Exchequer and leader of the House necessarily brought him into a closer
relation with the Sovereign. Two years later Lord Derby resigned, and

Victoria, with intense delight and peculiar graciousness, welcomed Disraeli as
her First Minister.

But only for nine agitated months did he remain in power. The Ministry, in a
minority in the Commons, was swept out of existence by a general election. Yet

by the end of that short period the ties which bound together the Queen and
her Premier had grown far stronger than ever before; the relationship between

them was now no longer merely that between a gratefulmistress and a devoted
servant: they were friends. His official letters, in which the personal

element had always been perceptible, developed into racy records of political
news and social gossip, written, as Lord Clarendon said, "in his best novel

style." Victoria was delighted; she had never, she declared, had such letters
in her life, and had never before known EVERYTHING. In return, she sent him,

when the spring came, several bunches of flowers, picked by her own hands. He
despatched to her a set of his novels, for which, she said, she was "most

grateful, and which she values much." She herself had lately published her
"Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands," and it was observed

that the Prime Minister, in conversing with Her Majesty at this period,
constantly used the words "we authors, ma'am." Upon political questions, she

was his staunch supporter. "Really there never was such conduct as that of the
Opposition," she wrote. And when the Government was defeated in the House she

was "really shocked at the way in which the House of Commons go on; they
really bring discredit on Constitutional Government." She dreaded the prospect

of a change; she feared that if the Liberals insisted upon disestablishing the
Irish Church, her Coronation Oath might stand in the way. But a change there

had to be, and Victoria vainly tried to console herself for the loss of her
favourite Minister by bestowing a peerage upon Mrs. Disraeli.

Mr. Gladstone was in his shirt-sleeves at Hawarden, cutting down a tree, when
the royal message was brought to him. "Very significant," he remarked, when he

had read the letter, and went on cutting down his tree. His secret thoughts on
the occasion were more explicit, and were committed to his diary. "The

Almighty," he wrote, "seems to sustain and spare me for some purpose of His
own, deeply unworthy as I know myself to be. Glory be to His name."

The Queen, however, did not share her new Minister's view of the Almighty's
intentions. She could not believe that there was any divine purpose to be

detected in the programme of sweeping changes which Mr. Gladstone was
determined to carry out. But what could she do? Mr. Gladstone, with his

daemonic energy and his powerful majority in the House of Commons, was
irresistible; and for five years (1869-74) Victoria found herself condemned to

live in an agitating atmosphere of interminablereform--reform in the Irish
Church and the Irish land system, reform in education, reform in parliamentary

elections, reform in the organisation of the Army and the Navy, reform in the
administration of justice. She disapproved, she struggled, she grew very

angry; she felt that if Albert had been living things would never have
happened so; but her protests and her complaints were alike unavailing. The

mere effort of grappling with the mass of documents which poured in upon her
in an ever-growing flood was terribly exhausting. When the draft of the

lengthy and intricate Irish Church Bill came before her, accompanied by an
explanatory letter from Mr. Gladstone covering a dozen closely-written quarto

pages, she almost despaired. She turned from the Bill to the explanation, and
from the explanation back again to the Bill, and she could not decide which

was the most confusing. But she had to do her duty: she had not only to read,
but to make notes. At last she handed the whole heap of papers to Mr. Martin,

who happened to be staying at Osborne, and requested him to make a precis of
them. When he had done so, her disapproval of the measure became more marked

than ever; but, such was the strength of the Government, she actually" target="_blank" title="ad.事实上；实际上">actually found
herself obliged to urge moderation upon the Opposition, lest worse should

ensue.
In the midst of this crisis, when the future of the Irish Church was hanging

in the balance, Victoria's attention was drawn to another proposed reform. It
was suggested that the sailors in the Navy should henceforward be allowed to

wear beards. "Has Mr. Childers ascertained anything on the subject of the
beards?" the Queen wrote anxiously to the First Lord of the Admiralty. On the

whole, Her Majesty was in favour of the change. "Her own personal feeling,"
she wrote, "would be for the beards without the moustaches, as the latter have

rather a soldierlike appearance; but then the object in view would not be
obtained, viz. to prevent the necessity of shaving. Therefore it had better be

as proposed, the entire beard, only it should be kept short and very clean."
After thinking over the question for another week, the Queen wrote a final

letter. She wished, she said, "to make one additionalobservation respecting
the beards, viz. that on no account should moustaches be allowed without

beards. That must be clearly understood."
Changes in the Navy might be tolerated; to lay hands upon the Army was a more

serious matter. From time immemorial there had been a particularly close
connection between the Army and the Crown; and Albert had devoted even more

time and attention to the details of military business than to the processes
of fresco-painting or the planning of sanitary cottages for the deserving

poor. But now there was to be a great alteration: Mr. Gladstone's fiat had
gone forth, and the Commander-in-Chief was to be removed from his direct

dependence upon the Sovereign, and made subordinate to Parliament and the
Secretary of State for War. Of all the liberalreforms this was the one which

aroused the bitterest resentment in Victoria. She considered that the change
was an attack upon her personal position--almost an attack upon the personal

position of Albert. But she was helpless, and the Prime Minister had his way.
When she heard that the dreadful man had yet another reform in

contemplation--that he was about to abolish the purchase of military
commissions--she could only feel that it was just what might have been

expected. For a moment she hoped that the House of Lords would come to the
rescue; the Peers opposed the change with unexpectedvigour; but Mr.

Gladstone, more conscious than ever of the support of the Almighty, was ready
with an ingeniousdevice. The purchase of commissions had been originally

allowed by Royal Warrant; it should now be disallowed by the same agency.
Victoria was faced by a curious dilemma: she abominated the abolition of

purchase; but she was asked to abolish it by an exercise of sovereign power
which was very much to her taste. She did not hesitate for long; and when the

Cabinet, in a formal minute, advised her to sign the Warrant, she did so with
a good grace.

Unacceptable as Mr. Gladstone's policy was, there was something else about him
which was even more displeasing to Victoria. She disliked his personal

demeanour towards herself. It was not that Mr. Gladstone, in his intercourse
with her, was in any degree lacking in courtesy or respect. On the contrary,

an extraordinaryreverence impregnated his manner, both in his conversation
and his correspondence with the Sovereign. Indeed, with that deep and

passionate conservatism which, to the very end of his incrediblecareer, gave
such an unexpectedcolouring to his inexplicablecharacter, Mr. Gladstone

viewed Victoria through a haze of awe which was almost religious--as a
sacrosanct embodiment of venerable traditions--a vital element in the British