The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Ii Part 42

_The Prince of Prussia to Queen Victoria._

[_Translation._]

BRUSSELS _30th May 1848._

MOST GRACIOUS COUSIN,--I obey the impulse of my heart in seizing my pen, without any delay, in order to express to you my warmest and most heartfelt thanks for the infinitely gracious and affectionate way with which you and the Prince have treated me during my stay in London.[25]

It was a melancholy time, that of my arrival. By the sympathetic view which you took of my situation, most gracious Cousin, it became not only bearable, but even transformed into one that became proportionately honourable and dignified. This graciousness of yours has undoubtedly contributed towards the change of opinion which has resulted in my favour, and so I owe to you, to the Prince, and to your Government, a fortunate issue out of my calamities. So it is with a heavy heart that I have now left England, not knowing what future lies before me to meet--and only knowing that I shall need the strengthening rest and tranquillity which my stay in England and an insight into her inst.i.tutions have afforded me in full measure.

Offering my most cordial remembrances to the Prince, to whom I shall write as soon as possible, I remain, most gracious Cousin, your faithful and most gratefully devoted Cousin,

PRINCE OF PRUSSIA.

[Footnote 25: The Prince of Prussia, afterwards the Emperor William I., having become intensely unpopular at Berlin, had been obliged in March to fly for his life, in disguise, _via_ Hamburg, to England.]

[Pageheading: THE ROYAL EXILES]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st June 1848._

The Queen had not time the other day to talk to Lord John Russell on the subject of the French Royal Family, and therefore writes to him now. As it seems now most probable that they, or at least some of them, will take up their residence for a lengthened period in this country, and as their position is now a defined one, viz. that of _exiles_, their treatment should be defined and established.

At first everything seemed temporary, and the public were much occupied with them, inclined to criticise all that was done or was omitted by the Court; all their movements were recorded in the papers, etc. The lapse of three months has a good deal altered this. They have lived in complete retirement, and are comparatively forgotten; and their poverty and their resignation to their misfortunes have met with much sympathy! The Queen is consequently anxious to take the right line; particularly desirous to do nothing which could hurt the interests of the country, and equally so to do everything kind towards a distinguished Royal Family in severe affliction, with whom she has long been on terms of intimacy, and to whom she is very nearly related. She accordingly wishes to know if Lord John sees any objection to the following: She has asked her Cousin, the d.u.c.h.ess of Nemours, to come for two or three nights to see her at Osborne when she goes there, _quite_ privately; the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent would bring her with her. The Duke will not come with the d.u.c.h.ess, as he says he feels (very properly) it would be unbecoming in him till their fate (as to _fortune_, for _banished_ they already are) is decided, to be even for a day at Osborne. The d.u.c.h.ess herself wishes not to appear in the evening, but to remain alone with the Queen and the Prince.

The Queen considers that when she is _staying_ in the country during the summer and autumn, and any of the branches of the French Royal Family should wish to visit her and the Prince, as they occasionally do here, she might lodge them for one or two nights, as the distance might be too great for their returning the same day. They are exiles, and _not Pretenders_, as the Duc de Bordeaux and Count de Montemolin are (and who are _for that reason only not received at Court_). In all countries where ill.u.s.trious exiles related to the Sovereign have been they have always been received at Court, as the Duc de Bordeaux, the d.u.c.h.esse d'Angouleme, etc., etc., invariably have been at Vienna (even on public occasions), there being a French Amba.s.sador there, and the best understanding existing between France and Austria. The Duke of Orleans (King Louis Philippe) in former times was constantly received by the Royal Family, and was the intimate friend of the Duke of Kent.

Probably, if their fortunes are restored to them, the French Royal Family will go out into society in the course of time, and if the state of France becomes consolidated there may no longer exist that wish and that necessity for _extreme_ privacy, which is so obvious now. What the Queen has just mentioned, Lord John must well understand, is not what is _likely_ to take place (except in the case of her cousin, the d.u.c.h.ess of Nemours) immediately, but only what might occasionally occur when we are permanently settled in the country. Of course events _might_ arise which would change this, and which would render it inadvisable, and then the Queen would communicate with Lord John, and ask his advice again upon the subject.

All she has suggested refers to the present state of affairs, and, of course, merely to _strictly_ private visits, and on _no state occasion_. This is a long letter about such a subject, but the Queen wishes to be quite safe in what she does, and therefore could not have stated the case and her opinion in a smaller s.p.a.ce.

[Pageheading: AFFAIRS IN LOMBARDY]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th June 1848._

The Queen returns the enclosed draft. She has written upon it, in pencil, a pa.s.sage which she thinks ought to be added, if the draft--though civil--is not to be a mere refusal to do anything for Austria, and a recommendation that whatever the Italians ask for ought to be given, for which a mediation is hardly necessary.[26] The Queen thinks it most important that we should try to mediate and put a stop to the war, and equally important that the boundary which is to be settled should be such a one as to make a recurrence of hostilities unlikely. The Queen has only further to remark that Lord Palmerston speaks in the beginning of the letter only of the Cabinet, and adverts nowhere to the proposition having been submitted to her.

[Footnote 26: War was now raging in Lombardy between the Austrians under Marshal Radetzky and the Piedmontese under the King of Sardinia.]

_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _14th June 1848._

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty, and thanks your Majesty for the perusal of this interesting letter.

An Emperor with a rational Const.i.tution might be a fair termination of the French follies; but Louis Napoleon, with the Communists, will probably destroy the last chance of order and tranquillity. A despotism must be the end.

May Heaven preserve us in peace!

[Pageheading: SIR HENRY BULWER]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _15th June 1848._

The Queen has received Lord Palmerston's letter explaining his views as to the reparation we may be ent.i.tled to receive from the Spanish Government. She considers them as quite fair, but does not wish to have Sir H. Bulwer again as her Minister at Madrid, even if it should be necessary that he should repair there in order to be received by the Queen of Spain. It would not be consulting the permanent interests of this country to entrust that mission again to Sir H. Bulwer, after all that has pa.s.sed. When the Queen considers the position we had in Spain, and what it ought to have been after the const.i.tution of the French Republic when we had no rival to fight and ought to have enjoyed the entire confidence and friends.h.i.+p of Spain, and compares this to the state into which our relations with that country have been brought, she cannot help being struck how much matters must have been mismanaged.

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _16th June 1848._

The Queen sends the enclosed draft,[27] and asks whether this note is what Lord John directed Lord Palmerston to send to Lisbon as a caution to Sir H. Seymour not to mix himself up with party intrigues to upset a particular Ministry?[28] ...

[Footnote 27: The draft ran:--"As it is evident that the Queen and the Government of Portugal will listen to no advice except such that agrees with their own wishes, I have to instruct you to abstain in future from giving any longer any advice to them on political matters, taking care to explain both to the Queen and the Government your reasons for doing so. You will, however, at the same time positively declare to the Portuguese Government that if by the course of policy they are pursuing they should run into any difficulty, they must clearly understand that they will not have to expect any a.s.sistance from England."]

[Footnote 28: Lord John Russell replied that he would write immediately to Lord Palmerston respecting Portuguese affairs.

He added that he did not approve of the proposed draft.]

_Viscount Palmerston to Lord John Russell._

CARLTON GARDENS, _17th June 1848._

MY DEAR JOHN RUSSELL,--The draft to Seymour was written in consequence of what you said to me, and what the Queen wrote to you; but my own opinion certainly is that it would be best to leave the things with him as they are. It must, however, be remembered that the Portuguese Government have not in reality fulfilled the engagements taken by the Queen in the Protocol of last year....

PALMERSTON.