THE PRINCE CONSORT AND NATIONAL DEFENCE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1
Sra,—At the present moment, when the question of National Defence should be claiming attention, it may be desirable to republish the following letter addressed by the Prince Consort by the command of Queen Victoria, to the Prime Minister of the day in 1852. The letter will be found in Sir Theodore Martin's work, p. 70, Part ii.—I am, Sir, &c.,
J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC.
" This is the third time during the Queen's reign that an appre- hension of war and consequent panic about invasion have seized the public mind of the country. The Queen has witnessed on the previous occasions that, under the pressure of this panic, hasty measures had been prepared by the Government, and introduced into Parliament, but that before they had passed through the necessary Parliamentary stages, the panic had materially sub- sided, and the Government had consequently gradually arrived at the determination to leave the measures thus proposed inoperative.
The Queen conceives that the same thing may happen in the present instance. She would seriously lament this, as she is of opinion that it is most detrimental and dangerous to the interests of the country that our defences should not be at all times in such a state as to place the Empire in security from sudden attack, and that delay in making our preparations for defence till the moment when the apprehension of danger arises exposes us to a twofold disadvantage :—
lst.—The measures will be necessarily imperfect and expensive, as taken under the pressure of the emergency, and under the influence of a feeling which operates against the exercise of a cool and sound judgment.
2nd.—Our preparations will have to be made at a time when it is most important, for the preservation of peace, neither to produce alarm at home, nor by our armaments to provoke the Power with which we apprehend a rupture.
In order to avoid this disadvantage, the Queen thinks that the measures now to be proposed to Parliament ought to combine the following requisites :—
lst.—That they shall be really sufficient for the security of the Empire; and 2nd, that their nature be such as to warrant the
expectation that the community will not become disinclined to uphold them during long periods of peace and confidence en account of their expensive or oppressive character.
The Queen would wish, therefore, that a statement, showing the whole of our means at present available, both naval and military, and the various modes in which Pik is proposed to augment and improve them for the future, should be laid before her, in order that she may be able to judge how far the separate measures in contemplation are likely to realize the desired objects, ar d to accord with each other as parts of a general and permanent system."
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