 |
His counsel will probably endeavour to establish his insanity.
Nothing can be more collected and intelligent in many respects than his conduct in prison. He was conversing with the gaoler, and seemed not disinclined to unburden his mind, when he suddenly stopped and enquired from the gaoler whether such conversations as that which he was holding went beyond the prison walls.
On being informed that no security could be given that they would remain secret, he said he should hold his tongue, but that all would come out by and by.
Sir Robert Peel takes the liberty of enclosing for your Majesty's perusal a note which he has just received from Miss Emily Eden, sister of Lord Auckland, and of Mrs Charles Drummond.
If it should be in your Majesty's power to assign apartments at some future period to Miss Drummond, who lived with her brother Edward, and was mainly dependent upon him, it would be a very great comfort to a lady of the most unexceptionable conduct, and most deeply attached to her poor brother.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 25th January 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has been much gratified this morning by receiving your Majesty's letter of the 23rd; he has determined upon following your Majesty's advice, and upon not hazarding the throwing himself back by coming up to London and attempting to attend the House of Lords at the commencement of the Session. The assassination of Mr Drummond, for Lord Melbourne fears it must be called so, is indeed a dreadful thing. Lord Melbourne is not surprised, for people are very apt to turn all their wrath and indignation upon the man from whom they actually receive an answer which they do not like, without in the least considering whether he is really responsible for it. Lord Melbourne used often to be himself assailed with threats of personal violence. Sometimes he took notice of them by swearing the peace against those who used them, and having them bound over in sureties. Sometimes he disregarded them, but he does not think it either prudent or justifiable entirely to neglect such intimations. Lord Melbourne does not wonder that this event brings to your Majesty's recollection what has taken place in your own case.
Hallam is, in Lord Melbourne's opinion, right about Ireland. Her advocates are very loud in their outcry, but she has not really much to complain of.
Lord Melbourne was very glad to hear of the marriage of Prince Augustus of Coburg with the Princess Clementine, as he apprehends that the connection must be very agreeable to your Majesty.
Lord Melbourne begs to be respectfully and affectionately remembered to His Royal Highness.
[Pageheading: COMMITTAL OF MACNAGHTEN]
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 28th January 1843.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to inform your Majesty, that the prisoner Daniel MacNaghten was fully committed for trial this afternoon. He was not defended before the Magistrates; but in his manner he was quite cool, intelligent, and collected; he asked no questions, but he expressed a wish to have copies of the Depositions.
His trial will probably commence on Friday or Saturday next, and there is reason to believe that, at the request of his relatives in Glasgow, counsel will be retained, and that the plea of insanity will be raised in his defence.[8]
Every preparation is in progress to meet this vague and dangerous excuse. It will turn out that the pistols were bought at Paisley by MacNaghten on the 6th of August last; and information has reached Sir James Graham, which, he thinks, will prove that MacNaghten is a Chartist, that he has attended political meetings at Glasgow, and that he has taken a violent part in politics. He yesterday saw a Presbyterian clergyman, who prayed with him; who pointed out the atrocity of his crime, the innocence of his victim, the pangs of sorrowing relatives, and who exhorted him to contrition and repentance. Some impression was made at the moment; but his general demeanour is marked by cold reserve and hardness of heart.
[Footnote 8: He was defended by four counsel, including Mr Cockburn, afterwards Lord Chief Justice.]
[Pageheading: THE ROYAL FAMILY AND POLITICS]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 2nd February 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and thanks much for the letter of the 30th ult., which he received here yesterday morning. He believes it is more prudent not to go to London, but he greatly regrets that his not doing so will deprive him for so long a time of the honour and pleasure of seeing your Majesty.
The Duke of Sussex acquainted Lord Melbourne and took his opinion before he issued his cards for the dinner. Lord Melbourne does not think that he can have any idea of playing the part to which Lord Erroll alluded. It is better that a dinner should be given somewhere. He having nothing of the kind would look too much like giving up the whole business and disbanding the party. Lord Melbourne entirely agrees with your Majesty as to the political conduct which ought to be pursued by the members of the Royal Family, but he remembers no time in which they have been induced to act with so much prudence and propriety. Your Majesty will see in Adolphus the very prominent share which the Duke of Cumberland,[9] the General of Culloden, took in the Party contentions of those days. He was a strong partisan and in a great measure the founder of the Whig party. Lord Melbourne has often heard George IV. converse upon that subject, and he used to contend that it was quite impossible for a Prince of Wales in this country to avoid taking an active part in politics and political contentions. The fact is, that George III. did not discourage this in his own family sufficiently, and the King of Hanover always said that his father had encouraged him in the active part which he took, and which certainly was sufficiently objectionable.
The assassination of Drummond is indeed a horrible event. Lord Melbourne does not see as yet any clear, distinct, and certain evidence of what were the real motives and object of the man. But we shall hear upon his trial what it is that he urges. Your Majesty will, of course, recollect that the Jury acquitted Oxford, and there then was nothing to do but to acquiesce in the verdict. If the Jury should take a similar view of this man's crime, it will be impossible for the Government to do anything to remedy the evil which Lord Melbourne thinks will be caused by such a decision. Lord Melbourne knew Mr Drummond pretty well. He used formerly to be much in Hertfordshire, both at Hatfield and at Gorhambury, and Lord Melbourne has often met him at both places, and thought him with all the rest of the world, a very quiet, gentlemanly, and agreeable man. Lord Melbourne very well remembers the murder of Mr Perceval and Bellingham's trial. Lord Melbourne was then in the House of Commons, but was not present at the time the crime was perpetrated. There were differences of opinion as to the manner in which Sir James Mansfield conducted the trial. Many thought that he ought to have given more time, which was asked for on the part of the prisoner, in order to search for evidence at Liverpool. But the law which he laid down in his charge is certainly sound, correct, and reasonable. Lord Melbourne is very glad to think that your Majesty has not to go to the House of Lords to-day.
[Footnote 9: This Duke died unmarried in 1765, and his nephew, the fourth son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was created Duke of Cumberland in 1766. He in his turn died without issue, in 1790, and in 1799 the fifth son of George III. (afterwards King of Hanover) received the same title.]
[Pageheading: THE AMERICAN TREATY]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 3rd February 1843.
... Lord Melbourne thinks that the Speech was very well and judiciously drawn; the only paragraph which he does not like is that about the American treaty.[10] It betrays too great an anxiety for peace, and too much fear of war.[11]
[Footnote 10: See ante, pp. 368, 370 (Ch. X, 'The United States'). The treaty had been negotiated by Lord Ashburton.]
[Footnote 11: "By the treaty which Her Majesty has concluded with the United States of America, and by the adjustment of those differences which, from their long continuance, had endangered the preservation of peace, Her Majesty trusts that the amicable relations of the two countries have been confirmed."]
The Queen of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
LAEKEN, 6th February 1843.
MY BELOVED VICTORIA,—I am quite of your opinion about balls. Nothing can change what cannot change, and I consider all these things, which have always been a bore to me, as a matter of duty and not otherwise. The duties of station are to be fulfilled like the others, and my first and most pleasant duty is to do all that your Uncle may command or wish. Your Uncle was much shocked by your answer about Miss Meyer,[12] whom he considered of uncommon beauty. He is quite in love with her picture, and is very anxious to discover who she is. The other pictures of the book of beauty he abandons to you, and they are certainly worthy of a book of ugliness.... Yours most devotedly,
LOUISE.
[Footnote 12: Eugenie Meyer, step-daughter of Colonel Gurwood, C.B., married the first Viscount Esher, Master of the Rolls. The Queen had written that she did not admire that style of beauty.]
[Pageheading: KING LEOPOLD AND PEEL]
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
LAEKEN, 10th February 1843.
MY DEAREST VICTORIA,—... I am very much gratified by your having shown my hasty scrawl to Sir Robert Peel, and that the sincere expression of a conscientious opinion should have given him pleasure.
It was natural at first that you should not have liked to take him as your Premier; many circumstances united against him. But I must say for you and your family, as well as for England, it was a great blessing that so firm and honourable a man as Peel should have become the head of your Administration. The State machine breaks often down in consequence of mistakes made forty and fifty years ago; so it was in France where even Louis XIV. had already laid the first foundation for what happened nearly a hundred years afterwards.
I believe, besides, Sir Robert sincerely and warmly attached to you, and as you say with great truth, quite above mere party feeling. Poor Lady Peel must be much affected by what has happened.... Your truly devoted Uncle,
LEOPOLD R.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 12th February 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received here on Friday last, the 10th, your Majesty's letter of the 8th, which gave him great pleasure, and for which he gratefully thanks your Majesty. Lord Melbourne is getting better, and hopes soon to be nearly as well as he was before this last attack, but he still finds his left hand and arm and his left leg very much affected, and he does not recover his appetite, and worse still, he is very sleepless at night, an evil which he is very little used to, and of which he is very impatient....
Lord Melbourne adheres to all he said about Lord Ashburton and the Treaty, but he thinks more fire than otherwise would have taken place was drawn upon Lord Ashburton by the confident declaration of Stanley that his appointment was generally approved. The contrary is certainly the case. There is much of popular objection to him from his American connection and his supposed strong American interests. Lady Ashburton, with whom he received a large fortune, is a born American. But he is supposed to possess much funded property in that country, and to have almost as strong an interest in its welfare as in that of Great Britain. With all this behind, it is a bad thing to say that his appointment was liable to no suspicion or objection. It seems to Lord Melbourne that what with Ellenborough with the Gates of Ghuznee upon his shoulders,[13] and Ashburton with the American Treaty round his neck, the Ministry have nearly as heavy a load upon them as they can stand up under, and Lord Melbourne would not be surprised if they were to lighten themselves of one or the other.
[Footnote 13: The Somnauth Proclamation created a good deal of ridicule.]
[Pageheading: POSITION OF THE PRINCE OF WALES]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 13th February 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has just recollected that in the letter which he wrote yesterday, he omitted to advert to a part of your Majesty's last to which your Majesty may expect some answer. He means the part relating to the character and situation of a Prince of Wales in this country. George IV. was so conscious of having mixed himself most unrestrainedly in politics, and of having taken a very general part in opposition to his father's Government and wishes, that he was naturally anxious to exonerate himself from blame, and to blame it upon the necessity of his position rather than upon his own restless and intermeddling disposition. But Lord Melbourne agrees with your Majesty that his excuse was neither valid nor justifiable, and Lord Melbourne earnestly hopes that your Majesty and the Prince may be successful in training and instructing the young Prince of Wales, and to make him understand correctly his real position and its duties, and to enable him to withstand the temptations and seductions with which he will find himself beset, when he approaches the age of twenty-one. It is true that Sir John made the observation, which Lord Melbourne mentioned to your Majesty, and which you now remember correctly. He made it to Sir James Graham, when he went to talk to him about the offence which William IV. had taken at the Duchess of Kent's marine excursion; and at the receiving of royal salutes. Your Majesty was not very long in the situation of an acknowledged, admitted, and certain Heir Apparent, but still long enough to be aware of the use which those around you were inclined to make of that situation and of the petitions and applications which it naturally produced from others, and therefore to have an idea of the difficulties of it.
Lord Melbourne heartily wishes your Majesty every success in the interesting and important task in which you are engaged of forming the character and disposition of the young Prince.
[Pageheading: DOMESTIC HAPPINESS]
Queen Adelaide to Queen Victoria.
CANFORD HOUSE, 14th February 1843.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—Your delightful letter of Tuesday gave me such pleasure and satisfaction that I must thank you with all my heart for it. Your happiness, and your gratitude for that happiness, is most gratifying to my feelings, having loved you from your infancy almost as much as if you had been my own child. It is therefore happiness to me to hear from yourself those expressions to which you gave vent. I thank God that you have such an excellent husband, so well calculated to make you happy and to assist you in your arduous duties by his advice, as well as his help in sharing your troubles. I pray that your domestic happiness may last uninterruptedly, and that you may enjoy it through a long, long period of many, many years. You cannot say too much of yourself and dear Albert when you write to me, for it is a most interesting subject to my heart, I assure you.
What a shame to have put on darling little Victoria a powdered wig! Poor dear child must have looked very strange with it! Did her brother appear in einer Allonge-Peruecke?...
I shall hope to follow you to town early next month, and look forward with great pleasure to seeing you so soon again. Forgive me my horrible scrawl, and with my best love to dearest Albert, believe me, ever, my dearest Victoria, your most affectionate and faithfully devoted Aunt,
ADELAIDE.
Pray tell your dear mother, with my affectionate love, that I will answer her letter to-morrow.
[Pageheading: INTERCHANGE OF VISITS]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 14th February 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—Many thanks for your kind letter of the 10th, which I received on Sunday. I am only a little wee bit distressed at your writing on the 10th, and not taking any notice of the dearest, happiest day in my life, to which I owe the present great domestic happiness I now enjoy, and which is much greater than I deserve, though certainly my Kensington life for the last six or seven years had been one of great misery and oppression, and I may expect some little retribution, and, indeed, after my accession, there was a great deal of worry. Indeed I am grateful for possessing (really without vanity or flattery or blindness) the most perfect being as a husband in existence, or who ever did exist; and I doubt whether anybody ever did love or respect another as I do my dear Angel! And indeed Providence has ever mercifully protected us, through manifold dangers and trials, and I feel confident will continue to do so, and then let outward storms and trials and sorrows be sent us, and we can bear all....
I could not help smiling at the exactitude about Monday the 19th of June; it is a great happiness to us to think with such certainty (D.V.) of your kind visit, which would suit perfectly. A propos of this, I am anxious to tell you that we are full of hope of paying you in August a little visit, which last year was in so melancholy a way interrupted; but we think that for many reasons it would be better for us to pay you our first visit only at Ostend, and not at Brussels or Laeken; you could lodge us anywhere, and we need then bring but very few people with us—it might also facilitate the meeting with Albert's good old grandmother, who fears to cross the sea, and whose great wish is to behold Albert again—and would not be so difficult (pour la lere fois) in many ways. I could, nevertheless, see Bruges and Ghent from thence by help of the railroad, and return the same day to Ostend.
What you say about Peel is very just. Good Lord Melbourne is much better.
I hope soon to hear more about Joinville and Donna Francesca. Now, ever your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
We are all very well (unberufen) and move, to our horror, to town on Friday.
[Pageheading: COBDEN'S ATTACK ON PEEL]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 18th February (1843).
(Saturday morning.)
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that the debate was brought to a close this morning about half-past three o'clock. The motion of Lord Howick[14] was rejected by a large majority, the number being—
For the Motion 191 Against it 305 —- Majority 114 —-
The chief speakers were Mr R. Cobden and Lord John Russell in favour of the motion, Mr Attwood, Lord Francis Egerton, and Sir Robert Peel against it.
In the course of the evening there was much excitement and animated discussion, in consequence of the speech of Mr Cobden, who is the chief patron of the Anti-Corn Law League.
Mr Cobden with great vehemence of manner observed more than once that Sir Robert Peel ought to be held individually responsible for the distress of the country.[15]
Coupling these expressions with the language frequently held at the meetings of the Anti-Corn Law League, and by the press in connection with it, Sir Robert Peel in replying to Mr Cobden charged him with holding language calculated to excite to personal violence.
[Footnote 14: To go into Committee on the depression of the manufacturing industry. The debate turned mainly on the Corn Laws.]
[Footnote 15: To this attack Peel replied with excessive warmth, amid the frantic cheering of his party, who almost refused to hear Cobden's explanation in reply. Peel, alarmed at the fate of Drummond, thought (or affected to think) that Cobden was singling him out as a fit object for assassination. For years Cobden resented this language of Peel most deeply. "Peel's atrocious conduct towards me ought not to be lost sight of," he wrote in February 1846. A rapprochement was effected by Miss Martineau—see her letter to Peel (Parker, vol. iii. p. 330)—and a reference to the matter by Disraeli in the House of Commons led to satisfactory explanations on both sides.]
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Lincoln.[16]
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 18th February 1843.
The Queen, immediately on her arrival yesterday, went to look at the new Chapel, with which she is much pleased, but was extremely disappointed to find it still in such a backward state. As it is of the utmost importance to the Queen to be able to use it very soon, she wishes Lord Lincoln would be so good as to hurry on the work as much as possible; perhaps Lord Lincoln could increase the number of workmen, as there seemed to her to be very few there yesterday.
[Footnote 16: Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests.]
[Pageheading: FANNY BURNEY'S DIARY]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 21st February 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received safely your Majesty's letter of the 18th inst. Lord Melbourne entreats your Majesty that you never will think for a moment that you can tire him by questions, or that it can be to him anything but a great pleasure to answer them. He will be only too happy if any information that he possesses or can procure can be of the least use or pleasure to your Majesty. Lord Melbourne conceives that your Majesty must be surprised at his complaining of sleeplessness. He is much obliged by the suggestion of the camphor. He mentioned it to the gentleman who attends him, and he said that it was a very good thing, and certainly has a soothing and quieting effect, and that in fact there was some in the draught which Lord Melbourne now takes at night. But Lord Melbourne has taken to going down to dinner with those who are in the house, and sitting up afterwards until near twelve o'clock, and since he has done this he has slept better. We expect the Duke and Duchess of Bedford for two nights on Wednesday next. Lord and Lady Uxbridge and Ella and Constance often come over in the morning and eat their luncheon here, which Lord Melbourne takes very kindly of them. George Byng[17] came the other morning in a waistcoat of Peel's velveteen. Lord Strafford brought the whole piece off the manufacturer, and let George Byng have enough for a waistcoat. It is a dull blue stuff, and the device and inscription not very clear nor easy to make out.[18]
Adolphus is, as Aberdeen says, too rigidly Tory, but there are plenty of narratives of the same period, such as Belsham[19] and others, of whom it may be said with equal truth that they are too Whig....
Lord Melbourne read the Edinburgh on Madame d'Arblay, which is certainly Macaulay's, but thought it unnecessarily severe upon Queen Charlotte, and that it did not do her justice, and also that it rather countenanced too much Miss Burney's dislike to her situation. It appears to Lord Melbourne that Miss Burney was well enough contented to live in the Palace and receive her salary, but that she was surprised and disgusted as soon as she found that she was expected to give up some part of her time to conform to some rules, and to perform some duty. Lord Melbourne is sorry to say that he missed the article on Children's Books,[20] a subject of much importance, and in which he is much interested.
Lord Melbourne has received the engraving of the Princess, and is much pleased by it, and returns many thanks. It is very pretty, very spirited, and as far as Lord Melbourne's recollection, serves him, very like. Lord Melbourne remains, ever, your Majesty's faithful, devoted, and attached Servant.
[Footnote 17: Brother-in-law of Lord Uxbridge, and afterwards Earl of Stratford.]
[Footnote 18: The allusion is to a hoax played on the Premier, by a presentation made to him of a piece of the then novel fabric, velveteen, stamped with a free-trade design. Peel afterwards wrote that he was unaware that the specimen bore "any allusion to any matters which are the subject of public controversy."]
[Footnote 19: William Belsham (1752-1827) wrote, in twelve volumes, A History of Great Britain to the Conclusion of the Peace of Amiens in 1802.]
[Footnote 20: In the Quarterly Review, by Lady Eastlake.]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL (4th March 1843). (Sunday morning.)
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that the prisoner MacNaghten was acquitted last night, after a trial which lasted two days, upon the ground of insanity.
The fuller account of the evidence which Sir Robert Peel has seen is on the accompanying newspaper.
The only other information which has reached Sir Robert Peel is contained in a note (enclosed) from Mr Maule, the solicitor to the Treasury, who conducted the prosecution. The three Judges[21] appear to have concurred in opinion, that the evidence of insanity was so strong as to require a verdict of acquittal—and the Chief Justice advised the Jury to find that verdict without summing up the evidence or delivering any detailed charge upon the facts of the case and the law bearing upon them.
It is a lamentable reflection that a man may be at the same time so insane as to be reckless of his own life and the lives of others, and to be pronounced free from moral responsibility, and yet capable of preparing for the commission of murder with the utmost caution and deliberation, and of taking every step which shall enable him to commit it with certainty.
[Footnote 21: Chief Justice Tindal, and Justices Williams and Coleridge.]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 10th March 1843.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that the House of Commons was occupied last night with the attack upon Lord Ellenborough for the Somnauth Proclamation.[22]
The motion was made by Mr Vernon Smith.[23] The resolution proposed condemned the Proclamation as unwise, indecorous and reprehensible. Mr Vernon Smith was followed by Mr Emerson Tennent,[24] one of the Secretaries to the Board of Controul.
Mr Macaulay next spoke, and condemned the conduct of Lord Ellenborough in a speech of great bitterness and great ability.
The motion was negatived by a majority of 242 to 157.
The minority included Lord Ashley, Sir Robert Inglis, and six other gentlemen, who generally support your Majesty's servants.
The debate was a very animated one, with a strong infusion of Party zeal.
[Footnote 22: See ante, p. 445. (Ch. XI, 'The Gates of Somnauth')]
[Footnote 23: Robert Vernon Smith (1800-1873), afterwards President of the Board of Control, created Lord Lyveden in 1859.]
[Footnote 24: James Emerson (1804-1869), afterwards Sir James Emerson Tennent, M.P. for Belfast, author of Letters from the AEgean, etc.]
[Pageheading: CRIMINAL INSANITY]
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 12th March 1843.
The Queen returns the paper of the Lord Chancellor's to Sir Robert Peel with her best thanks.
The law may be perfect, but how is it that whenever a case for its application arises, it proves to be of no avail? We have seen the trials of Oxford and MacNaghten conducted by the ablest lawyers of the day—Lord Denman, Chief Justice Tindal, and Sir Wm. Follett,[25]—and they allow and advise the Jury to pronounce the verdict of Not Guilty on account of Insanity,—whilst everybody is morally convinced that both malefactors were perfectly conscious and aware of what they did! It appears from this, that the force of the law is entirely put into the Judge's hands, and that it depends merely upon his charge whether the law is to be applied or not. Could not the Legislature lay down that rule which the Lord Chancellor does in his paper, and which Chief Justice Mansfield did in the case of Bellingham; and why could not the Judges be bound to interpret the law in this and no other sense in their charges to the Juries?[26]
[Footnote 25: Solicitor-General. His health gave way in middle life, and he died in 1845.]
[Footnote 26: In consequence of the manner in which the trial terminated, and the feeling excited in the country, the House of Lords put certain questions on the subject of criminal insanity to the Judges, whose answers have been since considered as establishing the law.]
[Pageheading: PRINCESS MARY OF BADEN]
The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria.
FOREIGN OFFICE, 13th March 1843.
Lord Aberdeen presents his humble duty to your Majesty. In obedience to your Majesty's commands he has endeavoured to consider the letter of the Grand Duke of Baden with reference to the position of the Princess Mary[27] in this country. Lord Aberdeen does not find in the proceedings of the Conference of Great Powers at Vienna, at Aix la Chapelle, or at Paris, anything which can materially affect the question. The great difficulty with respect to the Princess appears to arise from the fact that in this country the rank and precedence of every person are regulated and fixed by law. Should your Majesty be disposed to deviate from the strict observance of this, although Lord Aberdeen cannot doubt that it would receive a very general acquiescence, it is still possible that the Princess might be exposed to occasional disappointment and mortification....
There is a consideration, to which Lord Aberdeen would humbly advert, which may not altogether be unworthy of your Majesty's notice. Your Majesty does not wish to encourage alliances of this description; and although there may be no danger of their frequent occurrence, it cannot be denied that an additional inducement would exist if Princesses always retained their own rank in this country.
On the whole, Lord Aberdeen would humbly submit to your Majesty that the Princess might be received by your Majesty, in the first instance, with such distinction as was due to her birth—either by a Royal carriage being sent to bring her to your Majesty's presence, or in any manner which your Majesty might command—with the understanding that she should permanently adopt the title and station of her husband. Your Majesty's favour and protection, afforded to her in this character will probably realise all the expectations of the Grand Duke; and, without acknowledging any positive claim or right, your Majesty would secure the gratitude of the Princess.
[Footnote 27: The Princess Mary of Baden had recently married the Marquis of Douglas, eldest son of the Duke of Hamilton. See p. 439. (Ch. XI, 1st November, 1842)]
[Pageheading: THE PRINCE TO HOLD LEVEES]
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 17th March 1843.
The Queen has spoken again to the Prince about the Levees, who has kindly consented to do what can be of use and convenience to the Queen. There is one circumstance which must be considered and settled, and which the Queen omitted to mention to Sir Robert Peel when she saw him. The chief, indeed the only, object of having these Levees, is to save the Queen the extreme fatigue of the Presentations which would come in such a mass together when the Queen held them herself; the Prince naturally holds the Levees for the Queen, and represents her; could not therefore everybody who was presented to him be made to understand that this would be tantamount to a presentation to the Queen herself? There might perhaps be an objection on the part of people presented to kneel and kiss the Prince's hand. But this could be obviated by merely having the people named to the Prince. The inconvenience would be so great if nobody at all could be presented till late in the season, that something must be devised to get over this difficulty.
[Pageheading: LEVEES]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
DOWNING STREET, 18th March 1843.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to submit to your Majesty that should your Majesty determine that the Prince should hold Levees on behalf of your Majesty, the best course will be to announce the intention from the Lord Chamberlain's Office in terms to the following purport:
"His Royal Highness Prince Albert will, by Her Majesty's command, hold a Levee on behalf of Her Majesty on ——
"It is Her Majesty's pleasure that presentations to the Prince at this Levee shall be considered equivalent to presentations to the Queen.
"Addresses to Her Majesty may be presented to Her Majesty through the Secretary of State, or may be reserved until Her Majesty can hold a Levee in person."
Sir Robert Peel humbly submits to your Majesty that it would not be advisable to prohibit by notice in the Gazette subsequent presentations to your Majesty. It will probably answer every purpose to state that they shall be considered equivalent, and when your Majesty shall hold a Levee it may be then notified at the time that second presentations are not necessary.
When the Prince shall hold the Levee, it may be made known at the time, without any formal public notification, that kneeling and the kissing of hands will not be required.
Sir Robert Peel hopes that the effect of holding these Levees may be materially to relieve your Majesty, but it is of course difficult to speak with certainty. He was under the impression that in the reign of Queen Anne, Prince George had occasionally held Levees on the part of the Queen during the Queen's indisposition, but on searching the Gazette of the time he cannot find any record of this.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
CLAREMONT, 19th March 1843.
The Queen has received Sir Robert's letter, and quite approves of his suggestions concerning the Levees. The Prince is quite ready to do whatever may be thought right, and the Queen wishes Sir Robert to act upon the plan he has laid before her in his letter of yesterday. Perhaps it would be right before making anything public to consider the question of Drawing-Rooms likewise, which are of such importance to the trades-people of London. It would be painful for the Queen to think that she should be the cause of disappointment and loss to this class of her subjects, particularly at this moment of commercial stagnation. The Queen conceives that it would be the right thing that the same principle laid down for the Levees should be followed with regard to Drawing-Rooms, the Prince holding them for her. The Queen is anxious to have soon Sir Robert's opinion upon this subject. The Queen on looking at the almanac finds that only the two next weeks are available for these purposes before Easter.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 27th March 1843.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and hastens to reply to your Majesty's note of this date.
Sir Robert Peel assures your Majesty that he does not think that there is the slightest ground for apprehension on the occasion of the Levee, but Sir Robert Peel will, without the slightest allusion to your Majesty's communication to him, make personal enquiries into the police arrangements, and see that every precaution possible shall be taken.
He begs, however, humbly to assure your Majesty that there never has reached him any indication of a hostile feeling towards the Prince. It could only proceed from some person of deranged intellect, and he thinks it would be almost impossible for such a person to act upon it on the occasion of a Levee.
It may tend to remove or diminish your Majesty's anxiety to know that Sir Robert Peel has walked home every night from the House of Commons, and, notwithstanding frequent menaces and intimations of danger, he has not met with any obstruction.
He earnestly hopes that your Majesty will dismiss from your mind any apprehension, and sincerely believes that your Majesty may do so with entire confidence. But nothing shall be neglected.
[Pageheading: THE COMET]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 28th March 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—I had the pleasure of receiving your kind letter of the 24th, on Sunday. How lucky you are to have seen the comet![28] It is distinctly to be seen here, and has been seen by many people, but we have till now looked out in vain for it. We shall, however, persevere.
We left dear Claremont with great regret, and since our return have been regaled with regular March winds, which, however, have not kept me from my daily walks. To-day it is finer again.
It is most kind and good of dearest Albert to hold these Levees for me, which will be a great relief for hereafter for me. Besides cela le met dans sa position; he and I must be one, so that I can only be represented by him. I think this, therefore, a good thing for that reason also; and God knows, he, dear angel, deserves to be the highest in everything.
Our Consecration went off extremely well, and the Chapel is delightful, and so convenient. I am sure you will like it.
You will be glad to hear that dear old Eos (who is still at Claremont) is going on most favourably; they attribute this sudden attack to her over-eating (she steals whenever she can get anything), living in too warm rooms, and getting too little exercise since she was in London. Certainly her wind was not in the slightest degree affected by her accident, for in the autumn she coursed better than all the other young dogs, and ran and fetched pheasants, etc., from any distance, and ran about the very evening she was taken so ill, as if nothing was the matter. Evidently part of her lungs must be very sound still; and they say no one's lungs are quite sound. She must be well starved, poor thing, and not allowed to sleep in beds, as she generally does.
[Footnote 28: Its appearance gave rise to much discussion among astronomers. On the 17th Sir John Herschel saw its nucleus from Collingwood in Kent, and on the following night a dim nebula only; so it was probably receding with great velocity.]
[Pageheading: MELBOURNE ON DIET]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
BROCKET HALL, 2nd April 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received yesterday morning your Majesty's letter of the 30th ult., for which he sincerely thanks your Majesty. Lord Melbourne is delighted to find that your Majesty was pleased with the bouquet. The daphnes are neither so numerous nor so fine as they were, but there are still enough left to make another bouquet, which Lord Melbourne will take care is sent up by his cart to-morrow, and left at Buckingham Palace. Lord Melbourne is very much touched and obliged by your Majesty's very kind advice, which he will try his utmost to follow, as he himself believes that his health entirely depends upon his keeping up his stomach in good order and free from derangement. He owns that he is very incredulous about the unwholesomeness of dry champagne, and he does not think that the united opinion of the whole College of Physicians and of Surgeons would persuade him upon these points—he cannot think that a "Hohenlohe" glass of dry champagne, i.e. half a schoppen,[29] can be prejudicial. Lord and Lady Erroll[30] and Lord Auckland and Miss Eden are coming in the course of the week, and they would be much surprised not to get a glass of champagne with their dinner. Lord Melbourne is very glad to learn that the Prince's Levee did well, and feels that His Royal Highness undertaking this duty must be a great relief and assistance to your Majesty. Lord Melbourne hopes to see the Baron here when he comes. The spring still delays and hangs back, but it rains to-day, which Lord Melbourne hopes will bring it on.
[Footnote 29: A schoppen is about a pint; it is the same word etymologically as "scoop."]
[Footnote 30: William George, seventeenth Earl of Erroll, married a sister of the first Earl of Munster.]
[Pageheading: THE ROYAL CHILDREN]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 4th April 1843.
DEAREST UNCLE,—Many thanks for your very kind letter of the 31st, which I received on Sunday, just as our excellent friend Stockmar made his appearance. He made us very happy by his excellent accounts of you all, including dearest Louise, and the children he says are so grown; Leo being nearly as tall as Louise! En revanche he will, I hope, tell you how prosperous he found us all; and how surprised and pleased he was with the children; he also is struck with Albert junior's likeness to his dearest papa, which everybody is struck with. Indeed, dearest Uncle, I will venture to say that not only no Royal Menage is to be found equal to ours, but no other menage is to be compared to ours, nor is any one to be compared, take him altogether, to my dearest Angel!...
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 6th April 1843.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has this moment received your Majesty's note.
Sir Robert Peel will immediately make enquiry in the first instance in respect to the correctness of the report of the dinner. The omission of the health of the Prince is certainly very strange—it would be very unusual at any public dinner—but seems quite unaccountable at a dinner given in connection with the interests of one of the Royal Theatres.
The toasts are generally prepared not by the chairman of the meeting, but by a committee; but still the omission of the name of the Prince ought to have occurred at once to the Duke of Cambridge, and there cannot be a doubt that he might have rectified, and ought to have rectified, the omission.
Sir Robert Peel is sure your Majesty will approve of his ascertaining in the first instance the real facts of the case—whether the report be a correct one, and if a correct one, who are the parties by whom the arrangements in respect to the toasts were made.
This being done, Sir Robert Peel will then apply himself to the execution of your Majesty's wishes, in the manner pointed out by your Majesty.
He begs humbly to assure your Majesty that he enters most fully into your Majesty's very natural feelings, and that he shall always have the greatest pleasure in giving effect to your Majesty's wishes in matters of this nature, and in proving himself worthy of the confidence your Majesty is kindly pleased to repose in him.
[Pageheading: THE TOAST OF THE PRINCE]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 6th April 1843.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, hastens to make a communication to your Majesty, on the subject of your Majesty's letter of this morning, which he hopes will remove from your Majesty's mind any unfavourable impression with regard to the toasts at the theatrical dinner, or to the conduct of the Duke of Cambridge in reference to them.
Sir Robert Peel, since he addressed your Majesty, has made enquiry from Colonel Wood, the member for Brecon, who was present at the meeting.
In order to have the real statement of the case, Sir Robert Peel did not mention the object of the enquiry. The following were the questions and the answers:—
Q. What were the toasts at the theatrical dinner last night?
COLONEL WOOD. The first was The Queen and the Prince. The Duke said he thought he could not give the health of the Queen in a manner more satisfactory than by coupling with the name of Her Majesty that of her illustrious Consort.
Colonel Wood said that his impression was that the Duke meant to do that which would be most respectful to the Prince, and that he had in his mind when he united the name of the Prince with that of your Majesty, the circumstances of the Prince having recently held the Levee on behalf of your Majesty.
It might perhaps have been better had His Royal Highness adhered to the usual custom, and proposed the health of the Prince distinctly and separately, but he humbly submits to your Majesty that the intention of His Royal Highness must have been to show respect to the Prince.
The reports of public dinners are frequently incorrect, the reporters being sometimes placed at a great distance from the chairman.
[Pageheading: THE KING OF HANOVER]
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 12th April 1843.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and will not fail to forward by the first opportunity the letter to Lord Ellenborough which accompanied your Majesty's note.
In consequence of his conversation yesterday morning with Baron Stockmar, Sir Robert Peel begs to mention to your Majesty that he saw to-day a private letter from Berlin, which mentioned that the King of Hanover had apparently abandoned the intention of visiting England this year, but that on the receipt of some letters from England, which he suspected to be written for the purpose of discouraging his visit, the King suddenly changed his intention and wrote a letter to your Majesty, stating that he had thoughts of such a visit.
It was not stated from whence the letters advising the King to remain on the Continent had proceeded.
This letter also stated that the King of Hanover proposed to waive his rank of Sovereign as far as he possibly could on his arrival in England, and to take his seat in the House of Lords without taking any part in the proceedings.
It added that the King could not, in any event, be in England before the latter end of May or beginning of June, and rather hinted that as his proposed visit was more out of a spirit of contradiction and impatience of obstacles being thrown in the way of it, than from any strong wish on his part to come here, he might probably change his intention and defer his visit, particularly if he should find that there was no particular impediment in the way of it.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 13th April 1843.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that the Duke of Cambridge having called on Sir Robert Peel this morning, he took an opportunity of asking His Royal Highness whether he thought the King of Hanover had made up his mind to visit England this year.
The Duke's reply was, as nearly as possible, as follows:—
"Oh yes, the King will certainly come, but I can tell you privately he means to have nothing to do with the House of Lords. He will not make his appearance there. The King has taken his servants for six weeks—that is, engaged their attendance upon him for that time. I know the porter is engaged and the stable servants. The King has written to Her Majesty. His real object in coming is to arrange his private papers, which were left in confusion, and to consult Sir Henry Halford."[31]
This was all that was material that His Royal Highness said.
[Footnote 31: The eminent physician.]
[Pageheading: THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH]
Lord Ellenborough to Queen Victoria.
CAMP, DELHI, 19th February 1843.
... The gates of the Temple of Somnauth, which have been escorted to Delhi by five hundred cavalry of the protected Sikh States, will be escorted from Delhi to Muttra, and thence to Agra by the same force of cavalry, furnished by the Rajahs of Bhurtpore and Alwar.[32]
While there has been universally evinced a feeling of gratitude to the British Government for the consideration shown to the people of Hindustan in the restoration of these trophies, there has not occurred a single instance of apparent mortification amongst the Mussulmans. All consider the restoration of the gates to be a national, not a religious, triumph. At no place has more satisfaction been expressed than at Paniput, a town almost exclusively Mussulman, where there exist the remains of the first mosque built by Sultan Mahmood after he had destroyed the city and temples of the Hindoos....
[Footnote 32: See ante, p. 445. (Ch. XI, 'The Gates of Somnauth')]
[Pageheading: DEATH OF THE DUKE OF SUSSEX]
Extract from the Will of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, dated the 11th August 1840[33] (sent at the Queen's request by Sir Robert Peel to the Duke of Wellington for his advice.)
"I desire that on my death my body may be opened, and should the examination present anything useful or interesting to science, I empower my executors to make it public. And I desire to be buried in the public cemetery at Kensal Green in the Parish of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex, and not at Windsor."
[Footnote 33: The Duke of Sussex died on 21st April of erysipelas. His first marriage in 1793 to Lady Augusta Murray, daughter of the fourth Earl of Dunmore, was declared void under the Royal Marriage Act. Lady Augusta died in 1830; her daughter married Sir Thomas Wilde, afterwards Lord Truro. The Duke contracted a second marriage with Lady Cecilia Underwood, daughter of the Earl of Arran and widow of Sir George Buggin: she was created Duchess of Inverness in 1840, with remainder to her heirs-male.]
The Duke of Wellington to Sir Robert Peel.
STRATHFIELDSAYE, 21st April 1843.
MY DEAR PEEL,—I have just now received your letter of this day, and I return the enclosure in the box. It appears to me that the whole case must be considered as hanging together; that is, the desire to be buried at Kensal Green, that of Freemasons to pay Masonic Honours,[34] that the body of the Duchess of Inverness should be interred near to his when she dies.
Parties still alive have an interest in the attainment of the two last objects, which are quite incompatible with the interment of a Prince of the Blood, a Knight of the Garter, in St George's Chapel at Windsor.
The Queen's Royal Command might overrule the Duke's desire to be buried at Kensal Green.[35] Nobody would complain of or contend against it.
But there will be no end of the complaints of interference by authority on the part of Freemasons, and of those who will take part with the Duchess of Inverness: and it is a curious fact that there are persons in Society who are interested in making out that she was really married to the Duke.[36] Against this we must observe that it will be urged that the omission to insist that the interment should take place in the Collegiate Chapel of St George's, Windsor, and thus to set aside the will, lowers the Royal Family in the opinion of the public, and is a concession to Radicalism. But it is my opinion that the reasons will justify that which will be done in conformity with the will.
I confess that I don't like to decide upon cases in such haste; and I cannot consider it necessary that a decision should be made on the course to be taken in respect to the Duke's funeral, on the morrow of the day on which he died.
It would be desirable to know the opinion of the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop, and others.
I can't think of anything likely to occur, which might alter me: and I'll abide by that which I have above given.
It will be absolutely necessary to take effective measures for the preservation of the peace at this funeral at Kensal Green: and even that the magistrates should superintend the procession of the Freemasons. Believe me, ever yours most sincerely,
WELLINGTON.
[Footnote 34: The Duke of Sussex being Grand Master of England, and Master of the Lodge of Antiquity.]
[Footnote 35: The body lay in state at Kensington, and was eventually buried, as the Duke had desired, in the Kensal Green Cemetery.]
[Footnote 36: See ante, p. 478, note 33 (this Ch., above). The marriage took place, by special licence, at Lady Cecilia's house in Great Cumberland Place.]
Queen Adelaide to Queen Victoria.
22nd April 1843.
MY DEAREST NIECE,—I am just come back and feel very anxious to know how you are, and beg at the same time to offer to you my most affectionate condolence on the melancholy event which has taken again another member of our family from us. Pray do not trouble yourself with answering this note, but let me hear how you feel, and whether you will like to see me to-morrow or at any time most convenient to you.
I feel deeply our new loss, which recalls all the previous sad losses which we have had so forcibly, and I pray that it may not affect you too much, dearest Victoria, and that you will not suffer from the shock it must have been to you. I was not in the least aware of the danger and near approach of the fatal end, and only yesterday began to feel alarmed by the accounts which I had received.
I have been with the poor Duchess of Inverness on my way to town, and found her as composed as possible under the sad circumstances, and full of gratitude to you and all the family for all the kindness which she had received. I pity her very much. It must be her comfort to have made the last years of the Duke's life happy, and to have been his comfort to the last moment.
I wish you good-night, dearest Niece, and beg you to give my best love to dear Albert, and to believe me most devotedly your most affectionate Aunt,
ADELAIDE.
[Pageheading: BIRTH OF PRINCESS ALICE]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 16th May 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—Your kind and dear letter of the 12th has given me great pleasure. I am happy to give you still better accounts of myself.[37] I have been out every day since Saturday, and have resumed all my usual habits almost (of course resting often on the sofa, and not having appeared in Society yet), and feel so strong and well; much better (independent of the nerves) than I have been either time. We are most thankful for it. The King of Hanover has never said when he will come, even now, but always threatens that he will....
Our little baby, who I really am proud of, for she is so very forward for her age, is to be called Alice, an old English name, and the other names are to be Maud (another old English name and the same as Matilda) and Mary, as she was born on Aunt Gloucester's birthday. The Sponsors are to be: The King of Hanover,—Ernestus the Pious; poor Princess Sophia Matilda,[38] and Feodore, and the christening to be on the 2nd of June. It will be delightful to see you and dearest Louise on the 19th of June, God willing.
Are there any news of Joinville's proceedings at Rio?[39] Ever your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
[Footnote 37: Princess Alice was born on 25th April.]
[Footnote 38: Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester.]
[Footnote 39: He married Princess Francesca, sister of the Emperor of the Brazils and of Queen Donna Maria.]
[Pageheading: CHRISTENING OF PRINCESS ALICE]
The Earl of Ripon to Queen Victoria.
INDIA BOARD, 5th June 1843.
Lord Ripon, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs to inform your Majesty that despatches have been this day received at the India House from the Governor-General of India and from the Governor of Bombay, announcing the successful issue of a battle, on the 24th of March, between Sir Charles Napier and Meer Shere Mahommed.[40] The forces of the latter were completely routed, with the loss of all the guns and several standards.
RIPON.
[Footnote 40: Sir Charles Napier, who was in command in Scinde, defeated the army of the Ameers of Upper and Lower Scinde at Meeanee on 17th February, and on the 20th took Hyderabad. On the 24th March he attacked the enemy, who were posted in a strong position on the banks of a tributary of the Indus, and obtained a decisive victory.]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
CLAREMONT, 6th June 1843.
DEAREST UNCLE,—I received your kind letter on Sunday, and thank you much for it. I am sorry that you could not take the children to Ardenne, as nothing is so good for children as very frequent change of air, and think you do not let the children do so often enough. Ours do so continually, and are so movable that it gives us no trouble whatever.
Our christening went off very brilliantly, and I wish you could have witnessed it; nothing could be more anstaendig, and little Alice behaved extremely well. The dejeuner was served in the Gallery, as at dear Pussy's christening, and there being a profusion of flowers on the table, etc., had a beautiful effect.
The King of Hanover arrived just in time to be too late. He is grown very old and excessively thin, and bends a good deal. He is very gracious, for him. Pussy and Bertie (as we call the boy) were not at all afraid of him, fortunately; they appeared after the dejeuner on Friday, and I wish you could have seen them; they behaved so beautifully before that great number of people, and I must say looked very dear, all in white, and very distingues; they were much admired.
We came here on Saturday. The news from Ireland continue to be very alarming. Hoping to hear soon, for certain, when you come, believe me, ever, your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
I hope you will kindly answer my letter of last Tuesday.
[Pageheading: IRISH AFFAIRS]
Sir Thomas Fremantle[41] to Sir Robert Peel.[42]
HOUSE OF COMMONS, 9th June (1843).
MY DEAR SIR ROBERT,—The King of Hanover took his seat at twenty minutes past four. He is now on the Woolsack with the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Strangford; no other Peers are in the House, the time of meeting being five o'clock.
It was not necessary that any other Peers should introduce His Majesty. He merely produced his writ of summons, and went to the table to be sworn. I remain, yours sincerely,
THOMAS FREMANTLE.
[Footnote 41: One of the Secretaries of the Treasury: afterwards Lord Cottesloe.]
[Footnote 42: Forwarded to the Queen by Sir Robert Peel.]
Sir Robert Peel to the Prince Albert.
WHITEHALL, 11th June 1843.
(Sunday.)
SIR,—In consequence of the conversation which I had with your Royal Highness on Thursday last on the subject of Ireland, I beg to mention to your Royal Highness that the Cabinet met again to-day at Lord Aberdeen's house.
We had a very long discussion.
The prevailing opinion was that if legislation were proposed,[43] that legislation should be as effectual as possible; that there would be no advantage in seeking for new powers unless these powers were commensurate with the full extent of the mischief to be apprehended.
Foreseeing, however, all the difficulties of procuring such powers, and the increased excitement which must follow the demand for them, we were unwilling to come to an immediate decision in favour of recommending new legislation, and resolved therefore to watch the course of events for some time longer, continuing precautionary measures against disturbances of the public peace.
I have not received any material information from Ireland by the post of this day, nor has Sir James Graham.
I have the honour to be, Sir, with sincere respect, your Royal Highness's most faithful and humble Servant,
ROBERT PEEL.
[Footnote 43: In consequence of the Repeal agitation, the Ministers had already introduced an Irish Arms Bill, which was carried.]
[Pageheading: THE REBECCA RIOTS]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
SOUTH STREET, 22nd June 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He was infinitely obliged to your Majesty for coming into the room the other evening when he was with the Prince, and very much delighted to have an opportunity of seeing your Majesty, especially in such good health and spirits.
Lord Melbourne is very glad that your Majesty has seen As you Like It. It is indeed a most gay, lively, and beautiful play. To see or to read it is quite like passing an hour or two in a forest of fairyland. It is so lively, and at the same time so romantic. All depends upon Rosalind, which was an excellent part of Mrs. Jordan. Jaques is also a very particular character and difficult to play.
Lord Melbourne feels himself better, but still weak. He does not like to say much about politics, but he cannot refrain from observing that they seem to him to have permitted these lawless riotings in South Wales[44] to go on with success and impunity a great deal too long. When such things begin nobody can say how far they will go or how much they will spread. There are many who expect and predict a general rising against property, and this is invariably the way in which such things begin.
[Footnote 44: The agitation against the turnpike system which had broken out in South Wales. See Introductory Note, p. 450. (to Ch. XII)]
Queen Victoria to Sir James Graham.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 23rd June 1843.
The Queen returns these communications to Sir James Graham, which are of a very unpleasant nature. The Queen trusts that measures of the greatest severity will be taken, as well to suppress the revolutionary spirit as to bring the culprits[45] to immediate trial and punishment. The Queen thinks this of the greatest importance with respect to the effect it may have in Ireland, likewise as proving that the Government is willing to show great forbearance, and to trust to the good sense of the people; but that if outrages are committed and it is called upon to act, it is not to be trifled with, but will visit wrong-doers with the utmost severity.
[Footnote 45: I.e., the Rebecca rioters.]
[Pageheading: MILITARY MEDALS]
Queen Victoria to Lord Stanley.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 24th June 1843.
The Queen follows Lord Stanley's recommendation to confer the G.C.B. on Sir Charles Napier with great pleasure, from her high opinion of his late achievements, and she thinks it might be advisable that some of the officers who most contributed to the victories of Meeanee and Hyderabad[46] should receive lower grades of the Bath. The Queen is much impressed with the propriety of a medal being given to the troops who fought under Sir Charles Napier, as the armies under Nott, Pollock, and Sale received such distinctions for actions hardly equal to those in Scinde.
[Footnote 46: See ante, p. 481. (Ch. XII, 5th June, 1843)]
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL, 24th June 1843.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty the report received from Carmarthen this morning. The Earl of Cawdor went to Carmarthen this morning.[47]
Every effort will be made to trace this lawless outbreak to its source, and to bring the principal offenders to justice.
Sir James Graham encloses two Police Reports, which have been received this morning from Dublin. They would seem to indicate some foreign interference, and some hope of foreign assistance mingled with this domestic strife. Several Frenchmen have lately made their appearance in different parts of Ireland.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. GRAHAM.
[Footnote 47: Lord Cawdor was Lord-Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire.]
Queen Victoria to the Duchess of Norfolk.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 24th June 1843.
MY DEAR DUCHESS,—The same right which you feel, and which you had to overcome before you took the final step of tendering your resignation,[48] has kept me from sooner acknowledging the receipt of your letter. Under the circumstances which you allude to, it is incumbent upon me to accept of your resignation, but as you throw out yourself a hint that it would be agreeable to you sometimes to perform the duties (which you have hitherto fulfilled), it would give me the greatest gratification if you would let me continue your name on the list of my Ladies of the Bedchamber, and sometimes at your convenience have the pleasure of your society.
I agree with you that for the present your step should not be known, till I shall have had time to find a successor, and I am pleased to think that you will take your waitings, which are at present settled.
With the Prince's kind regards to yourself, and mine to the Duke, believe me, always, yours very affectionately,
VICTORIA R.
[Footnote 48: Of her position as Bedchamber Woman.]
[Pageheading: DUELLING IN THE ARMY]
Queen Victoria to the Duke of Wellington.
(July 1843.)
The Queen having attentively perused the proposed General Order for the more efficient repression of the practice of duelling in the Army, approves of the same, but recommends that the Duke of Wellington should submit to the Cabinet the propriety of considering of a general measure applicable to all branches of the Naval and Military Service.[49]
[Footnote 49: An influential anti-duelling association had been formed this year, and subsequently public attention was drawn to the question by a duel on 1st July, at Camden Town, in which Colonel Fawcett was shot by his brother-in-law, Lieutenant Munro, who had reluctantly gone out, after enduring much provocation. Mainly owing to Prince Albert's efforts, the Articles of War were so amended as to put a stop to the practice.]
[Pageheading: THE SPANISH MARRIAGE]
The Prince Albert to Lord Aberdeen.
20th July 1843.
MY DEAR LORD ABERDEEN,—The Queen and myself have been taken much by surprise by Lord Howard de Walden's despatch marked "most confidential." The opinions of the Portuguese Court must have entirely changed. Although we have not heard anything on the subject, we are fully convinced of the correctness of Lord Howard's statements and of his conjectures. We are both pleased to see the view which he takes, and the good opinion he has of our little cousin. The Queen thinks it right that you should inform Lord Howard that the possibility of a marriage between Prince Leopold[50] and the Queen of Spain has been for some time a favourite thought of hers and mine, and that you thought that this combination had some advantages which hardly any other could offer. But that the matter had been and was treated here as one purely and solely Spanish, in which we carefully abstained from interfering with, and that we leave it to work itself out or not by its own merit.
That you wished him to take the same view, but not to lose sight of it, and to report to you whatever he might hear bearing upon the subject. Believe me, etc.,
ALBERT.
[Footnote 50: Son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, and brother of the King of Portugal. See ante, p. 378, and post, p. 486. (Ch. XI, Footnote 11; Ch. XII, 'The Spanish Marriage')]
Queen Victoria to the Duchess of Norfolk.
DEAR DUCHESS,—I write to inform you that I have named your successor,[51] who is to be Lady Douro.[52] The great regret I experience at your leaving me is certainly diminished by the arrangement which we have agreed upon together, and which will still afford me the pleasure of having you occasionally about me. I trust that the Duke's health will admit of your taking your waiting in September, but think it right to tell you that we shall probably at that time be making some aquatic excursions in our new yacht, and consequently be from home the greater part of your waiting.
With the Prince's best regards to yourself, and mine to the Duke, believe me, always, yours very affectionately,
VICTORIA R.
[Footnote 51: As Bedchamber Woman.]
[Footnote 52: Elizabeth, daughter of the eighth Marquis of Tweeddale, afterwards Duchess of Wellington. She died in 1904.]
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 3rd August 1843.
The Queen returns the enclosed papers, and gives her sanction to the bringing in of the Bill for Enrolling and Arming the Out-Pensioners of Chelsea Hospital with great pleasure, as she thinks it a very good measure at the present crisis, calculated to relieve the troops which are rather overworked, and to secure a valuable force to the service of the Government. The Queen hopes that in bringing in the Bill Sir Robert Peel will make as little of it as possible, in order not to make it appear a larger measure than it is.
The Regulations strike the Queen as very judicious, and she has little doubt that they will raise the military spirit in the Pensioners, and will make the measure popular with them, which cannot fail to attach them more to the Crown.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 13th August 1843.
The Queen is desirous that whatever is right should be done, but is strongly of opinion that the King of Hanover's threat (for as such it must be regarded) not to leave this country till the affair[53] is decided upon, should in no way influence the transaction, as it is quite immaterial whether the King stays longer here or not.
[Footnote 53: Of the Crown jewels; ante, p. 439. (Ch. XI, 'Crown Jewels')]
[Pageheading: THE SPANISH MARRIAGE]
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 13th August 1843.
The Queen sees with great regret, in Sir Robert Gordon's despatch of 4th August, that Prince Metternich has resumed his favourite scheme of a marriage between the Queen of Spain and a son of Don Carlos, and that King Louis Philippe has almost come to a secret understanding with him upon that point.[54] The Queen is as much as ever convinced that instead of tending to pacify Spain this combination cannot fail to call new principles of discord into action, to excite the hopes of a lost and vanquished party for revenge and reacquisition of power, and to carry the civil war into the very interior of the family. The Queen is anxious (should Lord Aberdeen coincide in this view of the subject, as she believes he does) that it should be clearly understood by Sir Robert Gordon, and Prince Metternich.
[Footnote 54: Since the Quadruple Alliance (of England, France, Spain, and Portugal) in 1834 to expel Don Carlos and Dom Miguel from the Peninsula, the question of the marriage of Queen Isabella (then aged four) had been a subject of incessant consideration by England and France. The Queen-Mother had suggested to Louis Philippe the marriages of the Queen to the Duc d'Aumale and of the Infanta (her sister) to the Duc de Montpensier: such a proposal, however gratifying to the French King's ambition, would naturally not have been favourably viewed in England; but Guizot promoted warmly the alternative project of a marriage of the Queen to her cousin Don Francisco de Asis, Duke of Cadiz, son of Don Francisco de Paula, the Infanta being still to marry Montpensier. It was believed that, if this marriage of the Queen took place, there would be no issue of it, and Louis Philippe's ambition would be ultimately gratified. To Palmerston's protest against this scheme (before the Melbourne Ministry fell), Guizot replied, "La Reine aura des enfants et ne mourra pas." The other possible candidates for the Queen's hand from the French point of view were Count Montemolin, the son of Don Carlos, the Count de Trapani, son of Francis I., King of the Two Sicilies, and thus brother of Queen Christina, and the Duke of Seville, a brother of the Duke of Cadiz. Other candidates also favoured by the Queen-Mother were (while he was unmarried) Prince Albert's brother, and his cousin Leopold, brother of the King of Portugal; but the French King was bent upon a marriage of the Queen with some descendant of Philip V., and equally determined to prevent the Infanta's marriage either with Leopold or any other Prince not a descendant of Philip V. The view of Prince Albert and of Lord Aberdeen was that it was a matter for the young Queen herself and the Spanish people. See ante, p. 485. (Ch. XII, 20th July, 1843)]
The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria.
FOREIGN OFFICE, 13th August 1843.
Lord Aberdeen, with his most humble duty, begs to assure your Majesty that he will not fail to give his best attention to your Majesty's communication respecting the marriage of the Queen of Spain.
In a recent despatch to Sir Robert Gordon, Lord Aberdeen has repeated the opinion entertained by your Majesty's Government, that the marriage of the Queen with the son of Don Carlos, instead of leading to the conciliation and unison of parties, would be more likely to produce collision and strife, and to increase the existing animosity between the different political factions by which Spain is distracted.
This marriage, however, has always been a favourite project with Austria and the Northern Courts; and it has also been apparently supported by the French Government. It cannot be denied that at first sight there are many considerations by which it may seem to be recommended; but the weight of these can only be duly estimated by the authorities and people of Spain.
The same may be said respecting the marriage of the Queen with any other Spanish Prince, a descendant of Philip V. which, in the opinion of many, would be most agreeable to the feelings and prejudices of the nation. To this project also it appears that the French Government have recently assented.
Lord Aberdeen humbly thinks that the interests of this country and of all Europe are deeply concerned in the exclusion of a French Prince from the possibility of receiving the hand of the Queen; and that it would not be a wise policy to oppose any marriage by which this should be effected, consistently with the free choice of the Queen, and the sanction of the Spanish Government and people. The avowed predilections of Queen Christina, and her increased means of influence recently acquired, render this a matter of considerable anxiety and importance at the present moment.
[Pageheading: PARLIAMENTARY OBSTRUCTION]
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 16th August 1843.
The Queen cannot refrain from writing a line to express her indignation at the very unjustifiable manner in which the minority of thirteen members obstructs the progress of business.[55] She hopes that every attempt will be made to put an end to what is really indecent conduct. Indeed, how is business to go on at all if such vexatious opposition prevails? At all events, the Queen hopes that Sir Robert will make no kind of concession to these gentlemen, which [could] encourage them to go on in the same way.
The Queen forgot to say this morning that she thinks it would be better that the Investiture of the Thistle should be put off for the present.
[Footnote 55: By opposition to the Bill removing doubts as to the admission of Ministers in Scotland.]
Queen Victoria to Sir James Graham.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 22nd August 1843.
The Queen returns these papers to Sir J. Graham, and thinks that this important Memorial[56] should not be decided on without the opinion of the House of Lords; the Queen trusts that everything will be done to secure inviolate the maintenance of the Marriage Act.
[Footnote 56: The memorial was that of Sir Augustus d'Este (1794-1848), the son of the union of the Duke of Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray. On 4th April 1793 they were married at Rome by an English clergyman, the ceremony being repeated in the same year at St George's, Hanover Square. The Court of Arches annulled the marriage in 1794, but Sir Augustus now preferred a claim to the peerage. Ultimately the Lords, after consulting the judges, disallowed it.]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
SOUTH STREET, 23rd August 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and thanks your Majesty much for the last note which he had the honour of receiving. Lord Melbourne is much pleased that your Majesty is glad of Wilhelmina Stanhope's marriage,[57] and was very glad to hear that your Majesty had congratulated her and Lady Stanhope upon it, which was very kind, and gave much satisfaction. Lord Dalmeny is an excellent young man, and altogether it is an event much to be rejoiced at, especially as it has been so long delayed, and fears began to be entertained that it would never happen. The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland seem also much pleased with Evelyn's[58] marriage. She is a beautiful girl, and a very nice person in every respect, and everybody must wish her happy. Lord Melbourne has been at Panshanger for two or three days with Uxbridge and Lady Uxbridge, Ella, and Constance. Uxbridge is having continual cricket matches as he used to have, which is a very good thing, making the country gay, and pleasing the people.
Matrimonial affairs, Lord Melbourne is afraid, remain in statu quo.
Lord Melbourne was very glad to hear from Anson yesterday and to learn that he thinks himself getting better. Lord Liverpool had given Lord Melbourne a very poor account of him. Lord Melbourne hopes that your Majesty may have a pleasant tour, but he cannot refrain from earnestly recommending your Majesty to take care about landing and embarking, and not to do it in dangerous places and on awkward coasts. Lord Melbourne is going the day after to-morrow with Lord and Lady Beauvale to Brocket Hall, and from thence on the 29th to Melbourne, to stay about three weeks or a month.
Lord Melbourne congratulates your Majesty upon the near approaching termination of the Session of Parliament, which is always a relief to all parties. Some great measures have been passed. Lord Melbourne wishes your Majesty health and happiness, and begs to be respectfully remembered to the Prince.
[Footnote 57: To Lord Dalmeny. En secondes noces, she married the fourth Duke of Cleveland.]
[Footnote 58: Lady Evelyn Leveson Gower, married, on 4th October, to Charles, Lord Blantyre.]
[Pageheading: VISIT TO THE CHATEAU D'EU]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
CHATEAU D'EU, 4th September 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—I write to you from this dear place, where we are in the midst of this admirable and truly amiable family, and where we feel quite at home, and as if we were one of them. Our reception by the dear King and Queen has been most kind, and by the people really gratifying.[59] Everything is very different to England, particularly the population. Louise has told you all about our doings, and therefore tell you nothing but that I am highly interested and amused. Little Chica (Mdme. Hadjy)[60] is a charming, sprightly, lively creature, with immense brown eyes. We leave this the day after to-morrow for Brighton, where the children are, who are extremely well, I hear. Many thanks, dearest Uncle, for your kind letter of the 29th, by which I see that poor Prince Loewenstein[61] came to see you; he is Mamma's old friend. As I am in a great hurry, and as I hope, God willing, to see you very soon, I must conclude in haste, and leave all my remarks for another day. Ever your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
Pray forgive this confused and horrid scrawl.
[Footnote 59: The Queen was enthusiastically received at Treport. On the 2nd there was a great entertainment in the banqueting-room of the Chateau, and on the 4th a fete champetre on the Mont d'Orleans in the forest. On the 5th there was a review, and on the 7th the Queen returned to England.]
[Footnote 60: The Princess of Joinville. See ante, p. 451. (Ch. XII, 10th January, 1843). Hadjy is the Prince of Joinville.]
[Footnote 61: Prince William of Loewenstein (1783-1847).]
[Pageheading: THE FRENCH VISIT]
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
MELBOURNE, 6th September 1843.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and thanks your Majesty much for your letter of the 27th ult., which he received here some days ago. We have been quite dismayed and overwhelmed with the melancholy intelligence of death after death which has followed us. I was much concerned for poor Charles Howard's loss, but we were quite struck down by the melancholy event of poor Mrs W. Cowper.[62] She promised to suit us all well, my sister particularly, and to be a great source of happiness and comfort.
Your Majesty is quite right in supposing that Lord Melbourne would at once attribute your Majesty's visit to the Chateau d'Eu to its right cause—your Majesty's friendship and affection for the French Royal Family, and not to any political object. The principal motive now is to take care that it does not get mixed either in reality or in appearance with politics, and Lord Melbourne cannot conceal from your Majesty that he should lament it much if the result of the visit should turn out to be a treaty upon any European matter, unfavourable to England and favourable to France. Do not let them make any treaty or agreement there. It can be done elsewhere just as well, and without any of the suspicion which is sure to attach to any transaction which takes place there.
[Footnote 62: Mr and Mrs William Cowper had only been married on 24th June.]
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
LAEKEN, 8th September 1843.
MY DEAREST AND MOST BELOVED VICTORIA,—I have been highly gratified that you found a moment to write me such a dear letter. I am sure that the personal contact with the family at Eu would interest you, and at the same time remove some impressions on the subject of the King, which are really untrue. Particularly the attempt of representing him like the most astute of men, calculating constantly everything to deceive people.
His vivacity alone would render such a system extremely difficult, and if he appears occasionally to speak too much and to seem to hold a different language to different people, it is a good deal owing to his vivacity and his anxiety to carry conviction to people's mind.
The impression of your visit will besides do wonders in removing the silly irritation which had been got up since 1840, and which might have in the end occasioned serious mischief, and that without being in the least called for, the passions of nations become very inconvenient sometimes for their Governors.... Your devoted Uncle,
LEOPOLD R.
My best love to dearest Albert; he seems to have had the greatest success, and I am very glad of it, as it had some time ago been the fashion to invent all sorts of nonsense.
I left Stockmar extremely hypochondriacal, but I trust not so unwell as he fancied. His son accompanies him to Coburg.
[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S RETURN]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
ON BOARD THE Victoria and Albert, IN THE RIVER,[63]
21st September 1843.
MY DEARLY BELOVED UNCLE,—I seize the first opportunity of informing you of our excellent passage; we shall be in half-an-hour or three-quarters at Woolwich; it is now half-past ten A.M. The day and night were beautiful, and it is again, very fine to-day. We anchored in Margate Roads at eleven last night, and set off again about five.
Let me thank you and my beloved Louise in both our names again for your great kindness to us, which, believe me, we feel deeply. We were so happy with you, and the stay was so delightful, but so painfully short! It was such a joy for me to be once again under the roof of one who has ever been a father to me! I was very sad after you left us; it seems so strange that all should be over—but the delightful souvenir will ever remain. To leave my dearest Louise too was so painful—and also poor Aunt Julia,[64] so immediately after making her acquaintance; pray tell her that, for me. I shall write to Louise to-morrow. You must forgive my hand being so trembling, but we are lighter than usual, which causes the tremulous motion to be so much more felt.
That God may bless and protect you all always is our fervent prayer. Believe me, always, your devoted and grateful Niece and Child,
VICTORIA R.
[Footnote 63: On the 12th the Queen and Prince Albert sailed from Brighton on a visit to King Leopold. They visited Ostend, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp.]
[Footnote 64: Sister of the Duchess of Kent, married to the Grand Duke Constantine.]
Queen Victoria to Sir James Graham.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 22nd September 1843.
The Queen has received Sir James Graham's letter of the 22nd.[65] She has long seen with deep concern the lamentable state of turbulence in South Wales, and has repeatedly urged the necessity of its being put an end to, by vigorous efforts on the part of the Government. The Queen, therefore, willingly gives her sanction to the issuing of a special Commission for the trial of the offenders and to the issuing of a proclamation. Monday, the 2nd, being the earliest day at which, Sir James says, the necessary Council could be held, will suit the Queen very well; she begs, therefore, that Sir James will cause the Council to meet here on that day at three o'clock.
[Footnote 65: The insurrection of the Rebeccaites was assuming a more dangerous form, and at Hendy Gate they committed a cold-blooded act of murder.]
[Pageheading: MATRIMONIAL PROJECTS]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 26th September 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—I cannot sufficiently thank you for your two most kind and affectionate letters of the 22nd and 23rd, which gave me the greatest pleasure. How often we think of our dear and delightful visit it is impossible for me to say; indeed, I fear these two never-to-be-forgotten voyages and visits have made me think Windsor and its daily occurrences very dull. But this is very ungrateful for what I have had, which is so much more than I ever dared to hope for. The weather is become colder, and yesterday and the day before were horrid, foggy, raw days; to-day it is finer again....
Feodore and Ernest came to us yesterday, and I find them both very well; Feodore is, I think, grown more serious than she was....
You remember that when we were together we talked of who Aumale could marry; he will only marry a Catholic, and no Spaniard, no Neapolitan, no Austrian, and also no Brazilian, as Louise tells me. Why should not Princess Alexandrine of Bavaria do? It would be a good connection, and you say (though not as pretty as Princess Hildegarde) that she is not ill-looking. Qu'en pensez-vous? Then for Tatane[66]—a Princess of Saxony would be extremely passlich.
How long does Aunt Julia stay with you?
Albert, I suppose, writes to you, and I, dearest Uncle, remain ever and ever, your most truly devoted and warmly attached Niece,
VICTORIA R.
We find Pussy amazingly advanced in intellect, but alas! also in naughtiness. I hold up Charlotte as an example of every virtue, which has its effect; for when she is going to be naughty she says: "Dear Ma, what does cousin Charlotte do?"
[Footnote 66: Antoine, Duc de Montpensier.]
[Pageheading: ROYAL VISITORS]
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
WINDSOR CASTLE, 3rd October 1843.
MY DEAREST UNCLE,—Many, many thanks for your kind letter of the 28th, received on Sunday, which was written from the Camp of Beverloo, which Albert recollects with great pleasure and interest, having amused himself so much there.
I can give you excellent accounts of ourselves. The boy returned from Brighton yesterday, looking really the picture of health, and much embelli; Pussy is in great force, but not to be compared to Charlotte in beauty; and Fatima (alias Alice) is as enormous and flourishing as ever. Dearest Louise seems much pleased with Aunt Julia, which I am glad of, and I rejoice that poor Aunt has had the happiness of making my beloved Louise's acquaintance, for it will be a happy recollection for her in her solitude.
We expect the Grand Duke Michael here this afternoon; he is to stay till Friday. The Michael Woronzows,[67] with a son and daughter, are also coming, and we shall be a large party, and are going to dine in the Waterloo Gallery, which makes a very handsome dining-room, and sit after dinner in that beautiful grand Reception Room. How I envy your going to that dear French family! I hope that you will like my favourite Chica. I trust, however, that you will not stay too long away for your good people's sake.
Not being quite sure of your going, I shall direct this to Brussels still.
We went this morning to Kew, visited the old Palace—which is not at all a bad house—the Botanical Gardens, and then my Aunt's.[68] |
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