CHAPTER XXIII

1854


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _6th January 1854._

LORD ABERDEEN presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He cannot
wonder at the indignation expressed by your Majesty at the base and
infamous attacks made upon the Prince during the last two or three
weeks in some of the daily papers.[1] They are chiefly to be found in
those papers which represent ultra-Tory or extreme Radical opinions;
but they are not sanctioned by the most respectable portion of the
Press. Lord Aberdeen has received some information respecting the
origin of these attacks; but it is vague and uncertain. At all events
he believes that your Majesty may safely make yourself at ease upon
the subject, as he is satisfied that these hostile feelings are shared
by few. It is much to be desired that some notice of the subject may
be taken in Parliament, when, by being treated in a proper manner,
it may be effectually stopped. Lord Aberdeen has spoken to Lord
John Russell, who will be quite prepared to moot it in the House of
Commons.

It cannot be denied that the position of the Prince is somewhat
anomalous, and has not been specially provided for by the Constitution;
but the ties of Nature, and the dictates of common sense are more
powerful than Constitutional fictions; and Lord Aberdeen can only say
that he has always considered it an inestimable blessing that your
Majesty should possess so able, so zealous, and so disinterested an
adviser. It is true that your Ministers are alone responsible for the
conduct of public affairs, and although there is no man in England whose
opinion Lord Aberdeen would more highly respect and value, still if he
had the misfortune of differing from His Royal Highness, he would not
hesitate to act according to his own convictions, and a sense of what
was due to your Majesty's service.

The Prince has now been so long before the eyes of the whole country,
his conduct so invariably devoted to the public good, and his life
so perfectly inattackable, that Lord Aberdeen has not the slightest
apprehension of any serious consequences arising from these
contemptible exhibitions of malevolence and faction.

Your Majesty will graciously pardon Lord Aberdeen for writing thus
plainly; but there are occasions on which he almost forgets your
Majesty's station, and only remembers those feelings which are common
to all ranks of mankind.

    [Footnote 1: A section of the Press, favourable to Lord
    Palmerston, had insinuated that his resignation was due to
    "an influence behind the throne." Similar attacks were made
    by other journals, and not abandoned upon Lord Palmerston's
    re-admission to the Cabinet: the most extravagant charges of
    improper interference in State affairs were made against the
    Prince, and it was even rumoured that he had been impeached
    for high treason and committed to the Tower! The cartoons
    in _Punch_ usually present a faithful reflection of current
    popular opinion, and in one of them the Prince was depicted as
    skating, in defiance of warning, over dangerous ice.]




[Pageheading: PERSIA]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th January 1854._

The Queen thanks Lord Clarendon for his letter just received with the
enclosures.

As the proposed answer to the Emperor contains perhaps necessarily
only a repetition of what the Queen wrote in her former letter,[2] she
inclines to the opinion that it will be best to defer any answer for
the present--the more so, as a moment might possibly arrive when
it would be of advantage to be able to write and to refer to the
Emperor's last letter.

With respect to the Persian Expedition[3] the Queen will not object
to it--as the Cabinet appears to have fully considered the matter, but
she must say that she does not much like it in a moral point of view.
We are just putting the Emperor of Russia under the ban for trying
"to bring the Sultan to his senses" by the occupation of part of his
territory after a diplomatic rupture, and are now going to do exactly
the same thing to the Shah of Persia!

    [Footnote 2: See _ante_, vol. ii, 18th October-26th November,
    1853, notes 30, 31, 32.]

    [Footnote 3: Under the belief that Persia had declared war
    against Turkey, and that diplomatic relations between England
    and Persia were suspended, the Cabinet had agreed upon the
    occupation of the Island of Karak by a British force.]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _9th January 1854._

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I wrote you a most abominable scrawl on Friday,
and think myself justified in boring you with a few words to-day.

The plot is thickening in every direction, and we may expect a great
confusion. The dear old Duke used to say "You cannot have a little
war." The great politicians of the Press think differently. The Duke
told me also once: "At the place where you are you will always have
the power to force people to go to war." I have used that power to
_avoid_ complications, and I still think, blessed are the peacemakers.

How the Emperor could get himself and everybody else into this
infernal scrape is quite incomprehensible; the more so as I remain
convinced that he did not aim at conquest. We have very mild weather,
and though you liked the cold, still for every purpose we must prefer
warmth. Many hundred boats with coal are frozen up, and I am told that
near two hundred ships are wanting to arrive at Antwerp....

I am much plagued also by little parliamentary nonsense of our own
here, a storm in a bottle; this is the way of human kind, and in such
cases it always pleases me to think that I am not bound to be always
their working slave, and I cast a sly look at my beautiful villa on
the Lake of Como, _quite furnished_.... My beloved Victoria. Your
devoted Uncle.

LEOPOLD R.





[Pageheading: THE PRESS]

[Pageheading: THE FRENCH ALLIANCE]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _13th January 1854._

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--I grieve to see how unjustly you are plagued,
and how wonderfully untrue and passionate are the attacks of part
of the Press. Abuse is somewhat the _staff of life in England_,
everything, everybody is to be abused; it is a pity, as nothing
more unproductive as this everlasting abuse can well be imagined. As
nothing ever gave the slightest opening to this abuse, it is to be
hoped that it will be soon got over--the meeting of Parliament will
now do good in this respect. As far as your few continental relations
are concerned, I don't think they will be able to fix anything upon
your faithful servant. I have done England at all times good services,
in the sense of her best interests. I hold a position of great
geographical importance for England, just opposite the mouth of the
Thames. Successes of vanity I am never fishing for in England,
nor anywhere else. The only influence I may exercise is to prevent
mischief where I can, which occasionally succeeds; if war can be
avoided, and the same ends obtained, it is natural _that_ THAT _should
be tried first_. Many English superficial newspaper politicians
imagine that threatening is the thing--I believe it the worst of all
systems. The Emperor Nicholas and Menschikoff wanted by threatening
the Turks to get certain things, and they have by that means got a
very troublesome and expensive affair on their hands. I wish England
too well to like to see it, but one of these days they will get into
some scrape in the same way. The foolish accusation that we are doing
all we can to break up the French Alliance is certainly the _most
absurd of all_; if anything can be for our local advantage, it is to
see England and France closely allied, and for a long period--for ever
I should say....

I have heard, and that from the Prussian Quarter, that great efforts
are making on the part of Russia, to _gain over_ Louis Napoleon. I
understand, however, that though Louis Napoleon is _not_ anxious for
war, that his opinion is favourable to the continuation of a good
understanding with England. That it should be so is, I must say,
highly desirable. The poor Orleans will be grieved and hurt by all
these things. The death of the child of the poor Queen of Spain will
not be a favourable omen for Spain.[4]...

With my best love to Albert. Believe me ever, my beloved Victoria,
your truly devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 4: A daughter had been born to the Queen of Spain on
    the 5th of January, and lived only three days.]




[Pageheading: THE ORLEANS FAMILY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _16th January 1854._

The Queen sends the answer she has this morning received from the Duc
de Nemours, which she hopes is on the whole satisfactory as regards
the reported visit of the Count de Chambord.[5] The Duke does not see
in so strong a light as _we_ do, the danger of even the _report_ being
believed--probably from living so much out of the world as he does.
What would Lord Aberdeen wish her to do farther, and what does he
think can be done in the way of contradiction? The Queen wishes
likewise to have Lord Aberdeen's opinion and advice on the following
subjects. He knows that we have invariably received the poor Orleans
family (in particular our own near relations, the Nemours) from time
to time _here_ and in London, and that the Queen has _always_ from
the first year done this _openly_ but _unostentatiously_. It is by _no
means_ her intention to change her conduct in this respect--but since
the great noise caused by the "fusion" she thought it better _not_
to invite the Nemours either to Osborne or here, hoping that by
_this time_ these tiresome rumours would have ceased. They have not,
however, and we think that perhaps it would be wiser _not_ to see them
here, _at any rate_ till after the meeting of Parliament, though it is
very painful to the Queen to hurt their feelings by apparent neglect.
Is Lord Aberdeen of this opinion, and does he think that it will _not_
be misconstrued into an _admission_ of having encouraged _intrigues_
or of _submission_ to the will and pleasure of Louis Napoleon?

For the Queen would never submit to such an accusation, nor would she
continue (after the excitement is past) to exclude these poor exiles
from occasional visits--which have been paid and received ever since
_'48_, and which would be unworthy and ungenerous conduct.

Likewise does Lord Aberdeen think that a morning visit to the Duchess
of Aumale to enquire after her health would be imprudent?

It goes much against the Queen's feelings of generosity and kindness
to neglect the poor exiles as she has done this winter, but the
present moment is one of _unparalleled_ excitement and of
great political importance, which requires great prudence and
circumspection. There is an admirable article in the _Morning
Chronicle_ of to-day, taking quite the _right line_ upon the infamous
and _now_ almost ridiculous attacks on the _Queen_ and Prince. Has
Lord Aberdeen any idea who could have written it?

The Queen sends a letter she had received from her Uncle, which
may amuse and interest him. To make the statement of the Queen's
intercourse with the Orleans family quite clear, she should add, that
when the family visit the Queen or she visits them, that it is put
into the Court Circular, and this of course gets copied into country
papers and foreign papers; but after consideration the Queen thought
this the wiser course, for with all the spies who are no doubt
about--if this were not done, and the Queen's visits and _vice versâ_
were suppressed and _yet_ found out--it would give them an air of
_mystery_ which is just what we wish to avoid.

    [Footnote 5: Son of the Duc de Berri, and known formerly as
    the Duc de Bordeaux. (See _ante_, vol. i., 9th October, 1843,
    note 72). The Duc de Nemours denied all knowledge of the
    rumoured visit, and thought its importance had been exaggerated.]




_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _17th January 1854._

... With respect to your Majesty's custom of seeing the French Royal
Family, Lord Aberdeen humbly thinks that there is no good reason
for making any change. It has always taken place without parade or
ostentation; and knowing, as Lord Aberdeen does, that no political
object is in view, he would feel ashamed to advise your Majesty to do
anything at variance with that sympathy which your Majesty has been
careful to keep within the bounds of prudence and moderation....

Lord Aberdeen hopes that he may venture to congratulate your Majesty
on the commencement of a change with respect to the newspaper attacks
upon the Prince. He observed the article, to which your Majesty
refers, in the _Morning Chronicle_ of yesterday; and he believes he
may certainly say that it was written by Mr Gladstone, although he
would not wish it to be known. There was also a very sensible letter
in the _Standard_ of last night, signed D. C. L. This is the signature
always assumed by Mr Alexander Hope,[6] in his contributions to the
Press, and Lord Aberdeen does not doubt that it is written by him.
It is only a wonder to find it in such a quarter; and it shows some
disposition on the part of that scurrilous paper to alter its course.
There is perhaps no great objection to the papers dealing with the
subject as they think proper, before the meeting of Parliament,
provided the _Times_ takes no part at present; for as this paper is
supposed to be influenced by the Government, this belief would injure
the effect of anything that might appear in its columns.[7]...

    [Footnote 6: Mr. A. J. Hope (afterwards Beresford-Hope), at
    this time out of Parliament, had written over the signature
    "D.C.L." a series of letters to the Press on the Papal
    claims.]

    [Footnote 7: On the re-assembling of Parliament, the charges
    against the Prince were at once refuted by the Prime Minister
    and Lord John Russell; and his right to assist the Queen
    completely established by those Ministers, with the
    concurrence of Lord Derby and Mr Walpole, on behalf of the
    Opposition, and Lord Campbell, the Chief Justice of the
    Queen's Bench.]




[Pageheading: THE REFORM BILL]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _21st January 1854._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter of the 19th, and the
Bill as now agreed upon by the Cabinet, which she hopes may meet the
wishes of the Country and pass into law.[8] From what she understands
the chief argument used in opposition to the measure will be, that
corruption and bribery is the evil which the Country really complains
of, and not an unequal distribution of the representation, and that a
new distribution or even extension of the franchise will not touch
the evil, and may be said perhaps in some instances to tend towards
increasing it. The success of the measure will therefore, she
concludes, in some degree depend upon the Bribery Bills which will
accompany it. How far are these advanced? and what expectation has
Lord John Russell of succeeding in framing such a measure as would
remove that ground of objection to the Reform Bill?

    [Footnote 8: Notwithstanding the impending war, the Government
    considered itself bound in honour to bring in a Reform Bill.
    Lord Palmerston and his special supporters were opposed to the
    project, but the measure was brought forward on the 13th of
    February. After a chequered career it was withdrawn. The
    Bill for the prevention of corrupt practices at elections
    was introduced on the 10th of February, and after many
    vicissitudes and several Ministerial defeats in the Commons as
    well as in the Lords, it was, in a modified form, carried.]




_Queen Victoria to Mr Gladstone._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th February 1854._

The Queen must apologise for having kept the enclosed papers so long,
and in now sending them back she does so without feeling sure in
her mind that she could with safety sanction Mr Gladstone's new and
important proposal.[9] The change it implies will be very great in
principle and irretrievable, and the Queen must say that Lord John
Russell's apprehensions as to the spirit it is likely to engender
amongst the future civil servants of the Crown have excited a
similar feeling in her mind. Where is moreover the application of the
principle of public competition to stop, if once established? and must
not those offices which are to be exempted from it necessarily degrade
the persons appointed to them in public estimation?

    [Footnote 9: Mr Gladstone had written on the 26th of January
    on the subject of competitive examinations for the Civil
    Service; in reply to the Queen's letter, he referred to
    the discontent existing in the Service with the system of
    appointment by favour, and of promotion by seniority alone.]




[Pageheading: THE BALTIC COMMAND]

[Pageheading: SIR CHARLES NAPIER]


_Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria._

ADMIRALTY, _9th February 1854._

Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty
certain important considerations which were discussed at the Cabinet
yesterday with respect to the selection of a Commander-in-Chief for
the Fleet about to be appointed for Service in the Baltic.[10]...

    [Footnote 10: War had not yet been declared, but the Russian
    Ambassador left London on the 7th of February, and Sir
    Hamilton Seymour was recalled from St Petersburg on the same
    day.]

Lord Dundonald[11] is seventy-nine years of age; and though his
energies and faculties are unbroken, and though, with his accustomed
courage, he volunteers for the Service, yet, on the whole, there is
reason to apprehend that he might deeply commit the Force under his
command in some desperate enterprise, where the chances of
success would not countervail the risk of failure and of the fatal
consequences, which might ensue. Age has not abated the adventurous
spirit of this gallant officer, which no authority could restrain; and
being uncontrollable it might lead to most unfortunate results. The
Cabinet, on the most careful review of the entire question, decided
that the appointment of Lord Dundonald was not expedient....

    [Footnote 11: This was the Lord Cochrane who had been unjustly
    convicted in 1814, under the direction of Lord Ellenborough,
    Chief Justice, of conspiracy to defraud. His naval honours
    were restored to him in 1832. He is said to have stipulated,
    on this occasion, that he should be allowed to destroy
    Cronstadt by a chemical process invented by himself.]

Sir Charles Napier is an excellent seaman, and combines boldness with
discretion.[12] He has served in large squadrons, and he has commanded
them. As a Second, he may not have been submissive; as a Chief, he has
been successful in command. His appointment will give confidence both
to officers and men; and his name is not unknown both to enemies and
allies. If he has the faults of his family, he is not without their
virtues; courage, genius, love of country are not wanting; and the
weighty responsibilities of high command, without oppressing him,
would give steadiness to his demeanour.

He behaved ill to Lord John Russell and to Sir Francis Baring; and on
shore he has given just cause of complaint; but at sea and in command
he is a different person; and Lord John Russell in the Cabinet
yesterday, regardless of all former displeasure, pronounced an opinion
favourable to the appointment of Sir Charles Napier. Lord Aberdeen,
also, together with the entire Cabinet, came to the same conclusion;
and Sir James Graham on their behalf, and in concurrence with his own
opinion, ventures to ask the permission of your Majesty to appoint Sir
Charles Napier to this important Naval command.[13]

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and
Servant,

J. R. G. GRAHAM.

    [Footnote 12: He had had a long naval career. In 1833 he
    commanded the Portuguese Fleet for Donna Maria, and won a
    small engagement against Dom Miguel. He was "not submissive"
    at Beyrout, where, having command of the land forces, and
    being told to retire and hand over the command, he advanced
    and won a victory, resulting in the evacuation of the city. He
    also disobeyed orders at Acre.]

    [Footnote 13: The inadequate results of an appointment which
    promised so well are described in Parker's _Sir James Graham_,
    vol. ii. pp. 229 _et seq_.]




_Queen Victoria to Mr Gladstone._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _17th February 1854._

The Queen has received Mr Gladstone's letter and memorandum, and had
heard from the Prince the further explanation of the grounds upon
which he, Mr Gladstone, thinks the new regulations respecting the
Civil Service necessary. The Queen, although not without considerable
misgivings, sanctions the proposed plan, trusting that Mr Gladstone
will do what he can, in the arrangements of the details of it, to
guard against the dangers, which she has pointed out in her former
letter and through the Prince when he saw Mr Gladstone. A check,
for instance, would be necessary upon the admission of candidates
to compete for employment, securing that they should be otherwise
eligible, besides the display of knowledge which they may exhibit
under examination. Without this a young man might be very ineligible,
and still after having been proclaimed to the world as first in
ability, it would require very strong evidence of misconduct to
justify his exclusion by the Government.




[Pageheading: COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS]


_Mr Gladstone to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _17th February 1854._

The Chancellor of the Exchequer presents his humble duty to your
Majesty, and has the honour to acknowledge your Majesty's gracious
letter.

He takes blame to himself for having caused your Majesty trouble by
omitting to include in his short memorandum an explanation of the
phrase "qualified persons."

Experience at the universities and public schools of this country has
shown that in a large majority of cases the test of open examination
is also an effectual test of character; as, except in very remarkable
cases, the previous industry and self-denial, which proficiency
evinces, are rarely separated from general habits of virtue.

But he humbly assures your Majesty that the utmost pains will be
taken to provide not only for the majority but for all cases, by the
strictest enquiries of which the case will admit; and he has the most
confident belief that the securities for character under the
system, although they cannot be unerring, will be stronger and more
trustworthy than any of which the present method of appointment is
susceptible.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... War is, I fear, _quite_ inevitable. You will
have seen that the Emperor Nicholas has not given a favourable
answer to _our Brother_ Napoleon (which I hear has disappointed him
extremely, as he expected very great results from it); and the last
proposals or attempts made by Buol[14] it is to be hoped will not be
accepted by Russia, for France and England could _not_ accept them;
but if Austria and Prussia go with us--as we hope they will--the War
will only be a local one. Our beautiful Guards sail to-morrow.
Albert inspected them yesterday. George is quite delighted to have a
division....

I must now conclude, with Albert's affectionate love. Believe me
always, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 14: Austrian Premier and Minister of Foreign
    Affairs.]




[Pageheading: THE BRITISH ARMY]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _24th February 1854._

The Queen must write to Lord Aberdeen on a subject which at this
moment appears to her of paramount importance--viz., the augmentation
of the Army. The ten thousand men by which it has been ordered to be
augmented can hardly be considered to have brought it up to more than
an improved PEACE _establishment_, such as we have often had during
profound peace in Europe; but even these ten thousand men are not
yet obtained. We have nearly pledged ourselves to sending twenty-five
thousand men to the East, and this pledge will have to be redeemed.
To keep even such a force up in the field will require a strong,
available reserve at home, of which we shall be quite denuded. But we
are going to make war upon Russia! encouraging Austria and Prussia to
do so likewise, whereby we assume a moral obligation not to leave them
without assistance. We engage in a War which may assume in its course
a totally different character from that of its beginning. Who can say
it is impossible that our own shores may be threatened by powers now
in alliance with us? We are powerless for offence or defence without
a _trained_ Army; to obtain this will require considerable time. The
Queen must, therefore, urge Lord Aberdeen to consider with the Cabinet
whether it will not be essential to augment the Army at once, and by
at least thirty thousand men. Considerations of home policy make this
also advisable; the country is eager for War at this moment, and ready
to grant men and money. It will be a great facility hereafter to have
obtained what is most needed at first. If the force should finally not
be wanted, retrenchments may very easily be made. The Crown should
at least have the power of raising the men without the necessity for
further application to Parliament.




[Pageheading: THE BRITISH ULTIMATUM]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _26th February 1854._

Lord Aberdeen, with his humble duty, begs to inform your Majesty that
another Cabinet was held to-day, in order to consider the draft of
a letter which it is proposed that Lord Clarendon should address to
Count Nesselrode, and in which he should summon the Russian Government
to evacuate the Principalities. The messenger will be directed to wait
six days for an answer, and the British Government will consider
the refusal or the silence of Count Nesselrode as equivalent to a
declaration of War, and proceed to act accordingly.[15]

An assurance has been received, in general terms, of the intention
of Austria to support this demand; and a telegraphic message has been
sent to Vienna with a desire to know whether the Austrian Government
will join in this summons, or in what manner support will be
given.[16] No answer has yet been received, and Lord Aberdeen would
think it right not to make the summons until Austria has declared her
intention; but the Cabinet appears to desire that the letter should be
sent to-morrow evening.

The period fixed for the complete evacuation of the Principalities is
the 30th of April.

As it cannot be supposed that the Emperor of Russia will listen to
such a demand as this, immediate hostilities must be expected, with
all their consequences.

    [Footnote 15: This summons to evacuate the Principalities, and
    an ultimatum to a similar purport from Paris, were delivered
    to the Czar on the 14th of March; on their receipt the Czar
    intimated that he did not think it fitting (_convenable_) that
    he should make any reply. His decision was known in London on
    the 24th.]

    [Footnote 16: The attitude of Austria caused great perplexity.
    Count Orloff had gone to Vienna to obtain a pledge of
    neutrality in the event of war, but refused to give the
    Emperor Francis Joseph satisfactory assurances as to the
    Czar's future policy, and, in particular, as to the evacuation
    of the Principalities at the close of the war. The Austrian
    Government accordingly announced its intention of acting as
    circumstances might dictate, but subsequently limited the
    assistance which it now expressed itself willing to give
    to England and France in insisting upon the evacuation, to
    diplomatic support.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _26th February 1854._

The Queen has received Lord Aberdeen's letter of this day.

To be able to form a judgment on the important question to which it
refers, the Queen would require to be furnished with the exact terms
of "the general assurance" which Austria has given with respect to it.
The Queen, however, does not doubt for a moment that the gain of a day
or two in making the summons to Russia could not be compared to the
advantage of being able to make the summons conjointly with Austria.
She must therefore wish that the answer to the telegraphic message
should be awaited before the messenger is sent off.




[Pageheading: DEPARTURE OF THE GUARDS]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _28th February 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... The news from Austria are quite excellent,
and much more than we had any reason to expect. It will make a great
difference in the nature and duration of the War. Our summons to
Russia went last night _viâ_ Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, and if they
are received either with silence, or the Emperor refuses to evacuate
the Principalities--_War_ will be considered as declared. The French
send a similar summons. The messenger is to wait _six_ days for an
answer, but no longer.

The last battalion of the Guards (Scots Fusiliers) embarked to-day.
They passed through the courtyard here at seven o'clock this morning.
We stood on the balcony to see them--the morning fine, the sun
rising over the towers of old Westminster Abbey--and an immense crowd
collected to see these fine men, and cheering them immensely as they
with difficulty marched along. They formed line, presented arms,
and then cheered us _very heartily_, and went off cheering. It was a
_touching and beautiful_ sight; many sorrowing friends were there, and
one saw the shake of many a hand. My best wishes and prayers will be
with them all....




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

[_Undated._]

The Queen was rather annoyed at the manner in which Lord Clarendon
pressed the Duke of Cambridge's going to the Tuileries last night.[17]
She thought it an immense boon upon her part to allow the Duke of
Cambridge _to go to Paris_--and instead of its being considered as
such by Lord Clarendon and Count Walewski, the Queen was told it would
offend the Emperor if the Duke did not go to the Tuileries also. The
Queen observed that it was unnecessary and unusual for the Duke, or
any Prince almost, to live at the _Palace_ of the Sovereign, unless he
was a very particular friend or near relation. The Duke of Genoa had
refused going there, though he had received other civilities here; in
the same manner _no Prince_ comes to this _Palace_ unless he is a very
_near relation_ or particular friend. To this Lord Clarendon replied
that it was "because the _Emperor wished_ it," which rather shocked
the Queen, and she spoke _strongly_ to him upon the subject. The
result was that the Queen said she would speak to the Duke of
Cambridge about it, and see, as the Emperor made _so great a point of
it_, and Lord Clarendon considered that the _Alliance depended upon
it_, what he would do....

The Queen must and _will_ protest, for she cannot mix up personal
friendship with a political Alliance. The former is the _result_ of
the _experience_ of years of mutual friendship, and cannot be _carried
by storm_....

There would be nothing unusual in apartments being offered to the Duke
of Cambridge, and declined by him. This was done by the King of the
Belgians only last summer at Berlin and Vienna, without anybody's
construing it into an affront. The Queen adds a list of the Royal
personages who have been in England and never resided at the Palace.
Lord Aberdeen may show this letter to Lord Clarendon.

    [Footnote 17: The Duke was going to the Crimea, and it was
    arranged that he should stop at Paris on the way.]




[Pageheading: STABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st March 1854._

The Queen has to acknowledge Lord John Russell's letter of this
morning. Much as she must regret the postponement of the second
reading of the Reform Bill, she must admit its wisdom under the
present peculiar circumstances;[18] but she doubts the advantage
of naming a precise day after Easter on which it is to come on.
Considering the _importance_ to the country of _preserving_ the
present Government and of not allowing it to be beat on so vital a
question, the opportunity should not be lost of ascertaining the state
of feeling both in the House of Commons and in the country after the
reassembling of Parliament, before the Government decide on entering
upon the struggle which the carrying through of the measure might
entail. It is quite impossible _now_ to conjecture with certainty what
that state of feeling and the general political circumstances at home
and abroad may be at that time. Possibly the country may be more eager
_then for_ the measure--or the War may _disincline_ it _altogether_
towards it.

The Queen seizes this opportunity of expressing her sense of the
_imperative importance_ of the Cabinet being _united_ and of one mind
at this moment, and not to let it _appear_ that there are differences
of opinion within it. The knowledge that there are such is a cause of
GREAT _anxiety_ to the Queen, at a time when she is to enter upon a
European War, of which nobody can confidently predict the extent.

    [Footnote 18: See the Queen's letter of the 4th of March,
    _post_.]



_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February (? March) 1854._

In returning these letters to Lord Aberdeen the Queen must express to
him that there are _hints_ in them which give her great uneasiness.
The stability of this Government is not only of _paramount importance_
at the _commencement_ of the War, but throughout it; the moment for
negotiation may arrive much sooner than we now expect--and _then_,
more than _now even_, the Government ought to be composed of the
_ablest and most moderate_ men which this Country can produce.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th March 1854._

The Queen thanks Lord John Russell for his letter received this
morning. She has read the proceedings in the House of Commons with
much interest.[19] She was particularly pleased with Lord John's
second speech, in which he affirmed the principle that public men
ought not to oppose the regard for personal honour or reputation to
the well-understood interests of the Country. Indeed, the Queen cannot
conceive the possibility of their collision, as an exclusive regard
for the well-understood interests of the Country must always redound
to the honour and reputation of a Statesman.

    [Footnote 19: Lord John Russell had announced the decision of
    the Government to postpone till the 27th of April the second
    reading of the Reform Bill, and, in reply to some sarcastic
    comments from Mr Disraeli, stated that he would be ashamed
    of himself if he preferred anything connected with his own
    personal reputation to the interest of the country. He added
    that the security of the country depended upon its confidence
    in the character of public men.]




[Pageheading: THE BALTIC FLEET]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _14th March 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Your kind letter of the 9th arrived here on Saturday
just when we returned from a splendid and never-to-be-forgotten sight--
the sailing of our noble Fleet for the Baltic;[20] the Navy and Nation
were particularly pleased at _my leading them out_, as they call it,
which in fact was the case, as, in our little _Fairy_ we went on and
lay to, to see them all come out, which (the wind being fair) they did,
with sails set, each passing us close by, and giving us three hearty
cheers, as I think none but British tars _can_ give. Gloriously they
bore along, followed by the prayers and good wishes of all. You should
read the account in yesterday's _Times_. Another sailing squadron goes
to-morrow. The Captains and Admirals all took leave on board, and
seemed much impressed with the solemnity of the moment.... Ever your
truly devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 20: The Fleet, under Sir Charles Napier, had been
    assembled at Spithead.]




[Pageheading: THE KING OF PRUSSIA]

[Pageheading: PRUSSIAN NEUTRALITY]

[Pageheading: WAR DECLARED]


_Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia._

[_Translation._]

OSBORNE, _17th March 1854._

DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,--General Count von der Gröben has brought me the
official letter of your Majesty, as well as the confidential one,[21]
and I send your kind messenger back, with these two answers to you. He
will be able to tell you, orally, what I can express only imperfectly
in writing, how deep my pain is, after our going so far, faithfully,
hand in hand, to see you, at this weighty moment, separating yourself
from us. My pain is still further increased by the fact that I cannot
even conceive the grounds which move your Majesty to take this step.

    [Footnote 21: The Prussian Court considered itself under no
    obligation to engage in the impending struggle, till its own
    interests became directly involved; it would not (said Baron
    Manteuffel, President of the Ministry, on the 18th of March)
    take part, for the protection of the integrity of the Ottoman
    Empire, "in a conflict, the full scope of which cannot yet be
    apprehended, and the original subject matter of which does not
    affect the interests of our fatherland."]

The most recent Russian proposals came as an answer to the _last_
attempt for an understanding which the Powers believed could be
arrived at honourably, and they have been rejected by the Vienna
Conference, not because they were not in accordance with the literal
wording of the programme, but because they were contrary to the
intention of it. Your Majesty's Ambassador has taken part in this
Conference and its decision, and when your Majesty now says: "The task
of Diplomacy ceases at the exact point where that of the Sovereigns
emphatically begins"; I am unable to assent to such a definition. For
what my Ambassador does, he does in my name, and I feel myself not
only bound in honour thereby, but also placed under an obligation
to take upon myself the _consequences_ which the step which he is
directed to take may lead to.

The dreadful and incalculable consequences of a War weigh upon my
heart not less than on your Majesty's. I also know that the Emperor of
Russia does not wish for it. He, none the less, demands from the Porte
things which all the Powers of Europe--among them, yourself--have
solemnly declared to be incompatible with the independence of the
Porte, and the European balance of power. In view of this declaration
and of the presence of the Russian Army of invasion in the
Principalities, the Powers could not but be ready to confirm their
word by action. If "the Turk" now goes into the background, and if
the approaching War appears to you as a "War of tendency" this is
the case only because the very motives which may induce the Emperor to
insist on his demands--in defiance of the opposition of the whole of
Europe, and with the danger of a War that may devastate the world, do
betray a _distinct tendency_, and because the grave consequences of
the War must appear much more momentous than the original ostensible
cause of it, which at first appeared only as the request for a key to
the back door of a mosque.

Your Majesty asks me "to examine the question in a spirit of love for
peace, and even now to build a bridge for the Imperial honour." Ah, my
dear Sir and Brother, all the inventive gifts, all the architecture
of diplomacy and of goodwill, have been uselessly wasted during these
last nine months in this bridge-building! The _Projets de Notes, de
Conventions, de Protocoles_, etc., etc., have proceeded, by the dozen,
from the Chancelleries of the different Powers, and one might call
the ink wasted on them another Black Sea. But everything has been
shipwrecked against the self-will of your honourable brother-in-law.

If now your Majesty informs me "_that now you mean to persist in
complete neutrality_," and if, on this occasion, you refer us to your
Nation, who are said to exclaim with sound common sense: "Acts of
violence have been done by the Turks, the Turk has good friends
in large numbers, and the Emperor has done us no harm"--I do not
understand you. Certainly I should understand this language if I
heard it from the Kings of Hanover or of Saxony. But I have, hitherto,
looked upon Prussia as one of the Great Powers which, since the peace
of 1815, have been guarantors of treaties, guardians of civilisation,
defenders of the right, the real arbiters of the Nations; and for
my part I have felt the divine responsibility of this sacred office,
without undervaluing at the same time the heavy obligation, not
unconnected with danger, which it imposes on me. If you, dear Sir
and Brother, abdicate these obligations, you have also abdicated that
position for Prussia. And should such an example find imitators, then
the civilisation of Europe would be delivered up to the play of winds;
right will then no longer find a champion, the oppressed will find no
longer an umpire.

Let not your Majesty believe that what has been said in this letter
is aimed at persuading you to change your resolves; it flows from the
affectionate heart of a sister, who could not pardon herself, were she
not, at so weighty a moment, to let you see into her inmost soul. So
little is it my intention to desire to win you over to our view, that
nothing has grieved me more than the suspicion, expressed in your name
by General von der Gröben, that England had desired to seduce you from
your purpose by opening a prospect of advantages to be gained. The
baselessness of such a supposition is evident from the Treaty itself
which had been offered to you, and whose most important clause
consisted in the promise of the contracting parties, _not to desire in
any case to derive from the War any advantage for themselves_.

Your Majesty could not have given a more powerful proof of your
unselfishness than by the very fact of attaching your signature to
this Treaty.

To come to a close. You suppose that War may already have been
declared; you express, however, at the same time, the hope that it may
not already have actually broken out. I cannot unfortunately hold out
any hope that the sentence will be followed by any stay of execution.
Shakespeare's words:

                          "Beware
  Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
  Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee,"

are deeply engraved on the hearts of all Englishmen. Sad that they
are to find an application at this crisis, in a nation with whom
previously nothing prevailed but friendship and affection! And how
much more melancholy must be the present emotions of your Majesty's
heart and mind to see such words applied to a beloved brother-in-law,
whom yet--however much you love him--your conscience cannot absolve
from the crime of having brought upon the world wilfully and
frivolously such awful misery!

May the Almighty take you under His protection!

With Albert's most cordial compliments, and our united greetings
to the dear Queen, I remain, my much honoured Sir and Brother, your
Majesty's faithful Sister and Friend,

VICTORIA R.[22]

    [Footnote 22: The King afterwards agreed to the proposed
    protocol for the preservation of the integrity of Turkey,
    which was signed at Vienna on the 7th of April.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

_1st April 1854._

The Queen rejoices to see the Debate was favourable in the House of
Lords, and that it was concluded in the House of Commons.[23]

She is rather startled at seeing Lord Aberdeen's answer to Lord Roden
upon the subject of a day of humiliation, as he has never mentioned
the subject to her, and it is one upon which she feels strongly.
The only thing the Queen ever heard about it was from the Duke of
Newcastle, who suggested the _possibility_ of an _appropriate_ prayer
being introduced into the Liturgy, in which the Queen quite agreed;
but he was strongly against a day of humiliation, in which the Queen
also entirely agreed, as she thinks we have recourse to them far too
often, and they thereby lose their effect. The Queen therefore hopes
that this will be reconsidered carefully, and a _prayer_ substituted
for the _day of humiliation_. Were the services selected for these
days of a different kind to what they are--the Queen would feel
less strongly about it; but they always select chapters from the Old
Testament and Psalms which are so totally inapplicable that it does
away with all the effect it ought to have. Moreover, really to say
(as we probably should) that the _great sinfulness of the nation_ has
brought about this War, when it is the selfishness and ambition of
_one_ man and his servants who have brought this about, while our
conduct has been throughout actuated by unselfishness and honesty,
would be too manifestly repulsive to the feelings of every one, and
would be a mere act of hypocrisy. Let there be a prayer expressive of
our great thankfulness for the benefits we have enjoyed, and for the
immense prosperity of this country, and entreating God's help and
protection in the coming struggle. In this the Queen would join heart
and soul. If there is to be a day set apart, let it be for prayer in
this sense.

    [Footnote 23: On the 27th of March the Queen announced to
    Parliament that the negotiations with the Czar had terminated,
    and that she felt bound "to afford active assistance to her
    ally, the Sultan." Next day the Declaration of War was issued,
    containing a narrative of the events which finally led to the
    rupture. The debates on the Address in answer to the message
    took place on the 31st of March, Mr Bright, in the Commons,
    censuring the declaration, and being replied to by Lord
    Palmerston. The addresses were presented to the Queen on the
    3rd of April.]




[Pageheading: THE REFORM QUESTION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th April 1854._

The Queen is anxious to express to Lord John Russell the extreme
satisfaction she experiences at the communication Lord Aberdeen
yesterday evening made her of the settlement of the Reform Question,
viz., of its postponement for the present Session, with the
understanding that it is to be brought forward again whenever the
state of affairs will admit of its being fairly and calmly considered
by Parliament.[24] The sacrifice of personal feeling which no doubt
this may cost Lord John will, she is certain, be amply compensated by
the conviction that he has done so for the interest and tranquillity
of his Sovereign and Country, to whom a dissolution of the present
Government would have been a source of immense danger and evil.

    [Footnote 24: From a memorandum, made by Prince Albert, of
    interviews with Lord Aberdeen, it appears that before the
    Cabinet of the 8th of April Lord Palmerston declared that
    under neither present nor any future conditions could he vote
    for the second reading of the Reform Bill. Lord John thereupon
    tendered his resignation; this Lord Aberdeen asked him to
    suspend until after the meeting of the Cabinet.]




[Pageheading: DISSENSION IN THE CABINET]

[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _9th April 1854._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he cannot
think it consistent with fairness to conceal from your Majesty the
deep feelings of mortification which affect him on reviewing the
proceedings of the Cabinet yesterday.[25]

Lord Aberdeen was the only person who behaved with due regard to the
honour of the Administration. The rest appeared ready to sacrifice
everything in order to keep the Ministry together; and Lord John
Russell feels bound to warn your Majesty that, although he was quite
willing to waive the consideration of the Reform Bill for the present
Session, he is not ready to consent that it shall be entirely set
aside in order to keep together a Ministry whose continuance would
be dearly bought at the price of the welfare of the Country, and the
consistency of public men. Lord John Russell must reflect further on
this subject before he comes to a final determination.

    [Footnote 25: Lord John Russell's actions at this period
    of his career seem often incomprehensible; but his private
    domestic anxieties seem to have weighed him down. Having made
    the great sacrifice, for an ex-Premier, of taking office under
    an old opponent, he was now engaged in trying to regain the
    first place for himself. Lord Aberdeen had always contemplated
    retiring in his favour, but would not give up the Premiership
    in the face of the dangers threatening the country. Moreover,
    he had believed his continuance in office to be a guarantee
    for peace. Lord John Russell, after accepting the Foreign
    Office, had then insisted on being a Minister without office;
    later still, by displacing Mr Strutt and transferring Lord
    Granville to the Duchy, he himself became Lord President of
    the Council, an office which no commoner had held since the
    reign of Henry VIII. By such action, coupled with perpetual
    threats of resignation, he marred his prospects of succeeding
    Lord Aberdeen, and, as will be seen, failed in his attempt to
    construct an Administration when the opportunity was offered
    him.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _10th April 1854._

The Queen received Lord John Russell's letter last night. She is much
grieved that he should be "affected by deep feelings of mortification
on reviewing the proceedings of the Cabinet." From all the Queen
had heard of the views of the different members of the Cabinet, she
believes them to have been fully convinced that the present moment
would be inopportune to press the Reform Bill, but _quite_ prepared
to take it up again on the first fitting opportunity; she, of course,
does _not_ speak of Lord Palmerston.

The Queen would, no more than Lord John, wish to see "the Reform Bill
set aside in order to keep together a Ministry," but does not consider
the decision of the Cabinet at all to imply this, whatever Lord
Palmerston's personal wishes may be, and trusts that the Country will
fully understand and appreciate the motives which have guided the
Government. Lord Aberdeen and Lord John will always receive every
support from the Queen when they shall think it right to propose the
re-introduction of the measure.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _10th April 1854._

Lord Aberdeen has just left the Queen, after an interview which he
had had with Sir James Graham and Lord John Russell at Lord John's
request. He reported that at that interview Lord John renewed his
complaint of the Cabinet, declared that he could not state to the
House what was untrue, and must therefore resign. Lord Aberdeen called
this "really too monstrous" after the pledge given by the Sovereign,
himself as Prime Minister, and the whole Cabinet, with the exception
of one man, and he would repeat his promise that whenever Lord John
said, "The Reform Bill is to come on," and Lord Palmerston opposed it,
he should go.

Lord John could not be appeased, but spoke with the greatest
bitterness. He had written to Lord Palmerston in the same sense; and
Lord Palmerston's answer arrived during the interview. It was to the
effect that if one of them was to resign, it was not Lord John, who
agreed with the rest of the Cabinet upon the Bill, but himself,
who was the dissentient. Lord Aberdeen asked Lord John whether Lord
Palmerston's resignation would satisfy him; to which he answered, he
believed it would not mend matters. Lord Aberdeen's opinion, however,
is that it is what Lord John, and still more what Lady John, wants.
He thinks the Country will never understand how the Government could
break up, and that Lord John is cutting his own throat, and told him
so. If Lord John went, he could not go on with Lord Palmerston as
Leader of the House of Commons, which he called "perfectly ludicrous."
Lord Palmerston would probably insist upon this, however; Lord
Palmerston's retirement would be a great blow to the Government, as
the Country persisted in thinking him the only able War Minister, and
would cry out at "the imbecile old Head of the Government having it
now all his own way." He thought, should he not be able to go on, new
combinations could be formed, perhaps under the Duke of Newcastle and
Mr Gladstone, as the Country liked younger men. Lord John must give
his answer in the House of Commons to-morrow at half-past four. Lord
Aberdeen would wish to see the Duke of Newcastle, Sir James Graham,
and Mr Gladstone, as his more particular friends, this evening, to
discuss the whole question with them, and would see Lord Palmerston
and Lord John to-morrow, before he could make any report to the Queen.

This is all really very bad!

ALBERT.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _11th April 1854._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has the
honour to acknowledge, with gratitude, your Majesty's communication
of yesterday. Lord John Russell waited to see Lord Aberdeen before he
answered, and having now had a long conversation with him, Lord John
Russell being assured of your Majesty's support, of Lord Aberdeen's
concurrence, and of the assent of the majority of his colleagues, is
willing to continue his humble services in the Cabinet, and in the
House of Commons.

Lord John Russell must ask your Majesty to excuse what may have seemed
intemperate in his letter of Sunday last. He is still of opinion that
without public confidence in his integrity and uprightness he can be
of no use to your Majesty, or to the Country.

And on that confidence must depend the continuance of his
services.[26]

    [Footnote 26: On the same day Lord John announced in the
    Commons the withdrawal of the Reform Bill. He admitted that
    this course would expose him to the taunts and sarcasms of his
    opponents, and to the suspicions of his supporters. Here "his
    feelings overcame him, and, as he used the word 'suspicion'
    in reference to his motive, his utterance was choked, and the
    sentence he struggled to pronounce was evidently given through
    tears." (_Ann. Reg._, 1854, p. 120.) Loud and sympathetic
    cheers followed from all parts of the House.]




_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th April 1854._

We saw Lord Aberdeen at three o'clock to-day, who reported to the
Queen that the change of mind of Lord John had been the result of an
hour and a half's discussion with him this morning. He must admit,
however, that he found Lord John in a mood willing to let himself be
convinced. The Queen's letter might have contributed to this as well
as the entreaties of the Duke of Bedford and Lord Lansdowne. Lord
Aberdeen could tell Lord John in truth that there was not a shadow of
difference of opinion amongst any of his friends, that he would lose
himself for ever, and meet with universal reprobation, if he persisted
in resigning after every cause for it had been removed, and he
had agreed to the course Lord Palmerston had insisted upon. Lord
Palmerston had written a very clever letter to Lord John, begging him
not to desert the Queen and the Country, which, if he read it to the
House of Commons, would floor Lord John completely.

We asked what had been agreed upon at yesterday evening's meeting.
Lord Aberdeen told us the decision, under the impression that Lord
John would resign, had been for Lord Aberdeen to call upon Lord
Palmerston, and to explain to him that although he had acted cordially
with him as a Colleague in this Government, yet they had been
political antagonists during their whole lives--the Government also
was still a Reform Government; from personal, therefore, as well as
public, reasons it was impossible that he should be entrusted with the
lead of the House of Commons, being the only anti-Reformer. And it was
hoped that he would have no difficulty in letting Mr Gladstone lead
the House, as Sir James Graham was the same age and political standing
with Lord Palmerston, but at once cheerfully contented to waive all
his claims in favour of Mr Gladstone.

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA]


_The Duke of Cambridge to Queen Victoria._[27]

VIENNA, _28th April 1854._

MY DEAR COUSIN,--Before leaving this place I think it right that I
should once more trouble you with a letter, to inform you that the
messenger has arrived who brought your autograph letter for the
Emperor, which I presented to him to-day at an audience I had for this
purpose.... I had a very long and most interesting conversation with
the Emperor, who opened frankly and fairly upon the great questions
of the day. The impression he made upon me was an excellent one, his
confidence and frankness are complete, and I have the firm conviction
that he is a man of his word, and that he never would say a thing
that he did not in his heart mean. The result of what he said was
the following: that he naturally was most distressed at all that
had occurred; that he was placed by the Emperor of Russia in a most
difficult position; that he quite disapproved his acts; but that he
could not but have a great disinclination to break with a very old
ally; and that even still he hoped this painful step might be spared
to him by the Emperor of Russia making some proposal so honourable to
all parties, that it would not be rejected by the Western Powers,
who would naturally not be disinclined to a peace, honourable to
themselves and tranquillising for the future; that the basis of such
treaty would be the position of the Christian population of the
East; that this might be discussed in Conference, the Russians having
_first_ evacuated the Principalities, upon which the Turks would
hold the right bank of the Danube, our Fleets to await events in
the Bosphorus, and our armies at Constantinople, such position being
highly honourable and advantageous to us in the eyes of Europe, and
certainly not nearly so favourable to Russia; that he was certainly
sensible that the English Government had not pressed him, feeling
as they had done the extreme delicacy of his position, and the great
extent of his frontier so easily attacked; that he did not wish to say
now, till the moment of decision came, thinking it more honourable
and straightforward not to raise false expectations, but that his
interests being so completely with us, should the Emperor of Russia
do nothing in the honourable direction he hoped to see him adopt, he
should then consider himself called upon to express frankly to us what
he proposed to do, in order that our action might become united and
of advantage to one another. He further thought that the treaty with
Prussia would greatly facilitate all this, as Prussia had acceded to
the wishes of Austria in the event of certain eventualities, which,
however, for the moment are not named, but which, as far as I
understand, go to the length of leaving Austria unfettered to act as
she likes at the moment when she considers her so doing essential to
her position as a young Empire. It is quite evident to me that this is
the general feeling here, amongst all those who have any weight in the
councils of the Empire. These are _Austrian_ views, and I must say I
can understand them and appreciate them as such. I am confident, I am
certain, they are _honest_ on the part of the Emperor, and I doubt
not he will carry them through to the letter, for I am confident
the Emperor never would say what he did not mean. Rely upon it, this
Country will never go with Russia; she knows her interests too well
for that; she would like to avoid a War altogether if she could,
and with that view she would be delighted to see some honourable and
acceptable proposal made, but should this fail she will then take a
very decided line, and that line will be in accordance with Austrian
interests--which means with us. I find that most of the more prudent
people, and many of those in high office, are fully alive to the
advantages of the English alliance, and would wish to see this
alliance confirmed _de novo_; and I think it would be very well for us
to meet them half-way with this. But then it would be better to avoid
all after-dinner speeches such as those at the Reform Club,[28] all
Polish legions such as are talked of, and in short any of these little
matters, which are painfully felt here, and which always produce an
uncomfortable and distrustful effect. The Emperor expressed himself in
the most grateful manner towards yourself, and I think is pleased at
your having permitted me to be present on this occasion.... Hoping
that you will approve of my humble endeavours here, and with sincere
regards to Albert, I beg to remain, my dear Cousin, your most dutiful
Cousin,

GEORGE.

    [Footnote 27: The English forces destined for the East were
    under the command of Lord Raglan (formerly Lord Fitzroy
    Somerset). The Duke of Cambridge commanded one infantry
    division, the other three being respectively under Sir George
    Brown, Sir De Lacy Evans, and Sir Richard England; the cavalry
    division was commanded by the Earl of Lucan, General Scarlett
    commanding the heavy cavalry, and Lord Cardigan the Light
    Brigade.]

    [Footnote 28: At a dinner given on the 7th of March by the
    Reform Club to Sir Charles Napier, Lord Palmerston, who was
    in the chair, and Sir James Graham, had made provocative and
    unbecoming speeches; on attention being called in Parliament
    to the proceedings, Mr Bright complained of the reckless
    levity displayed; Lord Palmerston made a flippant and
    undignified defence, the tone of which was much resented.]




[Pageheading: BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th May 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Accept my best thanks for your kind letter of the
5th. I return you the Emperor's kind letter. Nothing could be more
satisfactory than the reception George met with by everybody at
Vienna--beginning with the Emperor. They showed him much confidence,
and he obtained from them intelligence which I think no one else
would. The Fleets have done their duty admirably at Odessa;[29] the
town has not been touched, and all the fortifications and many ships
have been destroyed....

We had a concert last night, and I saw good Sir H. Seymour, who is
full of your kindness and goodness; and a most worthy, honourable and
courageous little man he is.[30] If the poor Emperor Nicholas had had
a few such--_nous ne serions pas où nous en sommes_. But unfortunately
the Emperor does _not like_ being _told_ what is unpleasant and
_contrary_ to _his wishes_, and gets very violent when he hears the
_real_ truth--which _consequently_ is not told him! There is the
misery of being violent and passionate; if Princes and still more
Kings and Emperors are so, _no_ one will _ever_ tell them the truth,
and _how_ dreadful that is! I think one never can be too careful in
bringing up Princes to inculcate the principle of _self-control_.

We have a good deal of rain and thunder since yesterday, which I hope
will revive poor parched Nature. I must now wish you good-bye, as
I expect dear Victoire shortly. Nemours intends going to fetch the
Queen. With Albert's love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 29: In consequence of the Russians firing upon a
    flag of truce, Odessa was bombarded on the 22nd of April, and
    most of its batteries silenced or destroyed.]

    [Footnote 30: The conversations of Sir Hamilton Seymour and
    the Emperor Nicholas in the year 1853 had now been given
    to the world. The Czar, believing the time ripe for the
    dismemberment of Turkey, had expressed himself openly to the
    British Ambassador, and the conversations were all reported to
    the British Ministry. On the 2nd of March 1854, an obviously
    inspired article in the _Journal de St. Pétersbourg_ professed
    to contradict the statements of Lord John Russell in the
    House of Commons reflecting on the bad faith of the Russian
    Government, and accordingly, in their own vindication, the
    English Cabinet now published the conversations above referred
    to.]




[Pageheading: THE SULTAN]

[Pageheading: THE BRITISH FORCES]


_The Duke of Cambridge to Queen Victoria._

CONSTANTINOPLE, _13th May 1854._

MY DEAR COUSIN,--I have not as yet announced to you my safe arrival
here, as I was anxious first to see the Sultan and the general state
of things before giving you a report of what was really going on....

I found a great proportion of the Infantry arrived, a portion of the
Artillery, but as yet no Cavalry. Lord Raglan is well and in good
spirits, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe ill in bed with a bad fit of the
gout--most miserable to see in every respect. The Sultan[31] received
me at once on the day of arrival, and made his return visit to
me yesterday. I confess I was not much impressed with either his
appearance or general ability. He is, to say the truth, a wretched
creature, prematurely aged, and having nothing whatever to say for
himself. A few commonplace civilities was all the conversation which
passed between us. I said everything I could think of to make a
conversation, among other things messages of civility from yourself;
but though he appeared pleased and expressed his satisfaction at our
being here, I could not get him to enter into anything, and I was not
sorry on both occasions when our interview was at an end. As to his
Ministers, and in fact the whole population and country, with the
exception of Redschid Pasha,[32] they are all a most wretched and
miserable set of people, and far, far worse than anything I could
possibly have imagined or supposed. In fact, the "sick man" is
_excessively sick indeed_, dying as fast as possible; and the sooner
diplomacy disposes of him the better, for no earthly power can save
him, that is very evident. This is the opinion of every person out
here of both armies, French and English, and you may rest assured it
is the truth. The great thing is that we are here and no other Power
can now step in, but diplomacy must settle what is to happen, for as
to the Turks remaining in Europe that is out of the question, and the
very fact of our being here now has given them their death-blow. I
hope, my dear cousin, you will forgive me for being very candid on
this point, but I really do not think that anybody in England had any
idea of the real state of affairs here. The sooner therefore that they
are put in possession of the truth unvarnished the better. The great
and imperative necessity is that the four Powers of Europe should
strike together, otherwise things will become much worse than they
are even at present. Everybody is very civil and obliging to me, the
Sultan has put me into one of his best Palaces, very nicely fitted up,
and is anxious to do everything I wish. I find it inconvenient, as the
troops are on the other side of the Bosphorus, and I therefore intend
going over there to reside if possible. Marshal St Arnaud is here and
Prince Napoleon, but no French troops. I have seen the latter once; he
was very civil indeed to me, but I do not think he has made at all a
good impression here, his manner being offensive and harsh. I do not
think the Army like him at all. I am afraid the French Ambassador is
giving much trouble. Neither St Arnaud nor the Prince like him at all,
and I believe they have written to demand his recall, which would be
a very good thing, as he cannot hit it off with anybody. As to our
movements, I know nothing of them as yet, nor do I think that much has
as yet been settled, but I fear we shall not be fit to move for some
time; the difficulty of transport is very great, our Artillery
only partly arrived, and no Cavalry. We require more troops, more
particularly of the latter arm, in which the Russians are very strong.
We ought to have at least 10,000 men more, and the sooner they are
sent out the better. Even that number is not enough, for the French
talk of 100,000 men, and we should be in a most dreadful minority
unless we had 40,000 to 50,000. I am afraid all this will alarm people
in England, but it is the truth.... I remain, my dear Cousin, your
most dutiful Cousin,

GEORGE.

We never hear any news here. All that does come to us generally comes
by way of Europe; another proof of what a miserable country this is.

    [Footnote 31: Abdul Medjid, born 1823, who had succeeded to
    the throne at the time of the Syrian War; see _ante_, vol. i.,
    19th August, 1839, note 54.]

    [Footnote 32: Minister of Foreign Affairs, born 1802, died
    1858.]



[Pageheading: THE KING OF PRUSSIA]


_The King of Prussia to Queen Victoria._

[_Translation._]

SANS SOUCI, _24th May 1854._

MOST GRACIOUS QUEEN,--... My policy,[33] which has been so terribly
criticised and derided as "vacillating," has been, since the beginning
of this most inauspicious conflict, one and the same, and _without a
hairsbreadth of deviation_ either to the right or to the left. As it
rests on the unshakable foundation which my conscience as a King and
a Christian has laid down, and which does not admit _que je fasse la
besogne ni de l'un ni de l'autre parti_, I am abused and insulted
at the Winter Palace, and regarded, by way of contrast in London and
Paris, as a kind of simpleton--neither of which is pleasant.

May your Majesty believe my Royal Word: I was, I am, I remain the
truest and most faithful friend of Great Britain, as well in principle
as from religious feeling and from true affection. I desire and
practise a good and honest understanding with France; but when it
comes to helping the French--to whom Prussia's geographical position
between Paris and Warsaw is very inconvenient--to pull the _chestnuts
from the fire_ for them, for such a task I am frankly too good. If the
Emperor wishes to force me to assist--as evidently he is inclined to
do--it will end by becoming too difficult for him. He ought to thank
God that my view of Russian policy and my fidelity to your Majesty
have prevented me from making him begin this _Turkish_ War on the
_other side of his own frontier_. The great advantage of this result
is totally forgotten in France, and, unfortunately, in England too.
Those who every day fill the papers of home and foreign countries with
accounts of my vacillations, nay, who represent me as leaping from my
own horse on to a Russian one, are inventing lies, in a great measure,
deliberately. I tell your Majesty, on my honour and conscience, that
my policy is to-day _the same_ as it was nine months ago. I have
recognised it as my duty before God to preserve, for my people and my
provinces, peace, _because I recognise Peace as a blessing and War
as a curse_. I cannot and will not side with Russia, because Russia's
arrogance and wickedness have caused this _horrible_ trouble, and
because duty and conscience and tradition forbid me to draw the sword
against Old England. In the same degree duty and conscience forbid
me to make unprovoked war against Russia, because Russia, so far,
has done me no harm. So I thought, so I willed when I thought myself
isolated. How then could I now suddenly abandon a steady policy,
preserved in the face of many dangers, and incline to Russia at the
moment when I have concluded with Austria an Alliance defensive and
offensive, in which (if God grant His blessing) the whole of Germany
will join in a few days, thus welding, for the entire duration of the
War, the whole of Central Europe into a Unity, comprising 72,000,000
people, and easily able to put 1,000,000 men into the field? And
yet, most gracious Queen, I do not take up a defiant position on the
strength of this enormous power, but I trust in the Lord's help and
my own sacred Right; I also believe, honestly and firmly, that the
character of a so-called Great Power must justify itself, _not by
swimming with the current_, but _by standing firm like a rock in the
sea_.

I close this letter which, in consequence of various interruptions,
is almost a week old, on the 24th of May. This is your birthday, ever
dearest, most gracious Queen. On this day I lay at your Majesty's feet
the expression of my wishes for every blessing. May God grant your
Majesty a joyful day, and a richly blessed year of rule. May He
strengthen, preserve, and invigorate your precious health, and may He
give you, within the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year
of your life which begins to-day, _that_ one day of overabundant
blessing, of unspeakable joy, for which I long, for which I pray to
God--_that blissful day on which you can utter the word_ PEACE.

Now I beg your Majesty from the bottom of my heart not to be angry
with me for my unconscionably long letter, nor to worry yourself
about sending an answer, but, on the other hand, graciously to keep
it secret, communicating it only to the dear Prince. It is a matter
of course that the facts which it contains, and the resulting
explanations, which may be of importance for your Majesty's
Government, must, from their nature, no longer be kept secret, so
soon as you think it right to announce them. I embrace the dear Prince
tenderly, and commend myself to the grace, goodwill, and friendship
of my august Royal Sister, I being your Majesty's most faithfully
devoted, most attached Servant and Good Brother,

FREDERIC WILLIAM.

    [Footnote 33: In the previous portion of this long letter,
    here omitted, the King gives a detailed account of his
    position and policy.]




[Pageheading: MARSHAL ST ARNAUD]


_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Newcastle._

OSBORNE, _29th May 1854._

The Queen acknowledges the receipt of the Duke of Newcastle's letter,
which she received quite early this morning.

The Duke of Cambridge's letter does _not_ give a flourishing account
of the state of Turkey. What alarms the Queen most is the news given
by the Duke of Newcastle of the pretensions of Marshal St Arnaud.[34]
She does not quite understand whether he has received the supreme
command over the Turkish Army, but at any rate if the Porte should
be willing to allow its Army to be placed under Foreign Command, a
portion of it ought to be claimed by us for Lord Raglan, which, joined
to his English forces, would produce an Army capable of taking the
field independently.

The Queen trusts that the Government will take this into serious
consideration, and, if they should concur in this view, that no time
will be lost.

    [Footnote 34: The Duke had written to say that a demand had
    been made by Marshal St Arnaud upon the Porte that Omar Pasha
    should be superseded, and the Turkish Army placed under his
    (St Arnaud's) orders; also that Marshal St Arnaud was desirous
    of assuming the supreme command of the allied forces. The
    incident is graphically recorded by Mr Kinglake.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S REPLY]

[Pageheading: INVASION OF THE PRINCIPALITIES]

[Pageheading: FRIENDLY RELATIONS]


_Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia._

[_Translation._]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _June 1854._

DEAREST SIR AND BROTHER,--Your faithful Bunsen has handed me your
Majesty's long explanatory letter, and has taken his leave of us,[35]
with tears in his eyes, and I can assure your Majesty that I, too, see
with pain the departure of one whom I have been accustomed to consider
as the faithful mirror of your feelings, wishes, and views, and whose
depth and warmth of heart I esteem no less highly than his high mental
gifts. Sympathy with his fate is general here. I entirely recognise in
your letter the expression of your friendship, which is so dear to me,
and which does not admit any sort of misunderstanding to exist between
us, without my endeavouring at once to clear it up and remove it.
How could I meet your friendship otherwise than by equally absolute
frankness, allowing you to look into my inmost heart! Though you have
shown me a proof of your gracious confidence in giving me, down to the
smallest detail, an account of your personal and business relations
with your servants, I still believe that I have no right to formulate
any judgment. Only one thing my heart bids me to express, viz., that
the men with whom you have broken were faithful, veracious servants,
warmly devoted to you, and that just by the freedom and independence
of spirit, with which they have expressed their opinions to your
Majesty, _they have given an indisputable proof_ of having had
in view, not their own personal advantage and the favour of their
Sovereign, but his true interests and welfare alone; and if just such
men as these--among them even your loving brother, a thoroughly noble
and chivalrous Prince, standing next to the throne--find themselves
forced, in a grave crisis, to turn away from you, this is a _momentous
sign_, which might well give cause to your Majesty to take counsel
with yourself, and to examine with anxious care, whether perhaps the
hidden cause of past and future evils may not lie in your Majesty's
own views?[36] You complain, most honoured Sire and Brother, that
your policy is blamed as _vacillating_, and that your own person is
insulted at home and abroad (a thing which has often filled me with
_deep grief and indignation_), and you asseverate that your policy
rests upon a firm basis, which the conscience of "a King and a
Christian has laid down for it." But should it be possible to discover
in your Majesty's fundamental views something self-contradictory,
then necessarily, the more consistently and conscientiously these
fundamental views are revealed in their consequences, the more
contradictory must your actions appear to those who are not intimately
aware of your intentions, and cannot but force upon the world the
impression that your views themselves were wavering.

You will not take it amiss in a true friend and sister, if she
endeavours to place before you her impressions on this matter, as
frankly as they appear to her.

Your Majesty has acknowledged in the face of the world that Russia
has addressed to the Porte demands which she had no right to make. You
have further acknowledged that the forcible taking possession of two
Turkish provinces with the intention of enforcing the demand was a
political wrong. You have, together with Austria, France, and England,
several times declared in Protocols the preservation of the integrity
of the Turkish empire to be a European interest. Notwithstanding all
this, Russia continues to occupy the Danube principalities, penetrates
further into Turkey, and, by forcing on a sanguinary and exhausting
war, leads the unhappy and _suffering_ empire on to the brink of the
grave. What should Europe then do under these circumstances?

It could not possibly be the intention of the Powers to declare the
preservation and integrity of the Porte to be a matter of European
concern, solely in order to allow that empire to be destroyed before
their very eyes! As to Prussia, I can conceive a line of policy, not
that indeed which I should think in harmony with the generosity and
chivalry of your rule, but still one possible in itself, by which
she would say to herself: "The preservation of this integrity I have
indeed declared to be a matter of European concern, but I wish to
leave England and France to defend that policy with their wealth and
blood, and reserve to myself only a _moral_ co-operation." But what am
I to think if, after England and France with courageous readiness have
taken upon themselves alone this immense responsibility, sacrifice,
and danger, your Majesty is now mainly considering the erection of
a barrier of 72,000,000 of men between them and that Power, against
whose encroachment the European interest is to be defended? What am I
to say to the threat uttered against the _West_ as well as against
the _East?_ and to your even asking from the West gratitude for "the
enormous advantage" that you do not, into the bargain, yourself join
in attacking it!! For your Majesty says expressly in your letter:
"The Emperor ought to thank God that my view of Russian policy, my
_fidelity_ to your Majesty, have prevented me from making him begin
the Turkish war on the other side of his own frontier. The enormous
advantage of this abstention is totally forgotten in France, and,
unfortunately, in England too!"

Dearest Sir and Brother, this language shows a contradiction in
your own mind, which fills me with the greatest anxiety for possible
consequences, an anxiety not diminished by your kindly adding: "Duty,
Conscience, and Tradition forbid you to draw the sword against Old
England."

I shall gladly with you bless the day on which the word of Peace can
be uttered. Your Majesty can, by vigorous co-operation, help to usher
in that day, just as you might have--in my conviction--contributed, by
vigorous co-operation to prevent the War altogether.

Whatever these troublous times may bring us, I harbour the firm
confidence that the warmth of our friendly relations cannot be
troubled by anything, and rejoice in the circumstance that the
personal relations of the two Sovereigns are, in this matter, so
entirely in harmony with the interests of the two nations.

Albert sends you his homage, and I remain, with most cordial
remembrance to the dear Queen, and with thanks for the kind wishes
expressed by both of you, ever your Majesty's faithful Sister and
Friend,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 35: The influence of Russia over the King had been
    proved by the recall of Baron Bunsen, and the dismissal of
    all those Ministers who had opposed the policy of the Czar in
    Turkey.]

    [Footnote 36: The Prince of Prussia had shown his
    dissatisfaction with the King's policy by quitting Berlin.]




[Pageheading: THE WAR OFFICE]


_Minute of Interview by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _8th June 1854._

Lord Aberdeen had an Audience to-day before the Council, and
represented that what was intended was merely a division of the office
of Secretary of State, and not the creation of any new power, and must
be considered rather as a means of avoiding further changes.[37] Lord
Grey, in hearing of this intention, called it in a letter "the worst
arrangement of all," as unfavourable to his further views; the Duke
of Newcastle would fill the office, and would have to prepare the
changes, inherent in the arrangement, and was determined not to break
down the present arrangements; Lord John Russell was agreed herewith,
and Sir George Grey would take office knowing this to be Lord
Aberdeen's firm decision. But there was in fact no choice. Mr Rich
would this afternoon bring forward a Motion in the House of Commons
for the consolidation of all military offices under one Department and
a Civil Head, and Lord John Russell, to whom Lord Aberdeen had said
that the Queen still hesitated about admitting the separation of the
duties of Secretary of State, declared to him angrily, if that was
so, he would go down to the House and vote for Mr Rich's Motion!! The
Motion would be carried without fail in the House.

So this important measure had been carried by storm (as the Queen
could only give way under these circumstances), and carried without a
definite plan, leaving everything to the future!!

Lord John is to be Lord President, and he insisted upon Sir George
Grey taking the Colonies. Lord Aberdeen fears much dissatisfaction
from Lord Canning, Mr Cardwell, and Mr Peel, and just dissatisfaction;
the Cabinet are very angry at the whole proceeding. Lord Granville
behaved exceedingly well, putting himself and his office entirely at
Lord Aberdeen's disposal.[38]

It is supposed that in the House expressions will be dropped in favour
of Lord Palmerston's taking the conduct of the War in his hands. The
Duke of Newcastle, whom we saw, also states the extreme difficulty of
_defining_ the duties of the Secretary of State, but promises to do
so, as far as possible, for the Queen's convenience.

ALBERT.

    [Footnote 37: Lord John Russell had some time before proposed
    the separation of the War and Colonial Departments, with a
    view of filling the Colonial Office himself, "which, in every
    point of view." wrote Lord Aberdeen to the Queen, "would have
    been a most satisfactory arrangement."]

    [Footnote 38: Lord Fitzmaurice, in his _Life of Lord
    Granville_, points out that Mr Strutt was really the person
    who had a right to complain. He was abruptly removed from the
    Chancellorship of the Duchy, and replaced by Lord Granville to
    suit Lord John's convenience.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _26th June 1851._

The Queen has not yet acknowledged Lord Aberdeen's letter of the 24th.
She is very glad to hear that he will take an opportunity to-day of
dispelling misapprehensions which have arisen in the public mind in
consequence of his last speech in the House of Lords, and the effect
of which has given the Queen very great uneasiness.[39] She knows
Lord Aberdeen so well that she can fully enter into his feelings and
understand what he means, but the public, particularly under strong
excitement of patriotic feeling, is impatient and annoyed to hear at
this moment the first Minister of the Crown enter into an _impartial_
examination of the Emperor of Russia's character and conduct. The
qualities in Lord Aberdeen's character which the Queen values most
highly, his candour and his courage in expressing opinions even
if opposed to general feelings of the moment, are in this instance
dangerous to him, and the Queen hopes that in the vindication of his
own conduct to-day, which ought to be triumphant, as it wants in fact
_no_ vindication, he will not undertake the ungrateful and injurious
task of vindicating the Emperor of Russia from any of the exaggerated
charges brought against him and his policy at a time when there is
enough in it to make us fight with all might against it.

    [Footnote 39: The speech of Lord Aberdeen, to which the Queen
    here refers, had created a very unsatisfactory impression. On
    the 19th of June the venerable Lord Lyndhurst had denounced
    the aggressive policy and the perfidy of Russia; in the debate
    which followed, Lord Aberdeen spoke coldly, in a strain of
    semi-apology for Russia, and with an unlucky reference to the
    Treaty of Adrianople. Popular feeling against Russia being
    then at a white heat, the speech was considered indicative of
    apathy on behalf of the Government in the prosecution of the
    war. Accordingly, by moving on a later day for a copy of his
    own despatch of 1829, relative to the Treaty, the
    Premier obtained an opportunity of dispelling some of the
    apprehensions which his speech had excited.]




[Pageheading: THE RUSSIAN LOAN]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _27th June 1854._

The Queen observes in Lord Cowley's letter a suggestion of M. Drouyn
de Lhuys to stop, if possible, the Russian Loan. She thinks this of
the highest importance as _cutting_ the _sinews_ of war of the enemy.
The Queen does not know whether we have by law the power to forbid the
quotation of this stock in our market, but a short Act of Parliament
might be obtained for the purpose. The London and Paris markets
rejecting such paper would have the greatest influence upon its
issue.[40]

    [Footnote 40: Lord Clarendon replied:--"... With reference to
    your Majesty's note of this morning, Lord Clarendon begs to
    say that having laid a case fully before the Law Officers, and
    having ascertained from them that it would be high treason for
    any subject of your Majesty's to be concerned in the Russian
    Loan, he will give all possible circulation to the opinion,
    and he has this evening sent it to Vienna, Berlin, and The
    Hague...."]




[Pageheading: INSTRUCTIONS TO LORD RAGLAN]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _29th June 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. The Cabinet
assembled yesterday evening at Lord John Russell's, at Richmond, and
continued to a very late hour.[41]

A Draft of Instructions to Lord Raglan had been prepared by the
Duke of Newcastle, in which the necessity of a prompt attack upon
Sebastopol and the Russian Fleet was strongly urged. The amount of
force now assembled at Varna, and in the neighbourhood, appeared to be
amply sufficient to justify such an enterprise, with the assistance
of the English and French Fleets. But although the expedition to the
Crimea was pressed very warmly, and recommended to be undertaken with
the least possible delay, the final decision was left to the judgment
and discretion of Lord Raglan and Marshal St Arnaud, after they should
have communicated with Omar Pasha.

It was also decided to send the reserve force, now in England, of
5,000 men, to join Lord Raglan without delay. This will exhaust the
whole disposable force of the country at this time, and renders it
impossible to supply British troops for any undertaking in the Baltic.
A communication was therefore made yesterday to the French Government
to know whether they would be disposed to send 6,000 French troops, to
be conveyed in English transports, to the Baltic, in order to join in
an attack upon the Aland Islands,[42] which appeared to be attended
with no great difficulty; although any attempt upon Helsingfors, or
Cronstadt, was pronounced by Sir Charles Napier to be hopeless.

    [Footnote 41: The war now entered upon a new phase. Though the
    land forces of the Allies had hitherto not come into
    conflict with the enemy, the Turks under Omar Pasha had been
    unexpectedly successful in their resistance to the Russians,
    whom a little later they decisively defeated at Giurgevo.
    Silistria had been determinedly besieged by the Russians,
    and its fall was daily expected. Yet, under the leadership of
    three young Englishmen, Captain Butler and Lieutenants Nasmyth
    and Ballard, the Russians were beaten off and the siege
    raised. The schemes of the Czar against Turkey in Europe had
    miscarried.

    Mr Kinglake describes, in an interesting passage, the growth
    in the public mind of a determination that the Crimea should
    be invaded, and Sebastopol destroyed. The Emperor Napoleon
    had suggested the plan at an earlier stage, and the _Times_
    newspaper fanned popular enthusiasm in favour of it. The
    improved outlook in the East warranted the attempt being made,
    but the plan was not regarded with unqualified approval by the
    commanders of the allied forces in the East. In the speech,
    already referred to, of Lord Lyndhurst, the project had been
    urged upon the Government, and Lord Raglan considered that the
    despatch now sanctioned by the Cabinet, which is printed in
    the _Invasion of the Crimea_, left him no discretion in the
    matter.

    The scheme had previously been considered in all its
    aspects by the Cabinet, and Mr Kinglake gives an exaggerated
    importance to the fact that some of the members of the Cabinet
    gave way to sleep while the long draft of instructions was
    being read to them at the after-dinner Council at Pembroke
    Lodge.]

    [Footnote 42: Bomarsund, a fortress on one of these islands,
    was taken by Sir Charles Napier, aided by a French contingent
    under General Baraguay d'Hilliers, on the 16th of August;
    but the high expectations raised as to the success of the
    operations in the Baltic were not realised.]




_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _30th June 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He begs to
call your Majesty's attention to the circumstance that, in 1842, your
Majesty was graciously pleased to authorise Sir Robert Peel to declare
that your Majesty had determined that the Income Tax should be charged
upon the sum payable to your Majesty under the Civil List Act, and
that this declaration was received with marked satisfaction. Lord
Aberdeen humbly presumes that your Majesty will be disposed to follow
the same course with reference to the augmentation of the Tax; and
should this be the case, Lord Aberdeen begs to intimate that the time
for making it known has now fully arrived....




[Pageheading: HOME DEFENCES]


_Queen Victoria to the Duke, of Newcastle._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd July 1854._

In consequence of the departure of these additional 5,000 men for the
East, the Queen feels very uneasy at the very defenceless state
in which the country will be left, not from any want of confidence
arising from the present conjuncture of affairs, but from a strong
sense of the impolicy and danger of leaving this great country in such
a helpless state under any circumstances, for we never can foresee
what events may not suddenly spring up at any moment (like Greece,
for instance[43]) which may require a force to be in readiness for any
particular purpose.

The Queen therefore wishes the Duke of Newcastle to give her detailed
answers upon the various points stated in the accompanying paper; but
the Queen wishes to have the "_effective_ state" and not "the state
upon paper only." The Duke will be able to obtain these reports from
the different departments.

What store of muskets are there _here?_

When will the new ones be ready?

What is the force of Artillery left in the country in men and horses?

What amount of troops are there in the country of Infantry (deducting
the 5,000 men under orders for the East), and of Cavalry, and where
are they stationed?

How much Militia has been and will be embodied?

What is the Naval Force at home?

How much serviceable ammunition is there both of Artillery and small
arms in the country?

    [Footnote 43: A violently hostile feeling between the Turks
    and Greeks had culminated earlier in the year in a formidable
    insurrection among the Sultan's Greek subjects. It was
    terminated on the 18th of June by an engagement at Kalampaka,
    in Thessaly.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th July 1854._

The Queen approves the enclosed drafts, and wishes only to remark on
one passage, where Lord Clarendon says, "that he acts by the unanimous
desire of the Cabinet," which she thinks better altered or omitted. If
left, it might weaken the authority of future instructions emanating
from the Secretary of State alone; moreover, he acts constitutionally
under the authority of the Queen, on his own responsibility and not
that of the Cabinet.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _17th July 1854._

The Queen has just received Lord Aberdeen's letter, and has fully
considered the contents of it. She has finally decided to make no
change in her intended departure, from a conviction that her doing so
might shake confidence in the result of this night's Debate. Should
anything serious occur, she would be ready to return to-morrow or at
any time that her presence in town was considered of importance to the
public service.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _19th July 1854._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter of yesterday, and
was very glad to hear that both the meeting and the Debate went off so
well. The party which supports the Government is certainly "a strange
basis for a Government to rest upon," but such as it is we must
make the best of it, and nothing will contribute more to keeping
it together than to give it the impression that the Government is
thoroughly united.[44]

    [Footnote 44: During a desultory discussion on the 13th of
    July, Mr Disraeli had assailed the Government and its chief in
    the Commons, to such purpose that Lord John Russell, stung
    by his sarcasms, and mortified by his own failure, asked Lord
    Aberdeen to relieve him of the Leadership of the House. The
    Queen, to whom he had also written, entreated Lord John not to
    let his opponent see that his object in making his attack had
    been successful. A meeting of the Ministerialists was held
    on the 17th at the Foreign Office, at which one hundred and
    eighty members of the House of Commons were present, and some
    diversity of opinion was expressed; the result of the meeting
    was that the Government was more satisfactorily supported.]




[Pageheading: INDIAN AFFAIRS]


_Queen Victoria to the Marquis of Dalhousie._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _26th July 1854._

It is a very long time since the Queen has had the pleasure of hearing
from Lord Dalhousie, but she supposes that (fortunately) there is very
little to say, everything being so quiet and prosperous. The Queen
highly appreciates and values Lord Dalhousie's kind offer to remain
in India while there is any prospect of difficulty being caused by
the present War, which will be a source of great satisfaction and
tranquillity to her, as she feels that her Indian Dominions cannot be
in safer hands.

The Queen wishes to tell Lord Dalhousie how much interested and
pleased we have been in making the acquaintance of the young Maharajah
Dhuleep Singh.[45] It is not without mixed feelings of pain and
sympathy that the Queen sees this young Prince, once destined to so
high and powerful a position, and now reduced to so dependent a one
by her arms; his youth, amiable character, and striking good looks,
as well as his being a Christian, the first of his high rank who has
embraced our faith, must incline every one favourably towards him, and
it will be a pleasure to us to do all we can to be of use to him, and
to befriend and protect him.

It also interested us to see poor old Prince Gholam Mohammed, the last
son of the once so dreaded Tippoo Sahib.

We both hope that Lord Dalhousie's health is good, and the Prince
sends him his kind remembrance.

    [Footnote 45: This young Prince was born in 1838, and was a
    younger son of Runjeet Singh, Chief of the Sikhs, who, after a
    loyal alliance with England for thirty years, died in 1839.
    In 1843 Dhuleep Singh was raised to the throne, which had been
    occupied successively by Runjeet's elder sons. After the Sikh
    war in 1845, the British Government gave to the boy-king the
    support of a British force. In 1849, after the destruction of
    the Sikh army at Gujerat, and the annexation of the Punjab,
    a pension was bestowed on the young Maharajah on condition
    of his remaining loyal to the British Government. He became a
    Christian and was at this time on a visit to England.]




[Pageheading: MILITARY APPOINTMENTS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

OSBORNE, _6th August 1854._

The Queen has received Lord Hardinge's letter of the 4th.[46] She
would for the future wish all papers for signature to be accompanied
by a descriptive list showing at a glance the purport of the
documents, as is done with papers from other Government offices.

The Queen has looked over the lists of Major-Generals made by the last
brevet which Lord Hardinge submitted, and must confess that it does
not afford a great choice; yet, leaving out the cavalry officers and
those disqualified by age or infirmities, there remain some few whom
she has marked with an "X," for whose exclusion no adequate reason
is apparent. An exclusion of officers who have served in the Guards,
_merely on that account_, the Queen would not wish to see adopted as
a principle, and the selection of Colonels of the Line (because there
are no Generals fit), in preference to Generals of the Guards who are
perfectly so, will amount to this. General Eden,[47] moreover, has
been in command of a Regiment of the Line, and General Knollys[48] has
not been promoted from the Guards, and, in accepting the Governorship
of Guernsey, specially begged that this might not exclude him from
active service--a circumstance which he mentioned to the Prince at the
time. Both these have the reputation of very good officers.

The Queen does not wish anything to be arranged prospectively now, but
would recommend the subject to Lord Hardinge's future consideration.

    [Footnote 46: In reply to a letter from the Queen, stating
    that she had inadvertently signed certain papers in the
    ordinary course. Her attention had not been drawn to their
    important features.]

    [Footnote 47: Lieut.-General John Eden, C.B., nephew of the
    first Lord Auckland.]

    [Footnote 48: Sir William Knollys, K.C.B., 1797-1883, became
    in 1855 the organiser of the newly formed Camp at Aldershot.]




[Pageheading: SPECIAL PRAYERS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

OSBORNE, _21st August 1854._

The Queen must repeat what she has frequently done, that she strongly
objects to these _special_ prayers which _are_, in fact, _not_ a sign
of gratitude or confidence in the Almighty--for if this is the
course to be pursued, we _ought_ to have one for every _illness_, and
certainly in '37 the influenza was notoriously more _fatal_ than the
cholera had ever been, and _yet no one_ would have thought of having
a prayer against _that_. Our Liturgy _has_ provided for these
calamities, and we may have frequent returns of the cholera--and yet
it would be difficult to _define_ the _number_ of deaths which are
to _make_ "a form of prayer" _necessary_. The Queen would, therefore,
strongly recommend the usual prayer being used, and no other, as is
the case for the prayer in time of War. What is the use of the prayers
in the Liturgy, which were no doubt composed when we were subject
to other equally fatal diseases, if a new one is always to be framed
specially for the cholera?

The Queen would wish Lord Aberdeen to give this as her decided opinion
to the Archbishop, at all events, for the present. Last year the
cholera quite decimated Newcastle, and was bad in many other places,
but there was _no special_ prayer, and _now_ the illness is in
_London_ but _not_ in any other place, a prayer is proposed by the
Archbishop. The Queen cannot see the difference between the one and
the other.




[Pageheading: CIVIL LIST PENSIONS]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _1st September 1854._

Lord Aberdeen, with his humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty
the pensions proposed to be granted on the Civil List at this time.
The only case requiring any special remark is that of the children
of Lord Nelson's adopted daughter. There seems little doubt that the
person referred to was really Lord Nelson's daughter, according to
evidence recently produced, and was recommended by him to the care of
the country, just before the battle of Trafalgar.[49]

A numerous party in the House of Commons wished that your Majesty's
Government should propose a special vote for this person and her
family; but the Cabinet thought that it would give rise to much
scandal and disagreeable debate, and finally recommended Lord Aberdeen
to place the three daughters on the Pension List. The circumstances of
the case are, no doubt, very peculiar; and although Lord Aberdeen does
not feel perfectly satisfied with the course pursued, he thinks it
very desirable to avoid the sort of Parliamentary debates to which the
discussion of such a subject would necessarily give rise.

    [Footnote 49: Horatia, daughter of Nelson and Lady Hamilton,
    was born on the 29th of January 1801, and married in 1822 the
    Rev. Philip Ward of Tenterden. She died in 1881.]




_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._[50]

BOULOGNE, _le 8 Septembre 1854._

MADAME ET BONNE S[OE]UR,--La présence du digne époux de votre Majesté
au milieu d'un camp français est un fait d'une grande signification
politique, puisqu'il prouve l'union intime des deux pays: mais j'aime
mieux aujourd'hui ne pas envisager le côté politique de cette visite
et vous dire sincèrement combien j'ai été heureux de me trouver
pendant quelques jours avec un Prince aussi accompli, un homme doué de
qualités si séduisantes et de connaissances si profondes. Il peut
être convaincu d'emporter avec lui mes sentiments de haute estime et
d'amitié. Mais plus il m'a été donné d'apprécier le Prince Albert,
plus je dois être touché de la bienveillance qu'a eue votre Majesté de
s'en séparer pour moi quelque jours.

Je remercie votre Majesté de l'admirable lettre qu'elle a bien
voulu m'écrire et des choses affectueuses qu'elle contenait pour
l'Impératrice. Je me suis empressé de lui en faire part et elle y a
été très sensible.

Je prie votre Majesté de recevoir l'expression de mes sentiments
respectueux et de me croire, de votre Majesté, le bon Frère,

NAPOLÉON.

    [Footnote 50: The French Emperor had established a camp
    between Boulogne and St Omer, and early in the summer
    had invited Prince Albert to visit him. It was reasonably
    conjectured at the time that one of the chief purposes of
    the invitation was by personal intercourse to overcome the
    prejudice which the Emperor believed prevailed against him.
    The visit lasted from the 4th till the 8th of September, and
    the Prince's impressions were recorded in a memorandum, "the
    value of which," writes Sir Theodore Martin, by way of preface
    to his publication of it, "cannot be overstated; nor is it
    less valuable for the light which it throws upon the Prince's
    character, by the remarkable contrasts between himself and the
    Emperor of the French, which were elicited in the unreserved
    discussions which each seems equally to have courted."]




[Pageheading: PRINCE ALBERT AND THE EMPEROR]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _22nd September 1854._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Count Walewski told Lord Clarendon to-day that the Emperor had spoken
with enthusiasm of the Prince, saying that in all his experience
he had never met with a person possessing such various and profound
knowledge, or who communicated it with the same frankness. His Majesty
added that he had never learned so much in a short time, and was
grateful. He began his conversation with reproaching Count Walewski
for not having written to him much oftener respecting the Prince, and
endeavoured to ascertain the opinions of His Royal Highness upon all
important subjects.

With respect to the invitation, the Emperor's account of it to
Count Walewski was that he had apologised to the Prince for the bad
reception he had given His Royal Highness, and expressed a hope that
he might have an opportunity of _doing better_ at Paris, if your
Majesty and the Prince would honour him with a visit; and that His
Royal Highness had then said, "the Queen hopes to see your Majesty at
Windsor, and will be happy to make acquaintance with the Empress."
The Emperor, however, had only taken this as a courteous return to his
invitation, and not as intended for a positive invitation.

Lord Clarendon told Count Walewski that he believed the matter had
passed inversely, and that the Prince had first communicated your
Majesty's message.

Be that as it may, Count Walewski said the Emperor will be delighted
to avail himself of the Queen's gracious kindness; nothing will give
him so much pleasure....




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S VISIT]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _24th September 1854._

The Queen returns the two letters from Lord Cowley. She is very sorry
to see doubts arise as to the correctness of the intelligence about
the safe debarkation of our whole expeditionary force in the Crimea,
but still clings to the hope of its being true.

Count Walewski's account of the Emperor's version of his conversation
with the Prince explains what the Prince suspected at one time
himself, that the Emperor had not understood the Prince's remark
as conveying a _direct_ invitation, but merely as a general term of
civility. What the Prince intended to convey was something between the
two, making it clear that he would be well received, and leaving it
entirely open to him to come or not according to his own political
views and circumstances. This appeared to the Prince the most polite
and delicate, preventing all appearance as if a counter-visit for his
own at Boulogne was expected. Lest the Emperor should not have rightly
understood the Prince, he repeated the wish to see the Emperor in
England, and the hope of the Queen to make the Empress's acquaintance
also, _more directly_ to Marshal Vaillant, who gave the same answer as
the Emperor had done--he hoped we should come to Paris in return.

Matters stand as well as possible with regard to the visit; in the
Queen's opinion, the Emperor can come if he likes, and if prevented,
is bound to nothing. Should he ask when his visit would be most
agreeable to the Queen, the middle of November would be the time.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _30th September 1854._

The Queen returns the enclosed letters. The French show their usual
vivacity in pressing so hard for decision upon what is to be done
with Sebastopol when taken.[51] Surely we ought to have taken it first
before we can dispose of it, and everything as to the decision about
it must depend upon the state in which we receive it, and the opinion
of the Military and Naval Commanders after they find themselves in
possession of it. The Queen hopes, therefore, that Lord Clarendon will
succeed in restraining French impatience as he has often done before.

    [Footnote 51: Lord Clarendon had given the Queen the two
    reasons for which the French were pressing, in anticipation,
    the retention of the Crimea, viz. as affording suitable winter
    quarters, and as a guarantee in case of peace negotiations.
    On the 7th of September the allied forces had sailed for the
    Crimea; on the 21st the Queen learned by telegram that 25,000
    English, 25,000 French, and 8,000 Turks had landed safely
    without encountering resistance, and begun the march to
    Sebastopol. The Queen, with her usual kindly solicitude for
    the health and comfort of her Ministers, had summoned Lord
    Aberdeen from London to have the benefit of the Scotch air; he
    remained at Balmoral from the 27th till the 30th, when he went
    to his own house at Haddo. Immediately after his departure, a
    telegram arrived from Lord Clarendon announcing the victory of
    the Alma.]




[Pageheading: BATTLE OF THE ALMA]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

HADDO HOUSE, _1st October 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He had the
honour of receiving your Majesty's box this morning at nine o'clock
by post; and he now sends a Messenger to Aberdeen, with Despatches
received this morning from London, to meet the special conveyance to
Balmoral this evening.

Lord Aberdeen humbly presumes to offer his most cordial
congratulations to your Majesty on the great intelligence received
by telegraph this morning. The account sent by Lord Stratford of
the victory on the Alma must be correct; the report mentioned by Mr
Colquhoun[52] may possibly be so too. At all events, we may fairly
hope that the fall of Sebastopol cannot long be delayed.

Lord Aberdeen has written to Lord Clarendon this morning on the
subject of the fortifications of Sebastopol, which although, somewhat
embarrassing at the moment, is not attended with any great practical
importance.

Lord Aberdeen regrets that the speedy return of the post prevents him
from sending your Majesty a copy of his letter, which in substance,
however, was to the following effect. Without attaching any undue
importance to the decision, he was inclined to adhere to his first
proposition of the immediate and entire destruction of the works.
He did not see the advantage of doing the thing by halves; while the
destruction of the sea defences only might give rise to erroneous
impressions and would be of an equivocal character. The fall of
Sebastopol would in fact be the conquest of the Crimea, and the Allies
might winter there with perfect security, as, by occupying the
lines of Perekop,[53] any access to the Crimea would effectually be
prevented by land. Lord Aberdeen thought that with a view to peace,
and the restitution of the Crimea to Russia, it would be more easy
for the Emperor to accept the destruction of the fortifications when
accomplished, than to agree to any stipulation having such an object.

On the whole, Lord Aberdeen was inclined to think that if the place
should not be at once destroyed, it might be better to preserve it in
its present state, until the matter should be further considered.
The Allies would always have it in their power to act as they thought
best, and the question might in some degree be affected by future
events. The great objection to leaving the matter undecided for the
present appeared to be from the possibility of differences hereafter
between France and England upon the subject. After the astounding
proposition made to Lord Raglan by the French Generals when actually
embarked and at sea, it would be well to leave nothing in doubt. The
Turks, too, might perhaps desire to have a voice in the matter, and
might become troublesome....

    [Footnote 52: Mr (afterwards Sir) Robert Gilmour Colquhoun
    (1803-1870), Agent and Consul-General at Bucharest.]

    [Footnote 53: A district on the isthmus of Crimea, guarded by
    a wall and a ditch, the name meaning "Cross-ditch." The whole
    isthmus is now often called Perekop.]




[Pageheading: INDIAN AFFAIRS]

[Pageheading: INDIA AND RUSSIA]


_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _2nd October 1854._

The Governor-General presents his most humble duty to your Majesty,
and begs to offer his respectful thanks for the very gracious manner
in which your Majesty has been pleased to acknowledge the offer he has
made to retain still the Government of India during the ensuing year.

The Governor-General does not affect to say that he makes no sacrifice
in so doing. Many things unite to warn him that it is time he were
gone: and his family circumstances, in which your Majesty has long
shown so gracious an interest, have rendered the prospect of his
remaining longer absent from England a source of much anxiety and
perplexity to him. But he felt that this was no time for any man, high
or low, to leave his post. And as a seven-years' experience must needs
have rendered him more capable of immediate usefulness than any other,
though a far abler man, without such experience could possibly be,
he did not hesitate to offer the continued service which your Majesty
might most justly expect, and which he is proud to render cheerfully.

Your Majesty's remark on the absence of any letter from the
Governor-General of late would have disquieted him with apprehensions
that he had been thought neglectful, but that your Majesty at the same
time ascribed the silence to its real cause. Since the announcement
of the termination of the Burmese War there has, in truth, been no
occurrence which, of itself, seemed worthy of being made the subject
of a report to your Majesty. India has been tranquil in all her
borders. And although no event could well be more gratifying than this
continuous tranquillity was in itself, still the periodical report of
peace and quiet on all sides seemed likely to be as uninteresting
as the monotonous, though satisfactory, "All's well" of a ring of
sentries.

At Christmas the Governor-General anticipated having the honour of
narrating to your Majesty the events of a year which he hoped would,
before its close, have been fruitful of great results....

Very recently an interesting mission has arrived from the Khan of
Kokan, a state to the north of Bokhara, reporting the capture of their
fort of Ak Mussid by the Russians.

The fact was known before; but the mission is important from the
certainty it imparts to us that all the Turcomans, the people of
Kokan, of Khiva, and of Bokhara, all detest as much as they dread the
Muscovites, with whose approach they are threatened.

The Khan asks for aid. We can render him but little. The only real
bulwark which can be raised for these states of Central Asia--the only
real barrier to the progress of Russia which can be set up there--must
have their foundations in the Treaty, which may be framed by the
Allied Powers after the present war shall have brought the spirit of
Russia into temporary subjection.

The war in which your Majesty has engaged with that great Power has
not been directly felt in this part of your Majesty's dominions; but
its indirect influence is most sensibly apparent.

The notions entertained of Russia, and the estimate formed of her
powers, by the nations of India, are exaggerated in the extreme.
Although our pride must wince on hearing it, it is an unquestionable
fact that the general belief in India at this moment is that Russia
gravely menaces the power of England, and will be more than a match
for her in the end.

This feeling cannot prudently be disregarded. The Governor-General
need hardly say to your Majesty that he believes that any direct
attack by Russia on these dominions at the present time is utterly
impracticable; and that there is no more risk of an invasion of
India by the Emperor Nicholas than of another by Mahmood of Ghuznee.
Nevertheless, the uneasy feeling which now prevails among native
States and among ourselves, partly of alarm, partly of indefinite
expectation, ought to be guarded against; and the means of meeting any
difficulties which may arise out of it should be at our command.

Earnestly desirous to contribute every possible aid to your Majesty's
arms in the great contest now going on in Europe, the Governor-General
has respectfully placed at the disposal of your Majesty's Ministers
all the four regiments of Royal Cavalry now serving in India. The
Infantry is already hardly adequate for our own necessities: and while
the Governor-General will be quite ready to accept and to face any
additional responsibilities which he may be called upon to bear, he
has felt it to be his duty to state that, beyond the four regiments
of Cavalry, European troops cannot safely be spared from India at the
present time.

The Governor-General, however, feels that he is not indulging in any
vain boast when he ventures to assure your Majesty that, under God's
good blessing, these, your Dominions in the East, are at present
absolutely safe.... Your Majesty's most obedient, most humble, and
devoted Subject and Servant,

DALHOUSIE.




[Pageheading: DEPOSED INDIAN PRINCES]

[Pageheading: MAHARAJAH DHULEEP SINGH]


_Queen Victoria to the Marquis of Dalhousie._

BALMORAL, _2nd October 1854._

As the Queen knows that the East India Company are chiefly guided by
Lord Dalhousie's advice with respect to all Indian affairs in public
as well as of a more private nature, she thinks that she cannot do
better than write to him upon a subject which she _feels_ strongly
upon, and which she is sure that Lord Dalhousie will enter into. It
is the position of those unfortunate Indian Princes who have, either
themselves or their fathers, been for public reasons deposed. Two
instances are now before the Queen's eyes upon which she wishes to
state her opinion.

The first is old Prince Gholam Mohammed, and his son Prince Feroz
Shah. The Queen understands (though she is not sure of the fact) that
the old man is here in order to try to obtain his pension continued
to his son. This is very natural, and it strikes the Queen to be an
arrangement difficult to be justified, in a moral point of view, to
give these poor people--who after _all_ were once so mighty--_no_
security beyond their lives. Whilst we remain permanently in
possession of their vast Empire, they receive a pension, which is not
_even_ continued to their descendants. Would it not be much the
best to allow them, instead of a pension, to hold, perhaps under the
Government, a property, which would enable them and their descendants
to live respectably, maintaining a certain rank and position? The
Queen believes that Lord Dalhousie himself suggested this principle in
the case of the Ameers of Scinde.

Nothing is more painful for _any_ one than the thought that their
children and grandchildren have no future, and may become absolutely
beggars. How much more _dreadful_ must this be to proud people, who,
like Prince Gholam, are the sons and grandsons of great Princes like
Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sahib! Besides it strikes the Queen that the more
kindly we treat Indian Princes, whom _we_ have _conquered_, and the
more consideration we show for their birth and former grandeur, the
more we shall attach Indian Princes and Governments to us, and the
more ready will they be to come under our rule.

The second instance is that of the young Maharajah Dhuleep Singh (and
the Queen must here observe that the favourable opinion she expressed
of him, in her last letter to Lord Dalhousie, has only been confirmed
and strengthened by closer acquaintance). This young Prince has the
_strongest_ claims upon our generosity and sympathy; deposed, for _no_
fault of his, when a little boy of ten years old, he is as innocent
as any private individual of the misdeeds which compelled us to depose
him, and take possession of his territories. He has besides since
become a Christian, whereby he is for ever cut off from his own
people. His case therefore appears to the Queen still stronger than
the _former_ one, as he was not even a conquered enemy, but merely
powerless in the hands of the Sikh soldiery.

There is something too painful in the idea of a young deposed
Sovereign, once so powerful, receiving a pension, and having _no_
security that his children and descendants, and these moreover
Christians, should have any home or position.

The Queen hears that Lord Dalhousie himself would wish and advise his
pension to be exchanged for a property on which the Maharajah might
live, which he might improve (giving thereby a most valuable example)
and transmit some day to his descendants, should he have any; she
hopes therefore that this may be so settled, and that he may, on
attaining the age of eighteen, have a comfortable and fitting position
worthy his high rank.

Where such a property might be must be of course left to Lord
Dalhousie to decide, but the Queen hopes that Lord Dalhousie will give
it his serious attention.




[Pageheading: THE AUSTRIAN PROPOSALS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _10th October 1854._

The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letters of the 8th.[54] She
cannot consider it wise to reject the Austrian proposals _altogether_,
although we may usefully amend them. The success in the Crimea ought
to be followed up by strengthening the alliance of the European
powers, else it may turn out a sterile victory, and the English blood
will have flowed in vain; for supposing even the whole Crimea to fall
into our hands, it is not likely that the war will be concluded on
that account. How are England and France to bring it to a termination
single-handed? Our Army in the Crimea is the only one we have....

It is true that the Austrian proposal promises little performance on
her part, yet the stipulation by Treaty that she will never let the
Russians pass the Pruth again is a positive advantage to us; and the
other, that a defensive and offensive alliance with us is to follow
the breaking out of the war by Russia against Austria, although being
entirely at _our_ expense, yet realises the chief condition which
will make Austria hesitate less to bring it to a war with Russia.
She always (and not without reason) dreaded to have to fight Russia
single-handed, and the allied armies in the Crimea could not assist
her. What reason could Austria put forward and justify to Prussia and
Germany, for going to war at this moment? To obtain the evacuation
of the Principalities was a tangible one, indeed the same _we_ put
forward when _we_ declared war; but this is now obtained.

We must certainly not allow our policy to be mixed up with the
miserable German squabbles, but we must acknowledge that Austria, as a
member of the Confederation, is not and cannot be independent of them.

The Queen would accordingly advise a temperate consideration of the
Austrian proposals and an amendment of them in those points which seem
to require them, and which Lord Clarendon clearly points out in his
letter, and the avoidance of anything which could weaken the _accord
Européen_.[55]

The Emperor Napoleon's answer to Lord Cowley with reference to this
visit to England renders it probable to the Queen that he was not
anxious to have the general invitation changed into a special one,
_obliging_ him to come or to refuse. The answer is almost a refusal
now, and has not improved our position. The Queen would wish that
no anxiety should be shown to obtain the visit, now that it is quite
clear to the Emperor that he will be _le bienvenu_ at any time. His
reception here ought to be a boon to him and not a boon to us.

The Queen fully enters into the feelings of exultation and joy at the
glorious victory of the Alma, but this is somewhat damped by the sad
loss we have sustained, and the thought of the many bereaved families
of all classes who are in mourning for those near and dear to them.

    [Footnote 54: In one of which, in reference to Austria's
    desire for an offensive and defensive treaty with Great
    Britain, Lord Clarendon had described the Austrian terms as
    irritating, and the discussion of them a mere waste of time.]

    [Footnote 55: The Cabinet, at its meeting on the 20th, decided
    to meet the Austrian proposals in the most conciliatory manner
    possible.]




[Pageheading: THE ALMA]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

HULL, _13th October 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Already far away from my loved beautiful Highlands
and Mountains, I find a few minutes to write and thank you for your
kind letter of the 2nd, with such lively and glowing descriptions of
such glorious and beautiful scenery, which I hope and trust to see
_some day_. Still, with all its beauties, I would not exchange it for
our northern beauties, which really they are--for a _lovelier_ country
with a _more beautiful_ combination of wood and mountain, and river,
and cultivation with the greatest wildness, at the same time close
at hand, cannot, I am sure, be seen; Stockmar is in the greatest
admiration of it. We left it yesterday morning, slept at Holyrood last
night, and came here this evening; the good people of this large
port, having since two years entreated us to come here. We shall reach
Windsor to-morrow.

We are, and indeed the whole country is, _entirely_ engrossed with one
idea, one _anxious_ thought--the _Crimea_. We have received all the
_most_ interesting and _gratifying_ details of the _splendid_ and
decisive victory of the Alma; alas! it was a bloody one. Our loss
was a heavy one--many have fallen and many are wounded, but my noble
Troops behaved with a _courage_ and _desperation_ which was beautiful
to behold. The Russians expected their position would hold out three
weeks; their loss was immense--the whole garrison of Sebastopol
was out. Since that, the Army has performed a wonderful march to
Balaklava, and the bombardment of Sebastopol has begun. Lord Raglan's
behaviour was worthy of the old Duke's--such coolness in the midst of
the hottest fire. We have had all the details from young Burghersh[56]
(a remarkably nice young man), one of Lord Raglan's Aides-de-camp whom
he sent home with the Despatches, who was in the midst of it all. I
feel so _proud_ of my dear noble Troops, who, they say, bear their
privations, and the sad disease which still haunts them, with such
courage and good humour.

George did enormously well, and was not touched. Now with Albert's
love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 56: Francis, Lord Burghersh, afterwards twelfth Earl
    of Westmorland (1825-1891).]




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _5th November 1854._

The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter referring to the new
Draft of a Treaty with Austria proposed by the French Government,
and has since attentively perused the Treaty itself.[57] Vague and
inconclusive as it is as to _co-operation_ (which is the main object
of our desire), it is a step in advance, and has the advantage of
assuring Austria of our alliance should the war between her and Russia
break out. The Queen regrets to find a Clause omitted which stood
in the former French project (rejected by us about three weeks ago),
stipulating that Austria was to prevent the re-entry of Russia into
the Principalities. Although she would of her own accord have to do
this, a treaty obligation towards the _belligerents_ to that effect
would have made a considerable inroad into her position as a _neutral_
power, and secured a co-operation in the war--_ad hoc_ at least.
Austria ought to be told, in the Queen's opinion, that this project
of treaty contains almost nothing; and that her signing it _at once_
would give a moral pledge of her sincerity towards the Western Powers,
who have to pay with the lives of their best troops every day that
Austria hesitates to do what in the end she must find it in her own
interest to do.

As to M. Olozaga's proposal,[58] the Queen thinks it ought to be
treated like all the former ones, viz. met with the remark that we
cannot discuss eventualities implying the dethronement of a Sovereign
with whom we are on a footing of amity.

    [Footnote 57: Lord Clarendon wrote that he and Lord John
    Russell approved of the treaty, but that Lord Aberdeen thought
    that Austria would not accept it; while Lord Palmerston felt
    confident that Austria, even if her co-operation were not now
    secured, would at least not lend her support to the King of
    Prussia's scheme.

    At this date only partial and misleading accounts had arrived
    of the battle of Balaklava, and it was believed that four
    English (not Turkish) redoubts had been taken; and, while the
    disastrous charge of the Light Brigade had been announced, the
    success of the heavy cavalry was not yet known. Anxiety began
    accordingly to be felt at home as to the adequacy of the
    allied forces to encounter the Russian army, augmented as
    it now was by the troops which had recently evacuated the
    Principalities. Accordingly fresh efforts were being made to
    engage Austria in effectual alliance with the Western Powers.]

    [Footnote 58: The document containing this proposal does
    not seem to have been preserved among the papers. It was not
    impossibly a scheme for betrothing King Pedro to the infant
    Princess of the Asturias, thereby uniting the two Crowns, and
    bringing about the dethronement of Queen Isabella.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th November 1854._

The Queen returns the letters from Lord Cowley and Count Walewski.[59]
No consideration on earth ought to stand in the way of our sending
what ships we can lay hold of to transport French reinforcements to
the Crimea, as the safety of our Army and the honour of the Country
are at stake. The Queen is ready to give her own yacht for a transport
which could carry 1,000 men. Every account received convinces the
Queen more and more that numbers alone can ensure success in this
instance, and that without them we are running _serious_ risks.

    [Footnote 59: The Count wrote that France was ready to send
    20,000 men to the Crimea, if England could furnish transports.
    Lord Clarendon added: "We have not a single available steamer,
    as all must be left in the Baltic until the ice sets in, and
    the stores, ammunition, and clothing for the Army are going
    out in sailing vessels."]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _14th November 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I am quite shocked to find that I missed writing my
letter to-day--but really _la tête me tourne_. I am so bewildered and
excited, and my mind so entirely taken up by the news from the Crimea,
that I really forget, and what is worse, I get so confused about
everything that I am a very unfit correspondent. My whole soul and
heart are in the Crimea. The conduct of our _dear noble_ Troops is
_beyond praise_; it is quite heroic, and really I feel a pride to
have _such Troops_, which is only equalled by my grief for their
sufferings. We now know that there has been a pitched battle on the
6th, in which we have been victorious over much greater numbers, but
with great loss on both sides--the greatest on the Russian. But we
know _nothing_ more, and now we must live in a suspense which is
indeed dreadful. Then to think of the numbers of families who are
living in _such_ anxiety! It is terrible to think of all the wretched
wives and mothers who are awaiting the fate of those nearest and
dearest to them! In short, it is a time which requires courage and
patience to bear as one ought.

Many thanks, dearest Uncle, for your kind letter of the 11th, which I
received on Saturday. The Brabants will soon leave you; I shall write
to Leo to-morrow or next day, _quand je pourrais un peu rassembler mes
idées_. I must now conclude, dearest Uncle. With Albert's affectionate
love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: INKERMAN]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Raglan._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _18th November 1854._

The Queen has received with pride and joy the telegraphic news of the
glorious, but alas! bloody victory of the 5th.[60] These feelings of
pride and satisfaction are, however, painfully alloyed by the grievous
news of the loss of so many Generals, and in particular Sir George
Cathcart--who was so distinguished and excellent an officer.[61]

We are most thankful that Lord Raglan's valuable life has been spared;
and the Queen trusts that he will not expose himself more than is
absolutely necessary.

The Queen cannot sufficiently express her high sense of the great
services he has rendered and is rendering to her and the country, by
the very able manner in which he has led the bravest troops that ever
fought, and which it is a pride to her to be able to call her own. To
mark the Queen's feelings of approbation she wishes to confer on
Lord Raglan the Baton of Field-Marshal. It affords her the sincerest
gratification to confer it on one who has so nobly earned the highest
rank in the Army, which he so long served in under the immortal
hero, who she laments could not witness the success of a friend he so
greatly esteemed.

Both the Prince and Queen are anxious to express to Lord Raglan their
unbounded admiration of the heroic conduct of the Army, and their
sincere sympathy in their sufferings and privations so nobly borne.

The Queen thanks Lord Raglan for his kind letter of the 28th ultimo.

    [Footnote 60: The English loss at the battle of Inkerman was
    over 2,500 killed and wounded; the French lost 1,800. The
    loss of the enemy was doubtful, but the Russian estimate (much
    smaller than our own) was about 12,000 killed, wounded, and
    prisoners. The Grand Dukes Nicholas and Michael both fought in
    the battle.]

    [Footnote 61: Besides Sir George Cathcart, Brigadier-Generals
    Strangways and Goldie were killed. Sir George Brown was shot
    through the arm, Major-Generals Bentinck and Codrington, and
    Brigadier-General Adams were all severely wounded, but not so
    seriously. Sir de Lacy Evans a few days earlier, being then
    in shattered health, had had a fall from his horse, and was
    absent from the battle.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S PROPOSAL]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _23rd November 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his most humble duty to your Majesty. He
regrets, at a moment of such public interest and importance, to
trouble your Majesty with domestic difficulties; but he thinks it his
duty to lay before your Majesty the enclosed correspondence without
delay.[62] Lord Aberdeen has for some time past expected a proposition
of this kind, and it is impossible not to see that it may be attended
with very serious consequences. At first Lord Aberdeen was in doubt
whether the proposition was made by Lord J. Russell in concert with
Lord Palmerston; but this appears not to be the case. Much will
therefore depend on the decision of Lord Palmerston. Should he join
with Lord John, matters will probably be pushed to extremity; but
should he decline, Lord Aberdeen does not think that Lord John will
venture to act alone.

    [Footnote 62: Lord John Russell urged, in this correspondence,
    that Lord Palmerston should supersede the Duke of Newcastle at
    the War Office.]




[Pageheading: MAHARAJAH DHULEEP SINGH]


_Queen Victoria to the Marquis of Dalhousie._

_24th November 1854._

The Queen thanks Lord Dalhousie for his long and most interesting and
satisfactory letter of the 2nd of October.

It is peculiarly gratifying to hear of such quiet and prosperity in
her vast Indian dominions, in which the Queen ever takes the liveliest
interest, and at the present moment of intense anxiety, when
England's best and noblest blood is being profusely shed to resist the
encroaching spirit of Russia. The heroism of our noble Troops in the
midst of herculean difficulties and great privations is unequalled,
and will fill Lord Dalhousie's loyal and patriotic heart with pride
and admiration. Though entirely concurring in his opinion that Russia
can undertake no invasion of India, her spirit of encroachment on the
north frontier must be carefully watched and, if possible, put a stop
to, when peace is made.

The progress of the railroad will make an immense difference in India,
and tend more than anything else to bring about civilisation, and will
in the end facilitate the spread of Christianity, which hitherto has
made but very slow progress.

The Queen was already aware of the idea formerly entertained by the
Maharajah Dhuleep Singh of marrying the young Princess of Coorg.[63]
Agreeing as she does with Lord Dalhousie in the wisdom of advising the
young man to pause before he makes his choice of a wife, she thinks
such a marriage between these two most interesting young Christians
most desirable; indeed, as Lord Dalhousie himself observes, the
difficulty of any other marriage for either must be great. The young
people have met and were pleased with each other, so that the Queen
hopes that their union will, in the course of time, come to pass. Her
little god-daughter has been here lately, and though still childish
for her age (she is nearly fourteen) is pretty, lively, intelligent,
and going on satisfactorily in her education.

Of the young Maharajah, who has now been twice our guest, we can only
speak in terms of praise. He promises to be a bright example to
all Indian Princes, for he is thoroughly good and amiable, and most
anxious to improve himself.

    [Footnote 63: A few years earlier, while still holding his
    ancestral creed, Dhuleep Singh, had made overtures to the
    ex-Rajah of Coorg with a view to his betrothal to the eldest
    daughter of the latter; but at that time the matter was
    dropped. After becoming a Christian, and having also heard of
    the baptism of the Princess of Coorg, the Maharajah renewed
    his proposal, which, however, was not eventually accepted. The
    Princess married an English officer, and died in 1864, aged
    twenty-four.]




[Pageheading: BATTLE OF INKERMAN]


_Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar[64] to Queen Victoria._

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, _28th November 1854._

MADAM,--Your Majesty's very kind letter reached me by the last mail. I
avail myself of your permission to write to you again, although there
is not much to say since I last wrote to Prince Albert on the 7th or
8th of this month. I wrote to him soon after the battle of Inkerman,
when I was still under the excitement of that fearful scene, and I am
afraid that I made use of expressions that I was afterwards sorry that
I had done. I believe I made some reflections on our Commanders, which
are at all times wrong. By this time your Majesty will, of course,
be in possession of all the details of that fearful day, on which our
loss was so very great.[65] I made a mistake in stating the number of
dead in the Grenadiers; it was much larger than I stated. I think we
must have suffered more than any other Corps, for, on the following
day, when the roll was called, two hundred and twenty-five men
were absent; of these one hundred and one were killed, and the rest
wounded. There cannot be any doubt that we allowed ourselves to be
surprised, for the first notice we had of the Russians was receiving
their heavy shot in the camp of the 2nd Division. Nearly all their
tents were torn by round shot. It is even said that a shell lodged
in an officer's portmanteau, burst, and, of course, scattered all his
goods to the winds. Experience has made us wise, or rather Lord Raglan
wise, for since that day the French and ourselves have been busy in
entrenching our right; it is now so strong that no enemy can attack us
there with the slightest chance of success; it is only a pity it
was not done before. The Turks were chiefly employed making these
redoubts, which is in fact the only thing they have done except
burying the dead Russians. Never shall I forget the sight of the dead
and dying Russians on the field. Some of these poor wretches had to
lie on the field for at least sixty hours before they were removed to
the hospital tents; the majority of course died. I am afraid this is
one of the necessities of war, for we had to remove our own people
first. I went round the hospitals next morning. It was a horrid sight
to see the bodies of the men who had died during the night stretched
before the tents, and to see the heaps of arms and legs, with the
trousers and boots still on, that had been cut off by the surgeons.

The Russians were so near that most of the officers had to use their
swords and revolvers. Many single acts of daring took place; among
others, Colonel Percy,[66] of our Regiment, dashed in front of his
Company, sword in hand, into a dense body of Russians who were in
a battery. I was not in the thick of it, but was engaged with an
outlying picquet on the left of the attack. George was in the very
thick of it, and, not seeing me, kept asking some of our men where I
was. They did not know. He tells me that he thought for a long time I
was killed, and even fancied that he had seen me lying on the ground;
it turned out later to have been poor Colonel Dawson's[67] body which
he mistook for me.

On the 14th we had a terrible storm, such a one as, fortunately for
mankind, does not happen but very rarely. All our tents of course were
blown down, and we passed the day very uncomfortably; but at sea it
was terrible. At Balaklava alone more than two hundred and sixty souls
perished, and eleven ships went down. George will have been able
to give you a perfect account of it, for, for many hours, the
_Retribution_ was in imminent danger. I went a few days after the
storm to see him on board.[68] ... He had a little fever or ague on
him, but was otherwise well. He has now gone to Constantinople....

May I beg of your Majesty to remember me kindly to Prince Albert and
the Duchess of Kent. I have the honour, etc.

EDWARD OF SAXE-WEIMAR.

    [Footnote 64: Son of Duke Charles Bernard and Duchess Ida, the
    latter being a Princess of Saxe-Meiningen and sister to Queen
    Adelaide. The Prince was at this time Lieut.-Colonel and
    A.D.C. to Lord Raglan. He was afterwards A.D.C. to the Queen
    and ultimately Commander of the Forces in Ireland. He died in
    1902.]

    [Footnote 65: See _ante_, 18th November, 1854, note 60.]

    [Footnote 66: Colonel Henry Hugh Manvers Percy, 1817-1877,
    whose father afterwards became the fifth Duke of
    Northumberland. The Legion of Honour, the Medjidie, and the
    V.C. were all subsequently conferred on him.]

    [Footnote 67: Hon. Thomas Vesey Dawson, brother of the third
    Lord Cremorne (created Earl of Dartrey).]

    [Footnote 68: In this terrible hurricane the _Prince_, a
    new and magnificent steamer, with a cargo of the value of
    £500,000, including powder, shot and shell, beds, blankets,
    warm clothing for the troops, and medical stores for the
    hospitals, was lost; six men only of a crew of one hundred and
    fifty were saved; but the soldiers of the Forty-sixth, whom
    she was conveying to Balaklava, had happily been landed.
    Thirty of our transports, as well as the French warship _Henri
    IV._, were wrecked. A thousand men were lost, and many more
    escaped drowning, only to fall into the hands of the
    Cossacks and be carried to Sebastopol. One solitary source
    of consolation could be found in the circumstance that the
    tempest did not occur at an earlier period, when six hundred
    vessels, heavily laden and dangerously crowded together, were
    making their way from Varna to Old Fort.]




[Pageheading: THE CRIMEAN MEDAL]


_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Newcastle._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th November 1854._

The Queen thinks that no time should be lost in announcing the
intention of the Queen to confer a _medal_ on all those who have been
engaged in the arduous and brilliant campaign in the Crimea.

The medal should have the word "_Crimea_" on it, with an appropriate
device (for which it would be well to lose no time in having a design
made) and _clasps_--like to the Peninsular Medal, with the names
_Alma_ and _Inkerman_ inscribed on them, according to who had been in
one or both battles. _Sebastopol_, should it fall, or any other name
of a battle which Providence may permit our brave troops to gain, can
be inscribed on other clasps hereafter to be added. The names _Alma_
and _Inkerman_ should likewise be borne on the colours of all the
regiments who have been engaged in these bloody and glorious actions.

The Queen is sure that nothing will gratify and encourage our noble
troops more than the knowledge that this is to be done.

We have just had two hours' most interesting conversation with General
Bentinck,[69] whose sound good sense and energy make us deeply regret
that he is not now on the spot; he is, however, ready to go out again
next year, as Lord Raglan wishes to give him a Division. We hope that,
after two or three months' rest, he may be able to go out again.

    [Footnote 69: General (afterwards Sir Henry) Bentinck had been
    wounded at Inkerman; he returned to the Crimea to command a
    Division.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _7th December 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He would have
been desirous of personally submitting to your Majesty the result of
the meeting of the Cabinet last night; but he was apprehensive that
his sudden journey to Windsor Castle this morning would give rise
to speculations and conjectures which, in the present state of the
Ministry, it is as well to avoid.

Lord Aberdeen thinks he may venture to assure your Majesty that the
correspondence recently circulated is regarded by all the Members of
the Cabinet precisely in the same light; and that the propositions
of Lord John Russell are considered by all as quite untenable. Lord
Palmerston forms no exception; and, whatever may be his views in
future, it is clear that at present he contemplates no changes in the
Government. Lord John was himself fully aware of this unanimity, and
remained entirely silent with respect to his former suggestions. He
dwelt in general terms on the absence of vigour in the prosecution
of the war, and stated his conviction that the same course would
be observed in future. He referred to his position in the House of
Commons with much bitterness, and declared that he would never pass
such another Session of Parliament as the last. He attributed the
frequent defeats of the Government in the House of Commons to the
Reform Bill having been withdrawn, by which it was shown that hostile
attacks might be made with impunity.

It was obvious, however, that the drift of his observations tended to
the substitution of himself as the Head of the Government rather than
to any change of Departments; and this he did not deny, when Lord
Aberdeen pointed out the inference to be drawn from his remarks.

Finally, Lord John said that he had quite made up his mind. He was
ready to continue in office during the short Session before Christmas,
and to defend all that had been done; but that he was determined to
retire after Christmas. An observation being made that it would be
unconstitutional to go into Parliament with such a determination, he
replied that, if such was the opinion, he would request Lord Aberdeen
to convey his resignation to-morrow morning to your Majesty, which, at
all events, would be perfectly constitutional.

Lord Aberdeen feels it to be his duty to state to your Majesty that,
whatever may be the real cause, Lord John has made up his mind to act
in the manner he has announced.

In this situation it is Lord Aberdeen's desire to come to your
Majesty's assistance by any means in his power. Lord John's defection
will be a great blow, from which it is very doubtful if the Government
could recover; but Lord Aberdeen will come to no conclusion or form
any decided opinion until he shall have had the honour of seeing your
Majesty.




[Pageheading: CABINET DISSENSIONS]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th December 1854._

Lord Aberdeen arrived yesterday evening, leaving the Cabinet sitting,
revising the Speech from the Throne.[70] He had come to no decision.
Sir James Graham and Mr Gladstone had been anxious that he should
accept Lord John's resignation at once. He himself felt reluctant to
do anything which might be considered harsh towards Lord John, and
might make him a martyr hereafter. There was no doubt, however, that
they could not go on with Lord John. The universal feeling of the
Cabinet seemed to be one of indignation ... at Lord John's conduct.
Nobody had expressed himself stronger about it than Lord Lansdowne to
Lord Clarendon, feeling it, as he said, "quite a necessity to speak
out." The Chancellor said he owed his political allegiance to Lord
John as well as his office; but as a man of honour he could not go
with him. Lord Granville feels the same. Lord Palmerston had written
a long and very able letter to Lord John, proving the impossibility
of joining the offices of Secretary at War and Secretary of State for
War. Lord John had now, however, dropped his proposal altogether,
and made it quite clear that it was Lord Aberdeen he wished to have
removed. He said to Lord Palmerston: "When the Cabinet was formed,
I always understood that Lord Aberdeen would soon give me up my old
place; it has now lasted more than two years, and he seemed to get
enamoured with office, and I could not meet the House of Commons in
the position I was in last Session."

    [Footnote 70: Parliament was to meet on the 12th, chiefly for
    the purpose of passing a Foreign Enlistment Bill, authorising
    the immediate enlistment of 15,000 (afterwards reduced to
    10,000) foreigners, to be drilled in this country.]

In answer to Lord Palmerston's enquiry what he would do, and how he
could expose the Country to such fearful risks at such a moment, he
said that he would support the Government out of office. "You will
support it at the head of a very virulent Opposition," was Lord
Palmerston's reply; "and when you have succeeded in overthrowing the
Government, which has difficulty enough to hold its ground even with
your assistance, what will you say to the Country? Will you say:
'Here I am. I have triumphed, and have displaced, in the midst of most
hazardous operations, all the ablest men the Country has produced;
but I shall take their place with Mr Vernon Smith, Lord Seymour, Lord
Minto, and others....'"

Sir Charles Wood is the only person who says it is all nothing, and he
knows Lord John, and it is sure to blow over.

Lord Aberdeen said it is come to a point where this is no longer
possible, as he laid his ground not only on the position that the war
had been badly conducted, but that it _would_ be so for the future.

At the Cabinet yesterday a significant incident occurred: Lord John
asked what should become of Reform. Lord Aberdeen's answer was, that
it had been set aside on account of the war, and that as the war was
now raging at its height, it could not be brought on again. Later,
when they came to the passage about Education, Lord John made an
alteration in the Draft, adding something about strengthening the
institutions of the Country. Lord Palmerston started up and asked:
"Does that mean Reform?" Lord John answered: "It might or might not."
"Well, then," said Lord Palmerston, with a heat of manner which struck
the whole Cabinet, and was hardly justified by the occasion, "I wish
it to be understood that I protest against any direct or indirect
attempt to bring forward the Reform question again!" Lord John,
nettled, muttered to himself, but loud enough to be heard by
everybody: "Then I shall bring forward the Reform Bill at once."

It is evident to me that after this a junction between Lord Palmerston
and Lord John is impossible, and that it must have been Lord
Palmerston's object to make this clear to the Cabinet. Lord Aberdeen
has declared that he is quite willing to yield his post to Lord
John--but that it would not suffice to have got a head--that there
must be some Members also, and where are they to be found? He is
certain that not one of the present Cabinet could now serve under Lord
John. An attempt to solve the question how the present Government is
to be maintained, naturally leads everybody to the same conclusion:
that Lord Palmerston must be substituted for Lord John as the Leader
of the House of Commons. Disagreeable as this must be ... to Lord
Aberdeen, and dangerous as the experiment may turn out, we agreed with
Lord Aberdeen that he should make the offer to him with the Queen's
consent. An alternative proposed by Lord Clarendon, that Lord
Aberdeen should ask Lord John what he advised him to do under the
circumstances, was strongly condemned by me, as depriving Lord
Aberdeen of all the advantage of the initiative with Lord Palmerston.
Lord Aberdeen states his great difficulty to be not only the long
antecedent and mutual opposition between him and Lord Palmerston, but
also the fact that Lord Palmerston loved war for war's sake, and he
peace for peace' sake.... He consoled himself, however, at last by the
reflection that Lord Palmerston was not worse than Lord John in
that respect, and, on the other hand, gave greater weight to the
consideration of what was practicable. It remains open for the present
whether Lord John is to act as the organ for the Government during the
short Session, and resign afterwards, or to resign now.

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: LORD ROKEBY]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _10th December 1854._

The Queen is glad to hear of Lord Rokeby's readiness to go out, as she
is sure that he will prove himself an efficient officer in command of
that noble Brigade of Guards.[71]

The Queen must repeat again her opinion relative to General Bentinck.
She thinks that he ought to go out again, and that, if a division
were offered to him, he would not hesitate (when he has recruited his
health) to go out. For the sake of example it would be most desirable,
for there evidently is an inclination to ask for leave to go home,
which would be very detrimental to the Army.

    [Footnote 71: Lord Rokeby had on the previous evening been
    offered and had accepted the command.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _16th December 1854._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. The Cabinet
met to-day, and discussed various measures, with a view to their
introduction into Parliament during the course of the ensuing Session.
In this discussion Lord John Russell took an active part, and must
have greatly astonished his colleagues, after their knowledge of
all that had recently passed. Lord Aberdeen had been previously made
aware, although not by himself, of the change which had taken place
in Lord John's intentions. After the meeting of the Cabinet, Lord John
came to Lord Aberdeen, and spoke of the affair of Mr Kennedy,[72] but
did not seem disposed to advert to any other subject. Lord Aberdeen
therefore took an opportunity of referring to the correspondence which
had taken place, and the notice which had been given by Lord John.
Without any embarrassment, or apparent sense of inconsistency, he at
once admitted that he had changed his intention, and attributed it
chiefly to a conversation yesterday with Lord Panmure, who, although a
great military reformer, had convinced him that the present was not a
fitting time for his proposed changes.

Lord Aberdeen had not seen any member of the Cabinet this evening
since the meeting terminated, and does not know how they may be
affected by this change. Some, he feels sure, will be disappointed;
but, on the whole, he feels disposed to be well satisfied. It is true
that there can be no security for a single week; and it is impossible
to escape from a sense of self-degradation by submitting to such an
unprecedented state of relations amongst colleagues; but the scandal
of a rupture would be so great, and the evils which might ensue so
incalculable, that Lord Aberdeen is sincerely convinced it will be
most advantageous for your Majesty's service, and for the public,
to endeavour, by a conciliatory and prudent course of conduct, to
preserve tranquillity and union as long as possible. This does not
exclude the necessity of firmness; and in the present case Lord
Aberdeen has yielded nothing whatever, but he has received Lord John's
change without resentment or displeasure.

    [Footnote 72: Mr Kennedy (who was remotely connected by
    marriage with Lord John) had been removed by Mr Gladstone from
    an office he held. Lord John took it up as a family matter.]




[Pageheading: THE SCUTARI HOSPITAL]


_The Duke of Newcastle to Queen Victoria._

WAR DEPARTMENT, _22nd December 1854._

... The Duke of Newcastle assures your Majesty that the condition
of the Hospital at Scutari, and the entire want of all method and
arrangement in everything which concerns the comfort of the Army, are
subjects of constant and most painful anxiety to him, and he wishes
most earnestly that he could see his way clearly to an early and
complete remedy.[73]

Nothing can be more just than are all your Majesty's comments upon the
state of facts exhibited by these letters, and the Duke of Newcastle
has repeatedly, during the last two months, written in the strongest
terms respecting them--but hitherto without avail, and with little
other result than a denial of charges, the truth of which must now be
considered to be substantiated.

Your Majesty is aware that the Duke of Newcastle sent out a Commission
to enquire into the whole state of the Medical Department nearly three
months ago, and he expects a report very soon.

In the meantime, the Duke of Newcastle will again write in the sense
of your Majesty's letter to him.

    [Footnote 73: Early in November, a band of capable and
    devoted nurses, under the superintendence of Miss Florence
    Nightingale, had arrived at Scutari, the experiment having
    been devised and projected by Mr Sidney Herbert, who was a
    personal friend of Miss Nightingale. The party was accompanied
    by Mr and Mrs Bracebridge, whose letters describing the
    condition of the hospitals had been sent by the Queen to the
    Duke of Newcastle.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th December 1854._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Once more, in this old and very _eventful_ year,
allow me to address you, and to ask you for the continuation of that
love and affection which you have ever borne me! May God bless you
and yours in this New Year--and though the old one departs in war and
blood, may we hope to see this year restore peace to this troubled
world, and may _we_ meet again also!

With the affectionate wishes of all the children, believe me always,
your most devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXIV


At the end of the year 1854, negotiations had been on foot with a
view to terminating the war, on terms which were known as the "Four
Points," the third of which was designed to extinguish Russian
preponderance in the Black Sea; and a conference of the Powers
ultimately assembled at Vienna for the purpose. Early in 1855,
Sardinia, under the influence of Cavour, her Premier, joined the
Western Alliance against Russia. On Parliament re-assembling in
January, Mr Roebuck gave notice of a motion for the appointment of a
Committee to enquire into the conduct of the war. Lord John Russell,
finding himself unable to resist the motion, at once resigned, and the
Ministry was overwhelmingly defeated by a majority of more than two
to one. Lord Derby, as Leader of the Conservative Opposition, was
summoned to form a Ministry, but failed to do so; the age of Lord
Lansdowne prevented his accepting the Premiership; and Lord John
Russell, whose action had largely contributed to the defeat of the
coalition, then attempted the task, but found that he could not
command the support even of his old Whig colleagues. The Queen
accordingly desired Lord Palmerston, whom the voice of the country
unmistakably indicated for the Premiership, to construct a Government;
he was successful in the attempt, the Cabinet being a reconstruction
of that of Lord Aberdeen, with Lord Panmure substituted for the Duke
of Newcastle at the War Office, while Lord John Russell was appointed
British Plenipotentiary at the Vienna Conference. The new Premier
desired to prevent the actual appointment of the Committee which Mr
Roebuck's motion demanded, the displacement of the late Ministry--the
real objective of the attack--having been effected; but as the House
of Commons manifested a determination to proceed with the appointment
of the Committee, the Peelite section of the Cabinet (Sir James
Graham, Mr Gladstone, and Mr Sidney Herbert) withdrew, and Lord John
Russell, who was then on his way to Vienna, accepted the Secretaryship
of the Colonies. Early in March, the Czar Nicholas died suddenly of
pulmonary apoplexy, and the expectation of peace increased; shortly
afterwards, the Emperor and Empress of the French paid a state visit
to this country, and were received with much enthusiasm, the Emperor
being made a Knight of the Garter.

In February, a determined attack by the Russians upon Eupatoria was
repulsed by the Turks; the defenders of Sebastopol, however, succeeded
in occupying and fortifying an important position, afterwards known as
the "Mamelon." The bombardment was resumed by the Allies in April,
and a successful attack made upon Kertsch, from which the supplies
of Sebastopol were mainly drawn; while a squadron under Captain Lyons
destroyed the Russian magazines and stores in the Sea of Azov. General
Canrobert was succeeded in the French command by General Pélissier,
and on the 7th of June the Mamelon was taken by the French. A
desperate but, as it proved, unsuccessful assault was then made by
the Allies on the Redan and Malakhoff batteries; at this juncture Lord
Raglan died, and was succeeded in the command by General Simpson.

The Vienna Conference proved abortive, Russia refusing to accept the
third point, and though a compromise was proposed by Austria, which
was favoured by the British and French Plenipotentiaries, their
respective Governments did not ratify their views. The negotiations
accordingly broke down, and Lord John Russell, on his return, used
language in Parliament quite inconsistent with the view which it
afterwards appeared he had urged at Vienna. He was loudly denounced
for this, and, to avoid Parliamentary censure, again resigned office.

Among the measures which became law during the session, were those
for enabling companies to be formed with limited liability, and for
granting self-government to some of the Australasian Colonies. The
Committee appointed by the House of Commons held its meetings in
public (after a proposal to keep its investigations secret had been
rejected), and, by the casting vote of the Chairman, reported that the
late Cabinet, when directing the expedition to the Crimea, had had
no adequate information as to the force they would have to encounter
there; but a motion to "visit with severe reprehension" every member
of the Cabinet was parried by carrying the "previous question."

In August, the Queen and Prince Albert paid a return visit to the
French Emperor, and were received with great magnificence in Paris,
while later in the year King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia visited this
country, and was made a Knight of the Garter. On the 9th of August,
Sweaborg was severely bombarded by the allied fleets in the Baltic,
and a forlorn attempt to raise the siege of Sebastopol resulted in
another decisive success at the Tchernaya, the Sardinian contingent
fighting with great bravery. Sebastopol fell on the 8th of September,
after a siege of three hundred and forty-nine days; the citadel of
Kinburn was bombarded and surrendered in October, after which General
Simpson retired, in favour of Sir William Codrington. On the other
hand, the fortress of Kars in Armenia, which had been defended by
General Fenwick Williams, had to surrender to the Russian General
Mouravieff, in circumstances, however, so honourable, that the
officers were allowed to retain their swords, and their General
received a Baronetcy and a pension of £1000 a year.




CHAPTER XXIV

1855


[Pageheading: THE FOUR POINTS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _9th January 1855._

THE Queen received Lord Clarendon's box by special messenger yesterday
evening. The acceptance by Russia of our interpretation of the
four points[1] is a most clever, diplomatic man[oe]uvre, and very
embarrassing for us at this moment, before Sebastopol is taken, and
before Austria has been compelled to join in the war. It leaves us no
alternative but to meet in conference, which, however, in the Queen's
opinion, ought to be preceded by a despatch to Austria, putting on
record our opinion as to the nature and object of the step taken by
Russia, and the advantages she hopes to derive by it from Austria and
Germany, and the disadvantages she expects to inflict on the Western
Powers. As hostilities ought not to be interrupted unless the Russians
give up Sebastopol and evacuate the Crimea (which would give rest
and quiet to our poor soldiers), there still remains the hope of our
getting the place before preliminaries of peace could be signed; and
in that case a Peace on the four points would be everything we could
desire, and much preferable to the chance of future convulsions of the
whole state of Europe. Russia would then have yielded all our wishes
for the future.

A mere moral defeat, such as Count Buol seems disposed to consider
as sufficient, would soon prove to have been none at all, and Austria
would be the Power which, to its cost, would find out (when too late)
that the preponderance of Russia is by no means diminished.

The Queen has given her permission to Lord John to go to Paris; he
will find the Emperor as little able to help himself in this stage of
the business as ourselves.

The Queen is afraid that the news of the Russian acceptance may induce
our commanders in the Crimea to rest on their oars, and thinks it
necessary, therefore, that immediate orders should go out, pointing
out that the early fall of the town is just now more important than
ever.

The Queen wishes Lord Clarendon to communicate this letter to Lord
Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle.

She returns to Windsor this afternoon.

    [Footnote 1: The celebrated "Four Points" were--

      1. Cessation of the Russian protectorate over Moldavia,
           Wallachia, and Servia: the privileges granted by the Sultan
           to the Principalities to be collectively guaranteed by the
           Powers.
      2. Free navigation of the Danube.
      3. Termination of the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea.
      4. Abandonment by Russia of her claim over any subjects of the
           Porte; the Five Powers to co-operate in obtaining from the
           Sultan the confirmation and observance of the religious
           privileges of the different Christian communities, and to
           turn to account in their common interest the generous
           intentions manifested by the Sultan, without infringing
           his dignity or the independence of his crown.

    Towards the end of 1854, negotiations as to the Four Points
    had been proceeding between the Allies and Austria, and on the
    28th of December the Three Powers had agreed in communicating
    to Russia a memorandum giving a more exact interpretation of
    the Four Points. This was agreed upon as the basis on which
    the Plenipotentiaries were to meet at Vienna to settle the
    Eastern Question, and to conclude the war.

    Another event, productive ultimately of results of great
    importance, took place at the end of January. King Victor
    Emmanuel of Sardinia joined the Western Alliance, and
    despatched 15,000 men under General La Marmora to the Crimea.
    This act was inspired by Cavour, the Sardinian Prime Minister,
    who took the step that Austria hesitated to take, and thereby
    established strong claims both upon the Emperor Napoleon and
    Lord Palmerston.]




[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN AND THE GARTER]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _10th January 1855._

Before Parliament meets for probably a very stormy Session, the Queen
wishes to give a public testimony of her continued confidence in Lord
Aberdeen's administration, by offering him the vacant Blue Ribbon.
The Queen need not add a word on her personal feelings of regard and
friendship for Lord Aberdeen, which are known to him now for a long
period of years.




_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _10th January 1855._

Lord Aberdeen presents his most humble duty to your Majesty. He has
had the honour of receiving your Majesty's most gracious letter, and
humbly begs to return your Majesty his grateful acknowledgments for
this mark of your Majesty's continued confidence and favour. When your
Majesty mentioned the subject to Lord Aberdeen some time ago, he had
not thought of any such distinction; and perhaps at his time of life,
and with his present prospects, he scarcely ought to do so. There
is no doubt that this unequivocal mark of gracious favour might
strengthen his hands, and especially in those quarters where it would
be most useful; but the power of misconstruction and malevolence is
so great that the effect might possibly be more injurious than
beneficial.

Perhaps your Majesty would be graciously pleased to permit Lord
Aberdeen to reflect a little on the subject, and to submit his
thoughts to your Majesty.

Lord Aberdeen entreats your Majesty to believe that in this, as
in everything else, it is his desire to look exclusively to your
Majesty's welfare. When he leaves your Majesty's service, your Majesty
may be fully aware of his many imperfections as a Minister; but he
trusts that your Majesty will always have reason to regard him as
perfectly disinterested.




_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _11th January 1855._

Lord Aberdeen presents his most humble duty to your Majesty. He has
maturely reflected on the subject of your Majesty's gracious letter
of yesterday, and he is fully sensible of the very important advantage
which, in his official position, he might derive from such a public
and signal proof of your Majesty's confidence and favour.

Although this might naturally give rise to more or less of political
animadversion, Lord Aberdeen would not hesitate in his decision, if
the alternative were only between himself and some Peer of high rank
whose claim consisted in being a supporter of the Government; but Lord
Aberdeen believes that he may venture to make a suggestion to your
Majesty, the effect of which would redound to your Majesty's honour,
and which might not prove altogether disadvantageous to himself.

Lord Aberdeen understands that in consequence of the regulations of
the Order, Lord Cardigan could not properly receive the Grand Cross
of the Bath. From his rank and station, Lord Cardigan might fairly
pretend to the Garter, but his violent party politics would make it
impossible for Lord Aberdeen, under ordinary circumstances, to submit
his name to your Majesty for this purpose. At the same time, Lord
Cardigan's great gallantry and personal sacrifices seem to afford
him a just claim to your Majesty's favourable consideration; and Lord
Aberdeen believes that to confer upon him the Blue Ribbon at this
moment would be regarded as a very graceful act on the part of your
Majesty. It is even possible that Lord Aberdeen's political opponents
might give him some credit for tendering such advice.

If therefore your Majesty should be pleased to take the same view of
this matter, Lord Aberdeen would communicate with Lord Cardigan on his
arrival in London, and would willingly postpone all consideration of
your Majesty's gracious intentions towards himself. But Lord Aberdeen
will venture humbly to repeat his grateful sense of all your Majesty's
kindness, and his acknowledgments for the expression of sentiments
which he can never sufficiently value.[2]

    [Footnote 2: Subsequently Lord Aberdeen yielded to the Queen's
    affectionate insistence, and was installed Knight of the
    Garter at a Chapter held on the 7th of February.]




[Pageheading: WELFARE OF THE ARMY]


_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Newcastle._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th January 1855._

The Queen returns the enclosed despatch to the Duke of Newcastle,
which she has read with much pleasure, as bringing before Lord
Raglan in an official manner--which will require official enquiry and
_answer_--the various points so urgently requiring his attention and
remedial effort. It is at the same time so delicately worded that it
ought not to offend, although it cannot help, from its matter, being
painful to Lord Raglan. The Queen has only one remark to make, viz.
the entire omission of her name throughout the document. It speaks
simply in the name of the _People_ of England, and of _their_
sympathy, whilst the Queen feels it to be one of her highest
prerogatives and dearest duties to care for the welfare and success of
_her_ Army. Had the despatch not gone before it was submitted to the
Queen, in a few words the Duke of Newcastle would have rectified this
omission.

The Duke of Newcastle might with truth have added that, making every
allowance for the difficulties before Sebastopol, it is difficult
to imagine how the Army could ever be _moved_ in the field, if the
impossibility of keeping it alive is felt in a _stationary camp_ only
seven miles from its harbour, with the whole British Navy and hundreds
of transports at its command.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th January 1855._

The Queen has received Lord Aberdeen's letter of the 11th, and has
since seen Lord John Russell's letter. It shows that the practice
of the Queen's different Cabinet Ministers going to Paris, to have
personal explanations with the Emperor, besides being hardly a
constitutional practice, must lead to much misunderstanding. How is
the Emperor to distinguish between the views of the Queen's Government
and the private opinions of the different members of the Cabinet, all
more or less varying, particularly in a Coalition Government?

The Queen hopes therefore that this will be the last such visit. The
Ambassador is the official organ of communication, and the Foreign
Secretary is responsible for his doing his duty, and has the means of
controlling him by his instructions and the despatches he receives,
all of which are placed on record.[3]

    [Footnote 3: The cause of Lord John's visit to Paris had been
    the illness there of his sister-in-law, Lady Harriet Elliot;
    but he took the opportunity of conferring both with
    the Emperor and his Ministers on the conduct of the
    war.--Walpole's _Life of Lord John Russell_, chap. XXV.]




[Pageheading: LETTER FROM LORD RAGLAN]

[Pageheading: THE COMMISSARIAT]


_Lord Raglan to Queen Victoria._

BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, _20th January 1855._

Lord Raglan presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has the
honour to acknowledge with every sentiment of devotion and gratitude
your Majesty's most gracious letter of 1st January, and the kind
wishes which your Majesty and the Prince are pleased to unite in
offering to the Army and your Majesty's most humble servant on the
occasion of the New Year.

The deep concern and anxiety felt by your Majesty and the Prince for
the privations of the troops, their unceasing labours, their exposure
to bad weather, and the extensive sickness which prevails among them,
are invaluable proofs of the lively interest which your Majesty and
His Royal Highness take in the welfare of an Army which, under no
circumstances, will cease to revere the name, and apply all its best
energies to the service of your Majesty.

Lord Raglan can with truth assure your Majesty that his whole time
and all his thoughts are occupied in endeavouring to provide for the
various wants of your Majesty's troops. It has not been in his power
to lighten the burthen of their duties. Those exacted from them before
Sebastopol are for the preservation of the trenches and batteries; and
there are many other calls upon the men, more especially when, as at
present, the roads are so bad that wheeled carriages can no longer
be used, and that the horse transport is diminished by sickness and
death, and that the Commissariat, having no longer any sufficient
means of conveyance at its command, cannot bring up the daily supplies
without their assistance, thereby adding, however inevitably, to their
labour and fatigue.

Lord Raglan begs leave to submit, for your Majesty's information, that
the Allied Armies have no intercourse with the country, and can derive
no resources from it; and consequently all the requirements for
the conveyance of stores and provisions, as well as the stores and
provisions themselves, must be imported. Such a necessity forms in
itself a difficulty of vast magnitude, which has been greatly felt by
him, and has been productive of the most serious consequences to the
comfort and welfare of the Army.

The coffee sent from Constantinople has been received and issued
to the troops green, the Commissariat having no means whatever of
roasting it. Very recently, however, an able officer of the Navy,
Captain Heath of the _Sanspareil_, undertook to have machines made by
the engineers on board his ship for roasting coffee; and in this he
has succeeded, but they have not yet produced as much as is required
for the daily consumption.

The Commissary-General applied to the Treasury for roasted coffee
three months ago. None has as yet arrived. A very large amount of warm
clothing has been distributed, and your Majesty's soldiers, habited in
the cloaks of various countries, might be taken for the troops of any
nation as well as those of England.

Huts have arrived in great abundance, and as much progress is made in
getting them up as could be hoped for, considering that there has been
a very heavy fall of snow, and that a thaw has followed it, and the
extremely limited means of conveyance at command.

Much having been said, as Lord Raglan has been given to understand, in
private letters, of the inefficiency of the officers of the Staff, he
considers it to be due to your Majesty, and a simple act of justice to
those individuals, to assure your Majesty that he has every reason
to be satisfied with their exertions, their indefatigable zeal, and
undeviating, close attention to their duties, and he may be permitted
to add that the horse and mule transport for the carriage of
provisions and stores are under the charge of the Commissariat, not of
the Staff, and that the Department in question engages the men who are
hired to take care of it, and has exclusive authority over them.

Lord Raglan transmitted to the Duke of Newcastle, in the month of
December, the report of a Medical Board, which he caused to assemble
at Constantinople for the purpose of ascertaining the state of health
of the Duke of Cambridge. The report evidently showed the necessity of
His Royal Highness's return to England for its re-establishment.
This, Lord Raglan knows, was the opinion of the Honourable
Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald,[4] whose attention and devotion to
His Royal Highness could not be surpassed, and who was himself very
anxious to remain with the Army.

The Duke, however, has not gone further than Malta, where, it is said,
his health has not improved.

    [Footnote 4: The Hon. James Bosville Macdonald [1810-1882],
    son of the third Baron Macdonald, A.D.C., Equerry and Private
    Secretary to the Duke of Cambridge.]




[Pageheading: THE ARMY BOARD]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _22nd January 1855._

The Queen has received Lord Aberdeen's letter of yesterday, giving an
account of the proceedings of the last Cabinet....

The Queen is quite prepared to sanction the proposal of constituting
the Secretary of State for War, the Commander-in-Chief, the
Master-General of the Ordnance, and the Secretary at War, a Board on
the affairs of the Army, which promises more unity of action in
these Departments, and takes notice of the fact that the powers and
functions of the Commander-in-Chief are not to be changed. As these,
however, rest entirely on tradition, and are in most cases ambiguous
and undefined, the Queen would wish that they should be clearly
defined, and this the more so as she transacts certain business
directly with him, and ought to be secured against getting into any
collision with the Secretary of State, who also takes her pleasure,
and gives orders to the Commander-in-Chief. She would further ask to
be regularly furnished with the Minutes of the proceedings of the new
Board, in order to remain acquainted with what is going on.

Unless, however, the Militia be made over to the direction of the
Secretary of State for _War_, our Army system will still remain very
incomplete. The last experience has shown that the Militia will have
to be looked upon as the chief source for recruiting the Army, and
this will never be done harmoniously and well, unless they both be
brought under the same control.

With reference to the Investiture of the Garter, the Queen need not
assure Lord Aberdeen that there are few, if any, on whom she will
confer the Blue Ribbon with greater pleasure than on so kind and
valued a friend as he is to us both.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _24th January 1855._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has had
the honour of receiving your Majesty's gracious invitation to Windsor
Castle. He would have waited upon your Majesty this day had he not
been constrained by a sense of duty to write to Lord Aberdeen last
night a letter of which he submits a copy.

Lord John Russell trusts your Majesty will be graciously pleased to
comply at once with his request. But he feels it would be right to
attend your Majesty's farther commands before he has the honour of
waiting upon your Majesty.




[Pageheading: MR. ROEBUCK'S MOTION]


[_Enclosure in previous Letter._]

_Lord John Russell to the Earl of Aberdeen._

CHESHAM PLACE, _23rd January 1855._

MY DEAR LORD ABERDEEN,--Mr Roebuck has given notice of a Motion to
enquire into the conduct of the war. I do not see how this Motion is
to be resisted. But as it involves a censure of the War Departments
with which some of my colleagues are connected, my only course is to
tender my resignation.

I therefore have to request you will lay my humble resignation of the
office, which I have the honour to hold, before the Queen, with the
expression of my gratitude for Her Majesty's kindness for many years.
I remain, my dear Lord Aberdeen, yours very truly,

J. RUSSELL.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL RESIGNS]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, 24th _January 1855._

The Queen has this moment received Lord John Russell's letter and
enclosure, and must express to him her surprise and concern at hearing
so abruptly of his intention to desert her Government on the Motion of
Mr Roebuck.




_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th January 1855._

Yesterday evening Lord Aberdeen came down here. He had heard that Lord
John had written to the Queen, and she showed him the correspondence.
He then reported that Lord John's letter to him had come without the
slightest notice and warning, and whatever the cause for it might be,
the object could only be to upset the Government. Upon receiving it,
he had sent for the Duke of Newcastle and shown it to him. The Duke
at once proposed, that as a sacrifice seemed to be required to appease
the public for the want of success in the Crimea, he was quite ready
to be that sacrifice, and entreated that Lord Aberdeen would put his
office into the hands of Lord Palmerston, who possessed the confidence
of the nation; Lord Aberdeen should propose this at once to the
Cabinet, he himself would support the Government _out_ of office like
_in_ office. Lord Aberdeen then went to Lord Palmerston to communicate
to him what had happened, and ascertain his feelings. Lord Palmerston
was disgusted at Lord John's behaviour,[5] and did not consider
himself the least bound to be guided by him; he admitted that
somehow or other the Public had a notion that he would manage the War
Department better than anybody else; as for himself, he did not expect
to do it half so well as the Duke of Newcastle, but was prepared to
try it, not to let the Government be dissolved, which at this moment
would be a real calamity for the country.

    [Footnote 5: Lord Palmerston wrote him a most scathing letter
    on the subject.]

The Cabinet met at two o'clock, and Lord Aberdeen laid the case
before it. The Duke then made his proposal, and was followed by Lord
Palmerston, who stated pretty much the same as he had done in the
morning, upon which Sir George Grey said it did both the Duke and Lord
Palmerston the highest honour, but he saw no possibility of resisting
Mr Roebuck's Motion without Lord John; Sir Charles Wood was of the
same opinion. Lord Clarendon proposed that, as the Duke had given
up his Department to Lord Palmerston, Lord John might be induced to
remain; but this was at once rejected by Lord Aberdeen on the ground
that they might be justified in sacrificing the Duke to the wishes
of the Country, but they could not to Lord John, with any degree of
honour. The upshot was, that the Whig Members of the Cabinet, not
being inclined to carry on the Government (including Lord Lansdowne),
they came to the unanimous determination to tender their resignations.

The Queen protested against this, as exposing her and the Country to
the greatest peril, as it was impossible to change the Government at
this moment without deranging the whole external policy in diplomacy
and war, and there was nobody to whom the reins could be confided.
Lord Derby and his party would never have done, but now he had allied
himself with Lord Ellenborough, who was determined to have the conduct
of the war....

Lord Aberdeen thought yet, that on him[6] devolved the responsibility
of replacing what he wantonly destroyed. The Queen insisted, however,
that Lord Aberdeen should make one appeal to the Cabinet to stand by
her, which he promised to do to the best of his ability, but without
hope of success. The Cabinet will meet at twelve o'clock to-day, but
at five the Ministers will have to announce their determination to the
Houses of Parliament, as Mr Roebuck's Motion stands for that hour.

ALBERT.

    [Footnote 6: _I.e._, Lord John Russell.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN'S JUSTIFICATION]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _25th January 1855._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has
received with deep regret the imputations of deserting the Government.

Lord John Russell, after being at the head of the Ministry for more
than five years, and being then the leader of a great party, consented
to serve under Lord Aberdeen, and served for more than a year and a
half without office.

After sacrificing his position and his reputation for two years, he
has come to the conclusion that it would not be for the benefit of
the country to resist Mr Roebuck's Motion. But it is clear that the
enquiry he contemplates could not be carried on without so weakening
the authority of the Government that it could not usefully go on.

In these circumstances Lord John Russell has pursued the course which
he believes to be for the public benefit.

With the most sincere respect for Lord Aberdeen, he felt he could
not abandon his sincere convictions in order to maintain the
Administration in office.

It is the cause of much pain to him that, after sacrificing his
position in order to secure your Majesty's service from interruption,
he should not have obtained your Majesty's approbation.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th January 1855._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter of to-day in
explanation of his resignation. She has done full justice to the
high-minded and disinterested manner in which Lord John sacrificed
two years ago his position as former Prime Minister and as Leader of a
great party, in consenting to serve under Lord Aberdeen, and hopes she
has sufficiently expressed this to him at the time. He will since
have found a further proof of her desire to do anything which could
be agreeable to him in his position, by cheerfully agreeing to all the
various changes of offices which he has at different times wished
for. If Lord John will consider, however, the moment which he has
now chosen to leave her Government, and the abrupt way in which his
unexpected intention of agreeing in a vote implying censure of the
Government was announced to her, he cannot be surprised that she could
not express her approbation.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN'S INDIGNATION]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th January 1855._

Lord Aberdeen arrived at six o'clock to report the result of the
meeting of the Cabinet, which was so far satisfactory that they
agreed upon retaining office at present for the purpose of meeting Mr
Roebuck's Motion. They expect (most of them, at least) to be beat and
to have to resign, but they think it more honourable to be driven out
than to run away. They will meet Parliament therefore without making
any changes in the offices. Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle
fancy even that they will have a chance of defeating Mr Roebuck's
Motion. Sir George Grey has declared, however, that, perfectly willing
as he is not to desert his post at this moment, he will consider
himself at liberty to resign even after success, as he thinks the
Government has no chance of standing with Lord John in Opposition.
The other Whigs would in that case very likely do the same, and the
Government come to an end in this way; but it is not impossible that
Sir George Grey may be prevailed upon by the Queen to stay. Much must
depend upon the nature of the Debate.

Lord Aberdeen seems to have put the Queen's desire that the Cabinet
should reconsider their former decision in the strongest words, which
seems to have brought about the present result. He saw Lord John this
morning who, though personally civil towards himself, was very much
excited and very angry at a letter which he had received from the
Queen. He said he would certainly vote with Mr Roebuck. The Houses are
to be adjourned to-day, and the whole discussion comes on to-morrow.
Lord Aberdeen brought a copy of a letter Lord Palmerston had written
to Lord John. The Peelites in the Cabinet, viz. the Dukes of Newcastle
and Argyll, Sir J. Graham, Mr Gladstone, and Mr S. Herbert, seem to be
very bitter against Lord John, and determined to oppose him should
he form a Government, whilst they would be willing to support a Derby
Government.

VICTORIA R.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _26th January 1855._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is
very grateful for your Majesty's communication of yesterday.

He confesses his resignation was very abrupt, but it is the
consequence of many previous discussions in which his advice had been
rejected or overruled.

Lord John Russell acknowledges the repeated instances of your
Majesty's goodness in permitting him to leave the Foreign Office,
and subsequently to serve without office as Leader of the House
of Commons. These changes, however, were not made without due
consideration. To be Leader of the House of Commons and Foreign
Secretary is beyond any man's strength. To continue for a long time
Leader without an office becomes absurd. Lord Aberdeen at first
meant his own continuance in office to be short, which justified the
arrangement.




[Pageheading: MR ROEBUCK'S MOTION]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._[7]

144 PICCADILLY, _26th January 1855._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that Lord John Russell having made his statement, concluding
with an announcement that he did not mean to vote on Mr Roebuck's
Motion, and Viscount Palmerston having made a few remarks on that
statement, Mr Roebuck rose to make his Motion; but the paralytic
affection under which he has for some time laboured soon overpowered
him, and before he had proceeded far in his speech he became so unwell
that he was obliged to finish abruptly, make his Motion, and sit down.

Mr Sidney Herbert, who was to reply to Mr Roebuck, rose therefore
under great disadvantage, as he had to reply to a speech which had not
been made; but he acquitted himself with great ability, and made an
excellent statement in explanation and defence of the conduct of the
Government. He was followed by Mr Henry Drummond,[8] Colonel North
for the Motion, Mr Monckton Milnes against it; Lord Granby who, in
supporting the Motion, praised and defended the Emperor of Russia; Mr
Layard, who in a speech of much animation, gave very strong reasons
to show the great impropriety of the Motion, and ended by saying he
should vote for it; Sir George Grey, who made a spirited and excellent
speech; Mr Walpole, who supported the Motion and endeavoured, but
fruitlessly, to establish a similarity between the enquiry proposed by
Mr Roebuck and the enquiry in a Committee of the whole House into the
conduct of the Walcheren Expedition when the operation was over and
the Army had returned to England. Mr Vernon Smith declared that his
confidence in the Government had been confined to three Members--Lord
Lansdowne, Lord John Russell, and Lord Palmerston--and that it was
greatly diminished by the retirement of Lord John Russell. Colonel
Sibthorp,[9] Sir John Fitzgerald, and Mr Knightley[10] followed, and
Mr Disraeli having said that his side of the House required that the
Debate should be adjourned, an adjournment to Monday was agreed to;
but Viscount Palmerston, in consenting to the adjournment, expressed a
strong hope that the Debate would not be protracted beyond that night.

Viscount Palmerston regrets to say that the general aspect of the
House was not very encouraging.

    [Footnote 7: His first letter to the Queen as Leader of the
    House of Commons.]

    [Footnote 8: M.P. for West Surrey.]

    [Footnote 9: Sibthorp, whose name is almost forgotten, earned
    some fame as an opponent of the Exhibition of 1851, and
    remained faithful to Protection, after Lord Derby and his
    party had dropped it. His beard, his eye-glass, and his
    clothes were a constant subject for the pencil of Leech.]

    [Footnote 10: Mr (afterwards Sir) Reginald Knightley, M.P. for
    South Northamptonshire, 1852-1892. In the latter year he was
    created Lord Knightley of Fawsley.]




[Pageheading: THE DEBATE]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _27th January 1855._

Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. It is probable
that your Majesty may have heard from Lord Palmerston some account
of the debate in the House of Commons last night; but perhaps your
Majesty may not object to learn the impressions which Lord Aberdeen
has received on the present state of affairs both in and out of the
House.

There can be no doubt that Lord John Russell has injured his position
by the course which he has pursued. His own friends having remained in
the Cabinet, is his practical condemnation. He made a very elaborate
and dexterous statement; but which, although very plausible, did not
produce a good effect. It had been decided that he should be followed
by Mr Gladstone, who was in full possession of the subject; but at the
Cabinet yesterday held before the meeting of the House, it was decided
that Lord Palmerston should follow Lord John, in order to prevent the
appearance of a division in the Cabinet between the Whig and Peelite
Members. As Lord Palmerston was to act as Leader of the House, the
substitution of Mr Gladstone would have appeared strange. But the
decision was unfortunate, for by all accounts the speech of Lord
Palmerston was singularly unsuccessful.

In the debate which followed, the impression in the House was strongly
against the War Department; and the indications which occasionally
appeared of the possibility of Lord Palmerston filling that office
were received with great cordiality. Sir George Grey made an excellent
speech, and his censure must have been deeply felt by Lord John.

Lord Aberdeen has waited until the Cabinet had met to-day before he
had the honour of writing to your Majesty, in order that he might
learn the impressions and opinions of the Members, especially of those
who are in the House of Commons. All agree that if the division had
taken place last night, Mr Roebuck's Motion would have been carried by
a large majority. This still seems to be the prevailing opinion, but
there is considerable difference. The Motion is so objectionable and
so unconstitutional that delay is likely to be favourable to those who
oppose it. A little reflection must produce considerable effect. Lord
Aberdeen sees that Mr Gladstone is preparing for a great effort, and
he will do whatever can be effected by reason and eloquence.

It is said that Lord Derby shows some reluctance to accept the
responsibility of overthrowing the Government; but the part taken last
night by Mr Walpole, and the notice of a Motion in the House of Lords
by Lord Lyndhurst, would appear to denote a different policy. The
result of the Division on Monday will depend on the course adopted by
his friends, _as a party_. It is said that Mr Disraeli has signified a
difference of opinion from Mr Walpole.




[Pageheading: DEFEAT OF THE MINISTRY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

144 PICCADILLY, _30th January 1855._

(2 A.M.)

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that Mr Roebuck's Motion has been carried by 305 to 148,
being a majority of 157 against the Government, a great number of the
Liberal party voting in the majority.

The debate was begun by Mr Stafford,[11] who gave a very interesting
but painful account of the mismanagement which he had witnessed in the
Hospitals at Scutari and Sebastopol, while he gave due praise to the
conduct of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge toward the men
under his command, and related the cheering effect produced by your
Majesty's kind letter, when read by him to the invalids in Hospital.
He was followed by Mr Bernal Osborne,[12] who found fault with all
the military arrangements at home, and with the system under which
Commissions in the Army are bought and sold, but who declared that he
should vote against the Motion.

Mr Henley then supported the Motion, directing his attack chiefly
against the management of the Transport Service.

Admiral Berkeley,[13] in reply, defended the conduct of the Admiralty.
Major Beresford supported the Motion, but defended Lord Raglan against
the attacks of the newspapers. Mr. Rice, Member for Dover, opposed the
Motion. Mr Miles[14] found fault with the Commissariat, and supported
the Motion, saying that the proposed enquiry would apply a remedy to
the evils acknowledged to exist in the Army in the Crimea; and Sir
Francis Baring, after ably pointing out the inconveniences of the
proposed Committee, said he should vote against it, as tending to
prevent those evils from being remedied. Mr Rich criticised the
composition of the Ministry, and the conduct of the war, and supported
the Motion as a means of satisfying public opinion. Sir Edward Lytton
Bulwer supported the Motion in a speech of considerable ability, and
was replied to by Mr Gladstone in a masterly speech, which exhausted
the subject, and would have convinced hearers who had not made up
their minds beforehand.

He was followed by Mr Disraeli, who in the course of his speech made
use of some expressions in regard to Lord John Russell, which drew
from Lord John some short explanations as to the course which he
had pursued. Viscount Palmerston then made some observations on
the Motion, and, after a few words from Mr Muntz,[15] Mr Thomas
Duncombe[16] asked Mr Roebuck whether, if he carried his Motion,
he really meant to name and appoint the Committee and prosecute the
enquiry, saying that he hoped and trusted that such was Mr Roebuck's
intention. Mr Roebuck declared that he fully meant to do so, and after
a short speech from Mr Roebuck, who lost the thread of his argument in
one part of what he said, the House proceeded to a division.

The Conservative Party abstained, by order from their Chiefs, from
giving the cheer of triumph which usually issues from a majority after
a vote upon an important occasion....

    [Footnote 11: Augustus Stafford (formerly Stafford O'Brien),
    Secretary of the Admiralty in the Derby Ministry of 1852.]

    [Footnote 12: Secretary of the Admiralty, who, contrary to
    modern practice, criticised on this occasion the action of his
    own colleagues.]

    [Footnote 13: Maurice Frederick Fitzhardinge Berkeley,
    1788-1867, M.P. for Gloucester 1831-1857.]

    [Footnote 14: M.P. for Bristol.]

    [Footnote 15: M.P. for Birmingham.]

    [Footnote 16: M.P. for Finsbury.]




[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN RESIGNS]

[Pageheading: LORD DERBY SUMMONED]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th January 1855._

Lord Aberdeen arrived here at three. He came from the Cabinet, and
tendered their unanimous resignation. Nothing could have been better,
he said, than the feeling of the members towards each other. Had it
not been for the incessant attempts of Lord John Russell to keep
up Party differences, it must be confessed that the experiment of a
coalition has succeeded admirably. We discussed future possibilities,
and agreed that there remained nothing to be done but to offer the
Government to Lord Derby, whose Party was numerically the strongest,
and had carried the Motion. He supposed Lord Derby would be prepared
for it, although he must have great difficulties, unless he took in
men from other Parties, about which, however, nothing could be known
at present.

Lord Aberdeen means to behave more generously to Lord Derby than he
had done to him, and felt sure that his colleagues would feel a desire
to support the Queen's new Government.

He said Lord Grey's plan[17] had not met with the approbation of the
House of Lords. The indignation at Lord John's conduct on all sides
was strongly on the increase.

Lord Aberdeen was much affected at having to take leave of us.

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 17: For concentrating in a single department the
    business connected with the administration of the Army.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th January 1855._

The Queen would wish to see Lord Derby at Buckingham Palace (whither
she is going for a few hours) to-morrow at half-past eleven.




_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Newcastle._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _31st January 1855._

The Queen has just received the Duke of Newcastle's letter.

She readily grants him the permission he asks,[18] and seizes this
opportunity of telling him how much she feels for him during this
trying time, and what a high sense she shall ever entertain of
his loyal, high-minded, and patriotic conduct, as well as of his
unremitting exertions to serve his Sovereign and Country.

    [Footnote 18: The Duke, in order to refute Lord John Russell,
    asked leave to state what had passed in the Cabinet.]




[Pageheading: INTERVIEW WITH LORD DERBY]

[Pageheading: THE LEADERSHIP]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _31st January 1855._

We went up to Buckingham Palace and saw Lord Derby at half-past
eleven. The Queen informed him of the resignation of the Government,
and of her desire that he should try to form a new one. She addressed
herself to him as the head of the largest Party in the House of
Commons, and which had by its vote chiefly contributed to the
overthrow of the Government. Lord Derby threw off this responsibility,
saying that there had been no communication with Mr Roebuck, but that
his followers could not help voting when Lord John Russell told them
on authority that there was the most ample cause for enquiry, and the
whole country cried out for it. Moreover, the Government, in meeting
the Motion, laid its chief stress upon its implying a want of
confidence in the Government--a confidence which they certainly did
not enjoy. He owned that his Party was the most compact--mustering
about two hundred and eighty men--but he had no men capable of
governing the House of Commons, and he should not be able to present
an Administration that would be accepted by the country unless it was
strengthened by other combinations; he knew that the whole country
cried out for Lord Palmerston as the only man fit for carrying on
the war with success, and he owned the necessity of having him in the
Government, were it even only to satisfy the French Government, the
confidence of which was at this moment of the greatest importance;
but he must say, speaking without reserve, that whatever the ignorant
public might think, Lord Palmerston was totally unfit for the task. He
had become very deaf as well as very blind, was seventy-one years
old, and ... in fact, though he still kept up his sprightly manners
of youth, it was evident that his day had gone by.[19] ... Lord Derby
thought, however, he might have the Lead of the House of Commons,
which Mr Disraeli was ready to give up to him. For the War Department
there were but two men--both very able, but both liable to objections:
the first was Lord Grey, who would do it admirably, but with whom he
disagreed in general politics, and in this instance on the propriety
of the war, which he himself was determined to carry on with the
utmost vigour; then came his peculiar views about the Amalgamation
of Offices, in which he did not at all agree. The other was Lord
Ellenborough, who was very able, and would certainly be very popular
with the Army, but was very unmanageable; yet he hoped he could keep
him in order. It might be doubtful whether Lord Hardinge could go on
with him at the Horse Guards. We agreed in the danger of Lord Grey's
Army proposal, and had to pronounce the opinion that Lord Ellenborough
was almost mad. This led us to a long discussion upon the merits of
the conduct of the war, upon which he seemed to share the general
prejudices, but on being told some of the real facts and difficulties
of the case, owned that these, from obvious reasons, could not be
stated by the Government in their defence, and said that he was aware
that the chief fault lay at headquarters in the Crimea. Lord Raglan
ought to be recalled, as well as his whole staff, and perhaps he could
render this less painful to him by asking him to join the Cabinet,
where his military advice would be of great value.

    [Footnote 19: Lord Derby's judgment was not borne out by
    subsequent events. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister when
    he died on the 18th of October 1865, ten years later. "The
    half-opened cabinet-box on his table, and the unfinished
    letter on his desk, testified that he was at his post to the
    last,"--Ashley's _Life of Lord Palmerston_, vol. ii. p. 273.]

To be able to meet the House of Commons, however, Lord Derby said he
required the assistance of men like Mr Gladstone and Mr S. Herbert,
and he was anxious to know whether the Queen could tell him upon what
support he could reckon in that quarter. We told him we had reason to
believe the Peelites would oppose a Government of Lord John Russell,
but were inclined to support one of Lord Derby's; whether they were
inclined to join in office, however, appeared very doubtful. The Queen
having laid great stress on a good selection for the office of Foreign
Affairs, Lord Derby said he would have to return to Lord Malmesbury,
who, he thought, had done well before, and had now additional
experience.

Should he not be able to obtain strength from the Peelites, he could
not be able to form a creditable Government; he must give up the task,
and thought the Queen might try some other combinations with Lord John
Russell or Lord Lansdowne, etc.

He did not think a reconstruction of the old Government would be
accepted by the country; however, whatever Government was formed to
carry on the war, should not only not be opposed by him, but have
his cordial support, provided it raised no question of general
constitutional importance.

Should all attempts fail, he would be ready to come forward to the
rescue of the country with such materials as he had, but it would be
"a desperate attempt."

Lord Derby returned a little before two from Lord Palmerston, to whom
he had gone in the first instance. Lord Palmerston was ready to accept
the Lead of the House of Commons, and acknowledged that the man
who undertook this could not manage the War Department besides. He
undertook to sound Mr Gladstone and Mr S. Herbert, but had, evidently
much to Lord Derby's surprise, said that it must be a coalition, and
not only the taking in of one or two persons, which does not seem
to suit Lord Derby at all--nor was he pleased at Lord Palmerston's
suggestion that he ought to try, by all means, to retain Lord
Clarendon at the Foreign Office. Lord Palmerston was to sound the
Peelites in the afternoon, and Lord Derby is to report the result to
the Queen this evening.

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: LORD CLARENDON]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES' SQUARE, _31st January 1855._
          (9:30 P.M.)

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, hastens to submit to your Majesty
the answer which he has this moment received from Viscount Palmerston
to the communication which he made to him this morning by your
Majesty's command. Lord Derby has not yet received from Mr Sidney
Herbert and Mr Gladstone the answers referred to in Lord Palmerston's
letter; but, from the tenor of the latter, he fears there can be no
doubt as to their purport. With respect to Lord Clarendon, Lord
Derby is fully sensible of the advantage which might accrue to your
Majesty's service from the continuance in office of a Minister of
great ability, who is personally cognizant of all the intricate
negotiations and correspondence which have taken place for the last
two years; and neither personally nor politically would he anticipate
on the part of his friends, certainly not on his own part, any
difficulty under existing circumstances, in co-operating with Lord
Clarendon; but the present political relations between Lord Clarendon
and Lord Derby's friends are such that, except upon a special
injunction from your Majesty, and under your Majesty's immediate
sanction, he would not be justified in making any overtures in that
direction.[20] Should Lord Derby receive any communication from Mr
Gladstone or Mr. Sidney Herbert before morning, he will send it down
to your Majesty by the earliest opportunity in the morning. Lord Derby
trusts that your Majesty will forgive the haste in which he writes,
having actually, at the moment of receiving Lord Palmerston's answer,
written a letter to say that he could not longer detain your Majesty's
messenger. Lord Derby will take no farther step until he shall have
been honoured by your Majesty's farther commands.

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant
and Subject,

DERBY.

[Pageheading: LORD DERBY'S REFUSAL]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

_1st February 1855._

Lord Derby came down here at eleven o'clock, and brought with him two
letters he had received from Mr Gladstone and Mr Sidney Herbert, who
both declared their willingness to give Lord Derby's Government an
independent support, but on mature consideration their impossibility
to take office in his Administration. Lord Derby said, as to
the independent support, it reminded him of the definition of an
independent Member of Parliament, viz. one that could not be depended
upon. Under the circumstances, he would not be able to form such an
Administration as could effectively carry on the Government.

    [Footnote 20: Although opposed to the ordinary procedure
    of party government, there were recent precedents for such
    overtures being made. When the Whigs displaced Peel in 1846,
    Lord John Russell attempted to include three of the outgoing
    Ministers in his Cabinet, and on the formation of the
    Coalition Ministry, negotiations were on foot to retain Lord
    St. Leonards on the woolsack.]

He thought that Lord Palmerston had at first been willing to join,
but it was now evident that the three letters had been written in
concert.[21]

    [Footnote 21: Lord Palmerston wrote that, upon reflection, he
    had come to the conclusion that he would not, by joining
    the Government, give to it that stability which Lord Derby
    anticipated. He, however, gave the promise of his support to
    any Government which would carry on the war with energy and
    vigour, and maintain the alliances which had been formed.]

He was anxious to carry any message to any other statesman with which
the Queen might wish to entrust him. This the Queen declined, with her
best thanks. He then wanted to know what statement Lord Aberdeen would
make to-night in the House, stating it to be very important that it
should not appear that the Administration had gone from Lord Aberdeen
through any other hands than the ones which should finally accept it.

It would be well known that he had been _consulted_ by the Queen, but
there was no necessity for making it appear that he had undertaken to
form an Administration. The fact was, that he had consulted none of
his Party except Mr Disraeli, and that his followers would have reason
to complain if they thought that he had put them altogether out of the
question. We told him that we did not know what Lord Aberdeen meant to
say, but the best thing would be on all accounts to state exactly the
truth as it passed.

After he had taken leave of the Queen with reiterated assurances of
gratitude and loyalty, I had a further long conversation with him,
pointing out to him facts with which he could not be familiar,
concerning our Army in the Crimea, our relations with our Ally,
negotiations with the German Courts, the state of public men and the
Press in this country, which convinced me that this country was in
a crisis of the greatest magnitude, and the Crown in the greatest
difficulties, which could not be successfully overcome unless
political parties would show a little more patriotism than hitherto.
They behaved a good deal like his independent Member of Parliament,
and tried to aggravate every little mishap in order to get Party
advantages out of it. I attacked him personally upon his ...
opposition to the Foreign Enlistment Bill, and pointed to the fact
that the French were now obtaining the services of that very
Swiss Legion we stood so much in need of. His defence was a mere
Parliamentary dialectic, accusing the clumsy way in which Ministers
had introduced their Bill, but he promised to do what he could to
relieve the difficulties of the country. In conclusion I showed him,
under injunctions of secrecy, the letter I had received from Count
Walewski, which showed to what a state of degradation the British
Crown had been reduced by the efforts on all sides for Party objects
to exalt the Emperor Napoleon, and make his will and use the sole
standard for the English Government.[22]

    [Footnote 22: This curious letter of the Count stated in
    effect that the alliance of England and France, and the
    critical circumstances of the day, made Lords Palmerston and
    Clarendon indispensable members of any Ministry that might be
    formed.]

Lord Derby called it the most audacious thing he had ever seen, adding
that he had heard that Count Walewski had stated to somebody with
reference to the Vienna Conferences: "What influence can a country
like England pretend to exercise, which has no Army and no
Government?"

I told him he was right, as every one here took pains to prove that
we had no Army, and to bring about that the Queen should have no
Government.




[Pageheading: LORD LANSDOWNE CONSULTED]

[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL SUGGESTED]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _2nd February 1855._

Lord Lansdowne arrived late yesterday evening. The Queen, after having
stated that Lord Derby had given up the task of forming a Government,
asked his advice under the present circumstances, to which he replied
that he had little advice to give. I interrupted that at least he
could impart knowledge to the Queen, upon which she could form
a decision. The first and chief question was, What was Lord John
Russell's position? Lord Lansdowne declared this to be the most
difficult question of all to answer. He believed Lord John was not at
all dissatisfied with the position he had assumed, and was under the
belief that he could form an Administration capable of standing,
even without the support of the Peelites. He (Lord Lansdowne) would
certainly decline to have anything to do with it, as it could
receive its support only from the extreme Radical side, which was not
favourable to Lord John, but shrewd enough to perceive that to obtain
a Government that would have to rest entirely upon themselves would
be the surest mode of pushing their own views. Lord John, although not
intending it, would blindly follow this bias, excusing himself with
the consideration that he must look for support somewhere. He himself
doubted, however, even the possibility of Lord John succeeding; but
till he was brought to see this no strong Government was possible.
We asked about the Peelites, Lord Palmerston, etc. He did not
know whether the Peelites would serve with Lord John Russell--they
certainly would not under him. There was a strong belief, however,
particularly on the part of Lord Clarendon, and even shared by Lord
Palmerston, that without Lord John a stable Government could not
be formed. The Queen asked whether they could unite under him (Lord
Lansdowne). He replied he had neither youth nor strength to make an
efficient Prime Minister, and although Lord John had often told him
"If you had been in Aberdeen's place my position would have been quite
different," he felt sure Lord John would soon be tired of him and
impatient to see him gone. He thought an arrangement might be possible
by which Lord Clarendon might be Prime Minister, Lord John go to the
House of Lords and take the Foreign Office, and Lord Palmerston
the Lead in the House of Commons. We told him that would spoil two
efficient men. Lord Clarendon had no courage for Prime Minister, and
Lord John had decidedly failed at the Foreign Office.

Lord Lansdowne had had Lord Palmerston with him during the Derby
negotiation, and clearly seen that at first he was not unwilling to
join, but had more and more cooled upon it when he went further into
the matter. Lord Derby and Lord Palmerston had had a full discussion
upon Lord Grey, and discarded him as quite impracticable.... After
much farther discussion it was agreed that Lord Lansdowne should go
up to Town this day, see first Lord Palmerston, then the Peelites,
and lastly Lord John, and come to Buckingham Palace at two o'clock,
prepared to give answers upon the question what was feasible and what
not. He inclines to the belief that we shall have to go through the
ceremony at least of entrusting Lord John with the formation of an
Administration.

Lord John was not without large following amongst the Whigs, and
whatever was said about his late conduct in the higher circles,
he believed that it is well looked upon by the lower classes. His
expression was, that it would be found that the first and second class
carriages in the railway train held opposite opinions.




_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February 1855._

Lord Lansdowne arrived at two o'clock, and reported that he had seen
all the persons intended, but he could not say that he saw his
way more clearly. They all gave pledges generally to support any
Government, but were full of difficulties as to their participation in
one.

Mr Gladstone would clearly not serve under Lord John--might possibly
with him--if much pressed by Lord Aberdeen to do so. He would probably
serve under Lord Palmerston. Mr S. Herbert expressed apprehension at
the effect upon the prospects of peace which would be produced by Lord
Palmerston's being at the head of the Government.

Lord John Russell would not serve under Lord Palmerston, and fancies
he might form a Whig Administration himself, of which Lord Palmerston,
however, must be the chief member. Lord Palmerston would not like
to serve under Lord John Russell--would be ready to form an
Administration, which could not have duration, however, in his
opinion, if Lord John Russell held aloof!

He found Lord John fully impressed with the fact of his having
brought the Queen into all these difficulties, and of owing her what
reparation he could make. Lord Palmerston also felt that he had
some amends to make to the Queen for former offences. We asked Lord
Lansdowne whether they could not be combined under a third person. He
felt embarrassed about the answer, having to speak of himself. Both
expressed their willingness to serve under him--but then he was
seventy-five years old, and crippled with the gout, and could not
possibly undertake such a task except for a few months, when the whole
Administration would break down--of which he did not wish to be the
cause. In such a case, Lord John had stated to him that the man to be
Leader of the House of Commons was Lord Palmerston, meaning himself
to be transferred to the House of Lords, in his former office as
President of the Council.

Without presuming to give advice, Lord Lansdowne thought that under
all circumstances it would do good if the Queen was to see Lord John
Russell, and hear from himself what he could do. She could perfectly
keep it in her power to commission whom she pleased hereafter, even if
Lord John should declare himself willing to form a Government.

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL SUMMONED]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February 1855._

The Queen has just seen Lord Lansdowne. As what he could tell her has
not enabled her to see her way out of the difficulties in which the
late proceedings in Parliament have placed her, she wishes to see Lord
John Russell in order to confer with him on the subject.




[Pageheading: INTERVIEW WITH LORD JOHN]

[Pageheading: NEGOTIATIONS]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria_[23]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February 1855._

Lord John Russell came at five o'clock.

The Queen said she wished to consult him on the present crisis, and
hear from him how the position of Parties stood at this moment. He
said that immediately at the meeting of Parliament a general desire
became manifest for a modification of the Government; that the
Protectionists were as hostile to the Peelites as they had been in the
year '46; that the old Whigs had with difficulty been made to support
the late Government; that the dissatisfaction with the conduct of the
war was general, and the country cried out for Lord Palmerston at the
War Department; that he considered it of the greatest importance
that Lord Clarendon should remain at the Foreign Office, where he had
gained great reputation, and nobody could replace him. On the
question whether Lord Palmerston would be supported if he formed an
Administration, he said everybody would give a general support, but he
doubted the Whigs joining him. He did not know what the Peelites
would do, but they would be an essential element in the Government,
particularly Mr Gladstone; the best thing would be if Lord Palmerston
took the lead of the House of Commons. A Government formed by Lord
Lansdowne or Lord Clarendon would ensure general support, but Lord
Lansdowne had declared that he would not undertake it for more than
three months, and then the Government would break down again; and we
objected that Lord Clarendon ought, as he had said, not to be moved
from the Foreign Office, to which he agreed. He himself would prefer
to sit on the Fourth Bench and support the Government. The Queen asked
him whether he thought he could form a Government. After having taken
some time for reflection, he said he thought he could,[24] but he
thought it difficult without the Peelites, and next to impossible
without Lord Palmerston; he did not know whether both or either would
serve with or under him; he would offer Lord Palmerston the choice
between the Lead of the House of Commons and the War Department--and
in case he should choose the former, ask himself to be removed to the
House of Lords; he had been Leader of the House of Commons since '34,
and as far as being able to support his title, he was enabled to do
so, as his brother, the Duke of Bedford, intended to leave an estate
of £5000 a year to his son. The Queen asked him whether he would do
the same under the Administration of Lord Lansdowne, for instance;
he begged to be allowed time to consider that. He acknowledged to the
Queen--on her remark that he had contributed to bring her into the
present difficulties--that he was bound to do what he could to help
her out of them; and on the Queen's question what he could do, he
answered that depended very much on what the Queen would wish him to
do.

    [Footnote 23: This Memorandum, though signed by the Queen, was
    written by the Prince.]

    [Footnote 24: Colonel Phipps thus describes Lord Aberdeen's
    comment on Lord John Russell's words:--"I told Lord Aberdeen
    that Lord John had said that he thought that he could form a
    Government. He laughed very much, and said: 'I am not at all
    surprised at that, but whom will he get to serve under him?
    Has he at present any idea of the extent of the feeling that
    exists against him?' I replied that I thought not, that it was
    difficult for anybody to tell him, but that I thought that it
    was right that he should know what the feeling was, and that
    he would soon discover it when he began to ask people to join
    his Government. Lord Aberdeen said that was very true...."]

She commissioned him finally to meet Lord Lansdowne and Lord
Palmerston, to consult together, and to let Lord Lansdowne bring her
the result of their deliberation this evening, so that she might see a
little more clearly where the prospect of a strong Government lay.

We had some further discussion upon Mr Roebuck's Committee, which
he thinks will not be as inconvenient as all his friends suppose.
It would meet with great difficulties, and might be precluded from
drawing up a report. On Lord Grey's Motion[25] and the Army question
he declared that he held to his Memorandum of the 22nd January which
the Duke of Newcastle had read to the House of Lords, and acknowledged
the necessity of maintaining the office of the Commander-in-Chief,
although subordinate to the Secretary of State, and retaining the Army
Patronage distinct from the Political Patronage of the Government.

    [Footnote 25: See _ante_, 30th January, 1855, note 17.]

I omitted to mention that Lord John, in answer to the question whether
Lord Clarendon would serve under Lord Palmerston, answered that he
could not at all say whether he would; he had mentioned to him the
possibility, when Lord Clarendon drew up and made a long face.

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February 1855._

The Queen has just seen Lord Lansdowne after his return from his
conference with Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston. As moments are
precious, and the time is rolling on without the various consultations
which Lord Lansdowne has had the kindness and patience to hold with
the various persons composing the Queen's late Government having led
to any positive result, she feels that she ought to entrust some one
of them with the distinct commission to attempt the formation of a
Government. The Queen addresses herself in this instance to Lord John
Russell, as the person who may be considered to have contributed to
the vote of the House of Commons, which displaced her late Government,
and hopes that he will be able to present her such a Government
as will give a fair promise successfully to overcome the great
difficulties in which the country is placed. It would give her
particular satisfaction if Lord Palmerston could join in this
formation.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S ATTEMPT]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _2nd February 1855._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He
acknowledges that having contributed to the vote of the House of
Commons, which displaced your Majesty's late Government (although the
decision would in any case have probably been unfavourable), he is
bound to attempt the formation of a Government.

As your Majesty has now entrusted him with this honourable task, and
desired that Lord Palmerston should join in it, Lord John Russell will
immediately communicate with Lord Palmerston, and do his utmost to
form a Government which will give a fair promise to overcome the
difficulties by which the country is surrounded.

Lord John Russell considers Lord Clarendon's co-operation in this task
as absolutely essential.




_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd February 1855._

Lord John Russell arrived at half-past one o'clock, and stated that
he had to report some progress and some obstacles. He had been to Lord
Palmerston, and had a long and very free discussion with him. He (Lord
Palmerston) told him although the general voice of the public had
pointed him out as the person who ought to form a Government, he
had no pretensions himself or personal views, and was quite ready to
accept the lead of the House of Commons under Lord John in the House
of Lords; but that he thought that, if the Queen would see him, now
that she had seen Lord Derby, Lord John, and Lord Lansdowne, it would
remove any impression that there were personal objections to him
entertained by the Queen, which would much facilitate the position of
the new Government. They then discussed the whole question of
offices, agreed that Lord Panmure would be the best person for the War
Department; that Lord Grey could not be asked to join, as his views
on the Foreign Policy differed so much from theirs, and he had always
been an intractable colleague; that if Mr Gladstone could not be
prevailed upon to join, Mr Labouchere,[26] although an infinitely
weaker appointment, might be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir F.
Baring replace Sir J. Graham, if he could not be got to stay.

    [Footnote 26: He had been President of the Board of Trade in
    the former administration of Lord John Russell.]

Lord John then saw Mr S. Herbert, who declared to him that it was
impossible for any of the Peelites to join his Government, connected
as they were with Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle, but that
they would infinitely prefer a Government of Lord John's to one of
Lord Palmerston, whose views on Foreign Policy, uncontrolled by Lord
Aberdeen, they sincerely dreaded.

Lord John then went to Lord Clarendon, and was surprised to find that
he could not make up his mind to remain at the Foreign Office under
his Government. Lord John thought that the expression of a wish on
the part of the Queen would go a great way to reconcile him. His
objections were that he had always received the handsomest support
from the Peelites, and thought the Government too weak without their
administrative ability.

Lord John had seen none of his own friends, such as Sir G. Grey, Sir
C. Wood, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Granville, but had not the smallest
doubt that they would cordially co-operate with him.

Lord John is to come again at a quarter before six o'clock. The Queen
has appointed Lord Palmerston for three o'clock, and Lord Clarendon at
four.




[Pageheading: ATTITUDE OF THE PEELITES]

[Pageheading: THE FOREIGN OFFICE]

[Pageheading: LORD CLARENDON]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._[27]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd February 1855._

    [Footnote 27: This Memorandum, though signed by the Queen, was
    written by the Prince.]

In the Audience which the Queen has just granted to Lord Palmerston,
he thanked her for the message which she had sent him through Lord
John Russell, and declared his readiness to serve her in any way he
could under the present difficulties. He had preferred the lead of
the House of Commons to the War Department, having to make a choice
between two duties which no man could perform together.

In answer to a question from the Queen, he said he hoped that the
present irritation in the Whig party would subside, and that he would
be able to complete a Government. He regretted that the Peelites
thought it impossible for them to join, which would make it very
difficult for Lord John. He had just heard from Count Walewski that
Lord Clarendon was very much disinclined to remain at the Foreign
Office under Lord John. They were to have a meeting at Lord John's at
five, where he hoped to find that he had waived his objections; but he
must say that if Lord Clarendon persisted he must himself withdraw, as
he had indeed made it a condition with Lord John. The Queen asked him
whether, if this attempt failed, she could reckon upon his services in
any other combination. His answer was that it was better not to answer
for more than one question at a time; we must now suppose that this
will succeed.

What he stated with reference to the Army question and the Committee
of the House of Commons was perfectly satisfactory.


Lord Clarendon, whom we saw at four o'clock, complained very much of
the unfairness of Lord John in making him personally answerable for
impeding the progress of Lord John's Government. The fact was that his
opinion was only that of every other member of the late Government,
and of the public at large; which could be heard and seen by anybody
who chose to listen or to read. So impossible had it appeared to the
public that Lord John should be blind enough to consider his being
able to form a Government feasible, that it was generally supposed
that he had been urged to do so by the Queen, in order to escape
the necessity of Lord Palmerston. He acknowledged that the Queen's
decision in that respect had been the perfectly correct and
constitutional one, and perhaps necessary to clear the way; but he
hoped that for her own sake, and to prevent false impressions
taking root in the public mind, the Queen would give afterwards Lord
Palmerston his fair turn also, though he could not say that he would
be able to form an Administration. The Queen said that this was her
intention, that she never had expected that Lord John would be able
to form one, but that it was necessary that his eyes should be opened;
Lord Clarendon only regretted the precious time that was lost.

He must really say that he thought he could do no good in joining Lord
John; his Government would be "a stillborn Government," which "the
country would tread under foot the first day," composed as it would be
of the same men who had been bankrupt in 1852, minus the two best men
in it, viz. Lord Lansdowne and Lord Grey, and the head of it ruined
in public opinion. If he were even to stay at the Foreign Office, his
language to foreign countries would lose all its weight from being
known not to rest upon the public opinion of England, and all this
would become much worse when it became known that from the first day
of Lord John's entering into Lord Aberdeen's Government, he had only
had one idea, viz. that of tripping him up, expel the Peelites, and
place himself at the head of an exclusive Whig Ministry. Besides,
he felt that the conduct of all his colleagues had been most
straightforward and honourable towards him, and he was not prepared
"to step over their dead bodies to the man who had killed them." The
attempt of Lord John ought _not_ to succeed if public morality were
to be upheld in this country. He had avoided Lord John ever since his
retirement, but he would have now to speak out to him, as when he was
asked to embark his honour he had a right to count the cost.

Lord Lansdowne had no intention to go to Lord John's meeting, as he
had originally taken leave of public life, and had only entered the
Coalition Government in order to facilitate its cohesion; among a
Government of pure Whigs he was not wanted, for there was no danger
of their not _cohering_. Sir C. Wood declared he had no business to be
where Lord Lansdowne refused to go in.

He thought Lord Palmerston would have equal difficulty in forming an
administration, but when that had failed some solid combination would
become possible.

Lord Lansdowne had declared that he could not place himself at the
head for more than three months, but that was a long time in these
days.

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: FRESH DIFFICULTIES]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

Lord John Russell returned at six o'clock from his meeting, much
put out and disturbed. He said he had nothing good to report. Mr
Gladstone, whom he had seen, had declined to act with him, saying that
the country did not wish for Coalitions at this moment. Sir J. Graham,
whom he had visited, had informed him that the feeling against him was
very strong just now, precluding support in Parliament; he gave him
credit for good intentions, but said the whole difficulty was owing
to what he termed his (Lord John's) _rashness_. He felt he could not
separate from Lord Aberdeen, and had no confidence in the views of
Foreign Affairs of Lord Palmerston.

He had then seen Sir George Grey, who told him he had no idea that
a Government of Lord John's could stand at this moment; the country
wanted Lord Palmerston either as War Minister or as Prime Minister.
He must hesitate to engage himself in Lord John's Government, which,
separated from the Peelites, would find no favour. Lord Clarendon
had reiterated his objections, saying always that this must be gone
through, and something new would come up at the end, when all these
attempts had failed. He could not understand what this should be. Did
Lord Clarendon think of himself as the head of the new combination? I
asked what Lord Lansdowne had said. He answered he had a letter from
him, which was not very agreeable either. He read it to us. It was
to the purport--that as Lord John had been commissioned to form an
Administration, and he did not intend to join it, he thought it better
not to come to his house in order to avoid misconstruction. Lord John
wound up, saying that he had asked Lord Clarendon and Sir G. Grey to
reflect further, and to give their final answer to-morrow morning.
The loss of the Peelites would be a great blow to him, which might
be overcome, however; but if his own particular friends, like Lord
Clarendon and Sir G. Grey, deserted him, he felt that he could go on
no farther, and he hoped the Queen would feel that he had done all he
could.

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN'S FAILURE]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._[28]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd February 1855._

    [Footnote 28: This Memorandum, though signed by the Queen, was
    written by the Prince.]

Lord Lansdowne arrived at half-past nine in the evening, and met our
question whether he had anything satisfactory to report, with the
remark that he saw his way less than ever, and that matters had rather
gone backward since he had been here in the morning. He had been
in the afternoon at Sir James Graham's bedside, who had had a
consultation with Mr Gladstone, and declared to him that the country
was tired of Coalitions, and wanted a united Cabinet; that they (the
Peelites) could not possibly serve under Lord John or even with him
after what had happened; that he felt the strongest objections to
serving under Lord Palmerston. They were one and all for the vigorous
prosecution of the war, but in order to attain a speedy peace. Lord
Palmerston was known to entertain ulterior views, on which he was
secretly agreed with the Emperor of the French; and when it came to
the question of negotiations, the Government was sure to break up on
a ground most dangerous to the country. Lord Lansdowne could but agree
in all this, and added he had been tempted to feel his pulse to know
how much it had gone down since he had been with Sir James.

The meeting between Lord Palmerston and Lord John had just taken place
in his presence. They had discussed everything most openly, but being
both very guarded to say nothing which could lead the other to believe
that the one would serve under the other. He confessed everything was
darker now than before. They both seemed to wish to form a Government,
but he could really not advise the Queen what to do under the
circumstances.

I summed up that the Queen appeared to me reduced to the necessity
of now entrusting one of the two with a _positive_ commission. It
was very important that it should not appear that the Queen had any
personal objection to Lord Palmerston; on the other hand, under such
doubtful circumstances, it would be safest for the Queen to follow
that course which was clearly the most constitutional, and this was,
after having failed with Lord Derby, to go to Lord John, who was the
other party to the destruction of the late Government. The Queen might
write such a letter to Lord John as would record the political reasons
which led to her determination. Lord Lansdowne highly approved of
this, and suggested the addition of an expression of the Queen's hope
of seeing Lord Palmerston associated in that formation.

I drew up the annexed draft which Lord Lansdowne read over and
entirely approved.

He has no idea that Lord John will succeed in his task, but thinks it
a necessary course to go through, and most wholesome to Lord John to
have his eyes opened to his own position, of which he verily believed
he was not the least aware.

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th February 1855._

The Queen quite approves of the pension to Sir G. Grey, which he has
fully earned, but would wish Lord Aberdeen well to consider the exact
moment at which to offer it to him, as Sir George is so very delicate
in his feelings of honour. Lord John Russell will probably have
to give up the task of forming an Administration on account of Sir
George's declining to join him. If the pension were offered to him by
Lord Aberdeen during the progress of negotiations, he could not help
feeling, she thinks, exceedingly embarrassed.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _4th February 1855._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He saw
last night Sir George Grey, who is extremely averse to the formation
of a purely Whig Government at this time. Since that time he has
received the two notes enclosed: one from Lord Palmerston, the other
early this morning from Lord Clarendon.[29]

It only remains for him to acknowledge your Majesty's great kindness,
and to resign into your Majesty's hands the task your Majesty was
pleased to confide to him.

    [Footnote 29: Lord Palmerston wrote:--

    "144 PICCADILLY, _3rd February 1855._

    "MY DEAR JOHN RUSSELL,--I certainly inferred from what
    Clarendon said this afternoon at your house, that he had
    pretty well made up his mind to a negative answer, and I could
    only say to you that which I said to Derby when he asked me
    to join him, that I should be very unwilling, in the present
    state of our Foreign relations, to belong to any Government in
    which the management of our Foreign Affairs did not remain in
    Clarendon's hands.

    "George Grey, by your account, seems to tend to the same
    conclusion as Clarendon, and I think, from what fell from
    Molesworth, whom I sat next to at the Speaker's dinner this
    evening, that he would not be disposed to accept any offer
    that you might make him.

    --Yours sincerely, PALMERSTON."

    Lord Clarendon wrote:--

    "GROSVENOR CRESCENT, _3rd February 1855._

    "MY DEAR LORD JOHN,--The more I reflect upon the subject, the
    more I feel convinced that such a Government as you propose to
    form would not satisfy the public nor command the confidence
    of the Country.

    "To yourself personally I am sure it would be most injurious
    if you attempted to carry on the Government with inadequate
    means at this moment of national danger.

    "On public and on private grounds, therefore, I should wish to
    take no part in an Administration that cannot in my opinion be
    either strong or permanent. Yours sincerely,

    CLARENDON."]




[Pageheading: LORD PALMERSTON PREMIER]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th February 1855._

Lord John Russell having just informed the Queen that he was obliged
to resign the task which the Queen confided to him, she addresses
herself to Lord Palmerston to ask him whether he can undertake to form
an Administration which will command the confidence of Parliament and
efficiently conduct public affairs in this momentous crisis? Should he
think that he is able to do so, the Queen commissions him to undertake
the task. She does not send for him, having fully discussed with him
yesterday the state of public affairs, and in order to save time.
The Queen hopes to receive an answer from Lord Palmerston as soon as
possible, as upon this her own movements will depend.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

144 PICCADILLY, _4th February 1855._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and with
a deep sense of the importance of the commission which your Majesty
asks whether he will undertake, he hastens to acknowledge the gracious
communication which he has just had the honour to receive from your
Majesty.

Viscount Palmerston has reason to think that he can undertake with a
fair prospect of success to form an Administration which will command
the confidence of Parliament and effectually conduct public affairs in
the present momentous crisis, and as your Majesty has been graciously
pleased to say that if such is his opinion, your Majesty authorises
him to proceed immediately to the accomplishment of the task, he will
at once take steps for the purpose; and he trusts that he may be
able in the course of to-morrow to report to your Majesty whether his
present expectations are in the way to be realised.




[Pageheading: WHIG SUPPORT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _5th February 1855._
            (5 P.M.)

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
had the honour to receive your Majesty's communication of to-day; and
in accordance with your Majesty's desire, he begs to report the result
of his proceedings up to the present time.

The Marquis of Lansdowne, the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Clarendon,
the Earl Granville, Sir George Grey, Sir Charles Wood, have expressed
their willingness to be members of the Administration which Viscount
Palmerston is endeavouring to form, provided it can be constructed
upon a basis sufficiently broad to give a fair prospect of duration.

Mr Gladstone, Mr Sidney Herbert, and the Duke of Argyll have declined
chiefly on the ground of personal and political attachment to the Earl
of Aberdeen, against whom, as well as against the Duke of Newcastle,
they say they consider the vote of the House of Commons of last week
as having been levelled. Viscount Palmerston has not yet been able to
ascertain the decision of Sir James Graham, but it will probably be
the same as that of his three colleagues.

Viscount Palmerston hopes, nevertheless, to be able to submit for your
Majesty's consideration such a list as may meet with your Majesty's
approval, and he will have the honour of reporting further to your
Majesty to-morrow.




[Pageheading: THE PEELITES]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th February 1855._

We came to Town to hear the result of negotiations, and saw Lord
Palmerston at one o'clock. He said there were circumstances which
prevented him from submitting a List of the Cabinet, but would at all
events be able to do so in the afternoon.

Lords Lansdowne, Clarendon, Granville, Sir G. Grey, Sir C. Wood,
Sir William Molesworth, and the Chancellor had consented to
serve--unconditionally--having withdrawn their former conditions in
consequence of the very general opinion expressed out of doors that
the country could not much longer be left without a Government. He
heard this had also made an impression upon the Peelites, who had
refused to join. He submitted their letters (declining) to the
Queen, of which copies are here annexed. They had been written after
consultation with Sir J. Graham, but Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of
Newcastle having heard of it, have since exerted themselves strongly
to prevail upon them to change their opinion, and it was still
possible that they would do so. Lord Clarendon had suggested that if
Lord Aberdeen himself was invited to join the Government, and could
be induced to do so, this would obviate all difficulty. He had in
consequence asked Lord Lansdowne to see Lord Aberdeen on the subject,
as his joining could only be agreeable to him. Many of the Peelites
not in the late Cabinet had strongly disapproved of the decision
taken by Mr Gladstone and friends, and offered their services, amongst
others Lord Canning, Lord Elcho,[30] and Mr Cardwell.

    [Footnote 30: Now Earl of Wemyss.]

Lord Palmerston had been with Lord John Russell yesterday, and had had
a very long conversation with him in a most friendly tone; he asked
Lord John whether he would follow out the proposal which he had lately
made himself, and take the lead in the House of Lords as President of
the Council. He declined, however, saying he preferred to stay out of
office and to remain in the House of Commons, which Lord Palmerston
obviously much regretted. They went, however, together all over the
offices and their best distribution. He would recommend Lord Panmure
for the War Department and Mr Layard as Under Secretary.... Lord
Palmerston was appointed to report further progress at five o'clock.

VICTORIA R.




_The Prince Albert to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th February 1855_.

MY DEAR LORD ABERDEEN,--It would be a great relief to the Queen if you
were to agree to a proposal which we understand is being made to
you to join the new Government, and by so doing to induce also Mr
Gladstone, Mr S. Herbert, and Sir James Graham to do the same.

Ever yours truly, ALBERT.




[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN INTERVENES]


_The Earl of Aberdeen to the Prince Albert._

LONDON, _6th February 1855_.

SIR,--I am sanguine in believing that the great object of the union of
my friends with the new Government may be attained without the painful
sacrifice to which your Royal Highness refers. Contrary to my advice,
they yesterday declined to remain in the Cabinet, but I have renewed
the subject to-day, and they have finally decided to place themselves
in my hands. This rendered other explanations necessary, before I
could undertake so great a responsibility. When I shall have the
honour of seeing your Royal Highness, I will, with your Royal
Highness's permission, communicate what has passed, so far as I am
concerned.

I venture to enclose the copy of a letter which I addressed to Mr
Herbert this morning, in answer to one received from him late last
night, in which he expressed his doubts of the propriety of the first
decision at which they had arrived. I have the honour to be, Sir, your
Royal Highness's most humble and devoted Servant,

ABERDEEN.




[Pageheading: MR SIDNEY HERBERT]


[_Enclosure--Copy._]

_The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr S. Herbert._

ARGYLL HOUSE, _6th February 1855_.

MY DEAR HERBERT,--I received your letter too late to answer it last
night. In fact, I had gone to bed.

You say that you are in a great difficulty as to the course you ought
to take. I am in none whatever.

I gave you my decided opinion yesterday that you ought to continue in
Palmerston's Administration; and I endeavoured to support this opinion
by the very arguments which you repeat in your letter to me. Surely
this letter ought to have been addressed to Gladstone and Graham,
and not to me. I fully concur in thinking that you came to a wrong
conclusion yesterday, and I would fain hope that it would still be
reversed.

When you sent to me yesterday to attend your meeting, I certainly
hoped it was with the intention of following my advice.

Your reluctance to continue in Palmerston's Cabinet is chiefly founded
on the apprehension that he will pursue a warlike policy beyond
reasonable bounds. I have already told you that I have had some
explanations with him on the terms of peace, with which I am
satisfied. But whatever may be his inclinations, you ought to rely
on the weight of your own character and opinions in the Cabinet. I am
persuaded that the sentiments of the great majority of the Members of
the Cabinet are similar to your own, and that you may fairly expect
reason and sound policy to prevail in the question of peace and war.

But above all I have recently had some very full conversations
with Clarendon on the subject, and I am entirely satisfied with his
disposition and intentions. I am sanguine in the belief that he will
give effect to his present views.

A perseverance in the refusal to join Palmerston will produce very
serious effects, and will never be attributed to its true cause. The
public feeling will be strongly pronounced against you, and you will
greatly suffer in reputation, if you persevere at such a moment as
this in refusing to continue in the Cabinet.

In addition to the public necessity, I think you owe much to our late
Whig colleagues, who behaved so nobly and generously towards us
after Lord John's resignation. They have some right to expect this
sacrifice.

Although your arguments do not apply to me, for I yesterday adopted
them all, you conclude your letter by pressing me to enter the
Cabinet. Now there is really no sense in this, and I cannot imagine
how you can seriously propose it. You would expose me to a gratuitous
indignity, to which no one ought to expect me to submit. I say
_gratuitous_, because I could not be of the slightest use in such a
situation for the purpose you require.

I can retire with perfect equanimity from the Government in
consequence of the vote of the House of Commons; but to be stigmatised
as the Head and tolerated as the subordinate member I cannot endure.

If at any future time my presence should be required in a Cabinet, I
should feel no objection to accept any office, or to enter it without
office. But to be the Head of a Cabinet to-day, and to become a
subordinate member of the very same Cabinet to-morrow, would be a
degradation to which I could never submit, that I would rather die
than do so--and indeed the sense of it would go far to kill me.

If you tell me that your retaining your present offices, without the
slightest sacrifice, but on the contrary with the approbation of all,
is in any degree to depend on my taking such a course, I can only
say that, as friends, I cannot believe it possible that you should be
guilty of such wanton cruelty without any national object.

I must, then, again earnestly exhort you to reconsider the decision of
yesterday, and to continue to form part of the Government. I will do
anything in my power to facilitate this. If you like, I will go to
Palmerston and promote any explanation between him and Gladstone on
the subject of peace and war. Or I will tell him that you have yielded
to my strong recommendation. In short, I am ready to do anything in my
power.

I wish you to show this letter to Gladstone and to Graham, to whom, as
you will see, it is addressed as much as to yourself.

I hope to meet you this morning, and Gladstone will also come to the
Admiralty. Yours, etc.

ABERDEEN.




[Pageheading: ADHESION OF THE PEELITES]


_The Prince Albert to the Earl of Aberdeen._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th February 1855_.

MY DEAR LORD ABERDEEN,--We are just returning to Windsor. Lord
Palmerston kissed hands after having announced that his Peelite
colleagues also have agreed to keep their offices. The Queen is thus
relieved from great anxiety and difficulty, and feels that she owes
much to your kind and disinterested assistance. I can quite understand
what you say in the letter which I return. You must make allowances
also, however, for the wishes of your friends not to be separated from
you. You will not be annoyed by further proposals from here.

To-morrow we shall have an opportunity of further conversation with
you upon the state of affairs. Believe me always, yours, etc.,

ALBERT




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th February 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--We are here again for a few hours in order to try
and facilitate the formation of a Government, which seemed almost
hopeless.

Van de Weyer will have informed you of the successive failures of Lord
Derby and _Lord John_ ... and of Lord Palmerston being now charged
with the formation of a Government! I had _no_ other alternative. The
Whigs _will_ join with him, and I have got hopes, _also_ the Peelites,
which would be very important, and would tend to allay the _alarm_
which his name will, I fear, produce abroad.

I will leave this letter open to the last moment in the hope of giving
you some decisive news before we return to Windsor....

I am a good deal worried and knocked up by all that has passed; my
nerves, which have suffered very severely this last year, have not
been improved by what has passed during this trying fortnight--for it
_will_ be a _fortnight_ to-morrow that the beginning of the mischief
began....

_Six o'clock p.m._--One word to say that _Lord Palmerston_ has just
_kissed_ hands as _Prime_ Minister. ALL the _Peelites_ except poor
dear Aberdeen (whom I am deeply grieved to lose) and the Duke of
Newcastle, remain. It is _entirely_ Aberdeen's _doing_, and very
patriotic and handsome of him. In haste, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: A FAREWELL LETTER]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th February 1855_.

Though the Queen hopes to see Lord Aberdeen at six, she seizes the
opportunity of approving the appointment of the Hon. and Rev. A.
Douglas[31] to the living of St Olave's, Southwark, to say what
she hardly dares to do verbally without fearing to give way to her
feelings; she wishes to say what a pang it is for her to separate from
so kind and dear and valued a friend as Lord Aberdeen has ever been
to her since she has known him. The day he became Prime Minister was
a very happy one for her; and throughout his Ministry he has ever been
the kindest and wisest adviser--one to whom she could apply on all and
trifling occasions even. This she is sure he will still ever be. But
the thought of losing him as her First Adviser in her Government
is very painful. The pain is to a certain extent lessened by the
knowledge of all he has done to further the formation of this
Government, in so noble, loyal, and disinterested a manner, and by
his friends retaining their posts, which is a great security against
possible dangers. The Queen is sure that the Prince and herself
may ever rely on his valuable support and advice in all times of
difficulty, and she now concludes with the expression of her
warmest thanks for all his kindness and devotion, as well as of her
unalterable friendship and esteem for him, and with every wish for his
health and happiness.

    [Footnote 31: The Hon. Arthur Gascoigne Douglas (1827-1905),
    son of the nineteenth Earl of Morton; Bishop of Aberdeen and
    Orkney, 1883-1905.]



[Pageheading: LEADERSHIP OF THE LORDS]

[Pageheading: THE NEW CABINET]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _7th February 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that a difficulty has arisen in regard to the reconstruction
of the Administration, which your Majesty might perhaps be able to
assist in removing. It is considered by the Members of the proposed
Cabinet to be a matter of great importance that Lord Lansdowne should
not only be a Member of the Cabinet, but that he should also be the
Organ of the Government in the House of Lords.

Viscount Palmerston pressed this upon Lord Lansdowne yesterday
afternoon, and was under the impression that Lord Lansdowne had
consented to be so acknowledged, with the understanding that Lord
Granville, as President of the Council, should relieve him from the
pressure of the daily business of the House, while Lord Clarendon
would take the burthen of Foreign Office discussions, and that thus
the ordinary duties of Leader of the House of Lords would be performed
by others, while Lord Lansdowne would still be the directing chief,
who would give a character and tone to the body. But Viscount
Palmerston learns this morning from Lord Granville and Lord
Bessborough that Lord Lansdowne does not so understand the matter,
and is unwilling to assume the ostensible Leadership, even upon the
above-mentioned arrangement, and that he wishes Lord Granville to be
the Leader in the House of Lords.

Lord Granville, however, with reason urges that there are many members
of the House of Lords who would show to Lord Lansdowne, from his long
standing and high political position, a deference which they would not
show towards Lord Granville, so much younger a man. If Lord Lansdowne
were in Town, Viscount Palmerston would have gone to him strongly to
entreat him to be the person to announce in the House of Lords the
formation of a Ministry, and to continue to be the organ of the
Government in that House, at least till Easter, and upon such matters
and occasions as might require the weight of his authority; but if
your Majesty were to view the matter in the same light in which it has
presented itself to Viscount Palmerston, to the Chancellor, to Lord
Clarendon, to Lord Granville and others, and if your Majesty should
think fit to express an opinion upon it to Lord Lansdowne, such an
opinion would no doubt have great weight with Lord Lansdowne.

Viscount Palmerston submits a list of the proposed Cabinet. Until Sir
George Grey returns to Town this afternoon from Portsmouth, whither he
went yesterday evening to take leave of his son, who has a commission
in the Rifles,[32] and was to embark this morning for the Crimea,
Viscount Palmerston will not know whether he prefers the Colonial
Office or the Home Office. Whichever of the two he chooses, Mr Herbert
will take the other. Viscount Palmerston does not submit to your
Majesty the name of any person for the office of Secretary at War, as
he proposes that that office shall merge in the office of Secretary of
State for the War Department, and Viscount Palmerston suspends for
the present any recommendation to your Majesty for the office of
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as that office may be made
available for giving strength either in the House of Lords or in the
House of Commons according to circumstances.

  PROPOSED CABINET.

  _First Lord of Treasury_           Viscount PALMERSTON.
  _Organ of the Government or_    }  Marquis of LANSDOWNE.
    _Leader of the House of Lords_}
  _Lord Chancellor_                  Lord CRANWORTH.
  _President of the Council_         Earl GRANVILLE.
  _Privy Seal_                       Duke of ARGYLL.
  _Foreign Affairs_                  Earl of CLARENDON.
  _War Department_                   Lord PANMURE.
  _Home Office_                     {Mr SIDNEY HERBERT
                                    {  or Sir GEORGE GREY.
  _Colonial Department_             {Sir GEORGE GREY or
                                    {  Mr SIDNEY HERBERT.
  _Admiralty_                        Sir JAMES GRAHAM.
  _Chancellor of Exchequer_          Mr GLADSTONE.
  _India Board_                      Sir CHARLES WOOD.
  _Board of Works_                   Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH.
  _Post Office_                      VISCOUNT CANNING.

    [Footnote 32: George Henry Grey, afterwards Lieut.-Colonel
    of the Northumberland Militia, and Captain in the Grenadier
    Guards; father of the present Sir Edward Grey, M.P. He
    predeceased his father in 1874.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th February 1855_.

The Queen has just received Lord Palmerston's letter with the List of
the Government, which she approves. She entirely agrees with him in
the view he takes with respect to Lord Lansdowne's position in the
House of Lords, and will write to him on the subject. From what he
said, however, the Queen would hope that he would not be disinclined
to make the announcement of the Government as well as to take the lead
on all occasions of great importance.[33]

The Queen approves that the office of Secretary at War should remain
open at present; but as regards the question itself of these two
offices, she reserves her judgment till the subject is submitted to
her in a definite form.

    [Footnote 33: Lord Lansdowne consented, on particular
    occasions only, to represent the Government, but claimed to be
    himself the judge of the expediency or necessity of his doing
    so. The ministerial life of this _doyen_ of the Whig Party
    spanned half a century, for he had, as Lord Henry Petty,
    been Chancellor of the Exchequer in the ministry of "All the
    Talents" in 1806-1807. Lord Granville now assumed the Liberal
    leadership in the Lords, which, as Lord Fitzmaurice points
    out, he held, with a brief exception of three years, till his
    death in 1891].




[Pageheading: THE VIENNA CONFERENCE]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

_10th February 1855._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that, with the permission of Lord Palmerston, and at the
urgent recommendation of Lord Aberdeen and Lord Lansdowne, he has made
to Lord John Russell the proposal to act as our negotiator at Vienna,
which your Majesty was pleased to sanction on Wednesday night.[34]

Lord Clarendon thinks, that whether the negotiations end in peace or
are suddenly to be broken off, no man is so likely as Lord John to
be approved by the Country for whichever course of proceeding he may
adopt, and it will be a great advantage that the negotiator himself
should be able to vindicate his own conduct in Parliament.

Lord Clarendon has this evening received a very kind and friendly
answer from Lord John, who is disposed to accept, but desires another
day to consider the proposal.

As our relations with the United States are of the utmost importance
at this moment, and as they have rather improved of late, Lord
Clarendon humbly hopes he may be excused if he ventures to suggest to
your Majesty the expediency of inviting Mr Buchanan[35] to Windsor.

    [Footnote 34: In pursuance of the negotiations referred
    to (_ante_, p. 65), a conference of the Powers was held at
    Vienna. Lord John's view of the attitude which he hoped Great
    Britain would take up is clearly stated in his letter of the
    11th to Lord Clarendon, printed in Walpole's _Life of Lord
    John Russell_, vol. ii. p. 242. He favoured the admission of
    Prussia to the Conference.]

    [Footnote 35: American Minister to Great Britain, afterwards
    President of the United States.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _10th February 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that having been very kindly received at Paris by the Emperor
of the French, he thought it would be useful to write to the Emperor
on the formation of the present Government, and he submits a copy of
the letter[36] which he addressed to the Emperor.

The Emperor, when Viscount Palmerston took leave of him, signified his
intention of writing occasionally to Viscount Palmerston, and that is
the reason why Viscount Palmerston adverts to such communications in
his letter.

Viscount Palmerston has just had the honour to receive your Majesty's
communication of this day, and will not fail to bear in mind the
suggestions which it contains.

    [Footnote 36: _Viscount Palmerston to the Emperor of the
    French._

    LONDRES, _8 Février 1855_.

    SIRE,--Appelé par la Reine ma Souveraine au poste que
    maintenant j'occupe, je m'empresse de satisfaire au besoin que
    je sens d'exprimer à votre Majesté la grande satisfaction
    que j'éprouve à me trouver en rapport plus direct avec le
    Gouvernement de votre Majesté.

    L'Alliance qui unit si heureusement la France et l'Angleterre
    et qui promet des résultats si avantageux pour toute l'Europe,
    prend son origine dans la loyauté, la franchise, et la
    sagacité de votre Majesté; et votre Majesté pourra toujours
    compter sur la loyauté et la franchise du Gouvernement
    Anglais. Et si votre Majesté avait jamais une communication à
    nous faire sur des idées non encore assez mûries pour être le
    sujet de Dépêches Officielles, je m'estimerais très honoré en
    recevant une telle communication de la part de votre Majesté.

    Nous allons mettre un peu d'ordre à notre Camp devant
    Sevastopol, et en cela nous tâcherons d'imiter le bel exemple
    qui nous est montré par le Camp Français. A quelque chose
    cependant malheur est bon, et le mauvais état de l'Armée
    Anglaise a donné aux braves et généreux Français l'occasion de
    prodiguer à leurs frères d'armes des soins, qui ont excité la
    plus vive reconnaissance tant en Angleterre qu'à Balaclava.
    J'ai l'honneur d'être, Sire, etc. etc.,

    PALMERSTON.]




[Pageheading: PALMERSTON AND THE EMPEROR]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th February 1855_.

This letter gave us great uneasiness.... The sort of private
correspondence which Lord Palmerston means to establish with the
Emperor Napoleon is a novel and unconstitutional practice. If carried
on behind the back of the Sovereign, it makes her Minister the Privy
Councillor of a foreign Sovereign at the head of her affairs. How can
the Foreign Secretary and Ambassador at Paris, the legitimate organs
of communication, carry on their business, if everything has been
privately preconcerted between the Emperor and the English Prime
Minister? What control can the Cabinet hope to exercise on the Foreign
Affairs under these circumstances?...




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th February 1855_.

The Queen thanks Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 10th, and for
communicating to her the letter which he had addressed upon the 8th to
the Emperor of the French on the formation of the present Government,
the copy of which the Queen herewith returns.




[Pageheading: THE ROEBUCK COMMITTEE]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _16th February 1855_. (_Friday night._)

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that after he had made his statement this afternoon,
a conversation of some length took place, in which Mr Disraeli, Mr
Roebuck, Mr Thomas Duncombe, and several other Members took part, the
subject of discussion being whether Mr Roebuck's Committee should or
should not be appointed.

Viscount Palmerston is concerned to say that it was not only his own
impression but the opinion of a great number of persons with whom he
communicated in the course of the evening, including the Speaker,
that the appointment of the Committee will be carried by a very great
majority, perhaps scarcely less great than that by which the original
Motion was affirmed; and it was also the opinion of good judges that
a refusal to grant an enquiry would not be a good ground on which to
dissolve Parliament and appeal to the Country. The general opinion was
that the best way of meeting the Motion for naming the Committee
which Mr Roebuck has fixed for next Thursday, would be to move some
instruction to the Committee directing or limiting the range of its
enquiry. This is a matter, however, which will be well considered at
the meeting of the Cabinet to-morrow....

The reason alleged for the determination of Members to vote for Mr
Roebuck's Committee is the general desire throughout the Country
that an enquiry should be instituted to ascertain the causes of the
sufferings of your Majesty's troops in the Crimea.




_Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia._ [_Translation._]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _20th February 1855_.

DEAREST BROTHER,--I must not let Lord John Russell visit Berlin
without personally recommending him to your Majesty--an honour
which he deserves in a high degree, as a statesman of wide outlook,
well-informed, and moderate. At the same time I may be allowed to
repeat my conviction, which I have expressed several times already,
that it appears to me impossible to obtain peace so long as Prussia
continues indisposed to maintain, in case of necessity by force
of arms, the principles publicly expressed in concert with the
belligerent Powers and Austria.

Much blood, very much blood, has already been shed. Honour and justice
force the belligerent Powers to make every sacrifice in continually
defending those principles to the utmost. Whether diplomacy will
succeed in saving Prussia from taking an active share in this
defence--that remains the secret of the future, which the King of
kings alone possesses!

Albert presents his homage to your Majesty, and I beg to be most
cordially remembered, and remain as ever, my dear Brother, your
Majesty's faithful Servant and Friend,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: MR GLADSTONE]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1855_.

I have just seen Mr Gladstone, who received my box so late that I did
not wish to detain him more than a few minutes, as the Cabinet
was waiting for him. I told him, however, the substance of Lord
Palmerston's letter, and of the Queen's answer, the wisdom of which,
he said, nobody could doubt for a moment, and added that the choice
lying only between many evils, I hoped he and his friends would not
strive to obtain an absolute good, and thereby lose the Queen the
services of an efficient Government. He begged that I should rest
assured that the first and primary consideration which would guide
their determination would be the position of the Crown in these
critical circumstances. He had had no opportunity of consulting these
last days either Mr S. Herbert or Sir James Graham. But for himself he
felt the greatest difficulty in letting the House of Commons succeed
in what he must consider a most unconstitutional, most presumptuous,
and most dangerous course, after which it would be impossible for
the Executive ever to oppose again the most absurd and preposterous
demands for enquiry.[37]

    [Footnote 37: See _post_, 21st February, 1855, note 38.]

I asked, "But can you stop it?"

He answered: I believe Lord Palmerston made a mistake in not grappling
with it from the first, and using all the power the Crown had
entrusted to him, even ostentatiously, for the purpose. Now it might
be most difficult--but it ought not to pass without a solemn protest
on the part of the men who were not connected with the Government,
and should not be supposed to have any other than the interests of
the Country at heart. A Government was powerless in resisting such an
encroachment of the House, where the whole Opposition, from personal
motives, and the supporters of Government from fear of their
constituents, were bent upon carrying it. Such a protest, however,
might form a rallying-point upon which future resistance might be
based, and the Country, now intoxicated by agitation, might come to
its senses.

As to the strength of the Government, he believed it had very little
at this moment in the House, and that such would be the case with any
Government Lord Palmerston could form, he had foretold him, when Lord
Derby had made him the offer to join an Administration of his forming.
At this moment the secession of the Peelites would rather strengthen
the Government than otherwise, as, from their connection with Lord
Aberdeen, they had been decried in the Country with him, and the Whigs
looked upon them with all the personal feelings of men deprived of
their offices by them.

He agreed with me that in the present disruption of Parties, the
difficulty of obtaining any strong Government consists, not in the
paucity of men, but in the over-supply of Right Honourable gentlemen
produced by the many attempts to form a Government on a more extended
base. There were now at least three Ministers for each office, from
which the two excluded were always cried up as superior to the one
in power. He said this could not be amended until we got back to two
Parties--each of them capable of presenting to the Queen an efficient
Administration. Now the one Party did not support its Chief from
personal rivalry--and the other, from the very feeling of its own
incapacity, became reckless as to the course of its political actions.

He concluded by saying he felt it right to reserve his final
determination till the last moment at which it would become necessary.

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: RESIGNATION OF THE PEELITES]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _21st February 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
feels extreme regret in having to state to your Majesty that Sir James
Graham, Mr Gladstone, and Mr Sidney Herbert announced at the Cabinet
Meeting to-day their determination to retire from the Government in
consequence of their inability to consent to the nomination of Mr
Roebuck's Committee.[38] _No other_ Member of the Government has
as yet intimated any intention to retire. Viscount Palmerston will
assemble the remaining Members of the Government to-morrow at twelve
to take into consideration the steps to be taken for supplying the
places of the retiring Members.[39]

An endeavour has been made to induce Mr Roebuck to postpone the
appointment of the Committee till Monday, but he will not consent to
delay it beyond to-morrow, and he will insert in the votes to-night,
to be printed to-morrow morning (in accordance with the rules of the
House), the proposed list of names which have been settled between the
Government and Mr Roebuck, and which seem to be unobjectionable, all
things considered....

    [Footnote 38: The retirement of the Peelites in a body from
    Lord Palmerston's Ministry is a curious instance of the
    tenacity of Party ties, since the prosecution of the enquiry
    into the conduct of the war affected the Whig as much as the
    Peelite section of the Aberdeen Cabinet. In reference to their
    reason for resignation (_viz._ that the investigation was a
    dangerous breach of a great constitutional principle, and that
    similar enquiries could never thenceforward be refused), see
    Parker's _Sir James Graham_, vol. ii. pp. 268-272.

    The secession of the Peelites, however, did not make the
    Ministry a Whig Government. The last Whig Administration was
    that which left office early in 1852. Had Lord John Russell
    succeeded in his attempt on the present occasion, the Whig
    party might have endured _co nomine_; but Palmerston had,
    notwithstanding Cobden's distrust, been popular with the
    Radicals, and henceforward his supporters must be known as the
    Liberal Party.]

    [Footnote 39: Sir Charles Wood became First Lord of the
    Admiralty (Mr. Vernon Smith succeeding him at the Board of
    Control), Sir George Lewis succeeded Mr Gladstone at the
    Exchequer, and the Colonial Office was offered to and accepted
    by Lord John Russell, who was at the moment in Paris on his
    way to attend the Vienna Conference.]




[Pageheading: CRIMEAN HEROES]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _27th February 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Since I last wrote to you, we have again had much
trouble, as Van de Weyer will have informed you. We have lost our
_three_ best men--certainly from the purest and best of motives--but
the result is _unfortunate_. Altogether, affairs are very unsettled
and very unsatisfactory. The good people here are really a little
_mad_, but I am certain it _will_ right itself; one must only _not_
give way to the nonsense and absurdity one hears.

Lord John's return to office _under_ Lord Palmerston is very
extraordinary![40] I hope he may do good in his mission; he is most
anxious for it.

Many thanks for your kind letter of the 23rd. The frost has left us,
which personally I regret, as it agrees so well with me; but I believe
it was very necessary on account of the great distress which was
prevalent, so many people being thrown out of employment.

The Emperor's meditated voyage[41]--though natural in him to wish--I
think most alarming; in fact, I don't know how things are to go on
without him, independent of the great danger he exposes himself
to besides. I own it makes one tremble, for _his life_ is of such
_immense importance_. I still hope that he may be deterred from it,
but Walewski was in a great state about it.

On Thursday we saw twenty-six of the wounded Coldstream Guards, and
on Friday thirty-four of the Scotch Fusileers. A most interesting and
touching sight--_such_ fine men, and so brave and patient! _so ready_
to go back and "_be at them again_." A great many of them, I am glad
to say, will be able to remain in the Service. Those who have lost
their limbs cannot, of course. There were two poor boys of nineteen
and twenty--the one had lost his leg, quite high up, by the bursting
of a shell in the trenches, and the other his poor arm so shot that it
is perfectly useless. Both had smooth girls' faces; these were in the
Coldstream, who certainly look the worst. In the Scotch Fusileers,
there were also two very young men--the one shot through the
cheek, the other through the _skull_--but both recovered! Among the
Grenadiers there is one very sad object, shot _dreadfully_, a ball
having gone in through the cheek and behind the nose and eye and out
through the other side! He is shockingly disfigured, but is recovered.
I feel so much for them, and am _so fond_ of my dear soldiers--so
_proud_ of them! We could not have avoided sending the Guards; it
would have been their ruin if they had not gone....

I must now conclude. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 40: For twenty years Lord John Russell had been
    Leader of the Whig Party in the House, and Lord Palmerston
    subordinate to him.]

    [Footnote 41: The Emperor had announced his intention of
    going to the Crimea, and assuming the conduct of the war. The
    project was most unfavourably regarded by the Queen and the
    Prince, by Lord Palmerston, and by the Emperor's own advisers.
    But the intention, which had been carefully matured, was
    arrived at in full loyalty to the Alliance with this country,
    and had to be tactfully met. Accordingly, it was arranged
    that when Napoleon was at the Camp in Boulogne in March, Lord
    Clarendon should visit him there, and discuss the question
    with him. Eventually, the Foreign Secretary persuaded the
    Emperor to relinquish, or at any rate defer, his expedition; a
    memorandum of what passed on the occasion was drawn up by the
    Prince from the narration of Lord Clarendon, and printed by
    Sir Theodore Martin. (_Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. iii.
    p. 231.)]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st March 1855_.

The Queen thanks Lord Clarendon for his letter received this evening,
and will return the enclosures to-morrow.

The Queen gathers from what she has read that the Emperor is bent upon
going, and that nothing in the shape of remonstrance or argument will
turn him from his purpose.

Should the Emperor's journey take place, Lord Cowley's accompanying
him appears to the Queen in all respects a most useful step, and the
Queen gives accordingly her permission for him to go.

The Emperor's taking the management of the whole Campaign, as well as
the command of our Forces, entirely into his own hands, involves so
many considerations that it may be worth considering whether we
ought not previously to come to a more direct and comprehensive
understanding with him, such as full and verbal discussion would alone
afford--to which, in some shape or other, his present stay at Boulogne
might afford some facilities.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF THE CZAR]


_From Sir Ralph Abercromby._[42]

THE HAGUE. _2nd March 1855_. (Received 3.45 P.M.)

The Emperor Nicholas died this morning at 1 A.M. of Pulmonic Apoplexy,
after an attack of Influenza.[43]

    [Footnote 42: Who had married the sister of Lady John
    Russell.]

    [Footnote 43: Nothing had been known publicly of the Czar's
    illness, and the startling news of his death caused a
    sensation in England of tragedy rather than of joy. Mr
    Kinglake has vividly depicted the feelings of agony and
    mortification with which the news of the earlier Russian
    reverses had been received by Nicholas. On the 1st of March,
    he received the full account of the disaster at Eupatoria,
    after which he became delirious, and died on the following
    day. He had stated, in referring to the horrors of that
    Crimean winter, that Russia had still two Generals on whom
    she could rely: Generals Janvier and Février; and Leech, with
    matchless art, now made his famous cartoon--"General Février
    turned traitor," depicting Death, in the uniform of a Russian
    officer, laying his bony hand on the Emperor's heart.]



[Pageheading: THE COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _2nd March 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

The death of the Emperor of Russia may or may not produce important
changes in the state of affairs. It is probable that the Grand Duke
Hereditary will succeed quietly, notwithstanding the notion that a
doubt would be started whether he, as son of the Grand Duke Nicholas,
would not be superseded by his younger brother born son of the
Czar.[44] It is possible that the new Emperor may revert to that
peaceful policy which he was understood to advocate in the beginning
of these transactions, but it is possible, on the other hand, that
he may feel bound to follow out the policy of his father, and may be
impelled by the headstrong ambition of his brother Constantine. At all
events, this change at Petersburg should not for the present slacken
the proceedings and the arrangements of the Allies.

The House of Commons has been engaged in discussing Mr Roebuck's
proposal that the Committee of Enquiry should be a secret one. This
proposal was made by the majority of the Committee on the ground that
they anticipated a difficulty in conducting their enquiries without
trenching on the delicate and dangerous ground of questioning the
proceedings of the French. The proposal was objected to by Lord
Seymour[45] and Mr Ellice, members of the Committee, by Sir James
Graham as unjust towards the Duke of Newcastle, and others whose
conduct ought to be enquired into with all the safeguards which
publicity secures for justice, and not before a Secret Tribunal in the
nature of an Inquisition. The general sense of the House was against
secrecy, and Viscount Palmerston expressed an opinion adverse to it,
on the ground that it could not be enforced because the Committee
could not gag the witnesses, and that the character of secrecy
would excite suspicion and disappoint public expectation. Sir John
Pakington, a member of the Committee, was for secrecy, Mr Disraeli
spoke against it, and the Motion has been withdrawn.

    [Footnote 44: The eldest son, the Grand Duke Alexander
    (1818-1881), succeeded as Czar Alexander II.]

    [Footnote 45: Lord Seymour (afterwards Duke of Somerset)
    drafted the Report of the Committee.]




_Queen Victoria to the Princess of Prussia._ [_Translation._]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th March 1855_.

DEAR AUGUSTA,--The astounding news of the death of your poor uncle the
Emperor Nicholas reached us the day before yesterday at four o'clock.
A few hours previously we had learnt that his condition was hopeless.
The news is sudden and most unexpected, and we are naturally very
anxious to learn details. His departure from life at the present
moment cannot but make a particularly strong impression, and what
the consequences of it may be the All-knowing One alone can foresee.
Although the poor Emperor has died as our enemy, I have not forgotten
former and more happy times, and no one has more than I regretted that
he himself evoked this sad war.[46] To you I must address my request
to express to the poor Empress, as well as to the family, my heartfelt
condolence. I cannot do it officially, but you, my beloved friend, you
will surely be able to convey it to your sister-in-law as well as to
the present young Emperor in a manner which shall not compromise me. I
have a deep, heartfelt desire to express this. To your dear, honoured
mother convey, pray, my condolence on the death of her brother....

    [Footnote 46: The Queen records, in the _Life of the Prince
    Consort_, that she entertained a sincere respect for the
    Emperor personally, and received the news of his death with
    regret (vol. iii. p. 225, note).]




[Pageheading: THE HOSPITAL QUESTION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th March 1855_.

The Queen is very anxious to bring before Lord Panmure the subject
which she mentioned to him the other night, viz. that of Hospitals for
our sick and wounded soldiers. This is absolutely necessary, and
_now_ is the moment to have them built, for no doubt there would be no
difficulty in obtaining the money requisite for this purpose, from the
strong feeling now existing in the public mind for improvements of all
kinds connected with the Army and the well-being and comfort of the
soldier.

Nothing can exceed the attention paid to these poor men in the
Barracks at Chatham (or rather more Fort Pitt and Brompton), and they
are in that respect very comfortable; but the buildings are bad--the
wards more like prisons than hospitals, with the windows so high that
no one can look out of them; and the generality of the wards are small
rooms, with hardly space for you to walk between the beds. There is no
dining-room or hall, so that the poor men must have their dinners in
the same room in which they sleep, and in which some may be dying,
and at any rate many suffering, while others are at their meals. The
proposition of having hulks prepared for their reception will do very
well at first, but it would not, the Queen thinks, do for any length
of time. A hulk is a very gloomy place, and these poor men require
their spirits to be cheered as much as their physical sufferings to be
attended to. The Queen is particularly anxious on this subject, which
is, he may truly say, constantly in her thoughts, as is everything
connected with her beloved troops, who have fought so bravely and
borne so heroically all their sufferings and privations.

The Queen hopes before long to visit all the Hospitals at Portsmouth,
and to see in what state they are.

_When_ will the medals be ready for distribution?




[Pageheader: LORD DALHOUSIE RESIGNS]


_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

OOTACAMUND, _14th March 1855_.

The Governor-General presents his most humble duty to your Majesty;
and in obedience to the command, which your Majesty was pleased to lay
upon him, that he should keep your Majesty acquainted with the course
of public events in India, he has the honour to inform your Majesty
that he has now felt it to be his duty to request the President of
the Board of Control to solicit for him your Majesty's permission to
retire from the office of Governor-General of India about the close of
the present year.

The Governor-General begs permission respectfully to represent, that
in January next, he will have held his present office for eight years;
that his health during the last few months has seriously failed him;
and that although he believes that the invigorating air of these hills
will enable him to discharge all his duties efficiently during this
season, yet he is conscious that the effects of an Indian climate have
laid such a hold upon him that by the close of the present year he
will be wholly unfit any longer to serve your Majesty.

Lord Dalhousie, therefore, humbly trusts that your Majesty will
graciously permit him to resign the great office which he holds before
he ceases to command the strength which is needed to sustain it. He
has the honour to subscribe himself, your Majesty's most obedient,
most humble and devoted Subject and Servant,

DALHOUSIE.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _14th March 1855_.

The Queen returns the letter and Despatches from Vienna. They don't
alter her opinion as to our demands. Every concession in form and
wording ought to be made which could save Russian _amour-propre_; but
this ought in no way to trench upon the _substance_ of our demands, to
which Austria must feel herself bound.[47]

    [Footnote 47: As has already been stated, the "Four Points"
    were the basis of the negotiations at Vienna; the third
    alone, which the Allies and Austria had defined as intended
    to terminate Russian preponderance in the Black Sea, caused
    difficulty.]




[Pageheading: THE VIENNA CONFERENCE]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _19th March 1855_.

The Queen has read with the greatest interest Lord Cowley's three
reports. The changeableness of the French views are most perplexing,
although they have hitherto not prevented a steady course from being
followed in the end. Lord Cowley seems to have been a little off his
guard when he took the proposal of our taking Sinope as a second Malta
or Gibraltar, for a mere act of generosity and confidence towards
us. We must be careful not to break down ourselves the barrier of the
"abnegation clause" of our original treaty.[48] The Austrian proposal
can hardly be serious, for to require 1,200,000 men before going to
war is almost ridiculous.

The Queen read with much concern the two simultaneous proposals
from the King of Prussia's simultaneous Plenipotentiaries--both
inadmissible, in her opinion. A very civil answer would appear to the
Queen as the best, to the effect that, as Prussia was evidently not
now in a mood to resume her position amongst the great Powers with the
responsibilities attaching to it, we could not hope to arrive at any
satisfactory result by the present negotiations, but shall be ready
to treat Prussia with the same regard with which we have always done,
when she shall have something tangible to propose.

    [Footnote 48: _I.e._ the formal renunciation by the Allies of
    any scheme of territorial acquisition.]




[Pageheading: THE BALTIC EXPEDITION]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _19th March 1855_.

With regard to the Expedition to the Baltic[49] the Queen concurs in
believing it probable that we shall have to confine ourselves to a
blockade, but this should be with the _certainty_ of its being done
effectually and free from any danger to the squadron, from a sudden
start of the Russian fleet. Twenty sail of the Line (to which add
five French) would be a sufficient force if supported by the necessary
complement of frigates, corvettes, and gunboats, etc., etc.; alone,
they would be useless from their draught of water, and if twenty ships
only are meant (not sail of the Line), the force would seem wholly
inadequate. The Queen would therefore wish, before giving her sanction
to the proposed plan of campaign, to have a complete list submitted
to her of what it is intended to constitute the Baltic Fleet.[50]
We ought likewise not to leave ourselves destitute of any Reserve at
home, which the uncertain contingencies of another year's war may call
upon at any moment.

The Queen regrets Lord Shaftesbury's declining office, and approves of
Lord Elgin's selection in his place.[51]

She thanks Lord Palmerston for the clear and comprehensive explanation
of Sir George Lewis's Stamp Duties Bill,[52] and approves of Lord
Palmerston's proposal for the adjournment of Parliament for the Easter
holidays.

    [Footnote 49: The expedition was commanded by Rear-Admiral
    Richard Dundas. About the same time Vice-Admiral Sir James
    Dundas retired from the Mediterranean Command, in favour of
    Sir Edmund Lyons.]

    [Footnote 50: The allied fleet comprised 23 line-of-battle
    ships, 31 frigates and corvettes, 29 smaller steamers and
    gunboats, and 18 other craft.]

    [Footnote 51: As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Mr
    Matthew Talbot Baines was ultimately appointed.]

    [Footnote 52: Imposing a penny stamp upon bankers' cheques,
    if drawn within fifteen miles of the place where they were
    payable.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

OSBORNE, _22nd March 1855_.

The other day, when the Queen spoke to Lord Panmure on the subject of
the distribution of the _Medal_ for the _Crimean_ Campaign amongst the
Officers, and those who _are_ in _this_ country, no decision was come
to as to how this should be done. The Queen has since thought that
the value of this Medal would be greatly enhanced if _she_, were
_personally_ to deliver it to the officers and a certain number of men
(selected for that purpose). The valour displayed by our troops,
as well as the sufferings they have endured, have never been
surpassed--perhaps hardly equalled; and as the Queen has been a
witness of _what_ they have gone through, having visited them in their
hospitals, she would _like_ to be able _personally_ to give them
the reward they have earned so well, and will value so much. It will
likewise have a very beneficial effect, the Queen doubts not, on the
recruiting. The manner in which it should be done, and the details
connected with the execution of this intention of hers, the Queen will
settle with Lord Panmure, when she sees him in Town.

Will the Medals now be soon ready?




[Pageheading: THE IMPERIAL VISIT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _17th April 1855_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--Your kindness will, I know, excuse any description of
all that has passed, and _is_ passing, and I leave it to Charles. The
impression is very favourable.[53] There is great fascination in the
quiet, frank manner of the Emperor, and _she_ is very pleasing, very
graceful, and very unaffected, but very delicate. She _is_ certainly
very pretty and very uncommon-looking. The Emperor spoke very amiably
of you. The reception by the public was _immensely_ enthusiastic. I
must end here. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 53: The Emperor and Empress of the French arrived
    on the 16th of April, on a visit to England. They were
    enthusiastically received both at Dover (notwithstanding a
    dense fog, which endangered the safety of the Imperial yacht)
    and on their progress from the South-Eastern terminus to
    Paddington. In passing King Street, the Emperor was observed
    to indicate his former residence to the Empress.]





_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _19th April 1855_.

DEAREST UNCLE,... I have not a moment to myself, being of course
entirely occupied with our Imperial guests, with whom I am much
pleased, and who behave really with the greatest tact.[54] The
Investiture went off very well, and to-day (we came from Windsor) the
enthusiasm of the thousands who received him in the City was immense.
He is much pleased. Since the time of my Coronation, with the
exception of the opening of the great Exhibition, I don't remember
anything like it. To-night we go in state to the Opera. In haste, ever
your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 54: A review of the Household troops in Windsor Park
    was held on the 17th, and a ball was given at the Castle in
    the evening. A Council of War on the 18th was attended by
    the Prince, the Emperor, and some of their Ministers; in the
    afternoon the Queen invested the Emperor with the Garter. On
    the following day the Emperor received an address at Windsor
    from the Corporation of London, and lunched at the Guildhall;
    the Queen and Prince and their guests paid a State visit to
    Her Majesty's Theatre in the evening to hear _Fidelio_. On the
    20th the party, with brilliant ceremonial, visited the Crystal
    Palace at Sydenham, and were enthusiastically received by an
    immense multitude; another important Council, relative to the
    future conduct of the war, was held in the evening.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _24th April 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many thanks for your kind letter of the 19th and
20th, by which I am glad to see that you were well. Our great visit
is past, like a brilliant and most successful dream, but I think the
effect on the visitors will be a good and lasting one; they saw in our
reception, and in that of the whole Nation, nothing _put on_, but a
warm, hearty welcome to a faithful and steady Ally. I think also that
for Belgium this visit will be very useful, for it will increase the
friendly feelings of the Emperor towards my dear Uncle, and towards a
country in which England takes so deep an interest.

The negotiations are broken off, and Austria has been called upon
to act according to the Treaty of the 2nd December. She intends, I
believe, to make some proposal, but we know nothing positive as yet.
In the meantime I fear the Emperor (I mean Napoleon) _will_ go to the
Crimea, which makes one anxious.... Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _25th April 1855_.

The Queen has read the letter of Lady ---- to Lady Palmerston, and now
returns it to Lord Palmerston.

She has to observe that it has been with her an invariable rule
never to take upon herself the office of sitting in judgment upon
accusations or reports against private character. No person therefore
can have any reason to suppose that she will by marked neglect or
manner appear to pronounce a verdict upon matters in which she is not
the proper Court of Appeal.




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S LETTER]


_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._

PALAIS DES TUILERIES, _le 25 Avril 1855_.

MADAME ET BONNE S[OE]UR,--A Paris depuis trois jours, je suis encore
auprès de votre Majesté par la pensée, et mon premier besoin est
de Lui redire combien est profonde l'impression que m'a laissée son
accueil si plein de grâce et d'affectueuse bonté. La politique nous a
rapprochés d'abord, mais aujourd'hui qu'il m'a été permis de connaître
personnellement votre Majesté c'est une vive et respectueuse sympathie
qui forme désormais le véritable lien qui m'attache à elle. Il est
impossible en effet de vivre quelques jours dans votre intimité sans
subir le charme qui s'attache à l'image de la grandeur et du bonheur
de la famille la plus unie. Votre Majesté m'a aussi bien touché par
ses prévenances délicates envers l'Impératrice; car rien ne fait plus
de plaisir que de voir la personne qu'on aime devenir l'objet d'aussi
flatteuses attentions.

Je prie votre Majesté d'exprimer au Prince Albert les sentiments
sincères que m'inspirent sa franche amitié, son esprit élevé et la
droiture de son jugement.

J'ai rencontré à mon retour à Paris bien des difficultés diplomatiques
et bien d'autres intervenants au sujet de mon voyage en Crimée. Je
dirai en confidence à votre Majesté que ma résolution de voyage s'en
trouve presque ébranlée. En France tous ceux qui possèdent sont bien
peu courageux!

Votre Majesté voudra bien me rappeler au souvenir de sa charmante
famille et me permettre de Lui renouveler l'assurance de ma
respectueuse amitié et de mon tendre attachement. De votre Majesté, le
bon Frère,

NAPOLÉON.




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S REPLY]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _le 27 Avril 1855_.

SIRE ET MON CHER FRÈRE,--Votre Majesté vient de m'écrire une bien
bonne et affectueuse lettre que j'ai reçue hier et qui m'a vivement
touchée. Vous dites, Sire, que vos pensées sont encore auprès de nous;
je puis Vous assurer que c'est bien réciproque de notre part et que
nous ne cessons de repasser en revue et de parler de ces beaux jours
que nous avons eu le bonheur de passer avec Vous et l'Impératrice et
qui se sont malheureusement écoulés si vite. Nous sommes profondément
touchés de la manière dont votre Majesté parle de nous et de notre
famille, et je me plais à voir dans les sentiments que vous nous
témoignez un gage précieux de plus pour la continuation de ces
relations si heureusement et si fermement établies entre nos deux
pays.

Permettez que j'ajoute encore, Sire, combien de prix j'attache à
l'entière franchise avec laquelle Vous ne manquez d'agir envers nous
en toute occasion et à laquelle Vous nous trouverez toujours prêts à
répondre, bien convaincus que c'est le moyen le plus sûr pour
éloigner tout sujet de complication et de mésentendu entre nos deux
Gouvernements vis-à-vis des graves difficultés que nous avons à
surmonter ensemble.

Depuis le départ de votre Majesté les complications diplomatiques ont
augmenté bien péniblement et la position est assurément devenue bien
difficile mais le Ciel n'abandonnera pas ceux qui n'ont d'autre but
que le bien du genre humain.

J'avoue que la nouvelle de la possibilité de l'abandon de votre voyage
en Crimée m'a bien tranquillisée parce qu'il y avait bien des causes
d'alarmes en vous voyant partir si loin et exposé à tant de dangers.
Mais bien que l'absence de votre Majesté en Crimée soit toujours
une grande perte pour les opérations vigoureuses dont nous sommes
convenus, j'espère que leur exécution n'en sera pas moins vivement
poussée par nos deux Gouvernements.

Le Prince me charge de vous offrir ses plus affectueux hommages et
nos enfants qui sont bien flattés de votre gracieux souvenir, et qui
parlent beaucoup de votre visite, se mettent à vos pieds.

Avec tous les sentiments de sincère amitié et de haute estime, je me
dis, Sire et cher Frère, de V.M.I. la bien bonne S[oe]ur,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: RUSSIA AND THE BLACK SEA]

[Pageheading: AUSTRIAN PROPOSALS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._[55]

PICCADILLY, _26th April 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that the Members of the Cabinet who met yesterday evening at
the Chancellor's were of opinion that the Austrian proposal adopted by
M. Drouyn de Lhuys, even with his pretended modification, could not
be described more accurately than in the concise terms of H.R.H.
the Prince Albert, namely, that instead of making to cease the
preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea, it would perpetuate and
legalise that preponderance, and that instead of establishing a secure
and permanent Peace, it would only establish a prospective case for
war. Such a proposal therefore your Majesty's Advisers could not
recommend your Majesty to adopt; but as the step to be taken seems
rather to be to make such a proposal to Austria than to answer such
a proposal which Austria has not formally made, and as M. Drouyn's
telegraphic despatch stated that he thought that Lord John Russell
would recommend such an arrangement to his colleagues, the Cabinet
were of opinion that the best course would be simply to take no
step at all until Lord John Russell's return, which may be expected
to-morrow or next day, especially as Lord Clarendon had already, by
telegraphic message of yesterday, intimated to the French Government
that such an arrangement as that proposed by M. Drouyn, and which
would sanction a Russian Fleet in the Black Sea to any amount short by
one ship of the number existing in 1853, could not be agreed to by
the British Government. Such an arrangement would, in the opinion of
Viscount Palmerston, be alike dangerous and dishonourable; and as
to the accompanying alliance with Austria for the future defence of
Turkey and for making war with Russia, if she were to raise her Black
Sea Fleet up to the amount of 1853, what reason is there to believe
that Austria, who shrinks from war with Russia now that the Army
of Russia has been much reduced by the losses of the last twelve
months--now that her Forces are divided and occupied elsewhere than on
the Austrian frontier, and now that England and France are actually in
the field with great Armies, supported by great Fleets, what reason
is there to believe that this same Austria would be more ready to
make war four or five years hence, when the Army of Russia shall have
repaired its losses and shall be more concentrated to attack
Austria, when the Austrian Army shall have been reduced to its Peace
Establishment, and when the Peace Establishments of England and
France, withdrawn within their home stations, shall be less ready to
co-operate with Austria in war? What reason, moreover, is there for
supposing that Austria, who has recently declared that though prepared
for war she will not make war for ten sail of the Line more or less
in the Russian Black Sea Fleet, will some few years hence, when
unprepared for war, draw the sword on account of the addition of one
ship of war to the Russian Fleet in the Black Sea?

Such proposals are really a mockery.

    [Footnote 55: It had long become evident that Russia
    would refuse assent to the Third Point, terminating her
    preponderance in the Black Sea, but Austria now came forward
    with a proposal to limit the Russian force there to the number
    of ships authorised before the war. This was rejected by
    Russia, whereupon the representatives of England and France
    withdrew from the negotiations. Count Buol, representing
    Austria, then came forward again with a scheme the salient
    features of which were that, if Russia increased her Black Sea
    fleet beyond its existing strength, Turkey might maintain a
    force equal to it, and England and France might each have a
    naval force in the Black Sea equal to half the Russian force,
    while the increase of the Russian fleet beyond its strength
    in 1853 would be regarded by Austria as a _casus belli_. These
    terms were satisfactory neither to the British Government
    nor to the French Emperor, so that it was learned with some
    surprise that Lord John Russell and M. Drouyn de Lhuys (the
    French Plenipotentiary) had approved of them. Upon the
    Emperor definitely rejecting the proposals, M. Drouyn de
    Lhuys resigned; he was succeeded as Foreign Minister by Count
    Walewski, M. de Persigny becoming Ambassador in London.
    Lord John Russell tendered his resignation, but, at Lord
    Palmerston's solicitation, and most unfortunately for himself,
    he withdrew it.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _28th April 1855_.

The Queen returns these very important letters. She thinks that it
will be of great use to ask the Emperor to send M. Drouyn de Lhuys
over here after having discussed the plans of peace with him, in order
that he should hear our arguments also, and give us his reasons
for thinking the terms acceptable. The influence of distance and
difference of locality upon the resolves of men has often appeared to
the Queen quite marvellous.




[Pageheading: THE IMPERIAL VISIT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st May 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--On this day, the fifth birthday of our darling
little Arthur--the anniversary of the opening of the Great
Exhibition--the _once_ great day at Paris, viz. the poor King's
name-day--and also the birthday of the dear old Duke--I write to
thank you for your kind and affectionate letter of the 27th. The
_attentat_[56] on the Emperor will have shocked you, as it did us; it
shocked me _the more_ as we had _watched over_ him with such anxiety
while he was with us.

It has produced an immense sensation in France, we hear, and many of
_his_ political _enemies_, he says, cheered him loudly as he returned
to the Tuileries. As you say, he is _very personal_, and _therefore_
kindness _shown_ him _personally_ will make a _lasting_ effect on his
mind, peculiarly susceptible to _kindness_. Another feature in his
character is that _il ne fait pas de phrases_--and _what_ is said
is the result of deep reflection. I therefore send you (in _strict
confidence_) a copy of the really very kind letter he wrote me,
and which I am sure is _quite sincere_. He felt the simple and kind
treatment of him and her _more_ than _all_ the outward homage and
display.

Please kindly to return it when you have done with it.

I am sure you would be charmed with the Empress; it is not such great
beauty, but such grace, elegance, sweetness, and _nature_. Her manners
are charming; the _profile_ and figure beautiful and particularly
_distingués_.

You will be pleased (as I was) at the abandonment of the journey to
the Crimea, though I think, as regarded the Campaign, it would have
been a good thing....

Lord John is returned. I can't say more to-day, but remain, ever your
devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We have a Childs' _Ball_ to-night.

    [Footnote 56: An Italian, Giacomo Pianori, fired twice at the
    Emperor, while he was riding in the Champs Elysées, on the
    29th of April; the Emperor was uninjured.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S IMPRESSIONS]

[Pageheading: LOUIS PHILIPPE AND NAPOLEON III]

[Pageheading: ISOLATION OF THE EMPEROR]

[Pageheading: THE FRENCH ALLIANCE]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd May 1855_.

The recent visit of the Emperor Napoleon III. to this country is a
most curious page of history, and gives rise to many reflections. A
remarkable combination of circumstances has brought about the very
intimate alliance which now unites England and France, for so many
centuries the bitterest enemies and rivals, and this, under the reign
of the present Emperor, the nephew of our greatest foe, and bearing
his name, and brought about by the policy of the late Emperor of
Russia, who considered himself as the head of the European Alliance
against France!

In reflecting on the character of the present Emperor Napoleon, and
the impression I have conceived of it, the following thoughts present
themselves to my mind:

That he _is_ a very _extraordinary_ man, with great qualities
there can be _no_ doubt--I might almost say a mysterious man. He is
evidently possessed of _indomitable courage_, _unflinching firmness
of purpose_, _self-reliance_, _perseverance_, and _great secrecy_; to
this should be added, a great reliance on what he calls his _Star_,
and a belief in omens and incidents as connected with his future
destiny, which is almost romantic--and at the same time he is endowed
with wonderful _self-control_, great _calmness_, even _gentleness_,
and with a _power_ of _fascination_, the effect of which upon
all those who become more intimately acquainted with him is _most
sensibly_ felt.

How far he is actuated by a strong _moral_ sense of _right_ and
_wrong_ is difficult to say. On the one hand, his attempts at
Strasbourg and Boulogne, and this last after having given a solemn
promise never to return or make a similar attempt--in which he openly
called on the subjects of the then King of the French to follow him
as the successor of Napoleon, the _Coup d'État_ of December 1851,
followed by great ... severity and the confiscation of the property of
the unfortunate Orleans family, would lead one to believe that he is
not. On the other hand, his kindness and gratitude towards all those,
whether high or low, who have befriended him or stood by him through
life, and his straightforward and steady conduct towards us throughout
the very difficult and anxious contest in which we have been engaged
for a year and a half, show that he is possessed of noble and right
feelings.

My impression is, that in all these apparently inexcusable acts, he
has invariably been guided by the belief that he is _fulfilling a
destiny_ which God has _imposed_ upon him, and that, though cruel or
harsh in themselves, they were _necessary_ to obtain the result which
he considered _himself_ as _chosen_ to carry out, and _not_ acts of
_wanton_ cruelty or injustice; for it is impossible to know him and
not to see that there is much that is truly amiable, kind, and honest
in his character. Another remarkable and important feature in his
composition is, that everything he says or expresses is the _result_
of deep reflection and of settled purpose, and not merely _des phrases
de politesse_, consequently when we read words used in his speech
made in the City, we may feel sure that he _means_ what he says; and
therefore I would rely with confidence on his behaving honestly and
faithfully towards us. I am not able to say whether he is deeply
versed in History--I should rather think not, as regards it
_generally_, though he may be, and probably is, well informed in
the history of his own country, certainly fully so in that of the
_Empire_, he having made it his special study to contemplate and
reflect upon all the acts and designs of his great uncle. He is very
well read in German literature, to which he seems to be very partial.
It is said, and I am inclined to think with truth, that he reads but
little, even as regards despatches from his own foreign Ministers, he
having expressed his surprise at my reading them daily. He seems to
be singularly ignorant in matters not connected with the branch of
his _special_ studies, and to be ill informed upon them by those who
surround him.

If we compare him with poor King Louis Philippe, I should say that the
latter (Louis Philippe) was possessed of vast knowledge upon all and
every subject, of immense experience in public affairs, and of great
activity of mind; whereas the Emperor possesses greater judgment and
much greater firmness of purpose, but no experience of public affairs,
nor mental application; he is endowed, as was the late King, with much
fertility of imagination.

Another great difference between King Louis Philippe and the
Emperor is, that the poor King was _thoroughly French_ in character,
possessing all the liveliness and talkativeness of that people,
whereas the Emperor is as _unlike_ a _Frenchman_ as possible, being
much more _German_ than French in character.... How could it be
expected that the Emperor _should_ have any _experience_ in _public
affairs_, considering that till six years ago he lived as a poor
exile, for some years even in prison, and never having taken the
slightest part in the _public_ affairs of _any_ country?

It is therefore the more astounding, indeed almost incomprehensible,
that he should show all those powers of Government, and all that
wonderful tact in his conduct and manners which he evinces, and which
many a King's son, nurtured in palaces and educated in the midst of
affairs, never succeeds in attaining. I likewise believe that he would
be incapable of such tricks and over-reachings as practised by poor
King Louis Philippe (for whose memory, as the old and kind friend of
my father, and of whose kindness and amiable qualities I shall ever
retain a lively sense), who in great as well as in small things took
a pleasure in being cleverer and more cunning than others, often
when there was no advantage to be gained by it, and which was,
unfortunately, strikingly displayed in the transactions connected with
the Spanish marriages, which led to the King's downfall and ruined
him in the eyes of all Europe. On the other hand, I believe that the
Emperor Napoleon would not hesitate to do a thing by main force,
even if in itself unjust and tyrannical, should he consider that the
_accomplishment of his destiny_ demanded it.

The _great advantage_ to be derived for the permanent alliance
of England and France, which is of such vital importance to both
countries, by the Emperor's recent visit, I take to be this: that,
with his peculiar character and views, which are very personal, a
kind, unaffected, and hearty reception by us _personally_ in our own
family will make a lasting impression upon his mind; he will see
that he can rely upon our friendship and honesty towards him and his
country so long as he remains faithful towards us; naturally frank,
he will see the advantage to be derived from continuing so; and if he
reflects on the downfall of the former dynasty, he will see that it
arose _chiefly_ from a _breach_ of pledges,... and will be sure, if I
be not very much mistaken in his character, to _avoid_ such a course.
It must likewise not be overlooked that this kindly feeling towards
us, and consequently towards England (the interests of which are
_inseparable_ from us), must be increased when it is remembered that
_we_ are almost the only people in _his_ own position with whom he has
been able to be on any terms of intimacy, consequently almost the only
ones to whom he could talk easily and unreservedly, which he cannot
do naturally with his inferiors. He and the Empress are in a most
isolated position, unable to trust the only relations who are near
them in France, and surrounded by courtiers and servants, who from
fear or interest do not tell them the truth. It is, therefore, natural
to believe that he will not willingly separate from those who, like
us, do not scruple to put him in possession of the real facts, and
whose conduct is guided by justice and honesty, and this the more
readily as he is supposed to have always been a searcher after truth.
I would go still further, and think that it is in our power to _keep_
him in the right course, and to protect him against the extreme
flightiness, changeableness, and to a certain extent want of honesty
of his own servants and nation. We should never lose the opportunity
of checking in the bud any attempt on the part of his agents or
ministers to play us false, frankly informing him of the facts, and
encouraging him to bring forward in an equally frank manner whatever
he has to complain of. This is the course which we have hitherto
pursued, and as he is France in his own sole person, it becomes of the
utmost importance to encourage by every means in our power that very
open intercourse which I must say has existed between him and Lord
Cowley for the last year and a half, and now, since our personal
acquaintance, between ourselves.

As I said before, the words which fall from his lips are the result of
deep reflection, and part of the deep plan which he has staked out
for himself, and which he intends to carry out. I would therefore lay
stress on the following words which he pronounced to me immediately
after the investiture of the Order of the Garter: "_C'est un lien de
plus entre nous, j'ai prêté serment de fidélité à votre Majesté et
je le garderai soigneusement. C'est un grand événement pour moi, et
j'espère pouvoir prouver ma reconnaissance envers votre Majesté et son
Pays._" In a letter said to be written by him to Mr F. Campbell, the
translator of M. Thiers's _History of the Consulate and Empire_, when
returning the proof-sheets in 1847, he says "Let us hope the day may
yet come when I shall carry out the intentions of my Uncle by uniting
the policy and interests of England and France in an indissoluble
alliance. That hope cheers and encourages me. It forbids my repining
at the altered fortunes of my family."

If these be truly his words, he certainly has acted up to them, since
he has swayed with an iron hand the destinies of that most versatile
nation, the French. That he should have written this at a moment when
Louis Philippe had succeeded in all his wishes, and seemed securer
than ever in the possession of his Throne, shows a calm reliance in
his destiny and in the realisation of hopes entertained from his very
childhood which borders on the supernatural.

These are a few of the many reflections caused by the observation and
acquaintance with the character of this most extraordinary man, in
whose fate not only the interests of this country, but the whole of
Europe are intimately bound up. I shall be curious to see if, after
the lapse of time, my opinion and estimate of it has been the right
one.

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _10th May 1855_.

The Queen returns these interesting letters to Lord Clarendon. When
the Emperor expresses a wish that positive instructions should be sent
to Lord Raglan to join in a general forward movement about to take
place, he should be made aware that Lord Raglan has been ready and
most anxious for the assault taking place on the 26th, and that he
only consented to postpone it for a few days at General Canrobert's
earnest desire, who wished to wait for the army of Reserve. It should
be kept in mind, however, that the English cannot proceed farther as
long as the Mamelon has not been taken, and that as long as the
French refuse to do this they must not complain of Lord Raglan's not
advancing. The refusal to undertake this has, the Queen is sorry to
say, produced a bad feeling amongst many of our officers and men,
which she owns alarms her.[57]

    [Footnote 57: General Canrobert was deficient in dash and
    initiative; he knew his defects, and was relieved of his
    command at his own request, being succeeded by General
    Pélissier.

    On the 24th of May (the Queen's Birthday) a successful
    expedition was made against Kertsch, the granary of
    Sebastopol, and vast quantities of coal, corn, and flour were
    either seized by the Allies, or destroyed in anticipation of
    their seizure by the Russians.

    On the 7th of June, the Mamelon (a knoll crowned by a redoubt
    and protected by the Rifle Pits) was taken by the French,
    and the Gravel Pits, an outwork in front of the Redan, by the
    English.]




[Pageheading: THE CRIMEAN MEDAL]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _22nd May 1855_.

MY DEAREST, KINDEST UNCLE,--... The state of affairs is uncomfortable
and complicated just now, but our course is _straight_; we _cannot_
come to any peace unless we have such guarantees by _decided_
limitation of the Fleet, which would secure us against Russian
preponderance for the future.[58]

Ernest will have told you what a _beautiful_ and _touching_ sight
and ceremony (the first of the kind ever witnessed in England) the
distribution of the Medals was. From the highest Prince of the Blood
to the lowest Private, all received the same distinction for the
bravest conduct in the severest actions, and the rough hand of the
brave and honest private soldier came for the first time in contact
with that of their Sovereign and their Queen! Noble fellows! I own I
feel as if they were _my own children_; my heart beats for _them_ as
for my _nearest and dearest_. They were so touched, so pleased; many,
I hear, cried--and they won't hear of giving up their Medals, to have
their names engraved upon them, for fear they should _not_ receive the
_identical one_ put into _their hands by me_, which is quite touching.
Several came by in a sadly mutilated state. None created more interest
or is more gallant than young Sir Thomas Troubridge, who had, at
Inkerman, _one leg_ and the _other foot_ carried away by a round shot,
and continued commanding his battery till the battle was won, refusing
to be carried away, only desiring his shattered limbs to be raised in
order to prevent too great a hemorrhage! He was dragged by in a bath
chair, and when I gave him his medal I told him I should make him one
of my Aides-de-camp for his very gallant conduct, to which he replied:
"I am amply repaid for everything!"[59]

_One must_ revere and love such soldiers as those! The account in the
_Times_ of Saturday is very correct and good.

I must, however, conclude now, hoping soon to hear from you again.
Could you kindly tell me if you could in a few days forward some
letters and papers with _safety_ to good Stockmar. Ever your devoted
Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 58: Prince Albert, in a Memorandum dated the 25th of
    May, emphasised the difficulties in the way of peace caused
    by the attitude of Austria, and the possibility of her passing
    from the one alliance to the other.]

    [Footnote 59: He was made a C.B. and a Brevet-Colonel; and
    also received the Legion of Honour.]




[Pageheading: SUCCESSOR TO LORD DALHOUSIE]


_Queen Victoria to Mr Vernon Smith._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _19th June 1855_.

The Queen has received Mr Vernon Smith's letter on the subject of Lord
Dalhousie's resignation and the appointment of a successor. She
was somewhat astonished that the name of a successor to that most
important appointment should for the first time be brought before her
after all official steps for carrying it out had been completed.
If the selection should now not receive the Queen's approval, it is
evident that great awkwardness must arise.[60]

    [Footnote 60: Mr Vernon Smith, in reply, referred to the
    statutory power then existing of the Directors of the East
    India Company to nominate a Governor-General, subject to the
    approbation of the Crown.]




_Queen Victoria to Mr Vernon Smith._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _20th June 1855_.

The Queen received Mr V. Smith's letter yesterday evening after her
return from Chatham. She readily acquits him of any _intentional_
want of respect towards her, or of any neglect in going through the
prescribed forms with regard to the appointment in question, neither
of which she meant to insinuate by her letter. But she does not
look upon the question as one of form. She takes a deep and natural
interest in the welfare of her Indian Empire, and must consider the
selection of the fittest person for the post of Governor-General as
of paramount importance. She had frequently discussed this point with
Lord Palmerston, but the name of Lord Canning never occurred amongst
the candidates alluded to. The Queen is even now quite ignorant as to
the reasons and motives which led to his selection in preference to
those other names, and Mr V. Smith will see at once that, were the
Queen inclined to object to it, she could not _now_ do so without
inflicting a deep, personal injury on a public man, for whose personal
qualities and talents the Queen has a high regard.

She accordingly approves the recommendation, but must repeat her
regret that no opportunity had been given to her to discuss the
propriety of it with her Ministers previous to the intention of the
recommendation becoming known to all concerned in it.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN]


_General Simpson to Lord Panmure._[61]
[_Telegram._]

_29th June 1855._
(8.30 A.M.)

Lord Raglan had been going on favourably until four in the afternoon
yesterday, when very serious symptoms made their appearance.
Difficulty of breathing was experienced, which gradually increased.
Up to five o'clock he was conscious, and from this time his strength
declined almost imperceptibly until twenty-five minutes before nine,
when he died. I have assumed the command, as Sir George Brown is too
ill on board ship.

    [Footnote 61: On the 18th of June, the fortieth anniversary of
    Waterloo, a combined attack by the English on the Redan, and
    the French on the Malakhoff, was repulsed with heavy losses.
    The scheme was that of Pélissier, and Lord Raglan acquiesced
    against his better judgment. The result depressed him greatly;
    he was attacked with cholera, and died on the 28th.]




_Queen Victoria to General Simpson._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th June 1855_.

Not being aware whether Sir George Brown is well enough by this
time to assume the command of the Army, the Queen writes to General
Simpson, as the Chief of his Staff, to express to him, and _through_
him to the Army, her deep and _heartfelt grief_ at the irreparable
loss of their gallant and excellent Commander, Lord Raglan, which has
cast a gloom over us all, as it must do over the whole Army.

But, at the same time, the Queen wishes to express her earnest hope
and confident trust that every one will more than ever now do their
duty, as they have hitherto so nobly done, and that she may continue
to be as proud of her beloved Army as she has been, though their brave
Chief who led them so often to victory and to glory, has been taken
from them.

Most grievous and most truly melancholy it is that poor Lord Raglan
should die _thus_--from sickness--on the eve, as we have every
reason to hope, of the glorious result of so much labour, and so much
anxiety, and not be allowed to witness it.

The Queen's prayers will be more than ever with her Army, and most
fervently do we trust that General Simpson's health, as well as that
of the other Generals, may be preserved to them unimpaired!




_Queen Victoria to Lady Raglan._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th June 1855_.

DEAR LADY RAGLAN,--Words _cannot_ convey _all_ I feel at the
irreparable loss you have sustained, and I and the Country have, in
your noble, gallant, and excellent husband, whose loyalty and devotion
to his Sovereign and Country were unbounded. We both feel _most
deeply_ for you and your daughters, to whom this blow must be most
severe and sudden. He was so strong, and his health had borne the bad
climate, great fatigues, and anxieties so well, ever since he left
England, that, though we were much alarmed at hearing of his illness,
we were full of hopes of his speedy recovery.

We must bow to the will of God; but to be taken away thus, on the eve
of the successful result of so much labour, so much suffering, and so
much anxiety, is cruel indeed!

We feel much, too, for the brave Army, whom he was so proud of, who
will be sadly cast down at losing their gallant Commander, who had led
them so often to victory and glory.

If sympathy can be any consolation, you have it, for _we all_ have
_alike_ to mourn, and no one more than I, who have lost a faithful and
devoted Servant, in whom I had the greatest confidence.

We both most anxiously hope that your health, and that of your
daughters, may not materially suffer from this dreadful shock. Believe
me always, my dear Lady Raglan, yours very sincerely,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: GENERAL SIMPSON TAKES COMMAND]


_Queen Victoria to General Simpson._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _7th July 1855_.

When the Queen last wrote to General Simpson to express to him, and
through him to her Army in the Crimea, her _deep_ grief at the loss
of their noble, gallant, and excellent Commander, it was not yet known
that Sir George Brown would return home, and that the command of the
Army would devolve upon General Simpson. She writes to him, therefore,
to-day, for the _first_ time as the Commander-in-Chief of her heroic
Army in the East, to assure him of her confidence and support. It is
as proud a command as any soldier could desire, but its difficulties
and responsibilities are also very great.

General Simpson knows well how admirably his lamented predecessor
conducted all the communications with our Allies the French, and he
cannot do better than follow in the same course. While showing the
greatest readiness to act with perfect cordiality towards them, he
will, the Queen trusts, never allow her Army to be unduly pressed
upon, which would only injure both Armies.

The Queen feels very anxious lest the fearful heat which the Army
is exposed to should increase cholera and fever. Both the Prince and
herself, the Queen can only repeat, have their minds _constantly_
occupied with the Army, and count the days and hours between the
mails, and it would be a relief to the Queen to hear herself directly
from General Simpson from time to time when he has leisure to write.

The Prince wishes to be most kindly named to General Simpson, and
joins with the Queen in every possible good wish for himself and her
brave and beloved troops.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S UNPOPULARITY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _12th July 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Viscount Palmerston very much regrets to have to say that the adverse
feeling in regard to Lord John Russell grows stronger and spreads
wider every day, and there is a general desire that he should
resign.[62] This desire is expressed by the great bulk of the
steadiest supporters of the Government, and was conveyed to Lord John
this evening in the House of Commons by Mr Bouverie on behalf of those
members of the Government who are not in the Cabinet. Lord John has
himself come to the same conclusion, and informed Viscount Palmerston
this evening in the House of Commons that he has finally determined to
resign, and will to-morrow or next day write a letter to that effect
to be laid before your Majesty. Viscount Palmerston told him that
however great would be the loss of the Government by his resignation,
yet as this is a question which more peculiarly regards Lord John
personally, his course must be decided by his own judgment and
feelings; but that if he did not think necessary to resign, Viscount
Palmerston would face Sir Edward Bulwer's Motion with the Government
as it is.[63] He asked Lord John, however, whether, if he determined
to resign, there was any arrangement which he would wish to have
submitted for your Majesty's consideration, and especially whether, if
your Majesty should be graciously pleased to raise him to the Peerage,
such an Honour would be agreeable to him. He said that perhaps in the
autumn such an act of favour on the part of your Majesty might fall in
with his views and would be gratefully received, but it would not do
at present, and should not be mentioned....

    [Footnote 62: Lord John Russell had, as stated above, favoured
    the proposals of Count Buol at Vienna, compromising the Third
    Point to the advantage of Russia. The Ministry had disavowed
    this view, but Lord John had remained in office. On the 24th
    of May, Mr Disraeli moved a vote of censure on the Government
    for its conduct of the war, fiercely assailing Lord John for
    his proceedings both at Vienna and as Minister. In repelling
    the charge, Lord John made a vigorous speech disclosing no
    disposition to modify the British attitude towards Russian
    preponderance in the Black Sea, and Mr Disraeli's Motion was
    lost by a majority of 100. On a subsequent night he made a
    further speech strongly antagonistic to Russia, his attitude
    as to the Austrian proposals being still undisclosed to the
    public. But these speeches caused Count Buol to reveal the
    favourable view taken of his proposals by the English
    and French Plenipotentiaries, and Lord John Russell's
    inconsistency aroused widespread indignation.]

    [Footnote 63: This Motion was one of censure on Lord John
    Russell for his conduct at Vienna, and it was deeply galling
    to be informed by subordinate members of the Government that,
    unless he resigned, they would support the vote of censure.
    Lord John bowed before the storm and retired from office.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL RESIGNS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _13th July 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
submits for your Majesty's gracious acceptance the resignation of Lord
John Russell's office, which Viscount Palmerston trusts your Majesty
will think is expressed in terms highly honourable to Lord John
Russell's feelings as a man and as a Minister.

The step, Viscount Palmerston regrets to say, has become unavoidable.
The storm of public opinion, however much it may exceed any just or
reasonable cause, is too overbearing to be resisted, and Lord John
Russell has no doubt best consulted his own personal interests in
yielding to it. After a time there will be a reaction and justice will
be done; but resistance at present would be ineffectual, and would
only increase irritation.

Viscount Palmerston is not as yet prepared to submit for your
Majesty's consideration the arrangement which will become necessary
for filling up the gap thus made in the Government....




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _13th July 1855_.

The Queen is much concerned by what Lord Palmerston writes respecting
the feeling of the House of Commons. Lord John's resignation, although
a severe loss, may possibly assuage the storm which he had chiefly
produced. But she finds that Sir E. Lytton's Motion will be equally
applicable to the Government after this event as it would have been
before it. She trusts that no stone will be left unturned to defeat
the success of that Motion, which would plunge the Queen and the
executive Government of the Country into new and most dangerous
complications. These are really not times to play with the existence
of Governments for personal feeling or interests!




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _14th July 1855_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's letter of yesterday, and
returns Lord John Russell's letter,[64] which reflects the greatest
credit on him. The resignation had become unavoidable, and Lord
Palmerston will do well to let the Debate go by before proposing a
successor, whom it will be difficult to find under any circumstances.
Having expressed her feelings on the position of affairs in her letter
of yesterday, she will not repeat them here.

She grants her permission to Lord Palmerston to state in Parliament
what he may think necessary for the defence of the Cabinet. She could
have the Council here on Wednesday, which day will probably be the
least inconvenient to the Members of the Government.

The Queen has just received Lord Palmerston's letter of last night,
which gives a more cheering prospect.[65]

    [Footnote 64: Stating that his continuance in office would
    embarrass and endanger the Ministry.]

    [Footnote 65: In consequence of Lord John's resignation, the
    motion of censure was withdrawn.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _24th July 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I feel _quite_ grieved that it must again be _by
letter_ that I express to you all my feelings of love and affection,
which yesterday morning I could still do _de vive voix_. It was indeed
a _happy_ time; I only fear that I was a dull companion--silent,
absent, stupid, which I feel I have become since the War; and the
constant anxiety and preoccupation which that odious Sebastopol causes
me and my dear, brave Army, added to which the last week, or
indeed the _whole fortnight_ since we arrived here, was one of such
uncertainty about this tiresome scarlatina, that it made me still more
_préoccupée_.

The _only_ thing that at all lessened my sorrow at seeing you depart
was my thankfulness that you got safe _out_ of our _Hospital_.... Ever
your devoted Niece and Child,

VICTORIA R.




[Pagheading: AFFAIRS OF SWEDEN]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _27th July 1855_.

The Queen has delayed answering Lord Clarendon's letter respecting
Sweden till she received the first letter from Mr Magenis,[66]
omitted in Lord Clarendon's box. Now, having read the whole of these
documents, she confesses that she requires some explanation as to the
advantages which are to arise to England from the proposed Treaty,
before she can come to any decision about it. When a Treaty with
Sweden was last in contemplation, she was to have joined in the war
against Russia and to have received a guarantee of the integrity of
her dominions by England and France in return; yet this clause was
found so onerous to this Country, and opening so entirely a new field
of questions and considerations, that the Cabinet would not
entertain it. Now the same guarantee is to be given by us without the
counterbalancing advantage of Sweden giving us her assistance in the
war.

    [Footnote 66: Mr (afterwards Sir) Arthur Charles Magenis,
    Minister at Stockholm (and afterwards at Lisbon), had written
    to say that an attempt was being made to change the partial
    guarantee of Finmark into a general guarantee on behalf of
    Sweden and Norway. An important Treaty was concluded between
    Sweden and Norway, and the Western Powers, in the following
    November, which secured the integrity of Sweden and Norway.]




[Pageheading: GENERAL SIMPSON'S DIFFICULTIES]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

OSBORNE, _30th July 1855_.

The Queen has received Lord Panmure's letter of yesterday evening,
and has signed the dormant Commission for Sir W. Codrington. A similar
course was pursued with regard to Sir George Cathcart. The Queen hopes
that General Simpson may still rally. He must be in a great state of
helplessness at this moment, knowing that he wants, as everybody out
there, the advantages which Lord Raglan's name, experience, position,
rank, prestige, etc., etc., gave him, having his Military Secretary
ill on board, the head of the Intelligence Department dead, and no
means left him whereby to gather information or to keep up secret
correspondence with the Tartars--Colonel Vico[67] dead, who, as Prince
Edward told the Queen, had become a _most important_ element in the
good understanding with the French Army and its new Commander, and
not possessing military rank enough to make the Sardinian General[68]
consider him as his Chief. If all these difficulties are added to
those inherent to the task imposed upon him, one cannot be surprised
at his low tone of hopefulness. As most of these will, however, meet
every Commander whom we now can appoint, the Queen trusts that means
will be devised to assist him as much as possible in relieving him
from too much writing, and in the diplomatic correspondence he has to
carry on. The Queen repeats her opinion that a _Chef de Chancellerie
Diplomatique_, such as is customary in the Russian Army, ought to be
placed at his command, and she wishes Lord Panmure to show this letter
to Lords Palmerston and Clarendon, and to consult with them on the
subject. Neither the Chief of the Staff nor the Military Secretary
can supply that want, and the General himself must feel unequal to it
without any experience on the subject, and so will his successor.

Prince Edward told the Queen _in strict confidence_ that General
Simpson's position in Lord Raglan's Headquarters had been anything
but pleasant, that the Staff had been barely civil to him; he was
generally treated as an interloper, so that the Sardinian and French
Officers attached to our Headquarters observed upon it as a strange
thing which would not be tolerated in their Armies, and that General
Simpson showed himself grateful to them for the civility which they
showed to a General Officer of rank _aux cheveux blancs_. These little
details, considered together with the General's extreme modesty,
enable one to conceive what his present feelings must be.[69]

    [Footnote 67: Colonel Vico, the French Commissioner attached
    to Lord Raglan's staff, had died on the 10th.]

    [Footnote 68: General La Marmora.]

    [Footnote 69: The Russian resources for the defence of
    Sebastopol, both as to ammunition and provisions, were
    becoming exhausted, and a supreme effort was to be made,
    by massing more Russian troops in the Crimea, to inflict a
    decisive blow on the besieging forces of the Allies. Early on
    the morning of the 16th of August Prince Gortschakoff attacked
    the French and Piedmontese at the River Tchernaya. The attack
    on the left was repulsed by the French with the utmost spirit
    and with very little loss; while the Russian loss, both in
    killed and wounded, was severe. The Sardinian army, under
    General La Marmora, were no less successful on the right. The
    news of this victory did not reach England until the Queen and
    Prince had left for their visit to Paris.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

[OSBORNE, _7th August 1855_.]

The Queen has read Sir B. Hall's[70] letter, and must say that she
quite concurs in the advantage resulting from the playing of a band
in Kensington Gardens on Sunday afternoon, a practice which has been
maintained on the Terrace at Windsor through good and evil report,
and she accordingly sanctions this proposal.[71] [She would wish Lord
Palmerston, however, to notice to Sir B. Hall that Hyde Park, although
under the management of the Board of Works, is still a Royal Park,
and that all the Regulations for opening and shutting gates, the
protection of the grounds and police regulations, etc., etc., stand
under the Ranger, who alone could give the order Sir B. Hall proposes
to issue....][72]

    [Footnote 70: First Commissioner of Public Works; afterwards
    Lord Llanover.]

    [Footnote 71: The Government granted permission for the
    Band to play, but the practice was discontinued in 1856.
    See _post_, 1st June, 1856, note 31.]

    [Footnote 72: The portion of the letter within brackets was
    struck out of the draft by the Queen.]



[Pageheading: VISIT TO PARIS]

[Pageheading: ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

ST CLOUD[73] _23rd August 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I do not intend to attempt any description, for I
have no time for anything of the sort; besides, I have no doubt you
will read the papers, and I know good Van de Weyer has written _au
long_ to you about it all. I will therefore only give in a few words
my impressions.

I am _delighted_, _enchanted_, _amused_, and _interested_, and think
I never saw anything more _beautiful_ and gay than Paris--or more
splendid than all the Palaces. Our reception is _most_ gratifying--for
it is enthusiastic and really kind in the highest degree; and Maréchal
Magnan[74] (whom you know well) says that such a reception as I have
received _every day here_ is much greater and much more enthusiastic
even than Napoleon on his return from his victories had received! Our
entrance into Paris was a scene which was _quite feenhaft_, and
which could hardly be seen anywhere else; was quite _overpowering_--
splendidly decorated--illuminated--immensely
crowded--and 60,000 troops out--from the Gare de Strasbourg to St
Cloud, of which 20,000 Gardes Nationales, who had come great distances
to see me.

The Emperor has done wonders for Paris, and for the Bois de Boulogne.
Everything is beautifully _monté_ at Court--_very_ quiet, and
in excellent order; I must say we are both much struck with the
difference between this and the poor King's time, when the noise,
confusion, and bustle were great. We have been to the Exposition,
to Versailles--which is most splendid and magnificent--to the Grand
Opéra, where the reception and the way in which "God save the Queen"
was sung were _most magnificent_. Yesterday we went to the Tuileries;
in the evening _Théâtre ici_; to-night an immense ball at the Hôtel de
Ville. They have asked to call a new street, which we opened, _after
me!_

The heat is very great, but the weather splendid, and though the sun
may be hotter, the air is certainly _lighter_ than ours--and I have no
headache.

The _Zouaves_ are on guard here, and you can't see finer men; the Cent
Gardes are splendid too.

We drove to look at poor Neuilly on Sunday, the Emperor and Empress
proposing it themselves; and it was a most _melancholy sight_, all in
ruins. At _le grand Trianon_ we saw the pretty chapel in which poor
Marie was married; at the Tuileries the Cabinet where the poor King
signed his fatal abdication. I wish _you_ would take an opportunity of
telling the poor Queen that we had thought much of her and the family
here, had visited those spots which were connected with them in
particular, and that we had greatly admired the King's great works at
Versailles, which have been left _quite intact_. Indeed, the Emperor
(as in everything) has shown _great_ tact and good feeling about all
this, and spoke without any bitterness of the King.

I still mean to visit (and this was _his_ proposition) the Chapelle de
St Ferdinand, which I hope you will likewise mention to the Queen....

The children are so fond of the Emperor, who is so very kind to them.
He _is_ very _fascinating_, with that great quiet and gentleness. He
has certainly excellent manners, and both he and the dear and _very_
charming Empress (whom Albert likes particularly) do the _honneurs
extremely_ well and _very_ gracefully, and are full of _every kind_
attention....

Instead of my short letter I have written you a very long one, and
must end. Many thanks for your kind letter of the 17th.

How beautiful and how enjoyable is this place! Ever your devoted
Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 73: The Queen and Prince left Osborne early on the
    18th in their new yacht, _Victoria and Albert_, for Boulogne,
    and the visit to France, which lasted nine days, was
    brilliantly successful. The Queen, in her Journal, recorded
    with great minuteness the details of this interesting time,
    and some extracts are printed by Sir Theodore Martin in _The
    Life of the Prince Consort_.]

    [Footnote 74: Marshal Magnan had repressed an insurrection in
    Lyons in 1849, and aided in the _Coup d'État_ of 1851.]




[Pageheading: LETTER TO THE EMPEROR]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

OSBORNE, _le 29 Août 1855_.

SIRE ET MON CHER FRÈRE,--Une de mes premières occupations en arrivant
ici est d'écrire à votre Majesté et d'exprimer du fond de mon c[oe]ur
combien nous sommes pénétrés et touchés de l'accueil qui nous a été
fait en France d'abord par votre Majesté et l'Impératrice ainsi
que par toute la Nation. Le souvenir ne s'effacera jamais de notre
mémoire, et j'aime à y voir un gage précieux pour le futur de la
cordialité qui unit nos deux Gouvernements ainsi que nos deux peuples.
Puisse cette heureuse union, que nous devons surtout aux qualités
personnelles de votre Majesté, se consolider de plus en plus pour le
bien-être de nos deux nations ainsi que de toute l'Europe.

C'était avec le c[oe]ur bien gros j'ai pris congé de vous, Sire, après
les beaux et heureux jours que nous avons passés avec vous et que vous
avez su nous rendre si agréables. Hélas! comme toute chose ici-bas,
ils se sont écoulés trop vite et ces dix jours de fêtes paraissent
comme un beau rêve, mais ils nous restent gravés dans notre mémoire
et nous aimons à passer en revue tout ce qui s'est présenté à nos yeux
d'intéressant et de beau en éprouvant en même temps le désir de les
voir se renouveler un jour.

Je ne saurais vous dire assez, Sire, combien je suis touchée de toutes
vos bontés et de votre amitié pour le Prince et aussi de l'affection
et de la bienveillance dont vous avez comblé nos enfants. Leur séjour
en France a été la plus heureuse époque de leur vie, et ils ne cessent
d'en parler.

Nous avons trouvé tous les autres enfants en bonne santé, et le petit
Arthur se promène avec son bonnet de police qui fait son bonheur et
dont il ne veut pas se séparer. Que Dieu veille sur votre Majesté et
la chère Impératrice pour laquelle je forme bien des v[oe]ux.

Vous m'avez dit encore du bateau "au revoir," c'est de tout mon
c[oe]ur que je le répète aussi!

Permettez que j'exprime ici tous les sentiments de tendre amitié et
d'affection avec lesquelles je me dis, Sire et cher Frère, de votre
Majesté Impériale, la bien bonne et affectionnée S[oe]ur et Amie,

VICTORIA R.

Je viens à l'instant même de recevoir la si aimable dépêche
télégraphique de votre Majesté. Recevez-en tous mes remercîments les
plus affectueux.




[Pageheading: AN _ENTENTE CORDIALE_]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _29th August 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Here we are again, after the _pleasantest_ and
_most interesting_ and triumphant ten days that I think I ever passed.
So complete a success, so very hearty and kind a reception with and
from so _difficile_ a people as the French is indeed _most_ gratifying
and _most_ promising for the future. The Army were most friendly and
amicable towards us also.

In short, the _complete_ Union of the two countries is stamped and
sealed in the most satisfactory and solid manner, for it is not _only_
a Union of the two Governments--the two Sovereigns--it is that of
the _two Nations!_ Albert has told you of all the very extraordinary
combinations of circumstances which helped to make all so interesting,
so satisfactory. Of the splendour of the _Fête_ at Versailles I can
really give _no_ faint impression, for it exceeded all imagination! I
have formed a _great_ affection for the Emperor, and I believe it is
very reciprocal, for he showed us a confidence which we must feel
as very gratifying, and spoke to us on all subjects, even the _most
delicate_. I find _no_ great personal rancour towards the Orleans. He
has destroyed nothing that the King did, even to the Gymnastics of the
children at St Cloud, and showed much kind and good feeling in taking
us to see poor Chartres' monument, which is beautiful. Nothing could
exceed his tact and kindness. I find I must end in a great hurry, and
will say more another day. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP]


_Queen Victoria to Baron Stockmar._

OSBORNE, _1st September 1855_.

You continue to refuse to answer me, but I am _not_ discouraged by it;
but on the contrary _must_ write to you to give _vent_ to my _delight_
at our triumphant, most interesting, and most enjoyable visit to
Paris! The Prince has written to you, and given you some general
accounts, which will please you, and the _Times_ has some descriptions
... of the wonderful beauty and magnificence of _every_thing. I never
enjoyed myself more, or was more delighted or more interested, _and
I can think_ and talk of nothing else. I am _deeply_ touched by the
extraordinary warmth, heartiness, and enthusiasm with which we have
been received by _all_ ranks, and the kindness shown to every one
has brought us all back--beginning with ourselves and ending with
the lowest of our servants--full of gratitude, pleasure, admiration,
regret at its being over, and a great desire to see such a visit
renewed! It was touching and pleasing in the extreme to see the
alliance sealed so completely, and without lowering _either_ Country's
pride, and to see old enmities and rivalries _wiped out_ over the tomb
of Napoleon I., before whose coffin I stood (by torchlight) at the arm
of Napoleon III., now my nearest and dearest ally! We have come back
with feelings of _real_ affection for and interest in _France_--and
indeed how could it be otherwise when one saw _how_ much was done to
_please_ and delight us? The Army too (such a fine one!) I feel a real
affection for, as the companions of my beloved troops!

For the Emperor _personally_ I have conceived a _real_ affection and
friendship, and so I may truly say of the Prince. You know what _I
felt_ the moment I saw him and became acquainted with him, what I
wrote down about him, etc. Well, we have now seen him for full _ten
days_, from twelve to fourteen hours every day--often alone; and I
cannot say _how_ pleasant and easy it is to live with him, or how
attached one becomes to him. I know _no_ one who puts me more at my
ease, or to whom I felt more inclined to talk unreservedly, or in whom
involuntarily I should be more inclined to confide, than the Emperor!
He was entirely at his ease with us--spoke most openly and frankly
with us on all subjects--EVEN the _most_ delicate, viz. the Orleans
Family (this was with _me_, for I was driving alone with him), and I
am happy to _feel_ that there is nothing now between us which could
_mar_ our personal good _entente_ and friendly and intimate footing.
He is so simple, so _naïf_, never making _des phrases_, or paying
compliments--so full of tact, good taste, high breeding; his
attentions and respect towards us were so simple and unaffected, his
kindness and friendship for the Prince so natural and so gratifying,
_because_ it is _not_ forced, not _pour faire des compliments_. He
is quite _The Emperor_, and yet in _no_ way playing it; the Court and
whole house infinitely more _regal_ and better managed than in poor
Louis Philippe's time, when all was in great noise and confusion, and
there was _no_ Court. We parted with _mutual_ sorrow, and the Emperor
expressed his hope that we shall frequently meet and "pas avec de si
grandes cérémonies"!

What I write here is my feeling and conviction: wonderful it is that
this _man_--whom certainly we were _not_ over well-disposed to--should
by _force_ of _circumstances_ be drawn into such close connection with
us, and become _personally_ our friend, and _this_ entirely by his
_own personal_ qualities, in spite of so much that _was and could_ be
said against him! To the children (who behaved beautifully, and had
the most extraordinary success) his kindness, and judicious kindness,
was _great_, and they are _excessively_ fond of him. In short, without
_attempting_ to do anything particular to _make_ one like him, or
ANY personal attraction in outward appearance, he _has_ the power
of _attaching_ those to him who come near him and know him, which is
_quite incredible_. He is excessively kind in private, and so very
quiet. I shall always look back on the time passed not only in France,
but with _him_ personally, as _most_ agreeable. The Prince, though
less enthusiastic than I am, I can see well, shares this feeling, and
I think it is very reciprocal on the Emperor's part; he is very fond
of the Prince and truly appreciates him. With respect to the War,
nothing can be more frank and fair and honest than he is about it, but
it makes him unhappy and anxious.

The dear Empress, who was all kindness and goodness, whom we are all
very fond of, we saw comparatively but little of, as for _really_ and
_certainly very_ good reasons she must take great care of herself....

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: MISGOVERNMENT AT NAPLES]

[Pageheading: CO-OPERATION OF THE POWERS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _3rd September 1855_.

The Queen has read the enclosed papers, and must express her strongest
objection to a Naval Demonstration (which to be effectual must be
prepared to pass on to measures of hostility), in order to obtain
changes in the _internal system of Government_ of the Kingdom of
Naples.[75] England would thereby undertake a responsibility which
she is in no way capable of bearing, unless she took the Government
permanently into her own hands. The plea on which the interference is
to be based, viz. that the misgovernment at Naples brings Monarchical
institutions into disrepute, and might place weapons in the hands of
the democracy (as put forth by Sir W. Temple),[76] would be wholly
_insufficient_ to justify the proceeding. Whether such an armed
interference in favour of the people of Naples against their
Government would lead to a Revolution or not, as apprehended by the
French Government and disbelieved by Lord Palmerston, must be so
entirely a matter of chance that it would be idle to predict the
exact consequences. If 99 out of every 100 Neapolitans, however, are
dissatisfied with their Government (as Lord Palmerston states), it
is not unreasonable to expect that our demonstration may give them
confidence enough to rise, and if beat down by the King's troops
in presence of our ships, our position would become exceedingly
humiliating.

Any insult offered to the British Government, on the other hand, it
has a perfect right to resent, and to ask reparation for. The case,
however, is a very unpleasant one. The Neapolitan Government deny
having intended any slight on the British Legation by the order
respecting the Box of the "Intendant du Théâtre," which they state to
have been general, and deny any intention to interfere with the free
intercourse of the members of our Legation with Neapolitans, to which
Sir W. Temple merely replies that notwithstanding the denial such an
intention is believed by the public to exist.

The case becomes therefore a very delicate one, requiring the greatest
care on our part not to put ourselves in the wrong.

It will be of the greatest importance to come to a thorough
understanding with France, and if possible also with Austria, on the
subject.

    [Footnote 75: Lord Palmerston had suggested co-operation
    by England and France in obtaining the dismissal of the
    Neapolitan Minister of Police as an _amende_ for an
    affront offered to this country, to be enforced by a naval
    demonstration, coupled with a demand for the liberation of
    political prisoners.]

    [Footnote 76: The Hon. Sir William Temple, K.C.B. [_d._ 1856],
    only brother of Lord Palmerston, Minister Plenipotentiary to
    the Court of Naples.]




_Lord Panmure to Earl Granville._[77]

[_Telegram._]

_10th September 1855._

Telegram from General Simpson, dated Crimea, nine September, one
eight five five, ten nine A.M. "Sebastopol is in the possession of the
Allies. The enemy during the night and this morning have evacuated
the south side after exploding their Magazines and setting fire to the
whole of the Town. All the men-of-war were burnt during the night with
the exception of three Steamers, which are plying about the Harbour.
The Bridge communicating with the North side is broken."

War Department, tenth September, one eight five five, four forty-five
P.M....

    [Footnote 77: Minister in attendance at Balmoral. The Queen
    and Prince occupied their new home for the first time on the
    7th of September; it was not yet completed, but, the Queen
    wrote, "the house is charming, the rooms delightful, the
    furniture, papers, everything, perfection."]




[Pageheading: FALL OF SEBASTOPOL]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL CASTLE, _11th September 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--The great event has at length taken
place--_Sebastopol has fallen!_ We received the news here last night
when we were sitting quietly round our table after dinner. We did what
we could to celebrate it; but that was but little, for to my grief
we have not _one_ soldier, no band, nothing here to make any sort
of demonstration. What we did do was in Highland fashion to light
a _bonfire_ on the top of a hill opposite the house, which had been
built last year when the premature news of the fall of Sebastopol
deceived every one, and which we had to leave _unlit_, and found here
on our return!

On Saturday evening we heard of one Russian vessel having been
destroyed, on Sunday morning of the destruction of another,
yesterday morning of the fall of the Malakhoff Tower--and _then_ of
_Sebastopol!_ We were not successful against the Redan on the 8th,
and I fear our loss was considerable. Still the _daily_ loss in the
trenches was becoming so serious that no loss in achieving such a
result is to be compared to that. This event will delight my brother
and faithful ally--and _friend_, Napoleon III.--I may add, for we
really are _great friends_; this attempt,[78] though that of a madman,
is very distressing and makes one _tremble_....

We expect the young Prince Fritz Wilhelm[79] of Prussia on a little
visit here on Friday.

I must now conclude. With Albert's love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 78: As he was about to enter the Opera House on the
    evening of the 7th, the Emperor was fired at without effect by
    one Bellegarde, who had been previously convicted of fraud,
    on which occasion his punishment had been mitigated by
    the Emperor's clemency; he was now sentenced to two years'
    imprisonment.]

    [Footnote 79: Only son of the Prince of Prussia, and
    afterwards the Emperor Frederick.]




[Pageheading: THE MALAKHOFF]


_Lord Panmure to General Simpson._

[_Telegram._]

_12th September 1855._

The Queen has received, with deep emotion, the welcome intelligence of
the fall of Sebastopol.

Penetrated with profound gratitude to the Almighty, who has vouchsafed
this triumph to the Allied Armies, Her Majesty has commanded me to
express to yourself, and through you to the Army, the pride with which
she regards this fresh instance of its heroism.

The Queen congratulates her Troops on the triumphant issue of this
protracted siege, and thanks them for the cheerfulness and fortitude
with which they have encountered its toils, and the valour which has
led to its termination.

The Queen deeply laments that this success in not without its alloy in
the heavy losses which have been sustained; and while she rejoices in
the victory, Her Majesty deeply sympathises with the noble sufferers
in their country's cause.

You will be pleased to congratulate General Pélissier in Her Majesty's
name upon the brilliant result of the assault on the Malakhoff, which
proves the irresistible force as well as indomitable courage of her
brave Allies.




_Queen Victoria to General Simpson._

BALMORAL, _14th September 1855_.

With a heart full of gratitude and pride, as well as of sorrow for the
many valuable lives that have been lost, the Queen writes to General
Simpson to congratulate him, as well on her own part as on that of
the Prince, on the glorious news of the _Fall of Sebastopol!_ General
Simpson must indeed _feel proud_ to have commanded the Queen's noble
Army on _such_ an occasion.

She wishes him to express to that gallant Army her high sense of their
gallantry, and her joy and satisfaction at their labours, anxieties,
and cruel sufferings, for nearly a year, having _at length_ been
crowned with such success.

To General Pélissier[80] also, and his gallant Army, whom the Queen
ever unites in her thoughts and wishes with her own beloved troops,
she would wish General Simpson to convey the expression of her
personal warm congratulations, as well as of her sympathy for their
losses.

The Queen intends to mark her sense of General Simpson's services by
conferring upon him the Grand Cross of the Bath.

We are _now_ most anxious that not a moment should be lost in
following up this great victory, and in driving the Russians, while
still under the depressing effect of their failure, from the Crimea!

    [Footnote 80: He now became Duke of Malakhoff, and a Marshal
    of the French Army.]




[Pageheading: ATTITUDE OF AUSTRIA]


_Earl Granville to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _14th September 1855_.

MY DEAR CLARENDON,--I was sent for after breakfast. The Queen and the
Prince are much pleased with the draft of your Despatch to Naples;
they think it good and dignified. With respect to the draft to Lord
Stratford, instructing him to recommend to the Porte an application
to the Austrian Government for the withdrawal or diminution of the
Austrian troops in the Principalities, I have been commanded to write
what the Queen has not time this morning to put on paper. Her Majesty
does not feel that the objects of this proposed Despatch have been
sufficiently explained. It does not appear to Her Majesty that, in
a military point of view, the plans of the Allies are sufficiently
matured to make it clear whether the withdrawal of the Austrian Army
would be an advantage or a disadvantage. If the Allies intend to
march through the Principalities, and attack Russia on that side, the
presence of the Austrians might be an inconvenience. If, on the other
hand, they advance from the East, it is a positive advantage to have
the Russians contained on the other flank, by the Austrians in their
present position. Looking at the political bearing of this move, Her
Majesty thinks that it will not fail to have an unfavourable effect on
Austria, who will be hurt at the Allies urging the Porte to endeavour
to put an end to an arrangement entered into at the suggestion, or at
all events with the approval, of the Allies. It cannot be an object
at this moment, when extraneous circumstances have probably acted
favourably for us on the minds of the Emperor of Austria and his
Government, to check that disposition, make them distrust us, and
incline them to throw themselves towards Russia, who now will spare no
efforts to gain them. Her Majesty sees by your proposed Despatch you
do not expect the Austrians to comply with this demand. Even if they
consented to diminish the numbers of their Troops, they would do so
only to suit their own convenience, and such diminution would in no
ways decrease the evils of the occupation. Lastly, the Queen is of
opinion that if such a proposal is to be made, it ought not to be done
through Lord Stratford and the Porte, but that the subject should
be broached at Vienna and the Austrian Government asked what their
intentions are; that this would be the more friendly, more open, and
more dignified course, and more likely than the other plan of being
successful. Her Majesty, however, doubts that any such demand will be
acceded to by the Austrians, and believes that their refusal will put
the Allies in an awkward position.

This is, I believe, the pith of Her Majesty's opinions--there appears
to me to be much sense in them--and they are well deserving of your
and Palmerston's consideration. Yours sincerely,

GRANVILLE.




[Pageheading: LIFE PEERAGES]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _19th September 1855_.

The Queen has to thank Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 16th. The
want of Law Lords in the Upper House has often been complained of, and
the Queen has long been of opinion that in order to remedy the same
without adding permanently to the Peerage, the Crown ought to use its
prerogative in creating Peers for life only. Lord Lansdowne coincided
with this view, and Lord John Russell actually proposed a "Life
Peerage" to Dr. Lushington, who declined it, however, from a dislike
to become the first of the kind. Mr Pemberton Leigh has _twice_
declined a Peerage, but the Queen can have no objection to its being
offered to him again.[81]...

    [Footnote 81: See _ante_, vol. ii., 25th January, 1851, note 1.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _20th September 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

A Blue Ribbon has become vacant by the death of the late Duke of
Somerset, and Viscount Palmerston having communicated with Lord
Lansdowne and Lord Clarendon on the subject, would beg to submit for
your Majesty's gracious consideration that this honour might be well
conferred upon the Duke of Newcastle, who has been the object of much
undeserved attack, though certainly from inexperience not altogether
exempt from criticism, and who since his retirement from office
has shaped his public course in a manner honourable to himself, and
advantageously contrasting with the aberrations of some of his former
colleagues.[82]

Your Majesty must no doubt have been struck with the vast accumulation
of warlike stores found at Sebastopol. That there should have remained
there four thousand cannon, after the wear and tear of the Siege,
proves the great importance attached by the Russian Government to that
Arsenal over which your Majesty's Flag is now triumphantly flying.

    [Footnote 82: He had gone out to the Crimea, and entered
    Sebastopol with General Simpson. The Duke did not at this time
    accept the Garter, which was bestowed on Earl Fortescue. See
    _post_, 26th November, 1855, note 98.]




[Pageheading: DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _21st September 1855_.

The Queen is anxious to mark her sense of the services of the Army and
Military Departments at home by conferring the rank of Field-Marshal
on Lord Hardinge, who, from his position as Commander-in-Chief,
and his long, distinguished services, has a strong claim to such an
honour. Moreover, Marshal Vaillant receiving the G.C.B., whilst it
has been thought more prudent not to accept the _Légion d'Honneur_ for
Lord Hardinge, makes it the more desirable. The Prince is now again
the only Field-Marshal in the Army, which has always had several. The
Queen thinks that Lord Combermere, being the second senior officer of
the whole Army, a full General of 1825, might expect not to be passed
over when Lord Hardinge is made. The only other General of distinction
and seniority might be Lord Strafford, but he is only a full General
of 1841. On this point Lord Palmerston might consult Lord Hardinge
himself. If he and Lord Combermere alone are made, the honour is the
greater for him.[83]

The Queen thinks likewise that Lord Panmure ought to receive a mark
of favour and approval of his conduct on the occasion of the Fall of
Sebastopol; either the Civil G.C.B. or a step in the Peerage--that of
Viscount.[84]

Lord Palmerston would perhaps, without delay, give his opinion
on these subjects to the Queen; the honours she would wish then
_personally_ to bestow upon the recipients, and she thinks the arrival
of the official Despatches the right moment for doing so.

    [Footnote 83: Lord Hardinge, Lord Strafford, and Lord
    Combermere were all made Field-Marshals.]

    [Footnote 84: He received the G.C.B.]




_The Prince Albert to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _21st September 1855_.

MY DEAR LORD CLARENDON,--The Queen wishes me to send you the enclosed
letters, with the request that they may be sent by messengers to
Coblentz.[85]

I may tell you in the strictest confidence that Prince Frederic
William has yesterday laid before us his wish for an alliance with the
Princess Royal with the full concurrence of his parents, as well as
of the King of Prussia. We have accepted his proposal as far as we are
personally concerned, but have asked that the child should not be
made acquainted with it until after her confirmation, which is to take
place next Spring, when he might make it to her himself, and receive
from her own lips the answer which is only valuable when flowing
from those of the person chiefly concerned. A marriage would not be
possible before the completion of the Princess's seventeenth year,
which is in two years from this time. The Queen empowers me to say
that you may communicate this event to Lord Palmerston, but we beg
that under present circumstances it may be kept a strict secret. What
the world may say we cannot help. Ever yours, etc.,

ALBERT.

    [Footnote 85: The Prince and Princess of Prussia were then at
    Coblentz.]




[Pageheading: PRINCE FREDERICH WILLIAM]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL, _22nd September 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I profit by your own messenger to confide to _you_,
and to _you alone_, begging you not to mention it to your children,
that _our_ wishes on the subject of a future marriage for Vicky _have_
been realised in the _most gratifying_ and _satisfactory_ manner.

On Thursday (20th) after breakfast, Fritz Wilhelm said he was anxious
to speak of a subject which _he_ knew his parents had never broached
to us--which _was to belong to our_ Family; that this had long been
his wish, that he had the entire concurrence and _approval_ not
only of his parents but of the King--and that finding Vicky _so
allerliebst_, he could delay _no_ longer in making this proposal. I
need _not_ tell you with _what_ joy _we_ accepted him _for_ our
part; but the child herself is to know nothing till _after_ her
confirmation, which is to take place next Easter, when he probably
will come over, and, as he wishes himself, make her the proposal,
which, however, I have little--indeed no--doubt she will gladly
_accept_. He is a dear, excellent, charming young man, whom we shall
give our dear child to with perfect confidence. What pleases us
greatly is to see that he is really delighted with Vicky.

Now, with Albert's affectionate love, and with the prayer that _you_
will give _your_ blessing to this alliance, as you have done to ours,
ever your devoted Niece and Child,

VICTORIA R.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _22nd September 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs, in the first place, to be allowed to offer to your Majesty his
most sincere congratulations upon the prospective arrangement which
His Royal Highness the Prince Albert announced in his letter to Lord
Clarendon, but which, for obvious reasons, should be left to public
conjecture for the present. Viscount Palmerston trusts that the event,
when, it takes place, will contribute as much to the happiness of
those more immediately concerned, and to the comfort of your Majesty
and of the Royal Family, as it undoubtedly will to the interests of
the two countries, and of Europe in general....

Viscount Palmerston begs to state that the Professorship of Greek
at the University of Oxford, which was held by the late Dean of
Christchurch,[86] is still vacant, Viscount Palmerston having
doubts as to the best person to be appointed. The present Dean of
Christchurch admitted that the Professorship ought to be separated
from the Deanery; he has now recommended for the Professorship the
Rev. B. Jowett, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, who is an
eminent Greek scholar and won the Hertford Scholarship; and Viscount
Palmerston submits, for your Majesty's gracious approval, that Mr
Jowett may be appointed.

    [Footnote 86: The Very Rev. Thomas Gaisford, D.D., who was
    appointed Regius Professor of Greek in 1811, and Dean of
    Christchurch in 1831.]




[Pageheading: THE COLONIAL OFFICE]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _31st October 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that he has this morning seen Lord Stanley, and offered to
him the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies.[87] Lord Stanley
expressed himself as highly gratified personally by an offer which
he said he was wholly unprepared to receive, and which was above
his expectations and pretensions; but he said that as he owed to his
father Lord Derby whatever position he may have gained in public
life, he could not give an answer without first consulting Lord Derby.
Viscount Palmerston said that of course in making the proposal, he had
taken for granted that Lord Stanley would consult Lord Derby first,
because a son would not take a decision on such a subject without
consulting his father, even if that father were merely in private
life; and next because such a course would be still more natural in
this case, considering Lord Derby's political position with reference
to those with whom Lord Stanley has more or less been generally
acting. Lord Stanley said that he should go down to Knowsley by the
five o'clock train this afternoon, and that he would at an early
moment communicate his answer to Viscount Palmerston; but he said
that if he was to state now his anticipation of what Lord Derby would
recommend and wish him to do, it would rather be to decline the offer.

    [Footnote 87: Sir William Molesworth, who had represented
    Radicalism in the Cabinets of Lord Aberdeen and Lord
    Palmerston, died on the 22nd, at the age of forty-five. The
    Premier thereupon offered the vacant place to Lord Stanley,
    one of his political opponents, then only twenty-eight, who
    was the son of the leader of the Conservative Opposition,
    and had already held office under his father. Lord Stanley's
    temperament was, in fact, more inclined to Liberalism than
    that of Lord Palmerston himself, and, twenty-seven years
    later, he took the office in a Liberal Government which he now
    declined.]




[Pageheading: MR SIDNEY HERBERT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _10th November 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that in consequence of some things that passed in
conversation at Sir Charles Wood's two days ago, when Mr and Mrs
Sidney Herbert dined there, Sir Charles Wood is under a strong
impression that Mr Herbert would be willing to separate himself from
Mr Gladstone and Sir James Graham, and the Peace Party, and to join
the present Government. Viscount Palmerston having well considered
the matter in concert with Sir Charles Wood and Sir George Grey, is
of opinion that it would be advantageous not only for the present, but
also with a view to the future, to detach Mr Herbert from the clique
with which accidental circumstances have for the moment apparently
associated him, and to fix him to better principles of action than
those by which Mr Gladstone and Sir James Graham appear to be guided.
For this purpose Viscount Palmerston proposes with your Majesty's
sanction to offer to Mr Herbert to return to the Colonial Office,
which he held on the formation of the present Government.

Mr Herbert is the most promising man of his standing in the House of
Commons, and is personally very popular in that House; he is a good
and an improving speaker, and his accession to the Government would
add a good speaker to the Treasury Bench, and take away a good speaker
from ranks that may become hostile.

He would also supply the place of Lord Canning as a kind of link
between the Government and some well-disposed members of both Houses
who belonged more or less to what is called the Peel Party. It would
be necessary, of course, to ascertain clearly that Mr Herbert's views
about the war and about conditions of peace are the same as they were
when he was a Member of the Government, and not such as those which Mr
Gladstone and Sir James Graham have of late adopted.

If Mr Herbert were to accept, Sir George Grey, who has a strong
disinclination for the Colonies, would remain at the Home Office; and
if Lord Harrowby would take the Post Office, which must be held by a
Peer, the Duchy of Lancaster, which may be held by a Commoner, might
be offered to Mr Baines[88] with a seat in the Cabinet, and Mr Baines
might perhaps, with reference to his health, prefer an office not
attended with much departmental business of detail, while he would be
thus more free to make himself master of general questions. Such an
arrangement would leave the Cabinet, as stated in the accompanying
paper, seven and seven; and if afterwards Lord Stanley of Alderley
were added in the Lords, and Sir Benjamin Hall in the Commons, which,
however, would be a matter entirely for future consideration, the
equality of division would still be preserved.[89]

Viscount Palmerston finds that Mr Herbert is gone down to Wilton, and
as Viscount Palmerston is going this afternoon to Broadlands to
remain there till Tuesday morning, he proposes during the interval to
communicate with Mr Herbert, Wilton being not much more than an hour's
distance from Broadlands by the Salisbury railway.

    [Footnote 88: Mr. Matthew Talbot Baines died prematurely in
    1860. His abilities were of a solid rather than a brilliant
    kind.]

    [Footnote 89: Mr. Labouchere became Colonial Secretary. See
    List of Cabinet as it stood in 1858, _post_, 25th February, 1858.]




[Pageheading: MR HERBERT DECLINES OFFICE]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _11th November 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that he has seen Mr Sidney Herbert, who declines joining the
Government, because he thinks that his doing so would expose both him
and the Government to the suspicion of having altered their opinions.
The difference between him and the Government is not as to the
necessity of prosecuting the war with vigour, but as to the conditions
of peace with which he would be satisfied. He would consent to accept
conditions which he is aware that the country would not approve, and
to which he does not expect that the Government would agree. Viscount
Palmerston will have to consider with his Colleagues on Tuesday what
arrangement it will be best for him to submit for the sanction of your
Majesty.




[Pageheading: PEACE NEGOTIATIONS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th November 1855_.

The Queen returns the enclosed most important letters. She has read
them with much interest, but not without a very anxious feeling that
great changes are taking place in the whole position of the Eastern
Question and the War, without our having the power to direct them
or even a complete knowledge of them.[90] Should Austria really be
sincere,--if the Emperor Napoleon is really determined not to carry on
the war on a large scale without her joining, we shall be obliged by
common prudence to follow him in his negotiations. He may mistrust our
secrecy and diplomacy, and wish to obtain by his personal exertions
a continental league against Russia. The missions to Stockholm and
Copenhagen, the language to Baron Beust and M. von der Pfordten and M.
de Bourqueney's single-handed negotiation, seem to point to this.
Can Russia have secretly declared her readiness to accept the
"Neutralisation"? It is hardly possible, and if so it would be a
concession we cannot refuse to close upon. Whatever may be the case,
the Queen thinks it the wisest course not to disturb the Emperor's
plans, or to show suspicion of them, but merely to insist upon the
importance of the Army in the Crimea being kept so imposing that
Russia cannot safely arrange her plans on the supposition of a change
of policy on the part of the Western Powers.

Had the Queen known of Lord Cowley's letter a few hours earlier, she
could have spoken to the Duke of Cambridge, who was here; as it was,
both she and the Prince were very cautious and reserved in what they
told him.

The Queen thought it right to let Sir Hamilton Seymour, who is staying
here, see the letters, as his thorough acquaintance with the present
position of affairs is most important.

    [Footnote 90: The Emperor was now bent on the termination
    of hostilities, and the French and Austrian Governments had
    concerted proposals for peace to be submitted to Russia, with
    which they somewhat peremptorily demanded that England should
    concur. Lord Palmerston announced that, rather than make an
    unsatisfactory peace, he would continue the war without the
    aid of France. States such as Saxony and Bavaria favoured
    Russia, and Baron Beust and M. von der Pfordten, their
    respective Prime Ministers, had interviews with the Emperor,
    who was anxious for peace on the basis of the Third Point,
    on which, since the fall of Sebastopol, the Allies were in a
    better position to insist.]




_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _16th November 1855_.

The Queen wishes to draw Sir Charles Wood's attention to a subject
which may become of much importance for the future. It is the absence
of any Dockyard for building and repairing out of the Channel,
with the exception of Pembroke. Should we ever be threatened by
a combination of Russia and France, the absence of a Government
establishment in the north would be very serious. It strikes the Queen
that the present moment, when our yards hardly supply the demands
made upon them, and when attention is directed to the Baltic, is a
particularly favourable one to add an establishment in the Firth of
Forth, for which the Queen believes the Government possess the ground
at Leith. Such a measure would at the same time be very popular in
Scotland, and by making the Queen's Navy known there, which it hardly
is at present, would open a new field for recruiting our Marine.

Whether Cork in Ireland should not also be made more available is very
well worth consideration.

The Queen would ask Sir Charles to communicate this letter to Lord
Palmerston, who has always had the state of our powers of defence so
much at heart.




[Pageheading: THE AUSTRIAN ULTIMATUM]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _19th November 1855_.

The Queen has attentively perused the voluminous papers, which she now
returns according to Lord Clarendon's wish.

An anxious consideration of their contents has convinced her that it
would be the height of impolicy if we were not to enter fairly and
unreservedly into the French proposal, and she wishes Lord Clarendon
to express this her opinion to the Cabinet.

The terms of the Austrian Ultimatum are clear and complete and very
favourable to us, if accepted by Russia.[91] If refused, which they
almost must be, rupture of diplomatic relations between Austria and
Russia is a decided step gained by us, and will produce a state of
things which can scarcely fail to lead them to war.

A refusal to entertain the proposal may induce and perhaps justify the
Emperor of the French in backing out of the War, which would leave us
in a miserable position.

If we are to agree to the Emperor's wishes, it must be politic not to
risk the advantage of the whole measure by a discussion with Austria
upon minor points of detail, which will cost time, and may lead to
differences.

    [Footnote 91: The Queen and her Ministers, however, insisted
    that the neutralisation clause (the Third Point) should be
    made effective, not left illusory, and incorporated in the
    principal and not in a supplementary treaty. Modified in this
    and other particulars, an ultimatum embodying the Austrian
    proposals, which stipulated, _inter alia_, for the cession of
    a portion of Bessarabia, was despatched to St Petersburg on
    the 15th of December, and the 18th of January was fixed as the
    last day on which a reply would be accepted.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _22nd November 1855_.

The Queen informs Lord Hardinge that on speaking to Sir Colin Campbell
yesterday, and informing him how much she wished that his valuable
services should not be lost to her Army in the Crimea, he replied in
the handsomest manner, that he would return immediately--"for that, if
the Queen wished it, he was ready to serve under a Corporal"!
Conduct like this is very gratifying, and will only add to Sir Colin
Campbell's high name; but, as by Lord Hardinge's and Lord Panmure's
advice, the Queen has obtained from him this _sacrifice_ of _his
own_ feelings to _her_ wishes, _she_ feels personally bound _not_
to _permit_ him to be passed over a _second_ time should the Command
again become vacant.

The Queen has had a good deal of conversation with him, and from what
he told her, as well as from what she has heard from others, there
seems to be a good deal of laxity of discipline--particularly as
regards the officers--in the Army in the Crimea; and she thinks Lord
Hardinge should give an order to prevent so many officers coming home
on leave except when _really ill_. The effect of this on the French
is very bad, and the Prince had a letter only two days ago from the
Prince of Prussia, saying that every one was shocked at the manner in
which our officers came home, and that it lowered our Army very much
in the eyes of foreign Armies, and generally decreased the
sympathy for our troops. We deeply regret the death of poor General
Markham.[92]

    [Footnote 92: He commanded the 2nd Division of the Army at
    the attack on the Redan, and after the fall of Sebastopol, his
    health, already shattered, broke down completely; he returned
    home, and died on the 21st of November.]




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]

[Pageheading: THE NEUTRALISATION CLAUSE]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _23rd November 1855_.

The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter, and returns the very
satisfactory enclosures from Lord Cowley. Count Walewski remains true
to himself; yet the admission that the Neutralisation Clause ought to
be part of the European treaty, and not an annex, which _he makes_, is
the most important concession which we could desire. That the Sea
of Azov is to be dropped the Queen is glad of, as it would appear so
humiliating to Russia that Austria would probably decline proposing
it. What the Queen is most afraid of, and what she believes actuates
the Emperor also, is the consideration that Austria, made aware of
the intense feeling for Peace _à tout prix_ in France, might get
frightened at the good terms for us she meant to propose to Russia,
and might long for an opportunity given by us, in any unreasonable
demand for modification, to back out of her proposal altogether. Lord
A. Loftus in his last letter states that Baron Manteuffel[93] even was
afraid of having admitted as proper, terms too hard upon Russia, since
peace is wanted at Paris.

The course intended to be pursued by Lord Clarendon in summing up the
whole question in a public Despatch seems quite the right one, as it
would never do, on the other hand, to let England be considered as
merely _à la remorque_ of France, an impression unfortunately very
prevalent on the Continent at this moment.[94]

As to Marshal Pélissier, the best thing the Emperor could do would be
to recall him, and to put a younger and more enterprising man in his
place. As we have got our hero coming home, his French colleague might
be recalled also.

The Duke of Newcastle's letter is very interesting; the Queen will
return it this evening. It confirms the truth of the axiom that a
_settled policy_ ought to precede a military plan of campaign, for
which the Prince is always contending.

We have been much pleased with old Sir Colin Campbell, who is a
thorough soldier, and appears not at all wanting in good sense. On
asking him about our rising men, and the officer whom _he_ would point
out as the one of most promise, he said that Colonel Mansfield[95] was
without comparison the man from whom great services could be expected
both in the Field and as an Administrator. Lord Clarendon will be
pleased to hear this, but will also not be surprised if the Queen
should look out for an opportunity to reclaim him for the Army from
the Foreign Office.

    [Footnote 93: President of the Prussian Ministry.]

    [Footnote 94: Lord Clarendon, in the letter to which this
    was a reply, observed that he had asked Lord Cowley to inform
    Count Walewski that he would have to learn that England was a
    principal in the matter, and "not a political and diplomatic
    Contingent."]

    [Footnote 95: He had distinguished himself in the first
    Sikh War, and was in 1855 Military Adviser to the British
    Ambassador at Constantinople.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _24th November 1855_.

The Queen returns Lord Cowley's letter and General Pélissier's
telegram. Lord Cowley is quite right in insisting upon a clear
understanding between England and France before negotiations are
entered into with Austria. To come to a speedy agreement, it will be
wise to drop the minor points and _insist_ upon the most important.
These the Queen takes to be the incorporation of the _Neutralisation_
Clause in the general Treaty, and the promise on the part of Austria
not to accept and communicate to us counter-proposals from Russia. If
France agreed to this, we might agree to the rest of the arrangement.
General Pélissier's plan has the advantage of setting us free, but
deprives us of the Sardinians in the field, an object the French
have kept steadily in view. The Duke of Cambridge will come down here
to-night, and we may then hear more on the subject.

The Queen of the French has been taken dangerously ill at Genoa; the
Duc d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville have been summoned by telegraph.
The Queen has asked the Foreign Office to telegraph to enquire after
the Queen's state.






[Pageheading: SIR WILLIAM CODRINGTON]


_Queen Victoria to Sir William Codrington._[96]

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th November 1855_.

The first Despatches of Sir William Codrington, acknowledging his
appointment to the Command of the Queen's gallant Army in the East,
having arrived, she will no longer delay writing herself to Sir
William, to assure him of her support and confidence in his new,
proud, and important, though at the same time difficult position.
She wishes to assure him of her confidence and support. It is with
pleasure that she sees the son of her old friend and devoted servant,
himself so distinguished in the sister Service, raised by his own
merits to so exalted a position. Sir William knows the Queen's pride
in her beloved Troops, as well as her unceasing solicitude for their
welfare and glory, and she trusts he will on all occasions express
these feelings from herself personally.

The Queen feels certain that Sir William Codrington will learn, with
great satisfaction, that that distinguished and gallant officer, Sir
Colin Campbell, has most readily and handsomely complied with the
Queen's wishes that he should return to the Crimea and take command
of the First Corps d'Armée. His presence and his assistance will be
of essential service to Sir William Codrington, who, the Queen knows,
entertains so high an opinion of him.

The Prince wishes his sincere congratulations and kind remembrance to
be conveyed to Sir William Codrington.

The Queen would be glad if Sir William could--when he has leisure to
do so--from time to time write to her himself, informing her of the
state of her Army, and of affairs in the Crimea.

She concludes with every wish for his welfare and success.

    [Footnote 96: Considerable difficulty had been found in
    appointing a successor to General Simpson, who had resigned
    a task which he found overtaxed his powers. Sir William
    Codrington was junior to three other Generals, who might
    have felt aggrieved by being passed over. The sagacity of the
    Prince found a way out of the difficulty by appointing two
    of the three to the commands of the two _corps d'armée_ into
    which the Army had, at his instance, been subdivided. See
    _ante._ 22nd November, 1855, note 92.]




[Pageheading: VISIT OF KING OF SARDINIA]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _5th December 1855_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I must make many excuses for not writing to you
yesterday, to thank you for your kind letter of the 30th, as on Friday
and Saturday my time was entirely taken up with my _Royal_ brother,
the King of Sardinia,[97] and I had to make up for loss of time
these last days. He leaves us to-morrow at an extraordinary hour--four
o'clock in the morning (which you did once or twice)--wishing to be at
Compiègne to-morrow night, and at Turin on Tuesday. He is _eine ganz
besondere, abenteuerliche Erscheinung_, startling in the extreme in
appearance and manner when you _first_ see him, but, just as Aumale
says, _il faut l'aimer quand on le connaît bien_. He is so frank,
open, just, straightforward, liberal and tolerant, with much sound
good sense. He never breaks his word, and you may rely on him, but
wild and extravagant, courting adventures and dangers, and with a very
strange, short, rough manner, an exaggeration of that short manner of
speaking which his poor brother had. He is shy in society, which makes
him still more brusque, and he does not know (never having been out of
his own country or even out in Society) what to say to the number
of people who are presented to him here, and which is, I know from
experience, a most odious thing. He is truly attached to the Orleans
family, particularly to Aumale, and will be a friend and adviser to
them. To-day he will be invested with the Order of the Garter. He is
more like a Knight or King of the Middle Ages than anything one knows
nowadays.

On Monday we go to Osborne till the 21st.

One word about Vicky. I must say that she has a quick discernment of
character, and I have never seen her take _any_ predilection for a
person which was _not motivé_ by personal amiability, goodness, or
distinction of some kind or other. You need be under no apprehension
whatever on this subject; and she has, moreover, great tact and
_esprit de conduite_. It is quite extraordinary how popular she is in
Society--and again now, all these Foreigners are so struck with her
sense and _conversation_ for her age.

Hoping soon to hear from you again, and wishing that naughty Stockmar
may yet be brought to come, believe me ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 97: King Victor Emmanuel was received with
    great cordiality by the English people, grateful for his
    co-operation and for the gallantry of his soldiers at the
    Tchernaya. Count Cavour accompanied him, and drafted the
    reply read by the King at Guildhall to the address of the
    Corporation.]




[Pageheading: GARTER FEES]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _11th December 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty and
submits a letter which he received a few days ago from the Duke of
Newcastle declining the Garter. Viscount Palmerston on his return
from Woburn, where he was for two days, saw the Duke of Newcastle, but
found that the enclosed letter expressed the intention which he had
formed. Viscount Palmerston would propose to your Majesty the Earl
of Fortescue as a deserving object of your Majesty's gracious favour;
Lord Fortescue held the high office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and
is a person highly and universally respected.[98]

Viscount Palmerston cannot refrain from saying on this occasion that
he is not without a misgiving that the high amount of fees which he
understands is paid by persons who are made Knights of the Garter may
have some effect in rendering those whose incomes are not very large
less anxious than they would otherwise be to receive this distinction;
and he cannot but think that it is unseemly in general that persons
upon whom your Majesty may be disposed to confer dignities and
honours, either as a mark of your Majesty's favour or as a reward for
their public services, should on that account be subject to a heavy
pecuniary fine; and he intends to collect information with a view to
consider whether all such fees might not be abolished, the officers to
whom they are now paid receiving compensation in the shape of adequate
fixed salary.[99] ...

    [Footnote 98: Earl Fortescue received the Garter; he died in
    1861.]

    [Footnote 99: This reform was effected in 1905.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _22nd December 1855_.

The Queen has received Lord Panmure's answer to her letter from
Osborne, and is glad to see from it that he is quite agreed with the
Queen on the subject of the Land Transport Corps. She would _most
strongly_ urge Lord Panmure to give at once _carte blanche_ to Sir
W. Codrington to organise it as he thinks best, and to make him
personally responsible for it. We have only eight weeks left to the
beginning of spring; a few references home and their answers would
consume the whole of that time! The Army has now to carry their huts
on their backs up to the Camp; if it had been fighting, it would have
perished for want of them, like the last winter. If each Division,
Brigade, and Battalion has not got within itself what it requires for
its daily existence in the field, a movement will be quite impossible.

The Queen approves the intended increase of Artillery and Sappers
and Miners; but hopes that these will be taken from the _nominal_ and
_not_ the existing strength of the Army.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXV


After two years' duration, the Crimean War was terminated in March
1856, at a Conference of the Powers assembled at Paris, by a treaty
the principal terms of which provided for the integrity of Turkey,
and her due participation in the public law and system of Europe,
the neutralisation of the Black Sea, and the opening of its waters to
commerce (with the interdiction, except in a limited degree, of the
flag of war of any nation, and of the erection by either Russia or
Turkey of arsenals), free navigation of the Danube, cession of a
portion of Bessarabia by Russia, and the reciprocal evacuation of
invaded territories; the Principalities to be continued in their
existing privileges under the suzerainty of the Porte and a guarantee
of the Contracting Powers. No European protectorate was to be
established over the Sultan's Christian subjects. Certain general
principles of International Law were also agreed upon. In the course
of the summer, the Guards made a public re-entry into London; and the
Crimea was finally evacuated; great reviews of the returned troops
taking place at Aldershot. The thanks of Parliament were accorded to
the soldiers and sailors engaged, and peace-rejoicings celebrated on a
great scale.

The Commissioners who had been sent out, nearly a year before, to the
Crimea, to investigate the causes of the breakdown in various military
departments, presented a Report, censuring several high officials;
a Military Commission was accordingly appointed to investigate the
Report, and after sitting for some months at Chelsea, completely
exonerated the officials in question.

The Government having resolved to strengthen the administration of the
appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords, Letters Patent were made
out purporting to create Sir James Parke, an ex-Judge, a Baron for
his life, under the title of Lord Wensleydale. After frequent and
protracted debates on this question, the Peers decided that such
a patent conferred no right to sit and vote in Parliament. The
Government gave up the contest by creating Sir James (who had no son)
a hereditary peer.

The Czar Alexander was crowned at Moscow in September with great
ceremonial, the Sultan being duly represented, while Lord Granville
was present as special Ambassador for the Queen. The discovery of
the cruelty with which political offenders were being treated in
Neapolitan prisons led to the rupture of diplomatic relations between
England in union with France on the one hand, and King Ferdinand on
the other; while a dispute as to the enlistment of recruits for the
English Army in the United States led to the dismissal of the British
Minister at Washington, and to temporary friction between the two
countries.

The provisions of the Treaty of Paris were not carried out without
considerable procrastination on the part of Russia, which, by its
method of evacuating Kars and surrendering Ismail and Reni, and by
laying claim to Serpent's Island at the mouth of the Danube, compelled
England to send a fleet to the Black Sea, to enforce strict observance
of the Treaty. By the end of the year the matter was arranged, though
in the meantime the possibility of Great Britain being represented at
the Czar's coronation had been imperilled.

The abuses which had long existed in the Government of Oudh induced
the Governor-General of India, early in the year, to issue a
proclamation placing that kingdom permanently under the authority of
the British Crown. Lord Dalhousie at this time retired from the office
(which he had held for eight years) of Governor-General, and was
succeeded by Lord Canning. It fell to the lot of the latter to
announce the commencement of hostilities between this country and
Persia, on the ground that the latter was endeavouring, in defiance
of Treaties, to subvert the independence of Herat. The Shah had laid
siege to the town, when, in December, the English fleet, under Admiral
Sir Henry Leeke, attacked and captured Bushire on the Persian Gulf.
Soon afterwards, Sir James Outram arrived on the scene from Bombay,
and assumed the command.




CHAPTER XXV

1856


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _5th January 1856_.

The Queen returns the drawings for the "Victoria Cross." She has
marked the one she approves with an X; she thinks, however, that it
might be a trifle smaller. The motto would be better "For Valour" than
"For the Brave," as this would lead to the inference that only those
are deemed brave who have got the Victoria Cross.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th January 1856_.

The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter, and in answer to his
question expresses her opinion that Lord Cowley's presence at the
Council of War will be absolutely necessary.[1] She believes Lord
Clarendon to be agreed with her, that the value of a plan of military
campaign is entirely dependent upon the _general policy_ which the
Government intends to pursue. As none of our Commissioners at the
Council of War are in the least acquainted with the latter, they might
be drawn into plans which would not at all agree with it. Lord Cowley
would take that part of the question into his own hands, in which
it will be quite safe. The Queen thinks that it is of secondary
importance whether Count Walewski attends or not, but that the Emperor
cannot have the same need of his presence which we have of that of our
Ambassador.

    [Footnote 1: A satisfactory and speedy conclusion of
    hostilities appearing at this time far from probable, a
    Council of War to settle the course of operations was, at the
    Emperor's suggestion, summoned to meet at Paris. Lord Cowley,
    Count Walewski, Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, and others, were
    present, besides Naval and Military representatives of the
    Allies, among whom was the Duke of Cambridge.]




[Pageheading: POLICY OF CAVOUR]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th January 1856_.

The Queen has read Sir J. Hudson's[2] letter with much interest.
There is much truth in what Count Cavour says, and it must ever be our
object and our interest to see Sardinia independent and strong; as
a Liberal constitutional country, opposing a barrier alike to
unenlightened and absolute as well as revolutionary principles--and
this she has a right to expect us to support her in.

But _what_ she wants to obtain from Austria is not clear. She has no
right, however, to expect further assurances from us on wishes which
she seems even to be afraid to state distinctly.

It is clearly impossible to ask Austria to give up a portion of Italy
to her, if nothing has occurred to make this necessary to Austria. At
any rate Sardinia can have lost nothing, but on the contrary must
have gained by the position which she is placed in as an ally of the
Western Powers.

    [Footnote 2: British Minister at Turin, and an enthusiastic
    sympathiser with Cavour. The latter had complained to him that
    if the Austrian proposals were accepted, and peace were made,
    Sardinia could expect no realisation of her cherished hopes,
    viz. Anglo-French support against Austria and against Papal
    aggression, increased political consideration in Europe, and
    the development of Constitutional Government.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th January 1856_.

The Queen now returns the draft[3] to Lord Bloomfield, which she could
only write about in haste yesterday, as being of a nature not to be
sanctioned by her. It is quite natural and excusable that our patience
should at last be worn out by the miserable policy which Prussia is
pursuing, but it can never be our interest openly to quarrel with her.
This would be simply playing the game of Russia, who would thus be
relieved from all attacks upon her and see the theatre of the war
transferred to Germany; all other complications (which would arise
therefrom)--ruinous to the best interests of the Western Powers
as they would be--the Queen need not refer to. But when the draft
concludes with a declaration to Prussia that England "_considers her
neutrality as now at an end_," this is tantamount to a declaration of
_war!_ The late articles in our newspapers, and the language of Count
Walewski to Lord Cowley, make the Queen doubly anxious to warn the
Government not to let themselves be drawn on to such a policy.

    [Footnote 3: The draft expressed disapproval of the silence
    maintained by the Prussian Government towards England with
    regard to the Austrian proposals, of the active measures
    adopted to induce the German Powers not to take part with
    Austria, as well as of the extended facilities afforded by
    Prussia to Russia for carrying on the war.]




[Pageheading: LETTER FROM NAPOLEON III]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR AND PEACE]


_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._

TUILERIES, _le 14 Janvier 1856_.

MADAME ET CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--Votre Majesté m'ayant permis de lui parler
à c[oe]ur ouvert toutes les fois que des circonstances graves se
présenteraient, je viens aujourd'hui profiter de la faveur qu'elle a
bien voulu m'accorder.

Je viens de recevoir aujourd'hui la nouvelle de la réponse de la
Russie à l'Ultimatum de Vienne, et avant d'avoir manifesté mon
impression à qui que ce soit, pas même à Walewski, je viens la
communiquer à votre Majesté pour avoir son avis.

Je résume la question: La Russie accepte tout l'Ultimatum autrichien
sauf la rectification de frontière de la Bessarabie, et sauf le
paragraphe relatif aux conditions _particulières_ qu'elle déclare ne
pas connaître. De plus, profitant du succès de Kars, elle s'engage à
rendre cette forteresse et le territoire occupé en échange des points
que nous possédons en Crimée et ailleurs.

Dans quelle position allons-nous nous trouver? D'après la convention,
l'Autriche est obligée de retirer son ambassadeur, et nous, nous
poursuivons la guerre! Mais dans quel but allons-nous demander à nos
deux pays de nouveaux sacrifices d'hommes et d'argent? Pour un intérêt
purement autrichien et pour une question qui ne consolide en rien
l'empire ottoman.

Cependant nous y sommes obligés et nous ne devons pas avoir l'air
de manquer à nos engagements. Nous serions donc placés dans une
alternative bien triste si l'Autriche elle-même ne semblait pas déjà
nous inviter de ne point rompre toute négociation. Or en réfléchissant
aujourd'hui à cette situation, je me disais: ne pourrait-on pas
répondre à l'Autriche ceci: La prise de Kars a tant soit peu changé
nos situations; puisque la Russie consent à évacuer toute l'Asie
Mineure nous nous bornons à demander pour la Turquie, au lieu de la
rectification de frontière, les places fortes formant _tête de pont_
sur le Danube, tels que Ismail et Kilia. Pour nous, nous demandons en
fait de conditions particulières, l'engagement de ne point rétablir
les forts des îles d'Aland et une amnistie pour les Tartares. Mon
sentiment est qu'à ces conditions-là la paix serait très désirable;
car sans cela je ne puis pas m'empêcher de redouter l'opinion publique
quand elle me dira: "Vous aviez obtenu le but réel de la guerre, Aland
était tombé et ne pouvait plus se relever, Sebastopol avait eu le
même sort, la flotte Russe était anéantie, et la Russie promettait non
seulement de ne plus la faire reparaître dans la Mer Noire, mais même
de ne plus avoir d'arsenaux maritimes sur toutes ses rives; la Russie
abandonnait ses conquêtes dans l'Asie Mineure, elle abandonnait son
protectorat dans les principautés, son action sur le cours du Danube,
son influence sur ces correligionnaires sujets du Sultan, etc.,
etc. Vous aviez obtenu tout cela non sans d'immenses sacrifices et
cependant vous allez les continuer, compromettre les finances de la
France, répandre ses trésors et son sang et pourquoi: pour obtenir
quelques landes de la Bessarabie!!!"

Voilà, Madame, les réflexions qui me préoccupent; car autant je me
sens de force quand je crois être dans le vrai pour inculquer mes
idées à mon pays et pour lui faire partager ma persuasion, autant je
me sentirais faible si je n'étais pas sûr d'avoir raison ni de faire
mon devoir.

Mais ainsi que je l'ai dit en commençant à votre Majesté je n'ai
communiqué ma première impression qu'au Duc de Cambridge, et autour de
moi au contraire j'ai dit qu'il fallait continuer la guerre. J'espère
que votre Majesté accueillera avec bonté cette lettre écrite à la
hâte et qu'elle y verra une nouvelle preuve de mon désir de m'entendre
toujours avec elle avant de prendre une résolution. En remerciant
votre Majesté de l'aimable lettre que S.A.R. le Duc de Cambridge m'a
remise de sa part, je la prie de recevoir la nouvelle assurance de mes
sentiments de tendre et respectueux attachement avec lesquels je suis
de votre Majesté, le bon frère et ami,

NAPOLEON.

Je remercie bien le Prince Arthur de son bon souvenir.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _15th January 1856_.

... The Queen will send her letter to the Emperor this evening for
transmission to Paris. She will enclose it _open_ to Lord Clarendon,
who will seal and send it after having read it.

The Queen cannot conceal from Lord Clarendon what _her own_ feelings
and wishes at this moment are. They _cannot_ be for peace _now_, for
she is _convinced_ that this country would _not_ stand in the eyes of
Europe as she _ought_, and as the Queen is convinced she _would_ after
_this_ year's campaign. The honour and glory of her dear Army is as
_near_ her heart as almost anything, and she cannot _bear_ the thought
that "the failure on the Redan" should be our _last fait d'Armes_, and
it would cost her more than words can express to conclude a peace with
_this_ as the end. However, what is best and wisest must be done.

The Queen cannot yet bring herself to believe that the Russians are at
all sincere, or that it will _now_ end in peace.




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S REPLY]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _le 15 Janvier 1856_.

SIRE ET CHER FRÈRE,--La bonne et aimable lettre que je viens de
recevoir de la main de votre Majesté m'a causé un très-vif plaisir.
J'y vois une preuve bien satisfaisante pour moi que vous avez apprécié
tous les avantages de ces épanchements sans réserve, et que votre
Majesté en sent comme moi le besoin dans les circonstances graves où
nous sommes. Je sens aussi toute la responsabilité que votre confiance
m'impose, et c'est dans la crainte qu'une opinion formée et exprimée
par moi trop à la hâte pourrait nuire à la décision finale à prendre
que je me vois obligée de différer pour le moment la réponse plus
détaillée sur les considérations que vous avez si clairement et si
consciencieusement développées. Cependant, je ne veux point tarder de
vous remercier de votre lettre, et de vous soumettre de mon côté les
réflexions qui me sont venues en la lisant. La Réponse Russe ne nous
est pas encore arrivée; nous n'en connaissons pas exactement les
termes; par conséquent, il serait imprudent de former une opinion
définitive sur la manière d'y répondre, surtout comme le Prince
Gortschakoff paraît avoir demandé un nouveau délai du Gouvernement
Autrichien et de nouvelles instructions de St Pétersbourg, et comme M.
de Bourqueney paraît penser que la Russie n'a pas dit son dernier
mot. Nous pourrions donc perdre une chance d'avoir de meilleures
conditions, en montrant trop d'empressement à accueillir celles
offertes dans ce moment. Celles-ci arriveront peut-être dans le
courant de la journée, ou demain, quand mon Cabinet sera réuni pour
les examiner. Nous sommes au 15; le 18 les relations diplomatiques
entre l'Autriche et la Russie doivent être rompues; je crois que
notre position vis-à-vis de la Russie sera meilleure en discutant
ses propositions après la rupture et après en avoir vu les effets.
En attendant, rien ne sera plus utile à la cause de la paix que la
résolution que vous avez si sagement prise de dire à tous ceux qui
vous approchent qu'il faut continuer la guerre. Soyez bien sûr que
dans l'opinion finale que je me formerai, votre position et votre
persuasion personnelle seront toujours présentes à mon esprit et
auront le plus grand poids.




[Pageheading: THE BRITISH ARMY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _17th January 1856_.

The Queen returns the Duke of Cambridge's and Lord Cowley's letters,
which together with the account which Lord Clarendon gives of his
interview with M. de Persigny causes the Queen no little anxiety. If
negotiations on a vague basis are allowed to be begun, the Russian
negotiator is sure to find out that the French are ready to grant
anything....

However, whatever happens, one consolation the Queen ever will have,
which is--that with the one exception of that failure on the _Redan_,
her noble Army--in spite of every possible disadvantage which any army
could labour under, _has_ invariably been victorious, and the Russians
have always and everywhere been beaten excepting at Kars, where
_famine_ alone enabled them to succeed.

Let us therefore not be (as alas! we have often been) its detractors
by our croaking.




[Pageheading: POSITION OF THE EMPEROR]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _17th January 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
concludes that Lord Lansdowne informed your Majesty that the Cabinet,
after hearing from Lord Clarendon a statement of the course of
the recent negotiations as explained by the despatches which Lord
Clarendon read, came to the decision that no further step should be
taken, and no further communication should be made to the Government
of France on the matters at issue, until the final decision of the
Russian Government on the pure and simple adoption of the Austrian
ultimatum[4] should be known. Viscount Palmerston begs to congratulate
your Majesty upon the telegraphic message received this morning from
Sir Hamilton Seymour, announcing that the Russian Government has
adopted that Austrian ultimatum. So far so well, and the success which
has attended firmness and steadiness of purpose in regard to those
conditions may be looked upon as a tolerably sure indication that a
perseverance in the same course will bring the Russian Government to
consent to those remaining conditions which the Austrian Government
has not yet (as it says) made known to the Cabinet of Petersburg.

With regard to the letter of the Emperor of the French to your
Majesty, and the statements made to Lord Clarendon by the Count de
Persigny as to the difficulties of the Emperor's internal position
with respect to finance, and a general desire for peace throughout
the Nation, Viscount Palmerston expressed his opinion to the Cabinet
yesterday that all those representations were greatly exaggerated. He
is convinced that the Emperor of the French is perfectly master of his
own position, and that he can as to peace or war take the course which
he may determine to adopt.

The cabal of stock-jobbing politicians, by whom he is surrounded,
_must_ give way to him if he is firm. They have no standing place in
the confidence and respect of their fellow-countrymen, they represent
nothing but the Stock Exchange speculations in which they are engaged,
and the Emperor's throne would probably be stronger, rather than
weaker, if they were swept away, and better men put in their places.
And it is a very remarkable circumstance that at the very moment when
your Majesty and your Majesty's Government were being told that
the Emperor would be unable to go on with the war on account of the
difficulty of finding money, the French Government was putting forth
in the _Moniteur_ an official statement showing that they have a
reserve surplus of twenty-one millions sterling for defraying the
expenses of a campaign in the ensuing spring, without the necessity of
raising any fresh loan.

Viscount Palmerston fully concurs in the sentiment of regret expressed
by your Majesty to Lord Clarendon that the last action of the war in
which your Majesty's troops have been engaged, should, if peace be now
concluded, have been the repulse at the Redan; but however it may suit
national jealousy, which will always be found to exist on the other
side of the Channel, to dwell upon that check, yet your Majesty may
rely upon it that the Alma and Inkerman have left recollections which
will dwell in the memory of the living and not be forgotten in the
page of history; and although it would no doubt have been gratifying
to your Majesty and to the Nation that another summer should have
witnessed the destruction of Cronstadt by your Majesty's gallant Navy,
and the expulsion of the Russians from the countries south of the
Caucasus by your Majesty's brave Army, yet if peace _can_ now be
concluded on conditions honourable and secure, it would, as your
Majesty justly observes, not be right to continue the war for the
mere purpose of prospective victories. It will, however, be obviously
necessary to continue active preparations for war up to the moment
when a definite Treaty of Peace is signed, in order that the Russians
may not find it for their interest to break off negotiations when the
season for operations shall approach, emboldened by any relaxation
on the part of the Allies induced by too ready confidence in the good
faith of their adversary....

    [Footnote 4: See _ante_, 19th November, 1855, note 91.]




[Pageheading: DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AT PARIS]


_The Duke of Cambridge to Queen Victoria._

TUILERIES, _20th January 1856_.

MY DEAR COUSIN,--Your letters of the 14th and 18th have reached me,
and I am happy to find by them that you approve in conjunction with
the Government with what has been done by me and my colleagues whilst
at Paris.[5] I have given all the messages and carried out all the
instructions as contained in your letters, and I trust as far as
possible I have been enabled to do some good. On the other hand, I
cannot deny that the feelings universally expressed here as to the
prospects of a speedy peace are so different from those felt in
England, that it is extremely difficult to produce any impression in
the sense that we could wish it. France wishes for peace more than
anything else on earth, and this feeling does not confine itself
to Walewski or the Ministers--it extends itself to all classes. The
Emperor alone is reasonable and sensible in this respect, but his
position is a most painful one, and he feels it very much. The fact
is that public opinion is much more felt and more loudly expressed
in this country than anybody in England at all imagines. No doubt the
Emperor can do much that he wishes, but still he cannot go altogether
against a feeling which so loudly expresses itself on all occasions,
without thereby injuring his own position most seriously. I have
written to Clarendon very fully on this subject, and have explained to
him my reasons for wishing to return to England as soon as possible,
now that our military mission is concluded. It is essential that
I should see the members of the Government, and that I should
communicate to them the exact state of feeling here and the views of
the Emperor as to the mode of smoothing down all difficulties. This
can only be done by a personal interview on the part of somebody
thoroughly aware of the present position of affairs. Probably at this
moment I am in a better position to do this than anybody else, from
the peculiar circumstances in which I have been placed while here, and
it is this feeling which makes me desirous to return to England with
the least possible delay. It is my intention therefore to start
with my colleagues to-morrow, Monday night, for England, to which
arrangement the Emperor has given his sanction, and by which time he
will be prepared to tell me what he thinks had best be done, from his
view of the question. I think it my duty to communicate this to you,
and hope that you will give my resolution your sanction. I beg to
remain, my dear Cousin, your most dutiful Cousin,

GEORGE.

    [Footnote 5: At the Council of War. See _ante_, 7th January, 1856,
    note 1.]




[Pageheading: ENGLAND AND FRANCE]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _28th January 1856_.

The Queen sends a letter which she wishes Lord Clarendon to give to
General La Marmora.[6] We have been extremely pleased with him (indeed
he is a universal favourite) and found him so sensible, mild, and
right-minded, in all he says--and a valuable adviser to the King.
The Queen wishes _just_ to mention to Lord Clarendon that the Duke of
Cambridge told her that the Emperor had spoken to _him_ about what the
King of Sardinia had said relative to _Austria and France_, asking
the Duke whether such a thing had been said.[7] The Duke seems to have
answered as we could wish, and the Queen pretended _never_ to have
_heard_ the report, merely saying that as the proposed ultimatum
was then much talked of, it was very possible the King might
unintentionally have mistaken the observations of the Ministers and
ourselves as to our being _unable_ to _agree_, without great caution,
to what appeared to be _agreed_ on beforehand between _France_ and
_Austria_, and possibly _might_ have in his blunt way stated something
which alarmed the Emperor--but that she could not imagine it could be
anything else. There seems, however, really no _end_ to _cancans_ at
_Paris_; for the Duke of Cambridge seems to have shared the same fate.
The two atmospheres of France and England, as well as the Society, are
so different that people get to talk differently. It seems also that
the King got frightened lest he should at Paris be thought too liberal
in his _religious_ views (having been complimented for it) which he
was very proud of--and thought it necessary to tell the _Emperor_ he
was a _good Catholic_. This is not unnatural in his peculiar position.
When Lord Clarendon goes to Paris, he will be able to _silence_ any
further allusion to these idle stories which only lead to mischief,
and which even Lord Cowley seems to have made more of (as to his own
feelings upon them) than was necessary, but that is equally natural.
Speaking of his King--General La Marmora said: "Il ne dira jamais ce
qu'il ne pense pas, mais il dit quelquefois ce qui serait mieux qu'il
ne dit pas." He more than any other regrets the King's not having seen
more of the world, and says his journey had done him a _great_ deal of
good.

    [Footnote 6: The Sardinian Commander had been attending the
    Council of War at Paris.]

    [Footnote 7: The King of Sardinia was reported to have told
    the Emperor that the latter's loyalty to the Alliance was
    questioned by Great Britain, and that it was conjectured in
    London that he was in favour of co-operation with Austria
    instead.]



[Pageheading: THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

_28th January 1856._

The Queen returns to Lord Palmerston the draft of the speech, which
she thinks _extremely well_ worded, and which she therefore trusts
will be (with the exception of those passages marked) as little
altered as possible. Lord John Russell used to say that as soon as
a speech was discussed in the Cabinet, it was so much _pruned_ and
altered as to lose all its force. The Queen must own that she is
_much_ alarmed at hearing that the _papers_ of the War Council were to
be printed and circulated amongst the Cabinet, as she fears that the
secrecy, which is so necessary, upon which the Emperor laid so _much
stress_, will be very difficult to be maintained. The Emperor's
opinion at least, the Queen hopes, will _not_ be printed or generally
circulated?

The Queen must again press for a very early decision on the subject.
If this is allowed to _drag_, it will appear, particularly to the
_Emperor_, as if we were not really in earnest, though we stickled so
much for our additional conditions, which might lessen the hopes
of peace. Of course the Government must not give any answer on this
subject--should Parliament be so indiscreet as to ask _what_ the
result of the deliberations of the Council of War has been.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

Windsor Castle, _29th January 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--You will kindly forgive my letter being short, but
we are going to be present this morning at the wedding of Phipps's
daughter[8] with that handsome lame young officer whom you remember
at Osborne. It is quite an event at Windsor, and takes place in St
George's Chapel, which is very seldom the case.

Many thanks for your kind letter of the 25th, by which I am glad to
see that dear good Philip has arrived safe and well and brought back
_de bons souvenirs_. We shall always be _happy_ to see him.

The _peace negotiations_ occupy every one; _if_ Russia is _sincere_,
they will end most probably in peace; but _if_ she is _not_, the war
will be _carried_ on with _renewed vigour_. The recollection of last
year makes one _very distrustful_.

England's policy throughout has been the _same_, _singularly
unselfish_, and _solely_ actuated by the _desire_ of _seeing Europe
saved_ from the _arrogant_ and _dangerous pretensions_ of that
_barbarous power_ Russia--and of having _such safeguards_ established
for the _future_, which may ensure us against a _repetition_ of
similar _untoward events_.

I repeat now, what we have said from the beginning, and what I have
_repeated_ a _hundred_ times, _if Prussia_ and _Austria_ had held
_strong and decided_ language to _Russia in_ '53, we should _never_
have had _this war!_

Now I must conclude. With Albert's best love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 8: Maria Henrietta Sophia, daughter of Sir Charles
    Beaumont Phipps, K.C.B., Keeper of the Privy Purse, married
    Captain Frederick Sayer, 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers.]




[Pageheading: MISS NIGHTINGALE]


_Queen Victoria to Miss Florence Nightingale._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _[January] 1856_.

DEAR MISS NIGHTINGALE,--You are, I know, well aware of the high sense
I entertain of the Christian devotion which you have displayed during
this great and bloody war, and I need hardly repeat to you how warm my
admiration is for your services, which are fully equal to those of my
dear and brave soldiers, whose sufferings you have had the _privilege_
of alleviating in so merciful a manner. I am, however, anxious of
marking my feelings in a manner which I trust will be agreeable to
you, and therefore send you with this letter a brooch, the form and
emblems of which commemorate your great and blessed work, and which,
I hope, you will wear as a mark of the high approbation of your
Sovereign![9]

It will be a very great satisfaction to me, when you return at last to
these shores, to make the acquaintance of one who has set so bright an
example to our sex. And with every prayer for the preservation of your
valuable health, believe me, always, yours sincerely,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 9: The presentation took place on the 29th of
    January. The jewel resembled a badge rather than a brooch,
    bearing a St George's Cross in red enamel, and the Royal
    cypher surmounted by a crown in diamonds. The inscription
    "Blessed are the Merciful" encircled the badge which also bore
    the word "Crimea."]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th February 1856_.

With respect to Lord Clarendon's observation that he hopes that the
Queen "will approve of his upholding the Sardinians in the Conference
and in all other respects," she can only assure him that she is _most
sincerely_ anxious that he should do so, as the Queen has the greatest
respect for that noble little country, which, since it has possessed
an honest, straightforward as well as courageous King, has been a
bright example to all Continental States.

The Queen rejoices to hear that Count Cavour is coming to Paris.
The Queen hopes that the determination not to admit Prussia will be
adhered to.[10] She hears that Baron Beust[11] means to go to Paris
to represent the German Confederation; this should be prevented by all
means.

    [Footnote 10: Prussia was not admitted to the sitting of the
    Conference until a later stage.]

    [Footnote 11: Prime Minister of Saxony.]




[Pageheading: BELGIAN NEUTRALITY]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _13th February 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I had the happiness of receiving your kind letter
of the 8th on Saturday, and thank you much for it. I gave your kind
message to Colonel Phipps, who was much gratified by it. We came here
in wretched weather yesterday, leaving Mamma _still_ at Frogmore.

The Conferences will begin very shortly; Lord Clarendon starts for
Paris on Friday. _No_ one but him could undertake these difficult
negotiations. _No_ one can tell _what_ the result will be--and I will
say nothing, for I have _too strong_ personal feelings to speak upon
the subject.

With respect to your answer respecting your _neutrality_, and the
possibility of your being obliged to break it, I must repeat that I
see _no possibility_ or _eventuality_ that _could oblige_ you to do
so. _Belgium_ of its own accord bound itself to remain neutral, and
its very existence is _based_ upon that neutrality, which the other
Powers have guaranteed and are bound to maintain _if Belgium keeps_
her engagements. I cannot at all see HOW you could _even_ entertain
the question, for, as I just said, the _basis_ of the _existence_ of
Belgium is her _neutrality_.

The weather is so mild that we should almost hope Stockmar would start
soon. If _he_ can't come himself, he should send his son for a few
days, who could bring us any confidential communication from his
father, and could be the bearer of any from us. Something of this kind
is most necessary, for it is overwhelming to write to one another upon
so many details which require immediate answer....

With Albert's love, and ours to your young people, believe me, always,
your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

_14th February 1856._

The Queen has seen in the reports of the House of Commons that a
return has been moved for of all the decorations of the Bath given
since the war. The Queen hopes the Government will not allow the House
of Commons so much further to trespass upon the prerogatives of
the Crown as now _virtually_ to take also the control over the
distribution of honours and rewards into their hands.




[Pageheading: TERMS OF PEACE]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _15th February 1856_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I have to thank you for your dear kind letter of
the 12th. Madame de Sévigné says, with great truth, that a letter to
be a good letter ought to be as if one heard the person speak; your
dear letters are always so, and you would therefore be praised by
Madame de Sévigné, and that very deservedly. Lord Clarendon is, Heaven
be praised, well calculated to bring matters to a happy conclusion. I
will try to make some impression on the mind of the Emperor Alexander,
his best policy will be the most honest. By all I can learn they
wish most sincerely the conclusion of this war. If on the side of the
Allies only the things which really protect the territories of
the present Turkish Empire are asked, the Russians ought not to
man[oe]uvre, but grant it, and the Allies also ought to be moderate.
You are very properly never to be contradicted, but there are a few
things to be remarked. This neutrality was in the real interest of
this country, but our good Congress here did _not_ wish it, and even
opposed it; it was _imposé_ upon them. A neutrality to be respected
must be _protected_. France at all time in cases of general war can
put an end to it, by declaring to us _Vous devez être avec nous ou
contre nous_. If we answer _Nous sommes neutres_, they will certainly
try to occupy us; then the case of self-defence arises and the claim
to be protected by the other powers....

My beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.




[Pageheading: THE CONFERENCE]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _le 15 Février 1856_.

SIRE ET CHER FRÈRE,--Mes Commissaires pour le Conseil de Guerre sont
à peine revenus de Paris et notre plan de campagne est à peine arrêté,
que mes Plénipotentiaires pour la Conférence de paix se mettent
en route pour assister sous les yeux de V.M. à l'[oe]uvre de la
pacification. Je n'ai pas besoin de vous recommander Lord Clarendon,
mais je ne veux pas le laisser partir sans le rendre porteur de
quelques mots de ma part.

Quoique bien convaincue qu'il ne pourra dans les discussions
prochaines s'élever de questions sur lesquelles il y aurait divergence
d'opinions entre nos deux Gouvernements, j'attache toutefois le plus
haut prix à ce que l'accord le plus parfait soit établi avant que les
conférences ne soient ouvertes; et c'est dans ce but que j'ai chargé
Lord Clarendon de se rendre à Paris quelques jours avant, afin qu'il
pût rendre un compte exact des opinions de mon Gouvernement, et jouir
de l'avantage de connaître _à fond_ la pensée de V.M.

J'éprouverai un sentiment d'intime satisfaction dans ce moment
critique, et je le regarderai comme une preuve toute particulière
de votre amitié, si vous voulez permettre à Lord Clarendon de vous
exposer personnellement mes vues et d'entendre les Vôtres de Votre
proper bouche.

Les opérations de nos armées et de nos flottes combinées, sous un
commandement divisé, ont été sujettes à d'énormes difficultés; mais
ces difficultés ont été heureusement vaincues. Dans la Diplomatie
comme à la guerre, les Russes auront sur Nous le grand avantage de
l'unité de plan et d'action, et je les crois plus forts sur ce terrain
que sur le champ de bataille; mais à coup sûr, nous y resterons
également victorieux, si nous réussissons à empêcher l'ennemi de
diviser nos forces et de nous battre en détail.

Sans vouloir jeter un doute sur la sincérité de la Russie en acceptant
nos propositions, il est impossible d'avoir à ce sujet une conviction
pleine et entière. J'ai tout lieu de croire cependant que nul effort
et nul stratagème ne seront negligés pour rompre, s'il était possible,
ou au moins pour affaiblir notre alliance. Mais je repose à cet égard
dans la fermeté de V.M. la même confiance qui saura détruire
toutes ces espérances, que j'ai dans la mienne et dans celle de mes
Ministres. Cependant, on ne saurait attacher trop d'importance à
ce que cette commune fermeté soit reconnue et appréciée dès le
commencement des négociations, car de là dépendra, j'en ai la
conviction, la solution, si nous devons obtenir une paix dont les
termes pourront être considérés comme satisfaisants pour l'honneur de
la France et de l'Angleterre, et comme donnant une juste compensation
pour les énormes sacrifices que les deux pays ont faits. Une autre
considération encore me porte à attacher le plus haut prix à cet
accord parfait, c'est que si, par son absence, nous étions entraînés
dans une paix qui ne satisferait point la juste attente de nos
peuples, cela donnerait lieu à des plaintes et à des récriminations
qui ne pourraient manquer de fausser les relations amicales des deux
pays au lieu de les cimenter davantage comme mon c[oe]ur le désire
ardemment.

D'ailleurs, je ne doute pas un moment qu'une paix telle que la France
et l'Angleterre ont le droit de la demander sera bien certainement
obtenue par une détermination inébranlable de ne point rabaisser les
demandes modérées que nous avons faites.

Vous excuserez, Sire, la longueur de cette lettre, mais il m'est si
doux de pouvoir épancher mes sentiments sur toutes ces questions si
importantes et si difficiles, avec une personne que je considère non
seulement comme un Allié fidèle, mais comme un ami sur lequel je puis
compter en toute occasion, et qui, j'en suis sûre, est animé envers
nous des mêmes sentiments.

Le Prince me charge de vous offrir ses hommages les plus affectueux,
et moi je me dis pour toujours, Sire et cher Frère, de V.M.I., la très
affectionnée S[oe]ur et Amie,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: THE CRIMEAN ENQUIRY]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _16th February 1856_.

The subject to which Lord Palmerston refers in his letter of last
night, and upon which the Cabinet is going to deliberate to-day, has
also caused the Queen much anxiety.

A Civil Commission is sent out by the Government to enquire into the
conduct of the officers in command in the Crimea; this is done without
any consultation with the Commander-in-Chief. They report to the
Government, inculpating several general officers and others in high
command; this report is not communicated to the military authorities,
nor to the persons affected by it, but is laid on the table of both
Houses of Parliament.[12] These officers then for the first time
find themselves accused under the authority of Government, and that
accusation communicated to the Legislature without ever having been
heard in answer or allowed an opportunity to defend themselves. It
is stated in both Houses by the Government that the officers may send
papers in reply if they choose! But who is to be the Judge on the
trial? The Press, of course, and the _Times_ at the head, have already
judged and condemned, and the House of Commons is now moving _in
default of another Judge_ to constitute its tribunal by a Committee of
Enquiry.

It is quite evident if matters are left so, and military officers of
the Queen's Army are to be judged as to the manner in which they have
discharged their military duties before an enemy by a Committee of the
House of Commons, the command of the Army is at once transferred from
the Crown to that Assembly.

This result is quite inevitable if the Government appear as accusers,
as they do by the report of their Commission, and then submit the
accusation for Parliament to deal with, without taking any steps of
their own!

The course suggested by Sir James Graham and alluded to by Lord
Palmerston, of following the precedent of the enquiry into the
Convention of Cintra,[13] appears therefore to the Queen to be the
only prudent one.

The Queen thinks it most unfair to the officers to publish their
statements beforehand, as these will not go before judges feeling
the weight of their responsibility, but before the newspapers who are
their sworn enemies and determined to effect their ruin, for which
they possess unlimited means.

The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston to read this letter to the Cabinet.

    [Footnote 12: Sir John MacNeill and Colonel Tulloch had
    been sent out to the Crimea early in 1855 to investigate the
    breakdown of various military departments. They had issued a
    preliminary report in the summer of 1855, and a final one in
    January 1856, which was presented to Parliament. The officers
    specially censured were Lord Lucan (who had been given the
    command of a Regiment), Lord Cardigan, Inspector of Cavalry,
    Sir Richard Airey, Quartermaster-General, and Colonel Gordon,
    Deputy Quartermaster-General. Lord Panmure wrote on the 17th
    of February that the Government recommended the appointment
    of a Commission of Enquiry, consisting of General Sir Howard
    Douglas and six other high military officers. The Commission
    sat at Chelsea, and made its report in July, exonerating the
    officers censured.]

    [Footnote 13: The Convention of Cintra was concluded on
    the 30th of August 1808. It was founded on the basis of an
    armistice agreed upon between Sir Arthur Wellesley and General
    Kellerman, on the day after the battle of Vimiera, and some of
    its provisions were considered too favourable to the French. A
    Board of Enquiry, under the presidency of Sir David Dundas,
    in the first instance exculpated the British officers; but the
    Government having instructed the members of the Board to give
    their opinions individually, four were found to approve and
    three to disapprove the armistice and convention.]




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S CORDIALITY]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _18th February 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that he dined last night at the Tuileries, and had a
conversation of two hours with the Emperor, which was in all respects
satisfactory. On no occasion has Lord Clarendon heard the Emperor
express himself more warmly or with greater determination in favour
of the Alliance, and H.M. entirely concurred with Lord Clarendon, that
upon the perfect understanding between the two Governments, and the
conviction on the part of others that the Alliance was not to be
shaken, depended the facility with which negotiations might be
conducted, and the terms on which peace would be made. Lord Clarendon
spoke with the utmost frankness about the flattery that had been
and would continue to be addressed to His Majesty, and the contrast
perpetually drawn between England and France, to the disparagement of
the former, for the purpose of disturbing the relations between them;
but that your Majesty and your Majesty's Government had always treated
these tricks with contempt, because the confidence in the Emperor's
honour and loyalty was complete. Lord Clarendon dwelt particularly
upon the feelings of your Majesty and of the Prince on this subject,
and the pleasure it gave the Emperor was evident; and he desired Lord
Clarendon to say that your Majesty should never find such confidence
misplaced.

He promised Lord Clarendon that he would give Baron Brunnow and
Count Buol to understand that if they thought the Alliance could be
disturbed by them they would find themselves grievously mistaken, and
that it would be waste of time to try and alter any conditions upon
which he had agreed with the English Government.

The Emperor appeared to be much gratified by your Majesty's letter,
for the first thing he said to Lord Clarendon on coming into the room
before dinner was "_quelle charmante lettre vous m'avez apportée de
la Reine_," and then began upon the extraordinary clearness with which
your Majesty treated all matters of business, and the pleasure he
derived from every discussion of them with your Majesty....

The Empress was looking in great health and beauty. She was in the
highest spirits, and full of affectionate enquiry for your Majesty.




[Pageheading: OUDH]


[Pageheading: THE KING'S APPEAL]


_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

CALCUTTA, _19th February 1856_.

The Governor-General presents his most humble duty to your Majesty,
and has the honour of submitting to your Majesty a copy of a
Proclamation, whereby the Kingdom of Oudh has been placed exclusively
and permanently under the authority of your Majesty's Government.[14]

The various considerations, and the course of public events, which
led to this necessity, have long since been laid before your Majesty's
Government in great detail.

The Governor-General during the past summer communicated to the Home
Authorities his readiness to remain in India as long as he dared,
namely, for one additional month, until the 1st of March, for the
purpose of carrying into effect the proposed policy regarding Oudh--if
it was desired that he should do so.

The orders from the Home Government reached the Governor-General only
upon the 2nd of January, leaving barely two months for the assembling
of the military force which was necessary to provide against all
risks--for the negotiations with the King--and for the organisation of
the future Civil and Military Administration of Oudh.

Every preparation having been completed, the Resident at Lucknow
waited upon the King in person--communicated to him the resolution
which the British Government had taken--and tendered for his
acceptance a new Treaty, whereby the transfer of the Government of
Oudh would have been made a matter of amicable agreement.

The King wholly refused to sign any Treaty. He declared himself ready
to submit to the will of the British Government in all things. He bade
the Resident observe that every mark of power had already been laid
down by His Majesty's own orders--the guns at the palace gates were
dismounted, the guards bore no arms, and, though drawn up as usual in
the Court, they saluted the Resident with their hands only; while not
a weapon was worn by any officer in the Palace.

The King gave way to passionate bursts of grief and anger--implored
the intercession of the Resident in his behalf--and finally,
uncovering his head, he placed his turban in the Resident's hands.
This act--the deepest mark of humiliation and helplessness which a
native of the East can exhibit--became doubly touching and significant
when the head thus bared in supplication was one that had worn a royal
crown.

The Government, however, had already borne too long with the wrongs
inflicted by the sovereigns of Oudh upon their unhappy subjects. The
clamorous grief of the King could not be allowed to shut out the cry
of his people's misery. The King's appeal, therefore, could not be
listened to; and as His Majesty, at the end of the three days' space
which was allowed him for deliberation, still resolutely refused to
sign a Treaty, the territory of Oudh was taken possession of, by the
issue of the Proclamation which has now been respectfully submitted to
your Majesty.

It is the fourth kingdom in India which has passed under your
Majesty's sceptre during the last eight years.[15]

Perfect tranquillity has prevailed in Oudh since the event which
has just been narrated. General Outram writes that the populace of
Lucknow, more interested than any other community in the maintenance
of the native dynasty, already "appear to have forgotten they ever had
a King." In the districts the Proclamation has been heartily welcomed
by the middle and lower classes; while even the higher orders, who of
course lose much in a native state by the cessation of corruption and
tyranny, have shown no symptoms of dissatisfaction.

There seems every reason to hope and expect that the same complete
tranquillity will attend the further progress of our arrangements for
the future administration of Oudh....

The Governor-General has only further to report to your Majesty that
Lord Canning arrived at Madras on the 14th inst., and that he will
assume the Government of India on the last day of this month.

The Governor-General will report hereafter Lord Canning's arrival at
Fort William; and he has now the honour to subscribe himself, your
Majesty's most obedient, most humble and devoted Subject and Servant,

DALHOUSIE.

    [Footnote 14: In a letter of the 13th, Mr Vernon Smith had
    told the Queen that the Press rumours of "annexation" were
    premature, and that the use of the word itself had been
    avoided in Lord Canning's correspondence with the Court of
    Directors.]

    [Footnote 15: The earlier annexations were those of the Punjab
    (1849), Pegu (1852), and Nagpur (1853); some minor additions
    were also made under what was called the "doctrine of lapse."]




[Pageheading: PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _27th February 1856_.

The Queen returns Lord Clarendon's letter.

The matter becomes very serious, and it would be a bad position for
us to be left quite alone in the Conference, which the Russians, the
Queen has every reason to believe, are anxiously striving to bring
about. In fact, well-informed persons pretend that this was the main
aim of Russia in accepting the Austrian ultimatum and going to Paris.

Would it not answer to take this line: to say to Russia, "You have
accepted the ultimatum, _pur et simple_, and have now again recognised
its stipulations as preliminaries of peace. You will, therefore, first
of all, have to execute them; you may then come to the question of
Kars and say you mean to keep it--then you will see that Europe, bound
to maintain the integrity of Turkey, will be obliged to go on with
the war, and it will be for you to consider whether you mean to go on
fighting for Kars; but at present this is not in question, as you are
only called upon to fulfil the engagements to which you have solemnly
pledged yourself"?

Perhaps Lord Palmerston will discuss this suggestion with his
colleagues to-night.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th February 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that as the result of the deliberations of the Cabinet this
evening, the accompanying telegraphic message is proposed to be sent
to-morrow morning to Lord Clarendon. It is founded upon the substance
of your Majesty's memorandum of this afternoon. Viscount Palmerston
has taken another copy of this draft.




_Telegram to the Earl of Clarendon._

_28th February 1856_.

[_Enclosure._]

Your letter has been considered by the Cabinet.

Russia should be told that she cannot recede from the conditions
which she deliberately agreed to by a _pur et simple_ acceptance at
Petersburg, which she afterwards formally recorded in a protocol at
Vienna, and which she has within a few days solemnly converted into
preliminaries of peace.

Those engagements must be fulfilled, and those conditions must be
carried into execution.

As to Kars, Austria, France, and Great Britain have undertaken to
maintain the integrity of the Turkish Empire, and that integrity must
be maintained.

Russia received no equivalent for giving up the principalities which
she had occupied as a material pledge. She can receive none for giving
up Kars.

If Russia determines to carry on the war, rather than give up Kars,
things must take their course.




[Pageheading: TRANQUILLITY OF INDIA]


_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _29th February 1856_.

Lord Dalhousie presents his most humble duty to your Majesty.

The guns are announcing from the ramparts of Fort William that Lord
Canning has arrived. In an hour's time he will have assumed the
Government of India. Lord Dalhousie will transfer it to him in a
state of perfect tranquillity. There is peace, within and without. And
although no prudent man will ever venture to predict the certainty
of continued peace in India, yet Lord Dalhousie is able to declare,
within reservation, that he knows of no quarter in which it is
probable that trouble will arise.[16]

Lord Dalhousie desires that his very last act, as Governor-General,
should be to submit to your Majesty a respectful expression of the
deep sense he entertains of your Majesty's constant approbation of
his public conduct while he has held the office of Governor-General
of India; together with a humble assurance of the heartfelt gratitude
with which he shall ever remember your Majesty's gracious favour
towards him through the eight long years during which he has borne the
ponderous burden he lays down to-day.

Lord Dalhousie begs permission to take leave of your Majesty, and has
the honour to subscribe himself, with deep devotion, your Majesty's
most obedient, most humble and faithful Subject and Servant,

DALHOUSIE.

    [Footnote 16: It has been, however, freely alleged that the
    failure to repress acts of insubordination in the administration
    of Lord Dalhousie was a contributory, if not the direct, cause
    of the events of 1857. See _post_, Introductory Note to Chapter
    XXVI, and Walpole's _History of England from the Conclusion of
    the Great War in 1815_, ch. xxvii., and authorities there
    referred to.]




[Pageheading: LORD CLARENDON'S INSTRUCTIONS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, [_? March_] _1856_.

The Queen returns these letters to Lord Palmerston. She entirely
concurs in Lord Palmerston's general views of the question, but at the
same time she thinks--as circumstances, which are beyond our control,
may so vary from day to day or even from hour to hour--that Lord
Clarendon should receive full powers to act according to what may
appear to him to be best and wisest at the time, even if it should not
be in strict accordance with what we originally contemplated and must
naturally wish. Such a power would certainly not be misplaced in Lord
Clarendon's hands; his firmness, and his sense of what this country
expects, are too well known to lead us to doubt of his permitting
anything but what would _really_ be for the best of this country, and
for the maintenance of the Alliance.




[Pageheading: THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th March 1856_.

With reference to Lord Clarendon's letter, the Queen must say that
she, though _very reluctantly_, shares his opinion, that we have no
choice _now_ but to accept the peace, even if it is not all we could
desire, and if another campaign might have got us better terms. She
feels certain that the bad accounts of the French Army in the Crimea,
which appears to suffer _now_ all the misery which ours suffered last
year at the worst time of the siege, will more than ever indispose the
Emperor from risking a renewal of hostilities. It is affirmed that the
French have beyond 20,000 men in hospital!

If we are to have this peace, however, the Queen must again agree with
Lord Clarendon that we ought not _ourselves_ to depreciate it, as our
Press has done the deeds of our Army.

With regard to the principalities, it is the Queen's opinion that
nothing will oppose a barrier to Russia and her intrigues but
the arrangement which will satisfy the people themselves, viz. an
_hereditary monarchy_. The example of Egypt might perfectly well be
followed in Wallachia and Moldavia.

The subject of Poland would, in the Queen's opinion, be much better
left unintroduced into the present negotiations; we have no claim
arising out of this war to ask Russia to make concessions on that
head, which, moreover, would be treated by her as an internal question
not admitting of foreign interference.

The clause in the Treaty of Vienna about the Bonapartes is a dead
letter, as this very Treaty, now to be signed, will prove, and the
Emperor would act very unwisely to call for an alteration in which all
Powers who signed the original Treaty would claim to be consulted. We
have every interest not to bring about a European Congress _pour la
Révision des Traités_, which many people suspect the Emperor wishes to
turn the present Conference into.

The Queen wishes only to add that, should Prussia be asked to join in
the final Treaty on the ground of her having been a party to the July
Treaty, we should take care that it does not appear that this was
an act of courtesy of all the other Powers towards Prussia except
England, who need not be made to take additional unpopularity in
Germany upon herself.




_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _18th March 1856._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that the Emperor gave him to-day the most satisfactory
report of the Empress and the young Prince.[17] There appears to be
little or no fever now, and a great power of sleeping. The Emperor's
eyes filled with tears when he described the tortures of the Empress
and his own sensations. He said he hardly knew how to express his
gratitude for the interest which your Majesty had manifested for the
Empress, and for the letters which he had received from your Majesty
and the Prince.

The Prussian Plenipotentiaries[18] were admitted at the close of the
Conference this afternoon--all important matters under negotiation
having been concluded.

Count Walewski made an ineffectual attempt to make it appear by a
doubtful form of expression that Prussia had taken part throughout in
the negotiations. Lord Cowley and Lord Clarendon said that they wished
to show all courtesy to Prussia, but could not consent to sign what
was manifestly untrue....

    [Footnote 17: The Prince Imperial, Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean
    Joseph, was born on the 16th of March.]

    [Footnote 18: Baron Manteuffel and Count Hatzfeldt.]




[Pageheading: THE PRINCESS ROYAL]


_Extract of a Letter from Mr Cobden to a Friend._[19]

MIDHURST, _20th March 1856._

... It is generally thought that the young Prince Frederic William
of Prussia is to be married to our Princess Royal. I was dining
_tête-à-tête_ with Mr Buchanan, the American Minister, a few days ago,
who had dined the day before at the Queen's table, and sat next to
the Princess Royal. He was in raptures about her, and said she was
the most charming girl he had ever met: "All life and spirit, full
of frolic and fun, with an excellent head, and a _heart as big as
a mountain_"--those were his words. Another friend of mine, Colonel
Fitzmayer, dined with the Queen last week, and in writing to me a
description of the company, he says, that when the Princess Royal
smiles, "it makes one feel as if additional light were thrown upon the
scene." So I should judge that this said Prince is a lucky fellow, and
I trust he will make a good husband. If not, although a man of peace,
I shall consider it a _casus belli_....

    [Footnote 19: Submitted to the Queen.]




_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _29th March 1856._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that the Emperor sent General Ney to him this morning to
request that Lord Clarendon would convey the cordial thanks of the
Emperor to your Majesty for the _feu de joie_ fired by your Majesty's
troops in the Crimea upon the announcement of the birth of the Prince
Imperial.

Lord Clarendon was much embarrassed by a letter this morning from
Lord Palmerston, desiring that the signature of the Treaty should be
postponed till Monday, in case the Cabinet should have any amendments
to propose; and Lord Clarendon humbly hopes that your Majesty may not
be displeased at his not having acted upon this injunction, because
he had promised to sign the Treaty to-morrow in accordance with the
general wish of the Congress, notwithstanding that it was Sunday, and
he could not therefore go back from his engagement--every preparation
is made for illuminations, not alone at Paris, but throughout France,
as all the Prefects have been informed of the signature--the odium
that would have fallen [on] us all would have been extreme throughout
Europe it may be said, and it would have been regarded as a last
proof of our unwillingness to make peace. The friendly feeling of the
Congress towards the English P.P.'s[20] would have changed, and they
probably would have agreed to no amendments, requiring that all
the seven copies of the Treaty should be recopied. In short, Lord
Clarendon felt that he had no choice but to take upon himself the
responsibility of signing to-morrow; but he has suggested that Lord
Palmerston's private letter should be converted into a despatch,
in order that the sole and entire blame should rest with Lord
Clarendon....[21]

    [Footnote 20: _I.e._, Plenipotentiaries.]

    [Footnote 21: For the chief stipulations of the Treaty, see
    _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXV. In addition to the
    actual Treaty, an important declaration was made as to the
    rules of international maritime law, to be binding only on
    the signatory powers, dealing with the following points:--

      (_a_) Abolition of Privateering.
      (_b_) Neutral flag to cover enemy's goods, other than
              contraband of war.
      (_c_) Neutral goods, other than contraband of war, under
              enemy's flag, to be exempt from seizure.
      (_d_) Blockades to be binding must be effective,
              _i.e._ maintained by adequate marine force.]




[Pageheading: TERMS ARRIVED AT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _30th March 1856._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and in
submitting the accompanying letter from Lord Clarendon, he begs to
state that he informed Lord Clarendon by the messenger yesterday
evening that all he had done and agreed to was approved, and that he
might sign the Treaty to-day. It was to be signed at half-past twelve
this day.

Viscount Palmerston begs to congratulate your Majesty upon an
arrangement which effects a settlement that is satisfactory for the
present, and which will probably last for many years to come, of
questions full of danger to the best interests of Europe. Greater
and more brilliant successes by land and sea might probably have been
accomplished by the Allies if the war had continued, but any great
and important additional security against future aggressions by Russia
could only have been obtained by severing from Russia large portions
of her frontier territory, such as Finland, Poland, and Georgia; and
although by great military and financial efforts and sacrifices those
territories might for a time have been occupied, Russia must have been
reduced to the lowest state of internal distress, before her Emperor
could have been brought to put his name to a Treaty of Peace finally
surrendering his sovereignty over those extensive countries; and
to have continued the war long enough for these purposes would have
required greater endurance than was possessed by your Majesty's
Allies, and might possibly have exhausted the good-will of your
Majesty's own subjects....




[Pageheading: THE TREATY OF PARIS]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _30th March 1856._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to congratulate your Majesty upon the signature of peace this
afternoon. It is not to be doubted that another campaign must have
brought glory to your Majesty's arms, and would have enabled England
to impose different terms upon Russia, but setting aside the cost and
the horrors of war, in themselves evils of the greatest magnitude,
we cannot feel sure that victory might not have been purchased too
dearly--a continuation of the war would hardly have been possible
either with or without France--if we had dragged her on with us it
would have been most reluctantly on her part, her finances would have
suffered still more, she would have borne us ill-will, would have
acted feebly with us, and would on the first favourable occasion
have left us in the lurch. If we had continued the war single-handed,
France would feel that she had behaved shabbily to us, and would
_therefore_ have hated us all the more, and become our enemy sooner
than under any other circumstances; a coalition of Europe might then
have taken place against England, to which the United States would
but too gladly have adhered, and the consequence might have been most
serious.

Lord Clarendon would not make such an assertion lightly, but he feels
convinced that your Majesty may feel satisfied with the position now
occupied by England--six weeks ago it was a painful position here,
everybody was against us, our motives were suspected, and our policy
was denounced; but the universal feeling now is that we are the only
country able and ready, and willing, if necessary, to continue the
war; that we might have prevented peace, but that having announced
our readiness to make peace on honourable terms we have honestly and
unselfishly acted up to our word. It is well known, too, that the
conditions on which peace is made would have been different if England
had not been firm, and everybody is, of course, glad _even here_ that
peace should not have brought dishonour to France.

Lord Clarendon, therefore, ventures to hope that the language
in England with respect to the peace will not be apologetic or
dissatisfied. It would be unwise and undignified, and would invite
criticism if such language were held before the conditions are
publicly known.




[Pageheading: END OF THE WAR]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _31st March 1856._

The Queen thanks Lord Clarendon much for his two letters of Saturday
and yesterday; and we congratulate _him_ on the success of his
_efforts_ in obtaining the Peace, for to him _alone_ it is due, and
also _to him alone_ is due the dignified position which the Queen's
beloved country holds, and which she owes to a straightforward,
steady, and unselfish policy throughout.

Much as the Queen disliked the idea of _Peace_, she has become
reconciled to it, by the conviction that France would either not have
continued the war, or continued it in such a manner that _no_ glory
could have been hoped for for us.

We have a striking proof of this in Pélissier not having obeyed the
Emperor's orders and never having thought of occupying Sak.[22] _This
really might_ be hinted to the Emperor....

The Queen finds Lord Palmerston very well pleased with the Peace,
though he struggled as long as he could for better conditions....

    [Footnote 22: The word is so written in the original draft.
    There was a place of the name near Old Fort in the Crimea,
    but this is more probably an abbreviation for Sakatal in
    Caucasia.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st April 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... _Peace is signed!_ But till the ratifications
have taken place its terms cannot be known. That so _good_ a Peace
_has_ been obtained, and that this country stands in the high position
she now does by _having_ made peace, but _not_ yielding to _unworthy_
and dishonourable terms, is _all_ owing to Lord Clarendon, whose
difficulties were immense, and who cannot be too highly praised.

May I beg to remind you to make enquiries, _quietly_, about the
young Prince of Orange[23]--as to his education, _entourage_, and
disposition? Pray also don't forget to try and let us have a _new_
Russian; it would be infinitely _better_.[24]

We were much grieved to hear the day before yesterday from Sommer
that poor Stockmar had had a relapse, but the illness is clearly of
a spasmodic nature and therefore _not_ at all dangerous, and the pain
had speedily left him, but of course left him again weaker, which is
most distressing.

Now with Albert's affectionate love and our reiterated _warmest_
thanks, in which Vicky is included, for your having so VERY kindly
come over for her Confirmation, believe me, ever, your devoted Niece
and Child,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 23: Prince William Nicholas, born 1840, elder son of
    King William III. of Holland.]

    [Footnote 24: The new Russian Ambassador was Count
    Creptowitch.]




_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

PALAIS DE BUCKINGHAM, _le 3 Avril 1856_.

SIRE ET MON CHER FRÈRE,--V.M. me permettra de lui offrir toutes mes
félicitations à l'occasion de la paix qui a été conclue sous vos
auspices, et peu de jours seulement après l'heureux événement qui vous
a donné un fils. Quoique partageant le sentiment de la pluspart de
mon peuple qui trouve que cette paix est peut-être un peu précoce,
j'éprouve le besoin de vous dire que j'approuve hautement les termes
dans lesquels elle a été conçue, comme un résultat qui n'est pas
indigne des sacrifices que nous avons faits mutuellement pendant cette
juste guerre, et comme assurant autant que cela se peut, la stabilité
de l'équilibre Européen....

Le Prince me charge de vous offrir ses hommages les plus affectueux,
et je me dis pour toujours, Sire et cher Frère, de V.M.I., la bien
affectionnée S[oe]ur et Amie,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: HONOURS GRATEFULLY DECLINED]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _6th April 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Lord Clarendon humbly begs in Lord Cowley's name and his own most
gratefully to acknowledge the kind and gracious intention of your
Majesty to raise each of them a step in the Peerage, and they venture
to hope that your Majesty will not have been displeased at their
having respectfully declined this great distinction. Lord Cowley's
reason was his extreme poverty, and the feeling that an accession of
rank would only aggravate the inconvenience he already experiences
from being a Peer....

Lord Clarendon felt that courtesy titles to his younger sons would be
a positive injury to them in working for their bread, and he relied
upon your Majesty's unvarying kindness for appreciating his reluctance
to prefer himself to his children. He may, with entire truth, add that
the knowledge that your Majesty has approved of their conduct is ample
and abundant reward for Lord Cowley and himself. Lord Clarendon hopes
it is not presumptuous in him to say that he would not exchange your
Majesty's letters of approval for any public mark of your Majesty's
favour....




[Pageheading: LORD PALMERSTON AND THE GARTER]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th April 1856_.

Now that the moment for the ratification of the Treaty of Peace is
near at hand, the Queen wishes to delay no longer the expression
of her satisfaction as to the manner in which both the War has been
brought to a conclusion, and the honour and interests of this country
have been maintained by the Treaty of Peace, under the zealous and
able guidance of Lord Palmerston. She wishes as a public token of her
approval to bestow the Order of the Garter upon him. Should the two
vacant Ribbons already have been promised to the Peers whose names
Lord Palmerston has on a former occasion submitted to the Queen, there
could be no difficulty in his being named an extra Knight, not filling
up the next vacancy which may occur; this course was followed when
Lord Grey received the Garter from the hands of King William.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _11th April 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is
unable to express in words the gratification and thankfulness which he
feels upon the receipt of your Majesty's most gracious and unexpected
communication of this morning. The utmost of his ambition has been so
to perform the duties of the high position in which your Majesty has
been pleased to place him, as to prove himself not unworthy of the
confidence with which your Majesty has honoured him; and the knowledge
that your Majesty has found no reason to be dissatisfied with your
choice; and that his endeavour properly to discharge his duties to
your Majesty and the country have met with your Majesty's approval
would of itself be an ample reward for any labour or anxiety with
which the performance of those duties may have been attended, and,
therefore, the gracious communication which he has this morning
received from your Majesty will be preserved by him as in his eyes
still more valuable even than the high honour which it announces your
Majesty's intention to confer upon him.

That high and distinguished honour Viscount Palmerston will receive
with the greatest pride as a public mark of your Majesty's gracious
approbation, but he begs to be allowed to say that the task which he
and his colleagues have had to perform has been rendered comparatively
easy by the enlightened views which your Majesty has taken of all the
great affairs in which your Majesty's Empire has been engaged, and
by the firm and steady support which _in_ all these important
transactions your Majesty's servants have received from the Crown.




[Pageheading: SERVICE RETRENCHMENTS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th April 1856_.

The Queen returns the draft of Treaty, which she approves, and of
which she would wish to have a copy.

The Queen believes that the Cabinet are going to consider to-day the
amount of retrenchments which may be necessary in the Army and Navy.

She trusts and _expects_ that this will be done with great
_moderation_ and very _gradually_; and that the difficulties we have
had, and the sufferings which we have endured, may not be forgotten,
for to the miserable reductions of the last thirty years are entirely
owing our state of _helplessness_ when the War began; and it would
be unpardonable if we were to be found in a similar condition, when
another War--and _who_ can tell _how_ soon there may be one?--breaks
out.

We must _never_ for a moment forget the very peculiar state of France,
and _how entirely all there_ depends upon _one_ man's life.

We _ought_ and _must_ be prepared for every _eventuality_, and we have
splendid material in that magnificent little Army in the Crimea.

The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston to show this letter to the Cabinet.




[Pageheading: LETTER FROM THE EMPEROR]


_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _le 12 Avril 1856_.

MADAME ET TRÈS CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--Votre Majesté m'a fait grand plaisir en
me disant qu'elle était satisfaite de la conclusion de la paix, car
ma constante préoccupation a été, tout en désirant la fin d'une guerre
ruineuse, de n'agir que de concert avec le Gouvernement de votre
Majesté. Certes je conçois bien qu'il ait été désirable d'obtenir
encore de meilleurs résultats, mais était-ce raisonnable d'en attendre
de la manière dont la guerre avait été engagée? J'avoue que je ne
le crois pas. La guerre avait été trop lentement conduite par nos
généraux et nos amiraux et nous avions laissé le temps aux Russes de
se rendre presque imprenables à Cronstadt comme en Crimée. Je crois
donc que nous aurions payé trop chèrement sous tous les rapports les
avantages que nous eussions pu obtenir. Je suis pour cette raison
heureux de la paix, mais je suis heureux surtout que notre Alliance
sorte intacte des conférences et qu'elle se montre à l'Europe aussi
solide que le premier jour de _notre union_. (Je prie le Prince Albert
de ne pas être jaloux de cette expression.)

Nous avons appris avec la plus vive satisfaction que les projets que
votre Majesté avait conçus pour le bonheur de la Princesse Royale
allaient bientôt se réaliser. On dit tant de bien du jeune Prince
Frédéric Guillaume que je ne doute pas que votre charmante fille ne
soit heureuse. L'Impératrice, qui attend avec impatience le moment de
pouvoir écrire à votre Majesté, a été bien touchée de votre aimable
lettre. Vers le commencement de Mai nous irons à St Cloud où votre
souvenir nous y accompagne toujours, car ces lieux nous rappellent
le séjour de votre Majesté et nous faisons des v[oe]ux pour qu'un si
heureux événement puisse se renouveler.

Je prie votre Majesté de me rappeler au souvenir du Prince Albert
et de recevoir avec bonté l'assurance des sentiments de respectueuse
amitié avec lesquels je suis, de votre Majesté, le dévoué Frère et
Ami,

NAPOLÉON.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st April 1856_.

The Queen has heard from Colonel Phipps that Lord Hardinge is most
anxious for her sanction to the paper submitted yesterday, if even as
merely a temporary measure, before the mail goes this evening, as all
the shipping at Balaklava is waiting for it. She hopes Lord Hardinge
will see how inconvenient and unpleasant it must be to the Queen to
have important matters submitted at such short notice that they cannot
even be discussed by her without detriment to the public service, and
trusts that she may not again be placed in a similar position. She has
now signed the paper, but _only_ as a temporary measure, and upon the
understanding that Lord Hardinge will submit to her, between this and
the next mail, the arrangements which are now wanting.

She has also signed the proposal about Canada, but must express her
conviction that General Le Marchant,[25] as Civil Governor of the
Colony, cannot possibly attend to the command of the Brigade, which
ought to have a distinct Commander. There may be Artillery in Canada,
but is it horsed? and in Batteries?

We are rapidly falling back into the old ways!

    [Footnote 25: Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, 1803-1874,
    Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1852 to 1857.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th May 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Having returned late from a drive, I have but
little time to spare to thank you for your kind letter of the 2nd.
Last Thursday (1st) was our darling Arthur's sixth birthday, which he
enjoyed duly. On the 3rd we received Brunnow[26]--who was so nervous
and humble, and so _ému_ that he could hardly speak. He dines with us
to-night, and the dinner is given for him, being a _funny collection
of antagonistic elements_--Granville, Clarendon, Lansdowne, Aberdeen,
Graham, John Russell, Derby, and Malmesbury! "The Happy Family," I
call it.

The Opposition have taken the line of disapproving the Peace and
showing great hostility to Russia.

To-morrow we have a Levée, and on Thursday a ball in our fine new
room, which we open on that day; and on Friday there is a _Peace_ Fête
at the Crystal Palace. On Saturday we go out of town; and now I must
end, begging to be forgiven for so hurried a scrawl, but I had to
write a long letter and to _sit_ to Winterhalter. Ever your devoted
Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 26: He had come to England, charged with a special
    mission.]




[Pageheading: COLONIAL GOVERNORSHIPS]


_Queen Victoria to Mr Labouchere._

OSBORNE, _14th May 1856_.

The Queen has received Mr Labouchere's letter, and hastens to express
her opinion that Mr Wilson[27] would not be at all a proper person to
be Governor of so large and important a Colony as Victoria. It ought
to be a man of higher position and standing, and who could represent
his Sovereign adequately....

She wishes further to observe that Mr Labouchere should in future take
care that, while he tries to ascertain the feelings of people as to
their accepting the offer of a Colonial appointment, before he submits
them to the Queen, that these enquiries should be made in such a
manner as not to lead these persons to _expect_ the appointment,
else, if the _Queen_ does not approve of them, the whole odium of the
refusal will fall upon her. The best way, and the way in which similar
appointments are conducted in the other Offices, would be to mention
the names first to the Queen, and if she approves of them, to
ascertain the feelings of the respective candidates. This would avoid
all difficulties on the subject.

    [Footnote 27: James Wilson, the founder of _The Economist_,
    was at this time Financial Secretary to the Treasury. In 1859
    he accepted the new office of Financial Member of the Council
    of India, but died in the following year.]




_Queen Victoria to Mr Labouchere._

_14th May 1856_.

The Queen would quite approve of the selection of Sir H. Bulwer, Lord
Lyttelton, or Sir H. Barkly for Victoria. She is decidedly of opinion
that the Governor should be an Englishman and not a Colonist. Now that
self-Government has been established in the Colonies, the person of
the Governor is the only connection remaining with the Mother Country;
and if the Government were once filled from among the public men in
the Colonies, this would become a precedent most difficult to break
through again, and possibly paving the way for total separation.[28]

    [Footnote 28: Sir Henry Bulwer declined. Sir Henry Barkly was
    appointed.]




[Pageheading: NAVAL POLICY]


_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

OSBORNE, _18th May 1856_.

The Queen has to thank Sir C. Wood for his long and clear statement
as to the present position of the Naval Force, which she quite
understands. She attaches the greatest importance to perfect faith
being kept with the sailors, and on that account was distressed to
hear of the misapprehension at Portsmouth the other day.

A good system for a Naval Reserve would be most important. The Queen
thinks a Commission, composed chiefly of _younger officers_ still
conversant with the _present_ feelings of our sailors, would best be
able to advise on the subject; the old Admirals are always and not
unnaturally somewhat behind their time.

With respect to the policy of not too rapidly reducing our naval
armaments, Sir C. Wood only anticipates the Queen's most anxious wish
on this subject, for we cannot tell what may not happen anywhere at
any moment; our relations with America are very unsettled, and our
Alliance with France _depends_ upon the life of one man. And it
is best to be prepared, for else you excite suspicion if you have
suddenly to make preparations without being _able_ to state for what
they are intended.

With regard to the Sailors' Homes, the Queen concurs in the advantage
of leaving them to private management; but the Government, having so
large a stake in the sailors' welfare, would act wisely and justly to
make a handsome donation to all of them at the present moment, taking
care that this should be used by the different establishments for
their permanent extension. Five thousand pounds amongst them would
be by no means an unreasonable sum to give as a token of the interest
taken in the well-being of these brave men when no immediate return in
shape of service was expected for it.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _21st May 1856_.

The Queen is very anxious about the fixing of our Peace establishment
both for the Army and Navy. Although Lord Hardinge's proposals are
before the Government already for some time, no proposal has yet been
submitted to the Queen; and on enquiry from Sir C. Wood, he stated
but two days ago that no reduction of the Navy was yet settled. On
the other hand, the Queen sees from the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
speech that he specifies the sums by which both Army and Navy
estimates are to be reduced. This _prejudges_ the whole question,
and will deprive the Government of all power freely to consider
these important questions. The Queen was, moreover, sorry to find
Mr Disraeli, Mr Gladstone, and Sir Francis Baring agreeing with the
doctrine of the _Times_ and Lord Grey that we ought _not_ to improve
our state of preparation for war; and if we had been better prepared
for the late war, we should have been still more disappointed.[29]

    [Footnote 29: In the course of an elaborate reply, Lord
    Palmerston stated that the country had never been in a better
    condition of defence than at the present time, but he insisted
    that the Militia, which from 1815 to 1832 had been allowed
    to become extinct, must be maintained in an efficient
    state--120,000 strong.]




[Pageheading: TITLE OF PRINCE CONSORT]

[Pageheading: PRECEDENCE OF PRINCE ALBERT]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _May 1856_.

It is a strange omission in our Constitution that while _the wife_
of a _King_ has the highest rank and dignity in the realm after her
husband assigned to her by law, the _husband_ of a _Queen regnant_
is entirely ignored by the law. This is the more extraordinary, as
a husband has in this country such particular rights and such great
power over his wife, and as the Queen is married just as any other
woman is, and swears to obey her lord and master, as such, while by
law he has no rank or defined position. This is a strange anomaly.
No doubt, as is the case _now_--the Queen _can_ give her husband the
highest _place_ by _placing_ him _always near her person_, and the
Nation would give it him as a _matter of course_. Still, when I first
married, we had much difficulty on this subject; much bad feeling was
shown, and several members of the Royal Family showed bad grace
in giving precedence to the Prince, and the late King of Hanover
positively resisted doing so. I gave the Prince precedence by issuing
Letters Patent, but these give no rank in Parliament--or at the
Council Board--and it would be far better to put this question beyond
all doubt, and to secure its settlement for _all future Consorts of
Queens_, and thus have this omission in the Constitution rectified.
Naturally my own feeling would be to give the Prince the same title
and rank as I have, but a Titular King is a complete novelty in
this country, and might be productive of more inconveniences than
advantages to the individual who bears it. Therefore, upon mature
reflection, and after considering the question for nearly _sixteen
years_, I have come to the conclusion that the title which is now by
universal consent given him of "Prince Consort," with the highest rank
in and out of Parliament immediately after the Queen, and before every
other Prince of the Royal Family, should be the one assigned to the
husband of the Queen regnant _once and for all_. This ought to be done
before our children grow up, and it seems peculiarly easy to do so
_now_ that none of the old branches of the Royal Family are still
alive.

The present position is this: that while every British subject, down
to the Knight, Bachelor, Doctor, and Esquire, has a rank and position
by _Law_, the Queen's husband alone has one by _favour_--and by his
wife's favour, who may grant it or not! When granted as in the present
case, it does not extend to Parliament and the Council, and the
children may deny the position which their mother has given to their
father as a usurpation over them, having the law on their side; or if
they waive their rights in his favour, he will hold a position granted
by the forbearance of his children. In both cases this is a position
most derogatory to the Queen as well as to her husband, and most
dangerous to the peace and well-being of her family. If the children
resist, the Queen will have her husband pushed away from her side by
her children, and they will take precedence over the man whom she is
bound to obey; if they are dutiful, she will owe her peace of mind to
their continued generosity.

With relation to Foreign Courts, the Queen's position is equally
humiliating in this respect. _Some_ Sovereigns (crowned heads) address
her husband as "Brother," some as "Brother and Cousin," some merely as
"Cousin." When the Queen has been abroad, her husband's position has
always been a subject of negotiation and vexation; the position which
has been accorded to him the Queen has always had to acknowledge as
a grace and favour bestowed on her by the Sovereign whom she visited.
While last year the Emperor of the French treated the Prince as a
Royal personage, his uncle declined to come to Paris avowedly because
he would not give precedence to the Prince; and on the Rhine in 1845
the King of Prussia could not give the place to the Queen's husband
which common civility required, because of the presence of an
Archduke, the third son of an uncle of the then reigning Emperor of
Austria, who would not give the _pas_, and whom the King would not
offend.

The only legal position in Europe, according to international law,
which the husband of the Queen of England enjoys, is that of a younger
brother of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and this merely because the
English law does not know of him. This is derogatory to the dignity of
the Crown of England.

But _nationally_ also it is an injury to the position of the Crown
that the Queen's husband should have no other title than that of
Prince of Saxe-Coburg, and thus be perpetually represented to the
country as a foreigner. "The Queen and her foreign husband, the Prince
Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha!"

The Queen has a right to claim that her husband should be an
Englishman, bearing an English title, and enjoying a legal position
which she has not to defend with a wife's anxiety as a usurpation
against her own children, her subjects, and Foreign Courts.

The question has often been discussed by me with different Prime
Ministers and Lord Chancellors, who have invariably entirely agreed
with me; but the wish to wait for a good moment to bring the matter
before Parliament has caused one year after another to elapse without
anything being done. If I become _now_ more anxious to have it
settled, it is in order that it should be so before our children are
grown up, that it might not appear to be done in order to guard their
father's position against them personally, which could not fail to
produce a painful impression upon their minds.

If properly explained to Parliament and the country, I cannot foresee
the slightest difficulty in getting such a necessary measure passed,
particularly if it be made quite clear to the House of Commons that it
is in no way connected with a desire to obtain an increased grant for
the Prince.[30]

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 30: See _post_, 28th June, 1856, note 33.]




[Pageheading: SABBATARIANISM]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st June 1856_.

The Queen understands that there is an attempt to be made to prevent
the military bands from playing when the Troops march to church on a
Sunday.

She is anxious to express to Lord Hardinge her very strong feeling on
this subject, and her wish that he should on _no_ account give way
to such a proposal. _Whatever_ has been the custom should be firmly
adhered to, and Lord Hardinge is perfectly at liberty to make use of
the Queen's name, and say he could not bring such a proposal before
her, as he knew she would not consent to it.[31]

    [Footnote 31: The custom of bands playing in the public parks
    on Sundays had been objected to by various religious bodies,
    and in April a letter on the subject was written to Lord
    Palmerston by the Archbishop of Canterbury, after which the
    performances were discontinued, the Government giving way
    before the threat of a vote of censure. A similar movement
    was made in opposition to the playing of regimental bands. See
    _ante_, 7th August, 1855, note 71.]




[Pageheading: WELLINGTON COLLEGE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd June 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I hasten to thank you for your very kind letter
of yesterday, just received. Your kind _question_ puts me into
considerable perplexity, and I think I cannot do better than by
putting you in full possession of the state of the case.

Our house is very full--and it is _possible_ that we may have very
shortly the visit of Prince Oscar of Sweden. These Princes have very
large _suites_, and I should therefore in such a case be totally
unable to lodge you and _them_. But there is another reason. While
Fritz Wilhelm is here, _every_ spare moment Vicky has (and _I_ have,
for I must chaperon this loving couple--which takes away so much of my
precious time) is devoted to her bridegroom, who is _so_ much in
love, that, even if he is out driving and walking with her, he is not
satisfied, and says he has not seen her, unless he can have her for an
hour to himself, when I am naturally bound to be acting as chaperon.
Under these circumstances I may truly say that dear Charlotte would
have very little enjoyment; she would see very little of Vicky, _I
could not_ take care of her, and I fear it would be anything but
agreeable for her. Fritz Wilhelm would besides be miserable if I took
Vicky more away from him than I already do, and therefore _while he_
is here, it would _not_, I think, be advisable that _Charlotte_ should
come. Could you _not_ come a little in August when the Prince and
Princess of Prussia have left us? Or would you prefer coming in
October, when we return from Scotland? You will easily believe,
dearest Uncle, _what_ pleasure it gives me to see you; but I know you
will understand the reasons I here give for begging you to delay this
dear visit either to August or October....

I had a little hope that the Archduke and Charlotte _might_ take a
mutual liking; it would be such a good _parti_.

We had an interesting ceremony yesterday, the laying of the first
stone of the Wellington College--which is the monument to the memory
of the dear old Duke. Dear little Arthur appeared for the first time
in public, and I hope you will approve my answer.[32]

Now, dearest Uncle, ever your truly devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 32: The Queen's reply to an address presented to
    her, on behalf of the College, by Lord Derby.]




[Pageheading: THE NATIONAL GALLERY]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th June 1856_.

The Queen and Prince had intended to take their visitors down to
the Camp on Monday next--the _only day_ which we shall have for
a fortnight free from other engagements--and hears, to her _utter
astonishment_, that _all_ the troops are gone--not only the Militia,
but the 3rd Battalion of the Rifles!--and this without the Queen's
hearing _one_ word of it! The Queen is the more astonished and
annoyed, as Lord Panmure had promised that the Militia regiments
should _not_ be disembodied until there were other troops to replace
them, which will not be the case for some little time. _What_ is the
cause of this, sudden determination? The Queen is much vexed, as her
visitors will not stay long, and are very anxious to visit the Camp;
and it is of much importance that Foreign Princes should see what we
have, and in what state of efficiency our troops are.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _26th June 1856_.

The Queen hopes Lord Palmerston will make it quite clear to the
subordinate Members of the Government that they cannot be allowed
to vote against the Government proposal about the National Gallery
to-morrow, as she hears that several fancy themselves at liberty to do
so.




[Pageheading: TITLE OF PRINCE CONSORT]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._[33]

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _28th June 1856_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty ... will be prepared, as well as Lord
Lyndhurst, to give his cordial support to such a Bill as that sketched
out by the Lord Chancellor; but using that freedom which is invited by
and due to the gracious confidence reposed in him by your Majesty, he
hopes he may be pardoned for earnestly submitting to your Majesty's
serious consideration the question whether it may be expedient to
raise a discussion on such a subject during the short remainder of the
present Session of Parliament. Measures of public importance already
in progress are now beginning to be abandoned in consequence of
the advanced period of the Session, and Lord Lyndhurst concurs very
strongly in Lord Derby's apprehensions as to the result on public
feeling of the introduction of such a measure at the present moment.
If it could be stated that your Majesty contemplated a foreign visit
in the course of the summer, which rendered it desirable that a
measure should be passed to obviate the embarrassment which had been
created on previous occasions of the same sort, some case might be
made out for immediate legislation, though even then the question
would arise why it was not thought of sooner; but in the absence of
any change of circumstances, and in the present unfortunate temper of
the House of Commons, of which a proof was given last night, such
a course would probably lead to suspicions and remarks of the most
painful character. It would be said, and with some justice, that the
greater the constitutional importance of a settlement, the greater was
also the necessity of ample opportunity for consideration being given
to Parliament; and the hurry of passing the Bill would be cited as a
proof that it covered some unavowed and objectionable design. If such
suspicions should lead to the postponement of the measure, not only
would the Crown have been subjected to a mortifying defeat, but the
Bill would be open to the hostile criticisms of the Press during the
whole summer and autumn, the effect of which might even endanger its
ultimate success....

Should your Majesty be otherwise advised, Lord Derby will be ready to
give the Bill his personal support, but he would be wanting in candour
if he did not frankly state to your Majesty the serious apprehensions
which he should entertain as to the result. Such an unreserved
expression of his opinions is the only and very inadequate return
which he can make to your Majesty for the gracious confidence with
which your Majesty has honoured him, and for which he feels most
deeply grateful.

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant
and Subject,

DERBY.

    [Footnote 33: The Queen had sent to Lord Derby a copy of her
    Memorandum, _ante_, May, 1856, a letter from Lord Palmerston to
    herself on the same subject, and the sketch of a Bill drawn
    up by the Lord Chancellor to give effect to her wishes. On the
    25th of June 1857, the title of "Prince Consort" was conferred
    on Prince Albert by Royal Letters Patent. "I should have
    preferred," wrote the Queen, "its being done by Act of
    Parliament, and so it may still be at some future period; but
    it was thought better upon the whole to do it _now_ in this
    simple way."]




[Pageheading: RETIREMENT OF LORD HARDINGE]


_Viscount Hardinge to Queen Victoria._

15 GREAT STANHOPE STREET, _10th July 1856_.

Field-Marshal Viscount Hardinge,[34] with his most humble duty to your
Majesty, is conscious that his power of serving your Majesty in the
high position of General Commanding-in-Chief has ceased in consequence
of the state of his health, which leaves him no other course to pursue
than that of placing in your Majesty's hands the resignation of his
office, the duties of which his sudden and severe illness has rendered
him incapable of performing.

Lord Hardinge cannot take this step without thanking your Majesty for
the great consideration and support which he has at all times received
at a period of no ordinary difficulty, and which have impressed him
with such sentiments of gratitude as can only cease with his life.

All of which is most humbly submitted to your Majesty by your
Majesty's dutiful and devoted Servant,

HARDINGE.

    [Footnote 34: A great review of the troops lately returned
    from the Crimea was held in most unfavourable weather at
    Aldershot, on the 8th of July, King Leopold among others being
    present; Lord Hardinge, who had brought with him the Report of
    the Military Commission which had been sitting at Chelsea,
    was struck by paralysis during an Audience with the Queen; the
    next day Lord Panmure wrote: "His leg is entirely useless, and
    his right arm visibly affected. I spoke to him for a moment as
    he got into his carriage, and his head is quite clear, but his
    public career is closed; and knowing his high mind as I do, I
    would not be surprised to learn that he made a communication
    to that effect to the Queen very shortly."]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _10th July 1856_.

The Queen has received the enclosed letter from Lord Hardinge,
conveying his resignation, for which she was prepared. She asks Lord
Palmerston to enable her, by the assistance of his advice, soon to
appoint a successor to the important office of Commander-in-Chief.
She has again considered the question, and is confirmed in her opinion
that the Duke of Cambridge stands almost without a competitor.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Hardinge._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th July 1856_.

The Queen received yesterday evening Field-Marshal Lord Hardinge's
letter resigning his office of Commander-in-Chief. She cannot
sufficiently express how deeply grieved she is to feel that from Lord
Hardinge's state of health she must accept his resignation. The loss
of his services will be immense to the Queen, the country, and the
Army--and she trusts that he is well assured of her high sense of the
very valuable services he has long rendered. She hopes, however,
that she may still reckon on his advice and assistance on matters of
importance, though he will no longer command her noble Army.

She cannot conclude without expressing the Prince's and her fervent
wishes that he may rapidly recover, and his valuable life be long
preserved to all his friends, amongst whom we shall ever consider
ourselves.




[Pageheading: THE COMMANDERSHIP-IN-CHIEF]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _12th July 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that he has consulted with his colleagues as to the advice
to be tendered to your Majesty in regard to the appointment of a
successor to Lord Hardinge as General Commanding-in-Chief; and upon
a full consideration of the subject, the Cabinet are of opinion that
your Majesty's choice could not fall upon any General Officer better
suited to that important position than His Royal Highness the Duke
of Cambridge, and Lord Panmure will have the honour of taking your
Majesty's pleasure upon the matter officially.

It seems quite clear that there is no General Officer senior to His
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge to whom it would in all respects
be desirable to intrust the duties of the command of the Army, and
there is no General Officer below him in seniority who has claim
sufficiently strong to justify his being preferred to His Royal
Highness....




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _13th July 1856_.

The Queen wishes to ask, before she sanctions this draft, whether the
Cabinet have fully considered the consequences of this declaration
to the Persians, which may be war;[35] and if so, whether they are
prepared to go to war with Persia, and have provided the means of
carrying it on? The draft itself the Queen approves.

    [Footnote 35: The Shah, availing himself of the departure of
    the British Minister from Teheran, laid siege to Herat, in
    direct violation of a treaty of 1853.]




[Pageheading: THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _21st July 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... We had a delightful little _séjour_ at
Aldershot--much favoured by fine weather. The first day, Wednesday,
the wind was too high for _me_ to ride, but the second (Thursday)
we had one of the prettiest and _most_ interesting field days I ever
remember. I rode about everywhere and enjoyed it so much. On Thursday
and Friday morning we visited the Camp. The new Troops from the
Crimea which we saw were the 34th, 41st, and 49th, particularly fine
Regiments; the 93rd Highlanders, the 2nd Rifle Battalion, and three
Companies of splendid Sappers and Miners, all very fine; and the Scots
Greys and Enniskillen Dragoons. The Prussians[36] were _émerveillés_
at the looks of our Troops on returning from the Crimea! We came here
on the 18th, and have really _hot_ weather.

George has been appointed Commander-in-Chief. There was really _no
one_ who could have been put over him; though in some respects it may
be a weakness for the Crown, it is a great strength for the Army....

I fear I must end here for to-day. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 36: The Prince and Princess of Prussia were on a
    visit to the Queen and Prince.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _24th July 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and will
give directions for the Council at Osborne at one o'clock on Monday,
according to your Majesty's desire; and he would beg to submit
for your Majesty's gracious consideration that the General
Commanding-in-Chief has usually been a Privy Councillor, and that His
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge might, if your Majesty thought
fit, be sworn in on Monday.

Viscount Palmerston will communicate with Dr. Goodford, but he finds
that he was misled by the Headmaster and one of the Governors of
Harrow at the Speech Day; he understood from them that an additional
week's holiday would at his request be given to the boys at this
vacation in commemoration of the Peace. He has now received a letter
from the Governors to say that the school had an additional week on
the occasion of the Peace at Easter, and that an additional week will
be given, not now, but at Christmas, in commemoration of the laying
the first stone of the new Chapel. If, therefore, the Eton boys had an
additional week at Easter in honour of the Peace, as the Harrow boys
had, there will be no reason for any addition to the Eton holidays
now....




[Pageheading: SOUTH AFRICA]


_Mr Labouchere to Queen Victoria._

_26th July 1856._

With Mr Labouchere's humble duty to Her Majesty. Mr Labouchere begs to
submit the following observations in reply to Her Majesty's enquiries
respecting the Free States in the vicinity of the British Colonies in
South Africa.

There are two independent States there:--

(1.) The Transvaal Republic, founded by Boers who left the Colony for
the most part from ten to fifteen years ago. The territory on which
they are established never was British. The Government of the day,
thinking it useless and impolitic to pursue them there, entered into
a capitulation with them and recognised their independent existence.
They inhabit the plains north of the Vaal or Yellow River.

(2.) The Orange River Free State. This occupies the territory between
the Vaal River to the north and the Orange River to the south. This
territory, like the former, was occupied originally by emigrant Boers,
and was beyond the boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
But Sir Harry Smith, in 1849, after a severe military struggle with
the Boers, thought proper without authority from home to annex it to
British Dominion.[37] This annexation was ratified by Lord Grey,
and the country remained for three or four years under British rule.
Afterwards it was resolved to abandon it, during the administration
of the Duke of Newcastle, as a result of the general revision of our
affairs which took place at the conclusion of the Kaffir War. The
Orange River Territory was recognised as a separate Republic in 1854.

It is certainly true that the existence of these Free States may
complicate our relations with the Kaffirs, and possibly be a source
of danger to the security of British dominion in South Africa. But the
latter danger seems very remote. They possess _no_ portion of the
sea coast, and are altogether a pastoral people, and are engaged in a
constant struggle with the barbarous tribes in their neighbourhood.

To retain and protect these territories would have involved an immense
expenditure, and been attended with great difficulties. Besides, the
same question would have speedily recurred, as these emigrant Boers
would have soon gone further into the interior, and again have
asserted their independence. Our present relations with both these
States are very amicable. When Governor Sir George Grey went to the
Cape all these questions had been finally disposed of.[38]

There seems to be good reason to hope that the apprehensions of a
Kaffir War will not be realised. The Colony is very prosperous, and
is beginning to export wool in large quantities. The new legislature
appears to be disposed to act harmoniously with the Governor, and to
be actuated by a spirit of loyalty and attachment to this country.
What they most want is a supply of European settlers, which it is to
be hoped that the soldiers of the German and Swiss Legions will give
them.

    [Footnote 37: See _ante_, vol. ii., Introductory Note to Chapter
    XVII, and 25th October, 1848, note 45.]

    [Footnote 38: Sir George Grey had been sent out by the Duke
    of Newcastle in 1854. He had previously been Governor of South
    Australia and New Zealand successively. He returned to New
    Zealand as Governor in 1861, and was Premier of the Colony,
    1877-1884. He died in 1898, and was buried in St Paul's
    Cathedral.]




[Pageheading: FOREIGN ORDERS]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _30th July 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I am much grieved to have to retract the
permission which in my letter of yesterday I said I would give to Lord
Westmorland.[39] When I said so, I had _not_ received the opinion of
the Ministers, which I have since done, and this is, I am sorry to
say, conclusive _against_ it. I quite overlooked _one_ very important
case of very late date, viz. the Plenipotentiary at Paris--on whom the
Emperor pressed very hard to confer his order in commemoration of the
Peace; but it was refused, and the Emperor was a good _deal hurt_. If
_now_ Lord Westmorland received the permission, the Emperor might with
_right_ complain. I am much grieved, dearest Uncle, at all this, but
it was quite unavoidable, and I was at the time much distressed at
your giving the order to Lord Westmorland as I foresaw nothing but
difficulties. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 39: King Leopold had proposed to bestow a decoration
    on Lord Westmorland.]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _1st August 1856_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--... When your excellent Ministers will consider
things coolly, which is not to be expected in this hot weather, I am
sure they will come to other conclusions. The rule is a _very wise
one_, and has been kept up even at the time of those great congresses
of Paris, Vienna, and ditto Paris in 1815. But in cases of particular
affection and feeling _not_ connected with politics, there have been
during the reigns of George IV. and William IV. exceptions. The Duke
of Devonshire was sent to the Coronation, I think, of the Emperor
Nicholas, because one knew the Emperor liked him. And he has worn ever
since that diamond star of the St Andrew of the largest dimensions.

Our Napoleon is too wise not to understand that a treaty has a direct
political character. And, during the next fifty years of your glorious
reign, there will be most probably a great many more treaties and
congresses. You may get all sorts of things during that time, but you
cannot either by the power of heaven or of earth get a new uncle, who
has kept his word twenty-five years; rather an undertaking considering
circumstances.... I remain, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

ON BOARD THE _Victoria and Albert_,
_14th August 1856_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--You will be surprised to get a letter so soon again
from me, and still more on _so_ trivial a subject, but I come as a
petitioner for a supply of the cakes or _Oblaten_ which you kindly
always send me, but which have come to a dead _stop_, having been too
rapidly consumed; _all_ the children having taken to eat them. As I
am not a very good breakfast eater, they are often the _only_ things
I _can_ take at that time, and consequently I miss them much. May I
therefore beg them to be sent?

We are still here; profiting by the _bad_ sea, to visit many beautiful
_points de vue_ in this really beautiful country. We saw yesterday one
of the loveliest places possible--_Endsleigh_--the Duke of Bedford's,
about twenty miles from here.

The weather is so bad, and it blows so hard, that we shall go back
to Southampton to-morrow by railroad--a beautiful line which we have
never seen. I must close in haste. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We went to Saltram, Lord Morley's, this afternoon.




[Pageheading: LORD GRANVILLE'S MISSION]

[Pageheading: THE CZAR ALEXANDER]

[Pageheading: CORONATION OF THE CZAR]


_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._[40]

MOSCOW, _30th August 1856_.

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs,
according to your Majesty's desire, to submit to your Majesty the
impressions which he has received during the short time of his stay in
this country.

Lord Granville's conversation with the Emperor of Russia, and what he
has heard from various reliable sources, have led him to the following
conclusions respecting His Imperial Majesty.

He is handsome, but thinner and graver than when he was in England.
When speaking with energy to Lord Granville his manner seemed to be
rather an imitation of some one else than his own, and he did not look
Lord Granville in the face. His usual manner is singularly gentle and
pleasing. He does not give the idea of having much strength either of
intellect or of character, but looks intelligent and amiable.
Although the education of a Cæsarwitch must be subject to pernicious
influences, the present Emperor has had advantages which those in his
position have not usually had. The Emperor Nicholas came to the throne
without having had the confidences of his predecessor. He initiated
his son into everything that was going on, while others who knew the
good-nature of the Grand Duke Alexander's character, told him that
which they did not tell his father. He was supposed to have different
tastes from the late Emperor, but, since the death of the latter, he
has liked the late Emperor's favourite residence which he himself had
formerly disliked, he has taken to all the military pursuits of
his father, and is said to have shown undignified haste in issuing
regulations about, and in appearing in, new uniforms. He is liked by
those who surround him, but is blamed for not having those habits of
punctuality and of quick decision in business which characterised the
late Emperor.

There is still much talk of stimulants to be applied by His Imperial
Majesty to commerce and to the development of the resources of the
country.... There are persons, however, here well qualified to judge,
who doubt whether much more will be performed than has formerly
been done, after brilliant promises at the beginning of a reign. His
Imperial Majesty is not supposed to have that power of will which will
enable him to deal with the mass of corruption which pervades every
class in this country. The Empress,[41] a woman of sense and ability,
is believed to have great influence with her husband when he is with
her, but he is generally guided by the person who speaks last to
him before he acts--and His Imperial Majesty has not the talent of
surrounding himself with able men. His Ministers certainly do not
appear to be men of that remarkable intellect as have been usually
supposed to be employed by the Court of St Petersburg. Count Orloff
is stated to have but little influence, and to have lost his
former activity. Prince Gortschakoff is clever in society, of easy
conversation and some smartness in repartee. He is vain, a great
talker, and indiscreet. It is difficult to keep him to the point. He
flies about from one thing to another, and he is so loose in his talk,
that the repetition of isolated phrases might lead to impressions of
his meaning, which would not be correct....

The Serf Question is admitted by all to be of a very difficult
character, and will become more so as the wealth of the country
increases. Indeed when that state of things occurs, it is more than
likely that popular movements will take place, and it is frightful to
consider the immediate results of a revolution in a country organised
as this is at present. No country in Europe will furnish so fair a
chance of success to Socialism. The reins of Government were held so
tight during the last reign, that even the relaxation which now exists
is not altogether without danger.

The preparations for the Coronation are on an immense scale. The
present estimate of the expenses is £1,000,000; the last Coronation
cost half that sum; the Coronation of Alexander, £150,000; while that
of the Emperor Paul did not exceed £50,000. The military household of
the present Emperor consists of one hundred and twenty generals--that
of Nicholas, at the beginning of his reign, consisted of twenty.

Your Majesty is spoken of by the Emperor and by the Society here with
the greatest respect. Lord and Lady Granville have met with nothing
but remarkable civility from all classes.

Lord Granville has had great pleasure in seeing His Royal Highness
Prince Frederick William of Prussia in such good health and spirits.
His only anxiety was an interval of fourteen days during which His
Royal Highness did not hear from England. That anxiety has been
relieved by a letter received to-day. Lord Granville ventures to
request your Majesty to present his respectful remembrances to the
Princess Royal with his congratulations at Her Royal Highness's
complete recovery. Lord Granville begs to advise Her Royal Highness,
when residing abroad, not to engage a Russian maid. Lady Wodehouse
found hers eating the contents of a pot on her dressing-table--it
happened to be castor oil pomatum for the hair.

Lord Granville has been requested to convey to your Majesty and to
His Royal Highness Prince Albert the Prince of Nassau's expressions of
devotion and respect. The atmosphere in which His Highness at present
resides does not appear to have had much influence on His Highness's
opinions.

    [Footnote 40: Lord Granville was appointed head of a special
    mission, with the temporary rank of Ambassador, to attend the
    Coronation of the Czar Alexander.]

    [Footnote 41: Marie Alexandrovna, formerly the Princess Marie
    of Hesse, daughter of the Grand Duke Louis II.]




[Pageheading: CHURCH APPOINTMENTS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

ST LEONARDS, _6th September 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to submit for your Majesty's gracious approval that Dr Tait, Dean
of Carlisle, should be appointed Bishop of London with a clear
explanation to him that the Diocese will probably be divided into
two--one of London and one of Westminster.

That the Bishop of Ripon[42] should be appointed Bishop of Durham,
with a like explanation that the Diocese of Durham may possibly be
divided into two--one for Durham and one for Northumberland.

That the Dean of Hereford[43] should be appointed Bishop of Ripon; and
that Dr Trench[44] be appointed Dean of Westminster with the condition
that he is not to receive any fees or emoluments arising out of
appointments of Knights of the Bath.

Dr Trench is a man of the world and of literature, and would in
those respects be well suited to be Dean of Westminster, and if his
tendencies are, as some persons suppose, rather towards High Church
opinions, his position as Dean would not afford him any particular
means of making those opinions prevail; while his appointment would
show that the patronage of the Crown was not flowing exclusively in
one direction.

Viscount Palmerston will, on another occasion, submit to your Majesty
the names of persons for the Deaneries of Hereford and Carlisle.[45]

    [Footnote 42: Charles Thomas Longley (1774-1868) became Bishop
    of Durham 1856, Archbishop of York 1860, and Archbishop of
    Canterbury 1862.]

    [Footnote 43: Richard Dawes, who became Dean in 1850, and
    restored the Cathedral. He did not become Bishop of Ripon;
    Robert Bickersteth, a Canon of Salisbury, being eventually
    appointed. See _post_, 24th November, 1856, note 60.]

    [Footnote 44: Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886), Archbishop
    of Dublin from 1864-1884.]

    [Footnote 45: Francis Close (1797-1882), Rector of Cheltenham,
    succeeded Dr Tait as Dean of Carlisle.]




_The Duke of Cambridge to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S PALACE, _17th September 1856._

MY DEAR COUSIN,--This morning the reply from Baden reached me, and I
hasten to inform you at once of the purport of it, embodied in a
very excellent letter written by my sister Mary, who _declines_ the
proposal made to her on the part of the King of Sardinia, for some
very excellent and weighty reasons.[46]

I must confess that I fully agree with her in the view she has
taken, and, I can say with truth, that I think her decision is a very
judicious and very correct one, and I am not at all sorry she has
come to it. As I know that Clarendon was very anxious to have an early
reply, I have in the first instance sent Mary's letter on to him, and
have requested him, after perusing it, to send it on to you, and I
hope you will not think that I have been wanting in respect to you in
so doing. With many thanks to you for your great kindness in having
left the decision of this weighty matter entirely in our hands, I beg
to remain, my dear Cousin, your most dutiful Cousin,

GEORGE.

    [Footnote 46: The King had, in January 1855, lost his consort,
    Queen Marie Adélaïde, daughter of the Archduke Rénier of
    Austria. Lord Clarendon wrote to Baron Marochetti:--...

    "The Queen's first care was for the happiness of Princess
    Mary, and it was the wish of Her Majesty and of Her Majesty's
    Government that the decision should be left to the unbiassed
    judgment of Her Royal Highness.

    "Princess Mary, having maturely weighed the matter in all its
    different bearings, has come to the conclusion that it is
    her duty as regards both the King of Sardinia and herself to
    decline the offer, which you were empowered to make on the
    part of His Majesty.

    "Princess Mary fully appreciates the many excellent and
    noble qualities of the King. She does not doubt that in him
    individually she would be happy, and she thinks that the
    alliance would be popular in England; but Her Royal Highness
    feels that as the Protestant Queen of Sardinia she must be in
    a false position, and that a wife can never find herself thus
    placed without injury to her husband.

    "Princess Mary is deeply attached to her religion, which is
    the first consideration in this world, and in the free and
    undisturbed exercise of that religion, however much it might
    be sanctioned by the King, and supported by His Majesty's
    Government, she feels that she would be the object of
    constant suspicion, that her motives would be liable to
    misconstruction, and that the King would be exposed to grave
    embarrassments, which time would only serve to increase.

    "I am not surprised at this decision, which, from my knowledge
    of Princess Mary's profound religious feeling, I rather led
    you to anticipate; but I am bound to say that with reference
    to her religion, and with reference to that alone, Her
    Royal Highness has, in my opinion, decided with wisdom and
    foresight.

    "I am convinced, however, that in renouncing upon
    conscientious grounds the brilliant position which has been
    offered to her, of which she fully appreciated the advantages,
    Princess Mary can only have added to the respect which the
    King already feels for the noble and elevated character of Her
    Royal Highness."]




[Pageheading: THE KING OF PORTUGAL]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL, _19th September 1856._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I cannot have your kind and confidential letter of
the 15th answered, and therefore write to-day to thank you for it. You
may rely on our divulging nothing. We are, however, both very anxious
that dear Pedro should be preferred.[47] He is out and out _the_
most distinguished young Prince there is, and besides that, good,
excellent, and steady according to one's heart's desire, and as one
could wish for an _only and beloved daughter_. For Portugal, too, an
_amiable_, well-educated Queen would be an immense blessing, for there
_never_ has been one. I am sure you would be more likely to secure
Charlotte's happiness if you gave her to Pedro than to one of those
innumerable Archdukes, or to Prince George of Saxony. Pedro should,
however, be written to, if you were favourably inclined towards him.

I must end now, hoping soon to hear from you again. Pedro is _just_
nineteen; he can therefore well wait till he has completed his
twentieth year. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 47: Both the Queen and King Leopold were desirous
    of arranging a marriage between King Pedro and the Princess
    Charlotte, which, however, did not take place. See _post_,
    10th October, 1856, 16th June, 1857, and 3rd May, 1859.]




[Pageheading: RUSSIAN PROCRASTINATION]


_Queen Victoria to the Empress of the French._

[_Draft._][48]

_Septembre 1856._

Je regrette autant que V.M.I. les divergences existantes entre les
vues de nos deux Gouvernements au sujet du Traité de Paris.[49] [Il
est impossible pour nous cependant de céder aux Russes les demandes
qu'ils mettent en avant, seulement parcequ'elles sont soutenues par la
France. Le fait est que] Ma manière d'envisager la situation actuelle
est celle-ci: les Russes ne cessent de suivre la même politique dès le
commencement de la complication Orientale jusqu'à présent. Ils cèdent
où la force majeure les y contraint, mais tâchent de se réserver par
des chicanes ou subterfuges les moyens de reprendre à un temps plus
opportun leurs attaques sur l'indépendance et l'intégrité de cette
pauvre Turquie. [Nous au contraire sommes déterminés.] La France
et l'Angleterre au contraire ont manifesté leur détermination de la
sauver et de l'assurer contre ces attaques. C'était là la cause de la
guerre; c'était là le but de la paix; mon Gouvernement n'oserait le
sacrifier vis-à-vis de mon peuple par complaisance envers l'Empereur
de Russie. Un coup d'oeil sur la Carte, par exemple, démontre qu'en
détruisant Ismail, Kilia, etc., etc. [(acte auquel nous ne venons qu'à
présent d'apprendre que la France avait donné son assentiment à
notre insu)] la Russie a privé l'aile droite de la nouvelle ligne
de frontière de toute défense; tandis qu'en substituant le nouveau
Bolgrad à celui connu au Congrès elle pousserait un point stratégique
au centre, couperait la partie cédée de la Bessarabie du reste
de l'Empire Ottoman, et se mettrait à même de devenir de nouveau
maîtresse de la rive gauche du Danube, quand elle le voudra. Comme
dans ce cas [nous] nos deux pays sont tenus par Traité à reprendre les
armes, il me paraît de notre devoir à prévenir de tels dangers. Ces
dangers seront écartés à l'instant que la France s'unira à nous pour
tenir un langage ferme à la Russie, qui tâche de nous désunir et il ne
faut pas qu'elle y réussisse.

Je vous exprime là toute ma pensée, sachant que l'Empereur attend une
franchise entière de son amie, convaincue aussi, que si son opinion
diffère de la mienne, c'est dû au moins d'importance qu'il attache
peut-être aux points en dispute avec la Russie, et à un sentiment
de générosité envers un ennemi vaincu, auquel il me serait doux de
m'abandonner avec lui, si je pouvais le faire de manière à concilier
les intérêts de la Turquie et de l'Europe.

    [Footnote 48: This is the original draft, which appears to
    have been modified later by the omission of the sentences in
    brackets.]

    [Footnote 49: The Treaty had involved the restitution of
    the fortress and district of Kars to Turkey. The Russians,
    however, delayed the stipulated evacuation in an unwarrantable
    manner. Ismail also was included within the portion of
    Bessarabia to be ceded to Turkey, but, instead of surrendering
    it intact, the Russians destroyed its fortifications; they
    also laid claim to Serpent's Island at the mouth of the
    Danube, which was within the ceded portion, and of Bolgrad,
    the future ownership of which was, owing to the inaccuracies
    of maps, in dispute. The English Government sent a fleet to
    the Black Sea to enforce the obligations of the Treaty, while
    the French Government seemed to make unnecessary concessions
    to Russia.]




[Pageheading: ALTERATIONS SUGGESTED]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

TAYMOUTH, _21st September 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
ventures to express his opinion that the Empress might think the tone
of your Majesty's letter rather too severe. It is by no means severe,
but perfectly just and true as regards the conduct of Russia and
France, and on that very account it might wound the _amour-propre_ of
the Emperor.

Lord Clarendon ventures to suggest the omission of the second sentence
beginning by "_il est impossible_," and of the parenthesis at the
bottom of the second page.[50] In the concluding sentence it might
perhaps be better to say "_la France et l'Angleterre_" instead of
"_nous_," which would possibly be taken as an announcement of separate
action. Your Majesty might perhaps think it right to add after the
last words "_tels dangers_"--"_ces dangers seront écartés à l'instant
que la France s'unira à nous pour tenir un langage ferme à la
Russie qui tâche de nous désunir et il ne faut pas a s qu'elle y
réussisse_."[51]

    [Footnote 50: _I.e._ the passage from "acte auquel" to "notre
    insu."]

    [Footnote 51: The Prince wrote in reply to this letter: "The
    draft of letter to the Empress of the French has been altered
    in every particular as you suggest, and I will send you a
    corrected copy of it by to-morrow." See _post_, 10th November,
    1856, note 54.]




_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Cambridge._

BALMORAL, _22nd September 1856_.

MY DEAR GEORGE,--I waited to thank you for your letter of the 17th
till I had received Mary's from Lord Clarendon, which I did yesterday
morning, and which I now return to you. It is admirably written, and
does dear Mary the greatest credit; she puts it on the _right_ ground,
viz. that of the _Protestant feeling_ which should _always_ actuate
our family, and to this we _now must_ keep. It _effectually_ closes,
however, the door to _all Catholic_ proposals--whether from Kings or
Princes, which makes matters easier.

I must say, however, that I think it very wrong of _certain_ ladies to
have spoken of Mary's feelings and wishes on the subject, which has no
doubt encouraged the idea when they had no reason for doing so.

I am very glad that the decision has been so entirely dear Mary's own,
and that _she is_ convinced of my anxious wish for her happiness and
welfare--which I have as much at heart as if she were my own sister.

It is very necessary, however, that _not_ a word should be breathed of
this whole affair, and I trust that you will caution your mother and
sisters and their relations to be very silent on the subject, as it
would be otherwise very offensive to the King.

With Albert's love, ever your very affectionate Cousin,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF LORD HARDINGE]


_Queen Victoria to Viscountess Hardinge._

BALMORAL, _26th September 1856_.

MY DEAR LADY HARDINGE,--Where can I find words to express to you
our _deep heartfelt_ sorrow at the sad and totally unexpected news
conveyed to us by telegraph yesterday.[52]

My first thought was for you, dear Lady Hardinge, whose whole
existence was so completely bound up in _his_, that this blow must be
awful indeed. We feel _truly_ and sincerely what we, and the country,
have lost in your dear, high-minded, noble husband, whose _only_
thought was _his duty_. A more loyal, devoted, fearless public servant
the Crown never possessed. His loss to _me_ is one of those which in
our times is quite _irreparable_. Added to all this we have ever
had _such_ a true affection and personal friendship for dear Lord
Hardinge, and know how warmly these feelings were requited. _All_
who had the pleasure of knowing him must ever remember his benevolent
smile and kind eye.

But I speak of ourselves and of what we have lost, when I _ought_ only
to express _our_ sympathy with _you_, in your present overwhelming
loss, but I could not restrain my pen, and the expression of our
feelings may perhaps be soothing to your bleeding heart.

Most truly also do we sympathise with your children.

Pray do not think of answering this yourself, but let us hear through
your son or daughter how you are. Ever, dear Lady Hardinge, with the
sincerest regard and truest sympathy, yours affectionately,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 52: Lord Hardinge, who had only temporarily rallied
    from the stroke he had received at Aldershot, died on the
    24th.]




[Pageheading: THE ARCHDUKE MAXIMILIAN]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _10th October 1856_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--Since your kind letter of the 2nd I have not had
any communications from you. I can well understand that it grieves you
to leave the Highlands. It is not a great proof of the happiness of
human kind, that all love to be elsewhere than at the place where
their real residence is, notwithstanding all songs of home sweet home,
etc. I plead quite guilty to this, though I used to be much attached
to my old home at Coburg and to Claremont. That the weather should
have been unfavourable is a great pity; here we have had a most
beautiful and mild weather till the 8th, when a severe thunderstorm
put an end to it.

Poor Lord Hardinge! I believe after all, though all these people
pretend _not_ to mind it, that the Press killed him. I once told Lady
Maryborough and the late Duchess of Wellington that it was fortunate
the Duke cared so little for the Press. "Care little," they said;
"why, nothing annoys and irritates him more." I find it natural; doing
one's best, working with all one's nerves, and to be abused for it, is
not pleasant.

To explain the real state of dear Charlotte's affair I enclose the
only copy of my letter which exists, and pray you kindly to send it me
back. My object is and was that Charlotte should decide as _she_
likes it, and uninfluenced by what I might prefer. _I_ should _prefer_
Pedro, that I confess, but the Archduke[53] has made a favourable
impression on Charlotte; I saw that long before any question of
engagement had taken place. The Archduke is out at sea, and nothing
can well be heard before the 25th of this month. If the thing takes
place the Emperor ought to put him at the head of Venice; he is well
calculated for it.

I am going on the 15th to Ardenne for a week. I have been since that
revolution of 1848 kept away from it almost entirely, compared
to former days. And now, with my best love to Albert, I must end,
remaining ever, my dearest Victoria, your truly devoted and only
Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 53: The Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of
    Austria, afterwards Emperor of Mexico.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL, _13th October 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I am truly thankful for your kind letter and the
very confidential enclosure which I return, and which has interested
us both very much, and is truly kind and paternal. I _still hope_ by
your letter that Charlotte has not finally made up her mind--as we
both feel so strongly convinced of the immense superiority of Pedro
over any other young Prince even _dans les relations journalistes_,
besides which the position is so infinitely preferable. The Austrian
society is _médisante_ and profligate and worthless--and the Italian
possessions very shaky. Pedro is full of resource--fond of music, fond
of drawing, of languages, of natural history, and literature, in all
of which Charlotte would suit him, and would be a _real_ benefit to
the country. If Charlotte asked _me_, I should not hesitate a moment,
as I would give any of my own daughters to him were he not a Catholic;
and if Charlotte consulted her friend Vicky I know what _her_ answer
would be as she is so very fond of Pedro.

_14th._--I could not finish last night, and so continue to-day. I
shall be most anxious to hear from you about Charlotte, when a _final_
decision has been taken.

Since the 6th we have the _most beautiful weather_--with the country
in the _most_ brilliant beauty--but _not_ the bracing weather which
did one so much good; yesterday and to-day it is _quite_ warm and
relaxing. Albert has continued to have wonderful sport; not only has
he killed seven more stags since I wrote, but the finest, largest
stags in the whole neighbourhood--or indeed killed in almost any
forest!...

Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: MILITARY EFFICIENCY]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th November 1856_.

The Queen has received Lord Panmure's two boxes of the 4th. She is
glad to hear that the Military and the Defence Committees of the
Cabinet are to be reassembled. The absence of all plans for our
defences is a great evil, and hardly credible. There should exist a
well-considered general scheme for each place supported by a detailed
argument; this when approved by the Government, should be sanctioned
and signed by the Sovereign, and not deviated from except upon
resubmission and full explanation of the causes which render such
deviation necessary; no special work should be undertaken which does
not realise part of this general scheme. The Queen trusts that Lord
Panmure will succeed in effecting this.

It is very much to be regretted that so few of the soldiers of
the German Legion should have accepted the liberal terms of the
Government. Those should, however, be made to sail soon.

The returns of the different Departments for the last quarter show a
lamentable deficiency in small arms. Fifty-two thousand three hundred
and twenty-two for the whole of the United Kingdom is a sadly small
reserve to have in store; we should never be short of 500,000. The
Queen was struck also with the little work done at Enfield. It appears
that during the whole quarter this new and extensive establishment has
completed only three muskets!

With regard to some of the barracks, the tenders have not even yet
been accepted, although the year is nearly drawing to a close.
The Queen hopes soon to receive the returns for the Fortification
Department, which is fully two months in arrear....

With respect to the list for the Bath, the Queen is somewhat startled
by the large number. Before sanctioning it, she thinks it right to ask
for an explanation of the services of the officers, and the reasons
for which they are selected for the honour. She returns the list for
that purpose to Lord Panmure, who will perhaps cause the statement
to be attached to each name. This, of course, does not apply to the
foreigners. Amongst the Sardinians, however, the Queen observes the
absence of the names of the Military Commissioners attached first to
Lord Raglan and afterwards to General Simpson. The first was a Count
Revel, who has frequently applied for the honour, and the Queen thinks
ought to have it.




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND RUSSIA]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _10th November 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty, and humbly begs to transmit
a letter from the Empress which was left here this afternoon by M. de
Persigny, who also left a despatch from Count Walewski, of which Lord
Clarendon begs to transmit a copy.[54] It is a most unsatisfactory
result of all the tripotage that has been going on, as it is an
invitation _pur et simple_ to reassemble the conference with Prussia,
and to abide by the decision of the majority.

Lord Clarendon is to see M. de Persigny to-morrow morning.

    [Footnote 54: Count Walewski had written to Count Persigny:
    "The communications which I have received give us cause to
    fear that Her Majesty's Government may persist in declining
    the proposal to reassemble the Conference.... We only know
    of five Powers which have had an opportunity to express an
    opinion on the point at issue.... It appears that Sardinia has
    not yet formed her decision. We cannot therefore foresee in
    what sense the majority will pronounce, and it is evident to
    us that the reunion will realise the object desired, that of
    bringing on a decision which cannot be questioned by any one,
    seeing that it will have been obtained by the concurrence of
    the Representatives of all the Powers."]




[Pageheading: NEUCHÂTEL]


_The Empress of the French to Queen Victoria._

COMPIÈGNE, _le 7 Novembre 1856_.

MADAME ET TRÈS CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--Je viens après plus de deux mois
m'excuser près de votre Majesté d'une faute bien involontaire; par
quelques mots que Persigny m'a dit j'ai cru comprendre que votre
Majesté s'étonnait que je ne lui eusse pas écrit en réponse à sa
lettre. La seule crainte d'ennuyer votre Majesté m'a empêché de le
faire, je croyais d'ailleurs que vous n'aviez pas besoin d'assurances
sur la bonne foi et surtout sur la bonne volonté de l'Empereur.

J'espère que grâce à Dieu tous les petits différens qui ont surgi dans
ces derniers temps s'aplaniront, car c'est l'intérêt des deux pays, et
le v[oe]u le plus cher que nous puissions former.[55]

L'Empereur a été bien peiné d'apprendre les fausses suppositions
auxquelles out donné lieu un désaccord momentaire; il n'aurait jamais
supposé que le désir de maintenir un engagement pris peut-être même
trop à la hâte, mais dont un honnête homme ne peut se départir ait pu
faire croire que l'alliance avec votre Majesté ne lui était pas tout
aussi chère et tout aussi précieuse qu'auparavant; il est heureux de
penser que la réunion de la conférence sera un moyen de tout arranger,
puisque l'opinion de la Sardaigne n'était pas encore connue; elle
créera par sa voix une majorité, et le Gouvernement français ne
faisant rien pour influencer l'opinion du Piémont, le cabinet de votre
Majesté peut sans concession accepter cette combinaison. Je ne saurais
assez dire combien pour ma part je suis tourmentée, car je voudrais
partout et en tout voir nos deux pays marcher d'accord et surtout
quand ils ont le même but. Nous sommes à Compiègne depuis trois
semaines, l'Empereur chasse souvent, ce qui l'amuse beaucoup et lui
fait beaucoup de bien...

L'Empereur me charge de le mettre aux pieds de votre Majesté. Je la
prie en même temps de ne point nous oublier auprès du Prince Albert,
et vous, Madame, croyez au tendre attachement que [je] vous ai voué et
avec lequel je suis, Madame et très chère S[oe]ur, de votre Majesté la
toute dévouée S[oe]ur,

EUGÉNIE.

    [Footnote 55: Besides the complications arising out of the
    procrastination of Russia, in carrying out the Treaty of
    Paris, an international difficulty had lately arisen
    in Switzerland. A rising, professedly in defence of the
    hereditary interests of the King of Prussia, took place in
    the Canton of Neuchâtel, but was suppressed, and some of the
    insurgents taken prisoners by the Republican Government.
    The King of Prussia virtually expressed his approval of the
    movement by claiming the liberation of the prisoners, and
    his action was, to some extent, countenanced by the French
    Emperor. The matter was finally adjusted in 1857.]




[Pageheading: M. DE PERSIGNY]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _11th November 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to transmit the letters which arrived yesterday together with a
copy of Count Walewski's despatch.

Lord Clarendon begs to return his thanks to your Majesty for allowing
him to see the Empress's letter.... The letter does not seem to require
an answer at present.

Lord Clarendon had a conversation of two hours this morning with M. de
Persigny, who fought all his battles o'er again, but did not say
much beyond what Lord Cowley had reported. He is quite sure that the
Emperor is as staunch as ever to the Alliance, and that he believes
all his own personal interests as well as those of France are bound up
with England. He said, too, that the Empress was not the least taken
in by the flatteries of Russia, which she estimates at their _juste
valeur_.

M. de Persigny seems to have performed an act of painful duty and
rather of true devotion, by giving the Empress some advice about her
own conduct and the fate she was preparing for herself if she was not
more properly mindful of her position and the obligations it entails.
Lord Clarendon has seldom heard anything more eloquent or more
touching than the language of M. de Persigny in describing what he
said to the Empress, who appears to have taken it in the best part,
and to have begun acting upon the advice the next day. M. de Persigny
has no doubt that Count Walewski will soon be removed from his present
office, and will be _promoted to St. Petersburg_, but Lord Clarendon
will wait to believe this until it is a _fait accompli_, as it is more
likely than not that when M. de Persigny is no longer on the spot to
urge the Emperor, Count Walewski will resume his influence.

Count Walewski's despatch made a very unfavourable impression upon
the Cabinet, who were of opinion that upon such an invitation and such
slender assurances respecting the course that Sardinia might take,
we ought not to give up our solid and often repeated objections to
reassembling the Congress--at all events it was considered that we
ought to have a positive answer from Turin before we gave a final
answer....




[Pageheading: SIR ALEXANDER COCKBURN]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _13th November 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that Sir Alexander Cockburn[56] accepts the office of
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, but expresses a strong wish not
altogether to be shut out from Parliamentary functions. His health,
which has frequently interfered with his attendance in the House of
Commons, makes him feel uncertain as to the future, and he is not
desirous of being immediately placed in the House of Lords, but he
would be glad to be allowed to look forward to such a favour from
your Majesty at some future time if he should find his health stand
sufficiently good to give him a fair prospect of being useful in the
House of Lords. He says that with the Baronetcy of an uncle he will
succeed to an estate of £5,000 a year, independent of what he has
realised by his own professional exertions; and that consequently
there would be a provision for a Peerage. Viscount Palmerston begs to
submit for your Majesty's gracious approval that such a prospect
might be held out to Sir Alexander Cockburn. The Chancellor and
Lord Lansdowne and Lord Granville concur with Viscount Palmerston in
thinking that much public advantage would arise from the presence of
both Sir Alexander Cockburn, and of the Master of the Rolls,[57] in
the House of Lords, and there are numerous precedents for the Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, and for the Master of the Rolls being
Peers of Parliament.[58] Their judicial duties would no doubt prevent
them from sitting in the morning on appeal cases, but their presence
in the evening in debates in which the opinions and learning of men
holding high positions in the legal profession would be required,
could not fail to be of great public advantage. Of course any
expectation to be held out to Sir Alexander Cockburn would for the
present be a confidential and private communication to himself....

    [Footnote 56: Sir Alexander Cockburn's parliamentary success
    dated from his speech in the Don Pacifico debate; see _ante_,
    vol. ii., p. 252, note 23. He was made Solicitor-General shortly
    after, and then Attorney-General, being reappointed to
    the latter office in the end of 1852. He had defended both
    McNaghten and Pate for attacks on the Queen's person. The
    uncle whom he soon afterwards succeeded as baronet was now
    Dean of York.]

    [Footnote 57: Sir John Romilly, created a peer in 1866.]

    [Footnote 58: _E.g._, Lord Eldon in the former office; Lord
    Langdale in the latter.]




[Pageheading: PRINCE CHARLES OF LEININGEN]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _21st November 1856_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--On Vicky's sixteenth birthday I cannot write on
black-edged paper, it looks too gloomy, and I begin by wishing you joy
on this day, with the sincere hope that it will also _dans l'avenir_
prove to you one of satisfaction and happiness. I must now turn to
your kind and affectionate letter of the 19th. I was sure that your
warm heart would feel deeply the loss we have sustained.[59] You must,
however, remember that you were ever a most affectionate sister, and
that Charles was fully aware and most grateful for these your kind and
sisterly sentiments. The real blow was last year; if that could
have been mitigated, life might have been preserved under tolerable
circumstances. As things, however, proceeded, if the present attack
could have been warded off, Charles's existence would have been one
of the most awful suffering, particularly for one whose mental
disposition was quick and lively. Your sentiments on this occasion do
you honour; it is by feelings like those you express that evidently
_der Anknüpfungspunkt_ with a future life must be looked for, and
that alone with such sentiments we can show ourselves fit for such an
existence.

For your precious health we must now claim that you will not permit
your imagination to dwell too much on the very melancholy picture of
the last moments of one whom you loved, however natural it may be, and
however difficult it is to dismiss such ideas.

Feo feels all this in a most beautiful and truly pious way. It is
strange that November should be so full of sad anniversaries. I can
well understand what Vicky must have suffered, as it could not be
expected that Fritz Wilhelm could quite understand her grief....

Now I must leave you, remaining ever, my beloved Victoria, your truly
devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

My best love to Albert.

    [Footnote 59: The Queen's half-brother, Prince Charles of
    Leiningen, had died on the 13th.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _24th November 1856_.

The Queen approves the recommendation of Mr Bickersteth[60] for the
vacant Bishopric of Ripon, but she cannot disguise from herself that
however excellent a man Mr Bickersteth may be, his appointment will be
looked upon as a strong party one, as he is one of the leaders of the
Low Church Party; but perhaps Lord Palmerston may be able in the case
of possible future appointments to remove any impression of the Church
patronage running unduly towards party extremes.

    [Footnote 60: Mr Bickersteth (a nephew of Lord Langdale, a
    former Master of the Rolls) was then Rector of St Giles'. Lord
    Palmerston had written that he thought him well qualified
    for a diocese "full of manufacturers, clothier-workmen,
    Methodists, and Dissenters."]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S GRIEF]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th November 1856_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I was again prevented from writing to you yesterday
as I intended, by multitudinous letters, etc. I therefore come
only to-day with my warmest thanks for your most kind, feeling, and
sympathising letter of the 23rd, which I _felt deeply_.

Poor dear Charles, I loved him _tenderly_ and _dearly_, and feel every
day _more_ how impossible it is that the great blank caused by his
loss should _ever_ be filled up, and how _impossible it is to realise_
the dreadful thought that I shall never see his dear, dear face again
in this world! All the accounts of his peaceful death, of his fine
and touching funeral, seem to me to be the descriptions of _another
person's_ death and burial--not poor dear Charles's.

Don't fear for my health, it is particularly good--and _grief_ never
seems to affect it; little worries and annoyances fret and irritate
me, but _not great_ or sad events. And I _derive_ benefit and _relief_
both in my body and soul in _dwelling_ on the sad object which is
_the_ one which fills my heart! The having to think and talk of other
and indifferent things (I mean _not_ business so much) is very trying
to my nerves, and does me harm.

Vicky is well again, and the young couple seem really very fond of
each other. We have from living [together] for twelve days--as we did
entirely alone with him and Vicky in our own apartments--got to know
him much more intimately, and to be much more _à notre aise_ with him
than we could be in the London season, and he is now quite _l'enfant
de la maison!_ He is excellent and very sensible. I hope that you may
be equally pleased and satisfied with _your_ future son-in-law.

I must now conclude in great haste; excellent Stockmar is particularly
well and brisk. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _8th December 1856_.

Lord Palmerston's explanation of Lord Panmure's object in proposing
the appointment of a Director-General of Education of the Army in
the Civil Department of its Government has but confirmed the Queen's
apprehensions as to the effect of that step, if sanctioned. The Queen
has for some time been expecting the proposal of a well-digested and
considered plan for the education of the officers of the Army, and
knows that the Duke of Cambridge has had such a one elaborated.
Surely, in the absence of any fixed and approved system of education,
it would be most imprudent to establish an Office for the discharge of
certain important functions which are not yet defined. The Queen must
therefore ask that the system of education to be in future adopted
should first be submitted to her, and afterwards only the plan for the
machinery which is to carry this out, the fitness of which can only be
properly judged of with reference to the object in view.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _12th December 1856_.

The Queen returns the enclosed letters. Sir H. Bulwer's is a clever
composition, showing his wit and powers of writing.

The Queen has never, however, seen anything from him producing the
impression that great and important affairs would be safe in his
hands.

The mission to Washington will be difficult to fill.[61] Is it
necessary to be in a hurry about it? Lord Elgin is sure to perform the
duties very well, but is his former position as Governor-General of
Canada not too high for him to go to Washington as Minister?...

    [Footnote 61: A complaint had been made by the Government of
    the United States of the unlawful enlistment in that country
    of recruits for the English army, and Mr Crampton, the
    British Minister at Washington, had been dismissed. Diplomatic
    relations were resumed after a suspension of some months; and
    Lord Napier was appointed British Minister in March 1857.]




[Pageheading: THE MAHARAJAH DHULEEP SINGH]


_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

OSBORNE, _15th December 1856._

The Queen has seen the Memorandum which the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh
has sent to the East India Company; she thinks all he asks very fair
and reasonable, and she trusts that the East India Company will be
able to comply with them. As we are in complete possession since 1849
of the Maharajah's enormous and splendid Kingdom, the Queen thinks we
ought to do _everything_ (which does not interfere with the safety of
her Indian dominions) to render the position of this interesting and
peculiarly good and amiable Prince as agreeable as possible, and not
to let him have the feeling that he is _a prisoner_.

His being a Christian and completely European (or rather more English)
in his habits and feelings, renders this much more necessary, and at
the same time more easy.

The Queen has a very strong feeling that everything should be done to
show respect and kindness towards these poor fallen Indian Princes,
whose Kingdoms we have taken from them, and who are naturally very
sensitive to attention and kindness.

Amongst all these, however, the Maharajah stands to a certain degree
alone, from his civilisation, and likewise from his having lost his
kingdom when he was a child entirely by the faults and misdeeds of
others.[62]

    [Footnote 62: In reply, Mr Vernon Smith stated that he had
    brought all the Queen's wishes before the Company.]




[Pageheading: MILITARY EDUCATION]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _18th December 1856._

In answer to Lord Palmerston's explanation with regard to Colonel
Lefroy's[63] appointment, the Queen has to say, that if he is to be
made Inspector of Regimental Schools, she has no objection; but she
must protest against his being made _Director_ of Education for the
Army generally. We want a Director-General of Education very much, but
he ought to be immediately under the Commander-in-Chief, if possible
a General Officer of weight, assisted by a Board of Officers of the
different Arms.

Education ought to be made one of the essential requisites of an
officer, and the reports on his proficiency ought to go direct through
the proper superior from the bottom to the top, particularly if
selection by merit is to receive a greater application for the future.
If for his military proficiency and moral discipline, an officer is to
be responsible to his Military chief, but for his mental acquirements
to a Civil department, the unity of the system will be broken and the
Army ruined; and this _must_ be the case if the superintendence of the
education is separated from the Military command.

The subject of Military Education has, as Lord Palmerston says, often
been discussed in Parliament, which expects that some sufficient
arrangement shall be made for it. But the mere creation of a place
for an officer, however meritorious, to find him an equivalent for one
which has to be reduced, can hardly be so called, and may even defeat
the object itself. This subject is a most important one, and ought to
be thoroughly examined before acting. The Queen understands that the
Duke of Cambridge has transmitted to Lord Panmure a complete scheme,
which must be now before him. If Lord Palmerston, Lord Panmure,
the Duke of Cambridge, and the Prince were to meet to consider this
scheme, and the whole question in connection with it, the Queen would
feel every confidence that a satisfactory decision would be arrived
at.

    [Footnote 63: John Henry Lefroy, who now became
    Inspector-General of Army Schools, was an artillery officer of
    considerable scientific attainments. Many years later he was
    K.C.M.G. and Governor of Tasmania.]




[Pageheading: BESSARABIA]


_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._

[_Undated._]

MADAME ET TRÈS CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--Le Prince Frédéric Guillaume m'a remis
la lettre que votre Majesté a bien voulu lui donner pour moi. Les
expressions si amicales employées par votre Majesté m'ont vivement
touché et quoique je fusse persuadé que la diversité d'opinion de nos
deux Gouvernements ne pouvait en rien altérer vos sentiments à mon
égard, j'ai été heureux d'en recevoir la douce confirmation. Le Prince
de Prusse nous a beaucoup plu et je ne doute pas qu'il ne fasse le
bonheur de la Princesse Royale, car il me semble avoir toutes les
qualités de son âge et de son rang. Nous avons tâché de lui rendre
le séjour de Paris aussi agréable que possible, mais je crois que ses
pensées étaient toujours à Osborne ou à Windsor.

Il me tarde bien que toutes les discussions relatives au Traité de
Paix aient un terme, car les partis en France en profitent pour tenter
d'affaiblir l'intimité de l'alliance.[64] Je ne doute pas néanmoins
que le bon sens populaire en fasse promptement justice de toutes les
faussetés qu'on a répandues.

Votre Majesté, je l'espère, ne doutera jamais de mon désir de marcher
d'accord avec son Gouvernement et du regret que j'éprouve quand
momentairement cet accord n'existe pas.

En la priant de présenter mes hommages à S.A.R. la Duchesse de Kent
et mes tendres amitiés au Prince, je lui renouvelle l'assurance de
la sincère amitié et de l'entier dévouement avec lesquels je suis, de
votre Majesté, le bon Frère et Ami,

NAPOLÉON.

    [Footnote 64: A settlement with Russia of the disputed
    Bessarabian frontier was at length decided upon, on lines
    suggested by the Emperor to the British Government.]




_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

THE GROVE, _22nd December 1856._

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to transmit a letter from Lord Cowley, which contains the report
of a curious conversation with the Emperor, and which might make
a despatch not very unlike Sir H. Seymour's when he reported the
partitioning views of the Emperor Nicholas.[65]

It is curious that in both cases the bribe to England should be Egypt.
The Emperor of the French said nothing about the share of the spoils
that France would look for, but His Majesty means Morocco, and Marshal
Vaillant[66] talked to Lord Clarendon of Morocco as necessary to
France, just as the Americans declare that the United States are not
safe without Cuba....

    [Footnote 65: See _ante_, 9th May, 1854, note 30. The Queen
    does not appear to have preserved a copy of Lord Cowley's
    letter.]

    [Footnote 66: Minister of War.]




[Pageheading: THE DISPUTE ADJUSTED]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

CHÂTEAU DE WINDSOR, _le 31 Décembre 1856._

SIRE ET CHER FRÈRE,--Je saisis avec empressement l'occasion de la
nouvelle année pour remercier votre Majesté de son aimable lettre, en
vous priant d'agréer mes bons v[oe]ux autant pour le bonheur de V.M.
que pour celui de l'Impératrice et de votre fils.

La nouvelle année commence encore avec le bruit des préparatifs
de guerre, mais j'espère qu'on restera aux préparatifs et après le
rapprochement qui a eu lieu entre vous, Sire, et la Prusse, j'ai toute
confiance qu'il vous sera possible d'assurer une solution pacifique
de cette question Suisse,[67] malheureusement envenimée par
l'amour-propre froissé de tous côtés.

Je suis bien heureuse que nos difficultés survenues à l'exécution du
Traité de Paris soient maintenant entièrement aplanies et que ce que
V.M. signalait dans votre lettre comme une espérance soit à présent
une réalité. Rien ne viendra désormais, je l'espère, troubler notre
bonne entente qui donne une garantie si importante au bien-être de
l'Europe. Nous avons été bien contents d'apprendre que notre futur
gendre vous ait tant plu; il nous a écrit plein de reconnaissance de
l'aimable accueil que vous lui avez donné et plein d'admiration de
tout ce qu'il a vu à Paris.

Ma mère se remet peu à peu de la terrible secousse qu'elle a éprouvée,
et me charge ainsi que le Prince de leurs félicitations pour le jour
de l'an.

J'embrasse l'Impératrice et me dis pour toujours, Sire et cher Frère,
de V.M.I., la bien affectionnée S[oe]ur, et fidèle Amie,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 67: See _ante_, 7th November, 1856, note 55.]







INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXVI


The closing months of 1856 had witnessed the beginning of a dispute
with China, a party of Chinese having boarded the lorcha _Arrow_, a
vessel registered under a recent ordinance of Hong Kong, arrested the
crew as pirates, and torn down the British flag. The Captain's right
to fly the flag was questionable, for the term of registry, even if
valid in the first instance, which was disputed, had expired (though
the circumstance was unknown to the Chinese authorities), and the
ship's earlier history under the Chinese flag had been an evil one.
But Sir John Bowring, British Plenipotentiary at Hong Kong, took
punitive measures to enforce treaty obligations; Admiral Seymour
destroyed the forts on the river, and occupied the island and fort of
Dutch Folly. In retaliation, the Chinese Governor Yeh put a price on
Bowring's head, and his assassination, and that of other residents, by
poison, was attempted. The British Government's action, however, was
stigmatised as highhanded, and a resolution censuring them was carried
in the Commons, being moved by Mr Cobden and supported by a coalition
of Conservatives, Peelites, and the Peace Party,--Lord John Russell
also opposing the Government. In consequence of this vote, Parliament
was dissolved, and at the ensuing election the Peace Party was
scattered to the winds; Bright, Milner Gibson, and Cobden all losing
their seats. Lord Palmerston obtained a triumphant majority in the
new House of Commons, of which Mr J. E. Denison was elected Speaker in
succession to Mr Shaw-Lefevre, now created Viscount Eversley. At
the end of the year an ultimatum was sent to Governor Yeh, requiring
observance of the Treaty of Nankin, Canton was bombarded, and
subsequently occupied by the English and French troops.

Hostilities with Persia were terminated by a treaty signed at Paris;
the Shah engaging to abstain from interference in Afghanistan, and to
recognise the independence of Herat.

A century had passed since the victory of Clive at Plassey, but the
Afghan disasters and the more recent war with Russia had caused doubts
to arise as to British stability in India, where the native forces
were very large in comparison with the European. Other causes, among
which may be mentioned the legalising of the remarriage of Hindoo
widows, and a supposed intention to coerce the natives into
Christianity, were operating to foment dissatisfaction, while recent
acts of insubordination and symptoms of mutiny had been inadequately
repressed; but the immediate visible provocation to mutiny among the
Bengal troops was the use of cartridges said to be treated with
a preparation of the fat of pigs and cows, the use of which was
abhorrent, on religious grounds, both to Hindoos and Mohammedans. The
Governor-General assured the Sepoys by proclamation that no offence to
their religion or injury to their caste was intended; but on the
10th of May the native portion of the garrison at Meerut broke out
in revolt. The Mutineers proceeded to Delhi, and were joined by the
native troops there; they established as Emperor the octogenarian
King, a man of unscrupulous character, who had been living under
British protection.

Great cruelties were practised on the European population of all ages
and both sexes, at Lucknow, Allahabad, and especially Cawnpore; by
the end of June, the Sepoys had mutinied at twenty-two stations--the
districts chiefly affected being Bengal, the North-West Provinces,
and Oudh. To cope with this state of things, a large body of British
soldiers on their way to China were diverted by Lord Elgin to India,
and a force of 40,000 men was despatched from England round the Cape;
while Sir Colin Campbell was sent out as Commander-in-Chief. Meanwhile
reinforcements had been drawn from the Punjab, which had remained
loyal. Lucknow was for a long time besieged by the rebels, and
Sir Henry Lawrence, its gallant defender, killed. The garrison was
reinforced on the 25th of September by General Havelock; but the
non-combatants could not be extricated from their perilous position
till November, when the Garrison was relieved by Sir Colin Campbell.
Delhi was taken in the course of September, but a considerable period
elapsed before the rebellion was finally suppressed. Summary vengeance
was inflicted on the Sepoy rebels, which gave rise to some criticism
of our troops for inhumanity; but Lord Canning, the Governor-General,
was no less severely blamed for his clemency; and the general verdict
was in favour of the measures adopted by the military and civilian
officers, whose zeal and capacity suppressed the Mutiny.

Before the Dissolution of Parliament, Mr Gladstone and Mr Disraeli had
joined in an attack on the budget of Sir George Lewis, and the
Peelite ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer seemed for the moment disposed
definitely to return to the Conservative party. To the Divorce Bill,
the chief legislative result of the second Session, Mr Gladstone gave
a persistent and unyielding opposition: but it passed the Commons by
large majorities; a Bill for the removal of Jewish disabilities was
much debated, but not carried. In August, another visit, this time of
a private character, was paid by the Emperor and Empress of the
French to the Queen at Osborne. In the middle of November a series of
commercial disasters of great magnitude took place. The Government,
as in 1847, authorised the infringement for a time of the Bank Charter
Act, and a third session was held to pass an Act of Indemnity.




CHAPTER XXVI

1857


_Queen Victoria to Mr Labouchere._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _8th January 1857_.

The despatches from Sir George Grey[1] which the Queen returns are
most interesting. The two chief objects to accomplish appear to be the
bringing the Kaffirs in British Kaffraria within the pale of the law,
so that they may know the blessings of it--and the re-absorption, if
possible, of the Orange River Free State. To both these objects the
efforts of the Government should be steadily directed.

    [Footnote 1: See _ante_, 26th July, 1856. The task of dealing with
    the Hottentots and Kaffirs, and coming to an understanding
    with the recalcitrant Boers, was a difficult one.]




[Pageheading: HOME AND FOREIGN POLICY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _13th January 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and he
and Lady Palmerston will have the honour of waiting upon your Majesty
as soon as he is able to move. He is, however, at present on crutches,
and can hardly expect to be in marching order for some few days to
come. With regard to the matters that are likely to be discussed when
Parliament meets, Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit that the one
which has for some months past occupied the attention of all Europe,
namely, the execution of the Treaty of Paris, has been settled in
a manner satisfactory to all parties; and this is not only a great
relief to the Government, but is also a security for the continuance
of the Anglo-French Alliance, which would have been greatly endangered
by the discussions and explanations that might otherwise have been
forced on.

The various questions of difference between your Majesty's Government,
and that of the United States, have also been settled, and the
diplomatic relations between the two countries are about to be
replaced upon their usual footing. This result will have given great
satisfaction to the commercial and manufacturing interests.

Some discussion will take place as to the Expedition to the coast of
Persia, and some persons will, of course, find fault with the whole
policy pursued on that matter; but people in general will understand
that Herat is an advanced post of attack against British India,
and that whatever belongs nominally to Persia must be considered as
belonging practically to Russia, whenever Russia may want to use it
for her own purposes.

The outbreak of hostilities at Canton[2] was the result of the
decision of your Majesty's officers on the spot, and not the
consequence of orders from home. The first responsibility must
therefore rest with the local authorities, but Viscount Palmerston
cannot doubt that the Government will be deemed to have acted right
in advising your Majesty to approve the proceedings, and to direct
measures for obtaining from the Chinese Government concessions which
are indispensable for the maintenance of friendly relations between
China and the Governments of Europe.

Of domestic questions, that which will probably be the most agitated
will be a large and immediate diminution of the Income Tax; but
any such diminution would disturb the financial arrangements of the
country, and it is to be hoped that Parliament will adopt the scheme
which will be proposed by Sir G. C. Lewis, by which the Income Tax
would be made equal in each of the next three years, the amount now
fixed by Law for 1857 being diminished, but the amount now fixed by
Law for 1858 and 1859 being increased....

Viscount Palmerston hears from persons likely to know, that the
Conservative Party are not more united than they were last Session.
That Mr Disraeli and the great bulk of his nominal followers are far
from being on good terms together, and that there is no immediate
junction to be expected between Mr Disraeli and Mr Gladstone.[3]

Mr Cobden has given it to be understood that he wishes at the next
General Election to retire from the West Riding of Yorkshire. The real
fact being that the line he took about the late war has made him so
unpopular with his constituents that he would probably not be returned
again.[4]

Viscount Palmerston has heard privately and confidentially that Lord
John Russell wrote some little time ago to the Duke of Bedford to say
that it had been intimated to him that an offer would be made to him
if he were disposed to accept it, to go to the House of Lords and to
become there the Leader of the Government. In case your Majesty may
have heard this report, Viscount Palmerston thinks it right to say
that no such communication to Lord John Russell was ever authorised
by him, nor has been, so far as he is aware, ever made, and in truth
Viscount Palmerston must candidly say that in the present state
of public opinion about the course which Lord John has on several
occasions pursued, he is not inclined to think that his accession to
the Government would give the Government any additional strength.

    [Footnote 2: See _ante_, Introductory Note, to Chapter XXVI.
    The difficulty with China had arisen out of her refusal to
    throw open the city of Canton to European trade in conformity
    with the Treaty of Nankin, _ante_, vol. i. 23rd November,
    1842. Sir John Bowring, Chief Superintendent of Trade (and,
    in effect, British Plenipotentiary) at Hong-Kong, had
    resented this, and the feeling thus engendered had come to
    a crisis on the occasion of the seizure of the crew of the
    _Arrow_.]

    [Footnote 3: The probability of this combination was now
    being perpetually mooted, and, in fact, the two ex-Chancellors
    combined in attacking the Budget.]

    [Footnote 4: He stood instead for Huddersfleld, and was
    defeated by an untried politician; one Liberal (the present
    Lord Ripon) and one Conservative were returned unopposed in
    the West Riding.]




[Pageheading: CHURCH APPOINTMENTS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _25th February 1857_.

The Queen would wish to know before she approves of the appointment
of Mr Alford, of Quebec Chapel, to the head Deanery of Canterbury,
whether he is a very Low Churchman, as Lord Palmerston will remember
that he agreed in her observation after the appointment of several of
the Bishops, that it would be advisable to choose those who were
of moderate opinions--not leaning too much to either side. Extreme
opinions lead to mischief in the end, and produce much discord in the
Church, which it would be advisable to avoid.[5]

With respect to the Garter, which the Duke of Norfolk has declined,
she approves of its being offered to the Duke of Portland.[6] She
thinks that the one now vacant by the death of poor Lord Ellesmere[7]
might most properly be bestowed on Lord Granville--he is Lord
President and Leader of the House of Lords, and acquitted himself
admirably in his difficult mission as Ambassador to the Emperor of
Russia's Coronation.

Should Lord Palmerston agree in this view he might at once mention it
to Lord Granville.

    [Footnote 5: The Deanery was offered to and accepted by Mr
    Alford.]

    [Footnote 6: William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott, fifth Duke
    (1800-1879). He did not accept the honour, which was conferred
    on the Marquis of Westminster.]

    [Footnote 7: Lord Francis Egerton had inherited a vast
    property from the third and last Duke of Bridgewater (the
    projector of English inland navigation), and was created
    Earl of Ellesmere in 1846. The Garter was accepted by Lord
    Granville.]




[Pageheading: DEBATE ON CHINESE AFFAIRS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _28th February 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
has seen Mr Hayter[8] this morning, and finds from him that the
disposition of the House of Commons is improving, and that many of the
supporters of the Government who had at first thought of voting
with Mr Cobden[9] are changing their minds. It has been suggested to
Viscount Palmerston that it would be useful to have a meeting of the
Party in Downing Street on Monday, and that many wavering members only
want to have something said to them which they could quote as a reason
for changing their intended course; and Viscount Palmerston has given
directions for summoning such a meeting.

Lord Derby has had meetings of his followers, and has told them that
unless they will support him in a body he will cease to be their
leader, as he will not be the head of a divided Party. Viscount
Palmerston can scarcely bring himself to believe that the House of
Commons will be so fickle as suddenly and without reason to turn round
upon the Government, and after having given them last Session and
this Session large majorities on important questions, put them in a
minority on what Mr Disraeli last night in a few words said on the
motion for adjournment described as a Vote of Censure. With regard,
however, to the question put by your Majesty as to what would be the
course pursued by the Government in the event of a defeat, Viscount
Palmerston could hardly answer it without deliberation with his
colleagues. His own firm belief is that the present Government has
the confidence of the country in a greater degree than any other
Government that could now be formed would have, and that consequently
upon a Dissolution of Parliament, a House of Commons would be returned
more favourable to the Government than the present. Whether the state
of business as connected with votes of supply and the Mutiny Act would
admit of a Dissolution, supposing such a measure to be sanctioned
by your Majesty, would remain to be enquired into; but Viscount
Palmerston believes that there would be no insurmountable difficulty
on that score. He will have the honour of waiting upon your Majesty at
a little before three to-morrow.

    [Footnote 8: Mr (afterwards Sir) William Hayter, Liberal Whip,
    the father of Lord Haversham.]

    [Footnote 9: See _ante_, Introductory Note, to Chapter XXVI. Mr
    Cobden's motion of censure affirmed that the papers laid on the
    table of the House did not justify the violent measures resorted
    to by the Government at Canton in the affair of the _Arrow_. He
    was supported by Lord John Russell, Mr Roebuck, Mr Gladstone,
    and Mr Disraeli, the latter emphatically challenging the Premier
    to appeal to the country.]




_The Prince Albert to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd March 1857_.

MY DEAR LORD PALMERSTON,--The Queen has this moment received
your letter giving so unfavourable an account of the prospects
of to-night's division. She is sorry that her health imperatively
requires her going into the country for a few days, and having put off
her going to Windsor on account of the Debate which was expected
to close yesterday, she cannot now do so again to-day. She feels,
however, the inconvenience of her absence should the division turn out
as ill as is now anticipated. The Queen could not possibly come to a
decision on so important a point as a Dissolution without a personal
discussion and conference with you, and therefore hopes that you might
be able to go down to-morrow perhaps for dinner and to stay over the
night.

The Queen feels herself physically quite unable to go through the
anxiety of a Ministerial Crisis and the fruitless attempt to form
a new Government out of the heterogeneous elements out of which
the present Opposition is composed, should the Government feel it
necessary to offer their resignation, and would on that account
_prefer any other alternative_.... Ever, etc.,

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._[10]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _5th March 1857._

(_Quarter to Eight._)

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that his communication to the House of an intention to give
the constituencies of the country an opportunity of judging between
the present Government and any other administration which might be
formed, has been on the whole well received, and, with the exception
of Mr Gladstone, most of the persons who spoke intimated a willingness
to allow without interruption the completion of such business as may
be necessary before the Dissolution. Mr Disraeli said that he and
those who act with him would give all fair assistance consistent with
their opinions, but hoped nothing would be proposed to which they
could reasonably object. Mr Gladstone, with great vehemence, repelled
the charge of combination, evidently meaning to answer attacks made
out of the House....

The result of what passed seems to be that no serious difficulty will
be thrown in the way of an early Dissolution.

    [Footnote 10: Mr Cobden's motion was carried by 263 to 247,
    and Lord Palmerston promptly accepted Mr Disraeli's challenge
    to dissolve Parliament.]




_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._

[_Undated._ ? _16th March 1857._]

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to
submit that Lord Derby made a speech of two hours, in which he glanced
at the present state of affairs.[11] He made a personal attack on Lord
Palmerston, and described his colleagues as cyphers and appendages.
The rest of his speech was of a singularly apologetic and defensive
character. He was quite successful in clearing himself from an
understanding--not from political conversations with Mr Gladstone.

Lord Granville, in his reply, was thought very discourteous by Lord
Malmesbury and Lord Hardwicke, who closed the conversation.

    [Footnote 11: Lord Derby's resolutions in the Lords, which
    were to the same effect as Mr Cobden's motion, were rejected
    by 146 to 110. On the 16th of March Lord Derby took the
    opportunity of announcing the views of his chief supporters in
    reference to the General Election.]




[Pageheading: RETIREMENT OF THE SPEAKER]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._[12]

PICCADILLY, _18th March 1857_.

... Viscount Palmerston begs to state that the Speaker has chosen the
title of Eversley, the name of a small place near his residence[13]
in Hampshire, all the large towns in the county having already been
adopted as titles for Peers. The ordinary course would be that your
Majesty should make him a Baron, and that is the course which was
followed in the cases of Mr Abbot made Lord Colchester, and Mr
Abercromby made Lord Dunfermline; but in the case of Mr Manners Sutton
a different course was pursued, and he was made Viscount Canterbury.
The present Speaker is very anxious that his services, which, in fact,
have been more meritorious and useful than those of Mr Manners Sutton,
should not appear to be considered by your Majesty as less deserving
of your Majesty's Royal favour, and as the present Speaker may justly
be said to have been the best who ever filled the chair, Viscount
Palmerston would beg to submit for your Majesty's gracious approval
that he may be created Viscount Eversley. It will be well at the same
time if your Majesty should sanction this arrangement that a Record
should be entered at the Home Office stating that this act of grace
and favour of your Majesty being founded on the peculiar circumstances
of the case, is not to [be] deemed a precedent for the cases of future
Speakers.

Lord Canterbury was also made a Grand Cross of the Civil Order of the
Bath; it will be for your Majesty to consider whether it might not be
gracious to follow in all respects on the present occasion the course
which was pursued in the case of Mr Manners Sutton.

    [Footnote 12: On the 9th, Mr Speaker Shaw-Lefevre had
    announced in the House of Commons his intended retirement from
    the Chair, which he had occupied since 1839, when his election
    had been made a trial of strength between parties. He was
    voted an annuity of £4,000 a year, and created Viscount
    Eversley, receiving also the G.C.B.]

    [Footnote 13: Heckfield Place, near Winchfield.]




[Pageheading: THE GENERAL ELECTION]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _24th March 1857_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... The Opposition have played their game most
foolishly, and the result is that _all_ the old Tories say they
will certainly _not_ support them; they very truly say Lord
Derby's party--that is those who want to get into office _coûte que
coûte_--whether the country suffers for it or not, wanted to get in
under _false colours_, and that they won't support or abide--which
they are _quite_ right in. There is reason to hope that a better class
of men will be returned, and returned to support the Government, not a
particular cry of this or that.... Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.[14]

    [Footnote 14: In his address to the electors of Tiverton,
    the Premier declared that "an insolent barbarian, wielding
    authority at Canton, had violated the British flag, broken
    the engagements of treaties, offered rewards for the heads
    of British subjects in that part of China, and planned their
    destruction by murder, assassination, and poison." The courage
    and good temper displayed by Lord Palmerston, and the energy
    with which he had carried the country through the Crimean
    struggle, had won him widespread popularity, and the Peace
    party were generally routed, the prominent members all losing
    their seats. The Peelite ranks were also thinned, but Lord
    John Russell, contrary to general expectation, held his
    seat in the City. There were one hundred and eighty-nine new
    members returned, and the Ministry found themselves in command
    of a handsome majority.]




_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._

[_Undated._ ? _19th May 1857._]

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to
submit that the Lord Chancellor made the best statement he has yet
done, introducing his Divorce Bill.[15]... Lord Lyndhurst made a most
able speech in favour of the Bill, but wished it to go further,
and give permission to a woman to sue for a divorce if she was
"maliciously deserted" by her husband.... The Bishop of Oxford
pretended that he was not going to speak at all, in order to secure
his following instead of preceding the Bishop of London; but upon
a division being called he was obliged to speak, and did so with
considerable force and eloquence, but betraying the greatest possible
preparation. The Bishop of London, after showing that the Bishop
of Oxford's speech was a repetition of Mr Keble's speech, made an
excellent answer. The Debate was finished by the Duke of Argyll.

          For the Bill, 47.     Against it, 18.

    [Footnote 15: Before this date a divorce could only be
    obtained in England by Act of Parliament, after sentence in
    the ecclesiastical Court, and (in the case of a husband's
    application) a verdict in _crim. con._ against the adulterer.
    The present English law was established by the Bill of 1857,
    the chief amendment made in Committee being the provision
    exempting the clergy from the obligation to marry divorced
    persons. Bishop Wilberforce opposed the Bill strenuously,
    while Archbishop Sumner and Bishop Tait of London supported
    it. Sir Richard Bethell, the Attorney-General, piloted the
    measure most skilfully through the Commons, in the teeth of
    the eloquent and persistent opposition of Mr Gladstone, who,
    to quote a letter from Lord Palmerston to the Queen, opposed
    the second reading "in a speech of two hours and a half,
    fluent, eloquent, brilliant, full of theological learning
    and scriptural research, but fallacious in argument, and with
    parts inconsistent with each other."]



[Pageheading: THE FRENCH _ENTENTE_]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S VISIT]


_The Earl of Clarendon to the Prince Albert._

_20th May 1857._

SIR,--I have the honour to inform your Royal Highness that I have had
a very long and interesting conversation with M. de Persigny to-day.
He told me of the different _Utopias_ which the Emperor had in his
head, of His Majesty's conviction that England, France, and Russia
ought between them to _régler les affaires de l'Europe_, of the
_peu de cas_ which he made of Austria or any other Power, and of the
various little complaints which His Majesty thought he had against Her
Majesty's Government, and which had been magnified into importance by
the malevolence or the stupidity of the persons who had more or less
the ear of the Emperor.[16]

M. de Persigny told me also that in a conversation with the Emperor at
which he had taken care that Count Walewski should be present, he had
solemnly warned the Emperor of the danger he would incur if he swerved
the least from the path of his true interest which was the English
Alliance, that all the Sovereigns who were flattering and cajoling him
for their own purposes looked down upon him as an adventurer, and no
more believed in the stability of his throne, or the duration of
his dynasty, than they did in any other events of which extreme
improbability was the character; whereas the English, who never
condescended to flatter or cajole anybody, but who looked to the
interests of England, were attached to the French Alliance and to the
Sovereign of France because peaceful relations with that country were
of the utmost importance to England. France was the only country in
Europe that could do England harm, and on the other hand England was
the only country that could injure France--the late war with Russia
had not the slightest effect upon France except costing her money, but
a war with England would set every party in France into activity each
with its own peculiar objects, but all of them against the existing
order of things--_l'ordre social serait bouleversé_ and the Empire
might perish in the convulsion.

The result of this and other conversations appears to be an earnest
desire of the Emperor to come to England on a private visit to
the Queen, if possible at Osborne, and at any time that might be
convenient to Her Majesty. M. de Persigny describes him as being
intent upon this project, and as attaching the utmost importance to
it in order to _éclairer_ his own ideas, to guide his policy, and to
prevent by personal communication with the Queen, your Royal Highness,
and Her Majesty's Government the dissidences and _mésintelligences_
which the Emperor thinks will arise from the want of such
communications.

I fear that such a visit would not be very agreeable to Her Majesty,
but in the Emperor's present frame of mind, and his evident alarm lest
it should be thought that the Alliance has been in any way _ébranlée_,
I cannot entertain a doubt that much good might be done, or, at all
events, that much mischief might be averted by the Emperor being
allowed to pay his respects to Her Majesty in the manner he proposes.

I have discussed the matter after the Cabinet this evening with Lord
Palmerston, who takes entirely the same view of the matter as I have
taken the liberty of expressing to your Royal Highness. I have the
honour to be, with the greatest respect, Sir, your Royal Highness's
most faithful and devoted Servant,

CLARENDON.

    [Footnote 16: A difference had arisen as to the future of the
    Principalities--France, Sardinia, and Russia favouring their
    union, while England, Austria, and Turkey held that a single
    state, so formed, might become too Russian in its sympathies.]




_The Prince Albert to the Earl of Clarendon._

OSBORNE, _21st May 1857_.

MY DEAR LORD CLARENDON,--I have shown your letter to the Queen, who
wishes me to say in answer to it that she will, of course, be ready to
do what may appear best for the public interest. We shall, therefore,
be ready to receive the Emperor, with or without the Empress, here at
Osborne in the quiet way which he proposes. The present moment would,
however, hardly do, Drawing-rooms and parties being announced in
London, Parliament sitting, and the Season going on and the Queen
having only a few days from the Grand Duke's visit to her return
to Town. The latter half of July, the time at which the Queen would
naturally be here and the best yachting season, might appear to the
Emperor the most eligible, as being the least _forcé_.

Till then a cottage which is rebuilding will, we hope, be ready to
accommodate some of the suite, whom we could otherwise not properly
house.

I have no doubt that good will arise from a renewed intercourse
with the Emperor; the only thing one may perhaps be afraid of is the
possibility of his wishing to gain us over to his views with regard to
a redistribution of Europe, and may be disappointed at our not being
able to assent to his plans and aspirations.

ALBERT.[17]

    [Footnote 17: See _post_, 4th August, 1857, note 30.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _16th June 1857_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--The christening of little Beatrice[18] is just
over--and was very brilliant and nice. We had the luncheon in the fine
ball-room, which looked very handsome. The Archduke Maximilian (who is
here since Sunday evening) led me to the chapel, and at the luncheon I
sat between him and Fritz. I cannot say how much we like the Archduke;
he is charming, so clever, natural, kind and amiable, so _English_ in
his feelings and likings, and so anxious for the best understanding
between Austria and England. With the exception of his mouth and chin,
he is good-looking; and I think one does not the least care for that,
as he is so very kind and clever and pleasant. I wish you really joy,
dearest Uncle, at having got _such_ a husband for dear Charlotte, as
I am sure he will make her happy, and is quite worthy of her. He may,
and will do a great deal for Italy.[19]...

I must conclude for to-day, hoping soon to hear from you again. Ever
your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 18: Princess Beatrice (now Princess Henry of
    Battenberg) was born on the 14th of April.]

    [Footnote 19: The tragic end of a union which promised so
    brightly came in 1867, when the Archduke Maximilian, having
    accepted the Imperial crown of Mexico, offered to him by the
    Provisional Government, was shot by order of President Juarez.
    The Empress Charlotte had come to Europe a year earlier
    to seek help for her husband from the French Emperor. In
    consequence of the shock caused by the failure of her mission,
    her health entirely gave way.]




[Pageheading: THE INDIAN MUTINY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _26th June 1857_.

... Viscount Palmerston is sorry to have received the accompanying
account of the extension of the Mutiny among the native troops in
India, but he has no fear of its results.[20] The bulk of the European
force is stationed on the North-West Frontier, and is, therefore,
within comparatively easy reach of Delhi, and about six thousand
European troops will have returned to Bombay from Persia. It will,
however, seem to be advisable to send off at once the force amounting
to nearly eight thousand men, now under orders for embarkation for
India; and when the despatches arrive, which will be about the middle
of next week, it will be seen whether any further reinforcements will
be required.

The extent of the Mutiny appears to indicate some deeper cause than
that which was ascribed to the first insubordination. That cause may
be, as some allege, the apprehension of the Hindoo priests that their
religion is in danger by the progress of civilisation in India, or it
may be some hostile foreign agency.

    [Footnote 20: Alarming accounts of disturbances in India had
    been received for some weeks past, but Lord Palmerston
    failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. Even after
    the intelligence reached England of the mutiny of the native
    regiments at Meerut, on the 10th of May, and of the horrible
    massacres of women and children, the Ministry did not fully
    realise the peril threatening our Indian possessions.]




[Pageheading: THE VICTORIA CROSS]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

[_Undated,_ ? _June 1857._]

The Queen thinks that the persons decorated with the Victoria Cross
might very properly be allowed to bear some distinctive mark after
their name.[21] The warrant instituting the decoration does not style
it "an Order," but merely "a Naval and Military Decoration" and
a distinction; nor is it properly speaking an order, being not
_constituted_. V.C. would not do. K.G. means a _Knight_ of the Garter,
C.B. a _Companion_ of the Bath, M.P. a _Member_ of Parliament, M.D. a
_Doctor_ of Medicine, etc., etc., in all cases designating a
person. No one could be called a Victoria Cross. V.C. moreover means
Vice-Chancellor at present. D.V.C. (decorated with the Victoria Cross)
or B.V.C. (Bearer of the Victoria Cross) might do. The Queen thinks
the last the best.

    [Footnote 21: The Victoria Cross had just been instituted by
    Royal Warrant, and the Queen had, with her own hand, decorated
    those who had won the distinction, in Hyde Park, on the 26th
    of June.]




[Pageheading: REINFORCEMENTS FOR INDIA]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _29th June 1857_.

The Queen has to acknowledge the receipt of Lord Panmure's letter of
yesterday. She had long been of opinion that reinforcements waiting
to go to India ought not to be delayed. The moment is certainly a very
critical one, and the additional reinforcements now proposed will be
much wanted. The Queen entirely agrees with Lord Panmure that it will
be good policy to oblige the East India Company to keep permanently a
larger portion of the Royal Army in India than heretofore. The Empire
has nearly doubled itself within the last twenty years, and the
Queen's troops have been kept at the old establishment. They are the
body on whom the maintenance of that Empire depends, and the Company
ought not to sacrifice the highest interests to love of patronage.
The Queen hopes that the new reinforcements will be sent out in their
Brigade organisation, and not as detached regiments; good Commanding
Officers knowing their troops will be of the highest importance next
to the troops themselves.

The Queen must ask that the troops by whom we shall be diminished at
home by the transfer of so many regiments to the Company should be
forthwith replaced by an increase of the establishment up to the
number voted by Parliament, and for which the estimates have been
taken, else we denude ourselves altogether to a degree dangerous to
our own safety at home, and incapable of meeting a sudden emergency,
which, as the present example shows, may come upon us at any moment.
If we had not reduced in such a hurry this spring, we should now have
all the men wanted!

The Queen wishes Lord Panmure to communicate this letter to Lord
Palmerston. The accounts in to-day's papers from India are most
distressing.




_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd July 1857_.

The Queen has received Lord Panmure's letter of yesterday. She has
sanctioned the going of four Regiments to the East Indies. With regard
to the reduction of the garrison of Malta to four Regiments, she hopes
the Government will well consider whether this will not reduce this
valuable and exposed spot to a state of insecurity.

The Queen is sorry to find Lord Panmure still objecting to a proper
Brigade system, without which no army in the world can be efficient.
We want General Officers, and cannot train them unless we employ them
on military duty, not on clerks' duty in district or colony, but in
the command of troops. The detachment of Regiments is no reason for
having no system, and the country will not pay for General Officers
whose employment is not part of a system; our Army is then deprived
of its efficiency by the refusal to adopt a system on the part of the
Government.




[Pageheading: DELHI]

[Pageheading: GRAVE ANXIETY]


_Viscount Canning to Queen Victoria._

CALCUTTA, _4th July 1857_.

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and although
unable to give to your Majesty the complete details of the capture
of Delhi, and of the defeat of the rebels in that city,[22] as he has
long desired to do, he can at least announce to your Majesty that the
city is in the possession of the British troops, under Major-General
Sir Henry Barnard; and that nothing remains in the hands of the
insurgents except the Palace or Fort, in which they have all taken
refuge. This was the state of things on the 13th and 14th of June,
the latest day of which any certain accounts have been received from
Delhi; but nothing was likely to interfere with the completion of the
capture within forty-eight hours.

This event has been long and anxiously awaited, and the time which has
elapsed has cost England and India very dear. Many precious lives have
been lost, and much heartrending suffering has been endured, for which
there can be no compensation. The reputation of England's power, too,
has had a rude shake; and nothing but a long-continued manifestation
of her might before the eyes of the whole Indian Empire, evinced by
the presence of such an English force as shall make the thought of
oppositon hopeless, will re-establish confidence in her strength.

Lord Canning much fears that there are parts of India where, until
this is done, a complete return to peace and order will not be
effected. Wherever the little band of English soldiers--little
when compared with the stretch of country over which they have to
operate--which Lord Canning has at his disposal has shown itself, the
effect has been instantaneous.

Except at Delhi, there has scarcely been an attempt at resistance to
an European soldier, and the march of the smallest detachments has
preserved order right and left of the roads. The same has been the
case in large cities, such as Benares, Patna, and others; all going to
prove that little more than the presence of English troops is needed
to ensure peace. On the other hand, where such troops are known not to
be within reach, anarchy and violence, when once let loose, continue
unrestrained; and, until further additions are made to the English
regiments in the disturbed districts, this state of things will not
only continue, but extend itself. The fall of Delhi will act to
some degree as a check; but where rapine and outrage have raged
uncontrolled, even for a few hours, it is to be feared that nothing
but the actual presence of force will bring the country into order.

Lord Canning rejoices to say that to-day the first Regiment of your
Majesty's Forces destined for China has entered the Hooghly. Lord
Canning did not scruple, knowing how much was at stake, earnestly to
press Lord Elgin to allow those forces to be turned aside to India
before proceeding to the support of your Majesty's Plenipotentiary
in China;[23] and to this, so far as regards the first two Regiments,
Lord Elgin readily assented. From what Lord Canning has ventured to
state above, your Majesty will easily understand the satisfaction with
which each new arrival of an English transport in Calcutta is regarded
by him.

As yet no military operations south of Delhi have been undertaken.
Next week, however, a column composed of your Majesty's 64th and
78th (Highland) Regiments will reach Cawnpore[24] and Lucknow, in the
neighbourhood of which it is probable that an opportunity will offer
of striking a decisive blow at the band of rebels which, after that
in Delhi, is the strongest and most compact. But Lord Canning greatly
doubts whether they will await the onset. Unfortunately, they may run
away from the English troops, and yet prove very formidable to any who
are weaker than themselves--whether Indians or unarmed Europeans.

Your Majesty is aware that in the critical condition of affairs which
now exists, Lord Canning has felt himself compelled to adopt the
measure of placing the King of Oudh in confinement in Fort William,
in consequence of the use made of his name by those who have been busy
tampering with the Sepoys; and of the intrigues which there is good
reason to believe that the Minister of the King, who is also in the
Fort, has carried on in his master's name.[25] The King has been, and
will continue to be, treated with every mark of respect and indulgence
which is compatible with his position, so long as it may be necessary
that he should be retained in the Fort.

Lord Canning earnestly hopes that your Majesty and the Prince are in
the enjoyment of good health, and prays your Majesty to be graciously
pleased to accept the expression of his sincere devotion and dutiful
attachment.

    [Footnote 22: After the outbreak at Meerut in May, the
    fugitive Sepoys fled to Delhi, and endeavoured to capture the
    magazine, which, however, was exploded by British soldiers.
    Delhi was not captured until September (see _post_, 25th
    September, 1857). On the 11th of July, the Government received
    intelligence of the spread of the Mutiny throughout Bengal,
    and the resulting diminution of the Indian Army.]

    [Footnote 23: For Sir George Grey's action at Cape Town, in
    reference to the troops destined for China, see his Memoir, in
    the _Dictionary of National Biography_.]

    [Footnote 24: On the 4th of June, two native regiments had
    mutinied at Cawnpore, and the English residents, under General
    Sir Hugh Wheeler, were besieged. After many deaths and much
    privation, the garrison were induced by the perfidy of Nana
    Sahib, who had caused the Cawnpore rising, to surrender, on
    condition of their lives being spared. On the 27th of June,
    not suspecting their impending fate, the enfeebled garrison,
    or what was left of it, gave themselves up. The men were
    killed, the women and children being first enslaved and
    afterwards massacred. On the 16th of July, General Havelock
    defeated Nana Sahib at Cawnpore, the city was occupied by
    the English, and a sanguinary, but well-merited, retribution
    exacted.]

    [Footnote 25: The ex-King had been living under the protection
    of the Indian Government. The arrest took place early in June
    at his residence at Garden Beach.]




[Pageheading: DEBATE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th July 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that Mr Disraeli this afternoon, in a speech of three hours,
made his Motion on the state of India. His Motion was ostensibly for
two papers, one of which does not exist, at least in the possession of
the Government, and the other of which ought not to be made public,
as it relates to the arrangements for defending India against external
attack. He represented the disturbances in India as a national revolt,
and not as a mere military mutiny; and he enumerated various causes
which in his opinion accounted, for and justified this general revolt.
Some of these causes were various measures of improved civilisation
which from time to time during the last ten years the Indian
Government had been urged by Parliament to take. Mr Vernon Smith
followed, and in a very able speech answered in great detail Mr
Disraeli's allegations. Sir Erskine Perry,[26] who evidently had
furnished Mr Disraeli with much of his mistaken assertions, supported
his views. Mr Campbell, Member for Weymouth, who had been many years
in India, showed the fallacy of Mr Disraeli's arguments, and the
groundlessness of many of his assertions. Mr Whiteside supported
the Motion. Lord John Russell, who had after Mr Disraeli's speech
communicated with the Government, expressed his disapprobation of
Mr Disraeli's speech, and moved as an Amendment an Address to your
Majesty expressing the assurance of the support of the House for
measures to suppress the present disturbances, and their co-operation
with your Majesty in measures for the permanent establishment of
tranquillity and contentment in India.[27] Mr Mangles, the Chairman
of the Directors, replied at much length, and very conclusively to Mr
Disraeli's speech. Mr Liddell, with much simplicity, asked the Speaker
to tell him how he should vote, but approved entirely of Lord John
Russell's address. Mr Ayrton moved an adjournment of the Debate, which
was negatived by 203 to 79. Mr Hadfield then shortly stated in his
provincial dialect that "we can never keep our 'old upon Hindia by
the Force of Harms." Mr Disraeli then made an animated reply to the
speeches against him, but in a manner almost too animated for the
occasion. Mr Thomas Baring set Mr Disraeli right, but in rather strong
terms, about some proceedings of the Committee on Indian Affairs
in 1853, with regard to which Mr Disraeli's memory had proved
untrustworthy. Viscount Palmerston shortly made some observations on
the Motion and the speech which had introduced it; and the Motion was
then negatived without a division, and the Address was unanimously
carried.

    [Footnote 26: Chief Justice of Bombay 1847-1852, and M.P. for
    Devonport 1854-1859.]

    [Footnote 27: "One of those dry constitutional platitudes,"
    said Mr Disraeli in reply, "which in a moment of difficulty
    the noble lord pulls out of the dusty pigeon-holes of his
    mind, and shakes in the perplexed face of the baffled House
    of Commons." Mr Disraeli was admittedly much annoyed by the
    statesmanlike intervention of Lord John.]




[Pageheading: MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _27th July 1857_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--At _this_ very _moment_ the marriage[28] is going
on--the _Knot_ is being tied which binds your lovely sweet child to a
thoroughly worthy husband--and I am sure you will be much moved. May
every blessing attend her! I wish _I_ could be present--but my dearest
_Half_ being there makes me feel as I were there myself. I try to
picture to myself how _all_ will be. I could not give you a greater
proof of my love for you all, and my anxiety to give you and dearest
Charlotte pleasure, than in urging my dearest Albert to go over--for I
encouraged and _urged_ him to go though you cannot think _combien
cela me coûte_ or how completely _déroutée_ I am and _feel_ when he
is away, or how I count the hours till he returns. _All_ the numerous
children are as _nothing_ to me when _he is away_; it seems as if the
whole life of the house and home were gone, when he is away!

We do all we can to _fêter_ in our very _quiet_ way this dear day.
We are all out of mourning; the younger children are to have a
half-holiday, Alice is to _dine_ for the first time in the evening
with us; we shall drink _the Archduke and Archduchess's_ healths; and
I have ordered _wine_ for our servants, and _grog_ for our sailors to
do the same.

Vicky (who is painting in the Alcove near me) wishes me to say
everything to you and the _dear young couple_, and pray tell dear
Charlotte _all_ that we have been doing....

Here we are in anxious (and I fear many people in very _cruel_)
suspense, for news from India. They _ought_ to have arrived the day
before yesterday.

On Thursday, then, we are to have Prince Napoleon, and on the
following Thursday the Emperor and Empress; and after them for _one_
night, the Queen of Holland,[29] whose activity is astounding--and she
sees everything and everybody and goes everywhere; she is certainly
clever and amiable....

Now, with our children's affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Pray offer my kind regards to _all_ your visitors, even to those whom
I do _not_ know. I only hope my dearest husband will tell me _all_
about everything. Vicky is constantly talking and thinking of
Charlotte.

    [Footnote 28: Of the Princess Charlotte to the Archduke
    Ferdinand Maximilian at Brussels.]

    [Footnote 29: Sophia Frederica, born 1818, daughter of King
    William I. of Würtemberg.]




[Pageheading: THE MILITIA]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _2nd August 1857_.

The Queen has to thank Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 27th
July.

The embodying of the Militia will be a most necessary measure, as
well for the defence of our own country, and for keeping up on the
Continent of Europe the knowledge that we are not in a defenceless
state, as for the purpose of obtaining a sufficient number of
volunteers for the Army.

The Queen hopes, therefore, that the Militia to be embodied will be
on a proper and sufficient scale. She must say, that the last accounts
from India show so formidable a state of things that the military
measures hitherto taken by the Home Government, on whom the salvation
of India must mainly depend, appear to the Queen as by no means
adequate to the emergency. We have nearly gone to the full extent of
our available means, just as we did in the Crimean War, and may be
able to obtain successes; but we have not laid in a store of troops,
nor formed Reserves which could carry us over a long struggle, or meet
unforeseen new calls. Herein we are always most shortsighted, and have
finally to suffer either in power and reputation, or to pay enormous
sums for small advantages in the end--generally both.

The Queen hopes that the Cabinet will look the question boldly in the
face; nothing could be better than the Resolutions passed in the House
of Commons, insuring to the Government every possible support in the
adoption of vigorous measures. It is generally the Government, and not
the House of Commons, who hang back. The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston
to communicate this letter to his Colleagues.




[Pageheading: THE NAVY]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _4th August 1857_.

The defenceless state of our shores, now that the Army has been
reduced to eighteen effective Battalions, and the evident inclinations
of the Continental Powers, chiefly France and Russia, to dictate to us
with regard to the Oriental Question, makes the Queen naturally turn
her attention to the state of our naval preparations and force.

To render it possible to salute the Emperor[30] when he comes here,
the old _St Vincent_ has been brought out of the harbour, but has been
manned chiefly by the men of the _Excellent_ gunnery ship; and we
have been warned by the Admiralty not to visit the _Excellent_ in
consequence. This does not show a very brilliant condition! But what
is still more worthy of consideration is, that our new fleet, which
had been completed at the end of the Russian War, was _a steam_ fleet;
when it was broken up at the Peace the dockyard expenses were also
cut down, and men discharged at the very moment when totally new and
extensive arrangements became necessary to repair and keep in a state
of efficiency the valuable steam machinery, and to house our gunboat
flotilla on shore. To render any of these steamships fit for sea,
now that they are dismantled, with our _small_ means as to basins and
docks, must necessarily cost much time.

The Queen wishes accordingly to have a report sent to her as to the
force of screw-ships of the Line and of other classes which can be got
ready at the different dockyards, and the time required to get them to
sea for actual service; and also the time required to launch and get
ready the gunboats. She does not wish for a mere general answer from
the Lords of the Admiralty, but for detailed reports from the Admirals
commanding at the different ports, and particularly the Captains in
command of the Steam Reserve. She would only add that she wishes no
unnecessary time to be lost in the preparation of these reports. She
requests Lord Palmerston to have these, her wishes, carried out.

    [Footnote 30: The Emperor and Empress of the French arrived
    at Osborne on the 6th of August on a visit to the Queen
    and Prince, lasting for four days, during which time much
    discussion took place between the Prince and Emperor on
    affairs in Eastern Europe.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF SIR HENRY LAWRENCE]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _22nd August 1857_.

The Queen is afraid from the telegram of this morning that affairs in
India have not yet taken a favourable turn. Delhi seems still to hold
out, and the death of Sir H. Lawrence[31] is a great loss. The Queen
must repeat to Lord Palmerston that the measures hitherto taken by the
Government are not commensurate with the magnitude of the crisis.

We have given nearly all we have in reinforcements, and if new efforts
should become necessary, by the joining of the Madras and Bombay
Armies in the Revolt, for instance, it will take months to prepare
Reserves which ought now to be ready. Ten Battalions of Militia to
be called out is quite inadequate; forty, at least, ought to be the
number, for these also exist only on paper. The augmentation of the
Cavalry and the Guards has not yet been ordered.

Financial difficulties don't exist; the 14,000 men sent to India are
taken over by the Indian Government, and their expense saved to
us; and this appears hardly the moment to make savings on the Army
estimates.

    [Footnote 31: On the previous day, the Queen and Prince had
    returned from a visit to Cherbourg, and found very disquieting
    news from India. Sir Henry Lawrence was the Military
    Administrator and Chief Commissioner of Oudh; on the 30th of
    May, the 71st N.I. mutinied at Lucknow, but Sir Henry drove
    them from their position and fortified the Residency. Some
    weeks later, on sallying out to reconnoitre, the English were
    driven back and besieged in the Residency; Sir Henry dying
    from the effects of a wound caused by a shell.]




[Pageheading: RECRUITING]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _22nd August 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....
Viscount Palmerston has had the honour of receiving your Majesty's
communication of this morning. It is, no doubt, true that the
telegraphic account received yesterday evening does not show, that at
the dates mentioned from India, any improvement had taken place in the
state of affairs, and the loss of Sir Henry Lawrence and of General
Barnard,[32] but especially of the former, is deeply to be lamented.

With regard, however, to the measures now taking to raise a force to
supply the place of the troops sent to India, and to enlist recruits
to fill up vacancies in the Regiments in India, Viscount Palmerston
would beg to submit that the steps now taking seem to be well
calculated for their purpose. The recruiting for the Army has gone on
more rapidly than could have been expected at this particular time of
year, and in a fortnight or three weeks from this time will proceed
still more rapidly; the ten thousand Militia to be immediately
embodied will be as much as could probably be got together at the
present moment without much local inconvenience; but if that number
should be found insufficient, it would be easy afterwards to embody
more. But, if the recruiting should go on successfully, that number
of Militiamen in addition to the Regulars may be found sufficient.
Viscount Palmerston begs to assure your Majesty that there is no wish
to make savings on the amount voted for Army Services, but, on the
other hand, it would be very inconvenient and embarrassing to exceed
that amount without some urgent and adequate necessity....

    [Footnote 32: He died of cholera at Delhi, on the 5th of
    July.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _22nd August 1857_.

In answer to Lord Palmerston's observations on our Military
preparations, the Queen must reply that, although Lord Palmerston
disclaims, on the part of the Government, the intention of making a
saving on the Army estimates out of the fearful exigencies caused by
the Indian Revolt, the facts still remain. The Government have sent
fourteen Battalions out of the country and transferred them to the
East India Company, and they mean to replace them only by ten new
ones, whose organisation has been ordered; but even in these, they
mean for the present to save four Companies out of every twelve. The
Queen, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the Press, all
call out for vigorous exertion, and the Government alone take an
apologetic line, anxious to do as little as possible, to wait for
further news, to reduce as low as possible even what they do grant,
and reason as if we had at most _only_ to replace what was sent out;
whilst if new demands should come upon us, the Reserves which ought
now to be decided upon and organised, are only then to be discussed.
The Queen can the less reconcile herself to the system, of "letting
out a little sail at a time," as Lord Palmerston called it the other
day, as she feels convinced that, if vigour and determination to
get what will be eventually wanted is shown by the Cabinet, it will
pervade the whole Government machinery and attain its object; but that
if, on the other hand, people don't see what the Government really
require, and find them satisfied with a little at a time, even that
little will not be got, as the subordinates naturally take the tone
from their superiors. Ten Militia Regiments would not even represent
the 10,000 men whom Parliament has voted the supplies for. A Battalion
will probably not reach 600 for a time, and from these we hope to draw
volunteers again!

The Queen hopes the Cabinet will yet look the whole question in the
face, and decide while there is time what they must know will become
necessary, and what must in the hurry at the end be done less well
and at, probably, double the cost. The Queen can speak by very recent
experience, having seen exactly the same course followed in the late
War.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _23rd August 1857_.

The Queen approves of Lord Fife[33] and Lord R. Grosvenor being
made Peers, and of an offer being made to Mr Macaulay, although she
believes he will decline the honour....

    [Footnote 33: James, fifth Viscount Macduff and Earl of Fife
    in the peerage of Ireland, was, on the 1st of October, created
    a Baron of the United Kingdom; he was the father of the
    present Duke of Fife. Lord Robert Grosvenor became Lord
    Ebury, and Mr Macaulay Lord Macaulay of Rothley Temple (his
    birthplace), in the county of Leicester.]




[Pageheading: THE ARMY RESERVES]



_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _25th August 1857_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's letter of yesterday, and must
say that she is deeply grieved at her want of success in impressing
upon him the importance of meeting the present dangers by agreeing on,
and maturing a general plan by which to replace _in kind_ the troops
sent out of the country, and for which the money _has_ been voted by
Parliament.[34] To the formation of the full number of Battalions, and
their full strength in Companies, Lord Palmerston objects that the men
will not be found to fill them, and therefore it is left undone; to
the calling-out of more Militia, he objects that they ought not to be
used as Recruiting Depôts, and if many were called out the speed with
which the recruiting for the Army went on, would oblige them to be
disbanded again. The War Office pride themselves upon having got 1,000
men since the recruiting began; this is equal to 1,000 a month or
12,000 a year, the ordinary wear and tear of the Army!! Where will the
Reserves for India be to be found? It does not suffice merely to get
_recruits_, as Lord Palmerston says; they will not become _soldiers_
for six months when got, and in the meantime a sufficient number of
Militia Regiments ought to be drilled, and made efficient to relieve
the Line Regiments already sent, or yet to be sent, for these also are
at present necessarily good for nothing.

The Queen must say that the Government incur a fearful responsibility
towards their country by their apparent indifference. God grant that
no unforeseen European complication fall upon this country--but we are
really tempting Providence.

The Queen hopes Lord Palmerston has communicated to the Cabinet her
views on the subject.

    [Footnote 34: After referring to the necessity for supplying
    by fresh drafts the gaps created in the regiments in India,
    Lord Palmerston had written:--

    "If the Militia officers were to find that they were
    considered merely as drill sergeants for the Line, they would
    grow careless and indifferent, and many whom it is desirable
    to keep in the Service would leave it.

    "With regard to the number of Militiamen to be embodied, the
    question seems to be, What is the number which will be wanted
    for the whole period to the 31st of March, because it would be
    undesirable to call out and embody now Militia Regiments which
    would become unnecessary during the winter by the progress of
    recruiting, and which, from there being no funds applicable to
    their maintenance, it would become necessary to disembody. The
    men would be now taken from industrial employment at a time
    when labour is wanted, and would be turned adrift in the
    winter when there is less demand for labour.

    "With respect to recruiting for the Army, every practicable
    means has been adopted to hasten its success. Recruiting
    parties have been scattered over the whole of the United
    Kingdom, and the permanent staff of the disembodied Militia
    have been furnished with Beating Warrants enabling them to
    enlist recruits for the Line; and the recruiting has been
    hitherto very successful. The only thing to be done is to
    raise men as fast as possible, and to post them as they are
    raised to the Regiments and Battalions for which they engage.
    The standard, moreover, has been lowered...."]




[Pageheading: LORD LANSDOWNE]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _31st August 1857_.

... Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit for your Majesty's
consideration whether he might be authorised by your Majesty to offer
to Lord Lansdowne promotion to the title of Duke. Your Majesty may
possibly not have in the course of your Majesty's reign, long as it is
to be hoped that reign will be, any subject whose private and public
character will during so long a course of years as those which have
been the period of Lord Lansdowne's career, have more entitled him
to the esteem and respect of his fellow-countrymen, and to the
approbation of his Sovereign.

Lord Lansdowne has now for several years given your Majesty's
Government the great and valuable support of his advice in council,
his assistance in debate, and the weight of his character in the
country, without any office. His health and strength, Viscount
Palmerston cannot disguise from himself, have not been this year such
as they had been; and if your Majesty should contemplate marking at
any time your Majesty's sense of Lord Lansdowne's public services,
there could not be a better moment for doing so than the present; and
Viscount Palmerston has reason to believe that such an act of grace
would be very gratifying to the Liberal Party, and would be deemed
well bestowed even by those who are of opposite politics.[35]

Mr Macaulay accepts the Peerage with much gratitude to your Majesty.

    [Footnote 35: Lord Lansdowne declined the honour.]




[Pageheading: THE INDIAN MUTINY]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL CASTLE, _2nd September 1857_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--... We are in sad anxiety about India, which engrosses
all our attention.[36] Troops cannot be raised fast or largely enough.
And the horrors committed on the poor ladies--women and children--are
unknown in these ages, and make one's blood run cold. Altogether, the
whole is so much more distressing than the Crimea--where there was
_glory_ and honourable warfare, and where the poor women and children
were safe. Then the distance and the difficulty of communication is
such an additional suffering to us all. I know you will feel much for
us all. There is not a family hardly who is not in sorrow and anxiety
about their children, and in all ranks--India being _the_ place where
every one was anxious to place a son!

We hear from _our_ people (not Fritz) from Berlin, that the King is in
a very unsatisfactory state. _What_ have you heard?...

Now, with Albert's love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 36: At Balmoral the Queen learned in greater detail
    of the atrocities which had been committed upon the garrison
    at Cawnpore.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET, _10th September 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty and begs
to submit that an impression is beginning to prevail that it would be
a proper thing that a day should be set apart for National Prayer and
Humiliation with reference to the present calamitous state of affairs
in India, upon the same principle on which a similar step was taken
during the Crimean War; and if your Majesty should approve, Viscount
Palmerston would communicate on the subject with the Archbishop of
Canterbury.... It is usual on such occasions that the Archbishop of
Canterbury should attend,[37] but in consideration of the distance his
attendance might well be dispensed with on the present occasion.

    [Footnote 37: _I.e._ at the meeting of the Council which was
    to be summoned.]




[Pageheading: A DAY OF INTERCESSION]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _11th September 1857_.

Lord Palmerston knows what the Queen's feelings are with regard to
Fast-days, which she thinks do not produce the desired effect--from
the manner in which they are appointed, and the selections made for
the Service--but she will not oppose the natural feeling which any
one must partake in, of a desire to pray for our fellow-countrymen and
women who are exposed to such imminent danger, and therefore sanctions
his consulting the Archbishop on the subject. She would, however,
suggest its being more appropriately called a day of prayer
and intercession for our suffering countrymen, than of fast and
humiliation, and of its being on a _Sunday_, and not on a week-day:
on the last Fast-day, the Queen heard it generally remarked, that it
produced more harm than good, and that, if it were on a Sunday, it
would be much more generally observed. However, she will sanction
whatever is proper, but thinks it ought to be as soon as possible[38]
(in a fortnight or three weeks) if it is to be done at all.

She will hold a Council whenever it is wished.[39]

    [Footnote 38: It was kept on the 7th of October (a
    Wednesday).]

    [Footnote 39: Shortly after the date of this letter came the
    intelligence from India that Delhi had not fallen, and that
    the Lucknow garrison was not yet relieved. This news, coupled
    with the tidings of fresh outbreaks, and the details of the
    horrors of Cawnpore, generated deep feelings of resentment in
    the country.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL CASTLE, _23rd September 1857_.

The Queen hopes that the arrival of troops and ships with Lord Elgin
will be of material assistance, but still it does not alter the state
of affairs described by the Queen in her letter, which she wrote to
Lord Palmerston, and which she is glad to see Lord Clarendon agrees
in. Though we might have perhaps wished the Maharajah[40] to express
his feelings on the subject of the late atrocities in India, it was
hardly to be expected that he (naturally of a negative, though gentle
and very amiable disposition) should pronounce an opinion on so
painful a subject, attached as he is to his country, and naturally
_still_ possessing, with all his amiability and goodness, an _Eastern
nature_; he can also hardly, a deposed Indian Sovereign, _not very_
fond of the British rule as represented by the East India Company,
and, above all, impatient of Sir John Login's[41] tutorship, be
expected to _like_ to hear his country-people called _fiends_ and
_monsters_, and to see them brought in hundreds, if not thousands, to
be executed.

His best course is to say nothing, she must think.

It is a great mercy he, poor boy, is not there.

    [Footnote 40: Lord Clarendon had written that he was "sorry to
    learn that the Maharajah (Dhuleep Singh) had shown little or
    no regret for the atrocities which have been committed, or
    sympathy with the sufferers."]

    [Footnote 41: Sir John Spencer Login, formerly surgeon at the
    British Residency, Lucknow, guardian of the Maharajah Dhuleep
    Singh, 1849-1858.]




[Pageheading: LETTER FROM LORD CANNING]

[Pageheading: SIR COLIN CAMPBELL]

[Pageheading: INDIA]

[Pageheading: THE POLICY OF CLEMENCY]


_Viscount Canning to Queen Victoria._

CALCUTTA, _25th September 1857_.

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and asks leave
again to address your Majesty, although the desire which he has felt
that his next letter should announce to your Majesty the fall of
Delhi, and the first steps towards a restoration of your Majesty's
Authority throughout the revolted Districts, cannot as yet be
accomplished. But although it is not in Lord Canning's power to report
any very marked success over the Rebels, he can confidently assure
your Majesty that a change in the aspect of affairs is gradually
taking place, which gives hope that the contest is drawing to a close,
and the day of punishment at hand....

Another ground for good hopes is the appearance of things at Lucknow.
News just received from Sir James Outram announces that he has joined
General Havelock's force at Cawnpore, and that the Troops crossed the
Ganges into Oudh on the 19th, with hardly any opposition. The European
force now advancing on Lucknow is about [....][42] strong, well
provided with Artillery. The beleaguered Garrison was in good spirits
on the 16th of September, and had provisions enough to last to the
end of the month. They had lately inflicted severe losses on their
assailants, and some of the latter had dispersed. The influential
proprietors and chiefs of the country had begun to show symptoms of
siding with us.

This is a very different state of things from that which existed when
General Havelock's force retired across the Ganges in July; and Lord
Canning prays and believes that your Majesty will be spared the
pain and horror of hearing that the atrocities of Cawnpore have been
re-enacted upon the brave and enduring garrison of Lucknow. Every
English soldier who could be made to reach Cawnpore has been pushed
on to General Outram, even to the denuding of some points of danger
in the intervening country, and General Outram's instructions are to
consider the rescue of the garrison as the one paramount object to
which everything else is to give way. The garrison (which, after all,
is nothing more than the House of the Resident, with defences hastily
thrown up) contains about three hundred and fifty European men, four
hundred and fifty women and children, and one hundred and twenty sick,
besides three hundred natives, hitherto faithful. The city, and even
the province, may be abandoned and recovered again, but these lives
must be saved now or never; and to escape the sorrow and humiliation
of such barbarities as have already been endured elsewhere is worth
any sacrifice. It is in consideration of the state of things at
these two most critical points, Delhi and Lucknow, that Lord Canning
ventures to ask your Majesty to look hopefully to the events of the
next few weeks; notwithstanding that he is unable to announce any
signal success....

Sir Colin Campbell has been in a state of delight ever since his
favourite 93rd landed five days ago.[43] He went to see them on board
their transport before they disembarked, and when Lord Canning asked
how he found them, replied that the only thing amiss was that they had
become too fat on the voyage, and could not button their coats. But,
indeed, all the troops of the China force have been landed in the
highest possible condition of health and vigour. The 23rd, from its
large proportion of young soldiers, is perhaps the one most likely
to suffer from the climate and the hardships of the Service--for,
although no care or cost will be spared to keep them in health and
comfort, Lord Canning fears that hardships there must be, seeing how
vast an extent of usually productive country will be barren for a
time, and that the districts from which some of our most valuable
supplies, especially the supply of carriage animals, are drawn,
have been stripped bare, or are still in revolt. As it is, the
Commander-in-Chief has most wisely reduced the amount of tent
accommodation for officers and men far below the ordinary luxurious
Indian allowance.

The presence of the ships of the Royal Navy has been of the greatest
service. At least eleven thousand seamen and marines have been
contributed by them for duty on shore, and the broadsides of the
_Sanspareil_, _Shannon_, and _Pearl_, as they lie along the esplanade,
have had a very reassuring effect upon the inhabitants of Calcutta,
who, until lately, have insisted pertinaciously that their lives and
property were in hourly danger.[44]

No line-of-battle ship has been seen in the Hooghly since Admiral
Watson sailed up to Chandernagore just a hundred years ago;[45] and
certainly nothing in his fleet was equal to the _Sanspareil_. The
natives stare at her, and call her "the four-storied boat."

For the future, if Delhi should fall and Lucknow be secured, the work
of pacification will go forward steadily. Many points will have to be
watched, and there may be occasional resistance; but nothing like
an organised contest against authority is probable. The greatest
difficulties will be in the civil work of re-settlement. The recent
death of Mr Colvin,[46] the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western
Provinces, has removed an officer whose experience would there have
been most valuable. He has died, fairly exhausted; and is the fourth
officer of high trust whose life has given way in the last four
months.

One of the greatest difficulties which lie ahead--and Lord Canning
grieves to say so to your Majesty--will be the violent rancour of a
very large proportion of the English community against every
native Indian of every class. There is a rabid and indiscriminate
vindictiveness abroad, even amongst many who ought to set a better
example, which it is impossible to contemplate without something like
a feeling of shame for one's fellow-countrymen. Not one man in
ten seems to think that the hanging and shooting of forty or fifty
thousand mutineers, besides other Rebels, can be otherwise than
practicable and right; nor does it occur to those who talk and write
most upon the matter that for the Sovereign of England to hold and
govern India without employing, and, to a great degree, trusting
natives, both in civil and military service, is simply impossible. It
is no exaggeration to say that a vast number of the European community
would hear with pleasure and approval that every Hindoo and Mohammedan
had been proscribed, and that none would be admitted to serve the
Government except in a menial office. That which they desire is to see
a broad line of separation, and of declared distrust drawn between us
Englishmen and every subject of your Majesty who is not a Christian,
and who has a dark skin; and there are some who entirely refuse
to believe in the fidelity or goodwill of any native towards any
European; although many instances of the kindness and generosity
of both Hindoos and Mohammedans have come upon record during these
troubles.

To those whose hearts have been torn by the foul barbarities inflicted
upon those dear to them any degree of bitterness against the natives
may be excused. No man will dare to judge them for it. But the cry is
raised loudest by those who have been sitting quietly in their homes
from the beginning and have suffered little from the convulsions
around them unless it be in pocket. It is to be feared that this
feeling of exasperation will be a great impediment in the way of
restoring tranquillity and good order, even after signal retribution
shall have been deliberately measured out to all chief offenders.[47]

Lord Canning is ashamed of having trespassed upon your Majesty's
indulgence at such length. He will only add that he has taken the
liberty of sending to your Majesty by this mail a map which has just
been finished, showing the distribution of the Army throughout India
at the time of the outbreak of the Mutiny. It also shows the Regiments
of the Bengal Army which have mutinied, and those which have been
disarmed, the number of European troops arrived in Calcutta up to the
19th of September, and whence they came; with some few other points of
information.

There may be some slight inaccuracies, as the first copies of the map
have only just been struck off, and have not been corrected; but Lord
Canning believes that it will be interesting to your Majesty at the
present moment.

Lord Canning begs to be allowed to express his earnest wishes for the
health of your Majesty, and of His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
and to offer to your Majesty the humble assurance of his sincere and
dutiful devotion.

    [Footnote 42: Word omitted in the original.]

    [Footnote 43: At the battle of the Alma, Sir Colin Campbell,
    in command of the 2nd or Highland Brigade of the 1st Division,
    had, with his Highlanders in line, routed the last compact
    column of the Russians. On the 11th of July 1857, he was
    appointed Commander-in-Chief in India, and started literally
    at one day's notice, reaching Calcutta on the 14th of August.]

    [Footnote 44: The services of the Naval Brigade, at the relief
    of Lucknow, were warmly recognised by Sir Colin Campbell, and
    especially the gallantry of Captain Peel of the _Shannon_.]

    [Footnote 45: In retribution for the atrocity of the Black
    Hole of Calcutta, Watson, under instructions from Clive,
    reduced Chandernagore on the 23rd of March 1757; the battle of
    Plassey was fought on the 23rd of June.]

    [Footnote 46: John Russell Colvin, formerly Private Secretary
    to Lord Auckland, had been Lieutenant-Governor since 1853.]






_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

BALMORAL, _28th September 1857_.

The Queen is much surprised at Lord Clarendon's observing that "from
what he hears the Maharajah was either from nature or early education
cruel."[48] He must have changed very suddenly if this be true, for
if there was a thing for which he was remarkable, it was his extreme
gentleness and kindness of disposition. We have known him for three
years (our two boys intimately), and he always shuddered at hurting
anything, and was peculiarly gentle and kind towards children and
animals, and if anything rather timid; so that all who knew him said
he never could have had a chance in his own country. His valet, who
is a very respectable Englishman, and has been with him ever since
his twelfth year, says that he never knew a kinder or more amiable
disposition. The Queen fears that people who do not know him well have
been led away by their present very natural feelings of hatred and
distrust of all Indians to slander him. What he might turn out, if
left in the hands of unscrupulous Indians in his own country, of
course no one can foresee.

    [Footnote 48: See _ante_, 23rd September, 1857, note 40.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _17th October 1857_.

The Queen has received yesterday evening the box with the Dockyard
Returns. It will take her some time to peruse and study them; she
wishes, however, to remark upon two points, and to have them pointed
out also to Sir Charles Wood,[49] viz. first, that they are dated some
as early as the 27th August, and none later than the 10th September,
and that she received them, only on the _17th October_; and then
that there is not one original Return amongst them, but they are all
copies! When the Queen asks for Returns, to which she attaches great
importance, she expects at least to see them in original.

    [Footnote 49: First Lord of the Admiralty.]




[Pageheading: MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th October 1857_.

The Queen returns these letters. It would be well if Lord Clarendon
would tell Lord Bloomfield not to _entertain_ the _possibility_ of
such a question as the Princess Royal's marriage taking place at
Berlin.[50] The Queen _never_ could consent to it, both for public
and private reasons, and the assumption of its being _too much_ for a
Prince Royal of Prussia to _come_ over to marry _the Princess Royal
of Great Britain_ IN England is too _absurd_, to say the least. The
Queen must say that there never was even the _shadow_ of a _doubt_ on
_Prince Frederick William's_ part as to _where_ the marriage should
take place, and she suspects this to be the mere gossip of the
Berliners. Whatever may be the usual practice of Prussian Princes, it
is not _every_ day that one marries the eldest daughter of the Queen
of England. The question therefore must be considered as settled and
closed....

    [Footnote 50: The marriage took place at the Chapel Royal, St
    James's.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE NEMOURS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th November 1857_.

The Queen thanks Lord Clarendon much for his kind and sympathising
letter, and is much gratified at Count Persigny's kind note. He _is_
a good, honest, warm-hearted man, for whom we have sincere esteem.
The news from India was a great relief and a _ray_ of sunshine in our
great affliction.[51] The Queen had the happiness of informing poor
Sir George Couper of the relief of Lucknow, in which for four months
his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren were shut up. The loss of
two such distinguished officers as Generals Nicholson and Neill, and
alas! of many inferior ones, is, however, very sad.

We visited the house of mourning yesterday, and _no words can_
describe the scene of woe.[52] There was the venerable Queen with
the motherless children, admirable in her deep grief, and her pious
resignation to the Will of God! yet even now the support, the comfort
of all, thinking but of others and ready to devote her last remaining
strength and her declining years to her children and grandchildren.
There was the broken-hearted, almost distracted widower--_her
son_--and lastly, there was in one room the lifeless, but oh! even in
its ghostliness, most beautiful form of his young, lovely, and angelic
wife, lying in her bed with her splendid hair covering her shoulders,
and a heavenly expression of peace; and in the next room, the dear
little pink infant sleeping in its cradle.

The Queen leaves to Lord Clarendon's kind heart to imagine what this
spectacle of woe must be, and how _deeply_ afflicted and impressed _we
must be_--who have only so lately had a child born to us and have been
so fortunate! The Prince has been _completely_ upset by this; and she
was besides like a dear sister to us. God's will be done! But it
seems _too_ dreadful almost to believe it--too hard to bear. The dear
Duchess's death must have been caused by some affection of the heart,
for she was perfectly well, having her hair combed, suddenly exclaimed
to the Nurse, "Oh! mon Dieu, Madame"--her head fell on one side--and
before the Duke could run upstairs her hand was cold! The Queen
had visited her on Saturday--looking well--and _yesterday_ saw her
lifeless form in the very same spot!

If Lord Clarendon could give a slight hint to the _Times_ to say a few
words of sympathy on the awful and unparalleled misfortune of these
poor exiles, she is sure it would be very soothing to their bleeding
hearts.... The sad event at Claremont took place just five days later
than the death of poor Princess Charlotte under very similar
circumstances forty years ago; and the poor Duchess was the niece of
Princess Charlotte's husband.

    [Footnote 51: Havelock, in consequence of the strength of the
    rebels in Oudh, had been unable to march to the assistance of
    Lucknow immediately after the relief of Cawnpore. He joined
    hands with Outram on the 10th of September, and reinforced the
    Lucknow garrison on the 25th.]

    [Footnote 52: In a pathetic letter, just received, the Duc de
    Nemours (second son of Louis Philippe) had announced the death
    of his wife, Queen Victoria's beloved cousin and friend. She
    was only thirty-five years of age, and had been married at
    eighteen. She had seemed to make a good recovery after the
    birth of a child on the 28th of October, but died quite
    suddenly on the 10th of November, while at her toilette.]




[Pageheading: CRISIS IN THE CITY]

[Pageheading: SUSPENSION OF BANK CHARTER ACT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _12th November 1857_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that the condition of financial affairs became worse to-day
than it was yesterday.[53] The Governor of the bank represented that
almost all private firms have ceased to discount bills, and that the
Reserve Fund of the Bank of England, out of which discounts are made
and liabilities satisfied, had been reduced last night to £1,400,000,
and that if that fund should become exhausted the bank would have
to suspend its operations. Under these circumstances it appeared to
Viscount Palmerston, and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a
case had arisen for doing the same thing which was done under somewhat
similar circumstances in 1847--that is to say, that a letter should
be written by the first Lord of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to the Governor of the Bank of England, saying that if under
the pressure of the emergency the bank should deem it necessary to
issue more notes than the amount to which they are at present confined
by law, the Government would apply to Parliament to grant them an
indemnity.

This Measure, in 1847, had the effect of stopping the then existing
panic, and the necessity for making such an issue did not arise; on
the present occasion this announcement will, no doubt, have a salutary
effect in allaying the present panic, but as the bank had to discount
to-day bills to the amount of £2,000,000, which they could not have
done out of a fund of £1,400,000, unless deposits and payments in,
to a considerable amount, had been made, the probability is that
the issue thus authorised will actually be made. The Governor and
Deputy-Governor of the bank represented that the communication,
in order to be effectual and to save from ruin firms which were in
imminent danger, ought to be made forthwith, so that they might be
enabled to announce it on the Stock Exchange before the closing of
business at four o'clock. Viscount Palmerston and Sir George Lewis
therefore signed at once, and gave to the Governor of the bank the
letter of which the accompanying paper is a copy, the pressure of the
matter not allowing time to take your Majesty's pleasure beforehand.

The state of things now is more urgent than that which existed in
1847, when the similar step was taken; at that time the Reserve Fund
was about £1,900,000, last night it was only £1,400,000; at that time
the bullion in the bank was above £8,000,000, it is now somewhat
less than £8,000,000; at that time things were mending, they are now
getting worse.

But however necessary this Measure has been considered, and however
useful it may be expected to be, it inevitably entails one very
inconvenient consequence. The Government have authorised the bank to
break the law, and whether the law shall actually be broken or not,
it would be highly unconstitutional for the Government not to take
the earliest opportunity of submitting the matter to the knowledge of
Parliament. This course was pursued in 1847. The letter from Lord John
Russell and Sir Charles Wood to the Governor of the bank was dated on
the 25th October, Parliament then stood prorogued in the usual way
to the 11th November, but a council was held on the 31st October, at
which your Majesty summoned Parliament to meet for the despatch of
business on the 18th November; and on that day the session was opened
in the usual way by a Speech from the Throne. It would be impossible
under present circumstances to put off till the beginning of February
a communication to Parliament of the step taken to-day.

Viscount Palmerston therefore would beg to submit for your Majesty's
approval that a Council might be held at Windsor on Monday next, and
that Parliament might then be summoned to meet in fourteen days. This
would bring Parliament together in the first days of December, and
after sitting ten days, or a fortnight, if necessary, it might be
adjourned till the first week in February.[54]

Viscount Palmerston submits an explanatory Memorandum which he has
just received for your Majesty's information from the Chancellor of
the Exchequer....

    [Footnote 53: The financial crisis had originated in numerous
    stoppages of banks in the United States, where premature
    schemes of railway extension had involved countless investors
    in ruin; in consequence, the pressure on firms and financial
    houses became even more acute than in 1847; see _ante_, vol.
    ii., 14th October, 1847. The bank rate now rose to 10 per cent.
    as against 9 per cent. in that year, and the bank reserve of
    bullion was alarmingly depleted.]

    [Footnote 54: Parliament accordingly met on the 3rd of
    December, and the Session was opened by the Queen in person.
    The Act of Indemnity was passed without serious opposition,
    and a select committee re-appointed to enquire into the
    operation of the Bank Charter Act.]




[Pageheading: ARMY ESTABLISHMENT]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

OSBORNE, _18th December 1857_.

The Queen has had some correspondence with Lord Panmure upon the
Establishment of the Army for the next financial year.[55] She wishes
now to lay down the principle which she thinks ought to guide our
decision, and asks Lord Palmerston to consider it with his colleagues
in Cabinet. Last year we reduced our Army suddenly to a low peace
establishment to meet the demand for reduction of taxation raised in
the House of Commons. With this peace establishment we had to meet the
extraordinary demands of India, we have sent almost every available
regiment, battalion, and battery, and are forced to contemplate the
certainty of a large increase of our force in India as a permanent
necessity. What the Queen requires is, that a well-considered and
digested estimate should be made of the additional regiments, etc.,
etc., so required, and that after deducting this number from our
establishment of 1857-1858, that for the next year should be brought
up again to the same condition as if the Indian demand, which is
foreign to our ordinary consideration, had not arisen. If this be done
it will still leave us militarily weaker than we were at the beginning
of the year, for the larger English Army maintained in India will
require proportionally more reliefs and larger depôts.

As the Indian finances pay for the troops employed in India, the Force
at home and in the colonies will, when raised to its old strength,
not cost a shilling more than the peace establishment of 1857 settled
under a pressure of financial reduction.

Anything less than this will not leave this country in a safe
condition. The Queen does not ask only for the same number of men as
in 1857-1858, but particularly for Regiments of Cavalry, Battalions
of Infantry and Batteries of Artillery, which alone would enable us in
case of a war to effect the increase to a war establishment.

The Queen encloses her answer to Lord Panmure's last letter.

    [Footnote 55: On the 14th of December, the Queen had pressed
    the immediate formation of two new Cavalry Regiments.]




[Pageheading: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _24th December 1857_.

The Queen only now returns to Lord Palmerston the Memorandum
containing the Heads of an arrangement for the future Government of
India, which the Committee of Cabinet have agreed to recommend. She
will have an opportunity of seeing Lord Palmerston before the Cabinet
meet again, and to hear a little more in detail the reasons which
influenced the Committee in their several decisions. She wishes only
to recommend two points to Lord Palmerston's consideration: 1st, the
mode of communication between the Queen and the new Government which
it is intended to establish. As long as the Government was that of the
Company, the Sovereign was generally left quite ignorant of decisions
and despatches; now that the Government is to be that of the
Sovereign, and the direction will, she presumes, be given in her name,
a direct official responsibility to her will have to be established.
She doubts whether any one but a Secretary of State could speak in
the Queen's name, like the Foreign Secretary to Foreign Courts, the
Colonial Secretary to the Governors of the Colonies, and the Home
Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and the Lieutenants of
the Counties of Great Britain, the Judges, Convocations, Mayors, etc.,
etc. On the other hand, would the position of a Secretary of State
be compatible with his being President of a Council? The Treasury
and Admiralty act as "My Lords," but they only administer special
departments, and do not direct the policy of a country in the Queen's
name. The mixture of supreme direction, and also of the conduct of the
administration of the department to be directed, has in practice
been found as inconvenient in the War Department as it is wrong in
principle.

The other point is the importance of having only _one_ Army, whether
native, local, or general, with one discipline and one command,
that of the Commander-in-Chief. This is quite compatible with first
appointments to the native Army, being vested as a point of patronage
in the members of the Council, but it ought to be distinctly
recognised in order to do away with those miserable jealousies between
the different military services, which have done more harm to us in
India than, perhaps, any other circumstance.

Perhaps Lord Palmerston would circulate this letter amongst the
members of the Committee who agreed upon the proposed scheme?




[Pageheading: DEATH OF HAVELOCK]


_Viscount Canning to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CALCUTTA, _24th December 1857_.

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
permission to express to your Majesty at the earliest opportunity the
respectful gratitude with which he has received your Majesty's most
gracious letter of the 9th of November.

However certain Lord Canning might have been as to the sentiments with
which your Majesty would view the spirit of bitter and unreasoning
vengeance against your Majesty's Indian subjects with which too many
minds are imbued in England as well as in this country, it has been
an indescribable pleasure to him to read what your Majesty has
condescended to write to him upon this painful topic. Your Majesty's
gracious kindness in the reference made by your Majesty to what is
said by the newspapers is also deeply felt by Lord Canning. He can
truly and conscientiously assure your Majesty of his indifference to
all such attacks--an indifference so complete indeed as to surprise
himself.

Lord Canning fears that the satisfaction which your Majesty will have
experienced very shortly after the date of your Majesty's letter, upon
receiving the news of Sir Henry Havelock's entry into Lucknow, will
have been painfully checked by the long and apparently blank interval
which followed, and during which your Majesty's anxieties for the
ultimate safety of the garrison, largely increased by many precious
lives, must have become more intense than ever. Happily, this suspense
is over; and the real rescue effected by a glorious combination of
skill and intrepidity on the part of Sir Colin Campbell and his troops
must have been truly gratifying to your Majesty.[56] The defence of
Lucknow and the relief of the defenders are two exploits which,
each in their kind, will stand out brightly in the history of these
terrible times.

... Lord Canning has not failed to transmit your Majesty's gracious
message to Sir Colin Campbell, and has taken the liberty to add your
Majesty's words respecting his favourite 93rd, which will not be
less grateful to the brave old soldier than the expression of your
Majesty's consideration for himself.

Your Majesty has lost two most valuable officers in Sir Henry Havelock
and Brigadier-General Neill. They were very different, however. The
first was quite of the old school--severe and precise with his men,
and very cautious in his movements and plans--but in action bold
as well as skilful. The second very open and impetuous, but full of
resources; and to his soldiers as kind and thoughtful of their comfort
as if they had been his children.

With earnest wishes for the health and happiness of your Majesty and
the Prince, Lord Canning begs permission to lay at your Majesty's feet
the assurance of his most dutiful and devoted attachment.

    [Footnote 56: Sir Colin Campbell had relieved Lucknow on
    the 17th of November, but Sir Henry Havelock (as he had now
    become) died from illness and exhaustion. General Neill had
    been killed on the occasion of the reinforcement in September,
    _ante_, 12th November, 1857.]




[Pageheading: ARMY ORGANISATION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th December 1857_.

The Queen has received Lord Panmure's letter and Memorandum of the
24th. She must say that she still adheres to her views as formerly
expressed. Lord Panmure admits that the two plans don't differ
materially in expense. It becomes, then, a mere question of
organisation and of policy. As to the first, all military authorities
of all countries and times agree upon the point that numerous _cadres_
with fewer men give the readiest means of increasing an army on short
notice, the main point to be attended to in a constitutional and
democratic country like England. As to the second, a system of
organisation will always be easier defended than mere numbers
arbitrarily fixed, and Parliament ought to have the possibility of
voting more or voting fewer men, according to their views of the
exigencies of the country, or the pressure of finance at different
times, and to be able to do so without deranging the organisation.

The Queen hopes Lord Panmure will look at our position, as if the
Indian demands had not arisen, and he will find that to come to
Parliament with the Cavalry borne on the estimates reduced by three
regiments (as will be the case even after two shall have returned from
India, and the two new ones shall have been formed), will certainly
not prove _too little_ anxiety on the part of the Government to cut
down our military establishments.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXVII


On the 25th of January of the new year (1858) Prince Frederick William
of Prussia (afterwards the Emperor Frederick) was married, with
brilliant ceremonial, to the Princess Royal, at the Chapel Royal, St
James's, an event marked by general national rejoicings; another event
in the private life of the Queen, but one of a melancholy character,
was the death of the Duchess of Orleans at the age of forty-four.

A determined attempt was made by Orsini, Pierri, and others, members
of the Carbonari Society, to assassinate the Emperor and Empress of
the French by throwing grenades filled with detonating powder under
their carriage. The Emperor was only slightly hurt, but several
bystanders were killed, and very many more wounded. The plot had been
conceived, and the grenades manufactured in England, and a violently
hostile feeling was engendered in France against this country, owing
to the prescriptive right of asylum enjoyed by foreign refugees. The
French _militaires_ were particularly vehement in their language,
and Lord Palmerston so far bowed to the demands of the French Foreign
Minister as to introduce a Bill to make the offence of conspiracy
to murder, a felony instead of, as it had previously been, a
misdemeanour. The Conservative Party supported the introduction of the
Bill, but, on the second reading, joined with eighty-four Liberals
and four Peelites in supporting an Amendment by Mr Milner Gibson,
postponing the reform of the Criminal Law till the peremptory demands
of Count Walewski had been formally answered. The Ministry was
defeated and resigned, and Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli returned to
Office. Orsini and Pierri were executed in Paris, but the state trial
in London of a Dr Bernard, a resident of Bayswater, for complicity,
ended, mainly owing to the menacing attitude of France over the
whole question, in an acquittal. The Italian nationality of the chief
conspirators endangered, but only temporarily, the important _entente_
between France and Sardinia.

Before the resignation of the Ministry, the thanks of both Houses of
Parliament were voted to the civil and military officers of India for
their exertions in suppressing the Mutiny; the Opposition endeavoured
to obtain the omission of the name of Lord Canning from the address,
till his conduct of affairs had been discussed. The difficulties in
India were not at an end, for Sir Colin Campbell had been unable to
hold Lucknow, and had transferred the rescued garrison to Cawnpore,
which he re-occupied. It was not till the end of March that Lucknow
was captured by the Commander-in-Chief, who was raised to the peerage
as Lord Clyde, after the taking of Jhansi and of Gwalior in Central
India, by Sir Hugh Rose, had virtually terminated the revolt.

In anticipation of the capture of Lucknow, the Governor-General had
prepared a proclamation for promulgation in Oudh, announcing that,
except in the case of certain loyal Rajahs, proprietary rights in the
soil of the province would be confiscated. One copy of the draft was
sent home, and another shown to Sir James Outram, Chief Commissioner
of Oudh, and, in consequence of the latter's protest against its
severity, as making confiscation the rule and not the exception, an
exemption was inserted in favour of such landowners as should actively
co-operate in restoring order. On receiving the draft in its unaltered
form, Lord Ellenborough, the new President of the Board of Control,
forwarded a despatch to Lord Canning, strongly condemning his action,
and, on the publication of this despatch, the Ministry narrowly
escaped Parliamentary censure. Lord Ellenborough himself resigned,
and was succeeded by Lord Stanley. Attempts had been made by both Lord
Palmerston and Lord Derby to pass measures for the better government
of India. After two Bills had been introduced and withdrawn, the
procedure by resolution was resorted to, and a measure was ultimately
passed transferring the Government of India to the Crown.

The China War terminated on the 26th of June, by the treaty of
Tien-tsin, which renewed the treaty of 1842, and further opened up
China to British commerce. A dispute with Japan led to a treaty
signed at Yeddo by Lord Elgin and the representatives of the Tycoon,
enlarging British diplomatic and trade privileges in that country.

The Budget of Mr Disraeli imposed for the first time a penny stamp on
bankers' cheques; a compromise was arrived at on the Oaths question,
the words "on the true faith of a Christian" having hitherto prevented
Jews from sitting in Parliament. They were now enabled to take the
oath with the omission of these words, and Baron Rothschild took his
seat for the City of London accordingly.

Among the other events of importance in the year were the satisfactory
termination of a dispute with the Neapolitan Government arising out
of the seizure of the _Cagliari_; a modified union, under a central
Commission, of Moldavia and Wallachia; the despatch of Mr Gladstone
by the Conservative Government as High Commissioner to the Ionian
Islands; and the selection of Ottawa, formerly known as Bytown, for
the capital of the Dominion of Canada.




CHAPTER XXVII

1858


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th January 1858_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Accept my warmest thanks for your kind and
affectionate letter of the 8th. I hope and trust to hear that your
cold has left you, and that on Monday I shall have the immense
happiness of embracing you.

It is a time of immense bustle and agitation; I _feel_ it is terrible
to give up one's poor child, and _feel_ very nervous for the coming
time, and for the departure. But I am glad to see Vicky is quite well
again and _unberufen_ has got over her cold and is very well. But
she has had ever since January '57 a succession of emotions and
leave-takings--most trying to any one, but particularly to so young
a girl with such _very_ powerful feelings. She is so much improved
in self-control and is so clever (I may say wonderfully so), and so
sensible that we can talk to her of anything--and therefore shall miss
her sadly. But we try _not_ to dwell on or to think of _that_, as I
am sure it is much better _not_ to do so and not get ourselves _émus_
beforehand, or she will break down as well as we, and that never would
do.

To-day arrive (on a visit _here_) _her_ Court--which is a very good
thing, so that she will get acquainted with them....

The affection for her, and the loyalty shown by the country at large
on this occasion is _most_ truly gratifying--and for so young a child
really _very, very_ pleasing to our feelings. The Nation look upon
her, as Cobden said, as "_England's_ daughter," and as if they married
a child of their own, which is _very_ satisfactory, and shows, in
spite of a few newspaper follies and absurdities, how really _sound_
and _monarchical_ everything is in this country. Now, with Albert's
love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th February 1858_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Accept my warmest thanks for your very kind and
affectionate letter of the 4th, with such kind accounts of our dear
child, who was so thankful for your kindness and affection, and of
whose immense and universal success and admirable behaviour--natural
yet dignified--we have the most charming accounts. I send you a letter
from Augusta[1] (Mecklenburg), which will give you an idea of the
impression produced, begging you to let me have it back soon. She is
quite well and _not_ tired. But the separation was _awful_, and the
poor child was _quite_ broken-hearted, particularly at parting from
her dearest beloved papa, whom she _idolises_. _How_ we miss her, I
can't say, and never having been separated from her since thirteen
years above a fortnight, I am in a constant fidget and impatience to
know everything about _every_thing. It is a _great, great_ trial for
a _Mother_ who has watched over her child with such anxiety day after
day, to see her far away--dependent on herself! But I have great
confidence in her good sense, clever head, kind and good heart, in
Fritz's excellent character and devotion to her, and in faithful E.
Stockmar, who possesses her _entire_ confidence.

The blank she has left behind is _very great_ indeed....

To-morrow is the eighteenth anniversary of my blessed marriage, which
has brought such universal blessings on this country and Europe! For
_what_ has not my beloved and perfect Albert done? Raised monarchy to
the _highest_ pinnacle of _respect_, and rendered it _popular_ beyond
what it _ever_ was in this country!

The Bill proposed by the Government to improve the law respecting
conspiracy and assassination will pass, and Lord Derby has been most
useful about it.[2] But people are very indignant here at the conduct
of the French officers, and at the offensive insinuations against this
country.[3]....

Hoping to hear that you are quite well, and begging to thank Leopold
very much for his very kind letter, believe me, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 1: Elder daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge,
    and now Grand Duchess-Dowager of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.]

    [Footnote 2: Lord Derby and his party, however, changed their
    attitude in the next few days, and succeeded in putting the
    Government in a minority.]

    [Footnote 3: On the 14th of January, the assassination of the
    French Emperor, which had been planned in England by Felice
    Orsini and other refugees, was attempted. On the arrival
    of the Imperial carriage at the Opera House in the Rue
    Lepelletier, explosive hand-grenades were thrown at it, and
    though the Emperor and Empress were unhurt, ten people were
    either killed outright or died of their wounds, and over one
    hundred and fifty were injured. Notwithstanding the scene of
    carnage, their Majesties maintained their composure and sat
    through the performance of the Opera. In the addresses of
    congratulation to the Emperor on his escape (published, some
    of them inadvertently, in the official _Moniteur_), officers
    commanding French regiments used language of the most
    insulting character to England, and Count Walewski, the French
    Foreign Minister, in a despatch, recommended the British
    Government to take steps to prevent the right of asylum being
    abused.]




[Pageheading: DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _19th February 1858_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is
sorry to have to inform your Majesty that the Government were beat
this evening on Mr Milner Gibson's[4] Amendment by a majority of
19,[5] the numbers being for his Amendment, 234, and against it 215.

Mr Milner Gibson began the Debate by moving his Amendment in a speech
of considerable ability, but abounding in misrepresentation, which
nevertheless produced a marked effect upon the House. Mr Baines
followed, but only argued the Bill without replying to Mr Gibson's
speech. This was remarked upon by Mr Walpole, who followed him, and
who said that though he approved of the Bill he could not vote for
reading it a second time until Count Walewski's despatch had been
answered. Mr MacMahon supported the Amendment, as did Mr Byng. Sir
George Grey, who followed Mr Walpole, defended the Bill and the course
pursued by the Government in not having answered Count Walewski's
despatch until after the House of Commons should have affirmed the
Bill by a Second Reading. Mr Spooner remained steady to his purpose,
and would vote against the Amendment, though in doing so he should
differ from his friends. Lord Harry Vane opposed the Amendment, as
interfering with the passing of the Bill, and Mr Bentinck took the
same line, and replied to some of the arguments of Mr Milner Gibson.
Mr Henley said he should vote for the Amendment. The Lord Advocate
made a good speech against it. Mr Gladstone spoke with his
usual talent in favour of the Amendment, and was answered by the
Attorney-General in a speech which would have convinced men who had
not taken a previous determination. He was followed by Mr Disraeli,
who seemed confident of success, and he was replied to by Viscount
Palmerston, and the House then divided.

It seems that Lord Derby had caught at an opportunity of putting the
Government in a minority. He saw that there were ninety-nine Members
who were chiefly of the Liberal Party, who had voted against the Bill
when it was first proposed, and who were determined to oppose it in
all its stages. He calculated that if his own followers were to join
those ninety-nine, the Government might be run hard, or perhaps be
beaten, and he desired all his friends[6] to support Mr Milner Gibson;
on the other hand, many of the supporters of the Government, relying
upon the majority of 200, by which the leave to bring the Bill in had
been carried, and upon the majority of 145 of last night, had gone out
of town for a few days, not anticipating any danger to the Government
from Mr Gibson's Motion, and thus an adverse division was obtained.
Moreover, Count Walewski's despatch, the tone and tenor of which had
been much misrepresented, had produced a very unfavourable effect on
the mind of members in general, and there was a prevailing feeling
very difficult to overcome, that the proposed Bill was somehow or
other a concession to the demand of a Foreign Government. The Cabinet
will have to consider at its meeting at three o'clock to-morrow what
course the Government will have to pursue.

    [Footnote 4: Mr Milner Gibson had found a seat at
    Ashton-under-Lyne.]

    [Footnote 5: The Conspiracy Bill aimed at making conspiracy
    to murder a felony, instead of, as it had previously been, a
    misdemeanour, and leave had been given by a large majority to
    introduce it; but when Count Walewski's despatch to Count de
    Persigny came to be published, the feeling gained ground that
    the Government had shown undue subservience in meeting the
    representations of the French Ambassador. The despatch had
    not actually been answered, although verbal communications had
    taken place. The opposition to the Bill was concerted by Lord
    John Russell and Sir James Graham; see Parker's _Sir James
    Graham_, vol. ii. p. 236, and the observation of the Prince,
    _post_, 21st February, 1858. The purport of the Amendment was
    to postpone any reform in the criminal law till the French
    despatch had been replied to.]

    [Footnote 6: See Ashley's _Life of Lord Palmerston_, vol. ii.
    p. 146.]




[Pageheading: RESIGNATION OF THE GOVERNMENT]

[Pageheading: LORD DERBY SUMMONED]

[Pageheading: OFFER TO LORD DERBY]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1858_.

Lord Palmerston came at five o'clock from the Cabinet, and tendered
his resignation in his own name, and that of his Colleagues. The
Cabinet had well considered their position and found that, as the vote
passed by the House, although the result of an accidental combination
of parties, was virtually a vote of censure upon their conduct, they
could not with honour or with any advantage to the public service
carry on the Government.

The combination was the whole of the Conservative Party (Lord Derby's
followers), Lord John Russell, the Peelites, with Mr Gladstone and
the whole of the Radicals; but the Liberal Party generally is just now
very angry with Lord Palmerston personally, chiefly on account of his
apparent submission to French dictation, and the late appointment of
Lord Clanricarde as Privy Seal, who is looked upon as a reprobate.[7]
Lord Clanricarde's presence in the House of Commons during the Debate,
and in a conspicuous place, enraged many supporters of Lord Palmerston
to that degree that they voted at once with the Opposition.

    [Footnote 7: Since his triumph at the polls in 1857, Lord
    Palmerston had been somewhat arbitrary in his demeanour, and
    had defied public opinion by taking Lord Clanricarde into the
    Government, after some unpleasant disclosures in the Irish
    Courts. While walking home on the 18th, after obtaining an
    immense majority on the India Bill, he was told by Sir Joseph
    Bethell that he ought, like the Roman Consuls in a triumph,
    to have some one to remind him that he was, as a minister, not
    immortal. Next day he was defeated.]

The Queen wrote to Lord Derby the letter here following;[8] he came a
little after six o'clock. He stated that nobody was more surprised
in his life than he had been at the result of the Debate, after the
Government had only a few days before had a majority of more than 100
on the introduction of their Bill. He did not know how it came about,
but thought it was the work of Lord John Russell and Sir James Graham
in the interest of the Radicals; Mr Gladstone's junction must have
been accidental. As to his own people, they had, owing to his
own personal exertions, as the Queen was aware, though many very
unwillingly, supported the Bill; but the amendment of Mr Milner Gibson
was so skilfully worded, that it was difficult for them not to vote
for it; he had to admit this when they came to him to ask what they
should do, merely warning them to save the Measure itself, which the
Amendment did. He then blamed the Government very much for leaving
Count Walewski's despatch unanswered before coming before Parliament,
which he could hardly understand.

    [Footnote 8: Summoning him to advise her.]

On the Queen telling him that the Government had resigned, and that
she commissioned him to form a new Administration, he begged that
this offer might not be made to him without further consideration, and
would state clearly his own position. After what had happened in 1851
and 1855, if the Queen made the offer he _must_ accept it, for if he
refused, the Conservative Party would be broken up for ever. Yet
he would find a majority of two to one against him in the House of
Commons, would have difficulty in well filling the important offices,
found the external and internal relations of the country in a
most delicate and complicated position, war in India and in China,
difficulties with France, the Indian Bill introduced and a Reform
Bill promised; nothing but the forbearance and support of some of his
opponents would make it possible for him to carry on any Government.
The person who was asked first by the Sovereign had always a great
disadvantage; perhaps other combinations were possible, which, if
found not to answer, would make him more readily accepted by the
country. The position of Lord Palmerston was a most curious one,
the House of Commons had been returned chiefly for the purpose of
supporting him _personally_, and he had obtained a working majority
of 100 (unheard of since the Reform Bill), yet his supporters had no
principles in common and they generally suspected him; the question of
the Reform Bill had made him and Lord John run a race for popularity
which might lead to disastrous consequences. Lord Derby did not at all
know what support he would be able to obtain in Parliament.

The Queen agreed to deferring her offer, and to take further time for
consideration on the understanding that if she made it it would at
once be accepted. Lord Derby expressed, however, his fear that the
resignation of the Palmerston Cabinet might only be for the purpose of
going through a crisis in order to come back again with new strength,
for there existed different kinds of resignations, some for this
purpose, others really for abandoning office.

A conversation which I had with Lord Clarendon after dinner, convinced
me that the Cabinet had sent in their resignations from the real
conviction of the impossibility to go on with honour and success; all
offers of the friends of the Government to pass a vote of confidence,
etc., etc., had been rejected. Lord Derby was the only man who could
form a Government; Mr Gladstone would probably join him. The whole
move had been planned, and most dexterously, by Sir James Graham.

ALBERT.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1858_.

The Queen has reconsidered the question of the formation of a new
Government as she had settled with Lord Derby yesterday, and now
writes to him to tell him that further reflection has only confirmed
her in her former resolution to offer the task to Lord Derby. The
resignation of the present Government is the result of a conscientious
conviction on their part, that, damaged by the censure passed upon
them in the House of Commons, they cannot with honour to themselves,
or usefulness to the country, carry on public affairs, and Lord
Derby is at the head of the only Party which affords the materials
of forming a new Government, is sufficiently organised to secure a
certain support, and which the country would accept as an alternative
for that hitherto in power. Before actually offering any specific
office to anybody, Lord Derby would perhaps have another interview
with the Queen; but it would be right that he should have satisfied
himself a little as to his chances of strengthening his hands before
she sees him. With regard to the position of the India Bill, the Queen
must also have a further conversation with him.




[Pageheading: LORD DERBY'S VIEW]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _21st February 1858_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, begs your Majesty to accept his
grateful acknowledgment of the signal mark of your Majesty's favour,
with which he has this morning been honoured. Encouraged by your
Majesty's gracious confidence, he does not hesitate to submit himself
to your Majesty's pleasure, and will address himself at once to the
difficult task which your Majesty has been pleased to entrust to him.
He fears that he can hardly hope, in the formation of a Government,
for much extrinsic aid; as almost all the men of eminence in either
House of Parliament are more or less associated with other parties,
whose co-operation it would be impossible to obtain. Lord Derby will
not, however, hesitate to make the attempt in any quarters, in which
he may think he has any chance of success. With regard to the filling
up of particular offices, Lord Derby would humbly beg your Majesty to
bear in mind that, although among his own personal friends there will
be every desire to make individual convenience subservient to the
public interest, yet among those who are not now politically connected
with him, there may be some, whose co-operation or refusal might
be greatly influenced by the office which it was proposed that they
should hold; and, in such cases, Lord Derby must venture to bespeak
your Majesty's indulgence should he make a definite offer, subject, of
course, to your Majesty's ultimate approval.

As soon as Lord Derby has made any progress in his proposed
arrangements, he will avail himself of your Majesty's gracious
permission to solicit another Audience.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1858_.

The Queen has just received Lord Derby's letter, and would wish under
all circumstances to see him at six this evening, in order to hear
what progress he has made in his plans. The two offices the Queen is
most anxious should not be prejudged in any way, before the Queen has
seen Lord Derby again, are the Foreign and the War Departments.




[Pageheading: MR GLADSTONE AND LORD GREY]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _21st February 1858_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty the two
letters which he has this evening received from Lord Grey and Mr
Gladstone.[9] The reasons contained in the latter do not appear to
Lord Derby to be very conclusive; but he fears the result must be that
he cannot look, in the attempt to form a Cabinet, to much extraneous
assistance. With deep regret Lord Derby is compelled to add that he
finds he cannot rely with certainty on the support of his son as a
member of his proposed Cabinet.[10] Still, having undertaken the task
he has in obedience to your Majesty's commands, Lord Derby will not
relax in his efforts to frame such a Government as may be honoured
with your Majesty's gracious approval, and prove itself equal to the
emergency which calls it together.

While in the very act of putting up this letter, Lord Derby has
received one, which he also presumes to enclose to your Majesty,
from Lord St Leonards, alleging his advanced age as a reason for not
accepting the Great Seal which he formerly held. This reply has been
wholly unexpected; and it is yet possible that Lord St Leonards may be
induced, at least temporarily, to withdraw his resignation. Should it,
however, prove otherwise, and Lord Derby should succeed in making his
other arrangements, he would humbly ask your Majesty's permission to
endeavour to persuade Mr Pemberton Leigh to accept that high office,
of course accompanied by the honour of the Peerage, which he is aware
has been already on more than one occasion offered to him. Lord Derby
begs to add that he has not had the slightest communication with
Mr Pemberton Leigh on the subject, nor has the least idea as to his
feelings upon it.

    [Footnote 9: Lord Grey wrote--"I am much obliged to you for
    the manner in which you have asked my assistance in performing
    the task confided to you by Her Majesty.

    "I am not insensible to the danger of the present crisis, or
    to the duty it imposes on public men, of giving any aid
    in their power towards forming an Administration which may
    command respect. I am also aware that the settlement of the
    important political questions, on which we have differed,
    has removed many of the obstacles which would formerly have
    rendered my acting with you impracticable. Upon the other
    hand, upon carefully considering the present state of affairs
    and the materials at your disposal (especially in the House
    of Commons) for forming an Administration, and that all the
    political friends with whom I have been connected, would
    probably be opposed to it, I do not think it would be either
    useful to you or honourable to myself that I should singly
    join your Government."

    Mr Gladstone wrote--"I am very sensible of the importance of
    the vote taken on Friday, and I should deeply lament to see
    the House of Commons trampled on in consequence of that vote.
    The honour of the House is materially involved in giving it
    full effect. It would therefore be my first wish to aid, if
    possible, in such a task; and remembering the years when
    we were colleagues, I may be permitted to say that there is
    nothing in the fact of your being the Head of a Ministry,
    which would avail to deter me from forming part of it.

    "Among the first questions I have had to put to myself in
    consequence of the offer, which you have conveyed to me in
    such friendly and flattering terms, has been the question,
    whether it would be in my power by accepting it, either alone,
    or in concert with others, to render you material service.

    "After the long years, during which we have been separated,
    there would be various matters of public interest requiring to
    be noticed between us; but the question I have mentioned is a
    needful preliminary.

    "Upon the best consideration which the moment allows, I think
    it plain that alone, as I must be, I could not render you
    service worth your having.

    "The dissolution of last year excluded from Parliament men
    with whom I had sympathies, and it in some degree affected the
    position of those political friends with whom I have now for
    many years been united, through evil and (much more rarely)
    good report.

    "Those who lament the rupture of old traditions may well
    desire the reconstruction of a Party; but the reconstitution
    of a Party can only be effected, if at all, by the return of
    the old influences to their places, and not by the junction of
    one isolated person.

    "The difficulty is now enhanced in my case by the fact that in
    your party, reduced as it is at the present moment in numbers,
    there is a small but active and not unimportant section, who
    avowedly regard me as the representative of the most dangerous
    ideas. I should thus, unfortunately, be to you a source of
    weakness in the heart of your own adherents, while I should
    bring you no Party or group of friends to make up for their
    defection or discontent.

    "For the reasons which I have thus stated or glanced at, my
    reply to your letter must be in the negative.

    "I must, however, add that a Government formed by you at this
    time will in my opinion have strong claims upon me, and upon
    any one situated as I am, for favourable presumptions, and
    in the absence of conscientious difference on important
    questions, for support.

    "I have had an opportunity of seeing Lord Aberdeen and Sidney
    Herbert, and they fully concur in the sentiment I have just
    expressed."]

    [Footnote 10: See _ante_, 31st October, 1855, note 87.]




[Pageheading: THE CHANCELLORSHIP]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _22nd February 1858_.

The Queen acknowledges Lord Derby's letter of yesterday, and returns
him these three letters. She much regrets that he cannot reckon on the
support and assistance in the Government, which he is about to form,
of such able men. The Queen authorises Lord Derby to offer the office
of Lord Chancellor with a Peerage to Mr Pemberton Leigh; but she fears
from what passed on previous occasions that he is not likely to accept
it.[11]

    [Footnote 11: He declined the office, and the Great Seal was
    offered to and accepted by Sir Frederick Thesiger, who was
    created Lord Chelmsford.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _22nd February 1858_.

The Queen has had a long conversation with the Duke of Newcastle,
which however ended, as Lord Derby will have expected from what the
Duke must have told him, in his declaring his conviction that he could
be of no use to the new Government by joining it, or in persuading his
friends to change their minds as to joining. The Duke was evidently
much pleased by the offer, but from all he said of his position, the
Queen could gather that it was in vain to press him further.



[Pageheading: THE NEW CABINET]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _25th February 1858_.

Lord Derby presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and fears that
after your Majesty's most gracious acceptance of the propositions
which he has made, he may appear to your Majesty very vacillating, in
having at the last moment to submit to your Majesty another change....
But he finds that Lord John Manners, though he consented to take the
Colonial Department, would infinitely prefer resuming his seat at the
Board of Works; and on the urgent representation of his Colleagues
that the Government would be strengthened by such a step, Lord Stanley
has consented to accept office; and the arrangement which he would now
venture humbly to submit to your Majesty would be the appointment of
Lord Stanley to the Colonial Secretaryship, and Lord John Manners to
the Board of Works....

The Ministry as it                            The Ministry as formed
stood on the 1st of                            by the Earl of Derby
  January 1858.                                 in February 1858.


VISCOUNT PALMERSTON     _First Lord of the_   EARL OF DERBY.
                          _Treasury_

MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE    (_Without Office_).

LORD CRANWORTH         _Lord Chancellor_      LORD CHELMSFORD.

EARL GRANVILLE         _President of the_     MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.
                          _Council_

MARQUIS OF CLANRICARDE _Lord Privy Seal_      EARL OF HARDWICKE.


Sir GEORGE GREY        _Home Secretary_       Mr WALPOLE.

EARL OF CLARENDON      _Foreign Secretary_    EARL OF MALMESBURY.

MR LABOUCHERE          _Colonial Secretary_   LORD STANLEY
  (afterwards LORD                              (afterwards EARL
    TAUNTON)                                     OF DERBY).

LORD PANMURE           _War Secretary_        GENERAL PEEL.
  (afterwards EARL
    OF DALHOUSIE)

Sir G. C. LEWIS        _Chancellor of the_    Mr DISRAELI
                         _Exchequer_           (afterwards EARL
                                                OF BEACONSFIELD)

Sir CHARLES WOOD        _First Lord of the_   Sir JOHN PAKINGTON
  (afterwards VISCOUNT    _Admiralty_           (afterwards LORD
  HALIFAX)                                       HAMPTON).

Mr VERNON SMITH         _President of the_    EARL OF ELLENBOROUGH.
  (afterwards LORD        _Board of Control_
  LYVEDEN)

LORD STANLEY OF         _President of the_    Mr HENLEY.
  ALDERLEY                _Board of Trade_

Mr M. T. BAINES         _Chancellor of the_   (_Not in the Cabinet._)
                          _Duchy of Lancaster_

DUKE OF ARGYLL          _Postmaster-General_  (_Not in the Cabinet._)

(_Not in the Cabinet_)  _First Commissioner_  LORD JOHN MANNERS
                          _of Works and_        (afterwards
                          _Public Buildings_     DUKE OF RUTLAND).




[Pageheading: THE ORSINI PLOT]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR AND THE CARBONARI]


_The Earl of Malmesbury to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _7th March 1858_.

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his humble duty to the Queen, and has
the honour to thank your Majesty for the interesting letter[12] sent
to him by your Majesty, and which he returns to your Majesty by
this messenger. Lord Malmesbury hopes and believes that much of the
excitement that prevailed on the _other_ side the water is subsiding.
All his letters from _private_ sources, and the account of Colonel
Claremont, agree on this point. In this country, if our differences
with France are settled, it is probable that the popular jealousy of
foreign interference will be killed; but at least for some time it
will show foreign Courts how dangerous it is _even to criticise_ our
_domestic_ Institutions. Lord Malmesbury has carefully abstained from
giving Lord Cowley or M. de Persigny the slightest hope that we could
alter the law, but has confined himself to saying that the law was
itself as much on its trial as the prisoners Bernard and Truelove.[13]
If, therefore, the law should prove to be a phantom of justice, or
anomalous in its action, whatever measures your Majesty's Government
may hereafter take to reform it, it will be received by France as an
unexpected boon and a proof of good faith and amity.

In attending to the idea referred to by your Majesty that the Emperor
took the oath of the Assassins' Society, Lord Malmesbury can almost
assure your Majesty that such is not the case.[14] Lord Malmesbury
first made His Majesty's acquaintance in Italy when they were both
very young men (twenty years of age). They were _both_ under the
influence of those romantic feelings which the former history and
the present degradation of Italy may naturally inspire even at a more
advanced time of life--and the Prince Louis Napoleon, to the knowledge
of Lord Malmesbury, certainly engaged himself in the conspiracies of
the time--but it was with the higher class of the Carbonari, men like
General Sercognani and General Pépé. The Prince used to talk to Lord
Malmesbury upon these men and their ideas and plans with all the
openness that exists between two youths, and Lord Malmesbury has many
times heard him condemn with disgust the societies of villains which
hung on the flank of the conspirators, and which deterred many of the
best families and ablest gentlemen in Romagna from joining them. Lord
Malmesbury believes the report therefore to be a fable, and at some
future period will, if it should interest your Majesty, relate to
your Majesty some details respecting the Emperor's share in the
conspiracies of 1828-1829....

    [Footnote 12: This was a letter from the Prince de Chimay to
    the King of the Belgians in reference to the Orsini plot.]

    [Footnote 13: Before Lord Palmerston's Government had retired,
    Simon Bernard, a resident of Bayswater, was committed
    for trial for complicity in the Orsini _attentat_. He was
    committed for conspiracy only, but, at the instance of the
    new Government, the charge was altered to one of feloniously
    slaying one of the persons killed by the explosion. As this
    constructive murder was actually committed on French soil,
    Bernard's trial had, under the existing law, to be held before
    a Special Commission, over which Lord Campbell presided. The
    evidence overwhelmingly established the prisoner's guilt,
    but, carried away by the eloquent, if irrelevant, speech of Mr
    Edwin James for the defence, the jury acquitted him. Truelove
    was charged with criminal libel, for openly approving, in
    a published pamphlet, Orsini's attempt, and regretting
    its failure. The Government threw up the prosecution,
    pusillanimously in the judgment of Lord Campbell, who records
    that he carefuly studied, with a view to his own hearing
    of the case, the proceedings against Lord George Gordon for
    libelling Marie Antoinette, against Vint for libelling the
    Emperor Paul, and against Peltier for libelling Napoleon I.]

    [Footnote 14: The Queen had written:--"There are people
    who pretend that the Emperor, who was once a member of the
    Carbonari Club of Italy, and who is supposed to be condemned
    to death by the rules of that Secret Society for having
    violated his oath to them, has offered them to pardon Orsini,
    if they would release him from his oath, but that the Society
    refused the offer. The fact that all the attempts have been
    made by Italians, Orsini's letter, and the almost mad state of
    fear in which the Emperor seems to be now, would give colour
    to that story." Orsini had written two letters to the Emperor,
    one read aloud at his trial by his counsel, Jules Favre, the
    other while lying under sentence of death. He entreated the
    Emperor to secure Italian independence.]




_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _12th March 1858_.
(_Friday._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The Opposition benches very full; the temper not kind.

The French announcement,[15] which was quite unexpected, elicited
cheers, but only from the Ministerial side, which, he confesses, for a
moment almost daunted him.

Then came a question about the _Cagliari_ affair,[16] on which the
Government had agreed to take a temperate course, in deference to
their predecessors--but it was not successful. The ill-humour of the
House, diverted for a moment by the French news, vented itself on this
head.

What struck the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the course of the
evening most was the absence of all those symptoms of "fair trial,"
etc., which have abounded of late in journals and in Society.

Lord John said something; Mr Gladstone said something; but it was not
encouraging.

Nevertheless, in 1852 "fair trial" observations abounded, and the
result was not satisfactory; now it may be the reverse.

The House is wild and capricious at this moment.

Your Majesty once deigned to say that your Majesty wished in these
remarks to have the temper of the House placed before your Majesty,
and to find what your Majesty could not meet in newspapers. This
is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's excuse for these rough notes,
written on the field of battle, which he humbly offers to your
Majesty.

    [Footnote 15: Parliament reassembled on the 12th of March,
    and Mr Disraeli then stated that the "painful misconceptions"
    which had for some time existed between England and France
    had been "terminated in a spirit entirely friendly and
    honourable."]

    [Footnote 16: Two English engineers, Watt and Park, had been
    on the Sardinian steamer _Cagliari_ when she was seized by the
    Neapolitan Government, and her crew, including the engineers,
    imprisoned at Naples. At the instance of the Conservative
    Government, who acted more vigorously than their predecessors
    had done, the engineers were released, and £3,000 paid to them
    as compensation.]




[Pageheading: THE NAVY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _15th March 1858_.

The Queen sends to Lord Derby a Memorandum on the state of preparation
of our Navy in case of a war, the importance of attending to which
she has again strongly felt when the late vote of the House of Commons
endangered the continuance of the good understanding with France.
The whole tone of the Debate on the first night of the reassembly of
Parliament has shown again that there exists a great disposition
to boast and provoke foreign Powers without any sincere desire to
investigate our means of making good our words, and providing for
those means which are missing.

The Queen wishes Lord Derby to read this Memorandum to the Cabinet,
and to take the subject of which it treats into their anxious
consideration.

The two appendices, stating facts, the one with regard to the manning
of the Navy by volunteers with the aid of bounties, the other with
regard to impressment, have become unfortunately more lengthy than the
Queen had wished, but the facts appeared to her so important that she
did not like to have any left out.




_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _22nd March 1858_.
(_Monday, half-past eight o'clock._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

This evening was a great contrast to Friday. House very full on both
sides....

Mr B. Osborne commenced the general attack, of which he had given
notice; but, after five years' silence, his weapons were not as bright
as of yore. He was answered by the Government, and the House, which
was very full, became much excited. The Ministerial benches were in
high spirit.

The Debate that ensued, most interesting and sustained.

Mr Horsman, with considerable effect, expressed the opinions of that
portion of the Liberal Party, which does not wish to disturb the
Government.

Lord John Russell vindicated the Reform Bill of 1832 from the attacks
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and with great dignity and
earnestness.

He was followed by Mr Drummond on the same subject in a telling
epigram. Then Lord Palmerston, in reply to the charges of Mr Horsman,
mild and graceful, with a sarcastic touch. The general impression of
the House was very favourable to the Ministry; all seemed changed; the
Debate had cleared the political atmosphere, and, compared with our
previous state, we felt as if the eclipse was over.




[Pageheading: RESIGNATION OF PERSIGNY]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _23rd March 1858_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--You will, I trust, forgive my letter being short,
but we have only just returned from Aldershot, where we went this
morning, and really have been quite baked by a sun which was hardly
hotter in August, and without a breath of wind....

Good Marie[17] has not answered me, will you remind her? I _did_ tell
her I hoped for her child's[18] sake she would give up the nursing, as
we Princesses had other duties to perform. I hope she was not shocked,
but I felt I only did what was right in telling her so.

I grieve to say we lose poor Persigny, which is a real loss--but he
would resign. Walewski behaved ill to him. The Emperor has, however,
named a successor which is _really_ a compliment to the Army and the
Alliance--and besides a distinguished and independent man, viz. the
Duc de Malakhoff.[19] This is very gratifying.

In all this business, Pélissier has, I hear, behaved extremely well. I
must now conclude. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 17: Marie Henriette, Duchess of Brabant, afterwards
    Queen of the Belgians; died 1902.]

    [Footnote 18: Princess Louise of Belgium was born on the 4th
    of February.]

    [Footnote 19: Formerly General Pélissier; see _ante_, 14th
    September, 1855, note 80.]




[Pageheading: THE HOUSE OF COMMONS]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _23rd March 1858_.
(_Tuesday._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The discussion on the Passport Question, this evening, was not without
animation; the new Under-Secretary, Mr Fitzgerald,[20] makes way with
the House. He is very acute and quick in his points, but does not
speak loud enough. His tone is conversational, which is the best
for the House of Commons, and the most difficult; but then the
conversation should be heard. The general effect of the discussion was
favourable to the French Government.

In a thin House afterwards, the Wife's Sister Bill was brought
in after a division. Your Majesty's Government had decided among
themselves to permit the introduction, but a too zealous member of the
Opposition forced an inopportune division.

    [Footnote 20: William Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald, M.P.
    for Horsham 1852-1865. He was Governor of Bombay 1867-1872.]




_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _25th March 1858_.
(_Thursday._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The Lease of the Lord-Lieutenancy was certainly renewed to-night--and
for some years. The majority was very great against change at present,
and the future, which would justify it, it was agreed, should be the
very decided opinion of the Irish members. It was left in short to
Ireland.

The Debate was not very animated, but had two features--a most
admirable speech by Lord Naas,[21] quite the model of an official
statement, clear, calm, courteous, persuasive, and full of knowledge;
it received the praises of both sides.

The other incident noticeable was Mr Roebuck's reply, which was one of
the most apt, terse, and telling I well remember, and not bitter.

    [Footnote 21: Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant,
    afterwards (as Earl of Mayo) Viceroy of India, assassinated in
    the Andaman Islands, 1872.]




[Pageheading: CAPTURE OF LUCKNOW]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _13th April._
(_Tuesday night._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The night tranquil and interesting--Lord Bury, with much intelligence,
introduced the subject of the Straits Settlements;[22] the speech of
Sir J. Elphinstone,[23] master of the subject, and full of striking
details, produced a great effect. His vindication of the convict
population of Singapore, as the moral element of that strange society,
might have been considered as the richest humour, had it not been for
its unmistakable simplicity.

His inquiry of the Governor's lady, who never hired any servant but
a convict, whether she employed in her nursery "Thieves or
Murderers?"--and the answer, "Always murderers," was very
effective....

The Secretary of State having sent down to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer the telegram of the fall of Lucknow,[24] the Chancellor of
the Exchequer read it to the House, having previously in private shown
it to Lord Palmerston and others of the late Government.

After this a spirited Debate on the conduct of Members of Parliament
corruptly exercising their influence, in which the view recommended
by the Government, through Mr Secretary Walpole, was adopted by the
House.

    [Footnote 22: These detached provinces were at this time under
    the control of the Governor-General of India; but in 1867 they
    were formed into a Crown Colony.]

    [Footnote 23: Sir J. D. H. Elphinstone, Conservative member
    for Portsmouth, afterwards a Lord of the Treasury.]

    [Footnote 24: Sir Colin Campbell had at length obtained entire
    possession of the city, which had been in the hands of the
    rebels for nine months.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _2nd April 1858_.

MY DEAR UNCLE,--I am sure you will kindly be interested in knowing
that the Examination and Confirmation of Bertie have gone off
extremely well.[25] Everything was conducted as at Vicky's, and I
thought _much_ of you, and wished we could have had the happiness of
having you there. I enclose a Programme. The examination before
the Archbishop and ourselves by the Dean on Wednesday was long and
difficult, but Bertie answered extremely well, and his whole manner
and _Gemüthsstimmung_ yesterday, and again to-day, at the Sacrament
to which we took him, was gentle, good, and proper.... Now, good-bye,
dear Uncle. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 25: See the Prince Consort's letter to Stockmar,
    _Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. iv. p. 205.]




[Pageheading: NAVAL PREPARATIONS]


_Queen Victoria to Sir John Pakington._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th April 1858_.

The Queen has received Sir John Pakington's letter of the 10th,
and thanks him for the transmission of the printed copy of his
confidential Memorandum.

The object of the paper which the Queen sent from Osborne to Lord
Derby was to lead by a thorough investigation to an exact knowledge
of the state of our Naval preparations in the event of a war, with
the view to the discovery and suggestion of such remedies as our
deficiencies imperatively demand. This investigation and thorough
consideration the Queen expects from her Board of Admiralty, chosen
with great care, and composed of the most competent Naval Authorities.
She does not wish for the opinion of this or that person, given
without any responsibility attaching to it, nor for mere returns
prepared in the Office for the First Lord, but for the collective
opinion of Sir John Pakington and his Board with the responsibility
attaching to such an opinion given to the Sovereign upon a subject
upon which the safety of the Empire depends. The Queen has full
confidence in the honour of the gentlemen composing the Board,
that they will respect the _confidential_ character of the Queen's
communication, and pay due regard to the importance of the subject
referred to them.




[Pageheading: PROCEDURE BY RESOLUTION]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _12th April 1858_.
(_Monday night._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

House reassembled--full. Chancellor of Exchequer much embarrassed with
impending statement, on the part of your Majesty's servants, that they
intended to propose Resolutions on the Government of India, instead of
at once proceeding with their Bill.[26]

Received, five minutes before he took his seat, confidential
information, that Lord John Russell, wishing to defeat the prospects
of Lord Palmerston, and himself to occupy a great mediatory position,
intended, himself, to propose the mezzotermine of resolutions!

Chancellor of Exchequer felt it was impossible, after having himself
introduced a Bill, to interfere with the Resolutions of an independent
member, and one so weighty and distinguished: therefore, confined his
announcement to the Budget on Monday week, and consequent postponement
of India Bill.

Soon after, Lord John rose, and opened the case, in a spirit most calm
and conciliatory to the House, and to your Majesty's Government.

The Chancellor of Exchequer responded, but with delicacy, not wishing
rudely to deprive Lord John of his position in the matter; deeming it
arrogant--but the real opposition, extremely annoyed at all that was
occurring, wishing, at the same time, to deprive Lord John of the
mediatory position, and to embarrass your Majesty's Government
with the task and responsibility of preparing and introducing the
resolutions, _insisted_ upon Government undertaking the task. As the
Chancellor of Exchequer read the sketch of the Resolutions in his box,
this was amusing; he undertook the responsibility, thus urged, and
almost menaced; Lord John, though greatly mortified at not bringing
in the Resolutions himself, for it is since known they were prepared,
entirely and justly acquits Chancellor of Exchequer of any arrogance
and intrusion, and the affair concludes in a manner dignified and more
than promising. It is now generally supposed that after the various
Resolutions have been discussed, and passed, the Bill of your
Majesty's servants, modified and reconstructed, will pass into a law.

The Chancellor of Exchequer will have a copy of the Resolutions,
though at present in a crude form, made and forwarded to your Majesty,
that they may be considered by your Majesty and His Royal Highness.
Chancellor of Exchequer will mention this to Lord Derby, through whom
they ought to reach your Majesty.

After this unexpected and interesting scene, because it showed, in its
progress, a marked discordance between Lord John and Lord Palmerston,
not concealed by the latter chief, and strongly evinced by some of his
principal followers, for example, Sir C. Wood, Mr Hall, Mr Bouverie,
the House went into Committee on the Navy Estimates which Sir J.
Pakington introduced in a speech, lucid, spirited, and comprehensive.
The feeling of the House as to the maintenance of the Navy was good.

    [Footnote 26: Lord Palmerston had obtained leave, by a large
    majority, to introduce an India Bill, vesting the Government
    of India in a Council nominated by the Crown. On his accession
    to office, Mr Disraeli proposed that the Council should be
    half nominative and half elective, and in particular that
    London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Belfast should
    each be entitled to elect one member. These proposals were
    widely condemned, and especially by Mr Bright.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st May 1858_.

The Queen has received a draft to Lord Cowley on the Danish
Question,[27] which she cannot sanction as submitted to her. The
question is a most important one, and a false step on our part may
produce a war between France and Germany. The Queen would wish Lord
Malmesbury to call here in the course of to-morrow, when the Prince
could discuss the matter with him more fully.

    [Footnote 27: The dispute as to the Duchies of Schleswig and
    Holstein. The German Diet had refused to ratify the Danish
    proposal that Commissioners should be appointed by Germany and
    Denmark to negotiate an arrangement of their differences.
    Lord Malmesbury had written that the Governments (including
    England) which had hitherto abstained from interference,
    should now take measures to guard against any interference
    with the integrity of the Danish Monarchy. The Queen and
    Prince considered that the attitude of the British Government
    was unnecessarily pro-Danish.]




[Pageheading: THE OUDH PROCLAMATION]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _7th May 1858_.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

At half-past four o'clock, before the Chancellor of the Exchequer
could reach the House, the Secretary of the Board of Control had
already presented the Proclamation of Lord Canning, and the despatch
thereon of Lord Ellenborough, without the omission of the Oudh
passages.[28]

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has employed every means to recall the
papers, and make the necessary omissions, and more than once thought
he had succeeded, but unhappily the despatch had been read by Mr
Bright, and a considerable number of members, and, had papers once
in the possession of the House by the presentation of a Minister
been surreptitiously recalled and garbled, the matter would have been
brought before the House, and the production of the complete documents
would have been ordered.

In this difficult and distressing position the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, after consultation with his colleagues in the House of
Commons, thought it best, and, indeed, inevitable, to submit to
circumstances, the occurrence of which he deeply regrets, and humbly
places before your Majesty.

    [Footnote 28: See _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVII.
    The draft proclamation (differing from the ultimate form in
    which it was issued), with a covering despatch, were sent
    home to the Board of Control by Lord Canning, who at the same
    time wrote an unofficial letter to Mr Vernon Smith, then
    President of the Board, stating that he had not been able to
    find time before the mail left to explain his reasons for
    adopting what appeared a somewhat merciless scheme of
    confiscation. Lord Ellenborough thereupon wrote a despatch,
    dated the 19th of April, reprobating the Governor-General for
    abandoning the accustomed policy of generous conquerors, and
    for inflicting on the mass of the population what they would
    feel as the severest of punishments. This despatch was made
    public in England, as will be seen from the dates, before it
    could possibly have reached Lord Canning.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th May 1858_.

The Queen has received Lord Derby's letter of last night, and was
glad to see that he entirely concurs with her in the advantage and
necessity of appointing a Commission to consider the question of the
organisation of the future Army of India.[29] She only hopes that no
time will be lost by the reference to the different bodies whom Lord
Derby wishes previously to consult, and she trusts that he will not
let himself be overruled by Lord Ellenborough, who may very likely
consider the opinion and result of the labours of a Committee as
entirely valueless as compared with his own opinions.

The Queen has not the same confidence in them, and is, therefore,
doubly anxious to be advised by a body of the most competent persons
after most careful enquiry.

    [Footnote 29: The Queen had written that she thought the
    Commission should be composed of officers of the Home and the
    Indian Armies, some politicians, the Commander-in-Chief, the
    President of the Board of Control, with the Secretary-for-War
    as President.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th May 1858_.

The Queen has received Lord Derby's letter of yesterday. She is
very sorry for the further complication likely to arise out of the
communication to the House of Commons of the despatch in full,
which is most unfortunate, not less so than the communication of it
previously to Mr Bright and his friends. The Queen is anxious not to
add to Lord Derby's difficulties, but she must not leave unnoticed the
fact that the despatch in question ought never to have been written
without having been submitted to the Queen. She hopes Lord Derby will
take care that Lord Ellenborough will not repeat this, which must
place her in a most embarrassing position.




[Pageheading: ELLENBOROUGH'S RESIGNATION]


_The Earl of Ellenborough to Queen Victoria._

EATON SQUARE, _10th May 1858_.

Lord Ellenborough presents his most humble duty to your Majesty, and
regarding the present difficult position of your Majesty's Government
as mainly occasioned by the presentation to Parliament of the letter
to the Governor-General with reference to the Proclamation in Oudh,
for which step he considers himself to be solely responsible, he deems
it to be his duty to lay his resignation at your Majesty's feet.

Lord Ellenborough had no other object than that of making it
unmistakably evident to the Governor as well as to the governed in
India that your Majesty was resolved to temper Justice with Clemency,
and would not sanction any measure which did not seem to conduce to
the establishment of permanent peace.[30]

    [Footnote 30: On the same day Lord Shaftesbury in the
    Lords and Mr Cardwell in the Commons gave notice of Motions
    censuring the Government for Lord Ellenborough's despatch. The
    debates commenced on the 14th.]




[Pageheading: A CRISIS]

[Pageheading: ELLENBOROUGH'S STATEMENT]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th May 1858_.

Lord Derby had an Audience at twelve o'clock. He said he had received
a copy of Lord Ellenborough's letter, and had told him that should
the Queen consult him (Lord Derby) he should advise her to accept the
resignation, Lord Ellenborough had behaved in the handsomest
manner, and expressed his belief that he had brought bad luck to the
Government, for this was now the second difficulty into which they had
got by his instrumentality, the first having been the Election Clause
in the India Bill. Lord Derby hoped that this resignation would stop
the vote of censure in the House of Commons, as the House could not
hold responsible and punish the Cabinet for that with which they had
had no concern. If the House persisted, it was clear that the motives
were factious, and he hoped the Queen would allow him to threaten a
Dissolution of Parliament, which he was certain would stop it. The
Queen refused to give that permission; she said he might leave it
quite undecided whether the Queen would grant a Dissolution or not,
and take the benefit of the doubt in talking to others on the subject;
but she must be left quite free to act as she thought the good of the
country might require at the time when the Government should have been
beat; there had been a Dissolution within the year, and if a Reform
Bill was passed there must be another immediately upon it; in the
meantime most violent pledges would be taken as to Reform if a general
election were to take place now. Lord Derby concurred in all this, and
said he advised the threat particularly in order to render the reality
unnecessary; when she persisted in her refusal, however, on the
ground that she could not threaten what she was not prepared to do, he
appeared very much disappointed and mortified.

We then discussed the state of the question itself, and urged the
necessity of something being done to do away with the injurious
impression which the publication of the despatch must produce in
India, as the resignation of Lord Ellenborough left this quite
untouched, and Parliament might with justice demand this. He agreed,
after much difficulty, to send a telegraphic despatch, which might
overtake and mitigate the other. On my remark that the public were
under the impression that there had been collusion, and that Mr Bright
had seen the despatch before he asked his question for its production,
he denied this stoutly, but let us understand that Mr Bright had
known of the existence of such a despatch, and had wished to put his
question before, but had been asked to defer it until Lord Canning's
Proclamation should have appeared in the newspapers! (This is nearly
as bad!!) The Queen could not have pledged herself to dissolve
Parliament in order to support such tricks!

ALBERT.

It was arranged that Lord Derby should accept Lord Ellenborough's
resignation in the Queen's name.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Ellenborough._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th May 1858_.

The Queen has to acknowledge Lord Ellenborough's letter, which she did
not wish to do before she had seen Lord Derby.

The latter has just left the Queen, and will communicate to Lord
Ellenborough the Queen's acceptance of his resignation, which he has
thought it right to tender to her from a sense of public duty.




[Pageheading: LORD DERBY'S DESPATCH]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE [_11th May_].
(9 P.M., _Tuesday_.)

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty the
expression of his hope that the discussion, or rather conversation,
which has taken place in the House of Lords this evening, may have
been not only advantageous to the Government, but beneficial in its
results to the public service....

After the discussion, Lord Ellenborough made his statement; and it is
only doing bare justice to him to say that he made it in a manner
and spirit which was most highly honourable to himself, and was fully
appreciated by the House.

Public sympathy was entirely with him, especially when he vindicated
the policy which he had asserted, but took upon himself the whole
and sole responsibility of having authorised the publication of the
despatch--which he vindicated--and announced his own resignation
rather than embarrass his colleagues. Lord Grey shortly entered
his protest against bringing into discussion the policy of the
Proclamation and of the consequent despatch, into which Lord
Ellenborough had certainly entered too largely, opposing, very
broadly, the principle of confiscation against that of clemency. Lord
Derby followed Lord Grey, and after an interruption on a point of
form, vindicated the policy advocated in Lord Ellenborough's despatch,
at the same time that he expressed not only his hope, but his belief,
that in practice the Governor-General would be found (and more
especially judging from the alterations inserted in the last
Proclamation of which an unofficial copy has been received) acting
on the principles laid down in Lord Ellenborough's despatch. In the
tribute which he felt it his duty to pay to the personal, as well as
political, character of Lord Ellenborough, the House concurred with
entire unanimity and all did honour to the spirit which induced him
to sacrifice his own position to the public service; and to atone, and
more than atone, for an act of indiscretion by the frank avowal that
he alone was responsible for it. Lord Derby thinks that the step which
has been taken may, even probably, prevent the Motions intended to
be made on Friday; and if made, will, almost certainly, result in a
majority for the Government.

Lord Derby believes that he may possibly be in time to telegraph
to Malta early to-morrow, to Lord Canning. In that case he will
do himself the honour of submitting to your Majesty a copy of the
message[31] sent, though he fears it will be impossible to do
so before its despatch. He proposes in substance to say that the
publication has been disapproved--that Lord Ellenborough has resigned
in consequence--but that your Majesty's Government adhere in principle
to the policy laid down in the despatch of 19th April, and entertain
an earnest hope that the Governor-General, judging from the
modifications introduced into the amended Proclamation, has, in fact,
the intention of acting in the same spirit; but that your Majesty's
Government are still of opinion that confiscation of private property
ought to be made the exception, and not the rule, and to be enforced
only against those who may stand out after a certain day, or who may
be proved to have been guilty of more than ordinary crimes.

Lord Derby hopes that your Majesty will excuse a very hasty sketch of
a very large subject.

    [Footnote 31: _The Earl of Derby to Lord Lyons._

    _12th May 1858._

    Send on the following message to Lord Canning by the Indian
    mail.

    The publication of the Secret Despatch of 19th April has
    been disapproved. Lord Ellenborough has resigned office. His
    successor has not been appointed. Nevertheless the policy
    indicated in the above despatch is approved by Her Majesty's
    Government. Confiscation of property of private individuals
    (Talookdars and others) ought to be the exception and not the
    rule. It ought to be held out as a penalty on those who do not
    come in by a given day. From your amended Proclamation it
    is hoped that such is your intention. Let it be clearly
    understood that it is so. You were quite right in issuing no
    Proclamation till after a signal success. That once obtained,
    the more generous the terms, the better. A broad distinction
    must be drawn between the Talookdars of Oudh and the Sepoys
    who have been in our service. Confidence is felt in your
    judgment. You will not err if you lean to the side of
    humanity, especially as to nations of Oudh.

    No private letters have been received from you since the
    change of Government.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

_14th May 1858._

The Queen returns the extracts Lord Derby has sent to her. Lord
Ellenborough's despatch,[32] now before her for the first time, is
very good and just in principle. But the Queen would be much surprised
if it did not entirely coincide with the views of Lord Canning, at
least as far as he has hitherto expressed any in his letters. So are
also the sentiments written by Sir J. Lawrence; they contain almost
the very expressions frequently used by Lord Canning.

Sir J. Login,[33] who holds the same opinion, and has great Indian
experience, does not find any fault with the Proclamation, however
seemingly it may sound at variance with these opinions, and this on
account of the peculiar position of affairs in Oudh. It is a great
pity that Lord Ellenborough, with his knowledge, experience, activity,
and cleverness, should be so entirely unable to submit to general
rules of conduct. The Queen has been for some time much alarmed at his
writing letters of his own to all the most important Indian Chiefs
and Kings explaining his policy. All this renders the position of a
Governor-General almost untenable, and that of the Government at home
very hazardous.

    [Footnote 32: This was a later despatch of Lord
    Ellenborough's, also in reference to the pacification of Oudh,
    and not shown to the Cabinet before it was sent.]

    [Footnote 33: See _ante_, 23rd September, 1857, note 41.]




[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN CONSULTED]

[Pageheading: PREROGATIVE OF DISSOLUTION]

[Pageheading: STATE OF PARTIES]


_Memorandum by Sir Charles Phipps._

[_Undated._ ? _15th May 1858._]

Upon being admitted to Lord Aberdeen, I informed him that the Queen
and Prince were anxious to hear his opinion upon the present most
unfortunate state of affairs, but that, knowing how easily every event
was perverted in such times as the present, Her Majesty and His
Royal Highness had thought that it might have been subject to
misapprehension had he been known to have been at Buckingham Palace,
and that I had been therefore directed to call upon him, with a view
of obtaining his opinion and advice upon certain important points.

The first was the question of a Dissolution of Parliament in the
event of the Government being defeated upon the question which was at
present pending. I told him that I was permitted to communicate to him
in the strictest confidence, that in a late Audience which Lord Derby
had with the Queen, he had asked her permission to be allowed to
announce that, in the event of an adverse majority, he had Her
Majesty's sanction to a Dissolution of Parliament.

That the Queen had declined to give such sanction, or even such a
pledge, and equally guarded herself against being supposed to have
made up her mind to refuse her sanction to a Dissolution, had told
Lord Derby that she could not then make any prospective decision
upon the subject. I told him that in point of fact Her Majesty was
disinclined to grant to Lord Derby her authority for a Dissolution,
but that the Queen had at once refused to grant to Lord Derby her
sanction for making the announcement he wished, as she considered that
it would be a very unconstitutional threat for him to hold over the
head of the Parliament, with her authority, by way of biassing their
decision.

Lord Aberdeen interrupted me by saying that the Queen had done quite
right--that he never heard of such a request being made, or authority
for such an announcement being sought--and he could not at all
understand Lord Derby making such an application. He knew that the
Government had threatened a Dissolution, that he thought that they had
a perfect right to do so, but that they would have been quite wrong in
joining the Queen's name with it.

He said that he had never entertained the slightest doubt that if
the Minister advised the Queen to dissolve, she would, as a matter
of course, do so. The Minister who advised the Dissolution took upon
himself the heavy responsibility of doing so, but that the Sovereign
was bound to suppose that the person whom she had appointed as a
Minister was a gentleman and an honest man, and that he would not
advise Her Majesty to take such a step unless he thought that it
was for the good of the country. There was no doubt of the power and
prerogative of the Sovereign to refuse a Dissolution--it was one
of the very few acts which the Queen of England could do without
responsible advice at the moment; but even in this case whoever
was sent for to succeed, must, with his appointment, assume
the responsibility of this act, and be prepared to defend it in
Parliament.

He could not remember a single instance in which the undoubted power
of the Sovereign had been exercised upon this point, and the advice of
the Minister to dissolve Parliament had been rejected--for it was
to be remembered that Lord Derby would be still at this time her
Minister--and that the result of such refusal would be that the Queen
would take upon herself the act of dismissing Lord Derby from office,
instead of his resigning from being unable longer to carry on the
Government.

The Queen had during her reign, and throughout the numerous changes
of Government, maintained an unassailable position of constitutional
impartiality, and he had no hesitation in saying that he thought it
would be more right, and certainly more safe, for her to follow the
usual course, than to take this dangerous time for exercising an
unusual and, he believed he might say, an unprecedented, course,
though the power to exercise the authority was undoubted.

He said that he did not conceive that any reasons of expediency as
to public business, or the possible effects of frequent general
elections, would be sufficient grounds for refusing a Dissolution (and
reasons would have to be given by the new Minister in Parliament),
and, as he conceived, the only possible ground that could be
maintained as foundation for such an exercise of authority would be
the fearful danger to the existence of our power in India, which
might arise from the intemperate discussion upon every hustings of
the proceedings of the Government with respect to that country--as the
question proposed to the country would certainly be considered to be
severity or mercy to the people of India.

Upon the second point, as to a successor to Lord Derby in the event
of his resignation, he said that the Queen would, he thought, have no
alternative but to send for Lord Palmerston. The only other person who
could be suggested would be Lord John Russell, and he was neither
the mover of the Resolutions which displaced the Government, nor the
ostensible head of the Opposition, which the late meeting at Cambridge
House pointed out Lord Palmerston to be. That he was not very fond of
Lord Palmerston, though he had forgiven him all, and he had had _much_
to forgive; and that in the last few days it had appeared that he had
less following than Lord John; but the Queen could not act upon such
daily changing circumstances, and it was evident that Lord Palmerston
was the ostensible man for the Queen to send for.

Lord Aberdeen seemed very low upon the state of public affairs. He
said that the extreme Liberals were the only Party that appeared to
gain strength. Not only was the Whig Party divided within itself,
hated by the Radicals, and having a very doubtful support from the
independent Liberals, but even the little band called the Peelites had
entirely crumbled to pieces. In the House of Lords, whilst the Duke of
Newcastle voted with the Opposition, he (Lord Aberdeen) had purposely
abstained from voting, whilst, in the House of Commons, Cardwell moved
the Resolution, and Mr Sidney Herbert would, he believed, vote for it;
Gladstone would speak on the other side, and Sir J. Graham would also
vote with the Government.

He concluded by saying that if the majority against the Government
was a very large one, he thought that Lord Derby ought not to ask to
dissolve; but that he knew that the members of the Government had said
that the present Parliament was elected upon a momentary Palmerstonian
cry, and was quite an exceptional case, and that they would not
consent to be driven from office upon its verdict.




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND DISSOLUTION]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _16th May 1858_.

We saw Lord Derby after church. He brought interesting letters from
Lord Canning to Lord Ellenborough, of which copies follow here. It
is evident that Lord Canning thinks that he is taking a most merciful
course, and expects pacification from his "Proclamation," attributing
the slow coming in of the chiefs to the Proclamation not being yet
sufficiently known.

Lord Ellenborough's, and indeed the Government's, hearts, must have
had curious sensations in reading Lord Canning's frank declaration,
that he did not mean to resign on hearing of the formation of the Tory
Government unless told to do so, and he had no fears that he would
be treated in a way implying want of confidence to make him resign,
feeling safe as to that in Lord Ellenborough's hands!

Lord Derby spoke much of the Debate, which he expects to go on for
another week. He expects to be beaten by from 15 to 35 votes under
present circumstances, but thinks still that he could be saved if it
were known that the Queen had not refused a Dissolution, which was
stoutly maintained by Lord Palmerston's friends. He begged again to
be empowered to contradict the assertion. The Queen maintained that it
would be quite unconstitutional to threaten Parliament, and to use
her name for that purpose. Lord Derby quite agreed, and disclaimed any
such intention, but said there were modes of letting the fact be known
without any risk. We agreed that we could not enter into such details.
The Queen allowed him (Lord Derby) to know that a Dissolution would
not be refused to him, and trusted that her honour would be safe in
his hands as to the use he made of that knowledge. He seemed greatly
relieved, and stated that had he had to resign, he would have
withdrawn from public business, and the Conservative Party would have
been entirely, and he feared for ever, broken up. On a Dissolution he
felt certain of a large gain, as the country was in fact tired of the
"Whig Family Clique"; the Radicals, like Mr Milner Gibson, Bright,
etc., would willingly support a Conservative Government.

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: COLLAPSE OF THE ATTACK]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._[34]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _21st May 1858_.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The fullest House; it is said 620 Members present; it was supposed we
should have divided at three o'clock in the morning; Mr Gladstone
was to have spoken for the Government at half-past ten--very great
excitement--when there occurred a scene perhaps unprecedented in
Parliament.

One after another, perhaps twenty Members, on the Opposition benches,
rising and entreating Mr Cardwell to withdraw his Resolution. After
some time, silence on the Government benches, Mr Cardwell went to
Lord John Russell, then to Lord Palmerston, then to Lord John Russell
again, then returned to Lord Palmerston, and retired with him.

What are called the interpellations continued, when suddenly Lord
Palmerston reappeared; embarrassed, with a faint smile; addressed the
House; and after various preluding, announced the withdrawal of the
Motion of Censure.

A various Debate followed; the Chancellor of the Exchequer
endeavouring, as far as regards Lord Canning, to fulfil your Majesty's
wishes. It is impossible to estimate the importance of this unforeseen
event to your Majesty's servants. It has strengthened them more
than the most decided division in their favour, for it has revealed
complete anarchy in the ranks of their opponents. With prudence and
vigilance all must now go right.

The speech of Sir James Graham last night produced a very great
effect. No report gives a fair idea of it. The great country
gentleman, the broad views, the fine classical allusions, the happiest
all omitted, the massy style, contrasted remarkably with Sir Richard
Bethell.

    [Footnote 34: Lord Shaftesbury's Motion in the Lords had been
    lost by a majority of nine. In the Commons, Mr Cardwell was
    replied to in a brilliant speech by Sir Hugh Cairns, the
    Solicitor-General. The speeches of Sir James Graham, Mr
    Bright, and others, showed that the Opposition was disunited,
    and when it was understood that Mr Gladstone would support the
    Ministry, the Liberal attack collapsed. Mr Disraeli, deprived
    of the satisfaction of making an effective reply, subsequently
    compared the discomfiture of his opponents to an earthquake
    in Calabria or Peru. "There was," he said, in the course of
    a speech at Slough, "a rumbling murmur, a groan, a shriek, a
    sound of distant thunder. No one knew whether it came from the
    top or bottom of the House. There was a rent, a fissure in
    the ground, and then a village disappeared, then a tall tower
    toppled down, and the whole of the Opposition benches became
    one great dissolving view of anarchy."]




[Pageheading: CAUSES OF THE COLLAPSE]

[Pageheading: OFFER TO MR GLADSTONE]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _23rd May 1858_.
(_Sunday night._)

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, gratefully acknowledges your
Majesty's gracious letter just received, and the telegraphic message
with which he was honoured in answer to his on Friday night. Your
Majesty can hardly be expected to estimate, at a distance from the
immediate scene of action, the effect of the event of that evening.
It was the utter explosion of a well-constructed mine, under the feet,
not of the assailed, but of the assailants; and the effect has been
the greater from the immense attendance in London of Members of the
House of Commons. No effort had been spared. Lord Castlerosse, only
just married, had been sent for from Italy--but Lord Derby hopes that
he had not been induced to come--for nothing. It is said that of
the 654 Members of whom the House is composed, 626 were actually
in London. The Government could rely on 304 to 308, and the whole
question turned on the absence, or the conversion, of a small number
of "Liberal" Members. The result is to be attributed to two causes;
first, and principally, to the fear of a Dissolution, and to the
growing conviction that in case of necessity your Majesty would
sanction such a course, which had been strenuously denied by Lord
Palmerston--and in which Lord Derby hopes that your Majesty will have
seen that your Majesty's name has never, for a moment, been brought in
question; and secondly, to the effect produced by the correspondence
between the Governor-General and Sir James Outram.[35] And here
Lord Derby may perhaps be allowed the opportunity of removing a
misconception from your Majesty's mind, as to any secret intelligence
or underhand intrigue between Lord Ellenborough and Sir James Outram,
to the detriment of Lord Canning. Lord Derby is in the position
to know that if there is one person in the world to whom Lord
Ellenborough has an utter aversion, and with whom he has no personal
or private correspondence, it is Sir James Outram. Anything therefore
in common in their opinions must be the result of circumstances wholly
irrespective of private concert. Lord Derby has written fully to Lord
Canning, privately, by the mail which will go out on Tuesday; and
while he has not concealed from him the opinion of your Majesty's
servants that the Proclamation, of which so much has been said,
conveyed too sweeping an Edict of Confiscation against the landowners,
great and small, of Oudh, he has not hesitated to express also his
conviction that Lord Canning's real intentions, in execution, would
not be found widely to differ from the views of your Majesty's
servants. He has expressed to Lord Canning his regret at the premature
_publication_ of the Draft Proclamation, at the same time that he has
pointed out the injustice done both to your Majesty's Government
and to the Governor-General by the (Lord Derby will hardly call
it fraudulent) suppression of the private letters addressed to the
President of the Board of Control, and deprecating judgment on the
text of the Proclamation, until explanation should be received. Lord
Derby cannot but be of opinion that this suppression, of which Lord
Palmerston was fully cognisant, was an act which no political or party
interests were sufficient to justify.

The state of the Government, during the late crisis, was such as
to render it impossible to make any arrangement for filling up Lord
Ellenborough's place at the Board of Control. Application has since
been made to Mr Gladstone,[36] with the offer of that post, or of that
of the Colonial Department, which Lord Stanley would give up for the
convenience of your Majesty's Government, though unwillingly, for
India. Mr Gladstone demurred, on the ground of not wishing to leave
his friends; but when pressed to name whom he would wish to bring with
him, he could name none. Finally, he has written to ask advice as to
his course of Sir James Graham, who has returned to Netherby, and
of Lord Aberdeen; and by them he will probably be guided. Should he
finally refuse, Lord Stanley _must_ take India; and the Colonies must
be offered in the first instance to Sir E. B. Lytton, who probably
will refuse, as he wants a Peerage, and is doubtful of his
re-election; and failing him, to Sir William Heathcote, the Member for
the University of Oxford, who, without official experience, has great
Parliamentary knowledge and influence, and, if he will accept, is
quite equal to the duties of the office. Lord Derby trusts that your
Majesty will forgive this long intrusion on your Majesty's patience.
He has preferred the risk of it, to leaving your Majesty uninformed as
to anything which was going on, or contemplated....

If Lord Dalhousie should be in a state to converse upon public
affairs, there is no one with whom Lord Derby could confer more
confidentially than with him; nor of whose judgment, though he regrets
to differ with him as to the annexation of Oudh, he has a higher
opinion. He will endeavour to ascertain what is his present state
of health, which he fears is very unsatisfactory, and will see and
converse with him, if possible.

    [Footnote 35: Especially Outram's remonstrance against what he
    considered the excessive severity of the Proclamation.]

    [Footnote 36: See Mr Disraeli's curious letter printed in
    Morley's _Gladstone_, vol. i. p. 587, asking Mr Gladstone
    whether the time had not come when he might deign to be
    magnanimous. Sir E. B. Lytton accepted the office.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th June 1858_.

The Queen has to thank Lord Derby for his satisfactory letter received
yesterday. She has heard from Mr Disraeli to-day relative to the
answer given by him to the question asked yesterday in the House of
Commons as to what the Government meant to do.[37] He says that he
hears there are rumours of other Motions on the subject. These the
Queen hopes there will be no difficulty in defeating.

The Duke of Cambridge seems rather uneasy altogether, but the Queen,
though equally anxious about it, owns she cannot contemplate
the possibility of any _real_ attempt to divest the Crown of its
prerogative in this instance. The Army will not, she feels sure, stand
it for a moment, and the Queen feels sure, that if properly defined
and explained, the House of Commons will not acquiesce in any such
disloyal proceeding.

The Queen does not understand Lord John Russell's voting with the
majority, for she never understood him to express any such opinion.

    [Footnote 37: A question was asked whether it was the
    intention of the Government to take any step in consequence
    of a resolution of the House in favour of placing the
    whole administration and control of the Army under the sole
    authority of a single Minister. Mr. Disraeli replied that
    "considering the great importance of the subject,... the
    comparatively small number of Members in the House when
    the division took pace, and the bare majority by which the
    decision was arrived at, Her Majesty's Government do not feel
    that it is their duty to recommend any measure in consequence
    of that resolution."]




[Pageheading: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _24th June 1858_.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

The India Bill was read a second time without a division.[38] Lord
Stanley made a clear and vigorous exposition of its spirit and
provisions; Mr Bright delivered a powerful oration on the condition
of India--its past government and future prospects; the rest of the
discussion weak and desultory.

No serious opposition apprehended in Committee, which the Chancellor
of the Exchequer has fixed for this day (Friday)[39] and almost hopes
that he may conclude the Committee on Monday. He proposes to proceed
with no other business until it is concluded.

When the Bill has passed, the temper of the House, and its sanitary
state,[40] will assist him in passing the remaining estimates with
rapidity; and he contemplates an early conclusion of the Session.

It will be a great thing to have carried the India Bill, which Mr
Thomas Baring, to-night, spoke of in terms of eulogy, and as a
great improvement on the project of the late Government. It is, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer really thinks, a wise and well-digested
measure, ripe with the experience of the last five months of
discussion; but it is only the antechamber of an imperial palace; and
your Majesty would do well to deign to consider the steps which are
now necessary to influence the opinions and affect the imagination of
the Indian populations. The name of your Majesty ought to be impressed
upon their native life. Royal Proclamations, Courts of Appeal, in
their own land, and other institutions, forms, and ceremonies, will
tend to this great result.

    [Footnote 38: This was the third Bill of the Session, and was
    founded on the Resolutions, _ante_, 12th April, 1858, note 26.
    The Government of India was transferred from the dual
    jurisdiction of the Company and the Board of Control, to the
    Secretary of State for India in Council, the members of the
    Council (after the provisions for representing vested interests
    should have lapsed) to be appointed by the Secretary of State.
    A certain term of residence in India was to be a necessary
    qualification, and the members were to be rendered incapable
    of sitting in Parliament, and with a tenure of office as
    assured as that of judges under the Act of Settlement.]

    [Footnote 39: The letter is ante-dated. The 24th of June was a
    Thursday.]

    [Footnote 40: In consequence of the polluted condition of
    the Thames, the Government carried a measure enabling the
    Metropolitan Board of Works, at a cost of £3,000,000, to
    purify "that noble river, the present state of which is little
    creditable to a great country, and seriously prejudicial
    to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of the
    Metropolis."--Extract from the Queen's Speech, at the close of
    the Session.]




[Pageheading: INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE]

[Pageheading: THE SOVEREIGN'S PREROGATIVES]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _8th July 1858_.

The Queen in reading in the papers yesterday, on her way here from the
camp, the Debate in the House of Commons of the previous night, was
shocked to find that in several important points her Government have
surrendered the prerogatives of the Crown. She will only refer to the
clauses concerning the Indian Civil Service and the right of peace and
war.

With respect to the first, the regulations under which servants of
the Crown are to be admitted or examined have always been an undoubted
right and duty of the Executive; by the clause introduced by Lord
Stanley the system of "Competitive Examination" has been confirmed by
Act of Parliament. That system may be right or wrong; it has since
its introduction been carried on under the Orders in Council; now
the Crown and Government are to be deprived of any authority in the
matter, and the whole examinations, selection, and appointments,
etc., etc., are to be vested in the Civil Commissioners under a
Parliamentary title.

As to the right of the Crown to declare war and make peace, it
requires not a word of remark; yet Lord Stanley agrees to Mr
Gladstone's proposal to make over this prerogative with regard to
Indian questions to Parliament under the auspices of the Queen's
Government; she is thus placed in a position of less authority than
the President of the American Republic.[41]

When a Bill has been introduced into Parliament, after having received
the Sovereign's approval, she has the right to expect that her
Ministers will not subsequently introduce important alterations
without previously obtaining her sanction. In the first of the two
instances referred to by the Queen, Lord Stanley introduced the
alteration himself; in the second he agreed to it even without asking
for a moment's delay; and the Opposition party, which attempted to
guard the Queen's prerogative, was overborne by the Government Leader
of the House.

The Queen must remind Lord Derby that it is to him as the head of the
Government that she looks for the protection of those prerogatives
which form an integral part of the Constitution.

    [Footnote 41: An important amendment made at the instance
    of Mr Gladstone provided that, except for repelling actual
    invasion or upon urgent necessity, the Queen's Indian forces
    should not be employed in operations outside India, without
    Parliamentary sanction.]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _16th July 1858_.

MY TRULY BELOVED VICTORIA,--Nothing can be _kinder_ or more
_affectionate_ than your dear letter of the 13th, and it would
have done _your warm heart_ good to have _seen how much I have been
delighted and moved by it_. I can only say that I love you both more
tenderly than I could love my own children. When your plans will be
nearer maturity, you will have the great kindness to let me know
what will be your Royal pleasure, to enable me _de m'y conformer bien
exactement_.

The feeling which occasions some grumbling at the Cherbourg visit[42]
is in fact a good feeling, but it is not over-wise. Two things are to
be done--(1) To make every reasonable exertion to remain on personal
good terms with the Emperor--which can be done. One party in England
says it is with the French nation that you are to be on loving terms;
this _cannot_ be, as the French dislike the English as a nation,
though they may be kind to you also personally. (2) The next is,
instead of a good deal of unnecessary abuse, to have the Navy so
organised that it can and must be superior to the French. All beyond
these two points is sheer nonsense.

After talking of Chambord,[43] to my utter horror he is here, and
asked yesterday to see me to-day. It is not fair to do so, as the
legitimists affect to this hour to consider [us] here as rebels.
I could not refuse to see him, as, though distantly, still he is a
relation; but I mean to do as they did in Holland, to receive him, but
to limit to his visit and my visit our whole intercourse. If he should
speak to me of going to England, I certainly mean to tell him _que
je considérais une visite comme tout à fait intempestive_.... Your
devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 42: On the 4th of August, the Queen and Prince,
    accompanied by the Prince of Wales, visited the Emperor and
    Empress at Cherbourg.]

    [Footnote 43: See _ante_, 16th January, 1854, and note 5.]




[Pageheading: BRITISH COLUMBIA]


_Queen Victoria to Sir E. Bulwer Lytton._

OSBORNE, _24th July 1858_.

The Queen has received Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's letter.[44] If the name
of New Caledonia is objected to as being already borne by another
colony or island claimed by the French, it may be better to give the
new colony west of the Rocky Mountains another name. New Hanover,
New Cornwall, and New Georgia appear from the maps to be the names of
sub-divisions of that country, but do not appear on all maps. The only
name which is given to the whole territory in every map the Queen has
consulted is "Columbia," but as there exists also a Columbia in South
America, and the citizens of the United States call their country
also Columbia, at least in poetry, "British Columbia" might be, in the
Queen's opinion, the best name.

    [Footnote 44: Stating that objections were being made in
    France to the name of New Caledonia being given to the
    proposed colony between the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains.]




[Pageheading: ARMY COMMISSIONS]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _29th July 1858_.

The Queen has been placed in a most unpleasant dilemma by the last
vote in the House of Commons;[45] she feels all the force of Lord
Derby's objections to risking another defeat on the same question and
converting the struggle into one against the Royal Prerogative; yet,
on the other hand, she can hardly sit still, and from mere want of
courage become a party to the most serious inroad which has yet
been made upon it. It is the introduction of the principle into
our legislation that the Sovereign is no longer the source of all
appointments under the Crown, but that these appointments are the
property of individuals under a Parliamentary title, which the Queen
feels bound to resist. Lord John Russell's Motion and Sir James
Graham's speech only went to the Civil appointments; but after their
Motion had been carried on a division, Lord Stanley gave way to Sir
De Lacy Evans also with regard to a _portion of the Army!_ If this
principle is recognised and sanctioned by the entire legislature, its
future extension can no longer be resisted on constitutional grounds,
and Lord John in fact reminded Lord Stanley that the latter had
stated that he only refrained from making the application general from
thinking it _premature_, himself being of opinion that it ought to
be carried further, and yet its extension to the Army reduces the
Sovereign to a mere signing machine, as, to carry the case to its
extreme consequence, _Law_ would _compel_ her to sign the Commission
for the officers, and they might have the right to sue at law for the
recovery of their property vested in them by Act of Parliament (viz.,
their Commissions) if the Crown doubted for any reason the fitness of
an appointment!! Have these consequences been considered and brought
distinctly before Parliament? It strikes the Queen that all the
Commons want is a Parliamentary security against the abolition of the
Competitive System of Examinations by the Executive. Can this not
be obtained by means less subversive of the whole character of our
Constitution? The Queen cannot believe that Lord Derby could not find
means to come to some agreement with the Opposition, and she trusts he
will leave nothing undone to effect this.

    [Footnote 45: The Lords Amendments on the subject of
    competitive examination were rejected by a majority of
    thirteen in the Commons, and, in the circumstances, Lord Derby
    had advised abiding by the decision and not risking another
    defeat.]




[Pageheading: NAVAL ESTIMATES]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _2nd August 1858_.

The Queen feels it her duty to address a few lines to Lord Derby on
the subject of the reports made to Sir John Pakington on the subject
of the French Naval preparations, to which she has already verbally
adverted when she saw Lord Derby last. These reports reveal a state
of things of the greatest moment to this country. It will be the first
time in her history that she will find herself in an absolute minority
of ships on the sea! and this inferiority will be much greater
in reality than even apparent, as our fleet will have to defend
possessions and commerce all over the world, and has even in Europe
a strategical line to hold extending from Malta to Heligoland, whilst
France keeps her fleet together and occupies the centre of that line
in Europe.

The Queen thinks it irreconcilable with the duty which the Government
owes to the country to be aware of this state of things without
straining every nerve to remedy it. With regard to men in whom we
are also totally deficient in case of an emergency, a Commission of
Enquiry is sitting to devise a remedy; but with regard to our ships
and dockyards we require action, and immediate action. The plan
proposed by the Surveyor of the Navy appears to the Queen excessively
moderate and judicious, and she trusts that the Cabinet will not
hesitate to empower its execution, bearing in mind that £200,000
spent now will probably do more work during the six or nine months
for working before us, than £2,000,000 would if voted in next year's
estimate, letting our arrears in the dockyards, already admitted to
be very great, accumulate in the interval. Time is most precious under
these circumstances!

It is true that this sum of money would be in excess of the estimates
of last Session, but the Queen feels sure that on the faith of the
reports made by the Admiralty, the Government would find no difficulty
in convincing Parliament that they have been good stewards of
the public money, in taking courageously the responsibility upon
themselves to spend judiciously what is necessary, and that the
country will be deeply grateful for the honesty with which they will
have served her.

The Queen wishes Lord Derby to communicate this letter to the Cabinet.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BABELSBERG, _15th August 1858_.

The Queen has asked Lord Malmesbury to explain in detail to Lord Derby
her objections to the draft of Proclamation for India. The Queen
would be glad if Lord Derby would write it himself in his excellent
language, bearing in mind that it is a female Sovereign who speaks
to more than 100,000,000 of Eastern people on assuming the direct
Government over them after a bloody civil war, giving them pledges
which her future reign is to redeem, and explaining the principles of
her Government. Such a document should breathe feelings of generosity,
benevolence, and religious feeling, pointing out the privileges which
the Indians will receive in being placed on an equality with the
subjects of the British Crown, and the prosperity following in the
train of civilisation.[46]

    [Footnote 46: The draft Proclamation was accordingly altered
    so as to be in strict harmony with the Queen's wishes. See
    _post_, 2nd December, 1858, and note 52.]




[Pageheading: PROCLAMATION FOR INDIA]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Stanley._

OSBORNE, _4th September 1858_.

The Queen sends to Lord Stanley a Memorandum embodying her wishes with
respect to the transaction of business between herself and the new
Secretary of State. He will find that she has omitted any reference
to Military appointments, as Lord Stanley seemed anxious to defer a
settlement on this point; she expects, however, that in all cases in
which her pleasure was taken by the Commander-in-Chief, even during
the administration of the East India Company and Board of Control, the
same practice will be continued unaltered.

The Queen has received Lord Stanley's letter of yesterday. He has
given her no answer with respect to Sir James Melvill.[47]

Whenever the Proclamation is finally printed, the Queen would wish
to have a copy sent her. A letter she has received from Lady Canning
speaks of Lord Canning's supposed Amnesty in Oudh as a fabrication;
she has sent the letter to Lord Derby.

    [Footnote 47: The Queen had asked how it was that Sir J.
    Melvill's name was not included among those submitted to
    her for appointments in connection with the new military
    organisation in India. Sir James had been Financial Secretary,
    and afterwards Chief Secretary, for the East India Company. He
    now became the Government Director of Indian railways, and a
    Member of the Council of India.]




_Memorandum by Queen Victoria._

OSBORNE, _4th September 1858_.

The Queen wishes the practice of the Office[48] with reference to
submissions to her to be as nearly as possible assimilated to that of
the Foreign Office.

All despatches, when received and perused by the Secretary of State,
to be sent to the Queen. They may be merely forwarded in boxes from
the Office without being accompanied by any letter from the Secretary
of State, unless he should think an explanation necessary. No draft of
instructions or orders to be sent out without having been previously
submitted to the Queen. The label on the boxes of the Office
containing such drafts to be marked "For Approval."

In cases of Civil appointments the Secretary of State will himself
take the Queen's pleasure before communicating with the gentlemen to
be appointed.

Copies or a _précis_ of the Minutes of the Council to be regularly
transmitted to the Queen.

The Secretary of State to obtain the Queen's sanction to important
measures previously to his bringing them before the Council for
discussion.

    [Footnote 48: The India Office.]





[Pageheading: LORD PALMERSTON]


_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

OSBORNE, _4th September 1858_.

The most remarkable feature of the last Session of Parliament has been
the extraordinary unpopularity of Lord Palmerston, for which nothing
can account; the only direct reproach which is made to him, is to have
appointed Lord Clanricarde Privy Seal, and to have been overbearing in
his manner. Yet a House of Commons, having been elected solely for the
object, and on the ground of supporting Lord Palmerston personally
(an instance in our Parliamentary history without parallel), holds him
suddenly in such abhorrence, that not satisfied with having upset his
Government, which had been successful in all its policy, and thrown
him out, it will hardly listen to him when he speaks. He is frequently
received with hooting, and throughout the last Session it sufficed
that [he] took up any cause for the whole House voting against
it, even if contrary to the principles which they had themselves
advocated, merely to have the satisfaction of putting him into a
minority. How can this be accounted for? The man who was without
rhyme or reason stamped the only _English_ statesman, the champion of
liberty, the man of the people, etc., etc., now, without his having
changed in any one respect, having still the same virtues and the same
faults that he always had, young and vigorous in his seventy-fifth
year, and having succeeded in his policy, is now considered the head
of a clique, the man of intrigue, past his work, etc., etc.--in fact
hated! and this throughout the country. I cannot explain the enigma
except by supposing that people had before joined in a cry which they
thought was popular without themselves believing what they said and
wrote, and that they now do the same; that the Radicals used his name
to destroy other statesmen and politicians, and are destroying him now
in his turn; that they hoped to govern through him, and that they
see a better chance now of doing it through a weak and incapable Tory
Government which has entered into a secret bargain for their support.
Still the phenomenon remains most curious.[49]

[Footnote 49: Charles Greville, in his Journal (16th June 1858), noted
the same circumstance, and drew the inference that Palmerston's public
career was drawing to a close.]

Lord Palmerston himself remains, outwardly at least, quite cheerful,
and seems to care very little about his reverses; he speaks on all
subjects, bids for the Liberal support as before, even at the expense
of his better conviction (as he used to do), and keeps as much as
possible before the public; he made an official tour in Ireland, and
is gone to visit the Emperor Napoleon at Paris; his Chinese policy
upon which the general Dissolution had taken place in 1857 has just
been crowned by the most complete success by the advantageous treaty
signed at Pekin by Lord Elgin; and yet even for this the public will
not allow him any credit. Lady Palmerston, on the contrary, is said to
be very unhappy and very much hurt.

ALBERT.




[Pageheading: THE IONIAN ISLANDS]


_Sir E. Bulwer Lytton to Queen Victoria._

COLONIAL OFFICE, _1st November 1858_.

Sir E. B. Lytton, with his humble duty to the Queen, submits to your
Majesty's pleasure the appointment of the Right Honourable W. E.
Gladstone, as special High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands.

Differences of long standing between the Executive and Legislative
branches of the Ionian Constitution, aggravated by recent dissensions
between the Senate and Municipal Magistrature, render it very
expedient to obtain the opinion of a statesman of eminence, formed
upon the spot, as to any improvements in the workings and results
of the Constitution which it might be in the power of the protecting
Sovereign to effect. And Sir Edward thinks it fortunate for the public
service that a person so distinguished and able as Mr Gladstone should
be induced to undertake this mission.

Sir Edward ventures to add that, should Her Majesty be graciously
pleased to approve this appointment, it is extremely desirable that
Mr Gladstone should depart at the earliest possible day, and that Sir
Edward may be enabled to make the requisite announcement to the Lord
High Commissioner by the first mail.




[Pageheading: LORD STANLEY AND MR DISRAELI]

[Pageheading: SUGGESTED RESIGNATION]


_Mr Disraeli to the Prince Albert._

GROSVENOR GATE, _18th November 1858_.
(_Wednesday night._)

SIR,--After the Committee of the Cabinet on the Reform Bill, which
sat this morning for five hours, Lord Stanley expressed a wish to have
some private conversation with me.

Although I would willingly have deferred the interview till a moment
when I was less exhausted, I did not think it wise, with a person of
his temperament, to baulk an occasion, and therefore assented at once.

I give your Royal Highness faithfully, but feebly, and not completely,
the results of our conversation.

1. With respect to the relations between his office and Her Majesty,
he said he was conscious that they had been conducted with great
deficiency of form, and, in many respects, in an unsatisfactory
manner; but he attributed all this to the inexperience and "sheer
ignorance" of a Department which had not been accustomed to direct
communication with the Crown. Some portion of this, he said, he had
already remedied, and he wished to remedy all, though he experienced
difficulties, on some of which he consulted me.

He accepted, without reserve, and cordially, my position, that he must
act always as the Minister of the Queen, and not of the Council, but
he said I took an exaggerated view of his relations with that body;
that he thoroughly knew their respective places, and should be
vigilant that they did [? not] overstep their limits; that he had
never been, of which he reminded me, an admirer of the East India
Company, and had no intention of reviving their system; that the
incident of submitting the legal case to the Council, etc., had
originated in a demand on the part of the Commander-in-Chief, which
involved, if complied with, a grant of money, and that, under these
circumstances, an appeal to the Council was inevitable.

2. He agreed with me, that, on all military matters, he would
habitually communicate with the Commander-in-Chief, and take His Royal
Highness's advice on all such points; and that copies of all military
papers, as I understood Lord Stanley, should be furnished to His Royal
Highness.

3. Having arrived at this point, I laid before him the views
respecting _military unity_, which formed the subject matter of
recent conversations. Lord Stanley assented to the principles which
I attempted to enforce; and in reply to my reminding him that the
old military system of India had entirely broken down, he said
he contemplated terminating the independent authority of the
Commander-in-Chief at the inferior Presidencies, and of
establishing the absolute and complete authority of Her Majesty's
Commander-in-Chief in India. He did not seem to see his way to any
further step at present, and I did not think it judicious on this
occasion to press the subject further.

Throughout this interview, Lord Stanley's manner was candid, very
conciliatory, and, for him, even soft. He was pleased to say that it
was a source of great satisfaction to him that your Royal Highness had
deigned to confer confidentially with me on the subject, and make me,
as it were, a "Mediator" on matters which, he assured me with great
emphasis, had occasioned him an amount of anxiety almost intolerable.

He had recurred, in the course of this interview, to a suggestion
which he had thrown out on Tuesday, viz. that the difficulties of the
position might be removed, or greatly mitigated, by his retirement
from the office, and accepting, if his continuance in the Government
was desirable, another post. I therefore thought it best at once to
point out to him that such a course of proceeding would only aggravate
all the inconveniences and annoyances at present existing; that his
retirement would be the signal for exaggerated rumours and factious
machinations, and would have the most baneful effect on the discussion
in Parliament generally of all those military topics with which we
were threatened; that, far from being satisfactory to Her Majesty and
your Royal Highness, I was convinced that the Queen and yourself would
hear of such an intention with regret.

Lord Stanley ultimately adopted entirely this view of his position,
and he parted from me with an earnest expression of his hope that the
painful misconceptions which had prevailed might at once, or at least
in due course, entirely disappear.

This, Sir, is a very imperfect report of an important interview, but,
as I collected from Lord Stanley, that nothing was really settled in
his conference on Tuesday with Lord Derby and the Lord Chancellor, I
have thought it my duty, without loss of time, to forward it to your
Royal Highness, and have the honour to remain, ever, Sir, your most
obedient and sincerely obliged Servant,

B. DISRAELI.




_The Prince Albert to Mr Disraeli._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _18th November 1858_.

MY DEAR MR DISRAELI,--I am very much obliged to you for your long
letter after a Cabinet meeting of five hours, and subsequent interview
with Lord Stanley, whom I am much pleased to hear you found so anxious
to remedy the present state of things. I am glad that you made it
clear to him that the Queen had never connected in her mind the
objections which she felt bound to take with anything personal,
which could be removed by Lord Stanley's relinquishing the Indian
Secretaryship. The difficulty would still remain to be solved, only
under additional complication and disadvantage. Lord Derby told me
to-day that he was drawing up a Memorandum which, when seen by the
Chancellor and Lord Stanley, was to be submitted to the Queen. Ever
yours truly,

ALBERT.[50]

    [Footnote 50: On the same day Lord Stanley wrote a lengthy
    letter to the Queen justifying the course he had taken.]




[Pageheading: THE INDIA OFFICE]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Stanley_.

WINDSOR CASTLE, _20th November 1858._

The Queen has received Lord Stanley's letter entering into the subject
of the difficulties which have arisen in the conduct of the new Indian
Department. She had from the first foreseen that it would not be
an easy matter to bring the establishments of the old Company's
Government to fall into the practice and usages of the Constitutional
Monarchy, and was therefore most anxious that distinct rules should
be laid down before the installation of the new Government, which
unfortunately was not done, but she trusts will now be devised and
adopted.

The Queen most readily gives Lord Stanley credit for every intention
to remove the obstacles in the way of the solution of these
difficulties as far as he was able, but she cannot but fear that the
particular form in which the opinion of the Law Officers has been
asked, and the fact [that] the eighteen members of the Council (all
naturally wedded to a system under which they were trained) were made
parties to the discussion between herself and her Secretary of State
on these difficulties--must increase instead of diminishing them.

The account given by Mr Temple, together with the last printed letters
and Memoranda from the Punjab, give us serious cause of apprehension
for the future, and show that the _British_ Army is the only safeguard
at present.




[Pageheading: LORD CANNING'S PROCLAMATION]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Canning._[51]

WINDSOR CASTLE, _2nd December 1858_.

The Queen acknowledges the receipt of Lord Canning's letter of the
19th October, which she received on the 29th November, which has given
her great pleasure.

It is a source of great satisfaction and pride to her to feel herself
in direct communication with that enormous Empire which is so bright a
jewel of her Crown, and which she would wish to see happy, contented,
and peaceful. May the publication of her Proclamation be the beginning
of a new era, and may it draw a veil over the sad and bloody past!

The Queen rejoices to hear that her Viceroy approves this passage
about Religion.[52] She strongly insisted on it. She trusts also that
the certainty of the Amnesty remaining open till the 1st January may
not be productive of serious evil.

The Queen must express our admiration of Lord Canning's own
Proclamation, the wording of which is beautiful. The telegram received
to-day brings continued good news, and announces her proclamation
having been read, and having produced a good effect.

The Queen hopes to hear from Lord Canning, whenever he can spare time
to write. She misses hearing from Lady Canning, not having heard from
her since the 30th August; but the Queen fears that she is herself
to blame, as she has not written to Lady Canning for a long time; she
intends doing so by the next mail....

Both the Prince and herself hope that Lord Canning's health is now
perfectly good, as well as dear Lady Canning's. We ask him to remember
us to her, and also to Lord Clyde.

The Queen concludes with every wish for Lord Canning's success and
prosperity, and with the assurance of her undiminished and entire
confidence.

    [Footnote 51: The Queen's Proclamation to her Indian subjects
    had been received by Lord Canning on the 17th of October, when
    he also learned that the title of Viceroy was in future to
    dignify the Governor-General's office.]

    [Footnote 52: "Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of
    Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of
    religion, we disclaim alike the right and desire to impose
    our convictions on any of our subjects." The Proclamation
    proceeded to state that all the Queen's Indian subjects should
    be impartially protected by the law, and live unmolested in
    the observance of their several religions.]




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND ITALY]


_The Earl of Malmesbury to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _10th December 1858_.

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his humble duty to the Queen, and
has already anticipated your Majesty's wishes respecting the Emperor
Napoleon.[53] Lord Malmesbury has written to Lord Cowley a private
letter, desiring him to show it to His Majesty. It is in the same
sense as your Majesty's, and states that if he is anxious to improve
the lot of the worst governed country, namely the Papal States, he
should, instead of sulking with Austria, make an attempt with his
Catholic brother to ameliorate the Papal Government. It is not for
Protestant England to take the initiative, as her object would be
misunderstood and attributed to sectarian motives; but England could
give her moral support, and even her material aid _eventually_, if
it were required to establish an improved Administration of the
Roman States. Austria would gain by having a quiet frontier. The
correspondence which took place in 1856 and 1857 between Lord
Clarendon and Mr Lyons shows that this is the only effective way of
ameliorating the condition of Italy without a war.

Lord Malmesbury thinks he can assure your Majesty that none is
at present contemplated by the Emperor Napoleon (who has just
contradicted the report officially), and Count Buol is of the same
opinion. The latter is constantly hurting the vanity of the French
Government by his irritable despatches, and neither party makes the
slightest effort to command their temper; but it appears impossible
that Napoleon can make a _casus belli_ against Austria. Besides this,
your Majesty may be assured that no warlike preparations are making in
France, such as must precede such a plan as an Italian war.

Lord Malmesbury entirely agrees with your Majesty that it is desirable
that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales should visit and remain
at Rome incognito. It is also indispensable that when there His Royal
Highness should receive no foreigner or stranger _alone_, so that
no reports of pretended conversations with such persons could be
circulated without immediate refutation by Colonel Bruce. Lord
Malmesbury will instruct Mr Odo Russell to inform His Holiness of your
Majesty's intentions in respect of the Prince.

    [Footnote 53: Viz. that the Emperor's mind should be diverted
    from his project of originating a war in Italy. On the
    previous day Lord Malmesbury had written to the Queen: "Lord
    Clarendon may have told your Majesty that the Emperor Napoleon
    was so ignorant of the locality of Villafranca that he looked
    for it on the map in the Adriatic, and was confounded when
    Lord Clarendon showed His Majesty that it was the Port of Nice
    and ten miles from his frontier!"]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _17th December 1858_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I wrote in such a hurry on Wednesday that I wish to
make amends by writing again to-day, and entering more properly into
what _you_ wrote about in your kind letter....

I really _hope_ that there is no _real_ desire for war in the
Emperor's mind; we have also explained to him strongly how _entirely_
he would _alienate_ us from him if there was any _attempt_ to _disturb
standing and binding treaties_. The Empress-Dowager of Russia[54] is
very ill, they say, with bronchitis and fever.

I did not tell you, that when we went on the 2nd to Claremont I was
_not_ pleased with the Queen's appearance. She had had a slight cold,
and I thought her very _feeble_. They keep her rooms so fearfully
[hot] that it must really be _very_ weakening for her and predispose
her to cold. I am ever, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 54: The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (formerly the
    Princess Louise Charlotte of Prussia, sister to King Frederick
    William IV.), widow of the Emperor Nicholas.]




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXVIII


Parliamentary Reform was the question of the hour at the outset of the
year 1859, and the Derby Government, though with difficulty able to
maintain itself in power, took the courageous step of introducing
a Reform Bill, the chief feature of which was the introduction of
a franchise based on personal property. Mr Walpole and Mr Henley
thereupon withdrew from the Ministry, and Lord John Russell,
from below the gangway, proposed an Amendment, protesting against
interference with the established freehold franchise, and calling for
a larger extension of the suffrage in towns. Lord Palmerston and the
Liberal Opposition supported the Amendment, while Mr Gladstone, who
was opposed to most of the provisions of the Bill, supported it in
preference to the Amendment, pleading, at the same time, for the
retention of the small boroughs. The Ministry were defeated, and
Parliament thereupon dissolved, but not until the civil functionaries
and all ranks of the native and European army had received its thanks
for the final suppression of the Indian Mutiny. The Ministry gained
twenty-five seats at the polls, but were still in a minority, and as
soon as it was known that Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston were
reconciled, the end was in sight. A hostile Amendment to the
Address was carried by a majority of thirteen, but on Lord Derby's
resignation, the Queen was placed in a dilemma by the competing claims
of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, who had each been Prime
Minister and leader of the Liberal Party. Unwilling to be compelled to
decide between them, she called upon Lord Granville to form a
Ministry representative of all sections of the Liberal Party; but the
difficulties proved insuperable, and Lord Palmerston eventually formed
a Ministry in which the Whigs, the Peelites, and the Manchester
School were all represented, though Mr Cobden declined to join the
Government. Mr Gladstone, who had returned from the mission he had
undertaken for the Derby Cabinet, and voted with them in the critical
division, became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and kept his seat for
Oxford University by a majority of nearly two hundred.

The continent of Europe was the scene of a contest between Austria on
the one hand, who was struggling to maintain her position in Italy,
and France with Sardinia on the other. Sardinia, under the guidance of
Cavour, had joined the alliance of England and France against Russia;
and in July 1858 an interview at Plombières, under rather mysterious
circumstances, between Cavour and Louis Napoleon, led to effective
confederacy; a marriage, arranged or suggested at the same time,
between Princess Clothilde of Sardinia and a cousin of the Emperor,
brought the two illustrious houses still closer together. In the
spring of 1859, Sardinia prepared to take up arms to resist Austrian
predominance, and the assistance of the guerilla leader, Garibaldi,
was obtained. Count Cavour, in reply to interrogatories from the
British Government, stated officially his grievances against Austria,
while Lord Malmesbury despatched Lord Cowley on a special mission to
Vienna to mediate between Austria and France. In April, however,
after a curt summons to the Sardinians to disarm had been disregarded,
Austria invaded Piedmont, and Victor Emmanuel placed himself at the
head of his army. The first engagement took place, with unfavourable
results to the Austrians, at Montebello, followed by French victories
at Palestro and Magenta. A revolution had meanwhile taken place in
Florence. The Grand Duke had fled, and a Commissioner to administer
the affairs of the Grand Duchy had been appointed by the King
of Sardinia with the assent of the Tuscans, who now joined the
Franco-Sardinian alliance, while risings also took place in Parma and
Modena. The Austrians were again defeated at Malegnano, and, on the
8th of June, the French Emperor and King Victor Emmanuel entered Milan
amid great enthusiasm. The bloody action of Solferino was fought
on the 24th of June, but on the 11th of July a treaty of peace was,
somewhat unexpectedly, concluded between the French and Austrian
Emperors at Villafranca, under which an Italian Confederation was to
be erected, Lombardy substantially ceded to Sardinia, the Grand Duke
of Tuscany and the Duke of Modena reinstated, and Venetia, though
included in the Confederation, to remain subject to the Imperial Crown
of Austria; these preliminaries were subsequently converted into
a definite treaty at Zurich. Meanwhile, the newly constituted
representative Assemblies in Tuscany, Romagna, and the Duchies,
unanimously pronounced for incorporation in the kingdom of Victor
Emmanuel.

At home, on the 14th of October, the Queen opened the Glasgow
waterworks at the outflow of Loch Katrine, the construction of which
had necessitated engineering operations at that time considered
stupendous; a few days later an appalling shipping calamity occurred,
in the wreck of the _Royal Charter_ near Anglesey, and the loss of 459
lives.




CHAPTER XXVIII

1859


_Queen Victoria to Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th January 1859_.

The Queen returns Mr Gladstone's letters, and gladly accepts his
patriotic offer.[1] He will have difficulty in solving a delicate
question, affecting national feeling, against time, but his offer
comes most opportunely.

    [Footnote 1: See _ante_, 1st November, 1858. Mr Gladstone
    had been sent to enquire into the causes of the
    dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands
    with their High Commissioner, Sir John Young. He now
    offered to act himself for a limited time as High
    Commissioner, should it be decided to recall Sir John.
    He was succeeded in February by Sir Henry Storks.]




[Pageheading: NATIONAL DEFENCES]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th January 1859_.

As the Cabinet are now meeting, and will probably come to a decision
about the estimates for the year, the Queen thinks it her duty to
urge upon them in the strongest manner her conviction that, under the
present aspect of political affairs in Europe, there will be no safety
to the honour, power, and peace of this country except in Naval and
Military strength. The extraordinary exertions which France is making
in her Naval Department oblige us to exercise the utmost vigour to
keep up a superiority at sea, upon which our very existence may be
said to depend, and which would be already lost at any moment that
France were to be joined by any other country possessing a Navy.[2]
The war in India has drained us of every available Battalion. We
possess at this moment only fourteen old Battalions of the Line within
the three kingdoms, and twelve Second Battalions newly raised, whilst
our Mediterranean possessions are under-garrisoned, and Alderney has
not as yet any garrison at all. Under these circumstances the
Queen has heard it rumoured that the Government intend to propose a
reduction on the estimates of 9,000 men for this year. She trusts that
such an idea, if ever entertained, will upon reflection be given up
as inconsistent with the duty which the Government owe to the country.
Even if it were said that these 9,000 men have only existed on paper,
and have not yet been raised, such an act at this moment would be
indefensible; for it would require a proof that circumstances have
arisen which make it desirable to ask for fewer troops than were
considered requisite when the last estimates were passed, which really
cannot be said to be the case! To be able to raise at any time an
additional 9,000 men (in political danger) without having to go to
Parliament for a supplementary vote and spreading alarm thereby, must
be of the utmost value to the Government, and if not wanted, the vote
will entail no additional expense.

England will not be listened to in Europe, and be powerless for the
preservation of the general peace, which must be her first object
under the present circumstances, if she is known to be despicably
weak in her military resources, and no statesman will, the Queen
apprehends, maintain that if a European war were to break out she
could hope to remain long out of it. For peace and for war, therefore,
an available Army is a necessity to her.

The Queen wishes Lord Derby to communicate this letter to the Cabinet.

    [Footnote 2: The French Emperor had signalised the opening of
    a new year by an ominous speech. To M. Hübner, the Austrian
    Ambassador at Paris, who had attended, with the other foreign
    representatives, to offer the usual congratulations on the 1st
    of January, he observed: "I regret that the relations between
    our two Governments are not more satisfactory; but I beg
    you to assure the Emperor that they in no respect alter my
    feelings of friendship to himself."]



[Pageheading: THE POPE]

[Pageheading: THE POPE AND LORD PALMERSTON]


_Mr Odo Russell[3] to Mr Corbett._[4]

(_Submitted to Queen Victoria_.)


ROME, _14th January 1859_.

SIR,--I had the honour of being received by the Pope at a private
audience this morning at the Vatican. No one else was present.

His Holiness, whose manner towards me was most kind and benevolent,
said: "You are appointed to succeed a very good man,[5] for whom I
felt great affection, and I regret that he has left Rome. You may be
as good as he was, and we shall become friends, but I do not know you
yet, and Mr Lyons I had known for many years; he is going to America,
I hear, and he will find the Americans far more difficult to deal with
than with us.

"I am much gratified to hear that the Prince of Wales is likely to
visit Rome, and Her Majesty, I feel sure, has done well to allow him
to prosecute his studies here. It will be an honour to me to receive
him at the Vatican, and I beg that you will confer with Cardinal
Antonelli[6] as to the best means of making the Prince's visit here
useful and pleasant. We are anxious that all his wishes should be
attended to, that he may preserve a pleasant recollection of Rome
in the future. Alas! so many erroneous impressions exist about this
country that I hope you will not judge of us too rashly. We are
advised to make reforms, and it is not understood that those very
reforms, which would consist in giving this country a Government of
laymen, would make it cease to exist. It is called 'States of the
Church' (_États de l' Église_), and that is what it must remain. It
is true I have lately appointed a layman to a post formerly held by an
ecclesiastic, and I may do so again occasionally; but, however small
we may be, we cannot yield to outer pressure, and this country must
be administered by men of the Church. For my part, I shall fulfil my
duties according to my conscience, and should Governments and events
turn against me they cannot make me yield. I shall go with the
faithful to the Catacombs, as did the Christians of the early
centuries, and there await the will of the Supreme Being, for I dread
no human Power upon earth and fear nothing but God."

"But, Holy Father," I said, "you speak as if some great danger
threatened Rome--is there any [real?] cause for apprehension?"

"Have you not heard," His Holiness answered, "that great excitement
prevails throughout Italy?--the state of Lombardy is deplorable; evil
spirits are at work even in my dominions, and the late speech of
the King of Sardinia is calculated to inflame the minds of all
the revolutionary men of Italy. It is true he says he will observe
existing Treaties, but that will scarcely counter-balance the effect
produced by other portions of his speech. News has also reached me of
an extensive amnesty granted by the King of Naples--he did not yield
to outer pressure, and he was right--but now, on the occasion of the
marriage of his son, an act of clemency on his part is well advised."

"Is it true," I said, "that political prisoners are included in that
Amnesty?"

"Yes," His Holiness answered; "I saw the name of Settembrini, and
I think also of that other man in whom your Government took so much
interest--his name begins with a 'P' if I remember rightly----"

"Poerio," I suggested.

"That is the name," the Pope continued; "and I fancy that all the
other political prisoners will be released; they are to be sent to
Cadiz at the expense of the King, they are to be clothed and receive
some money, I believe, and after that arrangements have been made
with the Minister of the United States to have them conveyed to that
country; they are to be exiled for life. I hope this event may
have the effect of making your Government and that of France renew
diplomatic relations with Naples; I always regretted that rupture, but
the King was right not to yield to outer pressure.

"It is lucky," the Pope ended with a smile, "that Lord Palmerston
is not in office; he was too fond of interfering in the concerns of
foreign countries, and the present crisis would just have suited
him. _Addio, caro_," the Pope then said, and dismissed me with his
blessing.

I then, according to usage, called on Cardinal Antonelli, and
recounted to him what had passed. He confirmed all the Pope had
said, but denied that there was any very serious cause for immediate
apprehension of any general disturbance of the peace of Italy. I have,
etc.,

ODO RUSSELL.

    [Footnote 3: Secretary of Legation at Florence, resident in
    Rome, afterwards Lord Ampthill.]

    [Footnote 4: Secretary of Legation at Florence, afterwards
    successively Minister at Rio Janeiro and Stockholm.]

    [Footnote 5: Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, who had just been
    transferred from Rome to Washington. He had recently succeeded
    his father, the Admiral, in the Barony of Lyons, and was
    himself subsequently promoted to an Earldom.]

    [Footnote 6: Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Papal
    States.]




_The Earl of Malmesbury to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _18th January 1859_.

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his humble duty to the Queen, and
has the honour to inform your Majesty that he has seen the French
Ambassador to-day, who came of his own accord to say that we need be
in no apprehension, of a war _at present_, as the public opinion in
France, especially in the large towns, had been so strongly pronounced
against a war that it was impossible. Lord Malmesbury is also glad to
inform your Majesty that the Cabinet has agreed to-day to make a great
addition to the effective force of your Majesty's Navy.

Your Majesty's commands are obeyed respecting the telegram to Berlin.




_The Earl of Malmesbury to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, 25th _January 1859_.

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his humble duty to the Queen, and
regrets to say that he shares your Majesty's apprehensions. The
Emperor is extremely irritated at our not concurring in his views on
Italy, and Lord Malmesbury believes that nothing will restrain him but
the public opinion expressed against them, in France.[7] Austria
has, against all our advice and common prudence, made a false move by
sending troops into the Papal States _against_ the wish of _the Pope_,
and is now obliged to recall them. The speech of your Majesty is to
be discussed in Cabinet to-day. Lord Derby intended to introduce a
paragraph stating that your Majesty's Alliance with France remained
"unimpaired," but it now appears to us that such a statement might
provoke a question "_why_" it should be made a special one. Lord
Malmesbury entirely agrees with your Majesty as to an allusion to
Treaties.

    [Footnote 7: Yet the Emperor had just written to Queen
    Victoria on 20th January: "Le corps législatif va bientôt
    s'ouvrir, presque en même temps que le parlement; je tâcherai
    d'exprimer dans mon discours tout le désir que j'ai de vivre
    toujours en bonne et sincère intelligence avec votre Majesté
    et son gouvernement." Early in February the pamphlet _Napoléon
    et l'Italie_, nominally written by M. de la Guéronnière, but
    inspired by the Emperor, foreshadowed the war in Italy, and
    attempted to justify it.]




[Pageheading: LORD CANNING]


_Queen Victoria to Lord Stanley._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th January 1859_.

The Queen thinks that the time is come when the bestowal of some
honour or reward on Lord Canning ought no longer to be delayed. He has
now nearly arrived at the end of his tremendous task of quelling the
Rebellion, and has triumphed over all his many difficulties. If any
man deserves an acknowledgment of his services at the hands of the
Crown, it is surely he, and the Queen would be sorry that the grace
of it should be taken away from her by questions being asked in
Parliament when it is assembled again, which will now be the case very
soon.

A step in the Peerage and the G.C.B. appear to the Queen an
appropriate reward. Perhaps a pension should be awarded to him? Lord
Elphinstone also ought not to be left unrewarded, and a step in the
Peerage with the G.C.B. does not appear too high an honour for him,
for he also has greatly contributed to the saving to the Indian
Empire.[8]

    [Footnote 8: Lord Canning was made an Earl and Lord
    Elphinstone (who had been Governor of Bombay during the
    Mutiny) a Peer of the United Kingdom, and both received the
    G.C.B.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S FIRST GRANDCHILD]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd February 1859_.

MY DEAREST, KINDEST UNCLE,--Accept my warmest thanks for your most
kind letter of the 28th. I know how pleased you would be at the
safety of our dear Vicky, and at the birth of our first grandson![9]
Everything goes on so beautifully, Vicky recovering as fast and well
as I did, and the dear little boy improving so much and thriving in
every way.... The joy and interest taken _here_ is as great almost as
in Prussia, which is _very_ gratifying.

I _think_ that _the Speech_ will do good, but it has not been easy
to frame it, as the feeling _against_ the _Emperor here_ is _very
strong_. I think _yet_ that if _Austria_ is _strong_ and _well
prepared,_ and _Germany strong_ and _well inclined_ towards _us_ (as
_Prussia certainly_ is), France will _not_ be so eager to attempt
what I _firmly_ believe would _end_ in the _Emperor's_ downfall! Old
Malakhoff _himself_ said to the Duchess of Wellington that if the
French had the _slightest defeat ce serait fini avec la Dynastie!_ A
pretty speech for an Ambassador, but a _very true one!_

Pray say everything most kind to your dear children and believe me
ever, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We are just arrived here, and go back to Windsor to-morrow
_afternoon_.

    [Footnote 9: Frederick William Victor Albert, now German
    Emperor, born on the 27th of January.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd February 1859_.

The Queen has this moment received Lord Malmesbury's letter. As she
has not yet written (only telegraphed) to announce to the Emperor the
birth of our grandson (we being in the habit since we know the Emperor
and Empress personally to communicate to one another _reciprocally
family events_), the Queen has an opportunity or a pretext for writing
to the Emperor, and is therefore prepared to do so _to-morrow_. But
as the terms to be used are of the most _vital_ importance, she would
wish Lord Malmesbury to consult forthwith with Lord Derby, and to let
her have "the matter" to be put into the letter _before_ the Queen
_leaves town_, which we do at half-past four this afternoon.




[Pageheading: LETTER TO THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _3rd February 1859_.
(_Thursday_,1 P.M.)

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, and in obedience to your Majesty's
commands, received within this half hour through Lord Malmesbury,
submits the accompanying very hastily drawn sketch of the language
which, in his humble opinion, your Majesty might hold in a private and
confidential letter to the Emperor of the French. Lord Derby is not
sure that it is what your Majesty desired that he should submit;
but he trusts that your Majesty will be pleased to receive it as an
attempt to obey your Majesty's commands, and will excuse its many
imperfections on account of the extreme haste in which it has
unavoidably been written.

"I cannot refrain from taking this opportunity of expressing
confidentially to your Imperial Majesty my deep anxiety for the
preservation of the peace of Europe, nor can I conceal from myself how
essentially that great object must depend upon the course which your
Imperial Majesty may be advised to take. Your Majesty has now the
opportunity, either by listening to the dictates of humanity and
justice, and by demonstrating unmistakably your intention to adhere
strictly to the faithful observance of Treaties, of calming the
apprehensions of Europe, and restoring her confidence in your
Majesty's pacific policy; or, by permitting yourself to be influenced
by the ambitious or interested designs of others, of involving Europe
in a war, the extent and termination of which can hardly be foreseen,
and which, whatever glory it may add to the arms of France, cannot
but interfere materially with her internal prosperity and financial
credit. I am sure that your Majesty will not doubt the sincerity of
the friendship which alone induces me to write thus unreservedly to
your Majesty, and if anything could add to the sorrow with which I
should view the renewal of war in Europe, it would be to see your
Majesty entering upon a course with which it would be impossible for
England to associate herself."[10]

    [Footnote 10: The Queen accordingly wrote a letter, which
    is printed in the _Life of the Prince Consort_, assuring the
    Emperor that rarely had any man had such an opportunity as was
    now his for exercising a personal influence for the peace
    of Europe, and that, by faithful observance of Treaty
    obligations, he might calm international anxieties.]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _4th February 1859_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--... Heaven knows what dance our Emperor
_Napoléon Troisième de nom_ will lead us. In a few days he will have
to make his speech. I fear he is determined on that Italian War. The
discussions in Parliament may influence him; I fear party spirit in
lieu of a good and right sense of what is the interest of Europe. It
was praiseworthy that you said in your Speech that _treaties_ must be
respected, else indeed we return to the old _Faustrecht_ we have been
striving to get rid of. It is curious that your speech has made the
funds fall again: I presume they hoped at Paris that you would have
been able to say that you congratulated Parliament on the prospect
of peace being preserved. For us poor people who find ourselves _aux
premières loges_, these uncertainties are most unsatisfactory. Your
devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.




[Pageheading: THE INDIAN ARMY]

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND LORD STANLEY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE. _5th February 1859_.

With regard to a decision which will have to be taken when the report
of the Indian Army Commission shall have been received, the Queen
thinks it incumbent upon her not to leave Lord Derby in ignorance of
her firm determination not to sanction, under any form, the creation
of a British Army, distinct from that known at present as the Army of
the Crown.

She would consider it dangerous to the maintenance of India, to the
dependence of the Indian Empire on the mother country, and to her
Throne in these realms.

Such an Army would be freed from the proper control of the
constitutional monarchy. It would be removed from the direct command
of the Crown, and entirely independent of Parliament. It would throw
an unconstitutional amount of power and patronage into the hands of
the Indian Council and Government; it would be raised and maintained
in antagonism to the Regular Army of the Crown; and professional
jealousy, and personal and private interests, would needs drive it
into a position of permanent hostility towards that Army.

This hostility has been already strongly marked in the proceedings of
the Commission itself.

Its detrimental effects would not be confined to India alone, but
would form a most dangerous obstacle to the maintenance of the
government of the Regular Army by the Queen. Already, during
the Crimean War, most of the blows levelled at the Army and the
prerogative of the Crown were directed by Indian officers, of whom,
in future, a vast number would be at home, without employment or
recognised position, in compact organisation, and moved by a unity of
feeling.

There may be points of detail, admitting differences of opinion as to
the relative advantages of a purely local or general Military Force
for India; but these are mere trifles, which sink into insignificance
in the Queen's estimation, when she has to consider the duty which she
owes to her Crown and her Country.

The Queen hopes Lord Derby will not consider that she intends, by this
letter, unduly to influence his free consideration and decision as
to the advice he may think it his duty to offer, but merely to guard
against his being taken by surprise, and to prevent, if possible, an
unseemly public difference between herself and Lord Stanley. She is
impelled to the apprehension that such may arise from the manner in
which, since the first transfer of the Indian Government to the Crown,
every act of Lord Stanley has uniformly tended to place the Queen in a
position which would render her helpless and powerless in resisting a
scheme which certain persons, imbued with the old Indian traditions,
would appear to wish to force upon the Crown.

The Queen does not expect an answer to this letter from Lord Derby,
and asks him to treat it as strictly confidential.

The Queen sees that Lord Stanley means to make a statement on Monday
on the Indian Finances. She trusts that there will be nothing said in
that statement to prejudge the Army Question.




_Decipher from Lord Cowley._

PARIS, _6th February 1859_.
(1 A.M. _Received_ 4 A.M.)

A great change for the better. The Queen's letter has produced an
excellent effect, as also the Debates in Parliament.[11] The Emperor
has expressed himself ready to subscribe to every word of Lord Derby's
speech.

    [Footnote 11: Parliament was opened by the Queen in person on
    the 3rd; the ensuing debates, and especially the speeches of
    the Liberal leaders, showed that, however much the English
    nation, as a whole, might sympathise with Italian aspirations
    for the expulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy, they would
    regard unfavourably a war commenced in defiance of Treaty
    obligations.]




[Pageheading: THE INDIAN ARMY]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _6th February 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty his
respectful acknowledgment of the explicitness with which the letter he
had the honour of receiving last night conveys to him the intimation
of your Majesty's views upon the important subject of the Indian Army.
He cannot, however, disguise from your Majesty the deep pain which
that communication has occasioned him; first, that your Majesty should
think that Lord Stanley has so far mistaken his duty as systematically
to place your Majesty in a false position; and next because unless
Lord Derby misconceives the purport of your Majesty's letter, he fears
that it may leave him no alternative but that of humbly entreating to
be relieved from a responsibility which nothing should have induced
him to undertake but a sense of duty to your Majesty, and the
conviction that he might rely with confidence upon your Majesty's
continued support. It would ill become Lord Derby to attempt to
argue a question on which your Majesty has expressed so strong a
determination; he has studiously avoided taking any step which might
prejudge a question so important as the organisation of your Majesty's
Forces in India. He has awaited the report of the Commission appointed
to enquire into the subject, and though aware of the wide difference
of opinion which prevailed, has desired impartially to weigh and
examine the arguments adduced on both sides, and he has in the
meantime refused to give his sanction to a proposition, earnestly
pressed upon the Government by Lord Canning, for immediately raising
additional regiments for Indian Service. But the announcement of
your Majesty's determination (if he rightly understands it), under no
circumstances to continue an European Army in India, under terms of
service different from those of the Line, paid out of Indian Revenues,
and officered by men educated for that especial service, and looking
to India for their whole career, places Lord Derby in a position of no
little embarrassment; for notwithstanding the gracious intimation that
your Majesty does not desire unduly to influence his judgment as to
the advice which he may tender, it amounts to a distinct warning
that if tendered in a particular direction it has no chance of being
accepted by your Majesty. Nor, with that knowledge on his part not
shared by his colleagues, can he freely discuss with them the course
which they may consider it their duty to pursue.

Lord Derby humbly trusts, therefore, that your Majesty will be
graciously pleased, so far as the members of the Government are
concerned, to absolve him from the obligation of secrecy, and to allow
him to place before them a state of things which may lead to the most
serious results, so far as their power of serving your Majesty is
concerned.

Lord Derby will give Lord Stanley a caution not to say anything in
his statement of Indian Finance which may prejudge the question of a
single or separate armies; but he hardly thinks the caution necessary,
as European troops, whether in one Service or in two, will equally be
chargeable to the revenues of India, which will only be affected by
the proportion which the whole of the European may bear to the whole
of the native forces.

Lord Derby hopes that he may be permitted to offer his humble
congratulations to your Majesty on the very favourable reports
received from Paris by telegraph, and upon the highly satisfactory
effects produced by your Majesty's private letter to the Emperor.

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant
and Subject,

DERBY.




[Pageheading: INDIVISIBILITY OF ARMY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th February 1859_.

The Queen is very sorry to learn from Lord Derby's letter, received
last evening, that her communication to him on the Indian Army
question had caused him deep pain. She had long hesitated whether
she should write it, from a fear that its purport and motive might
possibly be misunderstood; but feeling that there ought to exist
nothing but the most unreserved and entire confidence between herself
and her Prime Minister, she thought it incumbent upon her to let Lord
Derby see exactly what was passing in her mind.

If, notwithstanding the Queen's expressed hope that Lord Derby might
not consider the communication as intended unduly to influence his
free consideration of the important subject, he should feel that
its possession, without being at liberty to communicate it to his
colleagues, does so in effect, she would ask him to return it to her,
and to consider it as not having been written. If he should think,
however, that a communication of the Queen's views to the Cabinet is
due to them, she is quite prepared to make one. In that case it would
naturally have to be differently worded, would omit every reference to
Lord Stanley, and might go more into detail.

The Queen cannot close this letter without correcting some
misapprehensions into which Lord Derby seems to have fallen. It was
not the Queen's intention to impute any motives of systematic action
to Lord Stanley; she referred simply to facts and steps, known as well
to Lord Derby as to herself, which "uniformly tended" to place her in
a powerless position with regard to the Army question.

The Queen protested against "the _creation_ of a British Army distinct
(in its existence and constitutional position) from that of the
Crown," and not against the "_continuance_ of an European Army, under
terms of service different from the Line, paid out of Indian Revenues,
and officered by men educated for that special service, and looking to
India for their whole career." In fact, she does not understand what
meaning Lord Derby attaches to the words "terms of service." Every
force kept in India, however constituted, would be paid out of Indian
Revenues. _This_ would therefore not form the distinction, and Lord
Derby cannot intend to convey that on these revenues one set of
Englishmen can have a greater claim than another; nor does she see
why English officers, commanding English soldiers and charged with
the maintenance of _their_ discipline and efficiency, should for
that object require to be specially and differently educated, and be
restricted to look to India for their whole career. Officers attached
to native troops are in a different position.




[Pageheading: MISAPPREHENSION REMOVED]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _7th February 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty his grateful
acknowledgments for your Majesty's most gracious note received this
evening, the contents, and still more the tenor of which have relieved
him from the painful apprehension that he might be called upon to
choose between a strong sense of public duty, and, on the other side,
his deep devotion to your Majesty's service, and his gratitude for the
favourable consideration which his imperfect attempts to discharge
his public duty had always received at your Majesty's hand. The
explanation, with which he has now been honoured, of your Majesty's
views has entirely dispelled those apprehensions, and he feels that
he has only to thank your Majesty for the gracious explanation, with
which he has been honoured, of your Majesty's motives in addressing to
him the letter which certainly caused him "deep pain."...[12]

    [Footnote 12: Lord Derby then proceeded to deal at some length
    with the status of the troops in India, concluding with the
    opinion that the local forces in India should never exceed
    those sent from home as part of the Regular Army, subject to
    the ordinary routine of service.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _8th February 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord Derby's letter of yesterday, and is
pleased to find that he now appreciates the motives which dictated her
first letter. It needs no assurance on her side that she never doubted
those which actuate Lord Derby. The Queen will, in compliance with
his request, defer any further notice of the subject until the
Commissioners shall have made their report; it would not be fair,
however, to Lord Derby, not to add that she fears from his explanation
that he has not now correctly estimated the nature of the Queen's
objection, which is not to a variety of forces, terms of service,
local or general employment, etc., etc., etc., established in one
Army, but to the principle of _two_ British Armies.




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S SPEECH]


_Queen Victoria to General Peel._[13]

_13th February 1859_.

The Queen relies with confidence that when the question of the Indian
Army comes before the Cabinet, General Peel will stoutly defend the
interests of the Crown and the British Army. On the opinion which he
will give and maintain much of their decision must depend, and unless
he speaks out boldly the Indian Secretary will have it all his own
way.

    [Footnote 13: General Jonathan Peel, brother of Sir Robert
    Peel (the Premier), and Secretary of State for War.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _15th February 1859_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--We came here to _settle_ yesterday--and also here
Spring seems _wonderfully forward!_ It can't last--and frost is _sure_
to _follow_ and cut off everything. At Windsor and Frogmore everything
is budding--willow I see is green--rose-leaves _out_, and birds
singing like in May!

Accept my warmest thanks for your kind letter of the 11th. I _still_
hope that matters _will cool_ down--the Emperor _personally_ expressed
regret to Hübner for his words, disclaiming the construction put upon
them, and saying that _no one could dispute_ the right of Austria to
her Italian possessions.[14] He has not written to me lately, but I
wrote him ten days ago a long friendly letter, speaking out _plainly_
our fears for the future, and urging him to aid us in averting the
calamity of _War_....

Our Parliament is as quiet as possible as _yet_, but it will soon have
more cause for _action_ and excitement....

Bertie's interview with the Pope went off extremely well. He was
extremely kind and gracious, and Colonel Bruce was present; it would
never have done to have let Bertie go alone, as they might hereafter
have pretended, God knows! what Bertie had said.... With Albert's
love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 14: See _ante_, 13th January, 1859, note 2.]




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _21st February 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, and in obedience to the commands
which he had the honour of receiving from your Majesty last night,
submits the following suggestions, as embodying the substance of what,
in his humble judgment your Majesty might address with advantage in a
private letter to the Emperor of Austria.

Your Majesty might say, that deeply penetrated with the conviction
of the duty imposed upon your Majesty of acting on the principles
enunciated in the speech from the Throne, of exercising whatever
influence your Majesty could employ for the preservation of
the general peace, your Majesty had looked with anxiety to the
circumstances which threatened its continued existence. That your
Majesty was unable to see in those circumstances, any which were
beyond the reach of diplomatic skill, if there were only a mutual
desire, on the part of the Chief Powers concerned, to give fair play
to its exercise. That the only source of substantial danger was the
present state of Italy; and that even in that there would be little
danger of interruption to the general tranquillity, were it not for
the antagonism excited by interests and engagements, real or supposed,
of France and Austria.

That your Majesty believed that the supposed divergence of these
interests and engagements might be capable of reconciliation if
entered into with mutual frankness, and with a mutual disposition to
avoid the calamities of war; but that, as it appeared to your Majesty,
neither party would be willing to invite the other to a friendly
discussion of the points of difference between them.

That in this state of affairs your Majesty, as a mutual friend of both
Sovereigns, and having no individual interests to serve, entertained
the hope that by the spontaneous offer of good offices, your Majesty
might be the means of establishing certain bases, on which the Powers
mainly interested might subsequently enter into amicable negotiations
with regard to the questions chiefly in dispute, or threatening
serious results.

Of these, the most pressing are those which relate to the Italian
Peninsula.

That your Majesty, anxiously revolving in your mind the question how
your Majesty's influence could best be brought to bear, had come to
the conclusion that your Majesty's Ambassador at Paris, having
the fullest knowledge of the views entertained by that Court, and
possessing your Majesty's entire confidence, might usefully be
intrusted with a highly confidential, but wholly unofficial mission,
for the purpose of ascertaining whether there were any possibility
consistently with the views of the two Courts of offering such
suggestions as might be mutually acceptable as the basis of future
arrangements; and, if such should happily be found to be the case, of
offering them simultaneously to the two parties, as the suggestions of
a mutual friend.

That your Majesty trusted His R.I.A.[15] Majesty would look upon this
communication in the truly friendly light in which it was intended,
and that Lord Cowley, in his unofficial and confidential character,
might be permitted fully to develop the views which your Majesty
entertained, and to meet with the most favourable consideration of his
suggestions from His R.I.A. Majesty.

Lord Derby, before submitting the above to your Majesty, has thought
it right to communicate it to Lord Malmesbury and Lord Cowley, and he
is enabled to say that it meets with their entire concurrence.[16]
He will be highly gratified if he is permitted to know that it is
honoured by your Majesty's gracious approval. All which is humbly
submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject,

DERBY.

    [Footnote 15: Royal and Imperial Apostolic.]

    [Footnote 16: The Queen acted on this advice, and wrote a
    letter on the 22nd to the Emperor of Austria, on the lines of
    Lord Derby's suggestions. The material parts of it are printed
    in the _Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. iv. chap. 92.]




[Pageheading: CHURCH RATES]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _21st February 1859_.
(_Monday._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, with his humble duty to your Majesty,
informs your Majesty that the Government measure on Church Rates was
introduced to-night, in a very full House, and was received with so
much favour that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has every belief that
it will pass. This is very unexpected, and the satisfactory settlement
of this long agitated and agitating question will be a great relief
to public life, and tend to restore and augment the good-humour of the
country.[17]

It is generally rumoured that, on Friday next, Lord Palmerston is to
move a vote of censure upon your Majesty's Government with respect to
their Foreign Policy. The Chancellor of the Exchequer scarcely credits
this, and would rather suppose that the formal censure will take the
shape of a rattling critique, preceding some Motion for papers.


    [Footnote 17: Since the Braintree case in 1853, no rate could
    legally be levied except by the majority of the rate-payers.
    The present Bill was designed to exempt Dissenters from
    payment, excluding them at the same time from voting on the
    subject in the vestry meeting. Sir John Trelawney, the leader
    of the Abolitionist party in the House, however, procured
    the rejection of the proposed measure, and a solution was not
    arrived at till 1868.]




[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY'S MISSION]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st March 1859_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many thanks for your kind letter of the 25th.
Matters remain much in the same state. Lord Cowley arrived on Sunday
at Vienna, but we know nothing positive yet. I much fear the obstinacy
of Austria.

It will indeed be a blessing if _we_ could do something not only to
avert the war for the present, but to prevent the _causes_ of it, for
the future. Nothing but improvement in the Italian Governments _can_
bring about a _better state_ of things. What is _really_ the matter
with the King of Naples[18]?

We found the poor Queen really very tolerably well at Claremont on
Saturday. She is decidedly better than when we saw her at the end
of November. Poor Joinville is suffering from an accident to his bad
knee.

Here our Reform Bill has been brought in yesterday.[19] It is
moderate, and ... [Lord John] has therefore allied himself with Mr
Bright and Mr Roebuck against it! He has _no_ other followers. The
Debate on Foreign Affairs on Friday was extremely moderate, and can
only have done good.[20]

It is rumoured that you are going to Berlin to the Christening, but
I doubt it! Oh! dearest Uncle, it _almost breaks_ my heart _not_ to
witness our _first grandchild_ christened! I don't think I _ever_ felt
so bitterly disappointed _about anything_ as about this! And then it
is an _occasion_ so gratifying to both _Nations_, which brings them
_so much_ together, that it is _most_ peculiarly mortifying! It is a
_stupid law_ in Prussia, I must say, to be so particular about having
the child christened so soon. However, it is now no use lamenting;
please God! we shall be more fortunate another time! With Albert's
affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Affectionate love to your children. When does Philip go to Italy?

    [Footnote 18: Ferdinand II., known as Bomba, died on the 22nd
    of May in the same year.]

    [Footnote 19: See _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVIII.]

    [Footnote 20: In this debate Lord Palmerston urged the
    Ministry to mediate between Austria and France, in order
    to obtain their simultaneous withdrawal from Rome, and Mr
    Disraeli announced the confidential mission of Lord Cowley as
    "one of peace and conciliation."]




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S REPLY]


_The Emperor of Austria to Queen Victoria._

VIENNE, _le 8 Mars 1859_.

MADAME ET CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--J'ai reçu des mains de Lord Cowley la lettre
que votre Majesté a bien voulu lui confier et dont le contenu m'a
offert un nouvel et précieux témoignage de l'amitié et de la confiance
qu'elle m'a vouées, ainsi que des vues élevées qui dirigent sa
politique. Lord Cowley a été auprès de moi le digne interprète des
sentimens de votre Majesté, et je me plais à lui rendre la justice,
qu'il s'est acquitté avec le zèle éclairé, dont il a déjà fourni tant
de preuves, de la mission confidentielle dont il était chargé.

J'ai hautement apprécié les motifs qui vous ont inspiré la pensée
de m'envoyer un organe de confiance pour échanger nos idées sur les
dangers de la situation. Je m'associe à tous les désirs, que forme
votre Majesté pour le maintien de la paix, et ce n'est pas sur moi que
pèsera la responsabilité de ceux, qui évoquent des dangers de guerre
sans pouvoir articuler une seule cause de guerre.

Lord Cowley connaît les points de vue auxquels j'envisage les
questions qui forment l'objet ou le prétexte des divergences d'opinion
qui subsistent entre nous et la France; il sait aussi que nous
sommes disposés à contribuer à leur solution dans l'esprit le plus
conciliant, en tant qu'on n'exige pas de nous des sacrifices que ne
saurait porter aucune Puissance qui se respecte. Je forme des
v[oe]ux pour que votre Majesté puisse tirer parti des élémens que Lui
apportera son Ambassadeur, dans l'intérêt du maintien de la paix que
nous avons également à c[oe]ur.

Mais quelles que soient les chances et les épreuves que l'avenir nous
réserve, j'aime à me livrer à l'espoir que rien ne portera atteinte
aux rapports d'amitié et d'union que je suis heureux de cultiver avec
votre Majesté, et que Ses sympathies seront acquises à la cause que je
soutiens et qui est celle de tous les États indépendans.

C'est dans ces sentimens que je renouvelle à votre Majesté l'assurance
de l'amitié sincère et de l'inaltérable attachement avec lesquels
je suis, Madame et chère S[oe]ur, de votre Majesté, le bon et dévoué
frère et ami,

FRANÇOIS JOSEPH.




[Pageheading: A PROPOSED CONFERENCE]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

_20th March 1859._

The Queen has received Lord Malmesbury's letter[21] written before
the Cabinet yesterday. The Memorandum of Lord Cowley and the telegrams
from Vienna give better hopes of the idea of Congress or Conference
leading to a good result. Everything will now depend upon the Emperor
Napoleon's acceptance of the conditions on which Austria is willing
to agree to a Conference. The Queen would like to have a copy of Lord
Cowley's memorandum.[22]

    [Footnote 21: Lord Cowley had returned from his mission to
    Vienna, and was now again at Paris. The complexion of affairs
    had been changed by a suggestion on the part of Russia (which
    may or may not have been ultimately prompted from Paris) for
    a Conference between England, France, Austria, Prussia and
    Russia, to settle the Italian Question. Cavour pressed for the
    admission of Piedmont to the Conference.]

    [Footnote 22: Lord Malmesbury's letter to Lord Cowley, written
    immediately after the Cabinet, enjoined him to impress upon
    the Emperor that England would only address herself to the
    four points--evacuation of the Roman States by foreign troops,
    reform, security for Sardinia, and a substitute for the
    treaties of 1847 between Austria and the Duchies.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

OSBORNE, _22nd March 1859_.

The Queen thanks Lord Malmesbury for his communication of yesterday,
which she received this morning. She quite approves the steps taken
by the Government,[23] and concurs in Lord Malmesbury's views. If the
understanding about a Conference first of the five Powers, and then
of the Italian States with them, _could be_ so far come to that France
and Austria agree with us upon the conditions on which it is to take
place, we need not wait for Russia's proposing it. She is evidently
playing, as she always does, a double game, and from Sir John
Crampton's[24] letter it appears that she never meant to propose a
Congress, but merely to _accept_ one, for ulterior objects.

    [Footnote 23: An attempt to obtain the disarmament of Austria
    and Sardinia, and a proposal to obtain the co-operation of
    France, in guaranteeing to defend Sardinia against invasion
    by Austria for five years, unless Sardinia left her own
    territory. On the 23rd, Lord Malmesbury wrote that all the
    great Powers, except Austria, had agreed to a Congress upon
    the conditions laid down by the British Government.]

    [Footnote 24: English Ambassador at St Petersburg, formerly
    Minister at Washington; see _ante_, 12th December, 1856,
    note 61. He had succeeded to the baronetcy in 1858.]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

OSBORNE, _27th March 1859_.

The Queen trusts that Lord Malmesbury will act with the utmost
circumspection in answering the many telegrams crossing each other
from all directions respecting the proposed Congress. An understanding
with Austria on every point ought, if possible, to precede our giving
our opinion to France or Russia. If they can _once_ get the Powers
to agree upon a point upon which Austria disagrees, they have won the
game, and the Emperor can proceed to his war, having a declaration of
Europe against Austria as his basis.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th April 1859_.

The Queen has marked a passage in this draft, which she thinks it
would be advisable to modify--so as not to _put_ upon _record_ (should
the Austrians refuse to give way on this point) that we consider their
conduct as "_reckless_." Should they persist, they would certainly not
meet with as much sympathy as they would do if they yielded, and
such a course on their part would be very much to be regretted, as
we consider every sacrifice small, in comparison to the blessings
of preserving peace; but still Austria would have a perfect right to
stand out--and we originally supported her in this demand.

If something which _expressed_ the _above_ sentiments and opinions
could therefore be substituted for the present passage, the Queen
thinks it would be very desirable _for the future_, both as regards
Austria and England.




[Pageheading: ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _21st April 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty that it
has appeared to him, in consultation with his colleagues, with the
exception of Lord Hardwicke and Sir John Pakington, who are out of
Town, that the only step which can properly be taken at present is to
protest strongly against the course which Austria is now taking, and
to warn her that whatever may be the results to herself, she deprives
herself of all claim to the support or countenance of England.[25]
Your Majesty will see by another telegram, received a few minutes ago
from Lord Cowley, that Hübner!! advises that England should threaten
to come to the aid of Sardinia, if the contemplated invasion should
take place! Your Majesty's servants are not, however, prepared to take
so strong a step, which would commit them to measures to which they
might be unable at the moment to give due effect; and which, if
Austria were to disregard the measure, would involve them in War as
the Allies of France. They have therefore limited themselves to
a protest, the terms of which will require to be very carefully
considered before it is embodied in a despatch. Lord Malmesbury will
submit to your Majesty by this messenger the terms of his telegram....
To appeal at once to arms, when no question, except this of form,
remained unsettled as to the meeting of Congress, and the subjects
to be then discussed, had been unanimously agreed to, appears to Lord
Derby to indicate a reckless determination to go to war which it will
be very difficult to justify in the eyes of Europe.

_For the moment_ these events rather diminish than increase the
probability of a rupture with France, while they will task her means
to the uttermost, and not improbably overthrow her personal dynasty!

    [Footnote 25: On the 19th, Count Buol despatched an emissary,
    Baron Kellersberg, to Turin, with a summons to Sardinia to
    disarm, under the threat of immediate hostilities if she
    declined. Sardinia indignantly refused, whereupon the Austrian
    troops crossed the Ticino.]




[Pageheading: WAR IMMINENT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th April 1859_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I hardly know _what_ to say, so confused and
bewildered are we by the reports which come in three or four times a
day! I have _no hope_ of peace _left_. Though it is _originally_ the
wicked folly of Russia and France that have brought about this fearful
crisis, it is the madness and blindness of Austria which have brought
on the war _now!_[26] It has put _them_ in the wrong, and entirely
changed the feeling here, which was all that one could desire, into
the most _vehement_ sympathy for _Sardinia_, though we hope now again
to be able to _throw_ the blame of the war on France, who _now_ won't
hear of mediation, while Austria is again inclined to do so!

It is a melancholy, sad Easter; but what grieves me the most (indeed,
distracts me)--for I have had nothing but disappointments in that
quarter since November--is that in all probability Vicky will be
unable to come in May! It quite _distracts me_. You also must be very
anxious about dear Charlotte; I hope she will not remain at Trieste,
but go to Vienna. Her being in Italy is really _not_ safe.... Now with
kind loves to your children, ever your affectionate and devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 26: Referring to an understanding reported to have
    been arrived at between France and Russia, the suspicion
    of which created great indignation in England. Prince
    Gortschakoff and the French Emperor, in answer to enquiries,
    gave conflicting explanations.]




_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ROEHAMPTON, _27th April 1859_.

... Lord Derby has thought it necessary, in consequence of the
attitude assumed by Russia, notwithstanding her assurances that there
is nothing hostile to England in her secret treaty with France, to
call upon Sir J. Pakington to say what addition could be made to
the Channel Fleet within a period of two or three months, without
weakening that in the Mediterranean. He has the honour of enclosing
the answer, which he has just received by messenger. Lord Derby
proposes to go up to Town to confer with Sir J. Pakington on this
important subject to-morrow, and Lord Malmesbury has summoned a
Cabinet for Friday to consider the general state of affairs.

France having absolutely refused the proffered mediation of England,
and Austria having only accepted it under the condition of the
disarmament of Sardinia, every effort to preserve the peace has been
exhausted; and it only remains for this country to watch the course
of events, to protect her own interests, and to look out for any
opportunity which may offer to mediate between the contending parties.
This policy, announced by Lord Derby in the City on Monday,[27] was
received with unanimous approval. It will require a great deal to
induce the country to be drawn into a war under any circumstances, and
Lord Derby's anxious efforts will not be wanting to avoid it as long
as possible.

    [Footnote 27: He had there described Austria's action as
    hasty, precipitate, and (because involving warfare) criminal,
    but the Government would still (he added) strive to avert war,
    by urging Austria, under the Treaty of Paris, to invoke the
    mediation of the Powers. The Derby Government, however, were
    supposed to be giving encouragement to Austria. See Lord
    Derby's letter of the 2nd of June, _post_.]




[Pageheading: LORD DERBY'S POLICY]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th April 1859_.

The Queen has read the last telegrams with much pain, as they show
that there is no chance left of stopping war. Indeed she thinks,
considering the progress of revolution in the Duchies, and the daily
increase of military strength of France and financial exhaustion of
Austria, that it would not be morally defensible to try to restrain
Austria from defending herself while she still can.

Count Buol's proposal to continue negotiations during the fight
sounds strange, but ought not to be altogether put aside. The King of
Sardinia's assumption of the Government of Tuscany[28] and military
occupation of Massa-Carrara form gross infractions of the Treaties of
1815 and international law, and can hardly be left without a protest
from us.

Has Lord Derby heard that a Russian Fleet is expected soon to appear
in the Black Sea? The Queen has just heard it from Berlin, where it is
supposed to be certain, and it would explain Lord Cowley's report
of (the Queen believes) Prince Napoleon's[29] account of the Russian
engagements, which are admitted to contemplate a junction of
the French and Russian Fleets to defend the Treaty closing the
Dardanelles.

    [Footnote 28: See _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVIII.
    The Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany were in
    revolution, and the Duchy of Parma soon followed their example.]

    [Footnote 29: See _post_, 1st May, 1859, note 30.]




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND RUSSIA]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ROEHAMPTON, _1st May 1859_.
(_Sunday night_, 12 P.M.)

... Lord Derby entirely concurs in your Majesty's opinion that no
credit is to be attached to the denials of the French or Russian
Governments in regard to the engagements subsisting between them.[30]
It is very easy to convey denials in terms which are literally true,
but practically and in spirit false; and Lord Derby has no doubt but
that France is well assured that in any case she may rely upon the
tacit assistance, if not the active co-operation, of Russia; and that
both Powers are using their utmost endeavours to excite troubles
in the East, as well as in Italy, as the result of which France may
gratify her cherished designs of ambition in the latter, while Russia
carries on her projects of aggrandisement in the former. This is a
lamentable state of affairs; but it is Lord Derby's duty to assure
your Majesty that no Government which could be formed in this country
could hope to carry public opinion with it in taking an active part,
as matters now stand, in opposition to France and Russia, if in truth
they are acting in concert, as Lord Derby believes that they are. All
that can be done is to maintain the principle of strict neutrality
in regard to the affairs of Italy, and probably of Montenegro also,
though there is not sufficient evidence of facts in that case to
justify a positive conclusion. But in the meantime everything shows
more conclusively the absolute necessity for the increase of your
Majesty's Naval Force,[31] which was determined at the Council
yesterday, and respecting which it will be necessary, on the very
first day of the meeting of the new Parliament, to call for an
explicit expression of opinion.

Your Majesty enquires as to a supposed pledge given by the Emperor of
the French as to a denial of any Treaty with Sardinia. So far as
Lord Derby can recollect at this moment, there never was more than an
assurance that so long as Austria remained within her own limits, he
would not interfere; and that he would not support Sardinia, unless
she were herself invaded in any _unjustifiable_ attack on Austria;
and there was also a denial in the _Moniteur_, to which your Majesty
probably refers, of there having been any engagement entered into _as
a condition of the marriage_.[32] These are just the denials to
which Lord Derby has already adverted, which appear at first sight
satisfactory, but which may be afterwards explained away, so as to
escape the charge of absolute falsehood.

Lord Derby trusts that your Majesty will have understood, and excused,
his absence from the Council on Saturday, in consequence of the
misunderstanding as to the time appointed.

    [Footnote 30: Lord Cowley, in a letter of the 29th of April
    to Lord Malmesbury, described an interview with the Emperor of
    the French, when the latter denied in terms the existence of
    a signed Treaty between France and Russia. But, as Lord Cowley
    added, there might be moral engagements which might easily
    lead to a more specific alliance.]

    [Footnote 31: The Emperor had interrogated Lord Cowley as to
    this.]

    [Footnote 32: In July 1858, the joint action of France and
    Sardinia had been concerted at the confidential interview
    at Plombières, between the Emperor and Cavour, the former
    undertaking to assist Sardinia, under certain contingencies,
    against Austria. On the same occasion the marriage was
    suggested of the Princess Clothilde of Sardinia to the Prince
    Napoleon Joseph Paul, son of Prince Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte.
    An interesting account of the events of this time, and of the
    character and aims of Cavour, will be found in De la Gorce's
    _Histoire du Second Empire_; see especially vol. ii. book 14.]




[Pageheading: THE POSITION OF FRANCE]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _3rd May 1859_.

The Queen has carefully read the enclosed draft. She thinks that,
without saying anything offensive to France,[33] this important
document would not place matters before that Power in the world in
accordance with the facts, and would lead to erroneous inferences
if it left out altogether, as it does, any reference to the
responsibility which France has had in bringing about the present
state of affairs.... Austria and Sardinia are spoken of as the
offenders, and blamed, not without sufficient ground, for the parts
which they have respectively acted, and France is treated as if
standing on a line with us in fostering civilisation, liberty, and
peace. The inference would be that _we_ forsake her in her noble
course, and deserve again the name of "_perfide Albion_."

The Queen would ask Lord Malmesbury to consider this. For the sake of
showing how she thinks the omissions dangerous to our position might
be supplied, she has added some pencil remarks.

    [Footnote 33: _I.e._, if the despatch were to abstain from
    reprobating the French policy.]




[Pageheading: THE GENERAL ELECTION]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _3rd May 1859_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--Many thanks for you dear, kind letter of the 30th. God
knows we _are_ in a sad mess. The rashness of the Austrians is indeed
a _great_ misfortune, for it has placed them in the wrong. Still there
is _one_ universal feeling of _anger_ at the conduct of France, and
of _great suspicion_. The Treaty with Russia is _denied_, but I am
perfectly certain that there _are engagements_....

Here the Elections are not as satisfactory as could be wished, but the
Government still think they will have a clear gain of 25 to 30 seats,
which will make a difference of 50 or 60 votes on a Division. It
gives unfortunately no majority; still, it must be remembered that the
Opposition are very much divided, and not at all a compact body, which
the supporters of the Government are.[34]

Lord John has been holding moderate and prudent language on Foreign
Affairs, whereas Lord Palmerston has made bad and mischievous
speeches, but _not_ at all in accordance with the feelings of
the country. The country wishes for strict neutrality, but strong
defences, and we are making our Navy as strong as we can.

You ask me if Louis Oporto[35] is grown? He is, and his figure much
improved. He is a good, kind, amiable boy whom one must like. He has
sailed this morning with the Bridegroom, and on the 16th or 17th we
may expect them back with the dear young Bride.

I venture to send you a letter I received some days ago from dear
Vicky, and the religious tone of which I think will please you. May I
beg you to return it me, as her letters are very valuable to me?...

We are well fagged and worked and worried; we return to Town to-morrow
afternoon.

With kindest love to your children, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 34: After their defeat on the 1st of April on the
    proposed Reform Bill, the Ministry had dissolved Parliament,
    and had gained in the elections twenty-five seats--not enough
    to counterbalance the Palmerstonian triumph of 1857. If,
    therefore, the various sections of the Liberal Party
    could unite, the displacement of the Derby Government was
    inevitable. Such a combination was, in fact, arranged at a
    meeting at Willis's Rooms organised by Lord Palmerston, Lord
    John Russell, Mr Bright and Mr Sidney Herbert.]

    [Footnote 35: Brother and successor of King Pedro V. of
    Portugal, and father of King Carlos. The King had married in
    May 1858 the Duchess Stéphanie (born 1837), daughter of Prince
    Antoine of Hohenzollern.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th May 1859_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I write to-day instead of to-morrow to profit by
the return of your messenger. Many, many thanks for your dear letter
of the 6th. What _are_ the Austrians about? They would _not_ wait when
they ought to have done so, and _now_ that they should have long
ago made a rush and an attack with their overwhelming force, they
do _nothing!_ nothing since the 30th! leaving the French to become
stronger and more _fit_ for the struggle every day!! It is indeed
distracting, and most difficult to understand them or do anything for
them. The Emperor leaves Paris for Genoa to-morrow. It is _not_ true
that the Empress was so warlike; Lord Cowley says, on the contrary,
she is very unhappy about it, and that the Emperor himself is low and
altered. Old Vaillant goes with him as General-Major.... Ever your
devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: POLICY OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON]


_The Earl of Malmesbury to Queen Victoria._

_15th May 1859._

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his humble duty to the Queen, and has
the honour to inform your Majesty that Count de Persigny[36] called on
him yesterday. He passed an hour in attempting to prove what it seems
he really believes himself--that the Emperor had no plan or even
intention to make war in Italy; that His Imperial Majesty was drawn
into it step by step by M. de Cavour, who finally menaced to publish
his most confidential correspondence, etc.; that his army was totally
unprepared, and is now in a very imperfect state, and that he himself
was overcome with surprise and fear when he learnt in the middle of
last month that the Austrians had 120,000 men on the Ticino.[37] The
Emperor, however, now believes that he will easily gain a _couple_
of victories, and that when he has _rejeté les Autrichiens dans leur
tanière_ (by which he means their great fortresses), he will return
to govern at Paris, and leave a Marshal to carry on the sieges and the
war. M. de Persigny's letters of appointment are not yet signed, and
must go to Italy to be so. He stated that a week ago he was named
Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that Fould,[38] Walewski, and others
were to be dismissed, but that two days before the Emperor's departure
Madame Walewska[39] and the Empress had on their knees obtained a
reprieve, and that M. de Persigny was ordered to come here _sans
raisonner_...

    [Footnote 36: Who had been re-appointed to London, where
    Marshal Pélissier, Duc de Malakhoff, had replaced him in 1858.
    See _ante_, 23rd March, 1858. Both Malakhoff and Walewski were
    out of sympathy with the Emperor's present policy.]

    [Footnote 37: Sir James Hudson, in a letter written at
    Turin on the 28th of February, and shown to Queen Victoria,
    described an interview with Cavour, who, in answer to the
    direct question, "Do you mean to attack Austria?" replied
    that the Italian question was becoming so complex that it was
    impossible to say what might happen. Sir J. Hudson added that
    he had learned confidentially that the understanding on the
    same subject between Cavour and the Emperor Napoleon was
    complete, and that it had been expressed thus: "Non seulement
    nous prendrons la première occasion de faire la guerre à
    l'Autriche, mais nous chercherons un prétexte."]

    [Footnote 38: Achille Fould, a Jewish banker, was a
    colleague of Walewski, though not a loyal one, in the French
    Government.]

    [Footnote 39: Madame Walewska was a Florentine by birth,
    descended on her mother's side from the princely family of
    Poniatowski.]



[Pageheader: ATTITUDE OF RUSSIA]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _20th May 1859_.

The Queen was much surprised to receive the enclosed telegram. An
alliance with Russia to _localise_ and _arrest_ the war by joint
interference, which is here proposed to Russia, is a policy to which
the Queen has not given her sanction, and which would require very
mature deliberation before it could ever be entertained. The Queen
is much afraid of these telegraphic short messages on principles of
policy, and would beg Lord Malmesbury to be most cautious as they
may lead us into difficulties without the possibility of previous
consideration. How can we propose to join Russia, whom we know to
be pledged to France? The Queen hopes Lord Malmesbury will stop the
communication of this message, to Prince Gortschakoff.[40]

    [Footnote 40: A telegram had been received from St Petersburg,
    saying that Prince Gortschakoff entirely coincided with
    Lord Malmesbury's views as to localising the war; and Lord
    Malmesbury had proposed to send a telegraphic reply containing
    the words: "We are anxious to unite with Russia, not only in
    localising the war, but in arresting it."]




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

OSBORNE, _22nd May 1859_.

In answer to Lord Derby's letter of yesterday referring to the
importance of concerting with Russia the best modes of preventing the
extension of the war, the Queen wishes merely to observe: That Russia
has acknowledged her desire to see the Austrians defeated, and her
indifference to the maintenance of the Treaties of 1815; France
wages war to drive the Austrians out of Italy, wresting from them
the Italian provinces secured to them by those treaties; and that the
Queen has declared from the Throne her adhesion to these treaties
to which Parliament unanimously responded. France and Russia may
therefore have an interest, and indeed _must_ have one, in not being
disturbed in any way in the prosecution of their Italian scheme.
England can have no such interest. If France prove successful, the
territorial arrangements of Europe, in which England has found safety,
and which she helped to establish in order to obtain safety against
France after a war of twenty years' duration, will be subverted,
and she herself may some day (perhaps _soon_) have her own safety
imperilled. The Saxon provinces of Prussia will be in much greater
danger when France shall have destroyed Austria in Italy and ruined
her at home, than while the latter remains a powerful member of the
German Confederation. What the Queen is naturally anxious to guard
against is our being drawn by degrees into playing the game of those
who have produced the present disturbance, and whose ulterior views
are very naturally and very wisely by them concealed from us. The
Queen is glad to hear that the telegram in question was not sent,
having been alarmed by its being marked as having been despatched "at
noon" on the 20th. The Queen wishes Lord Derby to show this letter to
Lord Malmesbury.




[Pageheader: ILLNESS OF DUCHESS OF KENT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _25th May 1859_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--Thousand thanks for your dear kind letter and good
wishes for my old birthday, and for your other dear letter of the
21st. Albert, who writes to you, will tell you how dreadfully our
_great, great_ happiness to have dearest Vicky, flourishing and so
well and gay with us, was on Monday and a good deal too yesterday,
clouded over and spoilt by the _dreadful_ anxiety we were in about
dearest Mamma. Thank God! to-day I feel another being--for we know she
is "in a satisfactory state," and improving in every respect, but I am
thoroughly shaken and upset by this _awful_ shock; for it came on
_so suddenly_--that it came like a thunderbolt upon us, and I think I
_never_ suffered as I did those four dreadful hours till we heard she
was better! I hardly myself _knew how_ I loved her, or how _my whole_
existence seems bound up with her--till I saw looming in the distance
the fearful possibility of _what_ I will _not_ mention. She was
actually packing up to start for here! _How_ I missed her yesterday
I cannot say, or how gloomy my poor birthday on first getting up
appeared I _cannot_ say. However, that is passed--and please God we
shall see her, with care, restored to her usual health ere long. I
trust, dearest Uncle, you are quite well now--and that affairs will
not prevent you from coming to see us next month?

Dear Vicky is now a most dear, charming companion--and so _embellie!_

I must end, having so much to write. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

I shall write again to-morrow or next day how dear Mamma is.




[Pageheader: THE QUEEN'S SPEECH]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st June 1859_.

The Queen takes objection to the wording of the two paragraphs[41]
about the war and our armaments. As it stands, it conveys the
impression of a determination on the Queen's part of maintaining a
neutrality--_à tout prix_--whatever circumstances may arise, which
would do harm abroad, and be inconvenient at home.[42] What the
Queen may express is her wish to remain neutral, and her hope that
circumstances will allow her to do so. The paragraph about the
Navy[43] as it stands makes our position still more humble, as it
contains a public apology for arming, and yet betrays fear of our
being attacked by France.

The Queen suggests two amended forms for these passages, in which she
has taken pains to preserve Lord Derby's words as far as is possible,
with an avoidance of the objections before stated.

"Those endeavours have unhappily failed, and war has been declared
between France and Sardinia on one side, and Austria on the other.
I continue to receive at the same time assurances of friendship from
both contending parties. It being my anxious desire to preserve to
my people the blessing of uninterrupted peace, I trust in God's
assistance to enable me to maintain a strict and impartial
neutrality."

"Considering, however, the present state of Europe, and the
complications which a war, carried on by some of its great Powers, may
produce, I have deemed it necessary, for the security of my dominions
and the honour of my Crown, to increase my Naval Forces to an amount
exceeding that which has been sanctioned by Parliament."

    [Footnote 41: In the Speech to be delivered by the Queen at
    the opening of Parliament on the 7th of June.]

    [Footnote 42: The passage originally ran: "Receiving
    assurances of friendship from both the contending parties, I
    intend to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality, and
    I hope, with God's assistance, to preserve to my people the
    blessing of continued peace."]

    [Footnote 43: The passage originally ran: "I have, however,
    deemed it necessary, in the present state of Europe, with no
    object of aggression, but for the security of my dominions,
    and for the honour of my Crown, to increase my Naval Forces
    to an amount exceeding that which has been sanctioned by
    Parliament."]




[Pageheader: THE QUESTION OF NEUTRALITY]

[Pageheader: THE NAVY]

[Pageheading: LORD DERBY'S CRITICISMS]


_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _2nd June 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty that he has
most anxiously, and with every desire to meet your Majesty's wishes,
reflected upon the effect of the alterations suggested by your
Majesty in the proposed Speech from the Throne. He has considered
the consequences involved so serious that he has thought it right
to confer upon the subject with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as
Leader of the House of Commons; and it is a duty which he owes to your
Majesty not to withhold the expression of their clear and unhesitating
conviction. Lord Derby trusts that your Majesty will forgive the
frankness with which, in the accompanying observations, he feels it
necessary to submit to your Majesty the grounds for the view which
they are compelled to take.

The first paragraph to which your Majesty takes exception is that
which intimates your Majesty's "intention" to maintain a strict and
impartial neutrality, and "hope" to be enabled to preserve peace. Your
Majesty apprehends that this may be interpreted into a determination
to preserve neutrality _à tout prix_; but Lord Derby would venture to
observe that such an inference is negatived by the subsequent words,
which only imply a "hope" of preserving peace. With the cessation
of that hope, neutrality would necessarily terminate. But as matters
stand at present, Lord Derby is warranted in assuring your Majesty
that if there is one subject on which more than another the mind of
the country is unanimous, it is that of an entire abstinence from
participation in the struggle now going on in Italy. He collects this
from the language of politicians of almost every class, from all the
public papers, from Addresses and Memorials which he receives every
day--some urging, and some congratulating him upon the adoption of a
perfectly neutral policy. The sympathies of the country are neither
with France nor with Austria, but were it not for the intervention of
France, they would be general in favour of Italy. The charge now
made against your Majesty's servants, by the opposition Press, as the
_Morning Post_ and _Daily News_, is that their neutrality covers
such wishes and designs in favour of Austria; and any word in your
Majesty's Speech which should imply a doubt of the continuance of
strict impartiality, would, undoubtedly, provoke a hostile Amendment,
which might very possibly be carried in the Sardinian sense, and
which, if so carried, would place your Majesty in the painful position
of having to select an Administration, pledged against the interests
of Austria and of Germany. Lord Derby says nothing of the personal
results to your Majesty's present servants, because, in such cases,
personal considerations ought not to be allowed to prevail; and it is
in the interest of the country only, and even of the very cause which
your Majesty desires to uphold, that he earnestly trusts that your
Majesty will not require any alteration in this part of the Speech.
There is, at this moment, in the country, a great jealousy and
suspicion of France, and of her ulterior designs--as indicated by
the demand of means of defence, the formation of Volunteer Corps,
etc.--but it is neutralised, partly by sympathy for Italy, partly by
suspicions, industriously circulated, of the pro-Austrian tendencies
of the present Government. It is very important that the language of
the Speech should be so decided as to negative this impression, and
Lord Derby cannot but feel that if neutrality be spoken of not as a
thing decided upon, but which, it is hoped, may be maintained, such
language will be taken to intimate the expectation of the Government
that it may, at no distant time, be departed from. In Lord Derby's
humble opinion Peace should be spoken of as subject to doubt, because,
out of the present struggle, complications may arise which may
necessarily involve us in war; but neutrality, as between the present
belligerents, should be a matter open to no doubt or question. If
there be no attempt made to run counter to public opinion, and Austria
should sustain serious reverses, the jealousy of France will increase,
and the feeling of the country will support your Majesty in a war,
should such arise, against her aggression; but if the slightest
pretext be afforded for doubting the _bonâ fide_ character of British
neutrality, or the firm determination to maintain it, an anti-German
feeling will be excited, which will be fatal to the Administration,
and seriously embarrassing to your Majesty.

The same observations apply, with hardly less force, to part of the
Amendment suggested by your Majesty to the paragraph regarding the
Navy. With submission to your Majesty, Lord Derby can hardly look upon
it as humiliating to a great country, in announcing a large increase
of its Naval Force, to disclaim any object of aggression. These words,
however, might, if your Majesty were so pleased, be omitted, though
Lord Derby cannot go so far as to say that in his humble judgment the
omission would be an improvement; but he trusts that your Majesty will
be satisfied with a general reference to the "state of Europe" without
speaking of the "complications which a war carried on by some of the
Great Powers may produce." These words would infallibly lead to a
demand for explanation, and for a statement of the nature of the
"complications" which the Government foresaw as likely to lead to war.
In humbly tendering to your Majesty his most earnest advice that
your Majesty will not insist on the proposed Amendments in his
Draft Speech, he believes that he may assure your Majesty that he
is expressing the unanimous opinion of his Colleagues. Of their
sentiments your Majesty may judge by the fact that in the original
draft he had spoken of your Majesty's "intention" to preserve peace
"as long as it might be possible"; but by universal concurrence these
latter words were struck out, and the "hope" was, instead of them,
substituted for the "intention." Should your Majesty, however, be
pleased so to order, Lord Derby will immediately submit the question
to the consideration of his Colleagues, in order that your Majesty may
be put, in the most authentic form, in possession of their views.
He assures your Majesty that nothing can be more repugnant to his
feelings than to appear to offer objections to any suggestions
emanating from your Majesty; and he has only been induced to do so
upon the present occasion by the deep conviction which he entertains
of the danger attending the course proposed, and the serious
embarrassments which it would cause your Majesty. He regrets more
especially having been compelled to take this step at a moment when
your Majesty's thoughts are very differently engaged, and when it may
be doubly irksome to have matters of public business pressed upon your
Majesty's consideration.

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant
and Subject,

DERBY.




_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _3rd June 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord Derby's answer to her observations on the
proposed Speech. There is in fact no difference of opinion between her
and Lord Derby; the latter only keeps in view the effect which certain
words will have in Parliament and upon the country, whilst she looks
to the effect they will produce upon the European conflict. If
the Queen were not obliged to speak, both positions might be well
reconciled; but if what she is going to declare from the Throne is
to allay suspicions purposely raised by the Opposition against the
Government that they intended to take part at some moment or other in
the war, and is to give absolute security to the country against this
contingency, this will be the very thing France would wish to bring
about in order to ensure to her the fullest liberty in prosecuting her
schemes for disturbing and altering the territorial state of Europe.
How is this impression to be avoided? Lord Derby thinks that the
expression of "hope" to be able to preserve peace to this country is
a sufficient indication that this country reserves to herself still
a certain liberty of action; but the Queen would have interpreted
it rather as the expression of a hope, that we may not be attacked,
particularly when followed by the sentence in which all intention of
aggression is disclaimed, and that our armaments are merely meant for
defence. The sense would then appear as this: "As the belligerents
separately assure me of their friendship, I am determined to maintain
a strict neutrality between them, and hope they may not change their
minds, and attack me; I arm, but merely to defend myself if attacked."
This would abdicate on the part of this country her position as one
of the arbiters of Europe, declare her indifference to treaties or the
balance of power (which are, in fact, of the greatest value to her),
and would preclude her from any action to preserve them. The Queen
fully enters into the Parliamentary difficulty, and would deprecate
nothing more than to expose the Government to a defeat on an Amendment
which would lead to the formation of a new Government on the principle
of neutrality _à tout prix_ imposed by Parliament on the Crown.

It will be for Lord Derby and his colleagues to consider how far they
may be able to avoid this danger without exposing themselves to that
pointed out by the Queen. She puts herself entirely in his hands, and
had suggested the verbal amendments merely with a view to indicate the
nature of the difficulty which had struck her. Whatever decision Lord
Derby may on further reflection come to, the Queen is prepared to
accept.[44]

    [Footnote 44: Ultimately the Cabinet recommended the
    modification of the declaration of neutrality by the insertion
    of the words "between them"; so as to run: "I intend to
    maintain _between them_ a strict and impartial neutrality,"
    etc.; and in the second paragraph proposed to omit the words
    "with no object of aggression, but"--and adopting the form
    of the Queen's paragraph, but omitting the words referring
    to possible complications, to leave it thus: "Considering,
    however, the present state of Europe, I have deemed it
    necessary for the security of my Dominions," etc.]




[Pageheading: NEGOTIATIONS WITH RUSSIA]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th June 1859_.

The Queen has read Lord Cowley's letter with regret. Nothing could
be more dangerous and unwise than at this moment to enter into
negotiations with Russia on the best manner of disposing of the
Emperor of Austria's dominions. The Queen cannot understand how Lord
Cowley can propose anything so indefensible in a moral point of view.




[Pageheading: DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS [? _7th June 1859_.]
(_Tuesday, quarter-past eight o'clock._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty.

Lord Hartington[45] spoke like a gentleman; was badly seconded.

Chancellor of Exchequer rose immediately at six o'clock, and is just
down. The House very full, and very enthusiastic.

The Chancellor of Exchequer presumes to say he thinks he satisfied his
friends.[46]

    [Footnote 45: Lord Hartington, afterwards eighth Duke of
    Devonshire, moved an Amendment to the Address, expressing a
    want of confidence in the Ministry.]

    [Footnote 46: He flung his taunts right and left at the now
    united Opposition, and was especially bitter against Sir
    James Graham. Referring to the Liberal meeting on the 6th,
    Mr Disraeli reminded the House that Willis's Rooms had, as
    Almack's, formerly been maintained by fashionable patronesses.
    "The distinguished assemblies that met within those walls
    were controlled by a due admixture of dowagers and youthful
    beauties--young reputations and worn celebrities--and it was
    the object of all social ambition to enter there. Now Willis's
    Rooms are under the direction of patrons, and there are two of
    these patrons below the gangway" (indicating Lord John Russell
    and Mr Sidney Herbert). In regard to its Foreign Policy, he
    said the Government should not be condemned without direct
    documentary evidence. Lord Malmesbury has since deplored
    Mr Disraeli's neglect to produce the Blue Book with the
    correspondence relating to the affairs of Italy and Austria,
    and stated that, had he laid it on the table, the debate would
    have ended differently (_Memoirs of an Ex-Minister_, vol. ii.
    p. 188).]




_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _10th June 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty that the
tone of the Government Agents in the House of Commons is less sanguine
to-day than it was yesterday with regard to the issue of the Debate
to-night. There are no actual changes announced of votes, but the tone
of the Opposition is more confident; and when an opinion begins to
prevail that the Government are likely to be in a minority, it often
realises itself by the effect which it produces on waverers and
lukewarm supporters. The Division will certainly take place to-night;
and, without absolutely anticipating failure, Lord Derby cannot
conceal from your Majesty that he considers the situation very
critical. Mr Gladstone expressed privately his opinion last night
that, even if successful on the present occasion, the Government could
not possibly go on, which does not look like an intention, on the
part of the Liberal Party, of considering the present division as
decisive.[47]...

    [Footnote 47: The rest of the letter relates to the
    distribution of honours to the outgoing Ministers.]


_Mr Disraeli to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _11th June 1859_.
(_Saturday morning, half-past two o'clock._)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer with his humble duty to your Majesty:

For the Amendment                             323
For the Address                               310
                                              ---
  Majority against your Majesty's servants     13
                                              ---




[Pageheading: THE MINISTRY DEFEATED]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th June 1859_.

The Queen was very much grieved to receive Mr Disraeli's report of the
division of yesterday, although she was fully prepared for this event.

She did not answer Lord Derby's letter of yesterday in order not to
anticipate it. Now that the fate of the Government is decided, she
is prepared to grant those favours and acknowledgments of service for
which Lord Derby asked in his letter. The Queen _could_ not reconcile
it with her own feelings, however, were she to omit this opportunity,
when Lord Derby for the second time resigns the post of her Prime
Minister, of giving to him personally a public mark of her approbation
of his services. The Queen therefore asks him to accept the Garter
from her hands.

As the Queen holds a Drawing-room to-day, and receives the City
Address after it, Lord Derby will be aware how little time she has
this morning (being naturally anxious to have some conversation with
him with as little delay as possible); she would ask him to come here
either at half-past eleven or half-past twelve o'clock.




_The Earl of Derby to Queen Victoria._

ST JAMES'S SQUARE, _11th June 1859_.

Lord Derby, with his humble duty, submits to your Majesty the
expression of his deep gratitude for your Majesty's most gracious note
this moment received, and for the terms in which your Majesty has been
pleased to speak of his very imperfect services. He gratefully accepts
the honour which your Majesty has been pleased to confer upon him as a
mark of your Majesty's personal favour. As a Minister, he could never
have advised your Majesty to bestow it upon him, and he could not have
accepted it on the recommendation of any Government to which he was
politically opposed; but as a spontaneous act of your Majesty, it
acquires in his eyes a value which nothing else could have given to
it. Lord Derby is this moment going down to the Cabinet, as a matter
of form, and will obey your Majesty's commands as soon as possible
after half-past eleven, when he will have an opportunity of expressing
in person his deep sense of your Majesty's goodness, and his entire
devotedness, in whatever situation he may be placed, to your Majesty's
service.




[Pageheading: LORD GRANVILLE SUMMONED]


_Memorandum by Earl Granville._

[_Undated. 11th June 1859._]

I waited at four o'clock this afternoon[48] upon the Queen by Her
Majesty's gracious commands. The Queen was pleased to remark upon the
importance of the present crisis. Her Majesty informed me that Lord
Derby had resigned, and that she had sent for me to desire that I
should attempt to form another Administration, which Her Majesty
wished should be strong and comprehensive. I respectfully assured the
Queen that Her Majesty's commands came upon me by surprise; that at
any time I felt my own insufficiency for such a post, and that at this
time there were special difficulties; that I believed the only two
persons who could form a strong Liberal Government were either Lord
Palmerston or Lord John Russell; and that, although it had sometimes
happened that two statesmen of equal pretensions preferred having a
nominal chief to serving under one another, I did not believe that
this was the case now. I said that I had reason to believe that Lords
Palmerston and John Russell were ready to co-operate with one another,
while I doubted whether either would consent to serve under a younger
man of such small pretensions as myself.

The Queen in reply informed me that her first thoughts had been turned
to Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, that they had both served
her long and faithfully, and that Her Majesty felt it to be an
invidious task to select one of the two. Her Majesty was also of
opinion that as different sections of the Liberal Party were more or
less represented by each, it might be more easy for the Party to act
together under a third person. Her Majesty added that she had selected
me as the Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords, and a
person in whom both Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell had been in
the habit of placing confidence, and she expressed her confident
hope that their attachment to herself would induce them to yield that
assistance without which it would be difficult to form a strong and
comprehensive Government.

I proceeded to state some of the most salient difficulties of the
task, and asked Her Majesty's permission to ascertain by negotiation
what it would be possible to do.

Her Majesty informed me that Her Majesty's experience of former
changes of administration had taught her that the construction of an
administration had failed when the person entrusted with the task had
acted merely as a negotiator, and that the success of other attempts
had been owing to the acceptance of the charge by the person for whom
she had sent. Her Majesty laid Her Majesty's commands upon me to make
the attempt, and I had the honour of conveying two letters from Her
Majesty to Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, stating that Her
Majesty relied upon their assistance.

    [Footnote 48: The 11th of June.]




[Pageheading: THE RIVAL LEADERS]


_Queen Victoria to_  {_Viscount Palmerston._
                     {_Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th June 1859_.

The Queen gives these lines to Lord Granville, whom she has entrusted
with the task of forming an administration on the resignation of Lord
Derby. She has selected him as the Leader of the Liberal Party in the
House of Lords. She feels that it is of the greatest importance that
both Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell should lend their services
to the Crown and country in the present anxious circumstances, and
thought at the same time that they might do so most agreeably to their
own feelings by acting under a third person. They having both served
the Queen long and faithfully as her First Minister, she must not
conceal from Lord Palmerston (John Russell) that it is a great relief
to her feelings not to have to make the choice of one of them, and
she trusts that they will feel no difficulty to co-operate with one in
whom they have both been in the habit of placing confidence. From
the long experience the Queen has had of Lord Palmerston's (John
Russell's) loyal attachment to her and the service of the Crown, she
feels confident she may rely on Lord Palmerston's (John Russell's)
hearty assistance.[49]

    [Footnote 49: In reply, Lord Palmerston (in a letter printed
    in Ashley's _Life of Lord Palmerston_, vol. ii. p. 155)
    accepted his responsibility for uniting with others to
    overthrow the Derby Ministry, and undertook to serve under
    either Lord John Russell or Lord Granville, but stipulated
    that any Government he joined must be an efficient and
    representative one.]




[Pageheading: LORD GRANVILLE UNSUCCESSFUL]


_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._

BRUTON STREET, _12th June 1859_.
(2 A.M.)

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to submit that he saw Lord Palmerston immediately after he had left
Buckingham Palace. Lord Granville stated what had passed there,
omitting any reference to your Majesty's objection to the effect
likely to be produced on the Continent by Lord Palmerston's name, if
he had the direction of the Foreign Affairs. Nothing could be more
frank and cordial than Lord Palmerston's manner. He agreed to lead the
House of Commons; he said that he had certainly anticipated that your
Majesty would have sent for either Lord John or himself, but having
taken a part in the defeat of the present Government, he felt bound to
put aside any personal objects, and co-operate with me; and that there
was no person whom he should prefer or even like as much as myself. He
added that his co-operation must depend upon my being able to form a
strong Government. Lord Granville then saw Lord John Russell, and
had a very long conversation with him. Lord John had no objection
to serving under Lord Granville, but thought that he could not give
effect to his political views unless he was either Prime Minister
or Leader of the House of Commons, and he doubted whether he had
confidence in any one but Lord Palmerston for the Foreign Office. Lord
Granville again saw Lord Palmerston, who informed him that if he had
been sent for, he should have objected to go to the House of Lords,
and that he could not now give up the lead of the House of Commons
(which Lord Granville had already proposed to him to retain) to Lord
John. This answer rendered it unnecessary for Lord Granville to allude
to the objections to his holding the Foreign Office. Lord Granville
has seen Lord Clarendon, who acted up to the full spirit of your
Majesty's letter, but deprecates strongly the attempt to form a
Government without Lord John Russell. Sir George Grey is of the same
opinion. Sir George Lewis, Mr Herbert, and Mr Gladstone think every
effort should be made to secure Lord John, but that it would not be
impossible to form a Government without him. Mr Milner Gibson, with
whom Lord Granville had a more reserved conversation, considered it a
_sine quâ non_ condition of support from the Liberal Party below the
gangway, that Lord John should be a member of the Government. Lord
Granville thinks that in his third interview with Lord Palmerston he
observed more dissatisfaction at not being sent for by your Majesty.
Lord Palmerston suggested that Lord John's absence from the Government
would make it more difficult for a Leader of the House, who was not
Prime Minister, to hold his position.

Lord Granville has written to Lord John asking for a final answer
before he informs your Majesty, whether he is able to attempt the task
which your Majesty has with so much kindness and indulgence laid upon
him.[50]

    [Footnote 50: This letter, and Lord John's reply declining to
    occupy only the third office in the State, and expressing
    his anxiety for adequate security in the handling of Foreign
    Affairs and Reform, are printed in Walpole's _Life of Lord
    John Russell_, vol. ii. chap. xxvii.

    Lord Granville then wrote to Lord John: "I am glad that
    I wrote to you yesterday evening, as your answer gave me
    information which I had not gathered from your conversation
    in the morning. I came away from Chesham Place with the
    impression that union between you and Palmerston with or
    without me was impossible. Your letter afforded a good
    opportunity of arrangement. As soon as I found by it that I
    was an obstacle instead of a facility towards the formation of
    a strong Government. I went to the Queen to ask her to
    excuse me from the task which she had so unexpectedly and so
    graciously imposed upon me. In answer to a question, I stated
    to Her Majesty that it was disagreeable to me to advise as to
    which of you and Palmerston she should send for, but that I
    was ready to do so if it was her wish.

    "The Queen did not press me. It is a great relief to have
    finished this business. I have asked Palmerston to do whatever
    would strengthen the Government, and assist him the most as
    regards myself."]




[Pageheading: LORD PALMERSTON PREMIER]


_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th June 1859_.

The Queen writes to inform Lord Derby that after a fruitless attempt
on the part of Lord Granville to form a Government comprising Lord
Palmerston and Lord John Russell, she has now charged Lord Palmerston
with the task, which she trusts may prove more successful....




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _12th June 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to report that he has been to Pembroke Lodge, and has had a
satisfactory conversation with Lord John Russell, who has agreed to
be a Member of the Government without any suggestion that Viscount
Palmerston should leave the House of Commons; but Viscount Palmerston
is sorry to say that Lord John Russell laid claim to the Foreign
Office in a manner which rendered it impossible for Viscount
Palmerston to decline to submit his name to your Majesty for that
post when the List of the new Government shall be made out for your
Majesty's consideration and approval....




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

_13th June 1859._

Lord Clarendon has just left the Queen. She had a long and full
conversation with him. Nothing could be more friendly than his
language, and he expressed himself ready to do anything for the
Queen's service. But he positively declines entering the Cabinet or
taking any _other office_. He says, as _Foreign_ Secretary, he should
be ready to join the Government should there be a vacancy; but that
he has never directed his attention much to general politics, and his
taking any other office, after having held the Foreign Seals during
a long and important time, would be of no use to the Government, and
would only injure himself. The Queen told him that he might have any
office almost (naming several of those which Lord Palmerston discussed
with her), but she could not urge nor press him to do what _he felt_
would injure him, and indeed she found him quite determined in his
purpose.

His absence from the Cabinet the Queen sincerely deplores, and she
knows that Lord Palmerston will feel it a serious loss.




[Pageheading: AN INDISCREET DISCLOSURE]


_Queen Victoria to Earl Granville._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _13th June 1859_.

The Queen is much shocked to find her whole conversation with Lord
Granville yesterday and the day before detailed in this morning's
leading article of the _Times_.[51] What passes between her and a
Minister in her own room in confidential intercourse ought to be
sacred, and it will be evident to Lord Granville that if it were not
so, the Queen would be precluded from treating her Ministers with that
unreserved confidence which can alone render a thorough understanding
possible; moreover, any Minister could state what he pleased, against
which the Queen would have no protection, as she could not well insert
contradictions or explanations in the newspapers herself.

    [Footnote 51: A circumstantial account of the Queen's
    conversation with Lord Granville had appeared in the _Times_,
    and Lord Derby drew attention to the matter in the House of
    Lords. Lord Granville in reply expressed his regret in not
    having used more complete reserve, and frankly attributed the
    disclosures to his non-observance of adequate discretion.]




_Earl Granville to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _13th June 1859_.

Lord Granville presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and feels
deeply your Majesty's reproof.

Lord Granville was extremely annoyed this morning at seeing the
article in the _Times_ of to-day, repeating with some accuracy, but
in a vulgar, inflated manner, the account which Lord Granville gave
yesterday afternoon to many of his political friends, and which he
believed your Majesty had authorised him to do. Lord Granville in that
account laid much stress on the reasons which your Majesty gave for
sending for Lord Granville, as he found that attempts had been made to
attribute every sort of motive which might render the Court unpopular.

Besides the gross impropriety of the appearance of reporting your
Majesty's conversation, Lord Granville regrets the indirect attack
upon Lord John Russell.

Lord Granville begs respectfully to express to your Majesty his
vexation at the annoyance, which he has thus been the cause of
inflicting on your Majesty, particularly at a moment when your Majesty
had just given him an additional proof of the indulgent kindness and
confidence which your Majesty has been pleased to place in him.




[Pageheading: MR COBDEN]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _1st July 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
been unable till within the last few minutes to make any Report about
Mr Cobden, from whom he had received no communication till about
an hour ago, when Mr Cobden came to him.[52] The result of a long
conversation between them has been that Mr Cobden, against the advice
of all his friends and of his constituents, has decided to decline
taking office. He grounds his decision upon feelings personal
to himself. He thinks that after having so often and so strongly
disapproved of the Foreign Policy of Viscount Palmerston as tending
too much to involve this country in war, it would be inconsistent for
him to join the present Cabinet, and he also said that, at his time of
life and with his general habits, he does not consider himself fit for
administrative office.

Viscount Palmerston used every [means] in his power to induce him
to change his decision, and showed that, with respect to present and
future action, there is no apparent difference between his views and
those of Mr Cobden, since both would desire that this country should
remain neutral in the war now raging in Italy. All his arguments,
however, were useless, and though Mr Cobden discussed the matter in
the most friendly and good-humoured manner, and promised to give out
of office all support to the Government, and said that he thought he
could do so more effectually out of office than in office, he could
not be persuaded to make any change in the answer which he came to
give.

Viscount Palmerston will consider what arrangement he may have to
propose to your Majesty in consequence of Mr Cobden's answer.

    [Footnote 52: Mr Cobden had been visiting the United States.
    On landing at Liverpool he learned that he had been elected
    at Rochdale, and at the same time he received an offer of the
    Board of Trade.]

THE MINISTRY AS FORMED BY VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.
_in the month of June_ 1859.

_First Lord of the Treasury_           VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.
_Lord Chancellor_                      LORD CAMPBELL.
_President of the Council_             EARL GRANVILLE.
_Lord Privy Seal_                      DUKE OF ARGYLL.
_Home Secretary_                       SIR G. C. LEWIS.
_Foreign Secretary_                    LORD JOHN (afterwards EARL)
                                         RUSSELL.
_Colonial Secretary_                   DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
_Secretary for War_                    Mr SIDNEY HERBERT (afterwards
                                         LORD HERBERT OF LEA).
_Secretary for India_                  Sir CHARLES WOOD (afterwards
                                         VISCOUNT HALIFAX).
_Chancellor of the Exchequer_          Mr GLADSTONE.[53]
_First Lord of the Admiralty_          DUKE OF SOMERSET.
_President of the Board of Trade_      Mr MILNER GIBSON (appointed
                                         in July).
_Postmaster-General_                   EARL OF ELGIN.
_Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster_ Sir GEORGE GREY.
_Chief Secretary for Ireland_          Mr (afterwards VISCOUNT) CARDWELL.

    [Footnote 53: Lord Aberdeen wrote, in a letter printed in
    Parker's _Sir James Graham_, vol. ii. p. 388, that the wish
    of Lord Palmerston, expressed in a speech at Tiverton, "to
    see the Germans turned out of Italy by the war, has secured
    Gladstone ... notwithstanding the three articles of the
    _Quarterly_ and the thousand imprecations of late years."]




[Pageheading: MR BRIGHT]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _2nd July 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Viscount Palmerston has heard from several persons that Mr Bright
would be highly flattered by being made a Privy Councillor; would
your Majesty object to his being so made if it should turn out that he
wishes it? There have been instances of persons made Privy Councillors
without office, and if Mr Bright could be led by such an honour to
turn his thoughts and feelings into better channels such a change
could not fail to be advantageous to your Majesty's service....




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd July 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's letter of to-day. She is
sorry not to be able to give her assent to his proposal with regard
to Mr Bright.[54] Privy Councillors have sometimes exceptionally been
made without office, yet this has been as rewards, even in such cases,
for services rendered to the State. It would be impossible to allege
any service Mr Bright has rendered, and if the honour were looked upon
as a reward for his systematic attacks upon the institutions of the
country, a very erroneous impression might be produced as to the
feeling which the Queen or her Government entertain towards these
institutions. It is moreover very problematical whether such an
honour conferred upon Mr Bright would, as suggested, wean him from his
present line of policy, whilst, if he continued in it, he would only
have obtained additional weight in the country by his propounding his
views as one of the Queen's Privy Councillors.

    [Footnote 54: In 1859, Lord Palmerston, in offering Mr Cobden
    a seat in the Cabinet, rejected the idea of accepting Mr
    Bright as a colleague, on the ground that his public speeches
    made it impossible. Mr Bright, later in life, was a welcome
    guest at Windsor, and the Queen became warmly attached to him
    as one of her Ministers.]




[Pageheading: PACIFICATION OF INDIA]


_Earl Canning to Queen Victoria._

CALCUTTA, _4th July 1859_.

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
permission to offer to your Majesty his respectful thanks for your
Majesty's most gracious letter of the 18th of May.

Lord Canning ventures to believe that he is well able to figure to
himself the feelings with which your Majesty will have welcomed the
termination of the Mutiny and Rebellion in India, and of the chief
miseries which these have brought in their train. He hopes that your
Majesty will not have thought that there has been remissness in not
marking this happy event by an earlier public acknowledgment and
thanksgiving in India, as has already been done in England.[55] The
truth is, that although this termination has long been steadily and
surely approaching, it is but just now that it can be said to be
complete in the eyes of those who are near to the scene of action. It
is only within the last three weeks that the exertions of our Troops
on the Oudh and Nepaulese frontier, and in some other parts, have been
remitted, and almost every Gazette has recounted engagements with the
rebels, which, although they have invariably had the same issue, would
scarcely have consisted with a declaration that peace and tranquillity
were restored. Now, however, military operations have fairly ceased,
and the rains and the climate, which would make a continuance of those
operations much to be regretted, will do their work amongst the rebels
who are still in arms in the Nepaul jungles more terribly than any
human avengers.

Lord Canning has used every exertion and device to bring these
wretched men to submission; but many--it is difficult to say how many,
but certainly some few thousands--still hold out. With some of them
the reason no doubt is that they belong to the most guilty Regiments,
and to those which murdered their officers; but this cannot apply
to all; and it is to be feared that the prevailing cause is the bad
influence of their leaders--the Nana, Bala Rao, and the Begum;[56] or
rather the Begum's infamous advisers. It is certain that all of these,
believing their own position to be desperate, have spared no pains
to persuade their followers that the Government is seeking to entrap
them, and that, if they submit, their lives will be taken....

    [Footnote 55: There had been a Public Thanksgiving in England
    on the 1st of May.]

    [Footnote 56: Bala Rao was a brother of Nana Sahib, chief
    instigator of the Sepoy Mutiny. See _ante_, 4th July, 1857,
    note 24.]




[Pageheading: A MILITARY ENQUIRY]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th July 1859_.

The Queen is much shocked to see that the Government last night moved
for a Committee of the House of Commons to enquire into the Military
Departments, without having previously communicated with the Queen
on the subject. She is the more surprised at this, as Lord Palmerston
told her, when she saw him on the formation of the present Government,
and she expressed her anxiety on the subject, that there would be no
more trouble about it, and he thought it would drop. The Queen
expects that the names of those who it is proposed should compose the
Committee, and the wording of it, will be submitted to her.




[Pageheading: CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _5th July 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that the re-appointment of the Committee on the Organisation
of the Military Departments was unavoidable. That Committee had
been affirmed by the House of Commons and consented to by the late
Government, and had begun its sittings; but when a Dissolution of
Parliament was announced, it suspended its further sittings, with the
understanding that it should be revived in the new Parliament; and to
have departed from that understanding would have been impossible. That
which Viscount Palmerston intended to convey in what he said to your
Majesty on the subject was, that the evidence given by Lord Panmure
might be deemed as having fully set aside the objection urged against
the present organisation by persons unacquainted with the bearing upon
it of the fundamental principles of the Constitution, namely, that the
Crown acts in regard to Military matters without having any official
adviser responsible for its acts. Such a condition of things, if it
could exist, would be at variance with the fundamental principles
of the British Constitution, and would be fraught with danger to the
Crown, because then the Sovereign would be held personally answerable
for administrative acts, and would be brought personally in conflict
in possible cases with public opinion, a most dangerous condition for
a Sovereign to be placed in.

The maxim of the British Constitution is that the Sovereign can do
no wrong, but that does not mean that no wrong can be done by Royal
authority; it means that if wrong be done, the public servant who
advised the act, and not the Sovereign, must be held answerable for
the wrongdoing.

But the Ministers of the Crown for the time being are the persons who
are constitutionally held answerable for all administrative acts in
the last resort, and that was the pith and substance of the evidence
given by Lord Panmure. Those persons who want to make great changes
in the existing arrangements were much vexed and disappointed by that
evidence, and the attempt made yesterday to put off the Committee till
next year on the ground that the evidence now to be taken would be
one-sided only, and would tend to create erroneous impressions, was
founded upon those feelings of disappointment.

Viscount Palmerston submits names of the persons whom Mr Sidney
Herbert proposes to appoint on the Committee, and they seem to be well
chosen.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _10th July 1859_.
(7 P.M.)

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has
just received from Lord Palmerston, who is here, the paper, a copy of
which is enclosed.[57]

Lord John Russell has to add that Lord Palmerston and he are humbly of
opinion that your Majesty should give to the Emperor of the French
the moral support which is asked. It is clearly understood that if the
Emperor of Austria declines to accept the propositions, Great Britain
will still maintain her neutral position.

But it is probable that her moral support will put an end to the
war, and your Majesty's advisers cannot venture to make themselves
responsible for its continuance by refusing to counsel your Majesty to
accept the proposal of France.

    [Footnote 57: At the seat of war, a series of decisive French
    victories had culminated in the battle of Solferino, on
    Midsummer Day (see _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVIII).
    But the French Emperor was beginning to think these successes
    too dearly purchased, at the expense of so many French lives,
    and, actuated either by this, or some similar motive, he
    attempted, on the 6th of July, to negotiate through the British
    Government with Austria. The attempt was a failure, but an
    armistice was signed on the 8th, and again the Emperor sought
    the moral support of England. The paper which Lord John
    Russell submitted was a rough memorandum of M. de Persigny's,
    proposing as a basis of negotiation the cession of Lombardy to
    Piedmont, the independence of Venetia, and the erection of an
    Italian Confederation.]




[Pageheading: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

PAVILION, ALDERSHOT, _10th July 1859_.

The Queen has just received Lord John Russell's letter with the
enclosure which she returns, and hastens to say in reply, that
she does not consider the Emperor of the French or his Ambassador
justified in asking the support of England to proposals he means to
make to his antagonist to-morrow. He made war on Austria in order to
wrest her two Italian kingdoms from her, which were assured to her by
the treaties of 1815, to which England is a party; England declared
her neutrality in the war. The Emperor succeeded in driving the
Austrians out of one of these kingdoms after several bloody battles.
He means to drive her out of the second by diplomacy, and neutral
England is to join him with her moral support in this endeavour.

The Queen having declared her neutrality, to which her Parliament and
people have given their unanimous assent, feels bound to adhere to it.
She conceives Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston ought not to ask
her to give her "moral support" to one of the belligerents. As for
herself, she sees no distinction between moral and general support;
the moral support of England _is_ her support, and she ought to be
prepared to follow it up.

The Queen wishes this letter to be communicated to the Cabinet.[58]

    [Footnote 58: The Queen not having been informed whether this
    instruction had been complied with, a correspondence took
    place on the subject between the Prince and Lord Granville.
    See the _Life of Lord Granville_, vol. i. chap. xiii.]




[Pageheading: END OF THE WAR]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _12th July 1859_.

The Queen has to acknowledge the receipt of Lord John Russell's letter
reporting to her the result of the deliberations of the Cabinet, which
has very much relieved her mind. Lord John does not say whether
her letter was read to the Cabinet, but from his former letter she
concludes it was. She is most anxious that there should exist no
misapprehension on their part as to the Queen's views. Our position
must be consistent and precisely defined. A negotiation to stop the
effusion of blood, and to attain "a peace which would be for the
interests of all belligerents," is a very vague term. Who is to
judge of those interests? Is M. de Persigny or the Emperor Napoleon's
opinion to be the guide, as they just now proposed to us? Austria must
be considered the exponent of her own interests. Prussia has explained
to us the interests of Germany in the maintenance of the line of the
fortresses on the Mincio, and was answered; her views were entirely
erroneous, and her apprehensions exaggerated. It will require the
greatest caution on our part not to lose our neutral position, nor
to be made the advocate of one side. Are the wishes of the Lombards,
Tuscans, etc., really ascertainable, while their countries are
occupied by French and Sardinian armies? The Queen encloses an extract
of a letter from the first Napoleon to his son, Prince Eugène,[59]
showing how the expression of a wish for annexation has already of old
been used as a means for conquest.

    [Footnote 59: Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, son
    of the Empress Josephine by her first marriage, and adopted
    son of Napoleon I.]




[Pageheading: ASCENDANCY OF FRANCE]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _13th July 1859_.

The Queen has received the news of a concluded peace,[60] which Lord
John Russell has sent to her yesterday, with as much surprise as it
must have caused Lord John. It was a joyous intelligence, as far
as the stopping of the further effusion of innocent blood and the
security against further diplomatic complications is concerned, but
it gives cause for serious reflection. The Emperor Napoleon, by
his military successes, and great apparent moderation or prudence
immediately after them, has created for himself a most formidable
position of strength in Europe. It is remarkable that he has acted
towards Austria now just as he did towards Russia after the fall of
Sebastopol; and if it was our lot then to be left alone to act the
part of the extortioner whilst he acted that of the generous victor,
the Queen is doubly glad that we should not now have fallen into the
trap, to ask Austria (as friends and neutrals) concessions which he
was ready to waive. He will now probably omit no occasion to cajole
Austria as he has done to Russia, and turn her spirit of revenge upon
Prussia and Germany--the Emperor's probable next victims. Should he
thus have rendered himself the master of the entire Continent, the
time may come for us either to obey or to fight him with terrible odds
against us. This has been the Queen's view from the beginning of this
complication, and events have hitherto wonderfully supported them. How
Italy is to prosper under the Pope's presidency, whose misgovernment
of his own small portion of it was the ostensible cause of the war,
the Queen is at a loss to conceive. But the Emperor will be able to
do just as he pleases, being in military command of the country, and
having Sardinia, the Pope, and Austria as his debtors.

The Queen would like this letter to be communicated to the Cabinet.

    [Footnote 60: The armistice had arranged that the Emperors
    should meet at Villafranca, where peace was concluded. See
    _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVIII. The Italian
    Confederation was to be under the presidency of the Pope.]




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _13th July 1859_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he will
read your Majesty's letter to the Cabinet to-morrow.

The Emperor Napoleon is left no doubt in a position of great power.
That position has been made for him by allowing him to be the only
champion of the cause of the people of Italy.

But that is no reason why we should seek a quarrel with France, and
there is some reason to doubt whether the speeches made in the House
of Lords, while they display our weakness and our alarm, are really
patriotic in their purpose and tendency.

To be well armed, and to be just to all our neighbours, appears to
Lord John Russell to be the most simple, the most safe, and the most
honest policy.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _14th July 1859_.

The Queen acknowledges the receipt of Lord John Russell's
communications of yesterday. She entirely agrees with him "that we
have no reason to seek a quarrel with France," and that "the most
simple and most safe and most honest" line of conduct for us will be
"to be well armed, and to be just to all our neighbours."

She trusts that as the poor Duchess of Parma[61] appears to be
overlooked in the Italian Peace merely because nobody thinks it his
business to befriend her, we shall in the above spirit ask for justice
and consideration for her.

The Queen concurs with Lord John that it will now be useless to
communicate to France the advice given to the Porte.

    [Footnote 61: Louise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of the Duc de
    Berri, and widow of Charles III., Duke of Parma. She was at
    this time Regent for her son Robert, a minor (born 1848), the
    present Duke.]




[Pageheading: THE VIEWS OF THE POPE]

[Pageheading: THE POPE ON ENGLISH LIBERALISM]

[Pageheading: THE TEMPORAL POWER]


_Mr Odo Russell to Lord John Russell._
(_Submitted to the Queen._)

ROME, _17th July 1859_.

MY LORD,--Some days since a letter from the "Pontifical Antechamber,"
directed to "Signor Odoni Russell, Agente Officioso di Sua Maestà
Britannica," informed me that His Holiness the Pope desired to see me.

In consequence I proceeded to the Vatican, and was ushered into the
presence of His Holiness by Monsignore Talbot, the "Cameriere" in
waiting, who immediately withdrew, and I remained alone with the Pope.

His Holiness welcomed me with his usual benevolence and good humour.
He seemed very gay, and spoke with more than customary frankness, so
much so indeed that I have felt some hesitation as to the propriety of
submitting what passed between us to your Lordship. But after mature
reflection, I think it best you should be in possession of an accurate
and conscientious account of the sentiments of His Holiness in the
present important juncture of affairs.

"Caro mio Russell," the Pope said, "you have been so long at Naples
that I was already thinking of sending after you to bring you back; we
do not like you to leave us, and the more so as I have heard you were
attached to the Mission of Mr Elliot,[62] who is a son of Lord Minto;
and if he entertains the same political views as his father, he is a
dangerous man to the peace of Italy. Now I knew Lord Minto here, and
although he may be a very good man, I do not think him a man of any
capacity, and his doctrines were calculated to bring on the ruin of
Italy."

I replied, "I cannot agree with your Holiness, for I consider Lord
Minto to be a very clever man, whose honest, sound, and liberal views,
had they been listened to, might have prevented the crisis which is
now convulsing Italy."

The Pope said, "Well, of course you belong to his party, but, _Poveri
noi!_ what is to become of us with your uncle and Lord Palmerston at
the head of affairs in England? They have always sympathised with the
turbulent spirits of Italy, and their accession to power will greatly
increase the hopes of the Piedmontese Party. Indeed, I well know what
the English Government want: they want to see the Pope deprived of his
temporal power."

I replied, "Again I regret to find your Holiness so entirely mistaken
with respect to the policy of England. We derive great happiness from
our free institutions, and we would be glad to see our neighbours in
Europe as happy and as prosperous as we are, but we have no wish to
interfere with the internal concerns of other nations, or to give
advice without being asked for it; least of all as a Protestant
Power would _we_ think of interfering one way or the other with the
Government of your Holiness."

The Pope said, "I do not doubt the good intentions of England, but
unfortunately you do not understand this country, and your example
is dangerous to the Italian minds, your speeches in Parliament excite
them, and you fancy because constitutional liberties and institutions
suit you, that they must suit all the world. Now the Italians are a
dissatisfied, interfering, turbulent and intriguing race; they can
never learn to govern themselves, it is impossible; only see how they
follow Sardinia in all she tells them to do, simply because they love
intrigue and revolution, whilst in reality they do not know what they
want; a hot-headed people like the Italians require a firm and just
government to guide and take care of them, and Italy might have
continued tranquil and contented, had not the ambition of Sardinia led
her to revolutionise the whole country. The Grand Duke of Tuscany,
for instance, is an excellent and just man, and nevertheless, at the
instigation of Piedmont, he was turned out of the country, and for no
earthly purpose. I suppose you have read Monsieur About's book about
Rome[63]? well, all he says is untrue, pure calumny, and it would be
easy for me to have it all refuted; but he is really not worthy of
such an honour. His book, I see, has been translated into English,
and I have no doubt it will be much read and believed in England. Such
books and our refugees mislead your countrymen, and I often wonder at
the language your statesmen hold about us in the Houses of Parliament.
I always read their speeches. Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell,
and Mr Gladstone do not know us; but when I think how kindly and
hospitably Lord Granville was received at Rome last winter, and then
read the extraordinary speech he made last February about us, I think
the gout he suffered from here must have gone to his head when he
reached England, and I wonder how Her Majesty the Queen could send
for him to form a Government! Then again, Mr Gladstone, who allowed
himself to be deceived about the Neapolitan prisoners--he does not
know us and Italy--and Mr Cobden,--I knew him in 1847--he is always in
favour of peace, and he must be very fond of animals, for when he came
here from Spain he wanted me to write to that country and put a stop
to bull-fights--a very good man, but I do not know his views about
Italy. And Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, do you think he will be
employed again? he seemed so anxious to get a place. Mr Disraeli was
my friend; I regret him. But tell me, _caro mio Russell_, if you are a
prophet, how all this war and fuss is to end?"

I replied, "Your Holiness has better claims to being a prophet than
I have, and I sincerely hope all this may end well for Italy; but
as regards the present and the past, I must again say that I deeply
regret to see your Holiness misconceive the honest views and sincere
sympathies of the statesmen you have named, for the welfare of Italy;
they would like to see Italy independent, prosperous, progressing and
contented, and able to take care of herself without foreign troops.
Your Holiness has done me the honour to speak freely and openly with
me; permit me to do the same, and ask your Holiness what England must
think when she sees the temporal power of your Holiness imposed
upon three millions of people by the constant presence of French
and Austrian bayonets, and when, after ten years of occupation,
the Austrians withdraw suddenly, there is at once an insurrection
throughout the country; and if the French were to leave Rome it is
generally acknowledged that a revolution would compel your Holiness to
seek refuge in some foreign country. At the same time, when the troops
of your Holiness are employed as at Perugia,[64] the Government is
too weak to control them; they pillage and murder, and, instead
of investigating their conduct, the excesses committed by them are
publicly rewarded."

The Pope smiled, paused, took a pinch of snuff, and then said
good-humouredly: "Although I am not a prophet, I know one thing; this
war will be followed by an European Congress, and a Congress about
Italian Affairs is even worse for us than war. There will be changes
in Italy, but mark my words, whatever these changes are, the Pope will
ever be the Pope, whether he dwells in the Vatican or lives concealed
in the Catacombs.

"Lastly, I will give you some advice. Prepare and take care of
yourselves in England, for I am quite certain the French Emperor
intends sooner or later to attack you."

The Pope then beckoned to me to approach, and making the sign of the
Cross, he gave me his blessing in Latin, then with both his hands,
he took one of mine, pressed it, and said with great warmth, "Be our
friend in the hour of need." I have the honour to be, etc., etc.,

ODO RUSSELL.

    [Footnote 62: Mr (afterwards Sir) Henry Elliot, P.C., G.C.B.,
    was Plenipotentiary to Naples. He was subsequently Ambassador
    at Vienna, and died in 1907.]

    [Footnote 63: Edmond About, a French journalist (1828-1885),
    had published _La Question Romaine,_ an attack on the Papacy.
    See De la Gorce, _Histoire du Second Empire_, vol. ii. p.
    365.]

    [Footnote 64: An insurrection against the Pope at Perugia bad
    been put down with great cruelty on the 20th of June.]




[Pageheading: DISAPPOINTMENT OF CAVOUR]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _18th July 1859_.

The Queen returns these interesting letters to Lord John.[65]

The whole aspect of affairs gives cause for serious reflection and
great anxiety for the future.

The conduct of France as regards Italy shows how little the Emperor
Napoleon cared for, or thought of, its independence when he undertook
this war, which (though in the last instance begun by Austria) _he_
brought on, for purposes of his own.

The manifesto of the Emperor of Austria shows how unfortunate for her
own interests the policy of Prussia has been.[66] She had made herself
answerable for the issue of the war by restraining the minor states,
and stands now humiliated and isolated. Her position in Germany is at
present very painful, and may be for the future very dangerous.

The Queen feels strongly that we are not without considerable
responsibility in having from the first urged her to take no part in
the war, which certainly had great influence on her actions--and she
will very naturally look to us not to desert her when the evil hour
for her may come.[67]

    [Footnote 65: These were letters from Lord Cowley and Sir
    James Hudson in reference to the Peace of Villafranca. The
    former announced, as a result of his conversation with the
    Empress and other persons, that among the causes which induced
    the French Emperor to consent to peace were his horror at
    any further sacrifice of life and time, disgust at what he
    considered Italian apathy for the cause which the French
    were upholding, and distrust of the intentions of the King
    of Sardinia and Count Cavour. Sir James Hudson described the
    unanimous feeling at Turin that the Nationalist cause had been
    betrayed. Cavour, he wrote, could obtain no further response
    to his remonstrances with Napoleon than "Il fait bien chaud:
    il fait bien chaud." Moreover, Napoleon knew (continued Sir
    James) "that Mazzini had dogged his footsteps to Milan, for,
    the day before yesterday, sixty-six Orsini bombshells were
    discovered there by the chief of the Sardinian police, who
    arrested the man (a known follower of Mazzini) who had them.
    The story is that he brought them from England for the purpose
    of using them against the Austrians!!" Count Cavour, who
    resigned in disgust and was succeeded by Rattazzi, remained
    out of office till the following January.]

    [Footnote 66: He stated that he believed he could obtain
    better terms direct from the French Emperor than those to
    which England, Russia, and Prussia were likely to give their
    moral support as a basis of mediation.]

    [Footnote 67: Lord Cowley wrote to Lord John Russell on the
    20th of July:--

    "... The two Emperors met in the most cordial manner, shaking
    hands as if no difference had existed between them. As soon as
    they were alone, the Emperor of Austria took the initiative,
    and stated at once that he was ready to cede to the Emperor
    of the French, for the sake of the restoration of peace, the
    territory which the latter had conquered, but that he could
    not do more, giving the reasons which I have mentioned to
    your Lordship in former despatches. The Emperor of the French
    replied that his own position in France, and the public
    declarations which he had made, rendered something in addition
    necessary: that the war had been undertaken for the freedom of
    Italy, and that he could not justify to France a peace
    which did not ensure this object. The Emperor Francis
    Joseph rejoined that he had no objection to offer to the
    Confederation which formed part of the Emperor Napoleon's
    programme, and that he was ready to enter it with Venetia, and
    when the Emperor Napoleon remarked that such a result would be
    a derision, if the whole power and influence of Austria were
    to be brought to bear upon the Confederation, the Emperor
    Francis Joseph exclaimed against any such interpretation being
    given to his words, his idea being that Venetia should be
    placed on the same footing, in the Italian Confederation, as
    Luxemburg holds in the Germanic Confederation....

    "In the course of conversation between the two Imperial
    Sovereigns, the Emperor of Austria remarked to the Emperor of
    the French with many expressions of goodwill, and of a desire
    to see the dynasty of the latter firmly established on
    the throne of France, that His Majesty took an odd way to
    accomplish his end. 'Believe me,' said the Emperor Francis
    Joseph, 'dynasties are not established by having recourse to
    such bad company as you have chosen; revolutionists overturn,
    but do not construct.' The Emperor Napoleon appears to have
    taken the remark in very good part, and even to have excused
    himself to a certain degree, observing that it was a further
    reason that the Emperor Francis Joseph should aid him in
    putting an end to the war, and to the revolutionary spirit to
    which the war had given rise.

    "The Emperors having separated in the same cordial manner in
    which they had met, the Emperor of the French himself drew up
    the preliminaries and sent them in the evening to Verona
    by his cousin, the Prince Napoleon. Being introduced to the
    Emperor of Austria, who received His Imperial Highness
    very courteously, His Majesty said, after reading the
    preliminaries, that he must beg the Prince to excuse him for
    a short time, as he had others to consult before signing them.
    He then went into an adjoining room where, according to Prince
    Napoleon's account, a loud and angry discussion ensued, in
    which the Prince distinguished the Emperor's voice broken by
    tears, as if His Majesty had been obliged to have recourse to
    persuasion, to silence the opposition made to the conditions,
    and it was not until some time had elapsed that His Majesty
    returned and signed the paper containing them, or rather
    I infer that he retained the paper signed by the Emperor
    Napoleon, and returned one of similar purport signed by
    himself; for among all the curious circumstances connected
    with this transaction, not the least curious is the fact that
    there does not exist any document recording the preliminaries
    with the double signature of both Emperors."]




[Pageheading: INDIAN AFFAIRS]


_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

OSBORNE, _23rd July 1859_.

The Queen's attention has been attracted by No. 86 (Foreign
Department) of the printed abstracts of letters received from India,
relating to the affairs of Bussahir.[68] She would ask Sir C. Wood
to consider, with his Council, whether means could not be found for
making acts of confiscation, sequestration, spoliation, transfer of
Government, or whatever they may be called, dependent upon some formal
and judicial proceeding which should secure the Queen from acts being
done in her name--which might not be entirely justifiable morally, as
well as legally--which should relieve the Government agents from
the fearful responsibility of being sole advisers on steps implying
judicial condemnation without trial on their mere personal opinion,
and from which they derive themselves additional personal advancement
in power, position, possibly emolument, etc., etc., and lastly, which
would give the people of India security that the Government only acts
after impartial judicial investigation and the sifting of evidence.

The Queen would wish a report to be made to her upon this important
subject.

    [Footnote 68: Bussahir was a State in the upper course of the
    Sutlej. In January, the Punjab, including the Sutlej States,
    had been made a distinct presidency, but Bussahir was not
    finally included until 1862.]




[Pageheading: NON-INTERVENTION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._[69]

OSBORNE, _21st August 1859_.

The Queen sends the enclosed draft to Lord John Russell; she is very
sorry that she cannot give her approval to it. There are many points
in it to which she cannot but feel the gravest objections. It is
unnecessary, however, for her to go into these details, as it is
against the principle of England volunteering at this moment the
intrusion of a scheme of her own for the redistribution of the
territories and Governments of Northern Italy, that she must above all
protest. Moreover, a step of such importance, reversing the principle
of non-intervention, which the Queen's Government has hitherto
publicly declared and upheld, should, in the Queen's opinion, not be
brought before her without having received the fullest deliberation
and concurrence of the assembled Cabinet.

    [Footnote 69: A month earlier, on his return from the war, the
    Emperor had tried to enlist British support in his scheme for
    a European congress. But the Cabinet decided (24th July),
    with the Queen's full concurrence, that no answer should
    be returned to this proposal, till a Treaty, embodying the
    preliminaries of Villafranca, should have been signed.]




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _23rd August 1859_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he begs
to explain that with respect to reversing the principle of
non-intervention, he has never proposed any such course. If
intervention were to mean giving friendly advice, or even offering
mediation, your Majesty's Government from January to May would have
pursued a course of intervention, for they were all that time advising
Austria, France, Sardinia, and Germany.

If by friendly and judicious advice we can prevent a bloody and
causeless war in Italy we are bound to give such advice.

If we refrain from doing so, we may ultimately be obliged to have
recourse to intervention; that is to say, we may have to interfere
against the ruthless tyranny of Austria, or the unchained ambition
of France. It is with a view to prevent the necessity of intervention
that Lord John Russell advises friendly representations.




[Pageheading: NON-INTERVENTION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

ALDERSHOT, _23rd August 1859_.

... With regard to Lord John's letter of to-day, the Queen wishes
merely to say that from the outbreak of the war our negotiations have
ceased, and that the war is not over till the peace is concluded. Our
interference before that period may be prompted by a desire to prevent
a future war; but our first duty is not to interfere with the closing
of the present. The desire to guard Italy against "the ruthless
tyranny of Austria, and the unchained ambition of France" may produce
a state of things in Italy, forcing both to make common cause against
her, and backed by the rest of Europe to isolate England, and making
her responsible for the issue. It will be little satisfaction then to
reflect upon the fact that our interference has been merely _advice_.




[Pageheading: FOREIGN POLICY]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _23rd August 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that Lord John Russell has shown him your Majesty's
communication, in which your Majesty objects to a proposed despatch
to Lord Cowley, on the ground that it would be a departure from the
principle of non-intervention which has been publicly proclaimed
as the rule for Great Britain in the late events between France and
Austria. But Viscount Palmerston would beg humbly to submit to your
Majesty that the intervention which all parties agreed that this
country ought to abstain from, was active interference by force of
arms in the war then going on, but that neither of the great political
parties meant or asserted that this country should not interfere by
its advice and opinions in regard to the matters to which the war
related. Viscount Palmerston can assert that neither he nor any of
those who were acting with him out of office ever contemplated giving
such a meaning to the doctrine of non-intervention; and that such a
meaning never was attached to it by the Conservative Leaders while
they were in office, is proved from one end of their Blue Book to the
other.[70] The whole course of the Derby Government, in regard to
the matters on which the war turned, was one uninterrupted series of
interventions by advice, by opinions, and by censure now addressed to
one party and now to another. Whatever may be thought of the judgment
which was shown by them, or of the bias by which they were guided, the
principle on which they acted was undoubtedly right and proper.

England is one of the greatest powers of the world, no event or series
of events bearing on the balance of power, or on probabilities of
peace or war can be matters of indifference to her, and her right to
have and to express opinions on matters thus bearing on her interests
is unquestionable; and she is equally entitled to give upon such
matters any advice which she may think useful, or to suggest any
arrangements which she may deem conducive to the general good.

It is no doubt true that the Conservative Party, since they have
ceased to be responsible for the conduct of affairs, have held a
different doctrine, and in their anxiety lest the influence of England
should be exerted for the benefit of Italy, and to the disadvantage of
Austria, have contended that any participation by Great Britain in the
negotiations for the settlement of Italy would be a departure from the
principle of non-intervention; but their own practice while in office
refutes their newly adopted doctrine in opposition; and if that
doctrine were to be admitted, Great Britain would, by her own act,
reduce herself to the rank of a third-class European State.

    [Footnote 70: This was the Blue Book, the production of which
    would, according to Lord Malmesbury, have saved the Derby
    Ministry.]




[Pageheading: ITALIAN POLICY]

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND LORD JOHN RUSSELL]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _24th August 1859_.

The Queen is really placed in a position of much difficulty, giving
her deep pain. She has been obliged to object to so many drafts sent
to her from the Foreign Office on the Italian Question, and yet, no
sooner is one withdrawn or altered, than others are submitted exactly
of the same purport or tendency, if even couched in new words. The
Queen has so often expressed her views that she is almost reluctant
to reiterate them. She wishes, however, Lord John to re-peruse the two
drafts enclosed, which just came to her. If they have any meaning or
object, it must be to show to France that it would be to her interest
to break in the Treaty of Zurich the leading conditions to which
she pledged herself to Austria at Villafranca. Those preliminaries
contained but three provisions affecting Austria: (1) That Austria
was to cede Lombardy; (2) That an Italian Confederation should be
encouraged, of which Venetia was to form part; (3) That the Dukes of
Tuscany and Modena were to return to their Duchies. The two latter
clauses must be considered as compensations for the losses inflicted
in the first. Both the latter are now to be recommended by England, a
neutral in the war, to be broken.

Now, either it is expected that our advice will not be listened to, in
which case it would not be useful and hardly dignified to give it,
or it is expected that France will follow it. If, on finding herself
cheated, Austria were to feel herself obliged to take up arms again,
we should be directly answerable for this fresh war. What would then
be our alternative? Either to leave France in the lurch, to re-fight
her own battle, which would entail lasting danger and disgrace on this
country, or to join her in the fresh war against Austria--a misfortune
from which the Queen feels herself equally bound to protect her
country.

As this is a question of principle on which she clearly understood her
Cabinet to have been unanimous, she must ask her correspondence to be
circulated amongst its members, with a view to ascertain whether they
also would be parties to its reversal, and in order to prevent the
necessity of these frequent discussions, which, as the Queen has
already said, are very painful to her.




[Pageheading: MEDIATION OF LORD GRANVILLE]


_Earl Granville to the Prince Albert._

LONDON, _29th August 1859_.

SIR,--In the middle of last week I received at Aldenham a letter from
Mr Sidney Herbert,[71] in which he told me that he had just received
a visit from Lord Palmerston, much perturbed and annoyed, saying that
the Queen had objected to all Lord John's despatches, and appeared to
think that it was objectionable for England to give any advice on the
subject of Italian affairs. Mr Herbert gave some good advice to Lord
Palmerston, but, from the tone of his letter, I gather that he
thought the objections made at Osborne unreasonable. I answered that
I entirely concurred with him in the interest of everybody, that no
feelings of irritation should exist between the Sovereign and her
leading Ministers; that it was possible that the Queen, forgetting
how very sensitive Lord John was to criticism, had pulled him up more
sharply than he liked, but that I was convinced the objections made
were not exactly those mentioned by Lord Palmerston. I heard nothing
more till I received on Saturday evening a telegram, summoning me to a
Cabinet this day. I came to Town immediately, and saw Lord Palmerston
yesterday. I enquired the reason of the sudden summons for a Cabinet.
He told me that there had been a discussion between the Queen and Lord
John; that the Queen had objected to his (Lord John's) proposal that
the despatch of 25th July should be now communicated to the French
Government. Lord John had informed him of the fact, and had requested
him to communicate with the Queen on the subject. Lord Palmerston
then read to me a well-written memorandum on the abstract question of
giving advice, which he had sent to Her Majesty. He told me that he
had been to Osborne; that the Queen had expressed a wish through Sir
Charles Wood that he should not discuss the whole matter with her;
that he had had a satisfactory conversation with your Royal Highness,
of which he gave me an abstract, which, however, contained his own
arguments at greater length than your Royal Highness's. He said that
Lord John had made a mistake with respect to the end of the despatch,
in which Lord Cowley is desired to withhold it till after the Peace of
Zurich was concluded. Lord John gave a different interpretation to it
from what appeared to be the case, as described by a previous letter
of Lord John, in which he had said that the sentence was added at
the suggestion of the Cabinet, and with his entire approval. Lord
Palmerston states that the Queen did not feel herself authorised
to sanction a departure from what had been decided by the Cabinet,
without the concurrence of the Cabinet, and that she thought it
desirable, if the Cabinet met, that they should agree on the future
policy as regards Italy. Lord John also wished for a Cabinet.

I replied that there seemed to be a double question: first, a
difference between the Queen and Lord John Russell and himself; and
second, the whole question of our Italian Policy. On the first point
I could not but remember the apprehension generally felt at the
formation of his first Government; that the feeling between the
Sovereign and himself might not be such as to give strength to the
Government; that the result, however, was most satisfactory. I was not
aware of either the Queen or himself having given way on any one
point of principle, but the best understanding was kept up in the most
honourable way to both, and that, at the end of his Ministry, I knew
that the Queen had expressed to several persons how much she regretted
to lose his services. That I most sincerely hoped that there was
no chance of misunderstanding now arising; that would be most
disadvantageous to the Sovereign, to the public service, to the
Government, and, above all, to himself. He interrupted me by assuring
me that there was not the slightest chance of this. He repeated to
me flattering things said by the Queen at the close of his last
Administration, and told me that it was impossible for the Queen to
have been more kind and civil than at his visit last week at Osborne.
I continued that in Italian matters I believed the Cabinet was agreed.
Our language to Italian Governments ought to show sympathy with Italy,
and let them know that we were anxious that they should be left free
to act and decide for themselves; that it should inform them in the
clearest manner that in no case were they to obtain active assistance
from us, and it ought to avoid giving any advice as to their conduct,
which might make us responsible for the evil or danger which might
accrue from following such advice. That our language to France and
Austria ought to press upon them in every _judicious_ manner the
expediency of doing that which was likely to secure the permanent
happiness of Italy, and to persuade them to abstain from forcing upon
the Italians, persons and forms of Government to which they objected;
nothing like a menace or a promise to be used....

I then saw Sidney Herbert, who told me that Charles Wood's report
had entirely changed the aspect of things; that it was clear that the
Queen had come to the assistance of the Cabinet, instead of opposing
them; that reason had been entirely on her side, and that Johnny had
reduced the question now to the single point, which was not of much
importance, whether the 25th July despatch should now be communicated
or not. He told me that Lord John was in a state of great irritation,
and ready to kick over the traces. I dined at Lord Palmerston's, and
met Sir Charles Wood and Mr Gladstone. I had some guarded conversation
with the latter, who seemed very reasonable. Sir Charles Wood gave me
all the information which I required. It appears to me that the
really important point is that the whole Cabinet should know the real
question between the Queen and her Ministers, and that, if Lord John
can find plausible reasons for changing the date of the communication
of the despatch, it may be better for the Queen to consent to this.
Some of us will take care to have a decided opinion about the future
course of our policy.

I presume Sir George Grey will be at the Cabinet, and will be able to
report to your Royal Highness what has passed. If he is not there, I
will write again. I have the honour to be, Sir, with great respect,
your Royal Highness's obedient, humble, and faithful Servant,

GRANVILLE.

    [Footnote 71: See Lord Fitzmaurice's _Life of Lord Granville_,
    vol. i. chap. xiii.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S POSITION]


_Earl Granville to the Prince Albert._

PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE, _29th August 1859_.

SIR,--The Cabinet was very satisfactory. Lord John looked ill, and
evidently ashamed of much of his case. Many of the Cabinet
thought that the despatch of 25th July had not only been sent but
communicated. Others attached a different meaning to the closing
paragraph than what it appears to bear. Lord John produced a most
objectionable draft of despatch in lieu of that of the 25th. It was
universally condemned, and Lord Palmerston was empowered to tell the
Queen that the Cabinet now thought that the despatch of the 25th might
be communicated.

Lords Palmerston and John Russell asked for further powers during the
Recess, and recommended that we should give an opinion in favour of
annexation of duchies to Sardinia. This was decidedly objected to, and
we all professed our readiness to meet again if necessary.[72]

The Cabinet thoroughly understood what had passed between the Queen
and her two Ministers, although we could not get Lord John to show us
all we required.

Gladstone took me aside after it was over to say that I must have
thought him stupid yesterday evening, that now he knew the facts he
thought Her Majesty had been put to most unnecessary annoyance. The
Chancellor said something of the same sort. I never saw the Cabinet
more united.

The Duke of Argyll, Lord Elgin, and Mr Cardwell were absent. I am,
Sir, with great respect, your obedient, humble, and faithful Servant,

GRANVILLE.

    [Footnote 72: "Pam. asked for fuller powers to act during the
    recess, which was met by a general assurance of readiness
    to come up by night trains." Lord Granville to the Duke of
    Argyll. See the _Life of Lord Granville_, vol. i. p. 358.]




[Pageheading: SARDINIA AND CENTRAL ITALY]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

Balmoral, _5th September 1859_.

Lord John Russell will not be surprised if the despatches of Lord
Cowley and drafts by Lord John in answer to them, which the Queen
returns to him, have given her much pain. Here we have the very
interference with advice to which the Queen had objected when
officially brought before her for her sanction, to which the Cabinet
objected, and which Lord John Russell agreed to withdraw, carried
on by direct communication of the Prime Minister through the French
Ambassador with the Emperor; and we have the very effect produced
which the Queen dreaded, viz. the French Minister insinuating that
we called upon his master to do that which he would consider so
dishonourable that he would rather resign than be a party to it! What
is the use of the Queen's open and, she fears, sometimes wearisome
correspondence, with her Ministers, what the use of long deliberations
of the Cabinet, if the very policy can be carried out by indirect
means which is set aside officially, and what protection has the Queen
against this practice? Lord John Russell's distinction also between
his own official and private opinion or advice given to a Foreign
Minister is a most dangerous, and, the Queen thinks, untenable theory,
open to the same objections, for what he states will have the weight
of the official character of the Foreign Secretary, whether stated
as his private or his public opinion. His advice to the Marquis
d'Azeglio[73] is moreover quite open to the inference drawn by Count
Walewski, that it is an encouragement to _Sardinia_, to Military
intervention in and occupation of the Duchies, and Lord John Russell's
answer hardly meets this point if left as it stands at present;
for "the _name_ of the King of Sardinia,... _the chief of a
well-disciplined army_," will have little influence unless he is
prepared to use that army.

The Queen must ask Lord John to instruct Lord Cowley to state to Count
Walewski that no opinions expressed on Foreign Policy are those of
"Her Majesty's Government" but those which are given in the official
and regular way, and that Her Majesty's Government never thought of
advising the French Government to break the solemn engagements into
which the Emperor Napoleon entered towards the Emperor of Austria at
Villafranca.

The Queen asks Lord John to communicate this letter to Lord
Palmerston.

    [Footnote 73: Massimo d'Azeglio, Sardinian Commissioner in the
    Romagna. He had been Prime Minister of Sardinia from 1849 till
    1852, when Cavour, who had been in his ministry, succeeded
    him.]




[Pageheading: ENGLAND INVOLVED]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BALMORAL, _6th September 1859_.

The Queen returns Lord Palmerston's letter, together with the other
papers sent to her, to Lord John. She is glad to find that he thinks
that no answer ought to be given to Count Persigny, but she thinks
it important that it should be _stated to him that no answer can
be given_. Unfortunately, here has been again the Prime Minister
declaring that he _quite agrees_ with the French Ambassador, but that
the proposal should come officially from France to be placed before
the Cabinet. The inference must be that the Cabinet and the Queen
will, as a matter of course, agree also, when it is so submitted. Now
what is it that Lord Palmerston has approved? A plan for an alliance
of England with France for the purpose of _overruling_ Austria, if the
Duchies in which she is the heir, and to which the Archdukes were to
return in accordance with the stipulations of Villafranca, were given
to Sardinia and Austria should object. It is hoped indeed that this
will not immediately lead to war with her, but France is to expect
that she will not be left to fight single-handed for an object
declared to be more English than French! Thus we are dragged step by
step into the position of a party in the Italian strife. The Queen
thinks it incumbent upon her not to leave Lord John Russell in
ignorance of the fact that _she_ could not approve such a policy
reversing our whole position since the commencement of the War.

The Queen must leave it to Lord John to consider how far it would be
fair to his colleagues in the Cabinet to leave them unacquainted with
the various private steps lately taken, which must seriously affect
their free consideration of the important question upon which they
have hitherto pledged themselves to a distinct principle.




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _6th September 1859_.

The Queen returns to Lord Palmerston his correspondence with M. de
Persigny. Lord John Russell will have sent him her letter to him on
this subject. She has nothing to add, but to repeat her conviction
of the great danger and inconvenience arising out of such private
communications, and the apprehension she must naturally feel that
the attempt to convince the Emperor Napoleon that it would be for his
interest to break his word to the Emperor of Austria should reflect
upon the honour of the Queen's Government. She must insist upon this
being distinctly guarded against.




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S CRITICISMS]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

ABERGELDIE, _7th September 1859_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he
cannot refrain from making some remarks on your Majesty's letter of
yesterday.

Lord Palmerston appears to have answered M. de Persigny by saying
that he personally agreed with him, but that the proposition he had
sketched must come from the French Government; that it must come from
them officially, and it would then have to be maturely considered by
the Cabinet.

Lord John Russell sees nothing to object to in this language. It might
be embarrassing to Lord Palmerston if such a proposition were to
come from France, and were to be rejected by the Cabinet. But Lord
Palmerston could easily explain the matter to M. de Persigny. Lord
Palmerston does not appear to have committed your Majesty, or Lord
John Russell, or the Cabinet in any way.

On the other hand, your Majesty cannot mean that the Cabinet is to
be precluded from maturely considering any proposition which may come
officially from France.

Lord John Russell feels, on his own part, that he must offer to your
Majesty such advice as he thinks best adapted to secure the interests
and dignity of your Majesty and the country. He will be held by
Parliament responsible for that advice. It will be always in your
Majesty's power to reject it altogether.

Lord John Russell is of opinion that there never was a time when it
was less expedient to fetter this country by prospective engagements.
But it does not follow that the policy pursued last autumn and winter,
and which ended in a war in Italy, would be the best course in any
future contingency. Should another war arise it will be very difficult
for Great Britain to remain neutral. For this reason it is desirable
to prevent such a war, if possible. It was difficult last winter, and
may be still more difficult this winter. For the present there is no
better course than to keep this country free from engagements. After
the peace of Zurich is made, or not made, we shall see our way better.

Lord John Russell has never concealed his opinions from his
colleagues. He even warned them that France might make such a
proposition as M. de Persigny now contemplates.

The enclosed letter from Lord Palmerston and Mr Fane's[74] despatch
will show the feelings which exist between Austria and Prussia. The
Emperor Napoleon does not appear to have satisfied Prince Metternich.
His object evidently is to gain time.

    [Footnote 74: Julian Henry Fane, son of the eleventh Earl of
    Westmorland, and Secretary of Embassy at Vienna.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BALMORAL, _7th September 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter. She can ask for
nothing better than "that we should be kept from any engagements," and
she never could have intended to convey the impression that she wished
to "see the Cabinet precluded from taking into consideration any
proposal France might make." What she objects to is binding beforehand
the Government by expressions of opinion of its leading members to the
French Government, and thus _bringing about_ those French proposals
which it will be most embarrassing to the Cabinet either to reject
or adopt. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that the French
Government should be told that the opinions given were private
opinions not binding the Government. Lord John has not yet sent to the
Queen drafts in conformity with her wishes expressed in her letter of
the day before yesterday.




[Pageheading: LETTERS TO FOREIGN SOVEREIGNS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _9th September 1859_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
had the honour to receive your Majesty's communication of the 6th of
this month; and although he had the honour of addressing your Majesty
yesterday afternoon, he deems it his duty to submit some observations
upon this communication.

Your Majesty states that Viscount Palmerston in his letter to Count
Persigny endeavoured to persuade the Emperor of the French to break
his word to the Emperor of Austria, but Viscount Palmerston must beg
very respectfully but entirely to deny that accusation....[75]

Your Majesty is pleased to observe upon the danger and inconvenience
of private communications with Foreign Ministers, and to add that
your Majesty must insist upon this being distinctly guarded against.
Viscount [Palmerston] would be very desirous of knowing the precise
meaning of those last words. If your Majesty means that what is to be
guarded against is any attempt to induce a Foreign Sovereign to break
his word, Viscount Palmerston cordially subscribes to that opinion,
and maintains that he has not done so in the past, and declares that
he has no intention of doing so in the future. But if your
Majesty's meaning is that Viscount Palmerston is to be debarred
from communicating with Foreign Ministers except for the purpose
of informing them officially of formal decisions of the British
Government, Viscount Palmerston would beg humbly and respectfully to
represent to your Majesty that such a curtailment of the proper and
constitutional functions of the office which he holds would render
it impossible for him to serve your Majesty consistently with his own
honour or with advantage to the public interest.

    [Footnote 75: Lord Palmerston then gives a very long and
    detailed account of his position.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S OPINION]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _11th September 1859_.

Lord Palmerston has written (on the 8th) a long letter to the Queen,
which, besides giving his private opinion on the politics of Italy,
which were not disputed, purports to show that when a principle
of policy had been adopted by the Cabinet and sanctioned by the
Sovereign, the Foreign Secretary ought not to be impeded in carrying
out the details, either by objections raised to them by the Sovereign,
or by making them dependent on the meetings of Cabinets, difficult to
obtain at this time of year. Now the question raised by the Queen
was _just the reverse_. The principle adopted by the Cabinet and
sanctioned by the Queen was: not to interfere by active advice with
the peace to be made at Zurich; the Foreign Secretary had submitted a
draft which had appeared to the Queen to be in contradiction to this
principle, which, upon the Sovereign's objection, he withdrew; the
Cabinet was summoned and rejected a similar draft submitted to them,
and the Queen then complained that the very same advice should have
been given by the Prime Minister in an indirect way to which the
Sovereign and Cabinet could not agree openly. Lord Palmerston's letter
was not communicated to the Queen until it had been alluded to in a
public despatch, and Count Walewski had insinuated to our Ambassador
that, rather than be a party to a line of conduct, which he would look
upon as dishonourable for his master, he would resign office. What the
Queen has asked for is: an intimation to the French Government that
private communications like that of Lord Palmerston to M. de Persigny
must not be looked upon as the official expression of the opinion of
Her Majesty's Government, and that we disclaim ever having intended
to induce the Emperor to break his engagements made at Villafranca,
whatever they may have been. The Queen does not conceive that Lord
Palmerston can object to this course, nor does he attempt to do so in
his letter.

_P.S._--Since writing the above the Queen has received Lord
Palmerston's letter of the 9th. As she has just written at length,
she does not conceive that it would be necessary to make any further
observations in reply, except to a distinct question put by him in
the latter part of his letter, viz. what the Queen wishes to have
"distinctly guarded against."

It is the danger and inconvenience of private communications with
Foreign Ministers, without a distinct understanding that they are
strictly private, and not to be treated as conveying the opinions of
Her Majesty's Government, where the sanction of the Crown and adhesion
of the Cabinet have not been obtained. Lord John Russell has now
expressed this in a paragraph in one of his drafts to Lord Cowley,
which he will send to Lord Palmerston.

As a proof of the necessity of such caution, the Queen, has only to
refer to the public use made of Lord Palmerston's private letter
to Count Persigny, and the use made to our prejudice by the Emperor
Napoleon at the time of the armistice at Villafranca of a private
communication with Count Persigny, which was represented to imply
assent to certain conditions of peace by England, with a desire of
pressing them on Austria, when no opinion had been expressed by the
Government to justify such an inference.




[Pageheading: ST JUAN]


_The Duke of Newcastle to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _26th September 1859_.

The Duke of Newcastle presents his humble duty to your Majesty.

Your Majesty will receive from Sir George Lewis full information
of the serious intelligence which has been received to-day from
Washington and Vancouver Island respecting the Military occupation
by United States troops of the island of St Juan,[76] and of the view
taken of it by your Majesty's Government.

The Duke of Newcastle begs leave to receive your Majesty's
instructions upon the acceptance of an offer made by Lord Clarendon
whilst on a visit at Clumber last week. Lord Clarendon received not
long ago a private letter from the President of the United States. He
proposes that in answering this letter he should express his concern
at these untoward events, and particularly at their occurrence at a
time when, if not speedily settled, they would prevent the fulfilment
of a project which he had reason to think had been in contemplation--a
visit to Washington by the Prince of Wales on his return from Canada.

Lord Clarendon expresses his belief that nothing would so much gratify
Mr Buchanan as a visit from His Royal Highness to the United States
during his Presidency....

Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell see no objection to such a
letter from Lord Clarendon, which, whilst it would carry weight as
coming from one occupying so high a position in this country, would
bear no official character; but as the name of the Prince of Wales
would be used, however hypothetically, such a letter would not be
written by Lord Clarendon or accepted by the Government without your
Majesty's sanction.

The Duke of Newcastle therefore requests to be favoured with your
Majesty's commands that he may communicate them to Lord Clarendon.

    [Footnote 76: A dispute had arisen out of the Oregon affair
    (see _ante_, vol. ii., Introductory Notes to Chapters XIV,
    and XV), concerning the rival claims of this country and
    the United States to the small island of St Juan, situated
    between Vancouver Island and the State of Washington, which
    is adjacent to the Canadian frontier.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._[77]

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1859_.

The Queen returns Lord Cowley's interesting letter. She trusts that
it will be made quite clear to the Emperor that he has no chance
of getting us to join him in the war with Austria, which he may be
tempted or driven to renew. This alternative constantly recurs to his
mind....

    [Footnote 77: On the 10th of November the Treaty of Zurich,
    embodying the terms arranged at Villafranca, had been
    signed, and a Congress was determined upon, to settle Italian
    affairs.]




[Pageheading: ENGLAND AND FRANCE]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _1st December 1859_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he
has written to Lord Cowley, according to your Majesty's gracious
permission. The question of supporting the Emperor of the French, if
Austria should attempt force to impose a government in Italy against
the popular will, must be judged of according to the circumstances,
should they arise. Lord John Russell is certainly not prepared to say
that a case may not arise when the interests of Great Britain might
require that she should give material support to the Emperor of the
French. But he considers such a case as very improbable, and that
the fear of such an alliance will prevent Austria from disturbing the
peace of Europe.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _2nd December 1859_.

The Queen was extremely sorry to find from Lord John Russell's letter
of yesterday that he contemplates the possibility of our joining
France in a fresh Italian war or demonstration of war against Austria,
which the Queen had put entirely out of the question. If the Emperor
of the French were allowed to believe in such a possibility, he would
have it in his power to bring it about, or obtain a just cause
of complaint against us, if we abandoned him. It would be just as
dangerous and unfair towards the Emperor to mislead him in this
respect as it would be for the Queen to conceal from Lord John that
under no pretence will she depart from her position of neutrality
in the Italian quarrel, and inflict upon her country and Europe the
calamity of war on that account.




[Pageheading: SIR JAMES HUDSON]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _6th December 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter recommending Sir
James Hudson[78] as the Second Representative at the Congress of
Paris. The Queen must decline sanctioning this selection. Lord John
Russell has in his last letters avowed his conviction that England
cannot again remain neutral in an Italian war, and his opinion that
she ought to support France and Sardinia by arms if Austria were to
attempt to recover her supremacy by force. Lord Cowley wrote on the
29th ult. that Prince Metternich declared that Austria kept her Army
ready because she could not permit either the military occupation
of the Duchies by Sardinia or their annexation to that kingdom. Lord
Palmerston sent to the Queen yesterday evening the copy of a letter he
wrote to Count Persigny urging the Emperor Napoleon by every argument
he can find to consent to this annexation, even to the length of
assuring him that such a state would always be obliged to lean on
France.

The Queen cannot help drawing her conclusions from these facts, and
feels more than ever the great responsibility resting on her, to
preserve to her people the blessings of peace. She wishes this letter
to be communicated to Lord Palmerston and to the Cabinet.

The Queen approves of Lord Cowley as her First Representative at the
Congress.

    [Footnote 78: Sir James Hudson, Minister at Turin, had been
    a sympathiser in the policy of Cavour, to an extent almost
    incompatible with his position as a British representative.]




[Pageheading: CENTRAL ITALY]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _7th December 1859_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter of yesterday.
Although to avoid a long written discussion, she has not in her last
letter stated any reason for her objecting to Sir James Hudson as
Plenipotentiary at the Congress, she has no objection to state to Lord
John that it is simply her want of confidence in him, being the result
of her having watched his conduct at his post at Turin during these
last years. The Queen's representative at Paris ought to be a person
in whom she can have entire confidence, that _English_ interests alone
will sway his conduct. From Lord John Russell's letter it appears
that many of his colleagues in Cabinet saw equal objections to the
appointment.

The Queen repeats her wish that her letter of yesterday may be
communicated to the Cabinet.

Lord Cowley's letter, which she returns, is not calculated to
diminish the Queen's alarm as to the direction in which we are being
systematically driven, viz. _War_ to support the Emperor Napoleon,
who almost claims such support already as his right! He has already
shifted his ground further, and asks for it in case Austria should
oppose "the armed interference of Sardinia in the affairs of Central
Italy." Now Sardinia can have no more right to such interference than
Austria; yet the Emperor says "he is quite determined to renew the
war in case Austria resists." It is under these circumstances that the
advice of the Prime Minister of England to the Emperor, to withdraw
the only impediment which restrains the action of Sardinia, becomes a
matter of such grave moment.

The Queen is determined to hold to her neutrality in the Italian
intrigues, revolutions, and wars. It is true, Lord John says, "it
becomes a great power like Great Britain to preserve the peace of
Europe, by throwing her great weight into the scale which has justice
on its side." But where justice lies, admits of every variety of
opinion.

The Party placed in absolute power by a revolution and a foreign
invasion is not necessarily the exponent of the real wishes of a
people, and Lord Cowley reports Mr Layard "hot from Italy to confirm
him in the opinion he has always held, that the annexation of Tuscany
to Sardinia is not practicable." This, however, Lord Palmerston urges,
and if it be agreed to by the Emperor and attempted by Sardinia,
Lord John would probably wish England to fight for it as the cause of
justice.

Has Lord John ever contemplated the probability of Austria not being
abandoned a second time by Germany, when attacked by France? The
Emperor is sure to have calculated upon this, and has not played his
game badly, if he can get the Alliance of England to sanction and
foster his attack upon the Rhine, which would inevitably follow.
The Queen believes this to be a cherished object of France, and the
success certain if we become her dupes. The Queen can hardly for a
moment bring herself to think of the consequences.

She would wish this letter also to be shown to the Cabinet.




[Pageheading: MEETING OF THE CABINET]


_Earl Granville to the Prince Albert._

LONDON, _8th December 1859_.

SIR,--Lord John stated in what appeared to me a very fair way what
had taken place between himself and Lord Palmerston in their
communications with Her Majesty, and read Her Majesty's letters. At
the end of his statement the Chancellor asked what was the question to
be decided by the Cabinet. Lord John answered that he wished to know
whether he was to inform Her Majesty that the Cabinet were of opinion
that they were still respectfully of opinion that Sir James Hudson was
the fittest person to be named Second Plenipotentiary, or whether he
should acquiesce in Her Majesty's commands, reserving his own opinion
as to the fitness of Sir James. The Chancellor answered: "Undoubtedly
the second course will be the best." I then stated my reasons, or
rather repeated them, for objecting to Sir James Hudson. Mr Gladstone
made a hesitating remark. Sir G. Lewis and the Duke of Argyll, Sir
Charles Wood, and Sir George Grey--the latter very strongly--supported
the second course proposed by Lord John. Lord Palmerston spoke with
some temper and dogmatically as to who were right and who were wrong,
but advised Lord John to take the second course. The appointment of
Lord Wodehouse[79] was proposed. Some of us do not think it a very
good one, but there are no sufficient grounds for our opposing it.
I am not sure that Gladstone would not go any lengths in supporting
Lords Palmerston and John Russell on the Italian Question, although
he is more cautious than they are. The feeling of the rest of the
Cabinet, as far as I can judge, is perfectly sound about war, and on
our taking an English and not a purely Sardinian attitude; but they
are all inclined to sympathise with the national feeling in Italy, and
averse to the restoration of the Dukes by force or by intrigue.

Lord John was sore and nervous, but talked of his letter to the Queen,
and Lord Palmerston's to Persigny, as "unlucky." Lord Palmerston seems
convinced that he is perfectly in the right, and everybody else in the
wrong, and would, I am sure, take advantage of any step, taken without
sufficient consideration by the Queen, to make a stand for his own
policy....

I have the honour to be, Sir, with great respect, your Royal
Highness's obedient and faithful Servant,

GRANVILLE.

    [Footnote 79: Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
    and afterwards, as Earl of Kimberley, a member of successive
    Liberal Cabinets.]




[Pageheading: DIVORCE CASES]


_Queen Victoria to the Lord Chancellor_ (_Lord Campbell_).

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th December 1859_.

The Queen wishes to ask the Lord Chancellor whether no steps can be
taken to prevent the present publicity of the proceedings before the
new Divorce Court. These cases, which must necessarily increase when
the new law becomes more and more known, fill now almost daily a large
portion of the newspapers, and are of so scandalous a character that
it makes it almost impossible for a paper to be trusted in the hands
of a young lady or boy. None of the worst French novels from which
careful parents would try to protect their children can be as bad
as what is daily brought and laid upon the breakfast-table of every
educated family in England, and its effect must be most pernicious to
the public morals of the country.[80]

    [Footnote 80: Lord Campbell replied that having attempted in
    the last session to introduce a measure to give effect to the
    Queen's wish, and having been defeated, he was helpless to
    prevent the evil.]




_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _le 31 Décembre 1859_.

SIRE ET MON CHER FRÈRE,--Je viens comme de coutume offrir à votre
Majesté nos félicitations bien sincères à l'occasion de la
nouvelle année. Puisse-t-elle ne vous apporter que du bonheur et du
contentement! L'année qui vient de s'écouler a été orageuse et pénible
et a fait souffrir bien des c[oe]rs. Je prie Dieu que celle dans
laquelle nous entrons nous permette de voir s'accomplir l'[oe]uvre de
la pacification, avec tous ses bienfaits pour le repos et le progrès
du monde. Il y aura encore à réconcilier bien des opinions divergentes
et des intérêts apparemment opposés; mais avec l'aide du Ciel et une
ferme résolution de ne vouloir que le bien de ceux dont nous avons à
régler le sort, il ne faut pas en désespérer.

Nous avons eu le plaisir de posséder pendant quelques semaines notre
chère fille et son mari, qu'il nous a été bien doux de revoir au sein
de notre famille. Notre fils aîné passe ses vacances avec nous, mais
retournera prochainement à Oxford pour reprendre ses études.

Lady Ely vient de nous dire qu'elle a trouvé votre Majesté ainsi que
l'Impératrice et le petit Prince dans la meilleure santé ce qui nous a
fait bien du plaisir d'entendre.

Le Prince me charge d'offrir ses hommages les plus affectueux à votre
Majesté, et, en vous renouvelant les expressions de ma sincère amitié,
je me dis, Sire et cher Frère, de V.M.I, la bonne et affectionnée
S[oe]ur et Amie,

VICTORIA R.





INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXIX


At the end of 1859, Mr Cobden had offered his services to the
Government to negotiate a commercial treaty with France, and had been
warmly encouraged in the scheme by Mr Gladstone. In January 1860, he
was officially appointed a Plenipotentiary, with Lord Cowley, for
this purpose, and on the 23rd of that month the treaty was signed. It
included mutual remissions and reductions of import duties, and was
contingent on obtaining the assent of the British Parliament, but
neither party was fettered by any engagement not to extend similar
concessions to other countries. In February, on the introduction of
the Budget, the treaty was brought before the House of Commons, and
ratified by a great majority; at the same time Mr Gladstone abolished
a large number of import duties, but increased the income-tax for
incomes over £150, from ninepence to tenpence in the pound. His
proposal to repeal the paper duties was rejected by the Peers, the
majority in its favour in the Commons having sunk to nine. A Commons
Committee was appointed to deal with this conflict between the Houses,
and resolutions defining the powers of the Peers in money bills were
passed by the Lower House, Lord Palmerston clearly showing himself in
sympathy with the Lords. Mr Gladstone expressed a desire to resign,
in consequence of his difference with his colleagues, while Lord Derby
and Lord Malmesbury intimated privately that they would support Lord
Palmerston in office against any Radical secession. A Reform Bill of
Lord John Russell, reducing the Borough Franchise to £6, and making a
moderate redistribution of seats, was received with indifference, and
eventually dropped.

Italian affairs mainly absorbed the attention of the country. The
intended international congress was abandoned, owing to the attitude
adopted by the French Emperor towards the Pope, but the former now
obtained the annexation of Savoy and Nice, not, as had been arranged
in 1858 as a reward for assisting to set Italy free "from the Alps to
the Adriatic"--an ideal which had not been realised--but as a price
for assisting Piedmont to incorporate the Central Italian Provinces.
The annexation was strongly resented, and suspicions of French designs
were aroused to such an extent as to give a substantial impetus to the
Volunteer movement in this country. By the summer, 130,000 Volunteers
had been enrolled, and, at a review in Hyde Park, 21,000 men
marched past the Queen, while in August, in consequence of the
same apprehensions, it was decided by a large vote to carry out the
recommendations of the National Defence Commission.

The Swiss made an ineffectual protest against the annexation of that
part of Savoy which had been neutralised by the treaty of Vienna,
while, on the other hand, the Emperor Napoleon maintained that the
people of Savoy and Nice had the same right to transfer their country
to France, as Tuscany and the Æmilia (under which name the Duchies
of Parma and Modena and the Romagna were now united) had to place
themselves under the King of Sardinia. This they decided in March,
by universal suffrage, to do; a few days later the treaty for the
annexation of Savoy and Nice was signed, and in April it was ratified
in the Piedmontese Parliament, Garibaldi, the deputy for Nice, his
native town, voting against it. In the same month, a _plébiscite_,
taken in the provinces affected, showed an immense majority in favour
of annexation. Garibaldi himself was soon afterwards engaged in
rendering assistance to the Sicilians in their insurrection against
the despotic King Francis II. Assuming the title of "Dictator of
Sicily, in the name of Victor Emmanuel," Garibaldi attacked and
occupied Palermo, and having established his ascendency in the island,
invaded the Neapolitan territory on the mainland. The Sardinian
Government, for diplomatic reasons, disavowed the expedition, but gave
a retrospective assent to it later in the year.

The French Emperor's policy in Syria added to the distrust with which
he was regarded. The Maronites, a Christian tribe, had been attacked
and massacred by the Druses, and the Emperor had proposed to send
troops to restore order. This step was eventually taken, after a
European conference had been held; but the Emperor's proposal was
so severely criticised that he wrote a long letter to the French
Ambassador in London, reviewing and justifying his policy in Italy and
elsewhere, since the Peace of Villafranca.

Garibaldi had ignored the instructions of Victor Emmanuel to abstain
from further operations against Naples, until the two Sicilies had
voted for absorption into United Italy; King Francis fled to Gaëta,
and Garibaldi entered the capital. At the same time, Cavour, in spite
of a French protest, determined upon the invasion of the Papal States,
and acted so promptly that in three weeks all effective opposition to
the Italian cause in that territory was put down, and Umbria and the
Marches were conquered. In October, the Piedmontese Parliament voted
for the annexation of such of the southern Italian provinces as should
declare themselves in favour of it; the Two Sicilies having accepted
the offer by overwhelming majorities, the King and Garibaldi joined
hands at Teano, and finally defeated the Bourbon army, afterwards
entering Naples. The Marches and Umbria also declared for
incorporation in the new Kingdom.

In July, the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle,
left England for a tour in Canada, where he was welcomed with
unbounded enthusiasm; he afterwards proceeded to the United States,
visiting New York, Chicago, and other great cities, being received
by President Buchanan at Washington. The Prince returned home in the
course of November.

The Abolitionist troubles, which for some time had been acute in the
States, came to a crisis in the last days of the year, South Carolina
adopting autonomous ordinances, declaring her own independence and
sovereignty as a State, and her secession from the Union.

The refusal of the Chinese Government to ratify the Treaty of
Tien-tsin, and an unwarranted attack on certain British ships, led to
a revival of hostilities. A desire being expressed by the Chinese to
resume negotiations, some of the British representatives despatched
for that purpose were treacherously captured, and treated with great
cruelty. The allied troops of England and France thereupon, marched
to Pekin, when reparation was made, and retribution, exacted for the
outrages. A Convention was eventually signed on the 24th of October.




CHAPTER XXIX

1860


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _6th January 1860_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I have to thank you for a _most affectionate_
and gracious letter of the 3rd....

I will speak to my pianist about Wagner's _Lohengrin_; he plays with
great taste and feeling, and I purchased a fine Parisian piano to
enable him to go on satisfactorily.

Now I must speak a little of passing events. Louis Napoleon wished
for a Congress because it would have placed a new authority between
himself and the Italians, whom he fears evidently concerning their
fondness of assassinating people. The pamphlet, "The Pope and the
Congress," remains _incomprehensible_[1]; it will do him much harm,
and will deprive him of the confidence of the Catholics who have
been in France his most devoted supporters. Now the Congress is then
postponed, but what is to be done with Italy? One notion is, that
there would be some arrangement by which Piedmont would receive more,
Savoy would go to France, and England would receive Sardinia. I am
sure that England would by no means wish to have Sardinia. It will
give me great pleasure to hear what Lord Cowley has reported on these
subjects. I understand that Louis Napoleon is now much occupied with
Germany, and studies its resources. This is somewhat alarming, as he
had followed, it seems, the same course about Italy. _Gare la bombe_,
the Prussians may say. One cannot understand why Louis Napoleon is
using so many odd subterfuges when plain acting would from the month
of September have settled everything. I must say that I found Walewski
at that time very sensible and conservative. His retiring will
give the impression that things are now to be carried on in a less
conservative way, and people will be much alarmed. I know Thouvenel,
and liked him, but that was in the poor King's time. In England his
nomination will not give much pleasure, I should imagine, as he was in
the situation to oppose English notions in the Orient.... Your devoted
Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 1: This famous pamphlet, issued (like that of
    February 1859, _ante_, 25th January, 1859, note 7) under
    the nominal authorship of M. de la Guéronnière, expounded
    the Emperor'sview that the Pope should be deprived of his
    temporal dominions, Rome excepted. Its publication brought
    about the resignation of Count Walewski (who was succeeded
    by M. de Thouvenel) and the abandonment of the proposed
    Congress.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th January 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter, written after the
Cabinet yesterday evening. She was much relieved by finding a proposal
to call upon France and Austria not to interfere in Italy substituted
for the former one implying war on our part for the defence of the
Provisional Governments of Central Italy. The Queen must consider this
new proposal, however, as partial and incomplete as long as Sardinia
is not asked as well to abstain from interference. Austria has
reversionary rights in Tuscany and Modena, Sardinia has no rights
at all, if a desire for acquisition is not to be considered as one.
Austria will probably say she has no intention of interfering as long
as Sardinia does not, but she cannot allow Sardinia to possess herself
of her inheritance under her very eyes. It is also incorrect to place
France and Austria entirely in the same line; Austria being an Italian
power in virtue of Venetia, and France having nothing whatever to do
in Italy.




[Pageheading: WHIG TRADITIONS]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _11th January 1860_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has
just had the honour to receive your Majesty's letter of this date.

Lord John Russell has sent to Lord Palmerston the proposal he humbly
submits to your Majesty.

He will therefore only venture to say that the doctrines of the
Revolution of 1688, doctrines which were supported by Mr Fox, Mr Pitt,
the Duke of Wellington, Lord Castlereagh, Mr Canning, and Lord Grey,
can hardly be abandoned in these days by your Majesty's present
advisers. According to those doctrines, all power held by Sovereigns
may be forfeited by misconduct, and each nation is the judge of its
own internal government.[2]

Lord John Russell can hardly be expected to abjure those opinions, or
to act in opposition to them.

    [Footnote 2: In a despatch of the 27th of October, Lord John
    took the same ground in the case of Naples. After quoting with
    approval the view taken by Vattel of the lawfulness of the
    assistance given by the United Provinces to the Prince of
    Orange, and his conclusion that it is justifiable to assist
    patriots revolting against an oppressor for "good reasons," he
    stated that the question was whether the people of Naples and
    of the Roman States took up arms against their Government
    for good reasons; and of this matter, he added, the people
    themselves were the best judges.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th January 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's note of this day, in which
she is not able to find any answer to her letter, or even an allusion
to what she had written, viz. that Austria and France being asked to
abstain from interference, such an arrangement would be partial and
incomplete unless Sardinia was pledged also to non-interference. The
Queen cannot make out what the doctrines of the Revolution of 1688 can
have to do with this, or how it would necessitate Lord John to abjure
them.




[Pageheading: AFFAIRS OF ITALY]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _17th January 1860_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--Your dear letter of the 13th reached me on
Saturday, and I at once forwarded your letter to good and faithful
Clark, who was for _two_ months unable to attend us from a severe
attack of illness, but who is, I am happy to say, much better, indeed
his own good self again, and who is now _here_.[3] This good account
you give us of your precious health makes us truly happy. It is such a
blessing.

Affairs are in a sad and complicated state, and though we modify
matters as much as we _can_, we can't entirely keep our Ministers
(_the two_) from doing _something_. You will hear no doubt of the last
proposal soon, viz. that France and Austria should _both_ agree _not_
to interfere in Italy--France withdrawing her troops from Rome, and
Sardinia to be asked not to send any troops into the Duchies until
there has been a _final vote_ expressive of their wishes. We could
_not prevent_ this _proposal_, which I doubt being accepted--as the
rest of the Cabinet thought it could _not_ be opposed, and entailed
_no_ material _support_. This country _never_ would consent to be
entangled in a _war_ for this Italian quarrel....

We have a large party again to-day for the _Play_ which we have
to-morrow. We had a very successful one last week. The Persignys come
to-day.

Now I must end. With Albert's love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 3: The Queen, later in the year, lent Bagshot Park
    temporarily to Sir James Clark.]




[Pageheading: ANNEXATION OF SAVOY]

[Pageheading: VICTOR EMMANUEL]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _21st January 1860_.

The Queen returns the enclosed important letter from Lord Cowley,
and Lord John Russell's answers--documents which she trusts will
be communicated to the Cabinet. The Emperor shows unwillingness to
evacuate Rome and Lombardy, disinclination to admit of the annexation
of the Duchies to Sardinia, a feeling that he could not do so without
appearing dishonourable in the eyes of Austria, and a determination
to rob Sardinia of Savoy in order to repay the French Nation for the
rupture with the Pope, and the abandonment of a protective tariff by
the reconquest of at least a portion of the "_frontières naturelles de
la France_."[4] Lord Cowley's letter proves clearly that it is (as the
Queen all along felt and often said) most dangerous for us to offer
to bind ourselves to a common action with the Emperor with regard to
Italy, whilst he has entered into a variety of engagements with the
different parties engaged in the dispute, of which we know nothing,
and has objects in view which we can only guess at, and which have not
the good of Italy in view, but his own aggrandisement to the serious
detriment of Europe.

With regard to Lord John Russell's answer, the Queen will only say
that our proposal having been made by us after serious reflection and
the anxious discussion of the Cabinet and the Queen, no deviation from
it ought to take place without affording them ample opportunity to
consider the bearings and probable results of such alteration.

    [Footnote 4: The cession by King Victor Emmanuel of Savoy
    (the cradle of his race) and of Nice to France was the
    consideration offered at Plombières for obtaining French
    support to the movement for freeing Italy "from the Alps to
    the Adriatic"; that result not having been achieved, a like
    price was now offered for French assistance in effecting the
    annexation of the Central Italian provinces.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _22nd January 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's note and enclosures. She
rather expects to be advised by her Ministers as to the course to
be adopted in matters which may lead to angry debate in the House
of Lords, than to give personal directions on a case so incompletely
placed before her; Lord Willoughby's letter does not even name the
persons in question nor the grounds upon which he assumes "they
would not be received at Court."[5] The Queen does not know how far
admission or non-admission trenches upon the privileges of the House;
from the submitted printed regulation, however, she would gather that
the Lord High Chamberlain has full power to admit or exclude. If
Lord Palmerston were to see Lord Granville as Leader, and the Lord
Chancellor as Speaker, of the House of Lords together with Lord
Willoughby, they might so far discuss the question as to enable
Lord Palmerston to submit a decision for the Queen's consideration
to-morrow.

    [Footnote 5: Lord Willoughby's question had reference to a
    Peeress, who, he thought, would not be received at Court.
    The difference between a State Opening of Parliament and
    a Drawing-room was pointed out in Lord Palmerston's reply.
    Though it would be "unpleasant to the Peeresses to find
    themselves sitting next to a person with whom they do not
    associate," the Premier advised no interference with the lady
    in question, if she persisted in attending.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _31st January 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Accept my warmest thanks for your kind letter of
the 27th, received on Saturday--by which I am delighted to see what
sport you have had. I have _such_ an aversion for hunting that I am
_quite_ pleased to hear of the destruction of the _fifty-one_ foxes. I
suppose it was not cold enough for _wolves_.

I think Parliament has had a wholesome effect upon certain people;
and that they are _altogether frightened_. There has been a strong
despatch written relative to Savoy--and altogether I think matters are
taking a better turn. The feeling of _all_ parties and this _whole_
country is--to _let Italy settle its own affairs_--and _England to
keep quite out of it_....

We shall see the good Aumales to-night, who are staying with the Van
de Weyers at _New Lodge_,[6] which is _un vrai bijou_: you _must_
see it when you come here again, for it is one of the nicest and most
charming houses I know.

I must now end. With Albert's affectionate love, ever your devoted
Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 6: On the borders of Windsor Forest.]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _3rd February 1860_.

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--... New Lodge must be exceedingly pretty, and,
God willing, I ought once to get sight of it. By all one can hear, the
Italians certainly will attack the Austrians, if they are not told to
leave it alone; Victor Emmanuel speaks openly of it, just as he did
last year, when one also thought it was a mere bravado. Things look
in most directions very gloomy; my neighbour is creating dangers for
himself by the constitutional Government he gives to Italy. The
French say, "Sommes-nous moins que les Italiens pour avoir un peu de
liberté?" This may become more dangerous as things move on, not that
I should regret it; we can never have any security as long as France
remains without a constitutional Government. We have had slight
beginnings of cold, but not much of it, but the glass was fearfully
low. My ball of the 1st was rather pretty, and people were in great
dancing mood. Princess Orloff, a Troubetzkoï, is a very pleasing young
woman. There is also a pretty Princess Metchersky. We had some new
English families _inconceivably ugly_; it is quite a calamity,
they look as if they had been selected on purpose. Having still the
happiness of being one of your Privy Council, I mean to propose some
measure to obviate such a sad state of affairs. We have all of a
sudden snow.... Your truly devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.




[Pageheading: INDIAN HONOURS]


_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th February 1860_.

The Queen has attentively read Lord Canning's letter and enclosure.
She quite agrees in his proposal as to the nature of the Order of
Chivalry to be instituted, and the details which he recommends with
regard to it. She also thinks that titles should be confined to those
now known and borne in India, and to be given sparingly; but would
object to the illimited power of the Governor-General and Viceroy
in this respect. The highest dignities and titles ought to proceed
directly from the Crown at the Viceroy's recommendation. The Queen
concurs in the view that honours cannot well be made hereditary
amongst Hindoos and Mussulmans, but where Princes (as we may hope
will be the case sometimes hereafter) have become Christians, the
hereditary nature of honours should not be withheld.[7] ...

    [Footnote 7: Lord Canning had written that he thought it would
    be best to adhere to the precise titles already in use in
    India, and that they should be at the direct disposal of the
    Queen's Representative, without reference to the Crown. He did
    not recommend that titles should be hereditary (except in
    very special cases), in a country where primogeniture was
    not established. As to the proposed Order of Knighthood, Lord
    Canning thought that the institution of such an Order would
    be both expedient and opportune. He recommended that it should
    include both British-born and Native subjects.]




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND HER MINISTERS]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _10th February 1860_.

The Queen sends a letter to Lord Palmerston which she has received
yesterday evening from Lord John Russell.[8] She is induced to do
so from a feeling that it is to Lord Palmerston, as head of the
Government, that she has to look, when she may have reason to take
exception to the tone of communications she may receive from members
of his Cabinet. Lord Palmerston will not fail to perceive that the
enclosed is not the kind of communication which the Foreign Secretary
ought to make, when asked by his Sovereign to explain the views of the
Cabinet upon a question so important and momentous as the annexation
of Savoy to France, and the steps which they propose to take with
regard to it. She need not remind Lord Palmerston that in her letter
communicated to the Cabinet she had given no opinion whatever upon
Italian liberation from a foreign yoke, nor need she protest against
a covert insinuation, such as is contained in Lord John's letter, that
she is no well-wisher of mankind and indifferent to its freedom and
happiness. But she must refer to the constitutional position of her
Ministers towards herself. They are responsible for the advice they
gave her, but they are bound fully, respectfully, and openly to place
before her the grounds and reasons upon which their advice may be
founded, to enable her to judge whether she can give her assent to
that advice or not. The Government must come to a standstill if
the Minister meets a demand for explanation with an answer like the
following: "I was asked by the Cabinet to give an answer, but as I do
not agree with you, I think it useless to explain my views."

The Queen must demand that respect which is due from a Minister to his
Sovereign. As the Queen must consider the enclosed letter as deficient
in it, she thinks Lord John Russell might probably wish to reconsider
it, and asks Lord Palmerston to return it to him with that view.

That Lord Palmerston may be acquainted with the course the
correspondence has taken, the Queen encloses the two preceding
letters.

    [Footnote 8: The letter ran:--"Lord John Russell unfortunately
    does not partake your Majesty's opinions in regard to Italy,
    and he is unwilling to obtrude on your Majesty unnecessary
    statements of his views.... Whatever may be the consequence,
    the liberation of the Italian people from a foreign yoke
    is, in the eyes of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, an
    increase of freedom and happiness at which as well-wishers to
    mankind they cannot but rejoice."]




[Pageheading: MR GLADSTONE'S BUDGET]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _10th February 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that Mr Gladstone made this afternoon his financial
statement.[9] His speech lasted three hours, from five to eight, and
was admirable, detailed, clear, comprehensive and eloquent; and he did
not appear to be fatigued by the effort.[10] The statement was well
received by the House, and though parts of the arrangement may, and no
doubt will, be disputed and attacked as the various measures of which
the arrangement is composed, pass through the House, there seems to
be a fair probability that the Government will not sustain any serious
defeat upon any part of the arrangement. The scheme is too extensive
and complicated to admit of an abstract of it being given to your
Majesty in this Report; but no doubt a condensed summary of it will be
given in the newspapers of to-morrow.

    [Footnote 9: The Budget of 1860 was contemporaneous with
    the commercial treaty with France negotiated by Mr Cobden,
    reducing _inter alia_ the import duties on French wine and
    brandy, and English coal, flax, and pig-iron. Mr Gladstone
    abolished the duties on a large number of imports, and
    proposed to repeal that on paper (regarded not only as a means
    for the diffusion of knowledge, but a commodity in various
    industries).]

    [Footnote 10: This was all the more remarkable, as the Budget
    had been postponed owing to his illness.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th February 1860_.

The Queen acknowledges the receipt of Lord Palmerston's two letters
of yesterday evening. She willingly accepts Lord John Russell's
expressions of regret, and certainly was led to read that one passage
which Lord Palmerston explains in the sense which he supposed.

The Queen has received the draft to Lord Cowley, and has written her
observations upon it to Lord John, who will communicate them to him.
She thinks that the omissions which she has pointed out can be very
well supplied consistently with that international courtesy which Lord
Palmerston truly says ought to be observed.[11]

    [Footnote 11: In this despatch, Lord John wrote that
    the Government could not believe that a country in the
    circumstances of France could be endangered by the existence,
    "on the other side of the Alps, of a State of 11,000,000 of
    people lately joined by a cement not yet dry, threatened, on
    the side of Lombardy, by Austria, and not very certain of its
    own independence."]




_Earl Granville to the Prince Albert._

BRIGHTON, _11th February 1860_.

SIR,--Lord John produced before the Cabinet his draft of despatch
in answer to M. Thouvenel. He read, without allusion to the previous
correspondence, the Queen's Memorandum on his draft.

Lord Palmerston supported Lord John, who was fidgety and nervous. We
all criticised the draft. We thought it too much or too little. We
recommended that he should either write shortly, saying that he
did not acquiesce in M. Thouvenel's arguments, but as the French
Government did not consider the question as now in existence, and
promised that it should not be revised without the consent of Savoy,
and consultation with the Great Powers, if the Government would
reserve what they had to say on a question of such immense European
importance--or going into the subject he should state the whole
argument and objections of the Government to the scheme.

We thought the historical reminiscences offensive to France, while the
language of the despatch was not sufficiently firm to satisfy what was
expected from the Government. We warned him that in this case public
opinion would be at least as critical as the Queen.

Lord John gave us to understand that he would alter his draft, but
I do not feel any security that it will be done in a satisfactory
manner.

I am, Sir, with the greatest respect, your Royal Highness's obedient,
humble, and faithful servant,

GRANVILLE.




[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY AND THE EMPEROR]


_Earl Cowley to Lord John Russell._
(_Submitted to the Queen._)

PARIS, _7th March 1860_.

MY DEAR LORD JOHN,--I send a messenger this evening, in order that you
may not hear from any one else of the passage of arms which took place
between the Emperor and myself yesterday evening. You will find the
account of it in the enclosed despatch. The more I reflect on it, the
less I think that I could pass over the Emperor's conduct and language
without notice. His tone and manner were really offensive, and if
I had let them pass unheeded might have been repeated on another
occasion. I must say that nothing could have been more friendly than
His Majesty's bearing after I had spoken to him. He was profuse in
his excuses, and the Empress told me later in the evening that he was
_désolé_--"qu'il s'était laissé entraîner par un mouvement d'humeur,"
etc. I, of course, said that I should think no more about it.

One good thing has been gained by it, that the Emperor has declared
that he does not mean to act in defiance of the opinion of the Great
Powers....

I wish that I had not this disagreeable history to trouble you with,
but do not attach greater importance to it than it merits. I look upon
it as at an end.

COWLEY.




[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY AND THE EMPEROR]

[Pageheading: LORD COWLEY'S REMONSTRANCE]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S _AMENDE_]


[_Enclosure._]

_Earl Cowley to Lord John Russell._
(_Submitted to the Queen._)

PARIS, _7th March 1860_.

MY LORD,--It is with extreme regret that I call your Lordship's
attention to the following occurrence.

There was a concert last night at the Tuileries, to which the Chiefs
of the Diplomatic Body were invited. On these occasions seats are
assigned to the Ambassadors according to their accidental rank, and
I was placed between the Nuntio and the Russian Ambassador. It is
customary for the Emperor, during the interval between the two
parts of the concert, to say a few words to each of the Ambassadors
individually, and it is obvious that what His Majesty says to one may
easily be overheard by that one's immediate neighbours.

Yesterday evening the Emperor, after saying a few words of no
importance to the Nuntio, addressed himself to me in a manner and
tone very unusual with him, animadverting upon the hostile sentiments
evinced towards him in the English Parliament and Press.[12] "Wishing
to avoid a discussion, I merely observed that I regretted that matters
should be in such a state, but that His Majesty must be aware that
there was quite as great irritation on this side the water. The
Emperor enquired sharply whether this was to be wondered at,
considering the terms and imputations applied to himself, and to the
French nation, in England? They were only defending themselves against
unfair attacks, His Majesty said. It was really too bad, he continued;
he had done all in his power to maintain a good understanding with
England, but the conduct of England rendered it impossible. What had
England to do with Savoy? And why was she not to be satisfied with the
declaration that His Majesty had made to me, that he had no intention
to annex Savoy to France without having previously obtained the
consent of the Great Powers.

"Pardon me, Sire," I said, "for interrupting your Majesty, but it
is just what you did not say. Had you permitted me to convey that
assurance to Her Majesty's Government, I will answer for it that all
those interpellations in Parliament would long since have ceased, and
that Her Majesty's Government and the country would at all events have
awaited the decision at which the Great Powers might have arrived."

"But I told you," continued the Emperor, "that I would consult the
Great Powers."

"Yes, Sire," I replied, "but your Majesty did not add that you would
abide by their decision."

This conversation had taken place, not only within the hearing of the
Russian Ambassador, but the Emperor's remarks were addressed almost
as much to my colleague as to myself. Turning then entirely towards
General Kisseleff, the Emperor continued: "The conduct of England is
inexplicable. I have done all in my power to keep on the best terms
with her; but I am at my wits' end _(je n'en puis plus)._ What," His
Majesty exclaimed again, "has England to do with Savoy? What would
have been the consequence if, when she took possession of the Island
of Perim[13] for the safety of her Eastern dominions, I had raised the
same objections that she has now raised to the annexation of Savoy,
which I want as much for the safety of France?"

His Majesty continued to speak for a few seconds in the same strain,
and I felt my position to be most awkward. With the remembrance of
His Majesty's intemperate words to M. de Hübner on New Year's Day,
1859,[14] in my mind, I did not like to leave unnoticed observations
of the tendency I have mentioned. At the same time I had to bear in
mind that I was not present on an official occasion, but that I was
the Emperor's guest, and that it would not be right to continue a
discussion in the presence of others. These thoughts passed rapidly
through my mind, and I determined to be guided by a night's reflection
in taking any further step in this matter. What that reflection might
have produced I cannot say, but circumstances led to more immediate
explanations.

As the Emperor moved on, the circle in which we were standing was
not strictly kept, and after a few minutes I found myself standing a
little in front, in the open space round which the circle was formed.
The Emperor again accosted me, and was beginning in the same strain,
when I ventured to interrupt His Majesty and to tell him that I
considered myself justified in calling his attention to the unusual
course he had adopted, in indulging, in presence of the Russian
Ambassador, in his animadversions on the conduct of England. That His
Majesty, if he had, or thought he had, any cause for remonstrance or
blame with regard to England, should address himself to me, was not
only natural, but would be a course which I should always beg him to
take, because free discussion was the best remedy for pent-up feeling.
I should answer as best I could, and endeavour to convince His Majesty
when I thought him wrong. Or if His Majesty considered it right to
complain of the conduct of England to the Russian Ambassador, I had no
desire to interfere, provided it was not done in my presence; but what
I could not approve, or consider compatible with my own dignity,
or that of the Government which I represented, was that complaints
respecting England should be addressed to me in the hearing of the
Russian Ambassador, and to the Russian Ambassador in my hearing.

Leaving then this official tone, I added that, considering the long
and intimate relations which His Majesty had been graciously pleased
to permit should exist between himself and me, and knowing, as he did,
the personal attachment which I bore him, and the anxiety which I had
ever manifested to smooth difficulties and prevent misunderstandings
between the two Governments, in doing which I had perhaps exposed
myself to the suspicion of being more French than I ought to be, I had
not expected to have been addressed, as I had been, in the presence
of the Russian Ambassador, or to have heard words addressed to that
Ambassador complaining of the sentiments of the English nation.

The Emperor frequently interrupted me, expressing his great regret at
what had occurred. He could assure me, His Majesty said, that he
had spoken without any bad intention--that he had just read what had
occurred in Parliament the night before, and that he had been greatly
hurt at the strictures passed upon his conduct; I must recollect
further that he had not spoken of the Government, but of those who
attacked him. Again, His Majesty begged me to think no more of the
matter, repeating the assurance that he had spoken without intention.

In the course of this second conversation the Emperor again asked,
but in a very different tone, why England had taken up the question of
Savoy which so little regarded her. Had it been Prussia or one of the
Continental Powers, His Majesty could have understood it, but not a
word of remonstrance had proceeded from any one of them. I replied
that I did not think the Emperor could rely on that silence as
indicating approbation, but at all events, I said, the position of Her
Majesty's Government was very different from that of the other powers.
How was it possible, I asked, for Her Majesty's Government to remain
silent in presence of the interpellations respecting Savoy which were,
night after night, put to them? And if His Majesty enquired why these
interpellations were put, I would answer him that, if my judgment was
correct, it was not so much on account of the actual plan of annexing
Savoy, as on account of the circumstances connected with the whole
transaction. They were, in fact, interpellations of mistrust. And how,
I asked, could it be otherwise? What could the English people think
on its transpiring that in spite of His Majesty's declarations,
both before and during the war, that in going to war he meditated
no special advantages for France, overtures had positively been made
months before, to Sardinia, for the eventual cession of Savoy; why had
not His Majesty told us fairly, in commencing this war, that if, by
the results of the war, the territory of Sardinia should be greatly
augmented, he might be obliged, in deference to public opinion in
France, to ask for some territorial advantage? Such a declaration,
although it might have rendered the British Government still more
anxious to prevent the war, would have hindered all the manifestation
of public opinion which is now taking place.

The Emperor seemed to feel the weight of these observations, and
he ended the conversation by saying, that if this question of Savoy
should go further, he had pledged himself to consult the Great
Powers, and that he need hardly add that if their opinion should be
unfavourable to his wishes, it would have great weight with him.
"It is not likely," said His Majesty, "that I should act against the
advice of Europe."

I end, my Lord, as I commenced, in regretting this occurrence. I
could have wished that the Emperor had not spoken to me a second time
yesterday, and that I had had a little time for reflection. I feel
that I spoke to His Majesty under considerable emotion, caused by the
tone and manner which he had adopted; but I am certain that not a word
escaped me which was not respectful to himself. To have passed the
matter over, would, in my judgment, have been a fault, but on the
whole I should have preferred conveying impressions to His Majesty
through M. Thouvenel. I earnestly trust, however, that Her Majesty's
Government will view my conduct in a favourable light.

It is but justice to my Russian colleague to state that nothing could
have been in better taste than his remarks in answer to the Emperor's
observations to him. I have told General Kisseleff this morning that
having had an opportunity to do so, I had expressed to the Emperor
the opinion that it would have been better had His Majesty avoided
irritating topics concerning England in the presence of another
foreign representative. It is not my intention to open my lips on the
subject to any one else.

COWLEY.

    [Footnote 12: The annexation of Savoy had been debated in the
    House of Commons, and Mr Bright had expressed his readiness
    that Savoy should rather perish than that England should
    interfere in a matter in which she had no concern. He was
    sharply censured by Lord John Manners.]

    [Footnote 13: Perim had been permanently taken possession of
    by Great Britain, in 1857.]

    [Footnote 14: See _ante_, p. 310, note 2.]




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _9th March 1860_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
the honour to submit a despatch which he received in a private letter
from Lord Cowley.

The strange scene related in it will remind your Majesty of some
scenes already famous in the history of Napoleon I. and Napoleon III.

Lord John Russell requests your Majesty's permission to write a secret
despatch in answer, entirely approving the conduct and language of
Lord Cowley.




[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S APPROVAL]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _10th March 1860_.

The Queen, in returning Lord Cowley's private letter and secret
despatch, agrees with Lord John Russell, that he has deserved praise
for his mode of answering the Emperor's Napoleonic address.[15] ...

    [Footnote 15: The ratification by the House of Commons of the
    Commercial Treaty, and Mr Gladstone's message to the Emperor,
    enclosing a copy of his Budget speech, gave the Emperor an
    opportunity of making amends to Lord Cowley for his hasty
    language.]




_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

OSBORNE, _12th March 1860_.

The Queen is sorry to find that Lord Canning does not approve of any
of the modes suggested by Sir Charles Wood, for giving the Chiefs
security of title and possession. The object appears to the Queen so
important as a means of protection against the temptation of our own
representatives to seize upon the possessions of these Chiefs at any
convenient opportunity--and as a means of giving confidence to those
Chiefs that the Queen's Government is not actuated by rapacity--that
she must hope Lord Canning will indicate some mode, appearing less
objectionable to him, for attaining the same object. The Queen would
be glad to have a copy of Lord Canning's letter.




[Pageheading: SWISS CLAIMS]



_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _25th March 1860_.

The Queen has just seen the Swiss Note, and has returned it to the
Foreign Office.[16] With reference to Lord John Russell's letter of
this morning, she has only to express her anxiety that her Government
should not look upon this question as one of an _optional_ character
to take up or not. We have no choice, and the consideration whether
what we are doing may be pleasing or displeasing to France cannot be
entertained for a moment, although the Queen is grieved to find from
Lord Cowley's last letter that he considers the question from that
point of view. We are parties to a treaty of guarantee together with
other Powers, and have as such a clear and solemn _duty_ to perform.
We should therefore openly and avowedly call upon our partners in
this treaty and guarantee to consider the note addressed by the Swiss
Confederation to us.

The proper course would be to summon the Ministers of the Contracting
Powers to the Foreign Office (not excluding the French Ambassador),
and to go with them into the matter. This would take it out of the
hands of the Emperor and M. de Thouvenel, and make (the Queen is
certain of it) a deep impression upon them.

The Queen wishes this letter to be shown to Lord Palmerston and Lord
John's other colleagues.

    [Footnote 16: The Swiss Government claimed that the districts
    of Chablais and Faucigny (being parts of Savoy which had
    been handed over to Sardinia by the Treaty of Vienna under a
    guarantee for their neutrality) should be given to Switzerland
    for the protection of their frontier. The French Emperor
    maintained that it was sufficient for him to guarantee the
    neutrality of those districts. Speaking on the night of the
    26th, Lord John Russell said: "The powers of Europe, if they
    wish to maintain peace, must respect each other's limits, and,
    above all, restore and not disturb that commercial confidence
    which is the result of peace, which tends to peace, and which
    ultimately forms the happiness of nations."]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _2nd April 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter and Memorandum.[17]
In whatever Lord John might say in the House of Commons, care should
be taken not to give the French a handle to make the other Powers
believe that there exists an understanding between them and us. It
is by making each of them believe in their turn that the others have
agreed with France that the Emperor paralyses their action. If he will
promise distinctly to give up the neutral territory to Switzerland,
that would be an understanding which we might well avow, but the Queen
fears Count Persigny with all his anxiety to smooth matters (as he
says) will not be able to give this assurance, and consequently if
Lord John sent the Commons home with a declaration that matters would
be _satisfactorily_ settled, and the Emperor intends to keep the
neutral territory after all, it would unnecessarily make them dupes
once more, as the Government have from time to time given assurances
based on French promises, which were belied by subsequent acts.

Is the Memorandum for the Queen to keep?

The Conference should be here, and on _no_ account at Paris.

    [Footnote 17: Describing a conversation between Lord
    Palmerston and Persigny, the former suggesting that a
    statement should be made by Lord John in the House, in
    reference to the securities to be given for the neutrality
    and independence of Switzerland, such as would pacify the
    Emperor.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF PRINCE HOHENLOHE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _25th April 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I write to you on this paper to-day, as it is our
good Alice's birthday--her seventeenth! She is a good, dear, amiable
child, and in very good looks just now. Her future is still undecided,
she is quite free, and _all_ we wish is a good, kind husband--_no_
brilliant position (which there is not to be got), but a quiet,
comfortable position.

Bertie returned last night delighted with his tour,[18] and with our
beloved old Coburg, in _spite of snow_. I will tell him to give you an
account of it. He made a very favourable impression there. He gives a
good account of dear Stockmar too.

Many, many thanks for your dear kind letter of the 20th, with the
enclosure from dear Charlotte, whose happy, contented disposition is a
great blessing.

I was sure you would grieve for poor, dear, honest Ernest
Hohenlohe[19]; Feodore feels it dreadfully, and writes beautifully
about it. Thank God! she has every comfort in her second son, Hermann,
who--by an arrangement made last year with the eldest and poor
Ernest--has the entire management of everything; Charles has a certain
income and Weikersheim[20]; while Hermann has Langenburg and the
management of everything else; he naturally leaves the Austrian
Service.

We are too delighted to hear that you are, D.V., ready to come by the
2nd of June; it will be so great a pleasure, and to dear Mamma
too, who is _unberufen_ wonderfully well. She is here again since
yesterday, and will stay till the 2nd. Clém was quite astonished at
her looks. The poor Queen will be seventy-eight to-morrow. She is very
tolerably well.

How well do I remember that speech of Oscar's in the carriage. It
certainly took us _all_ in....

I fear I must end for to-day. With Albert's affectionate love, ever
your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Bertie was much pleased with little Louise.[21]

    [Footnote 18: The Prince of Wales had been spending a week at
    Coburg and Gotha, which he had not previously seen.]

    [Footnote 19: Prince Ernest died on the 12th of April, and was
    succeeded by his second son Hermann.]

    [Footnote 20: A small town in Würtemberg, and part of the
    estate of the Princes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.]

    [Footnote 21: Elder child of the Duke of Brabant (now King
    Leopold II.).]




[Pageheading: ENGLAND AND NAPLES]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

[_Undated._ ? _26th April 1860._]

The Queen has just received Lord John Russell's letter. She must say
that she would consider it the _deepest_ degradation to this country
if she was compelled to appear at the Emperor's Congress summoned to
Paris, in order to register and put her seal to the acts of spoliation
of the Emperor!

Lord Cowley was very strong on the effect which our yielding that
point would have on his position at the French Court.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th April 1860_.

The Queen thinks that the main argument is omitted in the draft, viz.
that the attempts, such as Sardinia is suspected to contemplate, are
morally bad and reprehensible in themselves, besides being politically
inexpedient. The Queen would be sorry to see a despatch go forth on
this subject, arguing on the ground of expediency alone. She trusts
Lord John Russell will find it easy to introduce a passage which would
place it on record, that we do attach importance to public justice
and morality. When amended, the Queen would like to have a copy of the
draft.




[Pageheading: THE DOCTRINES OF 1688]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _30th April 1860_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He is
sorry he cannot agree that there would be any moral wrong in assisting
to overthrow the Government of the King of the Two Sicilies. The
best writers on International Law consider it a merit to overthrow
a tyrannical government, and there have been few governments so
tyrannical as that of Naples. Of course the King of Sardinia has no
right to assist the people of the Two Sicilies unless he was asked by
them to do so, as the Prince of Orange was asked by the best men in
England to overthrow the tyranny of James II.--an attempt which has
received the applause of all our great public writers, and is the
origin of our present form of government.[22]

    [Footnote 22: See _ante_, 11th January, 1860.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th April 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter, and trusts he will
see, upon further reflection, that the case before us is not one in
which the Revolution of 1688, and the advent of William III. called
to the Throne, can be appealed to as a parallel. The draft warns the
Government of Sardinia "_not to seek for new acquisitions_," as
the new "_Provinces_ annexed have hardly as yet been thoroughly
amalgamated." Now, no public writer nor the International Law will
call it morally right, that one state should abet revolution in
another, not with the disinterested object of defending a suffering
people against tyranny, but in order to extinguish that State and make
it "an acquisition" of its own. If William III. had made England a
Province of Holland, he would not have received the applause Lord John
quotes. The Queen trusts that in appreciation of this distinction,
he will introduce some amendment in the sense indicated in her former
letter.




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _30th April 1860_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he
confesses he cannot see anything morally wrong in giving aid to an
insurrection in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. But he admits that
to do so for the sake of making new acquisitions would be criminal,
and that he is not justified in imputing this motive to the King of
Sardinia. Count Cavour would probably at once disclaim it.

He therefore proposes to alter these words. The despatch went this
evening by the usual messenger; but, if your Majesty approves of the
alteration, it can be made to-morrow morning by telegraph to Turin.




[Pageheading: INDIAN HONOURS]


_Sir Charles Wood to Queen Victoria._

INDIA OFFICE, _3rd May 1860_.

Sir Charles Wood, with his humble duty, begs to submit for your
Majesty's consideration, whether the letters of thanks to those Civil
Servants who have not been thought deserving of the honour of C.B.
should run in your Majesty's name, or in that of the Government.

Your Majesty desired that thanks for service should be in your
Majesty's name, but there will be nearly two hundred of these letters
to different officers, and Sir Charles Wood doubted whether it would
be right to use your Majesty's name so profusely. He is inclined to
think that it would be better to use your Majesty's name only when
addressing higher officers. Sir Charles Wood encloses drafts of
letters in both ways.

Sir Charles Wood also encloses an address on the occasion of the
Thanksgiving in India, delivered by a Hindoo.




_Queen Victoria to Sir Charles Wood._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th May 1860_.

The Queen returns these papers. She wishes the thanks to Civil
Servants to be given in all cases, where to be given by the Home
Government, in her own name. The Bath or Knighthood comes directly
from the Sovereign, and so should the thanks; the Civil Servants are
the Queen's servants, and not the servants of the Government. The
Hindoo address is very striking and gratifying as a symptom.[23]
Presuming that Sir Charles does not want the copy back again, the
Queen has kept it.

    [Footnote 23: The copy of this address does not seem to have
    been preserved.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _8th May 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... Really it is too bad! _No_ country, no human
being would ever dream of _disturbing_ or _attacking_ France; every
one would be glad to see her prosperous; but _she_ must needs disturb
every quarter of the Globe and try to make mischief and set every
one by the ears; and, of course, it will end some day in a _regular
crusade_ against _the universal disturber_ of _the world!_ It is
really monstrous!

Dear Mamma returned to Frogmore on Friday, and Alfred left us on
Thursday, sailed from Portsmouth on Saturday, but had to stop at
Plymouth for some derangement in the machinery till to-day. He was
very low at going, though very happy to return to his ship. Now, with
Albert's affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: VISIT TO ALDERSHOT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _15th May 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many, many thanks for your very kind letter
received on Saturday. We returned yesterday evening from Aldershot,
where we spent two very pleasant days with very warm weather. Sunday
was a beautiful day and we rode over to Farnham, the Bishop of
Winchester's Palace, and it was quite beautiful, the country is
so green and sweet--and enjoyable. The warm rain of last week has
produced a burst of Spring which is quite beautiful. Yesterday
morning it rained when we first went out, but it cleared and became a
beautiful day, and we had a pretty field day. Your old Regiment
looked extremely well. In the afternoon we saw some very interesting
rifle-shooting. The whole Army practises this now most unremittingly,
and we saw three different companies of the Guards fire at 300 yards,
and so on to 900 yards, and _hit_ the target! They fired in _volleys_.
It is very satisfactory, as this precision would be very _telling_ in
action. I think you would be interested by it.

I _hope_ you have forgiven my hurried note of Saturday--but I was _so_
anxious at the time. We go to Osborne on the 19th, I am happy to say,
till the 31st.

Affairs continue to be very threatening, and keep everybody in
suspense.... Ever, dearest Uncle, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _22nd May 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I write to you from here, where it is wonderfully
beautiful and unusually _hot_ for May--it is _quite_ like July, but
the _late_ Spring has brought out everything together in the most
wonderful manner. The foliage of many trees is hardly out yet, but
there are all the fruit-trees in fullest blossom--the lilacs and
peonies out--the thorns only beginning and every wild flower
in profusion--the grass splendidly green, and a fragrance about
everything which is too delicious; and the birds singing _most_
beautifully. The nightingales were last night singing all round the
house....

Affairs are in a most bewildered state. Lord Palmerston is _very stout
and right_ about our neighbour. I am glad to be able to _refute
most positively_ the report of our _ships_ having _prevented_ the
Neapolitans from firing; the _case_ is _quite_ clear, and the French
and Neapolitan Governments themselves have spread this falsehood.

The House of Lords have thrown the Bill for the Abolition of the
paper Duties[24] _out_ by a very large majority, which is a _very good
thing_. It will save us a large amount of revenue.

I must end for to-day. Hoping that these lines will find you quite
well, ever your devoted _Daughter_ (I _wrote_ by mistake _but_ will
leave, as it _only_ expresses what _my feelings_ are) and Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We have quite a small party on the 1st, with some choral singing.

    [Footnote 24: This part of Mr Gladstone's financial scheme had
    lost a good deal of its early popularity: it had only passed
    the third reading in the Commons by the small majority of
    nine, and the Premier had already told the Queen that the
    Peers would perform a public service by rejecting it. The
    majority against it in the House of Lords was 89.]




[Pageheading: THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND MONEY BILLS]

[Pageheading: COMMITTEE OF THE COMMONS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _22nd May 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that the Cabinet met to-day at half-past twelve to consider
what (if anything) should be done in consequence of the vote of the
House of Lords last night. Lord John Russell, Mr Gladstone, and Mr
Milner Gibson were desirous of finding some means of visiting their
displeasure upon the House of Lords, but it was shown to them that
the only measures which could be adopted were far too violent for the
occasion, and that the House of Commons itself is powerless in the
matter. When the Lords do anything inconsistent with the asserted
privileges of the House of Commons, as, for instance, inserting a
taxing Clause in a Bill sent up to them, or making an alteration in
a Money Bill sent up to them, the House of Commons is necessarily
invited to do something afterwards in the matter, by assenting to what
has been done by the Lords; and the Commons then assert their claimed
rights by throwing out the Bill thus, improperly, as the Commons say,
meddled with by the Lords; but when the Lords throw out a Bill there
is nothing for the Commons to do, as the Bill has vanished, and the
Commons are therefore furnished with no opportunity of asserting the
right which they may claim. But, moreover, the Commons have always
contended that the Lords cannot originate or alter a Money Bill, but
it has never been contended that the Lords may not reject a Money
Bill, though there are few instances of their having done so. These
arguments at length prevailed, and by four o'clock it was agreed that
Viscount Palmerston should give notice that he would on Thursday move
that a Committee be appointed to examine the Journals of the House
of Lords to ascertain the fate of the Bill thus lost like Sir John
Franklin, and that on Friday he should move the appointment of a
Committee to search for precedent applicable to the case. This course
it was thought, while binding the Government to no particular course,
would in some degree satisfy those who think some step necessary. The
measures mentioned, though it is fair to say not actually proposed,
were that Parliament should be prorogued, and reassembled either in
the Autumn or Winter, that then the same Bill should be brought
in, and be sent up to the Lords, and that if that Bill were again
rejected, Parliament should be dissolved. It was objected to all this,
that the case did not warrant such a course; that whether the Lords
have or have not overstepped their proper functions, the opinion of
the great majority of the public is that the Lords have done a right
and useful thing (in confirmation of which it may be stated that the
people in the gallery of the House of Lords are said to have joined
in the cheers which broke out when the numbers of the division were
announced).

Viscount Palmerston, at the meeting of the House, gave notice
accordingly that he should on Thursday move for a Committee to search
the Lords' Journals--a usual form of motion; and that he should on
Friday move to appoint a Committee to search for precedents in order
to ascertain facts; but he added that he did not take this course with
any view of hostility towards the House of Lords. An attempt was made
by Mr Whalley and Mr Digby Seymour to set up a complaint that this was
not the sort of proceeding which the gravity of the occasion required,
but this endeavour was put down by an unmistakable manifestation of a
contrary opinion by the rest of the House....




_Queen Victoria to the Duke of Somerset._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _29th June 1860_.

Before sanctioning the proposed change in the Naval Uniform,[25] the
Queen wishes to know what the State occasions are on which the full
dress is to be worn. The officers generally wear an undress without
epaulettes, which in consequence are of little inconvenience to
them. She has always understood the Service to cling very much to its
present uniform, and she would be sorry to shock their feelings.

    [Footnote 25: The principal change proposed was that full
    dress should cease to be obligatory at Courts-Martial.]




[Pageheading: MR GLADSTONE SUGGESTS RESIGNATION]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _2nd July 1860_.
(8.30 P.M.)

Viscount Palmerston has had the honour of receiving your Majesty's
letter of this afternoon. Nothing of much importance as to Foreign
Affairs was done at the Cabinet to-day.... The material question for
discussion was the course to be pursued about the Tax Bill Report.
Lord John Russell had altered his opinion since Saturday, and had
yesterday sent Viscount Palmerston a Draft of Resolution which he
wished to be circulated to the members of the Cabinet before their
meeting at twelve to-day....

After a long discussion, the draft, of which the enclosed is a copy,
was agreed to by all except Mr Gladstone. This draft is a combination
of parts of Lord John's, parts of Sir James Graham's, and parts of
Viscount Palmerston's. No mention of course was made in Cabinet of Sir
James Graham having made any suggestion.

When all the other members had left the room Mr Gladstone requested
Viscount Palmerston to submit to your Majesty that he could no longer
continue to carry on the business of his Department.[26] His opinion
strongly was that action and not a Resolution was required, that
one of three courses ought to be pursued: either that the Paper Duty
Repeal Bill should again be sent up to the Lords; or that a Bill
should be sent up for suspending the Paper Duties for a year; or that
a Bill should be sent up reducing those duties gradually year by year;
or fourthly that with the Repeal of the Paper Duties should be coupled
the imposition of Spirit Duties. Viscount Palmerston said he really
could not undertake the communication which Mr Gladstone wished to
be submitted to your Majesty, and earnestly entreated Mr Gladstone to
reconsider the matter; he urged in detail all the reasons which ought
to dissuade such a step, and he thought that he had produced some
impression on Mr Gladstone. It was agreed between them that Viscount
Palmerston, instead of giving notice this afternoon of a Motion
to-morrow, and laying the Resolution on the table this evening, should
give notice this afternoon of a Motion for Thursday, and promise to
lay the Resolution on the table to-morrow. This gives Mr Gladstone
more time to think, and more room to turn round in. Mr Milner Gibson
has no intention of going out, and has so told Mr Gladstone, strongly
advising him to stay in; and Viscount Palmerston's impression is
that Mr Gladstone, having failed to become master of the Cabinet by a
threat of resignation, will in the end yield to the almost unanimous
decision of his colleagues. The only person who supported Mr
Gladstone's views, except Mr Milner Gibson, was the Duke of
Argyll, who, however, like Mr Gibson, had no intention whatever of
accompanying Mr Gladstone in resignation.[27]...

    [Footnote 26: This is said to have been an incident of
    frequent occurrence during the second administration of Lord
    Palmerston.]

    [Footnote 27: The Queen wrote to King Leopold: "As I told
    you in my little note of Sunday, Lord John became _quite_
    reasonable, and is very moderate about this affair; on the
    other hand Mr Gladstone has threatened to resign--and it is
    still uncertain if he will not persist in his intention. He is
    terribly excited."]




[Pageheading: PRIVILEGE RESOLUTIONS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _6th July 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that the House of Commons this night passed the three
Privilege Resolutions after two divisions.[28]...

The Debate which did not begin till half-past eight, after questions
on the adjournment to Monday, was commenced by Mr Digby Seymour,
Member for Southampton, who went into an elaborate discussion of the
precedents mentioned in the appendix to the Report of the Committee,
arguing against the right of the Lords. He attacked Viscount
Palmerston's speech, and highly praised that of Mr Gladstone, who,
he said, if he lost his place in the Cabinet in consequence of that
speech would be rewarded by a Throne in the affections of the Nation.
Mr Horsman then made a very able, eloquent, and remarkable speech,
well worth reading....

Mr Bright made an indignation speech in reply. He went over the same
ground as the former speaker about the precedents, was astonished and
shocked at Mr Horsman's speech, was displeased with the Resolutions,
and with Viscount Palmerston's speech, was in admiration unbounded of
Mr Gladstone, but all the time was so hoarse that his efforts to make
himself heard gave to his utterance an appearance of passion even
greater than that which he actually felt. After his speech the House
began skirmishing as to the question of finishing the Debate or
adjourning it, but the Resolutions were at last agreed to.

    [Footnote 28: The Resolutions, which the Committee
    recommended, and the House of Commons adopted, declared _inter
    alia_ that the Commons had in their own hands the power "so to
    impose and remit taxes, and frame bills of supply, that their
    rights as to the matter, manner, measure, and time might be
    maintained inviolate."]




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _13th July 1860_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--... Bertie has then set out on his interesting
journey,[29] which though not without fatigue will be full of
information and satisfaction for his young mind. I am glad to hear
that dear Albert went with him,[30] he can have no equal to his good
and distinguished father for kindness, and a wise guidance of his
young life....

    [Footnote 29: In consequence of the loyal and patriotic
    assistance rendered by Canada during the Crimean War, and the
    expressed desire of the Canadians to be visited by the Queen
    in person and to welcome one of her sons as Governor-General,
    it was decided that the Prince of Wales should make a tour
    there. During the course of the visit, which was made in
    company with the Duke of Newcastle, the Prince opened the
    magnificent bridge over the St Lawrence; he subsequently
    availed himself of President Buchanan's invitation already
    referred to (_ante_, p. 373), and was received with the
    greatest enthusiasm at Washington. The Prince returned to
    England in November.]

    [Footnote 30: Referring to a previous letter, in which the
    Queen had informed the King of the Belgians that Prince Albert
    had accompanied the Prince of Wales as far as Plymouth.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _31st July 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--... I venture now to confide a _secret_ to
you--the details of which you shall hear verbally from us when we
have the happiness of seeing you in October. It is that _our_ surmises
respecting Louis of Hesse[31] have turned out to be true, and that
we have _reason_ to _hope_ that this _affair_ will be in due time
realised. The feelings are very reciprocal on both sides, though
nothing definitive will be settled till the young people meet again,
probably later this Autumn (_but not in Germany_). Please do not say
anything about it to any one. Your very great kindness and affection
for our children has induced me to mention this to _you_, who moreover
_saw the first dawning of these prospects_.

Dear Mamma starts to-day for Edinburgh--sleeping to-night at York.
With Albert's affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 31: Prince Louis of Hesse, afterwards Grand Duke
    Louis IV.]




[Pageheading: TRANQUILLITY OF INDIA]


_Queen Victoria to Earl Canning._

OSBORNE, _2nd August 1860_.

The Queen thanks Lord Canning very much for a most interesting letter
of the 30th of May, giving a most comprehensive and gratifying account
of his progress through her Indian dominions, and of his reception
of the different Princes and Chiefs. Such reception and such kind
considerate treatment of them is, as Lord Canning knows, entirely
in unison with the Queen's _own_ feelings, and both the Prince and
herself have been peculiarly gratified at reading this account, and
feel sure of the good effect it must have on these Princes, and on
India in general.

We have just seen Lord Clyde looking wonderfully well; he speaks in
high terms of Lord Canning, and enthusiastically of dear Lady Canning.
Alas! another most valuable public servant and friend of ours, Lord
Elphinstone,[32] only returned to die! Lord Canning will grieve much
no doubt to hear this.

Both he and Lady Canning will have heard with interest of the birth
of our second grandchild and first grand-daughter.[33] Nothing can go
better than the Princess Royal does. Of the Prince of Wales's arrival
in Canada we could not yet hear, but shall do so in a few days.

This country and Europe continue to be in a state of alarms, or rather
more profound distrust in, the conduct and purposes of our neighbour.
Fortunately the feeling of Germany is so unanimous upon this subject,
and the Emperor's attempt to produce disaffection or division there
has so signally failed and produced so diametrically a contrary
effect, and Belgium has shown such an enthusiastic spirit of loyalty
only equal to the public spirit which this country has shown in the
Volunteer movement, that it is to be hoped these sinister designs are
checked for a time at least.

With the Prince's kind remembrance to Lord Canning, the Queen
concludes, hoping this letter will find him in good health, and Lady
Canning safely returned from her expedition.

    [Footnote 32: See _ante_, 25th January, 1859, note 8.]

    [Footnote 33: The Princess Charlotte of Prussia, now
    Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, was born on the 24th of
    July.]




[Pageheading: VISIT TO SCOTLAND]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

HOLYROOD, _7th August 1860_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I have _many_ excuses for sending a few hurried
lines from here, instead of my usual letter, but I was much hurried
yesterday; the separation from baby quite upset me, as she too cried
very much--but she is consoled again.

Many thanks for your dear letter of the 3rd, which I shall duly answer
on Friday.

We came down here by _night_ train, arriving at eight. We paid dear
Mamma a visit at her really charming residence at Cramond,[34] quite
near the sea, with beautiful trees, and very cheerful.

And this afternoon she was present the whole time at the splendid
Volunteer Review, which lasted from half-past three till near six,
in the open carriage with me, and enjoyed it so much; and I was so
_happy_ to have _her_ with me on this memorable occasion, having
had _you_ with me on the previous occasion.[35] And it was
magnificent--finer decidedly than in London--there were more (1,400
more), and then the scenery here is so splendid! That fine mountain
of Arthur's Seat, crowded with thousands and thousands to the very
top--and the Scotch are very noisy and demonstrative in their loyalty.
Lord Breadalbane, at the head of his Highlanders, was the picture of
a Highland chieftain. The dust was quite fearful! At nine we leave for
Balmoral. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 34: The Duchess of Kent was spending the summer at
    Cramond House, near Edinburgh.]

    [Footnote 35: The Review in Hyde Park, which took place on the
    23rd of June.]




[Pageheading: THE HIGHLANDS]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL, _10th September 1860._

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I have no letter from you, but trust you are quite
well. Here we have had a week of very fine weather, but since Saturday
it has been extremely cold. We made a most delightful incognito
expedition on Tuesday last, 4th, returning on Wednesday, 5th. We drove
off from here quite early at eight, for twenty-one miles up to the
_Geldie_, a small river--_rode_ from here on ponies across the hills
to Glen Fishie, a beautiful spot, where the old Duchess of Bedford
used to live in a sort of encampment of wooden huts--on to Loch Inch,
a beautiful but not wild lake (another twenty miles), crossed the
Spey in a ferry, and posted in very rough vehicles to Grantown, again
twenty miles, coming in there at nine. We passed close by Kinrara
where you used to be, but, unfortunately, not by the house. _No_ one
knew us--anywhere or at the little inn. We went under the names of
Lord and Lady Churchill, and Lady Churchill and General Grey who went
with us, under the names of Miss Spencer and Dr Grey! Two maids
_only_ went with us (whom we had sent round with our things), and
_no_ servants but our two excellent Highlanders, viz. Albert's
first stalker or head keeper, and _my own Highland servant_ and
factotum--_both_ excellent, intelligent, devoted people. _Only_ when
we had _left_ was it found out. We posted to Tomantoul, a wretched
village--fourteen miles, _in four hours!!_ with a pair of wretched
tired horses--over a big hilly road. At Tomantoul we again took our
ponies and rode by Avon Side and Glen Avon, also very fine; back to
Loch Bulig--eight miles from here--whence we returned home in our
carriage. It was a _most delightful_ and enjoyable, as well as
_beautiful_, expedition. I have been besides on many other ones for
the day.

In Italy I fear the state of affairs is very distressing--but really
the miserable, weak, and foolish conduct of the King of Naples[36] and
the squabbles of the whole family takes away all one's sympathy! We
leave here alas! on Saturday, stop till Monday evening at Edinburgh to
see Mamma, and go on that night straight to Osborne, where we expect
to arrive on Tuesday for breakfast. With Albert's affectionate love,
ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 36: King Francis had just fled from Naples to Gaëta,
    and Garibaldi shortly afterwards arrived in Naples.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _18th September 1860._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and will
have the honour of waiting upon your Majesty at Osborne to-morrow.
Your Majesty must naturally feel regret at shortening so much your
Majesty's agreeable holiday in the Highlands, though the happiness of
meeting the Princess Royal must amply make amends for it; but the
fact is that of all the gifts which good fairies were in the habit
of bestowing on their favourites, that which would have been the most
desirable would have been the power which the Irishman ascribed to a
bird, of being in two places at one and the same time.




[Pageheading: AUSTRIAN PROPOSAL]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

OSBORNE, _20th September 1860._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
submits the accompanying letters which he has received from Lord John
Russell, together with Lord John's letter to him; and he certainly
agrees with Lord John in thinking that a meeting at present between
your Majesty and the Emperor of Austria, though in many
respects likely to be useful, would on the whole be so liable
to misconstruction, and would prove such a fertile source of
misrepresentation, that it would be better to avoid it. Such a meeting
would undoubtedly be useful to the Emperor of Austria, by reason of
the good advice which he would receive from your Majesty, and from His
Royal Highness the Prince Consort; but your Majesty will probably
be able to find some other way of conveying to the Emperor counsel
calculated to save him from some of the dangers by which he appears to
be beset.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

_21st September 1860._

The Queen received these letters from Lord Palmerston, who likewise
communicated to her Lord John Russell's letter, respecting the hint
thrown out by Count Rechberg[37] of a meeting with the Emperor of
Austria. The Queen agrees with Lord Palmerston, that while such an
interview might for many reasons have been desirable, under present
circumstances it might lead to much talk and to many rumours which
might do harm, or at any rate give rise to useless conjectures. It
would therefore be better to "nip this project in the bud" as Lord
John suggests, but care should be taken to do this in such a manner as
not to let it appear that there was any disinclination on the Queen's
part to meet the Emperor of Austria.

    [Footnote 37: In a letter to Mr Julian Fane, Count Rechberg,
    the Austrian Foreign Minister, had said that he had desired to
    bring about an interview between the Queen and the Emperor of
    Austria, but that there would have been difficulties in the
    way. Lord John Russell was of opinion that the idea should
    be nipped in the bud, and in this Lord Palmerston fully
    concurred.]




[Pageheading: APPEAL FROM KING OF NAPLES]


_The King of Naples to Queen Victoria._

GAËTA, _le 6 Octobre 1860._

MADAME MA S[OE]UR,--Le mémorandum qu'à la date d'aujourd'hui mon
Gouvernement adresse à celui de votre Majesté, les protestations que
dans ces derniers temps je lui ai fait parvenir donneront à votre
Majesté une idée claire des conflits par lesquels j'ai passé, et de la
situation où je me trouve.

A la sagacité de votre Majesté ne peut échapper la transcendance des
événements qui se passent dans le Royaume des Deux Siciles, et dans
les États Pontificaux. J'étais, et je suis seul à lutter contre
toutes les forces de la révolution Européenne. Cette révolution s'est
présentée avec un pouvoir que jamais on ne lui avait connu, armes,
parcs d'artillerie, munitions, vaisseaux, rien ne lui a manqué, pas
même les ports d'une puissance pour se recruter, et son drapeau pour
la couvrir.

Ces événements établissent un nouveau droit public, fondé sur la
destruction des anciens traités et des principes reconnus du droit
des gens. La cause que je défends seul à Naples n'est pas seulement ma
propre cause; elle est la cause de tous les Souverains et de tous les
États indépendants.

La question qui se débat dans le Royaume des Deux Siciles, est une
question de vie ou de mort pour d'autres États d'Europe.

C'est à ce titre, et non par un intérêt personnel que j'ose m'adresser
à la haute raison de votre Majesté, à Sa prévoyance et à Sa justice.

La grande position qu'occupe votre Majesté dans le monde, Sa sagesse,
les relations amicales qui ont toujours existé entre nos deux
familles, et la bienveillance particulière dont votre Majesté a daigné
toujours m'honorer, me font espérer, que votre Majesté verra dans cet
appel que je fais avec confiance à Sa politique et à Sa justice,
une nouvelle preuve du respect que j'ai eu toujours pour Elle, de
l'affection sincère, et des sentiments de haute considération avec
lesquels j'ai l'honneur d'être, Madame ma S[oe]ur, de votre Majesté,
le bon Frère,

FRANCOIS.




[Pageheading: TOUR OF PRINCE ALFRED]

[Pageheading: SARDINIA AND NAPLES]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _2nd November 1860._

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--... Bertie's visit seems to have gone off most
splendidly; its effects will be useful. The enemies of England always
flatter themselves that mischief may come from that part of the world.
To see, therefore, friendly feelings arise, instead of war, will
disappoint them much. Alfred's appearance at the Cape[38] has also
been a most wise measure. South Africa has a great future to expect,
it is a pity it is so far and I too old to go there; the plants alone
are already a great temptation. I should like very much to hear what
came to your knowledge of the Warsaw meeting.[39] Prince Gortschakoff
tried hard to make it believe that it would bring _Russia nearer to
France_. If this was to be the result of the meeting it would be a
very sad one indeed....

The way in which the English Press misunderstands all these things is
quite lamentable. The meeting of the Sovereigns had this time a better
object than the oppression of the liberties of Nations; that this
should not be seen by people who would be the first sufferers of
the supremacy of a certain power is very lamentable, but they see
everything only according to the colour of _their_ spectacles. _Le
Flibustive_ movement at Naples is very shameful, but that poor King
has been so calumniated that Garibaldi is the rage of the present
moment; Colonel Walker[40] has been shot, and Garibaldi, who comes out
of that self-same school, is divinised. But it is time I should end.
With my best love to dear Albert, I remain ever, my beloved Victoria,
your devoted old Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 38: Prince Alfred, who, some time before, had been
    appointed to the _Euryalus_, in the course of the summer
    visited South Africa. After making a tour through Kaffraria,
    Natal, and the Orange Free State, he returned to Cape Town,
    where, in September, he laid the foundation stone of the
    breakwater in Table Bay. In a letter written by the Prince
    Consort a few weeks earlier to Baron Stockmar, he remarks upon
    the noteworthy coincidence that almost in the same week in
    which the elder brother would open the great bridge across the
    St Lawrence, the younger would lay the foundation stone of the
    breakwater for the Cape Town Harbour. "What a cheering picture
    is here," he wrote, "of the progress and expansion of the
    British race, and of the useful co-operation of the Royal
    Family in the civilisation which England has developed and
    advanced" (_Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. v. p. 88).]

    [Footnote 39: The Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the
    Prince Regent of Prussia met at Warsaw on 20th October, and
    held a conference which extended over several days.]

    [Footnote 40: Walker, in the course of one of the Nicaraguan
    revolutions, had seized the supreme power, and had been
    recognised as President by the U.S. Government; he was
    afterwards expelled, and, on venturing to return, was
    arrested, and shot on the 25th of September 1860.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _3rd November 1860._

The Queen returns the enclosed draft,[41] which she is afraid is not
likely to produce the beneficial results which Lord John seems to
anticipate.

The expression of our hope, that Rome and Venetia, from their Italian
nationality, will soon share in the freedom and good government of
the rest of Italy, can only be understood as a declaration on our part
that we wish to see them share the annexation to Sardinia, after that
of the Two Sicilies shall have been completed.

The declaration at the end after the quotations of the former
protests, vague as it is, viz. "That if other Powers interfere England
would do as she pleases," means either nothing at all (for England
is free to do as she pleases) or it means a threat of war, either
an empty threat, or one intended to be followed up when the occasion
arises. The first would hardly be dignified for a great Power like
England, and as to the second, the Queen for one is not prepared to
decide to go to war to ensure the success of the Italian Revolution.

But is such a declaration at the present moment called for by anything
that has happened? Another despatch has accepted as satisfactory the
French explanation about the order given to the fleet before Gaëta,
and Austria has renewed her assurances that she will not interfere;
the only Power likely to continue to interfere and to produce
war--Sardinia--is held to have an exceptional right to it, as an
"Italian" Power.

The Queen thinks this important despatch should not be laid before
her again without its having received the deliberate consideration
and assent of the whole Cabinet, and in case Lord John should bring it
before them the Queen would wish him to communicate this letter also
to them, as embodying her views on the subject.

    [Footnote 41: This draft despatch, prepared in order to be
    sent to all the Powers, expressed approval of the Italian
    Revolution. It concluded: "Her Majesty's Government deem
    it right to declare that if any other Power should attempt
    forcible interference, Her Majesty's Government will hold
    themselves free to act in such a manner as the rights of
    nations, the independence of Italy, and the interests of
    Europe may seem to them to require."]




_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _3rd November 1860._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

With regard to the position of Great Britain, Lord John Russell
is bound to advise that it shall not suffer by the change of
circumstances.

From 1815 to 1859 Austria ruled Italy. If Italians had reason to
complain, England had nothing to fear from the use of Austrian
influence against British interests.

But if France were to sway the united Navies of Genoa and Naples, and
Great Britain to look on from fear or apathy, or excessive love of
peace, she might soon have to defend her possessions of Malta, Corfu,
and Gibraltar.

Austria would hardly attempt any new aggression on Italy, unless she
were assisted by France.

Italy as one Power would derive strength from the declaration of Great
Britain, as a disinterested friend.

A letter of Lord Cowley will show your Majesty the suspicions and
doubts which exist as to French policy in Italy.[42] All these
projects will be scattered to the winds by the word of the British
Government.

    [Footnote 42: Lord Cowley wrote that he had heard through
    Count Metternich that the Emperor of the French would never
    consent to the annexation of Naples to Piedmont, that he
    wished the Pope to retain Umbria and the Marches, and that the
    Romagna should be an independent State.]




[Pageheading: REPLY TO KING OF NAPLES]


_Queen Victoria to the King of Naples._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _3rd November 1860._

SIR, MY BROTHER,--The letter I have received from your Majesty, dated
from Gaëta on the 6th of October, is altogether devoted to political
considerations.

These considerations have for a long time occupied the thoughts of
my confidential advisers, and I have directed them to convey to my
Ministers abroad such instructions as occasion appeared to me to
require.

I will therefore confine this letter to those topics which are not the
immediate subjects of political controversy.

Upon your Majesty's accession to the Throne I lost no time in assuring
your Majesty of my sincere wishes for the prosperity of your reign,
and the permanence of your dynasty.

At the same time I was fully aware of the difficulties of the period
at which your Majesty succeeded to the Crown. That these difficulties
should not have been surmounted, and that they should now threaten to
overwhelm the Monarchy, of which your Majesty is the heir, is to me a
source of deep concern.

It only remains that I should ask your Majesty to express to the
Queen my sincere sympathy in her misfortunes. I avail myself of this
opportunity to renew to your Majesty the assurance of the invariable
friendship and high consideration with which I am, Sir, my Brother,
your Majesty's good Sister,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: RETURN OF PRINCE ALFRED]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th November 1860_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--... Here we have the happiness of having our dear
Alfred back since the 9th, who gives _very_ interesting accounts of
his expedition, and has brought back _many_ most interesting trophies,
splendid horns of _all_ those wonderful animals, photographs, etc. He
_is_ grown, though very _short_ for his age, but I think less so than
his brother at the same age. Major Cowell[43] gives an _excellent_
report of him in _every way_, which, as you will readily believe,
makes us _very_ happy. He is really such a dear, gifted, handsome
child, that it makes one doubly anxious he should have as few failings
as mortal men can have. Our poor Bertie is still on the Atlantic,
detained by very contrary winds, which those large vessels with only
an auxiliary screw and only eight days' coal cannot make any way
against. Two powerful steamers have now gone out to look for him and
bring him in....

With Albert's affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 43: Major (afterwards Sir John) Cowell was appointed
    as Tutor to Prince Alfred in 1856. He was then a Lieutenant
    of Engineers, and had been Adjutant to Sir Harry Jones at
    Bomarsund and before Sebastopol.]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _22nd November 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to submit that, as it appears from a despatch from Lord Cowley
that the commercial negotiations at Paris have been brought to a
conclusion, and that Mr Cobden has left Paris, the time has come
for your Majesty to consider what substantial mark of your Majesty's
approval your Majesty would be pleased to confer upon Mr Cobden.
Mr Cobden has now for about twelve months been laboriously employed
without salary or emolument in negotiating the complicated details of
commercial arrangements between England and France, which cannot
fail to tend to the material advantage of both countries, but more
especially to the increased development of the industry and commerce
of your Majesty's subjects. It would be an ungracious proceeding to
leave the services of Mr Cobden with no other acknowledgment than
the praises contained in a Foreign Office despatch, and Viscount
Palmerston therefore with the concurrence of Lord John Russell would
beg to submit for the gracious approval of your Majesty that Mr Cobden
might be offered his choice of being created a Knight Grand Cross
of the Civil Order of the Bath, or of being made a Member of your
Majesty's Privy Council.

(_Note, in Queen's hand._--Was agreed to offer him either to be made a
P.C., or a Baronet.)[44]

    [Footnote 44: Mr Cobden declined both the Honours.]




[Pageheading: THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _22nd November 1860_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--I have to thank you for a most kind letter
of the 20th. I hope you will see the young and very nice Empress of
Austria,[45] perhaps you made a little excursion to Plymouth. I had,
and have still, some cold, and therefore I was apprehensive of waiting
at the station on the 20th in the evening; I sent Marie and Philip
to receive the Empress. Yesterday before daybreak I went myself to
Antwerp. I first paid the Empress a visit, and then I took her to your
beautiful ship. She was much struck with it, and it was _very kind_
of you, and indeed, for an invalid, invaluable. It will show,
besides, that even beyond Garibaldi, and that amiable, disinterested
_Annex_ander, you can feel some interest. I saw the Empress already
dressed for her departure, but I think there is something very
peculiar about her, which is very pleasing. Poor soul, to see her go
away under, I fear, not very safe circumstances, as she coughs a great
deal, quite grieves one; though it certainly increased my stupid cold,
still I should have been sorry not to have assisted at her going to
sea. It was a beautiful day, but this night it has begun to blow from
the West-south-west, which I fear will create a sea to the Westward.

That you had your sons about you must have been a great satisfaction
to you. Bertie got well through his truly tremendous tour. I think
that the effect on the Americans will last for some time. That the
poor Duke of Newcastle got home without accident is surprising. Affy
has something most winning, and is a dear little rogue. Eugénie's
expedition[46] is most astonishing. She also coughs much, and I never
heard Scotland recommended for Winter excursions. I believe that the
death of her sister affected her a good deal. She seems to have been a
good deal _choquée_ that she had been dancing in Africa when that poor
sister was dying. Next to this, there seems a difference of opinion
with her master on the subject of the Pope. You will recollect that
at the time of his elections the clergy rendered him undoubted good
service; I even doubt that he would have been elected without their
aid. Now he puts the axe to the root of the whole Catholic Church
by destroying the Pope, and he does this _without the slightest
provocation_, and for the benefit of the revolution _et des
révolutionnaires_....

I remain ever, my beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 45: The Empress Elizabeth was on her way to Madeira,
    in a ship placed at her disposal by the Queen.]

    [Footnote 46: The Empress of the French was making a tour in
    England and Scotland for the benefit of her health; she
    had sustained a bereavement by the death of her sister, the
    Duchess of Alba.]




[Pageheading: BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS ALICE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1860_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--I hasten to announce to you that yesterday our dear
young couple here were engaged, and that we _are all_ very happy.[47]
Louis was spoken to yesterday on our return from Aldershot by
Albert,--who told him he would have an opportunity of speaking to
Alice--and this opportunity he took last night after dinner when
he was standing alone with her at the fire, and every one else was
occupied in talking. They whispered it to me, and then, after we left
the drawing-room, we sent for good Louis--and the young people met and
confirmed in a very touching manner _what_ they had merely been able
to whisper to one another before. He was very much overcome. He is
a dear, good, amiable, high-principled young man--who I am sure will
make our dearest Alice _very_ happy, and she will, I am sure, be a
most devoted loving wife to him. She is _very, very_ happy, and it is
a pleasure to see their young, happy faces beaming with love for
one another. Alice is so extremely reasonable and quiet. She wishes
everything kind and affectionate to be said to you, and _hopes_ for
your _blessing!_ I am very, very happy, so are we both, but I am still
a good deal agitated and flurried by the whole event.

On Tuesday the Empress arrives, but only to luncheon. I must end now
in haste. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Pray tell it to good Philip, and also to Leopold and Marie.

    [Footnote 47: See _ante_, 31st July, 1860, and note 31.]




[Pageheading: THE SEE OF WORCESTER]



_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1860_.

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's second letter respecting the
Bishopric of Worcester,[48] just as she was going to answer the first.
While not objecting to the nomination of Mr Bayley,[49] she wanted to
point out the importance of, at a future vacancy, not to confine the
selection to respectable parish priests, but to bear in mind that the
Bench of Bishops should not be left devoid of some University men of
acknowledged standing and theological learning; it would be seriously
weakened if, in controversies on points of doctrine agitating the
Church, no value were attached to the opinions at least of some
of those who are to govern her. Lord Palmerston may now have an
opportunity of selecting a stronger man of Liberal views from
Cambridge.

    [Footnote 48: Bishop Henry Pepys had died in November, and was
    succeeded in the following January by Canon Henry Philpott of
    Norwich, Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.]

    [Footnote 49: Probably the Rev. Emilius Bayley, Rector of St
    George's, Bloomsbury; now the Rev. Sir Emilius Laurie.]




[Pageheading: EPISCOPAL APPOINTMENTS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _2nd December 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
very sincerely congratulates your Majesty upon the arrangement of
a marriage which bids so fair to secure for Her Royal Highness the
Princess Alice that happiness to which her amiable and estimable
qualities so justly entitle her.

With respect to bishops, Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit that
the bishops are in the Church what generals of districts are in the
Army: their chief duties consist in watching over the clergy of their
diocese, seeing that they perform properly their parochial duties, and
preserving harmony between the clergy and the laity, and softening
the asperities between the Established Church and the Dissenters. For
these purposes it is desirable that a bishop should have practical
knowledge of parochial functions, and should not be of an overbearing
and intolerant temperament. His diocesan duties are enough to occupy
all his time, and the less he engages in theological disputes the
better. Much mischief has been done by theological bishops, and if the
Bench were filled with men like the Bishops of Oxford and Exeter there
would be no religious peace in the land. Nor have men chosen merely
for their learning succeeded better; Thirlwall, Bishop of St David's,
and Blomfield, the late Bishop of London, were chosen on account of
their learning; the former is acknowledged to be inefficient, the
latter greatly mismanaged his diocese. The theological learning of
the Bishop of Exeter[50] has caused much mischief to the Established
Church. Viscount Palmerston would also beg to submit that the
intolerant maxims of the High Church bishops have exasperated the
Dissenters who form a large portion of the nation, and have given
offence to many good Churchmen. The Bishop of Exeter, the late Bishop
of Carlisle,[51] and the late Bishop of Rochester,[52] the two latter
individuals kind-hearted and good-natured men, refused to consecrate
burial grounds unless a wall of separation divided the portion
allotted to Churchmen from the portion allotted to Dissenters--a
demand which gave offence to both communities. Viscount Palmerston
would beg to submit that several of the bishops whom he has had the
honour of recommending to your Majesty had distinguished themselves by
their classical and academical attainments, and he may mention in this
respect the names of Baring, Longley, Tait, Wigram, and Waldegrave.
Viscount Palmerston can assure your Majesty that although his
selection of bishops has been much found fault with by the High
Church, Puseyite, and semi-Catholic Party, they have given great
satisfaction to the nation at large, and Viscount Palmerston has
received communications to that effect, verbal and written, from
persons of all classes, and political parties in all parts of the
country. The people of this country are essentially Protestant, they
feel the deepest aversion to Catholicism, and they see that the High
Church, Tractarian, and Puseyite doctrines lead men to the Church of
Rome. The disgraceful scenes last year at St George's in the East[53]
were only an exaggerated outburst of a very general and deeply-rooted
feeling. Viscount Palmerston believes that the clergy of the
Established Church were never more exemplary in the performance of
their duties, more respected by the Laity and, generally speaking, on
better terms with the Nonconformist body than at the present time.

    [Footnote 50: Henry Phillpotts, who was Bishop from 1830 to
    1869.]

    [Footnote 51: The Hon. Henry Montagu Villiers, who was
    transferred to Durham.]

    [Footnote 52: George Murray, who had died in the previous
    February.]

    [Footnote 53: For a considerable period, during 1859,
    discreditable scenes of brawling took place at this Church as
    a protest against the High Church practices of the Rector, the
    Rev. Bryan King.]




[Pageheading: AFFAIRS OF NAPLES]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th December 1860_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I have to thank you for another dear letter of
the 29th. I trust that you have received both mine now. We expect the
Empress at half-past one, and I will certainly give her your message.
She is very amiable, and one must like her. There seems to be no
doubt that there were many scenes, partly about the Pope, and also on
account of her sister's funeral; she was so angry with Fould about it
that she insisted on his dismissal.[54] Then the Priests are said to
try and work upon her, and say that her son will die if the Emperor
continues _dans cette voie_ against the Pope.

We saw Mr Elliot[55] from Naples yesterday, who has always been very
fair. He says that _if_, when the King came to the Throne, he had
_only_ insisted on the laws of the country being properly carried
out, _no_ reforms or change in the Constitution would have been
necessary--but from the want of energy, and also no strength of
intellect and great indecision of character of the poor King, as well
as an unfortunate _Pietät_ for the memory of his father, nothing right
was done; bad counsellors surrounded him, the Queen Mother had a bad
influence, and finally everything was given up as lost--when it might
yet have been prevented. They dislike extremely being annexed, but
prefer it to having back the former state of things.

We have since ten or twelve days almost incessant rain, so that we
shall soon be on an island. This is the more distressing as we can't
go to Osborne at present--there being a sort of epidemic fever which
the doctors declare is in the air and that it would be running too
great a risk if we went. But we have perpetual sunshine in the house
when we look at our dear young lovers, who are _so_ happy, so devoted
to each other, that it does one good to see it; he is so modest and
unassuming that we feel as if he was one of our own children; and he
is _so_ good and amiable, has such an open honest character, such
a warm heart, such high principles, and is withal so merry and
_aufgeweckt_ that I feel we have _gained_ a son and shall _not_ lose a
daughter--for we shall be able to have them a good deal with us, Louis
not having any duties to detain him much at home at present. I can't
say what happiness and comfort it is to me. I feel my dear child
will first of all have a peaceful, quiet, happy home, without
difficulties--and secondly, that she will not be entirely cut off from
us and monopolised as our poor Vicky is.

I add a few lines since we have seen the Empress. She came at
half-past one, and stayed till a little after three. She looked very
pretty, but very sad--and in speaking of her health and of her return
from Algiers began to cry. She seems to be much better, however, for
her journey; before she could neither eat nor sleep, nor would she
take notice of anything. She never mentioned the Emperor but once when
she offered his compliments, and there was not the slightest allusion
to politics. It is altogether very strange. She remains another week
in England, and then goes back as she came. I gave her your message,
and she enquired after you. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 54: See _ante_, 15th May, 1859, note 38.]

    [Footnote 55: See _ante_, 17th July, 1859, note 62.]




[Pageheading: VISIT OF THE EMPRESS EUGENIE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

_Windsor Castle, 11th December 1860_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I have to thank you for two _most_ kind letters
of the 4th and 7th. Your kind interest in our dear child's
happiness--your approval of this marriage of our dear Alice, which,
I cannot deny, has been for _long_ an ardent wish of mine, and just
therefore I feared _so_ much it _never_ would come to pass, gives
us the greatest pleasure. _Now_--that _all_ has been so _happily_
settled, and that I find the young man so very charming--my joy, and
my _deep_ gratitude to God are very great! He is so loveable, so
very _young_, and like one of our own children--not the _least in
the way_--but a dear, pleasant, _bright_ companion, full of fun and
spirits, and I am _sure_ will be a _great_ comfort to us, besides
being an excellent husband to our dear, good Alice, who, though
radiant with joy and much in love (which well she may be), is as quiet
and sensible as possible.

The Empress is still here, and enjoys her liberty of _all_ things. We
went to town for the Smithfield Cattle Show yesterday, and visited her
at Claridge's Hotel. She very civilly wanted us to avoid the trouble,
but we felt that it would not be civil if we did not, and that
hereafter even the French might say that she had not been treated with
due respect. She looked very pretty, and was in very good spirits, but
again carefully avoided any allusion to her husband and to politics,
though she talked a great deal about all she was seeing!...

I must now wish you good-bye. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XXX


Early in 1861--a year destined to close in sorrow and
desolation--Queen Victoria experienced a heavy grief in the death of
her mother, the Duchess of Kent, at the age of seventy-four.

In January, fresh overtures were made to Lord Palmerston by the
Conservative leaders, with a view of supporting him in office against
the dissentients in his Ministry, especially Lord John Russell and Mr
Gladstone, whose views on the questions of Reform and National Defence
respectively were opposed to those of the Premier. Lord Palmerston was
indifferent to the support of Mr Gladstone; but a unity of view on
the Italian policy of the Government held the three Liberal statesmen
together.

The attack on the Paper Duties was repeated by Mr Gladstone, who, on
this occasion, combined all his fiscal proposals in a single Bill. The
measure, after strong opposition, passed the Commons by a majority of
fifteen, and the Peers subsequently accepted the Budget, which took a
penny off the income tax, while maintaining the existing tea and sugar
Duties. In July, Lord John Russell, who had entered Parliament in
1813, before he came of age and had been leader of the House of
Commons at the time of the Queen's accession, was transferred to the
House of Lords. In August, the Queen and the Prince Consort, with the
Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, paid a third visit to Ireland.

The affairs of Italy still continued to attract public attention.
At the end of 1860, the French fleet had been despatched to Gaëta
to protect the interests of King Francis; this protection, given
in violation of the principle of non-intervention, was withdrawn in
January, and the garrison surrendered to the Piedmontese Admiral. On
the 18th of February, the new Parliament of Italy met at Turin, the
debates emphasising the vital necessity of including both Rome and
Venetia in a united nation; Victor Emmanuel was declared King of
Italy, a title promptly recognised by Great Britain; but in June, to
the profound grief of the Italian nation, Cavour, its Prime Minister,
and the mainspring of the Piedmontese policy, died while still in the
prime of life.

King Frederick William of Prussia had died in January, and was
succeeded by his brother, William I., Prince of Prussia, who was
crowned with Queen Augusta, at Königsberg, on the 18th of October,
Lord Clarendon attending as British representative. In the following
month, King Pedro of Portugal, son and successor of Donna Maria, and
his brother Ferdinand, died of typhoid fever; another brother, Prince
John, succumbed to the same malady before the close of the year.

Events of great importance took place in North America, where the
secession of South Carolina was followed by that of other Southern
States. The delegates of the latter assembled in February at
Montgomery, Alabama, and nominated Jefferson Davis as their President,
Abraham Lincoln having been previously elected as the new President
of the United States. The first shot had been fired, on the 9th of
January, in Charleston Harbour, where a Secessionist battery opened
its guns on a vessel sent by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort
Sumter. In April, the Confederate troops attacked the Fort, which
was compelled to surrender, whereupon President Lincoln issued a
proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers; President Davis replied
by issuing (in default of an official fleet) letters of marque to
privately owned vessels, and Lincoln declared the Southern ports in
a state of blockade. In May, Lord John Russell announced that the
British Government would recognise the South as a belligerent power,
and a proclamation of neutrality was issued. At Bull Run, on the
21st of July, the Federals were defeated, and fled in confusion to
Washington. Hostilities continued during the year, and Great Britain
was nearly involved in war, by the seizure, on the 8th of November, by
the captain of a Federal vessel, the _San Jacinto_, of Messrs Slidell
and Mason, the envoys accredited by the Confederate States to Great
Britain and France. This high-handed action was taken while the envoys
in question were passengers to Europe, by the British mail steamer
_Trent_, between Havana and St Thomas, and the public mind of Great
Britain was greatly excited in consequence; but eventually the envoys
were transferred to a British ship-of-war, and arrived in Great
Britain, not, however, until in view of a threatened aggression on
British North America, troops had been despatched from England to
strengthen the Canadian garrisons on the frontier. The despatch
of Lord Russell to the American Government, which led to a pacific
result, had been revised by Prince Albert, in the direction of leaving
open to that Government an honourable retreat from the aggressive
attitude they had taken up; the Prince's action in this respect, the
beneficial effect of which it would be difficult to exaggerate,
was destined to be the last of a long series of political services
rendered to this country.

It had become apparent in the autumn that Prince Albert's normal
health was impaired, and in November he began to suffer from
persistent insomnia; towards the end of the month the fever originated
which was to prove fatal to him. He suffered at first from rheumatic
pains and constant weakness, until, early in December, what was
thought to be influenza developed, and the Prince was confined to
his room. By the 11th his condition, though not hopeless, had become
grave, and the serious nature of the illness was made public; and,
although on the 12th the Queen could write hopefully to King Leopold,
the malady continued to increase. On the evening of the 13th, a rally
took place, and encouraging reports were brought hourly to the Queen
through the night; but congestion of the lungs supervened on the
following day, in the closing hours of which, to the inexpressible
grief both of the Queen and her subjects, the Prince passed peacefully
away. The letters of the Queen to King Leopold and Lord Canning
express, in language to which nothing can be added, the intensity of
her grief, and, no less, the noble and unselfish courage with which
she resolved to devote her life to her children and country.




CHAPTER XXX

1861



[Pageheading: CONSERVATIVE OVERTURES]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _1st January 1861_.

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to be allowed to wish your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince
Consort many prosperous returns of New Year's Day, with increasing
happiness to your Majesty and the Royal Family, and progressive
advantage to the Nation who have the good fortune to have your Majesty
for their Sovereign; and to adopt the language of Pope, he would say,

  "May day improve on day, and year on year,
  Without a pain, a trouble, or a fear."

This Autumn and Winter, however, have been productive of events in
three of the four quarters of the Globe, which future years are not
likely to repeat. The capture of Pekin in Asia by British and French
troops; the Union in Europe of nearly the whole of Italy into one
Monarchy; and the approaching and virtually accomplished Dissolution
in America of the great Northern Confederation, are events full
of importance for the future, as well as being remarkable in time
present.

Viscount Palmerston submits two letters which your Majesty may feel an
interest in seeing. With regard to that from Lord John Russell stating
a half-formed wish to go to the House of Lords, Viscount Palmerston
does not expect that the desire will be repeated when the Session
begins, although Lord John said last year that he felt attendance in
the House of Commons in addition to the labour of his office, more
than he could well get through. He would be a loss to Viscount
Palmerston in the House of Commons, especially after the removal of Mr
Sidney Herbert to the House of Lords;[1] and speaking confidentially
to your Majesty with regard to the future, Viscount Palmerston would
think himself doing better service by recommending the House of Lords
for Mr Gladstone, than for Lord John Russell.

Mr Herbert will take the title of Lord Herbert of Lea, the title of
Herbert being that borne by his elder brother during the life of the
late Lord Pembroke.

The other letter from Lord Malmesbury relates to a communication
which he made to Viscount Palmerston last year from Lord Derby and Mr
Disraeli at the beginning of the Session, to the effect that, if
the Government were then to break up from internal dissensions, the
Conservative Party would support during the then ensuing Session any
administration which Viscount Palmerston might be able provisionally
to make, to carry through the business of the Session.[2] Viscount
Palmerston is not aware of any circumstances which can have led to the
expectation that the present administration is likely to be broken up
by internal divisions in the course of this next Session. There are
no questions ahead so likely to produce discord as the Reform Bill of
last year, and the differences between the two Houses about the Paper
Duties, about which it was very difficult to prevent Lord John and Mr
Gladstone from flying off, or the Fortification Question, upon which
Mr Gladstone announced to his colleagues, nearly a dozen times, that
he was firmly resolved to resign. Viscount Palmerston has asked Lord
Malmesbury to come over to him to Broadlands at any time before the
21st or 22nd of this month, which is the probable time at which the
Cabinet will have to meet in London.

Viscount Palmerston finds he has not got Lord John Russell's letter
at hand, but the only thing of any interest in it was the intimation
which Viscount Palmerston quoted.

    [Footnote 1: Mr Herbert had been latterly in bad health, and
    resigned office in the summer. He died on the 2nd of August.]

    [Footnote 2: In his memoirs, Lord Malmesbury describes an
    interview with Lord and Lady Palmerston on the 1st of June
    1860, apparently the one at which this communication was made.
    "It is evident," he writes, "he [Lord Palmerston] does not
    wish to lose Lord John, though he would be very glad if
    Gladstone resigned."]




_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _le 31 Décembre 1860_.

MADAME ET TRÈS CHÈRE S[OE]UR,--Je ne veux pas laisser cette année
s'écouler sans venir porter à votre Majesté l'expression de mes
souhaits pour son bonheur et celui du Prince et de sa famille.
J'espère que l'année qui va commencer sera heureuse pour nos deux
nations, et qu'elle verra encore nos liens se resserrer. L'Europe est
bien agitée, mais tant que l'Angleterre et la France s'entendent, le
mal pourra se localiser.

Je félicite votre Majesté du succès que nos deux armées ont obtenu
en Chine; laissons toujours nos étendards unis; car Dieu semble les
protéger.

J'ai bien envié l'Impératrice qui a pu vous faire une visite et revoir
votre charmante famille: elle en a été bien heureuse.

Je saisis avec empressement cette occasion de renouveler à votre
Majesté les sentiments de haute estime et de sincère amitié avec
lesquels je suis, de votre Majesté le bon Frère,

NAPOLÉON.





[Pageheading: DEATH OF KING OF PRUSSIA]


_The Princess Royal to Queen Victoria and the Prince Albert._

POTSDAM, _2nd January 1861_.

BELOVED PARENTS,--At last I can find a moment for myself to sit down
and collect my thoughts and to write to you an account of these two
last dreadful days! My head is in such a state, I do not know where
I am hardly--whether I am in a dream or awake, what is yesterday and
what to-day! What we have so long expected is come at last! All the
confusion, bustle, excitement, noise, etc., is all swallowed up in
that one thought for me--I have seen death for the first time! It has
made an impression upon me that I shall never, never forget as long
as I live--and I feel so ill, so confused and upset by all that I have
gone through in the last forty-eight hours, that you must forgive
me if I write incoherently and unclearly. But to go back to Monday
evening (it seems to me a year now). At a quarter to eight in the
evening of Monday the 31st, I took dear darling Affie to the railway
station, and took leave of him with a heavy heart. You know I love
that dear boy distractedly, and that nothing could have given me more
pleasure than his dear, long-wished-for visit. At nine o'clock Fritz
and I went to tea at the Prince Regent's; we four were alone together.
The Princess was rather low and unwell, the Prince low-spirited, and
I thinking of nothing but Affie and of how dear he is. While we were
sitting at tea we received bad news from Sans Souci,[3] but nothing
to make us particularly uneasy. Fritz and I went home and to bed, not
being in a humour to sit up till twelve.

About half-past one we heard a knock at the door and my wardrobe maid
brought in a telegram saying the King was given up, and a note from
the Prince Regent saying he was going up immediately. We got up in the
greatest hurry and dressed--I hardly know how; I put on just what
I found, and had not time to do my hair or anything. After we had
hurried on our clothes we went downstairs and out--for there was no
time to get a carriage or a footman or anything--it was a splendid
night, but twelve degrees of cold (Réaumur). I thought I was in a
dream finding myself alone in the street with Fritz at two o'clock
at night. We went to the Prince Regent's, and then with them in their
carriages to the railway station--we four all alone in the train. We
arrived at Sans Souci and went directly into the room where the King
lay--the stillness of death was in the room--only the light of the
fire and of a dim lamp. We approached the bed and stood there at the
foot of it, not daring to look at one another or to say a word. The
Queen was sitting in an armchair at the head of the bed, her arm
underneath the King's head, and her head on the same pillow on which
he lay; with her other hand she continually wiped the perspiration
from his forehead. You might have heard a pin drop; no sound was heard
but the crackling of the fire and the _death-rattle_, that dreadful
sound which goes to one's heart, and which tells plainly that life is
ebbing. This rattling in the throat lasted about an hour longer, and
then the King lay motionless. The doctors bent their heads low to hear
whether he still breathed--and we stood, not even daring to sit down,
watching the death-struggle; every now and then the King breathed very
fast and loud, but never unclosed his eyes; he was very red in the
face, and the cold perspiration pouring from his forehead. I never
spent such an awful time! And to see the poor Queen sitting there
quite rent my heart--three, four, five, six, seven struck, and we were
still standing there--one member of the family came in after the other
and remained motionless in the room, sobs only breaking the silence.
Oh! it is dreadful to see a person die! All the thoughts and feelings
that crowded on my mind in those hours I cannot describe, more than in
my whole past lifetime. The light of the morning dawned, and the lamps
were taken away--oh, how sad for the first morning in the year! We
all went into the next room, for I assure you, anxiety, watching,
standing, and crying had worn us out. The Princess fell asleep on a
chair, I on a sofa, and the rest walked up and down the room asking
one another, How long will it last? Towards the middle of the day,
Marianne and I went into the room alone, as we wished to stay there;
we came up and kissed the Queen's hand and knelt down and kissed the
King's; it was quite warm still. We stood about and waited till five
o'clock and then had some dinner, and I felt so sick and faint and
unwell, that Fritz sent me here to bed. At one o'clock this morning I
got up and dressed, and heard that the King had not many minutes more
to live, but by the time I had got the carriage I heard all was over.
I drove to Sans Souci and saw the King and Queen. May God bless and
preserve them, and may theirs be a long and happy and blessed reign.
Then I went into the room where the King lay, and I could hardly bring
myself to go away again. There was so much of comfort in looking
at that quiet, peaceful form, at rest at last after all he had
suffered--gone home at last from this world of suffering--so peaceful
and quiet he looked, like a sleeping child. Every moment I expected to
see him move or breathe--his mouth and eyes closed, and such a sweet
and happy expression--both his hands were on the coverlid. I kissed
them both for the last time; they were quite cold then. Fritz and I
stood looking at him for some time. I could hardly bring myself
to believe that this was really death, that which I had so often
shuddered at and felt afraid of; there was nothing there dreadful or
appalling, only a heavenly calm and peace. I felt it did me so much
good, and was such a comfort. "Death, where is thy sting? Grave,
where is thy victory?" He was a just and good man, and had a heart
overflowing with love and kindness, and he has gone to his rest after
a long trial which he bore with so much patience. I am not afraid of
death now, and when I feel inclined to be so, I shall think of that
solemn and comforting sight, and that death is only a change for the
better. We went home and to bed and this morning went there at ten.
I sat some time with the poor Queen, who is so calm and resigned and
touching in her grief. She does not cry, but she looks heartbroken.
She said to me: "I am not longer of any use in this world. I have no
longer any vocation, any duties to perform. I only lived for him."
Then she was so kind to me, kinder than she has ever been yet, and
said I was like her own child and a comfort to her. I saw the corpse
again this morning; he is unaltered, only changed in colour, and the
hands are stiffened.

The funeral will be on Saturday; the King will lie in state till then.
His wish was to be buried in Friedenskirche before the altar--and his
heart at Charlottenburg in the Mausoleum. Of course all will be done
that he wishes. His servants are in a dreadful state. They adored him,
and nursed him day and night for three years with the most devoted
attachment. The King and Queen stay at Sans Souci till after the
funeral, and Fritz and I here at Potsdam.... Ever your most dutiful
and devoted Daughter,

VICTORIA.

_P.S._--The funeral will only take place on Monday, and the body will
be embalmed to-morrow. To-morrow evening there will be prayers at the
bedside, and the day after the lying in state.

    [Footnote 3: The palace at Potsdam, built by Frederick the
    Great, the usual residence of the King of Prussia.]




[Pageheading: LETTER TO THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON]


_Queen Victoria to the Emperor of the French._

OSBORNE, _le 3 Janvier 1861_.

SIRE ET CHER FRÈRE,--Les bons v[oe]ux que votre Majesté veut bien
m'exprimer à l'occasion de la nouvelle année me sont bien chers, et
je vous prie d'en accepter mes remercîments sincères, ainsi que
l'expression des v[oe]ux que je forme pour le bonheur de votre
Majesté, de l'Impératrice et de votre cher enfant; le Prince se joint
à moi dans ces sentiments.

Votre Majesté a bien raison si elle regarde avec quelque inquiétude
l'état agité de l'Europe, mais je partage aussi avec elle le ferme
espoir, que le mal peut être beaucoup amoindri, tant que la France et
l'Angleterre s'entendent, et j'y ajouterai, tant que cette entente a
pour but désintéressé de préserver au monde la paix et à chaque
nation ses droits et ses possessions, et d'adoucir des animosités, qui
menacent de produire les plus graves calamités, des guerres civiles
et des luttes de races. La bénédiction de Dieu ne manquera pas à
l'accomplissement d'une tâche aussi grande et sacrée.

Je me réjouis avec votre Majesté des glorieux succès que nos armées
alliées viennent d'obtenir en Chine, et de la belle paix que ces
succès ont amenée. Elle sera féconde, je l'espère, en bienfaits pour
nos deux pays aussi bien que pour ce peuple bizarre que nous avons
forcé à entrer en relations avec le reste du monde.

Il nous a fait bien du plaisir de voir l'Impératrice et d'entendre
depuis que son voyage en Angleterre lui a fait tant de bien.

Agréez l'assurance de la parfaite amitié avec laquelle je suis, Sire
et mon Frère, de votre Majesté Impériale, la bonne S[oe]ur,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: ITALIAN AFFAIRS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

BROADLANDS, _10th January 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
many apologies to make for not having sooner answered your Majesty's
previous communications. He is glad to be able to say that Lady
Jocelyn's youngest boy, whose illness has been the cause of very great
anxiety, is now in the course of gradual, but favourable recovery.

Viscount Palmerston returns to your Majesty the letter of the Emperor
of the French, and your Majesty's excellent answer; it is to be hoped
that he will profit by the sound advice which that answer contains.

Upon the subject of Italy your Majesty reminds Viscount Palmerston
that he stated last summer that it would be better for the interests
of England that Southern Italy should be a separate Monarchy, rather
than that it should form part of an united Italy. Viscount Palmerston
still retains that opinion; because a separate kingdom of the Two
Sicilies would be more likely, in the event of war between England and
France, to side, at least by its neutrality, with the strongest Naval
Power, and it is to be hoped that such Power would be England. But
then it would be necessary that the Two Sicilies as an independent and
separate State should be well governed, and should have an enlightened
Sovereign. This unfortunately has become hopeless and impossible under
the Bourbon Dynasty, and no Englishman could wish to see a Murat or a
Prince Napoleon on the Throne of Naples.[4] The course of events
since last summer seems to have finally decided the fate of Sicily and
Naples, and there can be no doubt that for the interest of the people
of Italy, and with a view to the general balance of Power in Europe,
a united Italy is the best arrangement. The Italian Kingdom will never
side with France from partiality to France, and the stronger that
kingdom becomes the better able it will be to resist political
coercion from France. The chief hold that France will have upon the
policy of the Kingdom of Italy consists in the retention of Venetia by
Austria.

Viscount Palmerston has heard no more from Lord John Russell about his
wish eventually to go to the House of Lords, and it is probable that
this wish often before expressed will, as upon former occasions, be
allowed to sleep undisturbed....

    [Footnote 4: Prince Napoleon Murat, a son of Joachim Murat,
    King of Naples, 1808-1815, had returned to France from the
    United States in 1848; an attempt was now being made to form a
    Murat party in Southern Italy.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _19th January 1861_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter enclosing his
correspondence with Lord Clarendon.[5] She has kept the latter in
order to show it to Lord Palmerston this evening, not knowing whether
he has seen it already. She must say that Lord Clarendon's arguments
are very conclusive. Has it ever occurred to Lord John Russell that,
if Lord Clarendon were to go to Berlin carrying the highest compliment
the Queen has to bestow, viz. the Order of the Garter to the new King
of Prussia, and from thence to Vienna empty-handed to the Emperor of
Austria for the purpose of giving good advice, the Emperor might look
upon it as an offensive public proceeding towards him?

    [Footnote 5: Lord Clarendon was appointed to represent the
    Queen at the Coronation of the King of Prussia.]




[Pageheading: CONSERVATIVE OVERTURES]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th January 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Viscount Palmerston saw Lord Malmesbury on Friday before the Cabinet.
They both came up in the same train though not in the same carriage,
and Lord Malmesbury came to Viscount Palmerston's in Piccadilly at
three o'clock.

He said that he was charged by Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli with a
message similar to that which he had conveyed last year, namely, that
if Mr Gladstone were to propose a democratic Budget making a great
transfer of burthens from indirect to direct Taxation, and if, the
Cabinet refusing its concurrence, Mr Gladstone were to retire, the
Conservative Party would give the Government substantial support
except in the case of the Government wishing to take an active part
in war against Austria. That this did not of course mean an abstinence
from usual attacks and criticisms in debate, but that no step would
in such case be taken to produce a change of Government. In fact, said
Lord Malmesbury, neither the Conservative leaders nor the Party wish
at present to come into office, and have no intention of taking any
step to turn the present Government out. Mr Bright had indeed
proposed to Mr Disraeli to join together with the Radical Party, the
Conservatives, for the purpose of turning out the present Government;
and especially to get rid of Viscount Palmerston and Lord John
Russell. Mr Bright said he would in that case give the Conservative
Government a two years' existence, and by the end of that time the
country, it might be hoped, would be prepared for a good and real
Reform Bill, and then a proper Government might be formed.

This proposal, which it must be owned was not very tempting, Lord
Malmesbury said had been declined. He also said that Count Persigny,
on returning from one of his trips to Paris, had brought a
similar proposal from Mr Cobden for a co-operation of Radicals and
Conservatives to overthrow the present Government; but that also had
been declined. Viscount Palmerston requested Lord Malmesbury to
convey his thanks to Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli for the handsome
communication which they had thus made to him, and to assure them that
he fully appreciated the honourable and patriotic motives by which it
had been prompted....




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th January 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I write to you on a sad anniversary--already
_seventeen_ years ago, that it pleased God to take dearest Papa away
from us all! He, who _ought_ to have lived for twenty years longer at
least!...

We hear from Berlin that the poor King is much _angegriffen_, and very
irritable, but that my letter announcing to him that I would give him
the Garter had given him _so_ much pleasure that he had been seen to
smile for the _first_ time since the 2nd of January.

I think you will be gratified by the little extract from a letter
from our dear friend the Queen, about Vicky, which I venture to send
you--as well as by the following extract from Vicky's own letter to
me, written on her wedding day, in which she says:--"Every time our
dear wedding day returns I feel so happy and thankful--and live every
moment of that blessed and never-to-be-forgotten day over again in
thought. I love to dwell on every minute of that day; not a hope has
been disappointed, not an expectation that has not been realised, and
much more--that few can say--and I _am_ thankful as I ought to be."

These two extracts are very gratifying to our hearts.

I must now wish you good-bye. With Albert's affectionate love, ever
your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: THE PROVOSTSHIP OF ETON]

[Pageheading: DR GOODFORD]


_Viscount Palmerston to Sir Charles Phipps._

94 PICCADILLY, _10th February 1861_.

MY DEAR PHIPPS,--In the box which I sent to the Queen on Friday
morning, giving a short account of the Debate on Thursday, I placed
a separate paper submitting for her approval that Dr Goodford,
Headmaster of Eton, might be recommended to the Fellows to be elected
to the office of Provost now vacant; and I mentioned that the matter
was rather pressing. I have had no answer as yet, and the election is
fixed for to-morrow.

The election is on the same footing as that of a bishop who is
nominally elected by the Chapter of the Diocese, but who is named for
being so elected by the Crown. The Crown recommends the person to be
named Provost, and the Fellows as a matter of course elect him. But
the election must be made within a stated period--I believe fifteen
days after the vacancy has happened; and if the Crown does not within
that period recommend, the Fellows proceed to make their own choice.

The election is fixed for to-morrow, and it would not, I think, be
desirable to let the Royal prerogative drop on this occasion. The
persons who have been named as candidates are Dr Goodford, Headmaster,
and with regard to him it is to be said that the office has generally
been given to the Headmaster, and that, as far as the Provost has any
function connected with improvements in the arrangement of the school,
there is an advantage in his having been conversant with the details
of the existing system. Dr Goodford is qualified for the office by his
degree.

The next candidate is Mr Coleridge, once a master in the school, but
he is not qualified by a sufficient degree, and there was a prejudice
against him on account of his Puseyite tendencies.

The third is Dr Chapman, late Bishop of Colombo, qualified by his
degree, but having no peculiar claims or other recommendations for the
office.

The fourth is Mr Birch, formerly tutor to the Prince of Wales,
scarcely of sufficient calibre for the office, and not qualified by a
sufficient degree.

Between Dr Goodford and Dr Chapman I think the preference should be
given to Dr Goodford, and the more especially because Dr Chapman is
supposed to entertain theological opinions similar to those of Mr
Coleridge, his brother-in-law.

If the Queen should approve of Dr Goodford being recommended,
perhaps she would have the goodness to sign the document sent in the
accompanying box, and if it is returned by the earliest opportunity it
is just possible that I may be able to send it to Windsor in time for
the election to-morrow.[6] Yours sincerely,

PALMERSTON.

    [Footnote 6: Dr Goodford was elected, and remained Provost
    till his death in 1884.]




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

_10th February 1861._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's letter enclosing the draft
of one to General Garibaldi, which she now returns. She had much
doubt about its being altogether safe for the Government to get into
correspondence, however unofficial, with the General, and thinks
that it would be better for Lord John _not_ to write to him. Lord
Palmerston, who was here this afternoon on other business, has
undertaken to explain the reasons in detail to Lord John--in which he
fully concurs.




[Pageheading: GARIBALDI]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _11th February 1861_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he
earnestly entreats your Majesty to consider whether any step ought to
be omitted by which the peace of Europe may be preserved.

General Garibaldi is generally esteemed by Italians; even Count Ludolf
speaks of him in the highest terms of praise. General Garibaldi
has lost his country, and is full of resentment at Count Cavour for
selling it. He respects and admires England for her disinterested
conduct.

But it is evident the French Emperor is again exciting the Hungarian
party. The Garibaldian legion is told to hold itself in readiness, and
the _Pays_ and _Patrie_ are instructed to praise the Legion. They are
being assembled in Genoa and Piedmont.

There is little chance of Garibaldi's refusing to take part in this
expedition, and if he does proceed to the Dalmatian or Istrian coast,
his name will have an immense effect.

It does not seem reasonable to throw away any chance of saving the
Austrian Empire and the peace of Europe.

Lord John Russell will wait till Monday next to learn definitively
your Majesty's pleasure.

The proposed letter appears to him to give some hope of preventing
great misfortunes. In this belief it is Lord John Russell's duty to
endeavour to prevent the frightful war which is impending.

Kossuth is fabricating paper to the extent of from 140 to 300,000,000
of florins to furnish the sinews of insurrection. In the month of
March Hungary will be in a blaze. But if Italy, Germany, and France
keep away, the fire may burn out of itself.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

_11th February 1861._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and in
returning Lord John's letter begs to submit, that as Lord John is so
anxious to send it, and seems so strongly of opinion that it is
an effort which might be successful in dissuading Garibaldi from
attempting to create disturbances in the Austrian territory by going
thither with a band of adventurers, it may be best to let the letter
go, though it might perhaps be improved by pointing more directly
to the nature of the expedition which it advises Garibaldi not to
undertake.

There may be inconveniences which may arise from the letter, but they
might be dealt with; on the other hand, if Garibaldi undertakes his
expedition, it would be a matter of regret if it could be thought
or said that a step which might have prevented the mischief had been
omitted.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th February 1861_.

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's reiterated request for her
sanction to his writing to General Garibaldi. She still entertains
the same objections to the step, as implying a recognition of the
General's position as a European Power as enabling him to allow the
impression to prevail, that he is in communication with the British
Government and acts under its inspiration, as possibly leading to a
prolonged and embarrassing correspondence, and as implying for the
future that when the disapprobation of the Government is not expressed
(as in the present instance), it gives its consent to his aggressive
schemes. The Queen will not prevent, however, Lord John from taking
a step which he considers gives a chance of averting a great European
calamity. Should Lord John therefore adhere to his opinion, she asks
him to let her see the letter again, upon the precise wording of which
so much depends.




[Pageheading: A HAPPY ANNIVERSARY]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th February 1861_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many, many thanks for your dear letter of the 8th.
Here we have cold again since the day before yesterday, and last night
seven degrees of frost. On Sunday we celebrated, with feelings of
_deep gratitude_ and love, the _twenty-first_ anniversary of our
blessed marriage, a day which had brought us, and I may say the
_world_ at _large_, such incalculable blessings! _Very_ few can say
with me that their husband at the end of twenty-one years is _not_
only full of the friendship, kindness, and affection which a truly
happy marriage brings with it, but the same tender love of the _very
first days of our marriage!_

We missed dear Mamma and _three_ of our children,[7] but had _six_
dear ones round us--and assembled in the evening those of our
Household _still_ remaining who were _with us then!_...

In Parliament things go on quietly enough, and every one _hopes_ for a
short session....

Hoping that these lines will find you well, believe me ever, your
devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 7: The Duchess of Kent was at Frogmore; the Princess
    Royal, now Crown Princess of Prussia, was at Potsdam; the
    Prince of Wales had just entered upon his first term at
    Cambridge; and Prince Alfred had joined his ship, the
    _Euryalus_, at Plymouth.]




[Pageheading: LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND GARIBALDI]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _13th February 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
begs to state that the Cabinet at its meeting this afternoon were
of opinion that Lord John Russell's proposed letter to Garibaldi, as
altered by Lord John, might do good, and could scarcely be attended
with any material inconvenience, and that therefore it might go.[8]

    [Footnote 8: It accordingly was sent in the following form:--

    GENERAL,--You did me the honour, some time ago, to write me a
    letter, thanking me for a speech I made in Parliament.

    I was not insensible to the value of that compliment. My
    present purpose however is not compliment.

    I wish you seriously to reconsider your declaration that you
    propose to begin a war in the Spring.

    It seems to me that no individual, however distinguished, has
    a right to determine for his country the momentous question of
    peace or war with a foreign State.

    Italy, represented by a free Parliament, is about to assemble
    and declare her own sentiments and wishes.

    It is surely for the King and the Parliament together to
    decide on questions which may involve all Europe in bloodshed.

    I cannot believe that you will be the man to give the signal
    of dissension in Italy. I remain, General, your obedient
    Servant,

    JOHN RUSSELL.




    The reply received was as follows:--


    CAPRERA, _4th March 1861_.

    NOBLE LORD,--Italy owes you much gratitude. You, however,
    judge me somewhat harshly; giving credence to rumours which
    attribute to me projects that are not known to any one.

    I hope to make war again for my country. But I desire that
    you, deserving as you are of my esteem and attachment, should
    believe that I will not undertake anything which may injure or
    be in contradiction with the rights of the King and Parliament
    of Italy.

    I do not love war, Minister, but, in the present condition of
    my country, it appears most difficult to constitute her in a
    normal manner, without war.

    I am sure that Italy is able to make her war of liberation
    even this year. The person who directs does not feel the same
    certainty, and I leave it to you to weigh his motives. I, if
    I am not called upon by events, shall continue in my retreat,
    and I will, in every way, endeavour to gain your good-will,
    and that of the generous nation to whom my country owes so
    much, etc., etc., etc. I am your devoted Servant,

    G. GARIBALDI.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _22nd February 1861_.

The Queen is very glad to see that the Government is seriously taking
up the question of iron-sided ships, and looks forward to the result
of Lord Palmerston's conference with the Duke of Somerset. The
number wanted appears large, but the Queen must add that she does not
consider one ship a sufficient preponderance over the French Navy for
this country. Twenty-seven to twenty-six would give that number.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF DUCHESS OF KENT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

FROGMORE, _16th March 1861_.

MY DEARLY BELOVED UNCLE,--On this, the most dreadful day of my
life, does your poor broken-hearted child write one line of love and
devotion. _She_ is gone![9] That _precious, dearly beloved tender_
Mother--whom I never was parted from but for a few months--without
whom _I_ can't _imagine life_--has been taken from us! It is _too_
dreadful! But she is at peace--at rest--her fearful sufferings at
an end! It was quite painless--though there was very _distressing_,
heartrending breathing to witness. I held her dear, dear hand in mine
to the very last, which I am truly thankful for! But the watching that
precious life going out was fearful! Alas! she never knew me! But she
was spared the pang of parting! How this will _grieve_ and _distress
you!_ _You_ who are now doubly precious to us. Good Alice was with us
all through, and _deeply_ afflicted, and wishes to say everything kind
to you. Bertie and Lenchen are now here--all much grieved, and have
seen her _sleeping_ peacefully and eternally! Dearest Albert is
dreadfully overcome--and well he may, for _she_ adored him! I feel
so truly _verwaist_. God bless and protect you. Ever your devoted and
truly unhappy Niece and Child,

VICTORIA R.

_P.S._--The devotion of dearest Mamma's ladies and maids is not to be
described. Their love and their devotion were _too touching_. There we
all were round her--the poor, good, old Clark, who is so devoted to us
all. Ever again, your devoted Child,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 9: The Duchess of Kent died on the 16th of March.
    She had had a surgical operation in the arm, on account of an
    abscess, a short time before, but till the 15th the medical
    reports had been encouraging. On that day the Queen went to
    Frogmore, and was with her mother at the time of her death.]




[Pageheading: BEREAVEMENT]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th March 1861_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Your sad little letter of the 21st reached me on
Saturday. On Sunday I took leave of those dearly beloved remains--a
dreadful moment; I had never been near a coffin before, but dreadful
and heartrending as it was, it was so beautifully arranged that it
would have pleased _her_, and most probably _she_ looked down and
blessed _us_--as we poor sorrowing mortals knelt around, overwhelmed
with grief! It was covered with wreaths, and the carpet strewed
with sweet, white flowers. _I_ and our daughters did _not_ go
_yesterday_--it would have been _far_ too much for _me_--and Albert
when he returned, with tearful eyes told me it was well I did not
go--so affecting had been the sight--so _universal_ the sympathy.

Poor little Arthur went too. I and my girls prayed at home together,
and dwelt on her happiness and peace.

But oh! dearest Uncle--the loss--the truth of it--which _I cannot, do
not_ realise even when I go (as I do _daily_) to Frogmore--the _blank_
becomes _daily_ worse!

The constant intercourse of _forty-one_, years cannot cease without
the _total want_ of _power_ of _real enjoyment_ of _anything_. A sort
of cloud which hangs over you, and seems to _oppress_ everything--and
a positive _weakness_ in the powers of reflection and mental exertion.
The doctors _tell_ me I _must not_ attempt to _force_ this. Long
conversation, loud talking, the talking of many people together, I
_can't_ bear yet. It must come _very_ gradually....

I try to be, and very often am, quite _resigned_--but dearest Uncle,
this is a life sorrow. On _all_ festive or mournful occasions, on
_all_ family events, _her love_ and _sympathy_ will be so _fearfully
wanting_. Then again, except Albert (who I very often don't see but
very little in the day), I have _no human_ being except our children,
and that is not the same _Verhältniss_, to _open_ myself to; and
besides, a _woman_ requires _woman's_ society and sympathy sometimes,
as men do _men's_. All this, beloved Uncle, will show you that,
without _dwelling_ constantly upon it, or _moping_ or becoming
_morbid_, though the _blank_ and the _loss to me_, in my isolated
position especially, is _such_ a _dreadful_, and such an _irreparable
one_, the worst _trials_ are _yet_ to come. My poor birthday, I
can hardly think of it! Strange it is how often _little trifles_,
insignificant in themselves, upset one more even than greater
things....

But the general sympathy for _me_, and approval of the manner in
which I have shown my grief, as well as the affection and respect for
dearest Mamma's memory in the country, is _quite wonderful and most
touching_. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: RENEWED GRIEF]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th March 1861_.

MY DEARLY BELOVED UNCLE,--It is a comfort for me to write to you, and
I think you may like to hear from your poor motherless child. It is
_to-day_ a _fortnight_ already, and it seems but yesterday--_all_ is
before me, and at the same time _all, all_ seems _quite impossible_.
The blank--the desolation--the fearful and awful _Sehnsucht und
Wehmuth_ come back with redoubled force, and the _weeping_, which day
after day is my welcome friend, is my greatest relief.

We have an immense deal to do--and everything is in the greatest
_order_; but to _open her_ drawers and presses, and to look at all her
dear jewels and trinkets in order to identify everything, and relieve
her really excellent servants from all responsibility and anxiety, is
like a sacrilege, and I feel as if my heart was being torn asunder! So
many recollections of my childhood are brought back to me, and these
dumb souvenirs which she wore and used, and which so painfully survive
_what_ we so _dearly_ and _passionately_ loved, touch chords in one's
heart and soul, which are _most_ painful and yet pleasing too. We have
found many most interesting and valuable letters--the existence of
which I was not aware of--and which, I _think_, must have come back
with poor Papa's letters, viz. letters from _my_ poor father asking
for dearest Mamma's hand--and sending a letter from you, encouraging
him to ask her. And many others--very precious letters--from dear
Grandmamma; Albert has also found at Clarence House, where he went
to-day, many of dear Grandpapa's.[10] ...

Frogmore we mean to keep just as dear Mamma left it--and keep it
cheerful and pretty as it still is. I go there constantly; I feel so
accustomed to go down the hill, and _so_ attracted to it, for I fancy
_she_ must be there.

Was poor dear Grandpapa's death-bed such a sad one? You speak of its
distressing impressions.[11] ...

She watches _over us now_, you may be sure! Ever your devoted,
sorrowing Child and Niece,

VICTORIA R.

Albert is so kind, and does all with such tenderness and feeling.
Vicky goes on Tuesday, and we on Wednesday, to Osborne, where I think
the air and quiet will do me good.

    [Footnote 10: Duke Francis Frederick of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,
    and Duchess Augusta Caroline Sophia, the parents of the
    Duchess of Kent and King Leopold.]

    [Footnote 11: In a recent letter King Leopold had said that he
    was not quite sixteen years old when his father died (1806),
    and the elder son, Ernest, being alarmingly ill at Königsberg,
    he was himself called upon to be the support of his mother.
    "The recollections of that death-bed," he adds, "are fresh in
    my memory, as if it had been yesterday. I thank God that your
    recollections of that terrible moment are so peaceful,
    and that you may preserve an impression ... without any
    distressing addition."]




[Pageheading: FATHERLY ADVICE]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _1st April 1861_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--Your dear letter of the 30th _moved me very
much_. I can see everything, and it makes me shed tears of the
sincerest sorrow.

The bereavement, the impossibility, they are what one feels most
deeply and painfully, that nothing will bring back the beloved object,
that there is a rupture with everything earthly that nothing can
remedy. Your good, dear Mamma was without ostentation, sincerely
religious, a great blessing, and the only solid support we can find.
Happy those whose faith cannot be shaken; they can bear the hardships
of earthly life with fortitude.

True it is that if we compare the sorrows of our earthly life with the
hope of an eternal existence, though painfully felt, still they shrink
as it were in appreciation.

You feel so _truly_, so _affectionately_, that even in that you must
gratify the dear being we lost. When I think of poor Aunt Julia,[12]
she was so alone that I cannot help to pity her even in all the
objects she valued and left behind; the affectionate care which is
shown to everything connected with your dear Mamma could not have
existed, and still she was a noble character, and with a warm,
generous heart. In all your dear Mamma's letters there will everywhere
be found traces of the affection which united us. From early childhood
we were close allies; she recollected everything so well of that
period which now, since the departure of the two sisters, is totally
unknown to every one but me, which, you can imagine, is a most
melancholy sensation. Time flies so fast that all dear recollections
soon get isolated. Your stay at Osborne will do you good, though
Spring, when fine, affects one very much, to think that the one that
was beloved does not share in these pleasant sensations. You must try,
however, not to shake your precious health too much. Your dear Mamma,
who watched your looks so affectionately, would not approve of it....
Your devoted old Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 12: Sister of King Leopold, and widow of the Grand
    Duke Constantine, who had lived in retirement at Geneva for
    many years, and died at Elfenau on the 15th of August 1860.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _9th April 1861_.

MY DEARLY BELOVED UNCLE,--Your dear, _sad_ letter of the 5th found a
warm response in my poor heart, and I thank you with all my heart
for it. I am _now most_ anxiously waiting for an answer to my letter
asking you to come to us _now_. You would, I think, find it soothing,
and it would painfully interest you to look over her letters and
papers, which make me _live_ in times I heard her talk of when I was
a child. It is touching to find how she treasured up every little
flower, every bit of hair. I found some of dear Princess Charlotte's,
and touching relics of my poor Father, in a little writing-desk of his
I had never seen, with his last letters to her, and her notes _after_
his death written in a little book, expressing such longing to be
reunited to him! _Now_ she _is!_ And what a comfort it is to think
_how many very dear ones_ are gone on before her whom she will find!
All these notes show how very, very much she and my beloved Father
_loved_ each other. _Such_ love and affection! I hardly knew it was
_to that extent_. Then her love for _me_--it is _too_ touching! I have
found little books with the accounts of my babyhood, and they show
_such_ unbounded tenderness! Oh! I am so wretched to think _how_, _for
a time_, _two people most_ wickedly estranged us!... To miss a mother's
friendship--not to be able to have her to confide in--when a girl
_most_ needs it, was fearful! I _dare not_ think of it--it drives me
_wild_ now! But thank God! that is all passed _long, long_ ago, and
she had forgotten it, and only thought of the last very happy years.

And all that was brought by my good angel, dearest Albert, whom _she_
adored, and in whom she had such unbounded confidence....

On Sunday our dear little Beatrice was four years old. It upset me
much, for she was the idol of that beloved Grandmamma, and the child
so fond of her. She continually speaks of her--how she "is in Heaven,"
but hopes she will return! She is a most darling, engaging child....
Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: THE DANISH QUESTION]


_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _27th May 1861_.

The Queen returns the proposed draft of answer to the observations of
the Russian Government on Lord John Russell's proposals with regard to
the Danish Question. She has to observe that this reverses the whole
position taken by us hitherto. Prince Gortschakoff is quite right in
reminding us that the engagements taken in 1852[13] did not contain
a formal guarantee (_obliging_ to take up arms for the defence of
the object guaranteed) in deference to the opinion of the British
Government which, on general principles, has always objected to such
engagements. These principles are as important now as ever, and yet
Lord John proposes "to renew the _guarantee_ of the integrity of the
Danish Monarchy contained in the Treaty of 8th May 1852," thereby
giving those engagements the force of a guarantee, which was on
principle objected to by us at the time. Both Russia and France in
their answers object to such a guarantee now, even with regard to
Schleswig alone, as involving the guaranteeing powers in future grave
difficulties, and Lord John proposes to extend it to Holstein, a part
of Germany and not of Denmark, by way of obviating the difficulty. The
Queen cannot give her sanction to this proposal.

    [Footnote 13: A Treaty was signed by the European Powers on
    the 8th of May 1852, by which the succession of the line of
    Sonderburg-Glücksburg to the Danish throne was settled, and
    the integrity of the kingdom guaranteed. See _ante_, vol. ii.,
    4th January, 1852.]




[Pageheading: WAR IN AMERICA]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _30th May 1861_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has the
honour to submit letters from the Emperor and Empress of Austria of a
private nature. The Cabinet decided yesterday that the ports of
your Majesty's Dominions ought to be closed to the ships of war and
privateers of the Belligerents in America.[14] A letter for that
object has been sent to the Law Officers of the Crown, and will be,
when put into proper form, submitted for your Majesty's approbation.

    [Footnote 14: See _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXX.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _30th May 1861_.

The Queen returns these papers. She thinks it of great importance that
we should be strong in Canada, and thinks an increase in Artillery as
important as the sending of two more battalions, as that Arm cannot
be supplied at all by the Colony. The Naval forces would, however,
require strengthening even more. It is less likely that the remnant
of the United States could send expeditions by land to the North
while quarrelling with the South, than that they should commit acts of
violence at sea.




_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th June 1861_.

The Queen has perused the accompanying draft to Sir James Hudson. She
is of opinion that so important a step as proposals on our part for
the solution of the Roman Question, with which we are not directly
concerned, and for the solution of which we are for many obvious
reasons perhaps the Power possessing the least favourable position, is
a subject of such great importance, that it should not be undertaken
without the most mature consideration. Has this draft been brought
before the Cabinet? The Queen wishes to have their united advice
before giving her decision. Her opinion at present is against our
volunteering a scheme which will render us responsible for the result
of grave complications, from which we have hitherto stood happily
quite clear. The Queen wishes these lines to be communicated to the
Cabinet.[15]

    [Footnote 15: Lord John Russell had written that the
    withdrawal of the French troops from Rome would probably be
    followed by tumults and bloodshed; and as both the Roman party
    and Garibaldi hated the Government of the Pope, and wished to
    put an end to his temporal power, he suggested that the
    Pope should be allowed to retain his sovereignty during
    his lifetime, in a restricted territory and with restricted
    powers; that Italian troops should occupy the towns and
    villages outside a limit of five miles from Rome; and that the
    King of Italy and the Emperor of the French should agree not
    to recognise the temporal power of any future Pope.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF CAVOUR]


_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

PEMBROKE LODGE, _6th June 1861_.

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; the
despatch relating to Rome had been sent, seeming to Lord John Russell
quite unobjectionable. But your Majesty will see that it was instantly
suspended, and that Count Cavour is dying.[16] The despatch was solely
intended to save the poor old Pope from insult, and Rome from tumult,
but beyond this it is of no consequence, and the death of Cavour may
give a new complexion to the affairs of Italy.

Nothing will be done on the despatch at present.

    [Footnote 16: Count Cavour died at Turin on the 6th of June.
    It is curious to note that the words of the Emperor Napoleon,
    on hearing of the death of Cavour, appear to have been "Le
    cocher est tombé du siège; il faut voir maintenant si les
    chevaux iront s'emporter, ou rentrer à l'écurie."]




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _18th June 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....

Viscount Palmerston submits a note from Garter King at Arms, by which
your Majesty will see that there are now three Garters vacant;
and Viscount Palmerston would beg to suggest for your Majesty's
consideration that those Garters might appropriately be conferred upon
Lord Canning for his great services in India, upon Lord John Russell
for his long political services under your Majesty, and upon the
Duke of Somerset, senior Duke after the Duke of Norfolk, and the able
administrator of an important branch of your Majesty's service.[17]

Viscount Palmerston is not aware whether by the regulations of the
Order the Garter could be sent out to Lord Canning in India. If that
were possible, it might have the double advantage of strengthening his
hands during the remainder of his stay, by affording so public a mark
of your Majesty's approval; and moreover of making sure that Lord
Canning should receive this mark of your Majesty's royal favour, while
the Government is in the hands of an administration similar to that
at whose recommendation he was sent out, which perhaps might be more
agreeable to his feelings than running the chance, always possible,
though Viscount Palmerston hopes it may not be probable, that
political combinations might, before his return in May or June 1862,
have produced administrative changes.

    [Footnote 17: The Duke was First Lord of the Admiralty. All
    the three Peers mentioned received the Garter early in 1862.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF LORD CAMPBELL]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

_24th June 1861._

The Queen approves of Sir R. Bethell[18] as Lord Campbell's successor.
Lord Palmerston is aware of the Queen's objections to the appointment;
they will have weighed with him as much as with her. If therefore he
finally makes this recommendation, the Queen must assume that under
all the circumstances he considers it the best solution of the
difficulty, and that his Colleagues take the same view.

    [Footnote 18: Lord Campbell died at the age of eighty-two; his
    successor was created Lord Westbury.]




[Pageheading: THE DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND]


_The Duchess of Sutherland to Queen Victoria._

STAFFORD HOUSE, _26th June 1861_.

MADAM,--I shall never forget your Majesty and the Prince's
kindness.[19]

I am anxious to tell your Majesty as strongly as _it was_, what _his_
feeling was of my service to your Majesty; he approved and delighted
in it; dear as it was to me--it could not have been if this had not
been so, nor those occasional absences, if he had not had devoted
children when I was away; still, when the great parting comes one
grudges every hour, and the yearning is terrible.

Even in his last illness he showed an anxious feeling, as if he feared
I might resign, saying that I knew what an interest it had been to
him, how he had liked hearing of the Queen and her family. He spoke
very late in life of your Majesty's constant kindness. This feeling
and early associations made him take a great interest in the Princess
Royal's marriage, which did not leave him. If it ever crossed your
Majesty--if your Majesty should ever feel that I might have been
devoted, if I had had but one service, pray believe that he took the
greatest pleasure and pride in that other great service; and that
therefore he really felt it best it should be so.

Since I have written this I have received your Majesty's most kind
letter--and the precious gift of the photograph so wonderfully like,
and rendering exactly that most kind and loving countenance. I shall
like much sending one to your Majesty of my dearest husband.

I repeat to myself the precious word that I am dear to your Majesty
again and again; and that my love to your Majesty was returned. How
often I shall think of this in my altered life, in my solitude of
heart! The admiration I have ever felt for the Prince has been one
of the great pleasures of my life; that he should be your Majesty's
husband, a constant thankfulness. I feel I owe him much, and that
great approbation and admiration are not barren feelings. I have the
honour to remain, Madam, your Majesty's devoted Subject,

HARRIET SUTHERLAND.

I fear I have written worse than usual--I can hardly see to do
so--weak eyes and tears.

    [Footnote 19: The Duke of Sutherland had died in the preceding
    February.]




[Pageheading: MR LAYARD]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _8th July 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that Lord Elcho[20] this afternoon moved a Resolution that
the new Foreign Office should not be built in the Palladian style. Mr
Charles Buxton seconded the Motion. Mr Cowper[21] opposed it, stating
reasons for preferring the Italian style to the Gothic. Mr Layard was
for neither, but seemed to wish that somebody would invent a new style
of architecture. Mr Tite,[22] the architect, was strongly for the
Italian style; Lord John Manners, swayed by erroneous views in
religion and taste, was enthusiastic for Gothic;[23] Mr Dudley
Fortescue confided in a low voice to a limited range of hearers some
weak arguments in favour of Gothic; Mr Osborne seemed to be against
everything that anybody had ever proposed, and wanted to put off the
building till some plan better suited to his own taste should have
been invented. Viscount Palmerston answered the objections made to the
Italian plan, and Lord Elcho's Motion was negatived by 188 to 75. The
House then went into Committee of Supply, and the first estimate being
that for the Foreign Office, some of the Gothic party who had not been
able to deliver their speeches on Lord Elcho's Motion, let them off on
this estimate....

    [Footnote 20: Now Earl of Wemyss.]

    [Footnote 21: Mr William Cowper, at this time First
    Commissioner of Works.]

    [Footnote 22: Mr (afterwards Sir) William Tite, was now Member
    for Bath; he had been the architect entrusted with the task of
    rebuilding the Royal Exchange.]

    [Footnote 23: Mr Gilbert Scott had made his first designs for
    the new Foreign Office in the Gothic style; his appointment as
    architect for the building was made by the Derby Government,
    but the scheme which they favoured, for a Gothic building,
    was opposed by Lord Palmerston, and Scott adopted the Italian
    style in deference to his views.]




_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _24th July 1861_.

The Queen is sorry that she cannot alter her determination about Mr
Layard.[24] She fully recognises the importance of the Parliamentary
exigencies; but the Queen cannot sacrifice to them the higher
interests of the country. Neither Mr Layard nor Mr Osborne ought to
be proposed as representatives of the Foreign Office in the House
of Commons, and therefore of the Crown to foreign countries. If Lord
Palmerston can bring Mr Layard into office in some other place, to get
his assistance in the House of Commons, she will not object.

    [Footnote 24: In the course of July, Lord John Russell, who
    had entered Parliament for the first time in 1813, was raised
    to the Peerage as Earl Russell and Viscount Amberley. To
    supply the loss to the Government of two such powerful
    debaters as Lord Russell and Lord Herbert, Lord Palmerston had
    suggested Mr Layard as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
    mentioning also the claims of Mr Bernal Osborne.]




[Pageheading: MR LAYARD]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _24th July 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
regrets very much to find that he has not succeeded in removing your
Majesty's objections to Mr Layard as Under-Secretary of State for the
Foreign Department; but he still hopes that he may be able to do so.
If he rightly understands your Majesty's last communication on this
subject, he is led to infer that your Majesty's main objection is
founded on a dislike that Mr Layard should be the representative and
organ of the Foreign Policy of the Crown in the House of Commons.

With regard to his being a subordinate officer in the Foreign Office,
your Majesty's sanction to that was obtained in 1851-52, when Mr
Layard was Under-Secretary to Lord Granville. His tenure of office
at that time was short; not from any fault of his, but because the
Government of that day was overthrown by Viscount Palmerston's Motion
in the House of Commons in February 1852 about the Militia; and Lord
Granville speaks highly of Mr Layard's performance of his official
duties at that time. There is no reason, but the reverse, for thinking
him less competent now than then; and an Under-Secretary of State is
only the instrument and mouthpiece of his principal to say what he is
told, and to write what he is bid.

With regard to Mr Layard's position in the House of Commons, he would
in no respect be the representative of the Foreign Policy of the
country; that function will belong to Viscount Palmerston, now that
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will be removed to the
House of Lords, and it will be Viscount Palmerston's duty and care
to see that nobody infringes upon that function. Mr Layard would be
useful to answer unimportant questions as to matters of fact, but all
questions involving the Foreign Policy of the country will be answered
by Viscount Palmerston as head of the Government, as was done when
Lord Clarendon was Foreign Secretary and in the House of Lords. But
there are not unfrequently great debates on Foreign Affairs in the
House of Commons, and there are many members, some of them not perhaps
of great weight, who join in attacks on such matters. It is of great
importance to your Majesty's Government to have a sufficient number
of speakers on such occasions. Lord John Russell and Lord Herbert
were ready and powerful. Mr Gladstone is almost the only one on the
Treasury Bench who follows up foreign questions close enough to take
an active part; it would be of great advantage to Viscount Palmerston
to have as assistant on such occasions a man like Mr Layard, knowing
the details of matters discussed, able to make a good speech in reply
to Mr Fitzgerald, or Mr Baillie Cochrane,[25] or Mr Hennessy,[26] or
Sir G. Bowyer,[27] and who would shape his course in strict conformity
with the line which might be chalked out for him by Viscount
Palmerston. Your Majesty need therefore be under no apprehension that
Mr Layard or anybody else, who might in the House of Commons hold the
office of Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, would appear
to the world as the organ or representative of the Foreign Policy of
your Majesty's Government. With respect to giving Mr Layard any other
office of the same kind, there is none other in which he could be
placed without putting into the Foreign Office somebody far less fit
for it, and putting Mr Layard into some office for which he is far
less fit. His fitness is for the Foreign Department, and to use the
illustration, which was a favourite one of the late Mr Drummond,
it would be putting the wrong man into the wrong hole. Viscount
Palmerston has, as charged with the conduct of the business of the
Government in the House of Commons, sustained a severe loss by the
removal of two most able and useful colleagues, Lord Herbert and
Lord John Russell, and he earnestly hopes that your Majesty will be
graciously pleased to assist him in his endeavours, not indeed to
supply their place, but in some degree to lessen the detriment which
their removal has occasioned.

    [Footnote 25: Afterwards Lord Lamington.]

    [Footnote 26: Mr (afterwards Sir) John Pope Hennessy, M.P. for
    King's County.]

    [Footnote 27: M.P. for Dundalk.]




[Pageheading: MR LAYARD]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _25th July 1861_.

The Prince has reported to the Queen all that Lord Palmerston said
to him on the subject of Mr Layard; this has not had the effect of
altering her opinion as to the disqualifications of that gentleman
for the particular office for which Lord Palmerston proposes him. This
appointment would, in the Queen's opinion, be a serious evil. If Lord
Palmerston on sincere self-examination should consider that without it
the difficulty of carrying on his Government was such as to endanger
the continuance of its success, the Queen will, of course, have to
admit an evil for the country in order to avert a greater. She still
trusts, however, that knowing the nature of the Queen's objections, he
will not place her in this dilemma.




_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

94 PICCADILLY, _26th July 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to be allowed to make his grateful and respectful acknowledgments
for your Majesty's gracious and condescending acquiescence in his
recommendation of Mr Layard for the appointment of Under-Secretary
of State for the Foreign Department. It is always a source of most
sincere pain to Viscount Palmerston to find himself differing, on any
point, in opinion with your Majesty, a respect for whose soundness
of judgment, and clearness of understanding, must always lead him to
distrust the value of his own conclusions when they differ from those
to which your Majesty has arrived. But the question about Mr Layard
turned mainly upon considerations connected with the conduct of public
business of your Majesty's Government in the House of Commons.

Viscount Palmerston sits in that House four days in every week during
the Session of Parliament, from half-past four in the afternoon to any
hour however late after midnight at which the House may adjourn. It
is his duty carefully to watch the proceedings of the House, and to
observe and measure the fluctuating bearings of Party and of sectional
associations on the present position of the Government, and on its
chances for the future; and he is thus led to form conclusions as to
persons and parties which may not equally strike, or with equal force,
those who from without and from higher regions may see general results
without being eye- and ear-witnesses of the many small and successive
details out of which those results are built up.

It was thus that Viscount Palmerston was led to a strong conviction
that the proposed appointment of Mr Layard would be a great advantage
to your Majesty's Government as regards the conduct of business in
the House of Commons, and the position of your Majesty's Government
in that House; and he is satisfied that he will be able to prevent
Mr Layard in any subsidiary part which he may have to take in any
discussion on foreign questions, from departing from the line
which may be traced out for him by Lord John Russell and Viscount
Palmerston....




[Pageheading: THE KING OF SWEDEN]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _13th August 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--Since Saturday we have great heat. _Our_ King of
Sweden[28] arrived yesterday evening. We went out in the yacht to meet
him, and did so; but his ship going slow, the _dress_ of the _hohen
Herrn only_ arrived at a quarter to nine, and we only sat down to
dinner at a quarter past nine! The King and Prince Oscar[29] are
very French, and very Italian! I think that there is a dream of a
Scandinavian Kingdom floating before them. The King is a fine-looking
man.... He is not at all difficult to get on with, and is very civil.
Oscar is very amiable and mild, and very proud of his three little
boys. They leave again quite early to-morrow.

Our _dear_ children leave us, alas! on Friday quite early, for
Antwerp.[30] It will again be a painful trial! Their stay has been
very pleasant and _gemüthlich_, and we have seen more of and known
dear Fritz more thoroughly than we ever did before, and really he is
_very_ excellent, and would, I am convinced, make an excellent King.
The little children are _very great_ darlings, and we shall miss them
sadly.

On the 16th we go to poor, dear Frogmore, and on the 17th we shall
visit that dear grave! Last year she was still so well, and so full
of life; but it was a _very_ sad birthday, two days after the loss of
that dear beloved sister, whom she has joined so soon! Oh! the agony
of _Wehmuth_, the bitterness of the blank, do _not_ get better with
time! Beloved Mamma, how hourly she is in my mind!

The King of Prussia will have great pleasure in visiting you at
Wiesbaden; he will arrive at Ostend on the 16th....

Good-bye, and God bless you, dearest Uncle. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 28: Charles XV., who succeeded to the throne in
    1859.]

    [Footnote 29: Brother and heir to Charles XV., whom he
    succeeded, as Oscar II., in 1872; died 1907.]

    [Footnote 30: The Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia,
    accompanied by their two children, were on a visit to the
    Queen.]




[Pageheading: SWEDISH POLITICS]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _14th August 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
hastens to answer the enquiry contained in your Majesty's note, which
was delivered to him at Southampton. He must, in the first place,
explain that much of what was said to him by the King of Sweden and by
Prince Oscar was not clearly understood by him. They would both
speak English--which they spoke with difficulty and in an indistinct
utterance of voice--and he did not like to break the conversation into
French, because to have done so would have looked like a condemnation
of their English, of any imperfection of which they did not seem to be
at all conscious.

The King was very guarded in all he said about France; the Prince
spoke with more freedom and with less caution. The result of what
Viscount Palmerston gathered from their conversation, and perhaps for
this purpose they may be put together, because they probably both feel
and think nearly alike, though the Prince lets his thoughts out more
than the King, may be summed up as follows.

They were much pleased and flattered by the kind and friendly
reception given them by the French Emperor, and both he and they seem
to have had present to their minds that the existing Royal Family of
Sweden is descended from General Bernadotte--a General in the Army of
the First Napoleon. They think the French Emperor sincerely desirous
of maintaining his alliance with England, believing it to be for his
interest to do so. But they consider the French Nation essentially
aggressive, and they think that the Emperor is obliged to humour
that national feeling, and to follow, as far as the difference of
circumstances will allow, the policy of his Uncle. They consider the
principle of nationalities to be the deciding principle of the day,
and accordingly Venetia ought to belong to Italy, Poland ought to
be severed from Russia, and Finland ought to be restored to Sweden.
Holstein should be purely German with its own Duke, Schleswig should
be united to Denmark, and when the proper time comes, Denmark, so
constituted, ought to form one Monarchy with Sweden and Norway. But
they see that there are great if not insuperable obstacles to all
these arrangements, and they do not admit that the Emperor of the
French talked to them about these things, or about the map of Europe
revised for 1860. They lamented the dangerous state of the Austrian
Empire by reason of its financial embarrassments, and its differences
between Vienna and Hungary. They admitted the difficulty of
re-establishing a Polish State, seeing that Russia, Prussia, and
Austria are all interested in preventing it; but they thought that
Russia might make herself amends to the Eastward for giving up part of
her Polish possessions.

They said the Swedes would be more adverse than the Danes to a Union
of Denmark with Sweden. They said the Finns are writhing under the
Russian yoke, and emigrate in considerable numbers to Sweden. They
think Russia paralysed for ten years to come by her war against
England and France, by her internal changes, and her money
embarrassments. When the Prince asked Viscount Palmerston to sit down,
it was for the purpose of urging in the strongest and most earnest
manner that some British ships of war, or even one single gunboat, if
more could not be spared, should every year visit the Baltic, and make
a cruise in that sea. He said that the British Flag was never seen
there, although Great Britain has great interests, commercial and
political, in that sea. That especially for Sweden it would be a great
support if a British man-of-war were every year to show itself in
Swedish waters. He said that our Navy know little or nothing of the
Baltic, and when a war comes, as happened in the late war with Russia,
our ships are obliged, as it were, to feel their way about in the
dark; that the Russians send ships of war into British ports--why
should not England send ships of war into Russian ports? That we
survey seas at the other side of the Globe, why should we not survey
a sea so near to us as the Baltic; that as far as Sweden is concerned,
British ships would be most cordially received. I said that this
should receive due consideration; and in answer to a question he said
the best time for a Baltic cruise would be from the middle of June to
the latter end of August.

They both thought the Emperor of the French extremely popular in
France--but, of course, they only saw outward demonstrations. They
are very anxious for the maintenance of the Anglo-French Alliance;
and they think the Emperor obliged to keep a large Army and to build a
strong Navy in order to please and satisfy the French Nation. Such
is the summary of the impression made upon Viscount Palmerston by the
answers and observations drawn out by him in his conversations with
the King and the Prince; most of these things were said as above
reported, some few of the above statements are perhaps inferences and
conclusions drawn from indirect answers and remarks.




[Pageheading: SWEDEN AND DENMARK]

[Pageheading: FRANCE AND SWEDEN]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

OSBORNE, _18th August 1861_.

The Queen is very much obliged to Lord Palmerston for his detailed
account of his conversation with the King of Sweden, and sends
both Memorandums back to him in accordance with his wishes, in the
expectation of having them returned to her after they shall have been
copied.

The King may have been embarrassed by the presence of the Crown
Prince of Prussia here at Osborne, and have on that account postponed
speaking openly to Lord Palmerston. His desire to acquire Denmark and
Finland is not unnatural, and would not be very dangerous; but
the important part of the matter is, that the Emperor Napoleon has
evidently tried to bribe him for his schemes by such expectations.
After having established a large kingdom, dependent upon him and
possessing a fleet, in the South of Europe on his right flank, he
evidently tries to establish by the same means a similar power on his
left flank in the North. If then the Revolution of Poland and Hungary
takes Germany also in the rear, he will be exactly in the all-powerful
position which his Uncle held, and at which he himself aims, with that
one difference: that, unlike his Uncle, who had to fight England all
the time (who defended desperately her interests in Europe), he tries
to effect his purposes in alliance with England, and uses for this end
our own _free_ Press and in our own free country!

The Polish and Hungarian Revolutions (perhaps the Russian) and the
assistance which may be (nobly?) given to them by Sweden, can easily
be made as popular in this country as the Italian has, and efforts
to produce this result are fully visible already. The position and
prospects of the Ally, when the Emperor shall have the whole Continent
at his feet, and the command of the Mediterranean and the Baltic,
will not be a very pleasant one. Moreover, the Ally will probably have
irritated him and the French Nation all the time by abusing them, and
by showing that, although we may have approved of her policy, we did
not intend that France should reap any benefits from it. All this is
probably not thought of by our journalists, but requires the serious
attention of our statesmen.

Lord Palmerston will perhaps show this letter to Lord Russell when he
sends him the copies of the Memoranda, which he will probably do.




[Pageheading: FROGMORE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _20th August 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--Before I thank you for your dear letter of the
14th, or at least before I answer it, I wish to tell you _how soothed_
I was by that visit to that _lovely_ peaceful _Mausoleum at Frogmore_.

We parted from our dear children and grandchildren with heavy hearts
at seven on the morning of the 16th, for their visit, excepting the
_blank_ which clouds over everything, has been most peaceful and
satisfactory, and we have learnt to know and most highly
appreciate the great _excellence_ of dear Fritz's character; noble,
high-principled, so anxious to do what is right, and to improve
in every way, and so sweet-tempered and affectionate--so, beyond
everything, devoted to Vicky.

I thought much of poor, dear Aunt Julia on the 15th; _that loss_ was
the _signal_ for my irreparable one!

We went that afternoon (16th) to Frogmore, where we slept. The first
evening was terribly trying, and I must say quite overpowered me for a
short time; _all_ looked _like life_, and yet _she_ was not there! But
I got calmer; the very fact of being surrounded by all she liked, and
of seeing the dear pretty house inhabited again, was a satisfaction,
and the next morning was beautiful, and we went after breakfast
with wreaths up to the Mausoleum, and into the vault which is _à
plain-pied_, and so pretty--so airy--_so_ grand and simple, that,
affecting as it is, there was no anguish or bitterness of grief,
but calm repose! We placed the wreaths upon the splendid granite
sarcophagus, and at its feet, and _felt_ that _only_ the _earthly
robe_ we loved so much was there. The pure, tender, loving spirit
_which loved us_ so tenderly, is above us--loving us, praying for us,
and _free_ from _all_ suffering and woe--_yes_, that _is_ a _comfort_,
and that _first birthday_ in _another_ world must have been a _far_
brighter one than _any_ in this poor world below! I only grieve _now_
that we should be going so far away from Frogmore, as I long to go
there; only Alice and dear Augusta Bruce[31](who feels as a daughter
of hers) went with us. The morning was so beautiful, and the garden
_so_ lovely!...

The news from Austria are very sad, and make one very anxious. The
King of Sweden is full of wild notions put into his head by the
Emperor Napoleon, for whom he has the greatest admiration!...

It is high time I should end my long letter. With Albert's
affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 31: Lady Augusta Bruce, who bad been living with the
    Duchess of Kent at the time of her death, was appointed by the
    Queen to be her resident Bedchamber Woman.]




[Pageheading: VISIT TO IRELAND]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

VICE-REGAL LODGE, PHOENIX PARK, _26th August 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--_Not_ to miss your messenger I write a few hurried
lines to thank you for your two dear letters of the 16th and the 22nd,
the last of which I received yesterday morning here.... Would to God
that affairs in Hungary took a favourable turn--_mais j'en ai bien
peur_. We had a very good passage on Wednesday night, since which it
has blown very hard. We left Osborne on Wednesday morning (21st) at
quarter to nine, and anchored in Kingstown Bay at half-past eleven
that night. The next day (22nd) we landed at eleven and came here,
and it rained the whole day. On Saturday we all went over to the camp,
where there was a field-day. It is a fine _emplacement_ with beautiful
turf. We had two cooling showers. Bertie marched past with his
company, and did not look at all so very small.

Yesterday was again a very bad day. I have felt weak and very nervous,
and so low at times; I think _so_ much of dearest mamma, and miss her
love and interest and solicitude _dreadfully_; I feel as if we were no
longer cared for, and miss writing to her and telling her everything,
dreadfully. At the Review they played one of her marches, which
entirely upset me.

Good Lord Carlisle[32] is most kind and amiable, and so much beloved.
We start for Killarney at half-past twelve. This is the _dearest of
days_, and one which fills my heart with love, gratitude, and emotion.
God bless and protect for ever my beloved Albert--the purest and best
of human beings! We miss our four little ones and baby sadly, but have
our four eldest (except poor Vicky) with us.

Now good-bye, dearest Uncle. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 32: Lord Carlisle was Viceroy in both the
    administrations of Lord Palmerston; as Lord Morpeth he had
    been Chief Secretary in the Melbourne Government.]




_Queen Victoria to Earl Canning._

BALMORAL, _9th September 1861_.

The Queen has not heard of Lord Canning for some time, but is happy to
hear indirectly that he is well, and that everything is going on well
under his admirable administration.

It is most gratifying to the Queen to see how peaceful her Indian
Dominions are, and considering the very alarming state of affairs
during the years 1857, '58, and even '59, it must be a source of
unbounded satisfaction and pride to Lord Canning to witness this state
of prosperity at the end of his Government.

As Lord Canning will now soon return to England, the Queen is anxious
to offer him the Rangership of the Park at Blackheath, with the house
which dear Lord Aberdeen had for some years, hoping that he might find
it acceptable and agreeable from its vicinity to London.[33]

    [Footnote 33: Lord Aberdeen had died on the 14th of December
    1860.]




[Pageheading: THE ORLEANS PRINCES]


_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _17th October 1861_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--Receive my sincerest thanks for your dear letter
of the 14th, which arrived very exactly. I am so happy to see all the
good which your stay in the Highlands has done you, and I am sure it
will be _lasting_, though Windsor must have the effect of reviving
strongly some feelings.... When one looks back on those times, one
must say that they were full of difficulties, and one ought to feel
very grateful that such a happy present has grown out of them. I
regret much Paris and Robert[34] having joined the Federal Army,
mixing in a civil war!! The object is to show courage, to be able to
say: "_Ils se sont beaucoup distingués_." They have a chance of being
shot for Abraham Lincoln and the most rank Radicalism. I don't think
that step will please in France, where Radicalism is at discount
fortunately. The poor Queen is very unhappy about it, but now nothing
can be done, only one may wish to see them well out of it. Poor Queen!
constantly new events painful to her assail her. I had rather a kind
letter from the Emperor Napoleon about the state of Mexico. I fear he
will find his wishes to see there a stable Government not much liked
in England, though his plans are _not_ for any advantage France is to
derive from it. To-morrow we go to Liège to be in readiness for the
following day. The King William III.[35] will arrive for dinner, stay
the night, and go very early on Sunday. He will be extremely well
received here, his _procédé_ being duly appreciated. To be very
civilly received in a country which one was heir to, is rather _un
peu pénible_, and one feels a little awkward.... Your devoted and only
Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

    [Footnote 34: The Comte de Paris and the Duc de Chartres, sons
    of the Duc d'Orléans, eldest son of King Louis Philippe.]

    [Footnote 35: The King of Holland.]




[Pageheading: THE COURT OF HANOVER]


_The Duchess of Manchester[36] to Queen Victoria._

HANOVER [_Undated. October 1861_].

MADAM,--Though your Majesty has only very lately seen the Princess
Royal, I cannot refrain from addressing your Majesty, as I am sure
your Majesty will be pleased to hear how well Her Royal Highness was
looking during the Man[oe]uvres on the Rhine, and how much she seems
to be beloved, not only by all those who know her, but also by those
who have only seen and heard of her. The English could not help
feeling proud of the way the Princess Royal was spoken of, and the
high esteem she is held in. For one so young it is a most flattering
position, and certainly as the Princess's charm of manner and her kind
unaffected words had in that short time won her the hearts of all the
officers and strangers present, one was not astonished at the praise
the Prussians themselves bestow on Her Royal Highness. The Royal
Family is so large, and their opinions politically and socially
sometimes so different, that it must have been very difficult indeed
at first for the Princess Royal, and people therefore cannot praise
enough the high principles, great discretion, sound judgment, and
cleverness Her Royal Highness has invariably displayed.

Your Majesty would have been amused to hear General Wrangel[37] tell
at the top of his voice how delighted the soldiers were to see the
Princess on horseback, and the interest she showed for them. What
pleased them specially was to see Her Royal Highness ride without a
veil--such an odd thing in soldiers to remark. The King of Prussia
is looking very well, but the Queen I thought very much altered. Her
Majesty looks very pale and tired, and has such a painful drawn look
about the mouth. How the Queen will be able to go through all the
fatigues of the Coronation I do not know, as Her Majesty already
complained of being tired, and knocked up by the man[oe]vres and
dinners, and had to go to Mentz for a few days to rest herself.
Their Majesties' kindness was very great, and the Duke told me of the
extreme hospitality with which they were entertained. Every one,
high and low, were rivalling each other in civility and friendliness
towards the strangers, especially the English, and one really felt
quite ashamed of those wanton attacks the _Times_ always makes on
Prussia, and which are read and copied into all the Prussian papers.
The last night all the officers dined together. General Forey put
himself into the President's place and insisted, to the exclusion of
Lord Clyde, who was by far the senior officer, and who was expected
to do it, on proposing the health of the King, the Royal Family, the
Army, and Nation. Not content with doing it in French, he drew out of
his pocket a document written for him in German, for he did not know
the language, and read it with the most extraordinary pronunciation.
The English officers all admired the way the Germans kept their
countenance notwithstanding the absurdity of the exhibition.

On the 21st they have had great doings here at Hanover. I hear that to
the astonishment of everybody the Queen appeared at the _Enthüllung_,
where all other people were _en grande tenue_, in a little small round
hat with a lilac feather. Her Maids of Honour--she has only one now
besides that English Miss Stewart--were ordered to wear hats to keep
Her Majesty in countenance. I wonder if your Majesty has read the
speech the King has addressed to his people on the occasion of the
_Enthüllung_ and the Crown Prince's birthday. It cannot fail to excite
the greatest pity that such things, however well meant, should be
written. Has your Majesty also heard of the pamphlet that has been
published here called _Das Welfe_--that name Welfe is quite an _idée
fixe_ of the King now, and he brings it in on every occasion, and
this pamphlet is written throwing the whole idea into ridicule, and
beginning with the last years of the late King's reign. The Crown
Prince[38] is very much liked, but, unfortunately, his new tutor will
probably also leave very shortly--he has no authority over him, the
Prince still regretting M. de Issendorf. Besides, he is not allowed
to exercise his judgment in the smallest way--the King going on the
principle that a King only can educate a King. The reason the
other tutor left, or was dismissed, was partly on account of his
remonstrating against the religious instructions, which were carried
so far that the Prince had hardly any time left to learn other
things. Besides the Prince, who dislikes the clergyman, had drawn a
caricature, to which the man very much gives himself, and the King
thought M. de Issendorf had known of it, which turned out not to be
the case.... I have the honour to remain, your Majesty's most obedient
and devoted Servant and Subject,

LOUISE MANCHESTER.

    [Footnote 36: Louise Frederica Augusta, wife of the seventh
    Duke of Manchester, and Mistress of the Robes. She was
    daughter of the Count von Alten of Hanover, and is now Dowager
    Duchess of Devonshire.]

    [Footnote 37: The Queen had met General von Wrangel at
    Babelsberg in August 1858. "He is seventy-six," she wrote,
    "and a great character." He had commanded a division in the
    Danish war of 1848, and it had fallen to him in the same year,
    as Commandant of the troops, to dissolve the Berlin Assembly
    by force.]

    [Footnote 38: Prince Ernest Augustus, born 1845; the present
    Duke of Cumberland.]




[Pageheading: CORONATION OF KING OF PRUSSIA]

[Pageheading: A BRILLIANT CEREMONY]

[Pageheading: DISTINGUISHED GUESTS]


_The Crown Princess of Prussia to Queen Victoria._

KÖNISBERG, _19th October 1861_.

MY BELOVED MAMMA,--Last night I could not write to you as I would have
wished, because I felt so knocked up that I went to bed. I have got
such a very bad cold on my chest, with a cough that leaves me no rest,
and of course cannot take care of myself, and am obliged to stand and
sit in every sort of draught with a low gown and without a cloak, so
it is no wonder to have caught cold. I have not had a cough since
I don't know when. I should like to be able to describe yesterday's
ceremony to you, but I cannot find words to tell you how fine and how
touching it was; it really was a magnificent sight! The King looked so
very handsome and so noble with the crown on; it seemed to suit him so
exactly. The Queen, too, looked beautiful, and did all she had to do
with perfect grace, and looked so _vornehm_; I assure you the whole
must have made a great impression on everybody present, and all those
to whom I have talked on the subject quite share my feeling. The
moment when the King put the crown on the Queen's head was very
touching, I think there was hardly a dry eye in the church. The
_Schlosshof_ was the finest, I thought--five bands playing "God save
the Queen," banners waving in all directions, cheers so loud that they
quite drowned the sound of the music, and the procession moving slowly
on, the sky without a cloud; and all the uniforms, and the ladies'
diamonds glittering in the bright sunlight. I shall never forget it
all, it was so very fine! Dearest Fritz's birthday being chosen for
the day made me very happy; he was in a great state of emotion and
excitement, as you can imagine, as we all were. Mr Thomas[39] was in
the chapel. I hope he will have been able to take down some useful
memoranda. The Grand Duke of Weimar,[40] the King and ourselves, have
ordered drawings of him.

The _coup d'[oe]il_ was really beautiful; the chapel is in itself
lovely, with a great deal of gold about it, and all hung with red
velvet and gold--the carpet, altar, thrones and canopies the same. The
Knights of the Black Eagle with red velvet cloaks, the Queen's four
young ladies all alike in white and gold, the two Palastdamen in
crimson velvet and gold, and the Oberhofmeisterin in gold and white
brocade with green velvet, Marianne and Addy in red and gold and red
and silver; I, in gold with ermine and white satin, my ladies, one
in blue velvet, the other in red velvet, and Countess Schulenberg,
together with the two other Oberhofmeisterin of the other Princesses,
in violet velvet and gold. All these colours together looked very
beautiful, and the sun shone, or rather poured in at the high windows,
and gave quite magic tinges.

The music was very fine, the chorales were sung so loud and strong
that it really quite moved one. The King was immensely cheered,
wherever he appeared--also the Queen, and even I.

There were illuminations last night, but I did not go to see them,
as I was too tired and felt so unwell. There are five degrees of cold
(Réaumur), and one is exposed to draughts every minute.

Sixteen hundred people dined in the Schloss last night! The King and
Queen were most kind to me yesterday; the King gave me a charming
little locket for his hair, and only think--what will sound most
extraordinary, absurd, and incredible to your ears--made me Second
_Chef_ of the 2nd Regiment of Hussars! I laughed so much, because
really I thought it was a joke--it seemed so strange for ladies; but
the Regiments like particularly having ladies for their _Chefs!_ The
Queen and the Queen Dowager have Regiments, but I believe I am the
first Princess on whom such an honour is conferred.

The Archduke addressed the King yesterday, in the name of all the
foreign Princes present, in a very pretty speech.

It is such a pleasure to see good Philip here, and the two Portuguese
cousins. Juan[41] is very nice, but he does not talk much; he has a
very fine, tall figure, and is nice-looking. I should think he must
be like his father. Prince Hohenzollern [42] is become Royal Highness,
and the title is to descend to his eldest son. Half Europe is here,
and one sees the funniest combinations in the world. It is like
a happy family shut up in a cage! The Italian Ambassador sat near
Cardinal Geisel, and the French one opposite the Archduke. The
Grand Duke Nicolas is here--he is so nice--also the Crown Prince
of Würtemberg,[43] Crown Prince of Saxony,[44] Prince Luitpold of
Bavaria,[45] Prince Charles of Hesse[46] (who nearly dies of fright
and shyness amongst so many people), and Heinrich; Prince Elimar of
Oldenburg,[47] Prince Frederic of the Netherlands,[48] and the
Grand Duke and Duchess of Weimar, who wish to be most particularly
remembered to you and Papa.

The King and Queen are most kind to Lord Clarendon, and make a marked
difference between their marked cordiality to him and the stiff
etiquette with which the other Ambassadors are received.

I think he is pleased with what he sees. The King has given the Queen
the Order of the Black Eagle in diamonds. I write all these details,
as you wish them, at the risk of their not interesting you, besides
my being, as you know, a very bad hand at descriptions. I shall make a
point of your having newspapers.

I am unable to appear at the _cour_ this morning, as my cough is too
violent: I hope to be able to be at the concert this evening, but I
own it seems very doubtful. The state dinner looked very well; we were
waited on by our _Kammerherren_ and pages--the King being waited on
by the _Oberhofchargen_--and our ladies stood behind our chairs. After
the first two dishes are round, the King asks to drink, and that is
the signal for the ladies and gentlemen to leave the room and go to
dinner, while the Pages of Honour continue to serve the whole dinner
really wonderfully well, poor boys, considering it is no easy task.

To-morrow we leave Königsberg for Dantzic--we have not had one day's
bad weather here, nothing but sunshine and a bright blue sky. I was so
glad that Heaven smiled upon us yesterday, it would have been so sad
if it had poured; it looked a little threatening early in the morning
and a few drops fell, but it cleared completely before nine o'clock.

Fritz would thank you for your dear letters himself, but he is at the
University, where they have elected him _Rector Magnificus_, and where
he has to make a speech. We have all got our servants and carriages
and horses here _every_ day--300 footmen in livery, together with
other servants in livery, make 400. All the standards and colours of
the whole Army are here, and all the Colonels. Altogether, you cannot
imagine what a crush and what a scramble there is on every occasion;
there was a man crushed to death in the crowd the other day, which
is quite dreadful. I must say good-bye now, and send this scrawl by
a messenger, whom Lord Clarendon means to expedite. Ever your most
dutiful and affectionate Daughter,

VICTORIA.

    [Footnote 39: George Housman Thomas, artist (1824-1868). The
    picture he produced on this occasion was entitled, _Homage of
    the Princess Royal at the Coronation of the King of Prussia_.]

    [Footnote 40: Charles Alexander, 1818-1901, grandfather of the
    present Grand Duke.]

    [Footnote 41: Prince John, brother of King Pedro, was making a
    tour with his elder brother, Louis, the Duc d'Oporto.]

    [Footnote 42: Prince Charles Anthony of Hohenzollern was the
    father of the young Queen Stéphanie of Portugal, who had died
    in 1859.]

    [Footnote 43: Prince Charles Frederick, 1823-1891.]

    [Footnote 44: Prince Albert, who became King in 1873.]

    [Footnote 45: Brother of King Maximilian II.]

    [Footnote 46: Son of the Elector Frederick William I.]

    [Footnote 47: Brother of the reigning Grand Duke.]

    [Footnote 48: Uncle of the King of Holland.]




[Pageheading: THE PRINCESS ROYAL]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

KÖNIGSBERG, _19th October 1861_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
hopes that your Majesty will not be displeased at his not having
written sooner, but every moment has been occupied by _fêtes_ and
ceremonies here, and the visits to Royal Personages, who are in great
numbers, and Lord Clarendon also wished to delay sending off the
messenger until the Coronation was over.

That most interesting and imposing ceremony took place yesterday, and
with the most complete and unalloyed success; everything was conducted
with the most perfect order; the service not too long, the vocal music
enchanting, but _the_ great feature of the ceremony was the manner in
which the Princess Royal did homage to the King. Lord Clarendon is at
a loss for words to describe to your Majesty the exquisite grace and
the intense emotion with which Her Royal Highness gave effect to her
feelings on the occasion. Many an older as well as younger man than
Lord Clarendon, who had not his interest in the Princess Royal, were
quite as unable as himself to repress their emotion at that which was
so touching, because so unaffected and sincere....

If His Majesty had the mind, the judgment, and the foresight of the
Princess Royal, there would be nothing to fear, and the example
and influence of Prussia would soon be marvellously developed. Lord
Clarendon has had the honour to hold a very long conversation with
Her Royal Highness, and has been more than ever astonished at the
_statesmanlike_ and comprehensive views which she takes of the policy
of Prussia, both internal and foreign, and of the _duties_ of a
Constitutional King.

Lord Clarendon is not at all astonished, but very much pleased, to
find how appreciated and beloved Her Royal Highness is by all classes.
Every member of the Royal Family has spoken of her to Lord Clarendon
in terms of admiration, and through various channels he has had
opportunities of learning how strong the feeling of educated and
enlightened people is towards Her Royal Highness. All persons say
most truly that any one who saw Her Royal Highness yesterday can never
forget her.

Lord Clarendon is sorry to say that the Princess Royal has a feverish
cold to-day--nothing at all serious--and as Her Royal Highness stayed
in bed this afternoon, did not attend the great concert at the Palace
this evening, and, as Lord Clarendon hopes, will not go to Dantzic
to-morrow, Her Royal Highness will probably be quite fit for the many
fatiguing duties she will have to perform next week....




[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S AIMS]

[Pageheading: AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

BERLIN, _20th October 1861_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that yesterday he had the honour of being sent for by the
Queen, with whom he had a long and interesting conversation....

The Queen expressed her deep regret at the tone of the English
newspapers, but admitted that the German Press repaid the English
insults with large interest. Her Majesty said, however, that she
and the King, and all sensible men with whom their Majesties hold
communication, were determined to disregard the attacks, and by every
possible means to draw nearer to England.

Lord Clarendon took the opportunity of warning the Queen respecting
the Emperor and his _idée fixe_, that his dynasty could only be
secured by the territorial aggrandisement of France. Lord Clarendon
expressed his conviction that if the King had resembled M. de Cavour,
some strong proposals would already have been made to them, but that
the Emperor's plans had been foiled by the honourable character of the
King. There ought, nevertheless, to be no delusion here, but on the
contrary, a careful avoidance of the traps which cajolery and flattery
were setting for Prussia, because at any moment the Emperor might
think it necessary for his own purposes in France to seize upon the
left bank of the Rhine, and that all classes in France, no matter
to what party belonging, would be delighted at his so doing, and his
popularity and power in France would be enormously increased by it.
The Queen agreed, but was under the notion, which Lord Clarendon
was able effectually to dispel, that the dilapidated state of French
finances would prevent the Emperor from undertaking a war upon a large
scale.

Lord Clarendon thinks that he strengthened the Queen's opinion
respecting "eventualities" and the necessity of making preparations
and evoking a national spirit against foreign aggression, such as that
recently manifested in England, and which had done so much in favour
of peace as far as we ourselves were concerned. Her Majesty, however,
said that Prussian policy towards Germany opened so large a chapter
that she wished to reserve the discussion of it for our next
conversation.

Lord Clarendon fears that Count Bernstorff is disposed to think that
Austria's difficulty is Prussia's opportunity, and to be exigent as
to the concessions upon which a better understanding between the two
countries must be based. Lord Clarendon was confidentially informed
yesterday that a Cabinet had just been held for the first time since
Count Bernstorff became a member of it, and that with respect to
internal affairs he had greatly alarmed and annoyed some of his
colleagues by his retrograde opinions. Lord Clarendon had the honour
of dining with the Crown Prince and Princess last night. The dinner
was perfect, and everything conducted in the most admirable manner;
there was afterwards a ball at "The Queen's" which was really a
splendid fête. The festivities and the visitings are so uninterrupted
that everybody is unwell and tired. The Duc de Magenta's grand fête
takes place on the 29th. The Austrian Minister gives a ball to-morrow
(_Sunday_), which day has unfortunately been fixed by the King, to the
annoyance of all the English; but Lord Clarendon has determined that
the Embassy shall attend, otherwise the King might consider that we
wished to give him a public lesson upon the observance of the Sabbath.
Lord Clarendon trusts that your Majesty will approve the decision.
Lord Granville's visit appears to be highly appreciated by the Court.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BALMORAL, _21st October 1861_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--You will excuse a long letter as this is our last
day, alas! Many, many thanks for your dear letters of the 17th and
18th, which I received yesterday. I am glad to see that my account of
our mountain expedition amused you, and that you remember all so well.
If it could amuse you later, I would send you my _Reisebeschreibung_
to read. I will have it copied and send it you later. We have had a
most beautiful week, which we have thoroughly enjoyed--I going out
every day about twelve or half-past, taking luncheon with us, carried
in a basket on the back of a Highlander, and served by an _invaluable_
Highland servant I have, who is _my factotum here_, and takes the most
wonderful care of me, combining the offices of groom, footman, page,
and _maid_, I might almost say, as he is so handy about cloaks and
shawls, etc. He always leads my pony, and always attends me out of
doors, and _such_ a good, handy, _faithful_, attached servant I have
nowhere; it is quite a sorrow for me to leave him behind. Now, with
Albert's affectionate love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: THE _TIMES_ AND PRUSSIA]


_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _25th October 1861_.

The Queen has long seen with deep regret the persevering efforts
made by the _Times_, which leads the rest of our Press, in attacking,
vilifying, and abusing everything German, and particularly everything
Prussian. That journal had since years shown the same bias, but it is
since the Macdonald affair of last year,[49] that it has assumed
that tone of virulence, which could not fail to produce the deepest
indignation amongst the people of Germany, and by degrees estrange the
feelings of the people of this country from Germany. Lord Palmerston,
probably not reading any German newspaper, nor having any personal
intercourse with that country, can hardly be aware to what extent the
mischief has already gone, though he will agree with the Queen that
national hatred between these two peoples is a real political calamity
for both. The Queen had often intended to write to Lord Palmerston
on the subject, and to ask him whether he would not be acting in the
spirit of public duty if he endeavoured, as far at least as might
be in his power, to point out to the managers of the _Times_ (which
derives some of its power from the belief abroad that it represents
more or less the feelings of the Government) how great the injury is
which it inflicts upon the best interests of this country. She has,
however, refrained from doing so, trusting in the chance of a change
in tone, and feeling that Lord Palmerston might not like to enter into
discussion with the Editors of the _Times_....

The Queen believes that Lord Palmerston is the only person who could
exercise any influence over Mr Delane, and even if this should not
be much, it will be important that that gentleman should know the
mischief his writings are doing, and that the Government sincerely
deplore it.

    [Footnote 49: At Bonn, in September 1860, Captain Macdonald, a
    railway passenger, had been ejected from his seat in the
    train by the railway authorities, and committed to prison.
    The incident became the subject of considerable diplomatic
    correspondence, as well as of some fierce attacks on Prussia
    in the _Times_.]




[Pageheading: THE ENGLISH PRESS]


_Mr Delane to Viscount Palmerston._[50]

16 SERJEANT'S INN, _28th October 1861_.

MY DEAR LORD,--I shall be very glad to give the Prussians a respite
from that most cruel of all inflictions--good advice.

Indeed, I would not have intruded anything so unwelcome during the
splendid solemnities of the Coronation had not the King uttered those
surprising anachronisms upon Divine Right.

Pray observe, too, in extenuation of my offence that I sent a faithful
chronicler to Königsberg, who has described all the splendours in a
proper and reverent spirit, and done what man can do to render such
ceremonies intelligible, and the recital of them not too wearisome to
those who believe in Divine Right as little as your Lordship's very
faithful Servant,

JOHN T. DELANE.

    [Footnote 50: Enclosed in the following letter.]




[Pageheading: THE _TIMES_]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th October 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that when he received a few days ago from Lord Russell the
Memorandum which your Majesty intended for him, and which he returned
to Lord Russell, he wrote to Mr Delane in accordance with your
Majesty's wishes, and he has this morning received the accompanying
answer.

Viscount Palmerston would, however, beg to submit that an erroneous
notion prevails on the Continent as to English newspapers.

The newspapers on the Continent are all more or less under a certain
degree of control, and the most prominent among them are the organs of
political parties, or of leading public men; and it is not unnatural
that Governments and Parties on the Continent should think that
English newspapers are published under similar conditions.

But in this country all thriving newspapers are commercial
undertakings, and are conducted on commercial principles, and none
others are able long to maintain an existence. Attempts have often
been made to establish newspapers to be directed by political men,
and to be guided by the same considerations by which those men would
govern their own conduct, but such papers have seldom succeeded.
The Peelite Party tried some years ago such an experiment with the
_Morning Chronicle_, but after spending a very large sum of money
on the undertaking they were obliged to give it up. The _Times_ is
carried on as a large commercial enterprise, though, of course, with
certain political tendencies and bias, but mainly with a view to
profit upon the large capital employed.

The actual price at which each copy of the newspaper is sold barely
pays the expense of paper, printing, and establishment; it is indeed
said that the price does not repay those expenses. The profit of
the newspaper arises from the price paid for advertisements, and
the greater the number of advertisements the greater the profit. But
advertisements are sent by preference to the newspaper which has the
greatest circulation; and that paper gets the widest circulation which
is the most amusing, the most interesting, and the most instructive.
A dull paper is soon left off. The proprietors and managers of the
_Times_ therefore go to great expense in sending correspondents to all
parts of the world where interesting events are taking place, and they
employ a great many able and clever men to write articles upon all
subjects which from time to time engage public attention; and as
mankind take more pleasure in reading criticism and fault-finding than
praise, because it is soothing to individual vanity and conceit to
fancy that the reader has become wiser than those about whom he reads,
so the _Times_, in order to maintain its circulation, criticises
freely everybody and everything; and especially events and persons,
and Governments abroad, because such strictures are less likely to
make enemies at home than violent attacks upon parties and persons in
this country. Foreign Governments and Parties ought therefore to look
upon English newspapers in the true point of view, and not to be too
sensitive as to attacks which those papers may contain.




[Pageheading: DEMOCRACY IN PRUSSIA]


_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

BERLIN, _5th November 1861_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that as he leaves Berlin to-morrow, the Princess Royal has
most kindly just given him an Audience of leave, although Her Royal
Highness was still suffering considerable pain in her ear, and was
quite unfit for any exertion. Her Royal Highness's countenance bears
traces of the severe illness of the last few days, but Lord Clarendon
trusts that the worst is now over, and that care alone is necessary
for her complete recovery. Her Royal Highness is still so weak that
she was obliged to desist from writing, which she attempted this
morning, and Lord Clarendon took the liberty of earnestly recommending
that the journey to Breslau, upon which Her Royal Highness appeared to
be bent, should be given up. Lord Clarendon intends to repeat the same
advice to the Queen, whom he is to see this evening, as there are to
be four days of rejoicings at Breslau, for the fatigue of which the
Crown Princess must be utterly unfit.

Her Royal Highness is much alarmed at the state of things here, and
Lord Clarendon thinks with great reason, for the King has quite made
up his mind as to the course that he will pursue. He sees democracy
and revolution in every symptom of opposition to his will. His
Ministers are mere clerks, who are quite content to register the
King's decrees, and there is no person from whom His Majesty seeks
advice, or indeed who is capable or would have the moral courage to
give it. The King will always religiously keep his word, and will
never overturn the institutions he has sworn to maintain, but they
are so distasteful to him, and so much at variance with his habit of
thought and settled opinions as to the rights of the Crown, that His
Majesty will never, if he can avoid it, accept the consequences
of representative Government, or allow it to be a reality. This is
generally known, and among the middle classes is producing an uneasy
and resentful feeling, but as far as Lord Clarendon is able to judge,
there is no fear of revolution--the Army is too strong, and the
recollection of 1848 is too fresh to allow of acts of violence.

Lord Clarendon had the honour of an Audience of the King on Sunday.
His Majesty was most friendly and kind, but evidently unwell and
irritable. Lord Clarendon therefore thought that it would be neither
prudent nor useful to say the many things that the Queen had wished
that the King should hear from Lord Clarendon. He touched upon the
subject of Constitutional Government, and His Majesty said: "I have
sworn to maintain our Institutions, and I declare to you, and I wish
you to inform your Government, that I will maintain them."

Lord Clarendon proposes to remain Friday at Brussels, and hopes to
have the honour of seeing the King.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF KING OF PORTUGAL]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th November 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I hardly know _how_ to _write_, for my head reels
and swims, and my heart is very sore![51] _What_ an awful misfortune
this is! How the hand of death seems bent on pursuing that poor,
dear family! once so prosperous. Poor Ferdinand so proud of his
children--of his five sons--now the eldest and _most_ distinguished,
the head of the family, _gone_, and also another of fifteen, and the
youngest _still_ ill! The two others at sea, and will land to-morrow
in utter ignorance of everything, and poor, dear, good Louis (whom I
thought dreadfully low when we saw him and Jean for an hour on Friday)
King! It is an almost incredible event! a terrible calamity for
Portugal, and a _real_ European loss! Dear Pedro was so good, so
clever, so distinguished! He was so attached to my beloved Albert, and
the characters and tastes suited so well, and he had such confidence
in Albert! _All, all gone!_ _He_ is happy now, united again to dear
Stéphanie,[52] whose loss he never recovered.... Ever your devoted
Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 51: King Pedro of Portugal died of typhoid fever on
    the 11th of November; his brother Ferdinand had died on the
    6th; and Prince John, Duke of Beja, succumbed in the following
    December.]

    [Footnote 52: The young Queen Stéphanie of Portugal had died
    in 1859.]




[Pageheading: THE AFFAIR OF THE _TRENT_]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _13th November 1861_.

... Viscount Palmerston met yesterday at dinner at Baron Brunnow's
the Grand Duke Constantine and the Grand Duchess, and they were
overflowing with thankfulness for the kind and gracious reception they
had met with at Windsor Castle.

There was reason to suspect that an American federal steamer of war of
eight guns, which had lately arrived at Falmouth, and from thence at
Southampton, was intended to intercept the Mail Packet coming home
with the West Indian Mail, in order to take out of her Messrs Mason
and Slidell, the two Envoys from the Southern Confederacy, supposed to
be coming in her.[53]

Viscount Palmerston had on Monday a meeting at the Treasury of the
Chancellor, Doctor Lushington, the three Law Officers,[54] the Duke
of Somerset, Sir George Grey, and Mr Hammond.[55] The result of their
deliberation was that, according to the Law of Nations, as laid down
by Lord Stowell, and practised and enforced by England in the war
with France, the Northern Union being a belligerent is entitled by its
ships of war to stop and search any neutral Merchantmen, and the West
India Packet is such; to search her if there is reasonable suspicion
that she is carrying enemy's despatches, and if such are found on
board to take her to a port of the belligerent, and there to proceed
against her for condemnation. Such being ruled to be the law, the only
thing that could be done was to order the _Phaeton_ frigate to drop
down to Yarmouth Roads from Portsmouth, and to watch the American
steamer, and to see that she did not exercise this belligerent right
within the three-mile limit of British jurisdiction, and this was
done. But Viscount Palmerston sent yesterday for Mr Adams to ask him
about this matter, and to represent to him how unwise it would be to
create irritation in this country merely for the sake of preventing
the landing of Mr Slidell, whose presence here would have no more
effect on the policy of your Majesty with regard to America than the
presence of the three other Southern Deputies who have been here for
many months. Mr Adams assured Viscount Palmerston that the American
steamer had orders not to meddle with any vessel under any foreign
flag; that it came to intercept the _Nashville_, the Confederate ship
in which it was thought the Southern Envoys might be coming; and not
having met with her was going back to the American coast to watch some
Merchantmen supposed to be taking arms to the Southern ports.

Viscount Palmerston heard from a source likely to be well informed
that at the interview between the Emperor and the King of Prussia
at Compiègne, the Emperor, among other things, said to the King that
there were three systems of alliance between which France and Prussia
might choose: an alliance of France with England, an alliance of
Prussia with England, an alliance of France with Prussia. The first
the Emperor said now to a certain degree exists, but is precarious and
not likely to last long, because England is too exacting; the second
would not be useful to Prussia, but might be dangerous, inasmuch as it
would look like hostility to France, and England would not be likely
to back Prussia effectually if a rupture took place between Prussia
and France. The last was the system best for Prussia, and was
calculated to promote her interests; at all events, the Emperor hoped
that if at any time there should be a rupture between France and
England, Prussia would remain neutral. The King of Prussia said he was
not come to discuss matters of that kind with the Emperor, but only
to pay him a visit of compliment. Your Majesty will be able to compare
this statement with the accounts your Majesty may have received of
what passed at that visit....

The Chancellor[56] told the Cabinet as he was going away that he would
soon have to shut up the Court of Chancery in consequence of having
disposed of all the suits before it; and that in future the progress
of a Chancery suit will be the emblem of rapidity, and not as formerly
synonymous with endless delay.

    [Footnote 53: See _ante_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXX.]

    [Footnote 54: Sir William Atherton, Attorney-General, Sir
    Roundell Palmer, Solicitor-General, and Dr Phillimore, Counsel
    to the Admiralty.]

    [Footnote 55: Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign
    Affairs, afterwards Lord Hammond.]

    [Footnote 56: Lord Westbury.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _26th November 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--... Albert is a little rheumatic, which is a
plague--but it is very difficult not to have something or other of
this kind in this season, with these rapid changes of temperature;
_unberufen, unberufen_, he is much better this winter than he was the
preceding years.[57] ...

    [Footnote 57: The Prince had been unwell, even before the
    receipt of the distressing news from Portugal, and began to
    suffer from a somewhat continuous insomnia. On the 22nd of
    November, he drove to Sandhurst to inspect the new buildings
    in progress there. The day was very wet, and, though he
    returned in the middle of the day to Windsor, the exertion
    proved too severe for him; on the 24th he complained of
    rheumatic pains, and of prolonged sleeplessness.]




[Pageheading: REDRESS DEMANDED]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _29th November 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
to state that the Cabinet at its meeting this afternoon resumed the
consideration of the forcible capture of the Southern Envoys from on
board the _Trent_ steamer upon which the law officers had yesterday
given the opinion contained in the accompanying report. The law
officers and Doctor Phillimore, Counsel to the Admiralty, were in
attendance. The result was that it appeared to the Cabinet that a
gross outrage and violation of international law has been committed,
and that your Majesty should be advised to demand reparation and
redress. The Cabinet is to meet again to-morrow at two, by which time
Lord Russell will have prepared an instruction to Lord Lyons for the
consideration of the Cabinet, and for submission afterwards to your
Majesty. The general outline and tenor which appeared to meet the
opinions of the Cabinet would be, that the Washington Government
should be told that what has been done is a violation of international
law, and of the rights of Great Britain, and that your Majesty's
Government trust that the act will be disavowed and the prisoners set
free and restored to British Protection; and that Lord Lyons should
be instructed that if this demand is refused he should retire from the
United States.

It is stated by Mrs and Miss Slidell, who are now in London, that the
Northern officer who came on board the _Trent_ said that they
were acting on their own responsibility without instructions from
Washington; that very possibly their act might be disavowed and the
prisoners set free on their arrival at Washington. But it was known
that the _San Jacinto_, though come from the African station, had
arrived from thence several weeks before, and had been at St Thomas,
and had there received communications from New York; and it is also
said that General Scott, who has recently arrived in France, has
said to Americans in Paris that he has come not on an excursion of
pleasure, but on diplomatic business; that the seizure of these envoys
was discussed in Cabinet at Washington, he being present, and was
deliberately determined upon and ordered; that the Washington Cabinet
fully foresaw it might lead to war with England; and that he was
commissioned to propose to France in that case to join the Northern
States in war against England, and to offer France in that case the
restoration of the French Province of Canada.

General Scott will probably find himself much mistaken as to the
success of his overtures; for the French Government is more disposed
towards the South than the North, and is probably thinking more about
Cotton than about Canada....




[Pageheading: AN ULTIMATUM]


_Earl Russell to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _29th November 1861_.

Lord Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty; Mr Gladstone
has undertaken to explain to your Majesty what has taken place at the
Cabinet to-day.

Lord Russell proposes to frame a draft for to-morrow's Cabinet of a
despatch to Lord Lyons, directing him to ask for the release of Messrs
Mason and Slidell and their two companions, and an apology. In case
these requirements should be refused, Lord Lyons should ask for his
passports.

The Lord Chancellor and the law officers of the Crown are clear upon
the law of the case.

Lord Russell will be glad to have your Majesty's opinion on the draft
which will go to your Majesty about four o'clock to-morrow, without
loss of time, as the packet goes to-morrow evening.[58]

    [Footnote 58: The draft of the despatch to Lord Lyons reached
    Windsor on the evening of the 30th, and, in spite of his weak
    and suffering state, the Prince prepared the draft of the
    Queen's letter early the following morning. The letter has
    been printed in _facsimile_ by Sir Theodore Martin, who
    adds that it has a special value as "representing the last
    political Memorandum written by the Prince, while it was at
    the same time inferior to none of them, as will presently be
    seen, in the importance of its results. It shows, like most of
    his Memorandums, by the corrections in the Queen's hand, how
    the minds of both were continually brought to bear upon the
    subjects with which they dealt."]




[Pageheading: THE PRINCE'S LAST LETTER]


_Queen Victoria to Earl Russell._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _1st December 1861_.

_Note in the Queen's handwriting._

[This draft was the last the beloved Prince ever wrote; he was very
unwell at the time, and when he brought it in to the Queen, he said:
"I could hardly hold my pen."

VICTORIA R.]

The Queen returns these important drafts, which upon the whole she
approves, but she cannot help feeling that the main draft, that for
communication to the American Government, is somewhat meagre. She
should have liked to have seen the expression of a hope that the
American captain did not act under instructions, or, if he did, that
he misapprehended them--that the United States Government must be
fully aware that the British Government could not allow its flag to be
insulted, and the security of her mail communications to be placed to
jeopardy, and Her Majesty's Government are unwilling to believe that
the United States Government intended wantonly to put an insult upon
this country, and to add to their many distressing complications by
forcing a question of dispute upon us, and that we are therefore glad
to believe that upon a full consideration of the circumstances, and
of the undoubted breach of international law committed, they would
spontaneously offer such redress as alone could satisfy this country,
viz. the restoration of the unfortunate passengers and a suitable
apology.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _4th December 1861_.

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I have many excuses to make for not writing
yesterday, but I had a good deal to do, as my poor dear Albert's
rheumatism has turned out to be a regular influenza, which has pulled
and lowered him very much. Since Monday he has been confined to his
room. It affects his appetite and sleep, which is very disagreeable,
and you know he is always _so_ depressed when anything is the matter
with him. However, he is decidedly better to-day, and I hope in two or
three days he will be quite himself again. It is extremely vexatious,
as he was so particularly well till he caught these colds, which came
upon worries of various kinds.... Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _6th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I am thankful to report decidedly better of my
beloved Albert. He has had much more sleep, and has taken much more
nourishment since yesterday evening. Altogether, this nasty, feverish
sort of influenza and deranged stomach is _on_ the mend, but it will
be slow and tedious, and though there has _not_ been one alarming
symptom, there has been such restlessness, such sleeplessness, and
such (till to-day) _total_ refusal of all food, that it made one
_very, very_ anxious, and I can't describe the _anxiety_ I have gone
through! I feel to-day a good deal shaken, for for four nights I got
only two or three hours' sleep. We have, however, every reason to hope
the recovery, though it may be _somewhat_ tedious, will not be _very_
slow. You shall hear again to-morrow. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.




[Pageheading: HOPE NOT ABANDONED]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I enclose you Clark's report, which I think you
may like to hear. Our beloved invalid goes on well--but it _must_ be
tedious, and I need not tell you _what_ a trial it is to me. Every
day, however, is bringing us nearer the end of this tiresome illness,
which is much what I had at Ramsgate, only that I was much worse, and
not at first well attended to. You shall hear daily.

You will, I know, feel for me! The night was excellent; the first good
one he had. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

The Americans _may_ possibly get out of it.




_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _11th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--_How I do feel for you from the bottom of my
heart_; that you should have this totally unexpected tribulation of
having dear Albert unwell, when not long ago we rejoiced that he was
bearing this time of the year so well. Now we must be very patient,
as an indisposition of this description at this time of the year is
generally mending slowly. The great object must be to arrange all the
little details exactly as the patient may wish them; that everything
of that description may move very smoothly is highly beneficial.
Patients are very different in their likings; to the great horror
of angelic Louise, the moment I am ill I become almost invisible,
disliking to see anybody. Other people are fond of company, and wish
to be surrounded. The medical advisors are, thank God! excellent, and
Clark knows Albert so well. Albert will wish you not to interrupt your
usual airings; you want air, and to be deprived of it would do you
harm. The temperature here at least has been extremely mild--this
ought to be favourable. I trust that every day will now show
some small improvement, and it will be very kind of you to let me
frequently know how dear Albert is going on. Believe me ever, my
beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th December 1861_.

DEAREST UNCLE,--I can report another good night, and _no_ loss of
strength, and continued satisfactory symptoms. But more we dare _not_
expect for some days; _not_ losing ground is a _gain, now_, of _every_
day.

It is very sad and trying for me, but I am well, and I think really
_very_ courageous; for it is the first time that _I_ ever witnessed
anything of this kind though _I_ suffered from the same at Ramsgate,
and was much worse. The trial in every way is so very trying, for I
have lost my guide, my support, my all, _for a time_--as we can't
ask or tell him anything. Many thanks for your kind letter received
yesterday. We have been and are reading Von Ense's book[59] to Albert;
but it is _not_ worth much. He likes very much being read to as
it soothes him. W. Scott is also read to him. You shall hear again
to-morrow, dearest Uncle, and, please God! each day will be more
cheering. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 59: The _Memoirs_ of Varnhagen von Ense (1785-1858),
    who served for some years in the Austrian and the Russian
    Armies, and was later in the Prussian Diplomatic Service.]




_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--I can again report favourably of our _most_
precious invalid. He maintains his ground well--had another very good
night--takes plenty of nourishment, and shows surprising strength.
I am constantly in and out of his room, but since the _first four
dreadful_ nights, _last_ week, _before_ they had declared it to be
_gastric fever_--I do not sit up with him at night as I could be of
no use; and there is nothing to cause alarm. I go out twice a day
for about an hour. It is a very trying time, for a fever with its
despondency, weakness, and occasional and _invariable_ wandering, is
most painful to witness--but we have _never_ had _one unfavourable_
symptom; to-morrow, reckoning from the 22nd, when dear Albert first
fell ill--after going on a wet day to look at some buildings--having
likewise been unusually depressed with worries of different kinds--is
the _end_ of the _third week_; we _may_ hope for improvement _after_
that, but the Doctors say they should _not_ be _at all disappointed
if_ this did _not_ take place till the _end_ of the _fourth week_. I
cannot sufficiently praise the skill, attention, and devotion of
Dr Jenner,[60] who is the _first fever_ Doctor in Europe, one may
say--and good old Clark is here every day; good Brown is also _most_
useful.... We have got Dr Watson[61] (who succeeded Dr Chambers[62])
and Sir H. Holland[63] has also been here. But I have kept clear of
these two. Albert sleeps a good deal in the day. He is moved every day
into the next room on a sofa which is made up as a bed. He has only
_kept_ his bed entirely since Monday. Many, many thanks for your dear,
kind letter of the 11th. I knew how _you_ would _feel_ for and think
of me. I am very wonderfully supported, and, excepting on three
occasions, have borne up very well. I am sure Clark will tell you so.
Ever your most devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 60: Dr (afterwards Sir) William Jenner, K.C.B.
    (1815-1898), was at this time Physician-Extraordinary to the
    Queen.]

    [Footnote 61: Afterwards Sir Thomas Watson (1792-1882),
    F.R.S.]

    [Footnote 62: Dr. William Frederick Chambers (1786-1855) was
    well known as a consulting physician.]

    [Footnote 63: Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873) was
    Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen and the Prince Consort.]




_General Grey to Sir Charles Wood._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _13th December 1861_.

MY DEAR WOOD,--The Queen desires me to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter, and to say that she quite approves of the purport of your
despatch to the Governor-General, understanding it to be, not that
there is to be any reduction of the Artillery force which it had been
determined to leave permanent in India as the proper establishment
for that country, but simply that some batteries which it had been
resolved to bring home, at all events, are to return somewhat sooner
than had been intended, etc., etc., etc.,

GREY.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF THE PRINCE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _20th December 1861_.

MY _OWN_ DEAREST, KINDEST _FATHER_,--For as such have I _ever_ loved
you! The poor fatherless baby of eight months is now the utterly
broken-hearted and crushed widow of forty-two! My _life_ as a _happy_
one is _ended!_ the world is gone for _me!_ If I _must live_ on (and I
will do nothing to make me worse than I am), it is henceforth for our
poor fatherless children--for my unhappy country, which has lost _all_
in losing him--and in _only_ doing what I know and _feel_ he would
wish, for he _is_ near me--his spirit will guide and inspire me! But
oh! to be cut off in the prime of life--to see our pure, happy, quiet,
domestic life, which _alone_ enabled me to bear my _much_ disliked
position, CUT OFF at forty-two--when I _had_ hoped with such
instinctive certainty that God never _would_ part us, and would let
us grow old together (though _he_ always talked of the shortness of
life)--is _too awful_, too cruel! And yet it _must_ be for _his_ good,
his happiness! His purity was too great, his aspiration _too high_ for
this poor, _miserable_ world! His great soul is _now only_ enjoying
_that_ for which it _was_ worthy! And I will _not_ envy him--only pray
that _mine_ may be perfected by it and fit to be with him eternally,
for which blessed moment I earnestly long. Dearest, dearest Uncle,
_how_ kind of you to come! It will be an unspeakable _comfort_, and
you _can do_ much to tell people to do what they ought to do. As for
my _own good, personal_ servants--poor Phipps in particular--nothing
can be more devoted, heartbroken as they are, and anxious only to live
as _he_ wished!

Good Alice has been and is wonderful.[64]

The 26th will suit me perfectly. Ever your devoted, wretched Child,

VICTORIA R.

    [Footnote 64: By a singular coincidence, the Princess was to
    pass away on the anniversary of the Prince's death. She died
    on the 14th of December 1878.]




[Pageheading: DEATH OF LADY CANNING]


_Sir Charles Wood to Queen Victoria._

_22nd December 1861._

Sir Charles Wood, with his humble duty, begs to enclose to your
Majesty two letters from India, one giving an account of Lord
Canning's investing the Indian Chiefs with the Star of India; and the
other an account of poor Lady Canning's illness and death, which, even
at this sad moment, may not be without interest for your Majesty.

Sir Charles Wood hopes that he may be forgiven if, when having to
address your Majesty, he ventures to lay before your Majesty the
expression of his heartfelt sympathy in the sorrow under which your
Majesty is now suffering, and his deep sense of the irreparable
calamity which has befallen your Majesty and the country.

Though it cannot be any consolation, it must be gratifying to your
Majesty to learn the deep and universal feeling of regret and sorrow
which prevails amongst all classes of your Majesty's subjects, and
in none so strongly as in those who have had the most opportunity of
appreciating the inestimable value of those services, of which by this
awful dispensation of Providence the country has been deprived.




[Pageheading: DEATH OF LADY CANNING]


_Earl Canning to Queen Victoria._

BARRACKPORE, _22nd November 1861_.[65]

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Your Majesty
will have heard by the last mail of the heavy blow which has fallen
upon Lord Canning. The kindness of your Majesty to Lady Canning has
been so invariable and so great that he feels it to be right that
your Majesty should receive a sure account of her last illness with as
little delay as possible.

The funeral is over. It took place quite privately at sunrise on the
19th. There is no burial-place for the Governor-General or his family,
and the cemeteries at Calcutta are odious in many ways: Lord Canning
has therefore set a portion of the garden at Barrackpore (fifteen
miles from Calcutta) apart for the purpose. It is a beautiful
spot--looking upon that reach of the grand river which she was so
fond of drawing--shaded from the glare of the sun by high trees--and
amongst the bright shrubs and flowers in which she had so much
pleasure.

Your Majesty will be glad, but not surprised, to know of the deep
respect which has been paid to her memory, not only by the familiar
members of the household and intimate friends, who refused to let any
hired hands perform the last offices, but by the Civil and Military
bodies, and by the community at large. The coffin was conveyed to
Barrackpore by the Artillery, and was borne through the Garden by
English soldiers.

Lord Canning feels sure that your Majesty will not consider these
details as an intrusion. He feels sure of your Majesty's kind
sympathy. She loved your Majesty dearly, and Lord Canning is certain
that he is doing what would have been her wish in thus venturing to
write to your Majesty. In the last connected conversation which he had
with her, just before the illness became really threatening, she said
that she must write again to the Queen, "for I don't want her to think
that it was out of laziness that I was not at Allahabad." The fact is,
that she had always intended to be present at the Investiture, and had
made all her arrangements to go from Darjeeling to Allahabad for the
purpose; but Lord Canning, hearing of the bad state of the roads,
owing to the heavy and unseasonable rains, and knowing how fatiguing
an additional journey of nearly 900 miles would be, had entreated her
to abandon the intention, and to stay longer in the Hills, and then go
straight to Calcutta. Whether all might have gone differently if the
first plan had been held to, God alone knows. His will has been done.

    [Footnote 65: Received on the 22nd of December, or
    thereabouts.]




[Pageheading: A NOBLE RESOLVE]


_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _24th December 1861_.

MY BELOVED UNCLE,--Though, please God! I am to see you so soon, I must
write these few lines to prepare you for the trying, sad existence you
will find it with your poor forlorn, desolate child--who drags on
a weary, pleasureless existence! I am also anxious to repeat _one_
thing, and _that one_ is _my firm_ resolve, my _irrevocable decision_,
viz. that _his_ wishes--_his_ plans--about everything, _his_ views
about _every_ thing are to be _my law!_ And _no human power_ will make
me swerve from _what he_ decided and wished--and I look to _you_ to
_support_ and _help_ me in this. I apply this particularly as regards
our children--Bertie, etc.--for whose future he had traced everything
_so_ carefully. I am _also determined_ that _no one_ person, may _he_
be ever so good, ever so devoted among my servants--is to lead or
guide or dictate _to me_. I know _how he_ would disapprove it. And I
live _on_ with him, for him; in fact _I_ am only _outwardly_ separated
from him, and _only_ for _a time_.

_No one_ can tell you more of my feelings, and can put you more in
possession of many touching facts than our excellent Dr Jenner, who
has been and is my great comfort, and whom I would _entreat_ you to
_see and hear_ before you see _any one else_. Pray do this, for _I
fear much_ others trying to see you first and say things and wish for
things which I _should not_ consent to.

Though miserably weak and utterly shattered, my spirit rises when I
think _any_ wish or plan of his is to be touched or changed, or I
am to be _made to do_ anything. I know you will help me in my utter
darkness. It is but for a short time, and _then_ I go--_never, never_
to part! Oh! that blessed, blessed thought! He seems so _near_ to
_me_, so _quite my own_ now, my precious darling! God bless and
preserve you. Ever your wretched but devoted Child,

VICTORIA R.

What a Xmas! I won't think of it.




[Pageheading: BUSINESS STILL TRANSACTED]


_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _30th December 1861_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
read with deep emotion your Majesty's letter of the 26th, every
word of which went straight to the heart. Viscount Palmerston would,
however, humbly express a hope that the intensity of your Majesty's
grief may not lead your Majesty to neglect your health, the
preservation of which is so important for the welfare of your
Majesty's children, and for that of your Majesty's devotedly attached
and affectionate subjects; and which is so essentially necessary
to enable your Majesty to perform those duties which it will be the
object of your Majesty's life to fulfil.

Lord Granville has communicated to Viscount Palmerston your Majesty's
wish that Mr Dilke[66] should be made a Baronet, and that Mr
Bowring[67] should be made a Companion of the Bath, and both of these
things will be done accordingly. But there are three other persons
whose names Viscount Palmerston has for some time wished to submit to
your Majesty for the dignity of Baronet, and if your Majesty should
be graciously pleased to approve of them, the list would stand as
follows:

Mr Dilke.

Mr William Brown,[68] of Liverpool, a very wealthy and
  distinguished merchant, who lately made a magnificent
  present of a public library to his fellow-citizens.

Mr Thomas Davies Lloyd, a rich and highly respectable
  gentleman of the county of Carnarvon.

Mr Rich, to whom the Government is under great obligation,
  for having of his own accord and without any condition
  vacated last year his seat for Richmond in Yorkshire,
  and having thus enabled the Government to obtain the
  valuable services of Mr Roundell Palmer as your Majesty's
  Solicitor-General.

Viscount Palmerston has put into this box some private letters which
Lord Russell thinks your Majesty might perhaps like to look at.

    [Footnote 66: Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke was on the Executive
    Committee of the Exhibition of 1851, and on the Royal
    Commission for the Exhibition of 1862. He died in 1869.]

    [Footnote 67: Mr Edgar Bowring's Companionship was conferred
    on him for services in connection with the earlier Exhibition.
    He was afterwards M.P. for Exeter, 1868-1874.]

    [Footnote 68: Mr Brown became a baronet in 1863.]



[Pageheading: COMFORT AND HOPE]


_Queen Victoria to Earl Canning._

OSBORNE, _10th January 1862_.

Lord Canning little thought when he wrote his kind and touching letter
of the 22nd November, that it would only reach the Queen when _she_
was _smitten_ and _bowed_ down to the earth by an event similar to
the one which he describes--and, strange to say, by a disease greatly
analogous to the one which took from him _all_ that he loved best. In
the case of her adored, precious, perfect, and great husband, her dear
lord and master, to whom this Nation owed more than it ever can truly
know, however, the fever went on most favourably till the day previous
to the awful calamity, and then it was congestion of the lungs and
want of strength of circulation (the beloved Prince had always a weak
and feeble pulse), which at the critical moment, indeed only two hours
before God took him, caused this awful result. To lose one's partner
in life is, as Lord Canning knows, like losing _half_ of one's _body_
and _soul_, torn forcibly away--and dear Lady Canning was such a dear,
worthy, devoted wife! But to the Queen--to a poor helpless woman--it
is not that only--it is the stay, support and comfort which is lost!
To the Queen it is like _death_ in life! Great and small--_nothing_
was done without his loving advice and help--and she feels _alone_
in the wide world, with many helpless children (except the Princess
Royal) to look to her--and the whole nation to look to her--_now_ when
she can barely struggle with her wretched existence! Her misery--her
utter despair--she _cannot_ describe! Her _only_ support--the _only_
ray of comfort she gets for _a moment_, is in the _firm conviction_
and certainty of his nearness, his undying love, and of their eternal
reunion! Only she prays always, and pines for the latter with an
anxiety she cannot describe. Like dear Lady Canning, the Queen's
darling is to rest in a garden--at Frogmore, in a Mausoleum the Queen
is going to build for him and herself.

Though ill, the Queen was able to tell her precious angel of Lord
Canning's bereavement, and he was deeply grieved, recurring to it
several times, and saying, "What a loss! She was such a distinguished
person!"

May God comfort and support Lord Canning, and may he think in his
sorrow of his widowed and broken-hearted Sovereign--bowed to the earth
with the greatest of human sufferings and misfortunes! She lived but
_for_ her husband!

The sympathy of the many thousands of her subjects, but above all
their sorrow and their admiration for him, are soothing to her
bleeding, pierced heart!

The Queen's precious husband, though wandering occasionally, was
conscious till nearly the last, and knew her and kissed her an hour
before his pure spirit fled to its worthy and fit eternal Home!
