Her last inquiries were about
poor and sick people in her little capital. And the day before she died,
she expressed to Sir William Jenner her regret that she should cause her
mother so much anxiety. The Queen in a letter thanked her subjects for
their sympathy with her loss of a dear child, who was 'a bright example of
loving tenderness, courageous devotion, and self-sacrifice to duty.'
In 1863, on the 10th of March, the Prince of Wales married the Princess
Alexandra of Denmark, and in 1871, when the fatal date, the 14th of
December came round, he lay at the point of death, suffering precisely as
his father had done. But his life was spared, and in the following spring,
accompanied by the Queen and by his young wife, and in the presence of all
the power, the genius, and the rank of the realm, he made solemn
thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral.
On the 3rd November 1871, Mr H. M. Stanley, a young newspaper
correspondent, succeeded in finding Dr Livingstone. This was but the
beginning of greater enterprises, for, catching the noble enthusiasm which
characterised Livingstone, Stanley afterwards crossed the Dark Continent,
and revealed the head-waters of the Congo. Again he plunged into Africa
and succoured Emin Pasha, whose death was announced in the autumn of 1893.
To Mr Stanley, Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary, sent the present of
a gold snuff-box set with diamonds, and the following letter: 'Sir--I have
great satisfaction in conveying to you, by command of the Queen, Her
Majesty's high appreciation of the prudence and zeal which you have
displayed in opening a communication with Dr Livingstone, relieving Her
Majesty from the anxiety which, in common with her subjects, she had felt
in regard to the fate of that distinguished traveller.
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