QUEEN ISABELLA
17th October 1841.
The Queen received Lord Aberdeen's letter yesterday evening, and quite approves of the draft to Mr Aston, and of Lord Aberdeen's having sent it off at once. Her earnest wish is that the English Government should be firm, and uphold the Regent as far as it is in our power. The Queen has perused M. Guizot's letter with great attention, but she cannot help fearing that assistance and encouragement has been given in some shape or other to the revolts which have taken place. The Queen Christina's residence at Paris is very suspicious, and much to be regretted; every one who saw the Queen and knew her when Regent, knew her to be clever andcapableof governing, had she but attended to her duties. This she did not, but wasted her time in frivolous amusements and neglected her children sadly, and finally left them. It was herowndoing, and therefore it is not the kindest conduct towards her children, but the veryworst, to try and disturb the tranquillity of a country which was just beginning to recover from the baneful effects of one of the most bloody civil wars imaginable.
THE SPANISH MARRIAGE
The Queen is certain that Lord Aberdeen will feel with her of what importance it is to England that Spain should not become subject to French interests, as it is evidentFrance wishesto make it. The marriage of Queen Isabel is a most important question, and the Queen is likewise certain that Lord Aberdeen sees at once that we could never let her marry a French Prince. Ere long the Queen must speak to Lord Aberdeen on this subject. In the meantime the Queen thoughtit might be of use to Lord Aberdeen to put him in possession of her feelings on the state of Spain, in which the Queen has always taken a very warm interest.
Panshanger,21st October 1841.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received here yesterday your Majesty's letter of the 19th inst., and he earnestly hopes that your Majesty has arrived quite safe and well in London. Besides the family, we have had hardly anybody here except Lady Clanricarde.132Yesterday Sir Edward L. Bulwer133came, beating his brother hollow in ridiculousness of attire, ridiculous as the other is. He has, however, much in him, and is agreeable when you come to converse with him....
Lord Melbourne is rather in doubt about his own movements. Lord Leicester134presses him much to go to Holkham, where Lord Fortescue,135Mr Ellice136and others are to be, and considering Lord Leicester's age, Lord Melbourne thinks that it will gratify him to see Lord Melbourne again there. But at Holkham they shoot from morning until night, and if you do not shoot you are like a fish upon dry land. Lord Melbourne hardly feels equal to the exertion, and therefore thinks that he shall establish himself for the present at Melbourne, where he will be within reach of Trentham, Beau Desert,137Wentworth,138and Castle Howard,138if he likes to go to them. The only annoyance is that it is close to Lord and Lady G——, whom he will be perpetually meeting.
Footnote 132: A daughter of George Canning, the Prime Minister.
Footnote 133: Afterwards Lord Lytton, the novelist.
Footnote 134: The famous country gentleman, "Mr Coke of Norfolk."
Footnote 135: Hugh, second Earl, K.G.
Footnote 136: The Right Hon. Edward Ellice, M.P. ("Bear" Ellice).
Footnote 137: Near Lichfield, a seat of Lord Anglesey.
Footnote 138: Lord Fitzwilliam's house, near Rotherham.
Footnote 139: Lord Carlisle's house, near York, built by Vanbrugh.
HOLLAND AND BELGIUM
Laeken,22 October 1841.
... In France there is a great outcry that a Bourbon must be the future husband of the Queen of Spain, etc. I must say that as the Spaniards and the late King changed themselves theSalic custom which Philip V. had brought from France,140it is natural for the rest of Europe to wish that no Bourbon should go there. Besides, it must be confessed that the thing is not even easy, as there is great hatred amongst the various branches of that family. The King of the French himself has always beenopposedto the idea of one of his sons going there; in France, however, that opinion still exists, and Thiers had it, strongly.
I confess that I regret that Queen Christina was encouraged to settle at Paris, as it gave the thing the appearance of something preconcerted. I believe that a wish existed that Christina would retire peaceably andpar la force des circonstances, but now this took a turn which I am sure the King does not like; it places him, besides, intoune position ingrate; the Radicals hate him, the Moderates will cry out that he has left them in the lurch, and the Carlists are kept under key, and of course also not much pleased. I meant to have remained in my wilds till yesterday, but my Ministers were so anxious for my return, there being a good many things on thetapis, that I came back on Tuesday, the 19th....
Here one is exactly shut up as if one was in a menagerie, walking round and round like a tame bear. One breathes here also a mixture of all sorts of moist compounds, which one is told is fresh air, but which is not the least like it. I suppose, however, that my neighbour in Holland, where they have not even got a hill as high as yours in Buckingham Gardens, would consider Laeken as an Alpine country. The tender meeting of the old King and the new King,141as one can hardly call him a young King, must be most amusing. I am told that if the old King had not made that love-match, he would be perfectly able to dethrone his son; I heard that yesterday from a person rather attached to the son and hating the father. In the meantime, though one can hardly say that he is well at home, some strange mixture of cut-throats and ruined soldiers of fortune had a mind to play us some tricks here; we have got more and more insight into this. Is it by instigation from him personally, or does he only know of it without being a party to it? Thatisdifficult to tell, the more so as he makes immense demonstration of friendly dispositions towards us, and me in particular. I would I could make achassez croisezwith Otho;142he would be the gainer in solids, and I should have sun and aninteresting country; I will try to make him understand this, the more so as you do not any longer want me in the West.
Footnote 140: The Pragmatic Sanction of Philip V. was repealed in 1792 by the Cortes, but the repeal was not promulgated by the King. Under the Salic Law, Don Carlos would have been on the throne. Seeante, p.44.
Footnote 141: William I., who had abdicated in order to marry again, and William II., his son, who was nearly fifty.
Footnote 142: The King of Greece, elected in 1833.
AMBASSADORS' AUDIENCES
25th October 1841.
With respect to the appointment of Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, the Queen approves of Mr Pennefather143for that office. The Queen may be mistaken, for she is not very well acquainted with the judicial officers in Ireland, but it strikes her that Serjeant Jackson belonged to the very violent Orange party in Ireland, and if this should be the case she suggests to Sir Robert Peel whether it would not be betternotto appoint him. If, on the other hand, the Queen should be mistaken as to his political opinions, she would not disapprove of his succeeding Mr Pennefather.
The Queen saw in the papers that Lord Stuart de Rothesay is already gone. The Queen can hardly believe this, as no Ambassador or Ministereverleft England without previously asking for an Audience and receiving one, as the Queen wishes always to see them before they repair to their posts. Would Sir Robert be so very good as to ask Lord Aberdeen whether Lord Stuart de Rothesay is gone or not, and if he should be, to tell Lord Aberdeen that in future she would wish him always to inform her when they intend to go, and to ask for an Audience, which, if the Queen is well, she would always grant. It is possible that as the Queen said the other day that she did not wish to give many Audiences after the Council, that Lord Aberdeen may have misunderstood this and thought the Queen would give none, which wasnother intention. The Queen would be thankful to Sir Robert if he would undertake to clear up this mistake, which she is certain (should Lord Stuart be gone) arose entirely from misapprehension.
The Queen also wishes Sir Robert to desire Lord Haddington to send her some details of the intended reductions in the Fleet which she sees by a draft of Lord Aberdeen's to Mr Bulwer have taken place.144
Footnote 143: Recently appointed Solicitor-General; Sergeant J. D. Jackson now succeeded him.
Footnote 144: The statement of the Royal Navy in Commission at the beginning of 1841 sets out 160 vessels carrying 4,277 guns.
STOCKMAR AND MELBOURNE
25th October 1841.
... I told [Lord Melbourne] that, as I read the English Constitution, it meant to assign tothe Sovereign in his functionsa deliberative part—that I was not sure the Queen had the means within herself to execute this deliberative part properly, but I was sure that the only way for her to execute her functions at all was to be strictly honest to those men who at the time being were her Ministers. That it was chiefly on this account that I had been so very sorry to have found now, on my return from the Continent, that on the change of the Ministry a capital opportunity to read a great Constitutional maxim to the Queen had not only been lost by Lord Melbourne, but that he had himself turned an instrument for working great good into an instrument which must produce mischief and danger. That I was afraid that, from what Lord Melbourne had been so weak as to have allowed himself to be driven into,against his own and better conviction, the Queen must have received a most pernicious bias, which on any future occasion would make her inclined to act in a similar position similarly to that what she does now, being convinced that what she doesnowmust be right on all future occasions, or else Lord Melbourne would not have sanctioned it. Upon this, Lord Melbourne endeavoured to palliate, to represent the danger, which would arise from his secret correspondence with the Queen as very little, to adduce precedents from history, and to screen his present conduct behind what he imagined Lord Bute's conduct had been under George III.145I listened patiently, and replied in the end: All this might be mighty fine and quite calculated to lay a flattering unction on his own soul, or it might suffice to tranquillize the minds of the Prince and Anson, but that I was too old to find the slightest argument in what I had just now heard, nor could it in any way allay my apprehension. I began then to dissect all that he had produced for his excusation, and showed him—as I thought clearly, and as he admitted convincingly—that it would be impossible to carry on this secret commerce with the Sovereign for any length of time without exposing the Queen's character and creating mighty embarrassments in the quiet and regular working of a Constitutional machine.
STOCKMAR'S ADVICE
My representations seemed to make a very deep impression, and Lord Melbourne became visibly nervous, perplexed, and distressed. After he had recovered a little I said, "I never was inclined to obtrude advice; but if you don't dislike to hear my opinion, I am prepared to give it to you." He said, "What is it?" I said, "You allow the Queen's confinement to passover quietly, and you wait till her perfect recovery of it. As soon as this period has arrived, you state of your own accord to Her Majesty that this secret and confidential correspondence with her must cease; that you gave in to it, much against your feelings, and with a decided notion of its impropriety and danger, and merely out of a sincere solicitude to calm Her Majesty's mind in a critical time, and to prevent the ill effects which great and mental agitation might have produced on her health. That this part of your purpose now being most happily achieved, you thought yourself in duty bound to advise Her Majesty tocease all her communicationsto you on political subjects, as you felt it wrong within yourself to receive them, and to return your political advice and opinions on such matters; that painful as such a step must be to your feelings, which to the last moment of your life will remain those of the most loyal attachment and devotion to the Queen's person, it is dictated to you by a deep sense of what you owe to the country, to your Sovereign, and to yourself."
Footnote 145: For some time after the accession of George III., Bute, though neither in the Cabinet nor in Parliament, was virtually Prime Minister, but he became Secretary of State on 25th March 1761. George II. had disliked him, but he was generally believed to have exercised an undue influence over the consort of Prince Frederic of Wales, mother of George III.
26th October 1841.
With respect to Serjeant Jackson, the Queen will not oppose his appointment, in consequence of the high character Sir Robert Peel gives him; but she cannot refrain from saying that she very much fears that the favourable effect which has hitherto been produced by the formation of so mild and conciliatory a Government in Ireland, may be endangered by this appointment, which the Queen would sincerely regret.
South Street,26th October 1841.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and returns your Majesty the letters of the King of the Belgians, with many thanks. It certainly is a very unfortunate thing that the Queen Christina was encouraged to fix her residence at Paris, and the suspicion arising, therefore, cannot but be very injurious both to the King of the French and to the French nation.
Lord Melbourne returns his warmest thanks for your Majesty's kind expressions. He felt the greatest pleasure at seeing your Majesty again and looking so well, and he hopesthat his high spirits did not betray him into talking too much or too heedlessly, which he is conscious that they sometimes do.
The King Leopold, Lord Melbourne perceives, still hankers after Greece; but Crowns will not bear to be chopped and changed about in this manner. These new Kingdoms are not too firmly fixed as it is, and it will not do to add to the uncertainty by alteration....
DISPUTE WITH UNITED STATES
Whitehall,28th October 1841.
... Sir Robert Peel humbly assures your Majesty that he fully participates in the surprise which your Majesty so naturally expresses at the extraordinary intimation conveyed to Mr Fox146by the President of the United States.147
Immediately after reading Mr Fox's despatch upon that subject, Sir Robert Peel sought an interview with Lord Aberdeen. The measure contemplated by the President is a perfectly novel one, a measure of a hostile and unjustifiable character adopted with pacific intentions.
Sir Robert Peel does not comprehend the object of the President, and giving him credit for the desire to prevent the interruption of amicable relations with this country, Sir Robert Peel fears that the forcible detention of the British Minister, after the demand of passports, will produce a different impression on the public mind, both here and in the United States, from that which the President must (if he be sincere) have anticipated. It appears to Sir Robert Peel that the object which the President professes to have in view would be better answered by the immediate compliance with Mr Fox's demand for passports, and the simultaneous despatch of a special mission to this country conveying whatever explanations or offers of reparation the President may have in contemplation.
Sir Robert Peel humbly assures your Majesty that he has advised such measures of preparation to be taken in respect to the amount of disposable naval force, and the position of it, as without bearing the character of menace or causing needlessdisquietude and alarm, may provide for an unfavourable issue of our present differences with the United States.
Sir Robert Peel fears that when the President ventured to make to Mr Fox the communication which he did make, he must have laboured under apprehension that M'Leod might be executed in spite of the efforts of the general Government of the United States to save his life.
Footnote 146: British Minister at Washington.
Footnote 147: One Alexander M'Leod was tried at Utica on the charge of being implicated in the destruction of theCaroline(an American vessel engaged in carrying arms to the Canadian rebels), in 1837, and in the death of Mr Durfee, an American. The vessel had been boarded by Canadian loyalists when lying in American waters, set on fire and sent over Niagara Falls, and in the affray Durfee was killed. M'Leod was apprehended on American territory, and hence arose the friction between the two countries. M'Leod was acquitted 12th October 1841.
PORTUGAL
Buckingham Palace,31st October 1841.
The Queen received yesterday evening Lord Aberdeen's letter with the accompanying despatches and draft. She certainlyissurprised at the strange and improper tone in which Lord Howard's148despatches are written, and can only attribute them to an over-eager and, she fully believes, mistaken feeling of the danger to which he believes the throne of the Queen to be exposed.
The Queen has carefully perused Lord Aberdeen's draft, which she highly approves, but wishes to suggest to Lord Aberdeen whether upon further consideration it might not perhaps be as well tosoftenthe words under which she has drawn a pencil line, as she fears they might irritate Lord Howard very much.
The Queen is induced to copy the following sentences from a letter she received from her cousin, the King of Portugal, a few days ago, and which it may be satisfactory to Lord Aberdeen to see:—
"Je dois encore vous dire que nous avons toutes les raisons de nous louer de la manière dont le Portugal est traité par votre Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, et nous ferons de notre côté notre possible pour prouver notre bonne volonté."
Footnote 148: Lord Howard de Walden, Minister Plenipotentiary at Lisbon.
SECRETARIES OF STATE
South Street,1st November 1841.
... Now for His Royal Highness's questions....
How the power of Prime Ministry grew up into its present form it is difficult to trace precisely, as well as how it became attached, as it were, to the office of First Commissioner of the Treasury. But Lord Melbourne apprehends that Sir RobertWalpole was the first man in whose person this union of powers was decidedly established, and that its being so arose from the very great confidence which both George I. and George II. reposed in him, and from the difficulty which they had in transacting business, particularly George I., from their imperfect knowledge of the language of the country.
With respect to the Secretary of State, Lord Melbourne is not prepared from memory to state the dates at which the different arrangements of that office have taken place. There was originally but one officer, and at the present the three are but the heads of the different departments of one office. The first division was into two, and they were called the Secretary for the Northern and the Secretary for the Southern department. They drew a line across the world, and each transacted the business connected with the countries within his own portion of the globe. Another division then took place, and the Foreign affairs were confided to one Secretary of State, and the Home and Colonial affairs to the other; but the present arrangement was finally settled in the year 1793, when the junction was formed between Mr Pitt on the one hand, and those friends of Mr Fox who left him because they differed with him upon the French Revolution. The Home affairs were placed in the hands of one Secretary of State, the Foreign of another, and the Colonial and Military affairs of a third, and this arrangement has continued ever since.149The persons then appointed were the Duke of Portland,150Lord Grenville,151and Mr Dundas,152Home, Foreign, and Colonial Secretaries.
Writing from recollection, it is very possible that Lord Melbourne may be wrong in some of the dates which he has ventured to specify.153
Footnote 149: A fourth Secretary of State was added at the time of the Crimean War, so as to separate Colonial and Military affairs, and a fifth after the Indian Mutiny to supersede the President of the Board of Control.SeeLord Melbourne's letter of 31st December 1837,ante, p.100.
Footnote 150: Third Duke (1738-1809).
Footnote 151: William Wyndham, Lord Grenville (1759-1834).
Footnote 152: Henry Dundas (1742-1811), afterwards Lord Melville.
Footnote 153: Seepost, pp.358,359.
THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
South Street,4th November 1841.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has this morning had the honour and pleasure of receiving your Majesty's letter of yesterday....
Lord Melbourne sends a letter which he has received fromhis sister, which may not be unentertaining. Lady Palmerston is struck, as everybody is who goes to Ireland, with the candid warmth and vehement demonstration of feeling. England always appears cold, heartless, and sulky in comparison....
With respect to the questions put to me by your Majesty at the desire of His Royal Highness, Lord Melbourne begs leave to assure your Majesty that he will be at all times most ready and anxious to give any information in his power upon points of this sort, which are very curious, very important, very worthy to be enquired into, and upon which accurate information is not easily to be found. All the political part of the English Constitution is fully understood, and distinctly stated in Blackstone and many other books, but the Ministerial part, the work of conducting the executive government, has rested so much on practice, on usage, on understanding, that there is no publication to which reference can be made for the explanation and description of it. It is to be sought in debates, in protests, in letters, in memoirs, and wherever it can be picked up. It seems to be stupid not to be able to say at once when two Secretaries of State were established; but Lord Melbourne is not able. He apprehends that there was but one until the end of Queen Anne's reign, and that two were instituted by George I., probably because upon his frequent journeys to Hanover he wanted the Secretary of State with him, and at the same time it was necessary that there should be an officer of the same authority left at home to transact the domestic affairs.
Prime Ministeris a term belonging to the last century. Lord Melbourne doubts its being to be found in English Parliamentary language previously. Sir Robert Walpole was always accused of having introduced and arrogated to himself an office previously unknown to the Law and Constitution, that of Prime or Sole Minister, and we learn from Lady Charlotte Lindsay's154accounts of her father, that in his own family Lord North would never suffer himself to be calledprimeMinister, because it was an office unknown to the Constitution. This was a notion derived from the combined Whig and Tory opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, to which Lord North and his family had belonged.
Lord Melbourne is very sorry to hear that the Princess Royal continues to suffer from some degree of indisposition. From what your Majesty had said more than once before, Lord Melbourne had felt anxiety upon this subject, and he saw the Baron yesterday, who conversed with him much upon it,and informed him of what had taken place. Lord Melbourne hopes that your Majesty will attribute it only to Lord Melbourne's anxious desire for the security and increase of your Majesty's happiness, if he ventures to say that the Baron appears to him to have much reason in what he urges, and in the view which he takes. It is absolutely required that confidence should be reposed in those who are to have the management and bear the responsibility, and that they should not be too much interrupted or interfered with.
Footnote 154: Daughter of Lord North (afterwards Earl of Guilford) and wife of Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. John Lindsay. She lived till 1849—a link with the past.
SECRETARIES OF STATE
South Street,5th November 1841.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Not feeling satisfied of the correctness of the information which he had given to your Majesty respecting the office of Secretary of State, he yesterday evening requested Mr Allen155to look into the matter, and he has just received from him the enclosed short memorandum, which he has the honour of transmitting to your Majesty. This shows that Lord Melbourne was quite wrong with respect to the period at which two Secretaries of State were first employed, and that it was much earlier than he had imagined.
The year 1782, when the third Secretary of State was abolished, was the period of the adoption of the great measure of Economical Reform which had been introduced by Mr. Burke in 1780.
The present arrangement was settled in 1794, which is about the time which Lord Melbourne stated.
Footnote 155: Secretary and Librarian at Holland House.
LORD MELBOURNE'S POSITION
South Street,7th November 1841.
... Your Majesty asks whether Lord Melbourne thinks that Prince Metternich holds the opinion of Sir Robert Gordon, which he expresses to Lord Beauvale. It is difficult to say what Prince Metternich's real sentiments are. Lord Melbourne takes him not to have a very high opinion of the abilities of others in general, and he is not unlikely to depreciate Sir Robert Gordon to Lord Beauvale. Sir Robert Gordon is a man of integrity, but he is tiresome, long and pompous, which cannot be agreeable to the Prince, who hasabout him much of the French vivacity, and also much of their settled and regular style of argument....
With respect to the latter part of your Majesty's letter, Lord Melbourne returns for the expressions of your Majesty's kindness his warm and grateful thanks. Your Majesty may rest assured that he will always speak to your Majesty without scruple or reserve, and that he will never ask anything of your Majesty, or ever make a suggestion, which he does not consider to be for your Majesty's service and advantage. Lord Melbourne is of opinion that his visits to the Palace should not only avoid exciting suspicion and uneasiness in your Majesty's present advisers, a result of which he has very little apprehension, but they should not be so frequent as to attract public notice, comment, and observation, of which he would be more fearful. A public rumour, however unfounded and absurd, has more force in this country than objections which have in them more of truth and reality. Upon these grounds, and as your Majesty will probably not see much company at present, and the parties therefore will be a good deal confined to the actual Household, Lord Melbourne thinks it would perhaps be as well if he were not again to dine at the Palace at present.
The course which it may be prudent to take hereafter will depend very much upon that which cannot now be foreseen, namely, upon the general course which will be taken by politics and political parties. In this Lord Melbourne does not at present discern his way, and he will not therefore hazard opinions which would not be founded upon any certainty, and might be liable to immediate change and alteration.
STOCKMAR'S ADVICE
23 November 1841.
The apprehension which haunts me since my return to England is well known to you. It was my intention to have written to you upon it some time hereafter, but the contents of a certain letter, sent by you just before your departure, accelerates the execution of my design. From your own expressions used some time back, I was led to expect that you would be glad to take advantageof any fair opportunitywhich might contribute towards that devoutly to be wished for object, viz., to let a certain correspondence die a natural death. You may easily conceive how much I felt disappointed when I heard that you had written again, without a challenge, andthat, without apparent cause, you had volunteered the promise to write from time to time. This happens at a moment whenyourharassing apprehension received new life and strength from two incidents which I think it my duty to make known to you, and of which the one came to passbefore, the other after, your departure from here. Some weeks back I was walking in the streets with Dr Prætorius,156when, finding myself opposite the house of one of my friends, it came across my mind to give him a call. Prætorius wanted to leave me, on a conception that, as a stranger, he might obstruct the freedom of our conversation. I insisted, however, on his remaining with me, and we were shown into the drawing-room, where in all there were five of us. For some minutes the conversation had turned on insignificant things, when the person talking to me said quite abruptly: "So I find the Queen is in daily correspondence with Lord Melbourne." I replied, "Who told you this?" The answer was, "Mrs Norton; she told me the other evening. Don't you believe that Lord Melbourne has lost his influence over the Queen's mind; he daily writes to her, and receives as many answers, in which she communicates everything to him." Without betraying much emotion I said, "I don't believe a word of it; the Queen may have written once or twice on private matters, but the daily correspondence on all matters is certainly the amplification of a thoughtless and imprudent person, who is not aware of such exaggerated assertions." My speech was followed by a general silence, after which we talked of other things, and soon took our leave. When we were fairly in the open air, Prætorius expressed to me his amazement at what he had heard, and he remained for some time at a loss to comprehend the character of the person who, from mere giddiness, let out so momentous a secret.
The other fact took place the day after you had left. From the late events at Brussels, it had become desirable that I should see Sir Robert Peel. From Belgium we travelled over to Home politics. I expressed my delight at seeing the Queen so happy, and added a hope that more and more she would seek and find her real happiness in her domestic relations only. He evidently caught at this, and assured me that he should at all times be too happy to have a share in anything which might be thought conducive to the welfare of Her Majesty. That no consideration of personal inconvenience would ever prevent him from indulging the Queen in all her wishes relating to matters of a private nature, and that the only return for his sincere endeavours to please Her Majesty he looked to, washonesty in public affairs. Becoming then suddenly emphatic, he continued, "But on this I must insist, and I do assure you, that that moment I was to learn that the Queen takes advice upon public matters in another place, I shall throw up; for such a thing I conceive the country could not stand, and I would not remain an hour, whatever the consequences of my resignation may be."
Fully sensible that he was talking at me, I received the charge with the calmness of a good conscience, and our time being exhausted I prepared for retreat. But he did not allow me to do so, before he had found means to come a second time to the topic uppermost in his own mind, and he repeated, it appeared to me with increased force of tone, his determination to throw up, fearless of all consequences, that moment he found himself and the country dishonestly dealt by.
STOCKMAR'S EXPOSTULATIONS
I think I have now reported to you correctly the two occurrences which of late have added so much to my antecedent suspicions and fears. Permit me to join to this a few general considerations which, from the nature of the recited incidents alone, and without the slightest intervention of any other cause, must have presented themselves to my mind. The first is, that I derive from the events related quite ground enough for concluding that the danger I dread is great and imminent, and that, if ill luck is to have its will, no human power can prevent an explosion for a day, or even for an hour. The second is the contemplation—what state will the Queen be placed in by such a catastrophe? That in my position, portraying to myself all the consequences of such a possibility, I look chiefly to the Queen, needs hardly, I trust, an excuse.... Can you hope that the Queen's character will ever recover from a shock received by a collision with Peel, upon such a cause? Pray illustrate to yourself this particular question by taking a purely political and general survey of the time and period we live in at this moment. In doing so must you not admit that all England is agreed that the Tories must have another trial, and that there is a decided desire in the nation that it should be a fair one? Would you have it said that Sir Robert Peel failed in his trial, merely because the Queen alone was not fair to him, and that principally you had aided her in the game of dishonesty? And can you hope that this game can be played with security, even for a short time only, when a person has means of looking into your cards whom you yourself have described to me some years ago as a most passionate, giddy, imprudent and dangerous woman? I am sure beforehand that your loyalty and devotion has nothing to oppose to the force of my exposition. There are, however, some other andminor reasons which ought likewise to be considered before you come to the determination of trusting entirely to possibilities and chance. For the results of your deliberation you will have to come to will in their working and effects go beyond yourself, and must affect two other persons. These will have a right to expect that your decision will not be taken regardless of that position, which accidental circumstances have assigned to them, in an affair the fate of which is placed entirely within your discretion. This is an additional argument why you should deliberate very conscientiously. A mistake of yours in this respect might by itself produce fresh difficulties and have a complicating and perplexing retro effect upon the existing ones; because both, seeing that they must be sufferers in the end, may begin to look only to their own safety, and become inclined to refuse that passive obedience which till now constitutes the vehicle of your hazardous enterprize.
Approaching the conclusion of this letter, I beg to remind you of a conversation I had with you on the same subject in South Street, the 25th of last month.157Though you did not avow it then in direct words, I could read from your countenance and manner that you assented in your head and heart to all I had said, and in particular to the advice I volunteered at the end of my speech. At that time I pointed out to you a period when I thought a decisive step ought to be taken on your part. This period seems to me to have arrived. Placing unreserved confidence into your candour and manliness, I remain, for ever, very faithfully yours,
Stockmar.
Footnote 156: Librarian and German Secretary to Prince Albert.
Footnote 157:Ante, pp.352-3.
MELBOURNE'S REPLY
24th November 1841.(Half-past 10p.m.)
My dear Baron,—I have just received your letter; I think it unnecessary to detain your messenger. I will write to you upon the subject and send it through Anson. Yours faithfully,
Melbourne.
THE HEIR APPARENT
Buckingham Palace,29th November 1841.
My dearest Uncle,—I have to thank you for four most kind letters, of the 4th, 6th, 19th and 26th; the last I receivedyesterday. I would have written sooner, had I not been a little bilious, which made me very low, and not in spirits to write. The weather has been so exceedingly relaxing, that it made me at the end of the fortnight quite bilious, and this, you know, affects the spirits. I am much better, but they think that I shall not get my appetite and spirits back till I can get out of town; we are therefore going in a week at latest. I am going for a drive this morning, and am certain it will do me good. In allessentials, I am better, if possible, than last year. Our little boy158is a wonderfully strong and large child, with very large dark blue eyes, a finely formed but somewhat large nose, and a pretty little mouth; Ihopeandprayhe may be like his dearest Papa. He is to be calledAlbert, and Edward is to be his second name. Pussy, dear child, is stillthegreat pet amongst us all, and is getting so fat and strong again.
I beg my most affectionate love to dearest Louise and the dear children. The Queen-Dowager is recovering wonderfully.
I beg you to forgive this letter being so badly written, but my feet are being rubbed, and as I have got the box on which I am writing on my knee, it is not easy to write quite straight—but you mustnotthink my hand trembles. Ever your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
Pussy isnotat all pleased with her brother.
Footnote 158: His Majesty King Edward VII., born 9th November.
THE INFANT PRINCE
Trentham,1st December 1841.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has had the honour of receiving here your Majesty's letters of yesterday, by which he learns with sincere pleasure and satisfaction that your Majesty is so much recovered as to go to Windsor on so early a day as your Majesty names. Lord Melbourne hears with great concern that your Majesty has been suffering under depression and lowness of spirits.... Lord Melbourne well knows how to feel for those who suffer under it, especially as he has lately had much of it himself.
Lord Melbourne is much rejoiced to hear so good an account of the Heir Apparent and of the Princess Royal, and feels himself greatly obliged by the information respecting the intended names and the sponsors. Lord Melbourne supposes that your Majesty has determined yourself upon the relative position of the two names, butEdwardis a good English appellation, and has a certain degree of popularity attachedto it from ancient recollections. Albert is also an old Anglo-Saxon name—the same, Lord Melbourne believes, as Ethelred—but it has not been so common nor so much in use since the Conquest. However, your Majesty's feelings, which Lord Melbourne perfectly understands, must determine this point. The notion of the King of Prussia159gives great satisfaction here, and will do so with all but Puseyites and Newmanites and those who lean to the Roman Catholic faith. His strong Protestant feelings, and his acting with us in the matter of the Syrian Bishop, have made the King of Prussia highly popular in this country, and particularly with the more religious part of the community.
Your Majesty cannot offer up for the young Prince a more safe and judicious prayer than that he may resemble his father. The character, in Lord Melbourne's opinion, depends much upon the race, and on both sides he has a good chance. Be not over solicitous about education. It may be able to do much, but it does not do so much as is expected from it. It may mould and direct the character, but it rarely alters it. George IV. and the Duke of York were educated quite like English boys, by English schoolmasters, and in the manner and upon the system of English schools. The consequence was that, whatever were their faults, they were quite Englishmen. The others, who were sent earlier abroad, and more to foreign universities, were not quite so much so. The late king was educated as a sailor, and was a complete sailor....
Lord Melbourne will tell your Majesty exactly what he thinks of John Russell's reply to the Plymouth address. It is very angry and very bitter, and anger and bitterness are never very dignified. Lord Melbourne certainly would not have put in those sarcasms upon the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, for their change of opinion and conduct upon the Roman Catholic question. But the tone of the rest of the answer is, in Lord Melbourne's opinion, just and right. We certainly delivered the affairs of the country into their hands in a good state, both at home and abroad, and we should be acting unfairly by ourselves if we did not maintain and assert this upon every occasion. Lord Melbourne's notion of the conduct which he has to pursue is, that it should not be aggressive, but that it must be defensive. He would oppose no right measures, but he cannot suffer the course of policy which has been condemned in him to be adopted by others without observation upon the inconsistency and injustice....
Lord Melbourne concludes with again wishing your Majesty health and happiness, and much enjoyment of the country.
Footnote 159: King Frederick William IV., who was to be a sponsor.