She wished, she said, "to make one additional observation 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.