The hero of Waterloo
was laid beside the hero of Trafalgar in St Paul's Cathedral. He was
lowered into his grave by some of his old comrades-in-arms, who had fought
and conquered under him; and from the Queen to the humblest of her
subjects, it was felt on that day 'that a great man was dead.'
Of his death the Queen wrote: 'What a _loss!_ We cannot think of this
country without "the Duke," our immortal hero! In him centred almost every
earthly honour a subject could possess.... With what singleness of
purpose, what straightforwardness, what courage, were all the motives of
his actions guided! The crown never possessed--and I fear never
_will_--so devoted, loyal, and faithful a subject, so staunch a
supporter.'
An eccentric miser, J. C. Neild, who died 30th August 1852, left L250,000
to Her Majesty. This man had pinched and starved himself for thirty years
in order to accumulate this sum. The Queen satisfied herself that he had
no relations living, before accepting the money.
[Illustration: Great Exhibition of 1851.]
CHAPTER IV.
Chief Public Events, 1837-49--Rebellion in Canada--Opium War with
China--Wars in North-west India--Penny Postage--Repeal of the
Corn-laws--Potato Famine--Free Trade--Chartism.
The Queen had been only a few months on the throne when tidings arrived of
a rebellion in Canada. The colonists had long been dissatisfied with the
way in which the government was conducted by the mother-country.
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