The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Iii Part 24

[Footnote 34: In pursuance of the negotiations referred to (_ante_, p. 65), a conference of the Powers was held at Vienna. Lord John's view of the att.i.tude which he hoped Great Britain would take up is clearly stated in his letter of the 11th to Lord Clarendon, printed in Walpole's _Life of Lord John Russell_, vol. ii. p. 242. He favoured the admission of Prussia to the Conference.]

[Footnote 35: American Minister to Great Britain, afterwards President of the United States.]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _10th February 1855_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that having been very kindly received at Paris by the Emperor of the French, he thought it would be useful to write to the Emperor on the formation of the present Government, and he submits a copy of the letter[36] which he addressed to the Emperor.

The Emperor, when Viscount Palmerston took leave of him, signified his intention of writing occasionally to Viscount Palmerston, and that is the reason why Viscount Palmerston adverts to such communications in his letter.

Viscount Palmerston has just had the honour to receive your Majesty's communication of this day, and will not fail to bear in mind the suggestions which it contains.

[Footnote 36: _Viscount Palmerston to the Emperor of the French._

LONDRES, _8 Fevrier 1855_.

SIRE,--Appele par la Reine ma Souveraine au poste que maintenant j'occupe, je m'empresse de satisfaire au besoin que je sens d'exprimer a votre Majeste la grande satisfaction que j'eprouve a me trouver en rapport plus direct avec le Gouvernement de votre Majeste.

L'Alliance qui unit si heureus.e.m.e.nt la France et l'Angleterre et qui promet des resultats si avantageux pour toute l'Europe, prend son origine dans la loyaute, la franchise, et la sagacite de votre Majeste; et votre Majeste pourra toujours compter sur la loyaute et la franchise du Gouvernement Anglais. Et si votre Majeste avait jamais une communication a nous faire sur des idees non encore a.s.sez muries pour etre le sujet de Depeches Officielles, je m'estimerais tres honore en recevant une telle communication de la part de votre Majeste.

Nous allons mettre un peu d'ordre a notre Camp devant Sevastopol, et en cela nous tacherons d'imiter le bel exemple qui nous est montre par le Camp Francais. A quelque chose cependant malheur est bon, et le mauvais etat de l'Armee Anglaise a donne aux braves et genereux Francais l'occasion de prodiguer a leurs freres d'armes des soins, qui ont excite la plus vive reconnaissance tant en Angleterre qu'a Balaclava.

J'ai l'honneur d'etre, Sire, etc. etc.,

PALMERSTON.]

[Pageheading: PALMERSTON AND THE EMPEROR]

_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th February 1855_.

This letter gave us great uneasiness.... The sort of private correspondence which Lord Palmerston means to establish with the Emperor Napoleon is a novel and unconst.i.tutional practice. If carried on behind the back of the Sovereign, it makes her Minister the Privy Councillor of a foreign Sovereign at the head of her affairs. How can the Foreign Secretary and Amba.s.sador at Paris, the legitimate organs of communication, carry on their business, if everything has been privately preconcerted between the Emperor and the English Prime Minister? What control can the Cabinet hope to exercise on the Foreign Affairs under these circ.u.mstances?...

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _11th February 1855_.

The Queen thanks Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 10th, and for communicating to her the letter which he had addressed upon the 8th to the Emperor of the French on the formation of the present Government, the copy of which the Queen herewith returns.

[Pageheading: THE ROEBUCK COMMITTEE]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _16th February 1855_. (_Friday night._)

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that after he had made his statement this afternoon, a conversation of some length took place, in which Mr Disraeli, Mr Roebuck, Mr Thomas Duncombe, and several other Members took part, the subject of discussion being whether Mr Roebuck's Committee should or should not be appointed.

Viscount Palmerston is concerned to say that it was not only his own impression but the opinion of a great number of persons with whom he communicated in the course of the evening, including the Speaker, that the appointment of the Committee will be carried by a very great majority, perhaps scarcely less great than that by which the original Motion was affirmed; and it was also the opinion of good judges that a refusal to grant an enquiry would not be a good ground on which to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the Country. The general opinion was that the best way of meeting the Motion for naming the Committee which Mr Roebuck has fixed for next Thursday, would be to move some instruction to the Committee directing or limiting the range of its enquiry. This is a matter, however, which will be well considered at the meeting of the Cabinet to-morrow....

The reason alleged for the determination of Members to vote for Mr Roebuck's Committee is the general desire throughout the Country that an enquiry should be inst.i.tuted to ascertain the causes of the sufferings of your Majesty's troops in the Crimea.

_Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia._ [_Translation._]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _20th February 1855_.

DEAREST BROTHER,--I must not let Lord John Russell visit Berlin without personally recommending him to your Majesty--an honour which he deserves in a high degree, as a statesman of wide outlook, well-informed, and moderate. At the same time I may be allowed to repeat my conviction, which I have expressed several times already, that it appears to me impossible to obtain peace so long as Prussia continues indisposed to maintain, in case of necessity by force of arms, the principles publicly expressed in concert with the belligerent Powers and Austria.

Much blood, very much blood, has already been shed. Honour and justice force the belligerent Powers to make every sacrifice in continually defending those principles to the utmost. Whether diplomacy will succeed in saving Prussia from taking an active share in this defence--that remains the secret of the future, which the King of kings alone possesses!

Albert presents his homage to your Majesty, and I beg to be most cordially remembered, and remain as ever, my dear Brother, your Majesty's faithful Servant and Friend,

VICTORIA R.

[Pageheading: MR GLADSTONE]

_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _21st February 1855_.

I have just seen Mr Gladstone, who received my box so late that I did not wish to detain him more than a few minutes, as the Cabinet was waiting for him. I told him, however, the substance of Lord Palmerston's letter, and of the Queen's answer, the wisdom of which, he said, n.o.body could doubt for a moment, and added that the choice lying only between many evils, I hoped he and his friends would not strive to obtain an absolute good, and thereby lose the Queen the services of an efficient Government. He begged that I should rest a.s.sured that the first and primary consideration which would guide their determination would be the position of the Crown in these critical circ.u.mstances. He had had no opportunity of consulting these last days either Mr S. Herbert or Sir James Graham. But for himself he felt the greatest difficulty in letting the House of Commons succeed in what he must consider a most unconst.i.tutional, most presumptuous, and most dangerous course, after which it would be impossible for the Executive ever to oppose again the most absurd and preposterous demands for enquiry.[37]

[Footnote 37: See _post_, 21st February, 1855, note 38.]

I asked, "But can you stop it?"

He answered: I believe Lord Palmerston made a mistake in not grappling with it from the first, and using all the power the Crown had entrusted to him, even ostentatiously, for the purpose. Now it might be most difficult--but it ought not to pa.s.s without a solemn protest on the part of the men who were not connected with the Government, and should not be supposed to have any other than the interests of the Country at heart. A Government was powerless in resisting such an encroachment of the House, where the whole Opposition, from personal motives, and the supporters of Government from fear of their const.i.tuents, were bent upon carrying it. Such a protest, however, might form a rallying-point upon which future resistance might be based, and the Country, now intoxicated by agitation, might come to its senses.