont, passed away about the same time. Another
attack on the Queen, this time a blow with a cane, was made by one
Robert Pate, an ex-officer and well-connected; the plea of insanity
was not established, and Pate was transported.

Public attention was being drawn to the projected Exhibition in Hyde
Park, Prince Albert making a memorable speech at the Mansion House
in support of the scheme; the popular voice had not been unanimous in
approval, and subscriptions had hung fire, but henceforward matters
improved, and Mr Paxton's design for a glass and iron structure was
accepted and proceeded with.

The friction with Lord Palmerston was again increased by his action
in respect to General Haynau, an Austrian whose cruelty had been
notorious, and who was assaulted by some of the _employes_ at a London
brewery. The Foreign Office note to the Austrian Government nearly
brought about Palmerston's resignation, which was much desired by the
Queen.

At the close of the year the whole country was in a ferment at the
issue of a Papal Brief, re-establishing the hierarchy of Bishops
in England with local titles derived from their sees; and Cardinal
Wiseman, thenceforward Archbishop of Westminster, by issuing a
pastoral letter on the subject, made matters worse. The Protestant
spirit was aroused, the two Universities presented petitions, and the
Prime Minister, in a letter to the Bishop of Durham, helped to fan
the "No Popery" flame. Just at a time when a coalition of Whigs and
Peelites was beginning to be possible, an Ecclesiastical Titles Bill,
almost fatal to mutual confidence, became necessary.

CHAPTER XIX

1850

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _5th February 1850._

MY DEAR UNCLE,--We had the house full for three days last week on
account of our theatrical performances on Friday, which went off
extremely well. The Grand Duchess Stephanie was here, _tres aimable_,
and not altered. She spoke much of Germany and of politics, and
of _you_ in the highest terms--"Comme le Roi Leopold s'est bien
tenu"--and that she had mentioned this at Claremont, and then felt
shocked at it, but that the poor King had answered: "Il avait mon
exemple devant lui, et il en a profite!" She thought the whole family
_tres digne_ in their _malheur_, but was struck with the melancholy
effect of the whole thing.

Our affairs have gone off extremely well in Parliament, and the
Protectionists have received an e