The Queen joins with Lord Melbourne in unfeigned satisfaction at the success of the Irish measures, after so much factious opposition. Lord Grey's death20will have shocked Lord Melbourne, as it has us. Poor Lord Dunmore's death is a very shocking event. The Prince wishes to be most kindly remembered to Lord Melbourne.
Footnote 20: Charles, second Earl Grey, had been Prime Minister, 1830-1834.
THE SOVEREIGN'S ABSENCE
Whitehall,6th August 1845.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that in the course of a long speech made by Lord John Russell last night, reviewing the policy of the Government and the proceedings of the Session, Lord John expressed himself strongly on the subject of your Majesty's absence from the country, without provision made for the exercise of the Royal authority by the appointment of Lords Justices.
Sir Robert Peel thinks it very probable that a motion will be made upon the subject in the course of the next Session—particularly in the event of any occurrence during your Majesty's absence, which might cause public inconvenience from the want of immediate access to the Royal authority, or compel any assumption of power on the part of your Majesty's servants of a questionable character.
The present Law Officers of the Crown were rather startled at the intention of departing from the precedent of George IV.'s reign, on seeing the legal opinions of their predecessors; they did not differ from thelegaldoctrines laid down by them, but were not very well satisfied on the point of discretion and policy.
Sir Robert Peel feels it to be his duty to state to your Majesty what has passed on this subject, and to apprize your Majesty of the possibility of a question being hereafter raised in Parliament upon it.
Sir Robert Peel thinks that in the case of a short absence, and a distance not precluding easy and rapid communication with your Majesty, the appointment of Lords Justices may be dispensed with; but he is humbly of opinion that were the distance greater or the period of absence longer than that contemplated by your Majesty, the reasons for the nomination of Lords Justices would preponderate.
Should the subject be again mentioned in Parliament and a direct question be put upon it, Sir Robert Peel will, of course, assume the entire responsibility for the non-appointment of Lords Justices; vindicating the departure from the precedent of George IV. on the ground of the shorter period of absence and the more easy means of communication.21...
Footnote 21: The Queen was accompanied by a Secretary of State (Lord Aberdeen), so that an act of State could be performed as well abroad as at home; seeLife of the Prince Consort, vol. i. p. 272.
VISIT TO THE CHÂTEAU D'EU
Château d'Eu,8th September 1845.
My dear Peel,—We left Antwerp very early yesterday morning, and anchored for a few hours off Flushing.22We passing down the Channel during the night, and as the weather was perfectly bright and fine, found ourselves off Tréport before nine o'clock this morning. The King came off to the yacht, and took the Queen in his barge to land. I need not say how joyfully she was received by all the Royal Family.
Although I shall have opportunities, both this evening and to-morrow morning, of speaking again with the King and Guizot, I have already discussed several subjects with each of them; and as the Queen particularly desires to send a messenger this evening, I will give you some notion of what has passed between us.
THE SPANISH MARRIAGESI think the marriage of the Queen of Spain is the subject on which the greatest interest is felt at this moment. It was the first introduced, both by the King and Guizot, and treated by both in the same manner. They said, that having promised to support the King of Naples, they were bound not to abandon the Count de Trapani, so long as there was a chance of his being successful in his suit. I said in answer to their desire, that we would assist this arrangement, that we had no objection to Count Trapani, and that we would take no part against him; but unless it should be the decided wish of the Spanish Government and people, we could give no support to the marriage, as we were honestly of opinion that it was not desired in Spain, and that we saw nothing in the proposal to call for our support under these circumstances. Both the King and Guizot saidthey had no objection to the Duke of Saville23(Don Enrique), and that if it should be found that Count Trapani was impossible, they would willingly support him.
With respect to the Infanta, they both declared in the most positive and explicit manner, thatuntil the Queen was married and had children, they should consider the Infanta precisely as her sister, and that any marriage with a French Prince would be entirely out of the question. The King said he did not wish that his son should have the prospect of being on the throne of Spain; but that if the Queen had children, by whom the succession would be secured, he did not engage to preclude himself from the possibility of profiting by the great inheritance which the Infanta would bring his son. All this, however, was uncertain, and would require time at all events to accomplish; for I distinctly understood, that it was not only a marriage and a child, butchildren, that were necessary to secure the succession.
I thought this was as much as we could desire at present, and that the policy of a marriage with a French Prince might safely be left to be considered whenever the contingency contemplated should arrive. Many things may happen, both in France and Spain, in the course of a few years to affect this question in a manner not now apparent.
Aberdeen.
Footnote 22: Parliament was prorogued on the 9th of August, and the Queen and Prince sailed in the evening for Antwerp in the Royal yacht. Sir Theodore Martin gives a very full description of the visit to Coburg. The Queen was especially delighted with the Rosenau and Reinhardtsbrunn. On the morning of the 8th of September the yacht, which had left the Scheldt on the previous evening, arrived at Tréport, and a second visit was paid to the King and Queen of the French at the Château d'Eu.
Footnote 23: Younger son of Don Francisco de Paula, and first cousin to Queen Isabella, both through his father and his mother.
CHURCH APPOINTMENTS
Osborne,15th September 1845.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that there remains the sum of £700 to be applied in the current year to the grant of Civil List Pensions.
Sir Robert Peel humbly recommends to your Majesty that another sum of £200 should be offered to Mr Tennyson, a poet of whose powers of imagination and expression many competent judges think most highly.
He was brought under the notice of Sir Robert Peel by Mr Hallam. His pecuniary circumstances are far from being prosperous.
There is a vacancy in the Deanery of Lincoln, but the preferment is less eligible from there being no residence, and the necessity for building one at the immediate expense of the new Dean.
Sir Robert Peel is inclined to recommend to your Majesty that an offer of this preferment should be made to Mr Ward, the Rector of St James's.
Should Mr Ward decline, there is a clergyman of the name of Maurice,24of whom the Archbishop says: "Of unbeneficed London clergy there is no one, I believe, who is so much distinguished by his learning and literary talent as the Rev. Frederick Maurice, Chaplain of St Guy's Hospital. His private character is equally estimable."
Should Mr Ward decline25the Deanery it might, should your Majesty approve of it, be offered to Mr Maurice. The Archbishop says that the appointment of Mr Maurice would be very gratifying to theKing of Prussia.
Footnote 24: Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), the friend of Kingsley, afterwards Chaplain of St. Peter's, Vere Street.
Footnote 25: Mr Ward accepted the Deanery.
St Cloud,10th October 1845.
My dearest Victoria,—... All you say about our dear Albert, whom I love like my own child, is perfectly true. The attacks, however unjust, have but one advantage, that of showing the points the enemy thinksweakestand best calculated to hurt. This, being the case, Anson, without boring A. withdailyaccounts which in the end become very irksome, should pay attention to these very points, and contribute to avoid what may be turned to account by the enemy. To hope toescapecensure and calumny is next to impossible, but whatever is considered by the enemy as a fit subject for attack is better modified or avoided. The dealings with artists, for instance, require great prudence; they are acquainted with all classes of society, and for that very reason dangerous; they are hardlyever satisfied, and when you have too much to do with them, you are sure to havedes ennuis.... Your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
LORD METCALFE
Windsor Castle,2nd November 1845.
The Queen has read with great concern Lord Stanley's letter of the 1st November. From private information she had been led to expect that Lord Metcalfe would not be able to continueat his irksome post.26He will be an immense loss, and the selection of a successor will be most difficult. The Queen hopes that there will not be too great a delay in making the new appointment, as experience has shown that nothing was more detrimental to the good government of Canada than the last interregnum after Sir Charles Bagot's death; it would certainly likewise be desirable that Lord Metcalfe should be able personally to make over his Government to his successor, whom he could verbally better put in possession of the peculiarities of his position than any instructions could do. It strikes the Queen to be of thegreatest importance, that the judicious system pursued by Lord Metcalfe (and which, after a long continuation of toil and adversities, only now just begins to show its effect) should be followed up by his successor.
The Queen knows nobody who would be as fit for the appointment as Lord Elgin, who seems to have given great satisfaction in Jamaica, where he has already succeeded Lord Metcalfe, whose original appointment there hadlikewisetaken place under circumstances of great difficulty, which his prudence and firmness finally overcame.27
Footnote 26: He retired from the Governor-Generalship of Canada through ill-health.
Footnote 27: Lord Stanley, in reply, submitted a private letter from Lord Elgin, expressing a wish to return home; Earl Cathcart was provisionally appointed Governor-General.
Osborne,28th November 1845.
The Queen is very sorry to hear that Sir Robert Peel apprehends further differences of opinion in the Cabinet, at a moment of impending calamity; it is more than ever necessary that the Government should be strong and united.
The Queen thinks the time is come when a removal of the restrictions upon the importation of food cannot be successfully resisted. Should this be Sir Robert's own opinion, the Queen very much hopes that none of his colleagues will prevent him from doing what it isrightto do.
THE CORN LAWS
Whitehall,4th December 1845.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that a leading paragraph in theTimesof to-day, asserting that your Majesty's servants had unanimously agreed to an immediate and total repeal of the Corn Laws, is quite without foundation.28
Footnote 28: SeeMemoirs of the Life of Henry Reeve, vol. i. p. 175, for Lord Dufferin's refutation of the story that Sidney Herbert confided the secret to Mrs Norton, and that she sold it to theTimes. The story has obtained a wide currency through Mr Meredith'sDiana of the Crossways. Lord Stanmore, in hisLife of Sidney Herbert, substantially attributes the communication to Lord Aberdeen, but does not give the details.
Whitehall,5th December 1845.
(Friday evening.)
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and will wait upon your Majesty to-morrow evening, leaving London by the half-past twelve train.
Sir Robert Peel will avail himself of your Majesty's kind proposal to remain at Osborne until Monday morning.
He will come to Osborne with a heart full of gratitude and devotion to your Majesty, but with a strong conviction (all the grounds for which he will, with your Majesty's permission, explain to your Majesty) that in the present state of affairs, he can render more service to your Majesty and to the country in a private than in a public station.
Footnote 29: Peel reported to the Queen the Cabinet discussions on the Corn Law question. The Queen wrote that the news caused her much uneasiness, and that she felt certain that her Minister would not leave her at a moment of such difficulty, and when a crisis was impending.
CABINET DISSENSIONS
Osborne,7th December 1845.
On receiving the preceding letter30... we were, of course, in great consternation. Yesterday Sir Robert Peel arrived here and explained the condition of affairs.
Footnote 30: From Sir Robert Peel, 5th December,ante.
INTERVIEW WITH PEELOn 1st November he had called his Cabinet, and placed before its members the reports of the Irish Commissioners, Dr Buckland, Dr Playfair and Dr Lindley, on the condition of the potato crop, which was to the effect that the half of the potatoes were ruined by the rot, and that no one could guarantee the remainder. Belgium, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, in which states the potato disease had likewise deprived the poorer class of its usual food, have immediately taken energetic means, and have opened the harbours, bought corn, and providedfor the case of a rise of prices. Sir Robert proposed the same thing for England, and, by opening the ports, a preparation for the abolition of the Corn Laws. His colleagues refused, and of the whole Cabinet only Lord Aberdeen, Sir James Graham, and Mr Sidney Herbert voted with him. Sir Robert hoped that in time the opinions of the others would change, and therefore postponed a final decision. In the meanwhile the agitation of the Anti-Corn Law League began; in every town addresses were voted, meetings were held, theTimes—barometer of public feeling—became suddenlyviolentlyAnti-Corn Law, the meetings of the Cabinet roused attention, a general panic seized on the mass of the public. Sir Robert called anew his Cabinet. In the midst of their deliberation Lord John Russell issues from Edinburgh an address to the City of London.31
Footnote 31: Declaring for the Repeal of the Corn Laws.
The whole country cries out: the Corn Laws are doomed.
Thereon Sir Robert declared to his Cabinet that nothing but unanimity could save the cause, and pressed for a decision.
The Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Stanley declared they could not take a part in a measure abolishing the Corn Laws, and would therefore have to resign. The other members, including the Duke of Wellington, showed themselves ready to support Sir Robert, yet, as the latter says, "apparently not willingly and against their feelings." Thereupon Sir Robert resolved to lay down his office as Minister.
When he arrived here he was visibly much moved, and said to me, that it was one of the most painful moments of his life to separate himself from us, "but it is necessary, and if I have erred it was from loyalty and too great an anxiety not to leave Her Majesty in a moment of such great difficulty. I ought to have gone when I was first left by my colleagues in a minority in my own Cabinet. I was anxious, however, to try my utmost, but it is impossible to retrieve lost time. As soon as I saw Lord John's letter I felt that the ground was slipping away from under me, and that whatever I might now propose would appear as dictated by the Opposition, as taking Lord John's measure. On the 1st of November the whole country was prepared for the thing; there had been no agitation, everybody looking to the Government, as soon as they saw this wavering and hesitating, the country decided for itself, and Lord John has the merit, owing to his most dexterous move and our want of unanimity."
On my observing that Sir Robert has a majority of one hundred in the House of Commons, and asking whether itwas not possible for him to continue the Government, he said:—
"The Duke of Buccleuch will carry half Scotland with him, and Lord Stanley, leading the Protectionists in the House of Lords, would lead to great and immediate defections even in Her Majesty's household. The Duchess of Buccleuch, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Exeter, Lord Rivers, Lord Beverley, etc., would resign, and we should not be able to find successors; in the House of Commons I am sure I should be beat, the Tories, agriculturists, etc., in rage would turn round upon me and be joined by the Whigs and Radicals, who would say, 'This isourmeasure and we will not allow you to carry it.' It is better that I should go now, whennobody has committed himselfin the heat of party contest, when no factions have been formed, no imprudent declarations been made; it is better for Her Majesty and for the country that it should be so."
After we had examined what possibilities were open for the Crown, the conclusion was come to that Lord John was the only man who could be charged with forming a Cabinet. Lord Stanley, with the aristocracy as his base, would bring about an insurrection [or riots], and the ground on which one would have to fight would be this: to want to force the mass of the people, amidst their great poverty, to pay for their bread a high price, in favour of the landlords.
It is a matter of the utmost importance not to place the House of Lords into direct antagonism with the Commons and with the masses of the people. Sir Robert says very correctly:—
"I am afraid of other interests getting damaged in the struggle about the Corn Laws; already the system of promotion in the Army, the Game Laws, the Church, are getting attacked with the aid of the league."
After Victoria had in consequence [of the foregoing] decided in favour of Lord John, and asked Sir Robert: "But how is it possible for him to govern with so exceedingly small a minority?" Sir Robert said: "He will have difficulties and perhaps did not consider what he was doing when he wrote that letter; butI will support him. I feel it my duty to your Majesty not to leave you without a Government. Even if Lord John goes to the full extent of his declaration in that letter (which I think goes too far), I will support him in Parliament and use all my influence with the House of Lords to prevent their impeding his progress. I will do more, if he likes it. I will say that the increase of the estimates which will become necessary are my work, and I alone am responsible for it."
Sir Robert intends to give me a memorandum in which he is to make this promise in writing.
He was greatly moved, and said it was not "the loss of power (for I hate power) nor of office," which was nothing but a plague for him, but "the breaking up of those relations in which he stood to the Queen and me, and the loss of our society," which was for him a loss, for which there was no equivalent; we might, however, rely on his being always ready to serve us, in what manner and in what place it might be. Lord Aberdeen is said to feel the same, and very deeply so; and on our side the loss of two so estimable men, who possess our whole and perfect confidence in public as well as in private affairs, and have always proved themselves true friends, leavesa great gap.
Albert.
LORD MELBOURNE INFORMED
Osborne,7th December 1845.
Sir Robert Peel has informed the Queen that in consequence of differences prevailing in the Cabinet, he is very reluctantly compelled to solicit from the Queen the acceptance of his resignation, which she has as reluctantly accepted.
From the Queen's unabated confidence in Lord Melbourne, her first impulse was to request his immediate attendance here that she might have the benefit of his assistance and advice, but on reflection the Queen does not think herself justified, in the present state of Lord Melbourne's health, to ask him to make the sacrifice which the return to his former position of Prime Minister would, she fears, impose upon him.
It is this consideration, and thisalone, that has induced the Queen to address to Lord John Russell the letter of which she sends a copy. The Queen hopes, however, that Lord Melbourne will not withhold from her new Government his advice, which would be so valuable to her.
It is of theutmost importancethat the whole of this communication should be kept amost profound secretuntil the Queen has seen Lord John Russell.
LORD MELBOURNE'S ATTITUDE
8th December 1845.
Sir Robert helped us in the composition of the letters to Lord John and to Lord Melbourne. We considered it necessaryto write to the latter, in consideration of the confidential position which he formerly enjoyed.
Sir Robert Peel has notresigned, thinking it a matter of great strength for the Sovereign to keep his ministry until a new one can be got.
Albert.
Brocket Hall,9th December 1845.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has just received your Majesty's letter of the 7th inst., which, of course, has astonished him by the magnitude of the event which it announces, although something of this sort has been long pending and to be expected. Lord Melbourne returns your Majesty many thanks for this communication, and more for your Majesty's great kindness and consideration for him personally at the present moment. He is better, but so long a journey would still not have been convenient to him, and he has such a horror of the sea, that a voyage from Southampton to Cowes or from Portsmouth to Ryde seems to him in prospect as formidable as a voyage across the Atlantic.
Lord Melbourne will strictly observe your Majesty's injunction of secrecy.
With respect to the kind wishes about office which your Majesty is pleased to express, Lord Melbourne will of course give to your Majesty's new Government, if formed under Lord John Russell, all the support in his power, but as to taking office, he fears that he would find some difficulty. He would be very unwilling to come in pledged to a total and immediate reform of the Corn Law, and he also strongly feels the difficulty which has in fact compelled Sir Robert Peel to retire, viz. the difficulty of carrying on the Government upon the principle of upholding and maintaining the present law with respect to corn.
Lord Melbourne again thanks your Majesty for your great and considerate kindness.
PEEL'S ATTITUDE
Whitehall,10th December 1845.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and influenced by no other motive than the desire to contribute if possible to the relief of your Majesty from embarrassment,and the protection of the public interests from injury, is induced to make this confidential communication to your Majesty explanatory of his position and intentions with regard to the great question which is now agitating the public mind.
Your Majesty can, if you think fit, make this communication known to the Minister who, as successor to Sir Robert Peel, may be honoured by your Majesty's confidence.
On the first day of November last Sir Robert Peel advised his colleagues, on account of the alarming accounts from Ireland and many districts of Great Britain as to the failure of the potato crop from disease, and for the purpose of guarding against contingencies which in his opinion were not improbable, humbly to recommend to your Majesty that the duties on the import of foreign grain should be suspended for a limited period either by Order in Council, or by Legislative Enactment, Parliament in either case being summoned without delay.
Sir Robert Peel foresaw that this suspension, fully justified by the tenor of the reports to which he has referred, would compel, during the interval of suspension, the reconsideration of the Corn Laws.
If the opinions of his colleagues had been in concurrence with his own, he was fully prepared to take the responsibility of suspension, and of the necessary consequence of suspension, a comprehensive review of the laws imposing restrictions on the import of foreign grain and other articles of food, with a view to their gradual diminution and ultimate removal. He was disposed to recommend that any new laws to be enacted should contain within themselves the principle of gradual and ultimate removal.
Sir Robert Peel is prepared to support in a private capacity measures which may be in general conformity with those which he advised as a Minister.
It would be unbecoming in Sir Robert Peel to make any reference to the details of such measures.
Your Majesty has been good enough to inform him that it is your intention to propose to Lord John Russell to undertake the formation of a Government.
The principle on which Sir Robert Peel was prepared to recommend the reconsideration of the laws affecting the import of the main articles of food, was in general accordance with that referred to in the concluding paragraph of Lord John Russell's letter to the electors of the City of London.32
Sir Robert Peel wished to accompany the removal of restrictions on the admission of such articles, with relief to the land from such charges as are unduly onerous, and with such other provisions as in the terms of Lord John Russell's letter "caution and even scrupulous forbearance may suggest."
Sir Robert Peel will support measures founded on that general principle, and will exercise any influence he may possess to promote their success.
Sir Robert Peel feels it to be his duty to add, that should your Majesty's servants, after consideration of the heavy demands upon the Army of this country for colonial service, of our relations with the United States, and of the bearing which steam navigation may have upon maritime warfare, and the defence of the country, deem it advisable to propose an addition to the Army, and increased naval and military estimates, Sir Robert Peel will support the proposal, will do all that he can to prevent it from being considered as indicative of hostile or altered feeling towards France, and will assume for the increase in question any degree of responsibility present or retrospective which can fairly attach to him.
Robert Peel.
Footnote 32: That paragraph urged that, with a revision of taxation to make the arrangement more equitable, and the safeguards suggested by caution and scrupulous forbearance, restrictions on the admission of the main articles of food and clothing used by the mass of the people should be removed.
LORD STANLEY RESIGNS
St James's Square,11th December 1845.
... Lord Stanley humbly hopes that he may be permitted to avail himself of this opportunity to express to your Majesty the deep regret and pain with which he has felt himself compelled to dissent from the advice intended to have been tendered to your Majesty on the subject of the Corn Laws. He begs to assure your Majesty that he would have shrunk from making no personal sacrifice, short of that of principle, for the purpose of avoiding the inconvenience to your Majesty and to the country inseparable from any change of Administration; but being unconvinced of the necessity of a change of policy involving an abandonment of opinions formerly maintained, and expectations held out to political supporters, he felt that the real interests of your Majesty's service could not be promoted by the loss of personal character which the sacrifice of his own convictions would necessarily have involved; and that he might far more usefully serve your Majesty and the country out of office, than as the official advocate of a policy which he could not sincerely approve. Lord Stanley begs to assure your Majesty that it will be his earnest endeavour to allay, as far as may lie in his power, the excitement which he cannot but foresee as the consequence of the contemplatedchange of policy; and he ventures to indulge the hope that this long trespass upon your Majesty's much occupied time may find a sufficient apology in the deep anxiety which he feels that his regret at being compelled not only to retire from your Majesty's service, but also to take a step which he is aware may have had some influence on the course finally adopted by Sir Robert Peel, may not be still farther increased by the apprehension of having, in the performance of a most painful duty, incurred your Majesty's displeasure. All which is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject,
Stanley.
Osborne,12th December 1845.
The Queen, of course,much regretsthat Lord Stanley could not agree in the opinions of Sir Robert Peel upon a subject of such importance to the country. However, Lord Stanley may rest assured that the Queen gives full credit to the disinterested motives which guided Lord Stanley's conduct.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Osborne,12th December 1845.
The Queen has to inform the Duke of Wellington that, in consequence of Sir Robert Peel's having declared to her his inability to carry on any longer the Government, she has sent for Lord John Russell, who is not able at present to state whether he can form an Administration, and is gone to Town in order to consult his friends. Whatever the result of his enquiries may be, the Queen has astrongdesire to see the Duke of Wellington remain at the head of her Army. The Queen appeals to the Duke's so often proved loyalty and attachment to her person, in asking him to give her this assurance. The Duke will thereby render the greatest service to the country and to her own person.
THE DUKE'S ADVICE
Strathfieldsaye,12th December 1845.
(11 at night.)
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his humble duty to your Majesty; he has just now received your Majesty's commands from Osborne of this day's date.
He humbly submits to your Majesty that the duties of the Commander-in-Chief of your Majesty's Land Forces places him in constant confidential relations with all your Majesty's Ministers, and particularly with the one filling the office of First Lord of the Treasury.
Under these circumstances he submits to your Majesty the counsel, that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to consult the nobleman or gentleman who should be your Majesty's first Minister, before any other step should be taken upon the subject. He might think that he had reason to complain if he should find that it was arranged that the Duke of Wellington should continue to fill the office of Commander-in-Chief, and such impression might have an influence upon his future relations with that office.
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington believes that Lord John Russell and all your Majesty's former Ministers were aware, that during the whole period of the time during which Lord Hill was the General Commanding-in-Chief your Majesty's Forces, the professional opinion and services of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington were at all times at the command and disposition of your Majesty's servants, and were given whenever required.
He happened to be at that time in political opposition to the Government in the House of Parliament, of which he was a member; but that circumstance made no difference.
It is impossible for the Duke of Wellington to form a political connection with Lord John Russell, or to have any relation with the political course of the Government over which he should preside.
Such arrangement would not conciliate public confidence, be considered creditable to either party, or be useful to the service of your Majesty.
Nor, indeed, would the performance of the duties of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army require that such should exist; on the other hand, the performance of these duties would require that the person filling the office should avoid to belong to, or to act in concert with, a political party opposed to the Government.
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington has considered it his duty to submit these considerations, in order that your Majesty may be perfectly aware of the position in which he is about to place himself, in case Lord John Russell should counsel your Majesty to command Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington to continue to hold the office of Commander-in-Chief of your Majesty's Land Forces.
He at once submits to your Majesty the assurance that hewill cheerfully devote his service to your Majesty's command upon receiving the official intimation thereof, and that he will as usual make every effort in his power to promote your Majesty's service.
All of which is humbly submitted to your Majesty by your Majesty's most dutiful Subject and devoted Servant,
Wellington.
KING LOUIS PHILIPPE
St Cloud,le 16 Décembre 1845.
Madame ma très Chère Sœur,—J'ai à remercier votre Majesté de l'excellente lettre que ma bonne Clém m'a remise de sa part. Elle m'a été droit au cœur, et je ne saurais exprimer à quel point j'ai été touché de vos bons voeux pour ma famille, et de tout ce que vous me témoignez sur l'accroissement qu'il a plû à la Providence de lui donner dans mesonze petits fils.
Je me disposais à dire à votre Majesté que, quoiqu'avec un bien vif regret, je comprenais parfaitement les motifs qui vous portaient à remettre à une autre année, cette visite si vivement désirée, et que j'espérais toujours trouver une compensation à cette privation, en allant de nouveau Lui offrir en Angleterre, l'hommage de tous les sentiments que je Lui porte, et qui m'attachent si profondément à Elle, ainsi qu'au Prince son Epoux, lorsque j'ai reçu la nouvelle de la démission de Sir Robert Peel, de Lord Aberdeen et de tous leurs Collégues. Je me flattais que ces Ministres qui s'étaient toujours si bien entendus avec les miens pour établir entre nos deux Gouvernements, cette heureuseentente cordialequi est la base du repos du monde et de la prospérité de nos pays, continueraient encore longtemps à l'entretenir, et à la consolider de plus en plus. Cet espoir est déçu!!33Il faut s'y résigner; mais je suis empressé d'assurer votre Majesté, que quelque soit son nouveau Ministère, celui qui m'entoure aujourd'hui, et que je désire, et que j'espère conserver longtemps, n'omettra aucun effort pour cultiver et maintenir cet heureux accord qu'il est si évidemment dans notre intérêt commun de conserver intact.
Dans de telles circonstances, il me devient doublement précieux d'être uni à votre Majesté et au Prince Albert par tant de liens, et qu'il se soit formé entre nous cet attachement mutuel, cette affection et cette confiance, qui sont au dessuset indépendants de toute considération politique; mais qui pourront toujours plus ou moins exercer une influence salutaire sur l'action et la marche de nos deux Gouvernements. Aussi, je le dis à votre Majesté et à son Epoux avec un entier abandon, j'ai besoin de compter sur cette assistance occasionnelle, et j'y compte entièrement en vous demandant d'avoir la même confiance de mon côté, et en vous répétant que cette confiance ne sera pas plus déçue dans l'avenir, qu'elle ne l'a été dans le passé.
Votre Majesté me permettra d'offrir ici au Prince Albert l'expression de ma vive et sincère amitié. Je la prie aussi de recevoir celle de l'inviolable attachement avec lequel je suis, Madame ma très chère Sœur, de votre Majesté, le bon Frère et bien fidèle Ami,
Louis Philippe R.
Footnote 33: The return of Palmerston to the Foreign Office was of course dreaded by the King and Guizot.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S ACCEPTANCE
Windsor Castle,16th December 1845.
The Queen has just received Lord John Russell's letter of this day's date,34and considering that it is of great importance that no time should be lost, has immediately forwarded it to Sir Robert Peel.
The Queen fully understands the motives which guide Lord John in using every effort to ensure the success of the great measure which is impending before he undertakes to form a Government.
The Queen sees from Lord John's second letter that he has taken a copy of Sir R. Peel's letter of the 15th to her. As she does not feel to have been authorised to allow this, the Queen hopes that in case Sir Robert should have an objection to it Lord John will not retain the copy.
Footnote 34: It is printed in theAnnual Register, 1846, p. 17. Lord John considered the temporary suspension or repeal of duties, with the prospect of their re-imposition, open to grave objections.
INSUPERABLE DIFFICULTIES
Windsor Castle,18th December 1845.
Lord John Russell returned at five this evening, and informed the Queen that after considerable discussion, and after a full consideration of his position,he will undertake to form a Government.