492 BIRTH OF PRINCE LEOPOLD. 1853 proved, and that strangers when they set foot upon English ground enjoy all the rights of English subjects. This is not so bad a state of things after all, and might be imitated even upon the Continent with advantage. Now the question, not so easy to answer, is asked, have the Refugees here caused the Milan Revolution, and the Vienna attack upon the Emperor's life? This must be proved, before we can punish; and, if it be proved, we shall punish them according to the laws of this country, and, luckily for us, we live under laws, and not under despotism. . In his next letter to his stepmother, the Prince was able to convey the more pleasant tidings of the birth of a fourth son on the 7th of April at Buckingham Palace. The Queen made a rapid recovery, and was able within a few days to report her convalescence to her uncle at Brussels in the following letter: 'Buckingham Palace, 18th April, 1853. 'My first letter is this time as last time addressed to you. Last time it was because dearest Louise, to whom the first announcement had heretofore always been addressed, was with me. Alas! now! 'I can report most favourably of myself, for I have never been better or stronger. Stockmar will have told you, that Leopold is to be the name of our fourth young gentleman. It is a mark of love and affection, which I hope you will not disapprove. It is a name which is the dearest to me after Albert's, and one which recalls the almost only happy days of my sad childhood. To hear "Prince Leopold" again will make me think of all those days! His other names will be George, Duncan, Albert; and the sponsors the King of Hanover, Ernest Hohenlohe, the Princess of Prussia, and at plans injurious to its Government, by seizing the contents of a Rocket Factory at Rotherhithe, where an extensive manufacture of rockets was being carried on by a Mr. Hales for delivery to M. Kossuth and his friends. 1853 COURT GOES TO OSBORNE. 493 Mary Cambridge. George is after the King of Hanover, and Duncan is a compliment to dear Scotland.'" By the 23rd of April the Queen had recovered sufficiently to be able to go to Osborne, and the Prince writes: To-day we hope to be able to go for a week to Osborne, where Victoria may get rest and good air, before the season with its turmoil begins. I am myself by no means displeased that we are going.' The young Prince was not baptized till the 28th of June, when the ceremony was performed at the Chapel in Buckingham Palace, and the sponsors named by the Queen were present in person. CHAPTER XLVIII. THE Queen and Prince were enabled by the rising of Parliament for the Easter recess to prolong their enjoyment of the 'rest and pure air' of Osborne until the 27th of May, when the Court returned to London. During this period the Eastern question, which was so soon to become the all-absorbing topic of the time, had assumed a very serious aspect, all the more serious in the eyes of the Queen and Prince, that the views of some leading members of the Cabinet as to the proper mode of dealing with it had begun to show signs of divergence, which unless reconciled might lead to the breaking up of the Ministry. On the 4th of June the Prince presided for the first time at the annual dinner of the Trinity House, and in proposing the toast of Prosperity to the Corporation, referred to various important changes in its constitution, which had been some time before discussed and settled by himself with Sir James Graham as representing the Government. A few days afterwards (14th June) the first instalment of troops marched into the camping ground at Chobham, and took up their quarters there. The land had been previously levelled and prepared for them by the Sappers and Miners, who had dug wells, and put up the more substantial structures for their use. The punctuality, the precision and celerity with which the various brigades, coming from different points, arrived upon the ground, and established themselves in a line of tents extending over upwards of two miles, were the subject of general 1853 THE CAMP AT CHOBHAM. 495 admiration. Next day the Prince went down in plain clothes with the Duke of Cambridge, and inspected the arrangements in detail. This was preliminary to a first trial of field operations, to take place in the presence of the Queen on the 21st. Early on the morning of that day the Queen and Prince, together with the King of Hanover and the Duke of Coburg, were upon the ground. The Queen on horseback, in a military riding habit, rode with the Prince and her royal guests down the lines, and afterwards witnessed the manoeuvres from a neighbouring height. Upwards of a hundred thousand people shared in Her Majesty's enjoyment of what was in truth a singularly beautiful spectacle-a well-contested, though bloodless battle, over ground broken by hollows, streams, marshes and woods, which showed to the greatest advantage the shifting 'currents of a heady fight.' On this occasion the Prince took no part in the operations. But his heart was too thoroughly in the work which the camp was meant to effect, for him to abstain from taking an active share in its military duties. Accordingly, on the 24th, he returned to Chobham for this purpose, and, as the following letter to the Queen shows, saw camp life under one of its rougher aspects: Still, at this 'I have this moment received your dear lines. Yesterday evening was very fine and warm, but in the course of the night there was a dreadful storm, which made the tents seem almost like cabins at sea. It has been raining since five, and it looks very doubtful whether it will cease. moment, there is a lark singing, which is a good sign. About nine we shall have to turn out; I will join my brigade (Guards). The Staff dined with me yesterday, and I walked with George [Duke of Cambridge] till half-past ten. 'The tents are convenient, but both damp and hot during 496 ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE. 1853 the night. I am delighted that you got through your day so well. To-day will also run away. Now I say, "Du, Du liegst mir im Herzen, Du, Du liegst mir im Sinn, 'Camp at Cobham, 25th June, 1853. "Your devoted, 'A. 'Seven A.M.' The sign of improving weather in the lark's song, which was not likely to escape so accurate an observer as the Prince, proved so far true, that the troops were able to manœuvre for four or five hours, the Prince taking the command of the Brigade of Guards. He returned the same evening to town, bringing back with him a cold, to complicate a very severe attack of measles, which developed itself a few days afterwards. The Prince of Wales had sickened with this malady a few days before, and one by one it attacked all the other Royal children, with the exception of the two youngest, and finally the Queen herself. The Prince suffered most severely, and at the climax of the illness showed great nervous excitement. The subtle infection spread to Her Majesty's guests, the young Crown Prince of Hanover and the Duke and Duchess of Coburg; the latter of whom were the unconscious means of transmitting it to the Duke of Brabant and the Count of Flanders, whom they met when on their way back to Coburg, and before they were themselves aware that they had taken the seeds of the illness from England with them. This illness prevented the Prince from again taking an active part in the military duties of the camp, and the Queen and Prince were unable to repeat their visit to it until the 4th of August, by which time a fresh body of |