THE AFFLICTED FAMILY
Neuilly,21st July 1842.
My beloved Victoria,—I was unable to thank you the other day for your kind and feeling letter of the 14th, although I was greatly touched by it, and I trust you will have excused me. I thank you to-day very sincerely for both your letters, and for the share and sympathy you and dear Albert take in ourgreat misfortune. I know it is very heartfelt, and we are all very grateful for it. Victoire and my poor mother have already given you news from the unfortunate Hélène. She has sustained and outlived the first shock and shows wonderful courage. She is even well in health, and much better and stronger in all ways than I had expected. She takes very much upon herself on account of the poor children, to prevent that any melancholy or painful feeling should be connected for themwith the remembrance of their beloved and unfortunate father. My parents show great fortitude and resignation, but their hearts are for ever broke. They are only sustained by their feeling of duty. My poor mother bears up for my father, and my father bears up to fulfil his duties of father and of king. Their health is, thank God! good, and my father retains all his strength of mind and quickness of judgment; but they are both grown old in looks, and their hairs are turned quite white.
The first days, my poor father could do nothing but sob, and it was really heartbreaking to see him. He begins now to have more command upon his grief, and the presence of your uncle, whom he dearly loves, seems to do him good. The poor children are well andmerryand seem unconscious of their dreadful loss. From time to time only they jump round us as if looking for protection. The contrast of their gaiety with their horrid misfortune is very painful. Paris is looking remarkably well and strong. Robert53is much grown, extremely quick and lively, and begins to speak. The remainder of the family is, as you may easily imagine, in thedeepest affliction. Nemours especially is quite broken down with grief. Chartres wasmorethan abrotherto him, as he wasmorethan asecond fatherto us all. He was theheadand theheartandsoulof the whole family. We all looked up to him, and we found him on all occasions. Abetter, or evensucha brother was never seen; our loss is as great as irreparable; but God's will be done! He had surely His motives in sending on my unfortunate parents the horrid affliction in their old days, and in removing from us the being who seemed themost necessaryto the hope and happiness of all; we must submit to His decrees, hard as they are; but it is impossible not to regret that my poor brother has not at least found the death of a soldier, which he had always wished for, instead of such a useless, horrid, and miserable one! It seems, for no one saw him fall, that he did not jump, as we had thought at first, but that he was thrown from the barouche, while standing; and I like it in some measure better so, as God's will is still more manifest in this way. It is equally manifest inallthe circumstances attending the catastrophe. My poor brother was not even to have come to Neuilly. He had taken leave of my parents the day before, and would not have gone again if my unfortunate mother had not asked him, and if my parents, who were to go to Paris, had not delayed their departure....
I thank you again and again, my beloved Victoria, for all your interest and sympathy. I was sure you would think ofus and of me: you know how much I loved my brother. I little expected to outlive him, as I had done my beloved Mary;54but once more,God's will be done. I remain now and ever, yours most devotedly,
Louise.
I perceive I forgot mentioning Ernest. Pray thank him for his sympathy also. He knows what a brother is, and may feel for us! We expect on Saturday poor Joinville. My father will have thus his four remaining sons round him for the opening of the Session, which takes place on the 26th, and at which he must preside in person. It is a hard duty for him.
Footnote 53: The young Duc de Chartres, born in 1840.
Footnote 54: Seeante, p.144.
THE CORN LAWS
Whitehall,23rd July 1842.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that last night was occupied in the House of Commons with another debate on the Corn Laws, again impeding any progress with the Government business. The debate was entirely confined to those members who act in concert with the Anti-Corn Law League.55It continued until twelve, when Mr Cobden, the Member for Stockport, moved an adjournment of the House, on the ground that none of your Majesty's servants had taken a part in the debate....
Several members of the Opposition voted with the Government, and declared that they would not be parties to such vexatious proceedings.
A division on the main question—a Committee to enquire into the state of the country with a view to the Repeal of the Corn Laws—then took place.
The motion was negatived by a majority of 156 to 64—92. The House did not adjourn until three this morning.
Footnote 55: The Anti-Corn Law League was rapidly gaining importance, and fiscal policy occupied a great part of the session of 1842. Peel was already reducing import duties on articles other than corn. Cobden had been elected at Stockport, for the first time, in 1841.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF ACCIDENT
Neuilly,22nd July 1842.
My dearest Victoria,—I was anxious to write to you on the 18th, but I was so overpowered with all that surrounded me that I could really not. Yesterday I received your dearletter of the 19th, and I will answer it, so as to give you a clear view of the sad case. On the 12th, Tuesday, Chartres had taken leave, as he meant to go to St Omer, the 13th; however, in the family the Queen and others said he ought to come once more to see them. The King had ordered his carriage to go to town on the 13th, to a Council; Chartres meant to have called shortly after ten.
It is necessary to tell you all this, as it shows how strangely circumstances turned fatally. Chartres did not want to return once more to Neuilly, and the King, if exact, might see him once more in town. Chartres, however, instead of coming early, set off after eleven; his Off. d'Ordonnance, M. Bertin de Veaux, hisvalet de chambre, a German, Holder, begged him not to go quite alone in that small phaeton through Paris, as he was in uniform, but all this did not avail; he insisted to go in the phaeton and to goalone. He set out later than he expected, and if the King had set outexactlyas he had named, the parents and the son would probably have met on the rising avenue of the Champs Elysees, towards the Barrière de l'Étoile and Arc de Triomphe. However, the King delayed his departure and the son set off. At the place where from the great avenue one turns off towards Neuilly, the horses, which were not even young horses, as I am told that he has had them some years, moved by that stupid longing to get to Neuilly, where they knew their stables, got rather above the postillion, and ranquasiaway. Chartres got up and asked the postillion if he could hold his horses no longer; the boy called out "Non, Monseigneur"; he had looked back when he said this, and saw his master for the last timestandingin the phaeton. People at some distance saw him come out of his carriage and describe a sort of semicircle falling down. Nobody knows exactly if he jumped out of the carriage, or if he lost his position and fell out. I am inclined to think that, trusting to his lightness and agility, he wanted to jump out, forgetting the impulse which a quick-going carriage gives, as there were marks on his knees as if he had first fallen that way. The principal blow was, however, on the head, the skull being entirely fractured. He was taken up senseless, that is to say confused, but not fainting, and carried into a small inn. At first his appearance, sitting in a chair, was so little altered that people thought it was nothing of any consequence.
Heknewno one, and only spoke a few incoherent words in German. The accident happened about a quarter before twelve, and at four he was no more.
I refer for some other details to Albert. Poor Louise looks like a shadow, and only her great devotion for me supports her.It may serve as a lesson how fragile all human affairs are. Poor Chartres, it seems, with the prospect of these camps and altogether, wasnever in better spirits. But I must end. Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
SIR EDWARD DISBROWE
Windsor Castle,27th July 1842.
The Queen thanks Lord Aberdeen for the letter she has this morning received.
The Queen thinks that a reprimand would hardly do, as it is not so much from any particular despatch that she has formed this opinion of Sir Edward Disbrowe, but more from the general tenor of his conduct and despatches; therefore she thinks it would be difficult to censure him, which would probably not have the desired effect.56For this reason the Queen would prefer his being removed without his being told that it was for his conduct, and without his being able to find this out, which, the Queen concludes from Lord Aberdeen's letter, could easily be done.
Footnote 56:Seep.409.Lord Aberdeen had suggested sending Sir Edward Disbrowe a private admonition.
Windsor Castle,2nd August 1842.
Dearest Uncle,—I had the pleasure of receiving your kind letter of the 29th, late on Sunday evening. You knowallwe have felt, and dofeel, for the dear and exemplary French family. Really it is too dreadful, but God's will be done! Perhaps poor Chartres is saved great sorrow and grief.Himwe mustnotpity!
God grant all may go off well on these dreadful days, and may He support the dear afflicted parents, widow, and brothers and sisters! My dearest Louise! I hope and trust that her dear children will occupy her and divert her attention; only don't let her swallow and suppress her grief and keep it to herself; that is dreadful, and very hurtful. Let her give way to her sorrow, and talk of it to her.
Pray, dearest Uncle, will not and ought not Paris to be Duke of Orleans now? Hélène is sole guardian, is she not?...
Dear Louise will, I trust, excuse my not answering her kindletter to-day; pray give her my best love, and believe me, always, your most devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
THE FATHERLESS CHILDREN
Laeken,5th August 1842.
My dearest Victoria,—... Little Paris,57who has gained much of late, will keep the name of Paris, at least for the present. Hélène will be, after the poor King's demise, sole guardian of her children; till then the King as head of the family will be supreme in all matters relating to the children.... Your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Footnote 57: The late Comte de Paris, who bore this title to the end of his life, father of the present Duc d'Orléans.
Laeken,5th August 1842.
My beloved Victoria,—... Poor little Paris is aware of his misfortune in the way he can be. Hélène told him that he saw everybody weep because he would see no more his beloved father. The poor child wept then very much, and he has done several times since, when the same thing was repeated to him. He wonders why he does not go any more in his unfortunate father's room, and why there is no more "de cher Papa," as he says: else he makes no question or observation and is very quiet and cheerful. He cannot yet feel what he has lost and his melancholy fate: but Hélène does what she can to keep alive in him the remembrance of his father.... Yours most affectionately,
Louise.
South Street,8th August 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He thanks your Majesty much for the letter of the 4th. It can hardly be expected that the grief of the French family will, as yet, much diminish, but Lord Melbourne hopes that they are somewhat more composed. He has heard this morning that Lord and Lady Beauvale were at Boulogne on Saturday; they would probably cross yesterday, and will be in London to-day.
Lord Melbourne understands that Lord Beauvale had an interview of three hours with the King of the French. Charles Howard was married this morning, and Lord Melbourne is going to meet Lord and Lady Carlisle and the rest of the family at Baron Parke's58at dinner. Lord Melbourne thinks that Lord Prudhoe's marriage59was to be expected.60Upon looking at the Peerage, he is only fifty years old, and fifty is young enough to marry anybody. The only fault of fifty is that it advances too rapidly on to sixty, which, on the other hand, is too old to marry anybody. It is Lord Melbourne's opinion that if a man does marry either at fifty or sixty, he had much better take a young girl than a woman of more age and experience. Youth is more malleable, more gentle, and has often more respect and compassion for infirmity than middle-age.
Footnote 58: Afterwards Lord Wensleydale.
Footnote 59: To Lady Eleanor Grosvenor.
Footnote 60: Admiral Lord Algernon Percy (1792-1865), President of the Royal Institution, was created in 1816 Baron Prudhoe: in 1847, on the death of his brother, he became fourth Duke of Northumberland.
RESIGNATION OF LORD HILL
Hardwicke Grange,619th August 1842.
Lord Hill presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and craves your Majesty's gracious permission to lay before your Majesty his resignation of the Command of your Majesty's Army.
Lord Hill deeply regrets the necessity of taking a step which will deprive him of a charge that has been so long committed to his hands, and for his continuance in which he is indebted to your Majesty's grace and favour; but he has again suffered much from the illness under which he laboured in the early part of the year, and his health has in consequence become so indifferent as to render him unequal to the adequate discharge of the various important duties of his command, which therefore he feels he could not retain with due regard to the interests of your Majesty's Service.
Lord Hill had flattered himself that he should have been able to have laid his application for retirement before your Majesty himself, and personally to have expressed to your Majesty his deep and lasting sense of your Majesty's gracious kindness to him on all occasions. Having, however, left London by the advice of his medical attendants, and being too unwell to undertake a second journey, Lord Hill avails himself of this mode of assuring your Majesty of his unabated zeal for the Service, of hisdutiful devotion to your Majesty's person, and of the pain and sorrow with which he relinquishes an appointment that afforded him the honour and advantage of executing your Majesty's commands, and receiving many gracious proofs of your Majesty's support and confidence.
Footnote 61: Lord Hill's country house in Shropshire.
APPOINTMENT OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Whitehall,10th August 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that he received at a late hour last night the accompanying letter to your Majesty from Lord Hill. From the one which accompanied it, addressed to Sir Robert Peel, he has reason to believe that it conveys to your Majesty the wish of Lord Hill to be relieved, on the ground of ill-health and increasing infirmities, from the Command of your Majesty's Forces.
Sir Robert Peel would humbly submit for your Majesty's consideration whether it might not be a deserved mark of your Majesty's approbation to confer upon Lord Hill the rank of Viscount, with remainder to his nephew Sir Rowland Hill,62who will succeed Lord Hill in the Barony. Lord Beresford63and Lord Combermere64have the rank of Viscounts, and perhaps the long, faithful services of Lord Hill as Commander-in-Chief may appear to your Majesty to entitle him to equal distinction in the Peerage.
Sir Robert Peel has reason to believe that when Lord Hill's retirement shall be known there will be many competitors for the office of Commander-in-Chief.
Sir George Murray,65Sir Edward Paget,66Lord Londonderry,67Lord Combermere, and perhaps Lord Beresford, will severally urge their pretensions.
Sir Robert Peel humbly submits to your Majesty that should the Duke of Wellington be willing to undertake the duties of this important trust, no claims could stand in competition withhis, and no selection from the candidates whom he has named would be satisfactory to the Army or public in general.
Sir Robert Peel would therefore humbly recommend to your Majesty that the offer of this appointment should be made to the Duke of Wellington, with the signification of a wish on the part of your Majesty (should your Majesty be pleased to approve of the arrangement), that His Grace should continue a member of the Cabinet, and the organ of the Government, as at present, in the House of Lords.
Footnote 62: Lord Hill died 10th December 1842, and was succeeded in his peerages by Sir Rowland Hill, who died in 1875.
Footnote 63: William Carr Beresford (1768-1854), created Viscount Beresford in 1823 for the victory of Albuera, 1811.
Footnote 64: Sir Stapleton Cotton (1773-1865), created Viscount Combermere for the capture of Bhurtpore.
Footnote 65: Sir George Murray (1772-1846), received a K.C.B. for his services in the Peninsula, M.P. for Perth, and afterwards Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.
Footnote 66: General Sir Edward Paget, G.C.B. (1775-1849), brother of the first Marquis of Anglesey.
Footnote 67: Prior to being Ambassador at Vienna, Lord Londonderry had distinguished himself in the Peninsula.
THE DUKE ACCEPTS
London,12th August 1842.
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has been informed by Sir Robert Peel that your Majesty had been graciously pleased to approve of the recommendation submitted by your Majesty's servants that he should be appointed the Commander-in-Chief of your Majesty's Forces.
He is sensible of and grateful for this fresh proof of your Majesty's confidence in him and gracious favour towards him.
He hopes that your Majesty will believe that your Majesty may rely upon his making every effort in his power to promote your Majesty's views for the honour and interest of the country in any situation in which he may be placed.
Which is humbly submitted to your Majesty by your Majesty's most dutiful and devoted Subject and Servant,
Wellington.
Windsor Castle,12th August 1842.
The Queen has received Lord Hill's letter of the 9th inst., and is much concerned to learn that Lord Hill's health is so indifferent that he thinks it is his duty to resign the important office which he has so long and so honourably held. The Queen can only reluctantly give her consent to this determination, as she regrets to lose Lord Hill's services at the head of her Army. She cannot, however, miss this opportunity of expressing to Lord Hill her entire approbation of his conduct throughout the time he served her. The Prince begs to have his kind regards sent to Lord Hill.
RIOTS IN MANCHESTER
Cabinet Room, Downing Street,13th August 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is sorry to be under the necessity of troubling your Majesty so suddenly, but he is sure your Majesty will excuse him for making any proposal to your Majesty which the public service may render requisite.68
The accounts received this morning from Manchester with regard to the state of the country in that neighbourhood are very unsatisfactory, and they are confirmed by the personal testimony of magistrates who have arrived in London for the purpose of making representations to your Majesty's servants on the subject.
A Cabinet has just been held, and it is proposed to send a battalion of Guards by the railway this evening. The 16th of August (Tuesday next) is the anniversary of a conflict which took place in Manchester in the year 181969between the Yeomanry Cavalry and the populace, and it is feared that there may be a great assemblage of persons riotously disposed on that day.
Under these circumstances it appears desirable to your Majesty's confidential advisers that a proclamation should be immediately issued, warning all persons against attendance on tumultuous meetings, and against all acts calculated to disturb the public peace. It is necessary that a Council should be held for the issue of this proclamation, and important that it should arrive in Manchester on Monday.
These considerations have prevented Sir Robert Peel from giving previous notice to your Majesty, and having your Majesty's sanction for the holding of a Council. On account of the urgency of the case, he has requested a sufficient number of Privy Councillors to repair to Windsor this evening, in order that should your Majesty be graciously pleased to hold a Council, the proclamation may be forthwith issued. The members of the Privy Council will be in attendance about half-past six o'clock, as Sir Robert Peel has considered thatfrom that time to half-past seven will probably be the least inconvenient to your Majesty.
He writes this immediately after the breaking up of the Cabinet.
Footnote 68: The disturbances of this month, which originated in a strike for wages in Lancashire, were inflamed by agitators, and rapidly spread through Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire, eventually extending to the populous parts of Scotland and Wales. Several conflicts took place between the populace and the military, and there was much loss of life and property, as well as aggravated distress.
Footnote 69: On 16th August 1819, a great popular demonstration in favour of Parliamentary Reform, presided over by Henry Hunt, the Radical, had taken place in St Peter's Fields, Manchester. A riot ensued, and the Yeomanry charged the populace, with some loss of life. The affair was afterwards known as the Peterloo massacre.
CHARTIST DISTURBANCES
Whitehall,15th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty the enclosed letter from Major-General Sir William Warre70in command of the Northern District.
From this report it is evident that a strong and salutary moral impression had been produced by the arrival of a reinforcement of 1,400 men in the disturbed district in the short time of six-and-thirty hours after the first requisition for assistance had been sent from Manchester; and the General has now at his disposal a force quite adequate to cope with the vast assemblage of people who are expected to meet to-morrow at Manchester.
Some symptoms of this disposition forcibly to suspend labour have appeared in the West Riding of Yorkshire; but on the whole the accounts, both from Scotland and the disturbed district, which have been received this morning, may be considered favourable. The railroad communications as yet are uninterrupted; no collision has taken place between the troops and the multitude, except at Preston;71and Sir James Graham is willing to hope that this insurrectionary movement may be suppressed without recourse to extreme measures. Every precaution, however, has been taken, and arrangements are made for augmenting the force under the command of Sir William Warre, if it should become necessary.
The character of these riots has assumed more decidedly a political aspect. It is no longer a strike for higher wages, but the Delegates, who direct the movement, avow that labour shall not be resumed until the people's Charter be granted.72
Sir James Graham will hasten to-morrow to inform your Majesty of the accounts which he may receive.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. Graham.
Footnote 70: Lieutenant-General Sir William Warre (1784-1853), a distinguished Peninsular officer.
Footnote 71: The mob attacked the military, who fired and killed three or four persons.
Footnote 72: A colossal petition in favour of the Charter had been presented during the Session by Mr T. Duncombe.
SATISFACTORY RESULTS
Whitehall,18th August 1842.(Thursday morning.)
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that he returned to London last night.
He has this morning gone through all the letters received from the country, with Sir James Graham, by whom the details of the information will be forwarded to your Majesty.
It appears to Sir Robert Peel that the general tenor of the reports issatisfactory. From Manchester, from Wigan, from Preston, the reports are very good.
The movement is not one caused by distress. The demand for employment has increased, and the price of provisions—and particularly of potatoes, bread, and bacon—has rapidly fallen within the last fortnight or three weeks.
People of property and the Magistrates (notwithstanding their political dissensions) are now acting in harmony, and with more energy.
Orders have been sent to apprehend the Delegates assembled in Manchester,the very momentthat the law will warrant their apprehension, and Sir Robert Peel should not be surprised to hear of their committal to Lancaster Castle in the course of to-day.
Every vigilance will be exerted with reference toCooper73(whom your Majesty names) and all other itinerant agitators.
As might be naturally expected, the movements and disorderly spirit spreading from the centre (Manchester) are appearing in remote points; but when peace and confidence are thoroughly restored at Manchester, the example will quickly tell in the circumjacent districts.
Birmingham is tranquil and well-disposed. The accounts from Scotland are favourable.
Footnote 73: A Leicester Chartist, who was afterwards tried for sedition.
PARLIAMENT PROROGUED
South Street,17th August 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He is going down to-day to Brocket Hall with Lord and Lady Beauvale. Lord and Lady Palmerston are coming downto-morrow, and Lord and Lady Cowper will probably come over from Panshanger.
Your Majesty read extremely well in the House of Lords on Friday last.74Lord Melbourne can judge better of this from the body of the House than he could when he stood close to your Majesty. Nothing can be more clear and distinct, and at the same time more natural and free from effort. Perhaps if your Majesty could read a tone louder it would be as well. Charles Buller, who was amongst the House of Commons, told Lord Melbourne that, where he stood, the voice, although well heard, sounded somewhat weak. But this should not be attempted unless it can be done with perfect ease. Nothing injures reading so much as the attempt to push the organ beyond its natural powers.
Lord Melbourne hopes that these tumults in the manufacturing districts are subsiding, but he cannot conceal from your Majesty that he views them with great alarm—much greater than he generally thinks it prudent to express. He fears that they may last in the form of strike, and turn out much longer than is looked for, as they did in 1832 and 1833.
There is a great mass of discontented feeling in the country arising from the actual state of society. It arises from the distress and destitution which will fall at times upon a great manufacturing population, and from the wild and extravagant opinions which are naturally generated in an advanced and speculative state of society.
This discontent has been aggravated and fermented by the language of every party in the state. Lord Melbourne can exempt no party from this blame, nor hardly any individual except himself. The Tories and Conservatives (not the Leaders, but the larger portion of the party) have done what they could to inflame the public mind upon that most inflammable topic of the Poor Laws. TheTimesnewspaper has been the most forward in this. The Whigs and Radicals have done what they could in the same direction upon the Corn Laws. Mr Attwood75and another set have worked the question of the Currency, and the whole career of Mr O'Connell in Ireland has been too manifest to be mistaken. It is no wonder if working in this manner altogether they have at last succeeded in driving the country into this which is certainly very near, if not actually a rebellion.
Lord Melbourne earnestly hopes that your Majesty and the Prince, the Prince, and Princess are all well.
Footnote 74: Parliament was prorogued by the Queen in person on 12th August.
Footnote 75: Who represented the Radical views of the Birmingham school.
THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS
Whitehall,18th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, is happily enabled to state to your Majesty that the accounts from the disturbed districts received this morning are more satisfactory.
In Lancashire a disposition to resume work has been partially evinced; and at Preston, where the most vigorous measures were taken in the first instance, there has hardly been a cessation of employment.
Sir James Graham encloses a letter from the Chief Constable of the County of Lancashire detailing a successful resistance to a fresh attempt on the part of a mob to enter Preston; and he sends also a report from the Mayor of Manchester and from Mr Forster, the Stipendiary Magistrate. Decisive measures will be adopted for the immediate apprehension of the Delegates, not only at Manchester, but in every other quarter where legal evidence can be obtained which will justify their arrest. The law, which clearly sanctions resistance to the entry of these mobs into cities, is now understood by the local authorities. A bolder and firmer spirit is rising among all classes possessing property in defence of their rights against these bands of plunderers, who are the enemies both of law and of property. The prisoners taken in the commission of treasonable felonies are numerous; warrants are issued against others whose persons are known: the supremacy of the law will be promptly vindicated, and Sir James Graham entertains the confident hope that order will be soon restored.
In the Potteries a signal example was made by a handful of your Majesty's troops opposed to a riotous multitude which had burnt houses and spread devastation, and Sir James Graham encloses a letter from Captain Powys giving a description of the occurrence. The effect of this example has been that yesterday throughout this district no rioting took place.
DISTURBANCES IN LONDON
Whitehall,19th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to announce to your Majesty that the accounts from the North, on the whole, may be considered satisfactory....
Five of the principal Delegates at Manchester have been apprehended. Warrants are out against four others. A veryimportant seizure of papers has been made which discloses a conspiracy, extensive in its ramifications, going back as far as July 1841. It is hoped that these papers, which are still at Manchester, may lead to fresh discoveries. Sir James Graham will send to Manchester to-night an experienced law officer, for the purpose of pursuing the investigation on the spot.
There was a meeting last night in the neighbourhood of London, of a violent character. Sir James Graham had given positive orders to the police not to allow any mob, as night approached, to enter London. Notwithstanding these directions, a mob assembled in Lincoln's Inn Fields about eleven o'clock, and moved through the city to Bethnal Green. Sir James Graham had the troops on the alert, but the multitude dispersed without any serious disturbance.
20th August 1842.
... An attempt to hold a meeting at dusk in the suburbs of London was resisted by the police yesterday evening in pursuance of orders issued by the Government in conjunction with the Lord Major, and the peace of the metropolis was preserved.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. Graham.
TROUBLE AT THE CAPE
Downing Street,26th August 1842.
Lord Stanley, with his humble duty, submits for your Majesty's perusal copies of three despatches, received yesterday from the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, detailing the unfortunate result of an attack made by a small party of your Majesty's troops upon the camp of the insurgent Boers at Natal; and also the copy of a despatch which Lord Stanley has sent in consequence to Sir George Napier,76which, he trusts, may meet your Majesty's approbation. Lord Stanley would have submitted the draft for your Majesty's approval previous to sending it, had not an opportunity presented itself of sending it off by a fast-sailing private ship which sailed this morning,the intelligence having only been received yesterday. The instructions sent to Sir George Napier, on the 10th of April, but not received when this unfortunate affair took place, were in substance not to attempt the subjugation of these people by direct force, but to warn them that their titles to the land which they occupy would not be recognised by your Majesty, that they would have no title to claim protection from the aggression of the neighbouring tribes, to interdict communication between them and the settled parts of the Colony, and to prevent any intercourse by sea with foreign or British traders. The unfortunate event which has now occurred will render it necessary to take steps, as Sir George Napier has already done, for vindicating the power of your Majesty's Arms; but when that shall have been effected, Lord Stanley would still hope that a considerable number of these misguided men may be induced to return to their allegiance, and to the settled parts of your Majesty's dominions, and he feels confident that in such an event he will be fulfilling your Majesty's wishes in directing that they may be treated with all possible lenity.
All which is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject,
Stanley.
Footnote 76: Sir George Napier (1784-1855) governed Cape Colony for seven years, and the Boers were extruded from Natal by him.
Bushey House,7th September 1842.
My dearest Niece,—... Your Mamma's visit gave me great pleasure, and it has been a great treat to me to hear her sing again, andso well, which put me in mind of former happy days. I regretmuchthat she leaves me already this afternoon again, but the strong and powerfulmagnetwhich you have left at the Castle draws her back, and I dare not keep her away from such treasures.
I beg you, my dearest Victoria, to give my affectionate love to dear Albert, and to believe me ever most devotedly, your very affectionate Aunt,
Adelaide.
THE QUEEN VISITS SCOTLAND
Taymouth,778th September 1842.
My dearest Uncle,—I make no excuses for not having written, as I know that you will understand that when one istravelling about and seeing so much that istotallynew, it is very difficult to find time to write....
Albert has told you already how successfully everything had gone off hitherto, and how much pleased we were with Edinburgh, which is an unique town in its way. We left Dalkeith on Monday, and lunched at Dupplin, Lord Kinnoul's, a pretty place with quite a new house, and which poor Lord Kinnoul displayed so well as to fall head over heels down a steep bank, and was proceeding down another, if Albert had not caught him; I did not see it, but Albert and I have nearly died with laughing at therelationof it. From Dalkeith we went through Perth (which ismostbeautifully situated on the Tay) to Scone Palace,78Lord Mansfield's, where we slept; fine but rather gloomy. Yesterday morning (Tuesday) we left Scone and lunched at Dunkeld, the beginning of the Highlands, in a tent;allthe Highlanders in their fine dress, being encamped there, and with their old shields and swords, looked very romantic; they were chiefly Lord Glenlyon's79men.He, poor man! is suddenly becometotallyblind, and it was very melancholy to see him do thehonours,notseeinganything. The situation of Dunkeld, down in a valley surrounded by wooded hills, is very, very pretty. From thence we proceeded to this enchanting and princely place; the whole drive here was beautiful. All Lord Breadalbane's80Highlanders, with himself at their head, and a battalion of the 92nd Highlanders, were drawn up in front of the House. In the evening the grounds were splendidly illuminated, and bonfires burning on the hills; and a number of Highlanders danced reels by torchlight, to the bagpipes, which was very wild and pretty....
Footnote 77: Lord Breadalbane's house. The Queen left London on 29th August for Scotland by sea, reaching Edinburgh on 1st September.
Footnote 78: Scone Abbey was granted to Sir David Murray (afterwards Viscount Stormont) by James VI. of Scotland, whose cup-bearer he was, and whose life he saved.
Footnote 79: Afterwards George, sixth Duke of Atholl (1814-1864).
Footnote 80: John, second Marquis of Breadalbane, K.T. (1796-1862).