Volume 3 — CHAPTER XI (continued 2)
Reading edition
The Queen is very glad that the Bill for the better security of her person has passed so quickly and in so gratifying a manner through both Houses.
We are here since yesterday week, enjoying the fine weather, and great quiet and peace; but the news from Paris have damped our spirits.
The Queen is charmed with her new sister,49 who is a most amiable, sensible, and gentle creature, and without being really handsome, very pretty and pleasing.
We return to town to-morrow and the Queen hopes soon to see Lord Melbourne. We intend going to Windsor to settle, on Saturday.
The Queen trusts Lord Melbourne is quite well.
Footnote 49: The Duchess Ernest of Saxe-Coburg.
The King of the French to Queen Victoria.
LETTER FROM KING LOUIS PHILIPPE
Neuilly, 17 Juillet 1842.
Madame ma bien chère et bien bonne Sœur,—J'ai bien reconnu le cœur de votre Majesté dans l'empressement qu'elle a mis à m'exprimer la part qu'elle prend à mon malheur. Ma malheureuse Reine en est également bien touchée, et si elle ne le témoigne pas elle-même dès aujourd'hui à votre Majesté, c'est qu'elle est encore dans l'impossibilité d'écrire. Nous osons lui demander tous les deux, d'être notre interprète auprès du Prince Albert, et de lui dire combien nous sommes sensibles à son intérêt. S'il pouvait y avoir une consolation au coup affreux qui a frappé nos vieux jours, ce serait ces témoignages d'intérêt, et les regrets dont on entoure le tombeau de mon enfant chéri, et la perte immense que tous ont faite en lui! C'est à présent qu'on sent ce qu'il était, et ce qu'il devenait chaque jour de plus en plus.
Je remercie de nouveau votre Majesté, du fond de mon cœur brisé, de tous les sentiments dont elle veut bien me donner tant de preuves, et je la prie d'agréer l'expression de la haute estime et de l'inviolable amitié avec lesquelles, je suis, Madame, ma très chère Sœur, de votre Majesté, le bien affectionné Frère,
Louis Philippe R.
The Queen of the French to Queen Victoria.
Neuilly, 19 Juillet 1842.
Madame ma très chère Sœur,—Je comptais que votre Majesté et le Prince Albert s'associeraient à notre immense douleur; que Dieu vous bénisse pour les tendres expressions de votre lettre. Nous sommes anéantis par le coup dont Dieu nous a frappés, que sa Sainte Volonté soit faite! J'ai perdu l'objet de ma plus vive tendresse, celui qui depuis 32 ans avait été mon amour, mon bonheur, et ma gloire, plein de vie, d'avenir, ma tête n'y est plus, mon cœur est flétri, je tâche de me résigner, je pleure et je prie pour cette Ame qui m'était si chère et pour que Dieu nous conserve l'infortuné et précieux Roi dont la douleur est incommensurable; nous tâchons de nous réunir tous pour faire un faisceau autour de lui. Notre ange de Louise et votre excellent oncle sont arrivés avant-hier; leur présence nous a fait du bien. Hélène, anéantie par la douleur, a un courage admirable, sa santé se soutient. Nemours, dont l'affliction est inexprimable, tâche de prendre des forces pour nous consoler tous, et les bonnes Victoire et Clémentine après l'horrible et douleureuse scène à laquelle elles avaient assisté, ont passé trois nuits pour aller chercher leur infortunée Belle-Sœur. Enfin, Dieu veut que nous vivions pour nous soutenir les uns les autres, que ce Dieu Tout Puissant vous bénisse, Madame, et vous préserve à jamais de pareilles douleurs, c'est le vœu bien sincère de celle qui se dit de tout son cœur, Madame, De votre Majesté la toute dévouée Sœur,
Marie Amélie.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
LEIGH HUNT
South Street, 22nd July 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty, and ventures to transmit the copy of Mr Leigh Hunt's poem, which he mentioned to your Majesty in his last letter. Lord Melbourne also sends the letter which Mr Leigh Hunt has taken the liberty of addressing to your Majesty, as well as that which he has addressed to Lord Melbourne. Lord Melbourne will inform Mr Hunt that he has done this, and it is not at all required that any further notice should be taken.50
It is a very gay and lively work, and has in it some wit and fun.
Lord Melbourne had great pleasure yesterday in seeing your Majesty well and in good spirits.
Footnote 50: The poem was no doubt The Palfrey; a Love-Story of Old Times.
Mr Leigh Hunt to Viscount Melbourne.
32 Edwardes Square, Kensington, 15th July 1842.
My Lord,—I was once speaking to Mr Fonblanque51 of my unwillingness to trouble your Lordship, when Prime Minister, with a request to lay my tragedy of the Legend of Florence52 before Her Majesty; and he said that he was sure your good-nature would not have been displeased with it. This is the reason why I now venture to ask whether a similar kindness might be shown the accompanying little poem, supposing no etiquette to stand in the way of it. I have no Tory channels of communication with the Palace, nor wish to seek any; neither can I trespass upon any friendships of Her Majesty's, unless they can find my excuse in some previous knowledge of me. On the other hand, I have no fear of being supposed by your Lordship to approach one who is no longer Premier with less respect than when he was in power. I would even venture to say, if the mode of testifying it were not so poor a one, that it is in a double spirit of respectfulness the application is made. Should it be of a nature calculated to give your Lordship any perplexity, I can only blush for having been the occasion of it, and beg it may be laid to the account of an ignorance which lives very much out of the world. The same reason will plead my excuse for not knowing whether a letter to Her Majesty ought, or ought not, to accompany the book; and for begging your Lordship, after its perusal, to suppress it or otherwise accordingly, in case you can oblige me in the other part of my request. Your Lordship will perceive that the Address prefixed to the poem, not having ventured to ask Her Majesty's permission, does not presume to call itself a dedication; neither does it leave the public under any erroneous impression whatsoever as to the nature of its intentions: and on this account I not only expect, of course, no acknowledgment of its receipt on the part of any one about Her Majesty's person, but shall be more than content to understand by your Lordship's own silence that my book has reached its destination, and therefore not been considered altogether unworthy of it.
The bookseller tells me that it is no longer "the mode" for authors to present their volumes bound; but in regard to books intended to go to Court, he is not quite so certain; and I find it so difficult to disassociate the idea of dress from any such proceeding, that I trust my inexperience in this respect also will procure me whatever pardon it may require.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's ever grateful and faithful Servant,
Leigh Hunt.
Footnote 51: Hunt had founded The Examiner in 1808, and Albany Fonblanque (1793-1872) had succeeded him on it as leader writer.
Footnote 52: Leigh Hunt's play, A Legend of Florence, had had a great success at Covent Garden in 1840; in 1852 it was performed at Windsor by the Queen's command.
The Queen of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
THE AFFLICTED FAMILY
Neuilly, 21st July 1842.
My beloved Victoria,—I was unable to thank you the other day for your kind and feeling letter of the 14th, although I was greatly touched by it, and I trust you will have excused me. I thank you to-day very sincerely for both your letters, and for the share and sympathy you and dear Albert take in our great misfortune. I know it is very heartfelt, and we are all very grateful for it. Victoire and my poor mother have already given you news from the unfortunate Hélène. She has sustained and outlived the first shock and shows wonderful courage. She is even well in health, and much better and stronger in all ways than I had expected. She takes very much upon herself on account of the poor children, to prevent that any melancholy or painful feeling should be connected for them with the remembrance of their beloved and unfortunate father. My parents show great fortitude and resignation, but their hearts are for ever broke. They are only sustained by their feeling of duty. My poor mother bears up for my father, and my father bears up to fulfil his duties of father and of king. Their health is, thank God! good, and my father retains all his strength of mind and quickness of judgment; but they are both grown old in looks, and their hairs are turned quite white.
The first days, my poor father could do nothing but sob, and it was really heartbreaking to see him. He begins now to have more command upon his grief, and the presence of your uncle, whom he dearly loves, seems to do him good. The poor children are well and merry and seem unconscious of their dreadful loss. From time to time only they jump round us as if looking for protection. The contrast of their gaiety with their horrid misfortune is very painful. Paris is looking remarkably well and strong. Robert53 is much grown, extremely quick and lively, and begins to speak. The remainder of the family is, as you may easily imagine, in the deepest affliction. Nemours especially is quite broken down with grief. Chartres was more than a brother to him, as he was more than a second father to us all. He was the head and the heart and soul of the whole family. We all looked up to him, and we found him on all occasions. A better, or even such a brother was never seen; our loss is as great as irreparable; but God's will be done! He had surely His motives in sending on my unfortunate parents the horrid affliction in their old days, and in removing from us the being who seemed the most necessary to the hope and happiness of all; we must submit to His decrees, hard as they are; but it is impossible not to regret that my poor brother has not at least found the death of a soldier, which he had always wished for, instead of such a useless, horrid, and miserable one! It seems, for no one saw him fall, that he did not jump, as we had thought at first, but that he was thrown from the barouche, while standing; and I like it in some measure better so, as God's will is still more manifest in this way. It is equally manifest in all the circumstances attending the catastrophe. My poor brother was not even to have come to Neuilly. He had taken leave of my parents the day before, and would not have gone again if my unfortunate mother had not asked him, and if my parents, who were to go to Paris, had not delayed their departure....
I thank you again and again, my beloved Victoria, for all your interest and sympathy. I was sure you would think of us and of me: you know how much I loved my brother. I little expected to outlive him, as I had done my beloved Mary;54 but once more, God's will be done. I remain now and ever, yours most devotedly,
Louise.
I perceive I forgot mentioning Ernest. Pray thank him for his sympathy also. He knows what a brother is, and may feel for us! We expect on Saturday poor Joinville. My father will have thus his four remaining sons round him for the opening of the Session, which takes place on the 26th, and at which he must preside in person. It is a hard duty for him.
Footnote 53: The young Duc de Chartres, born in 1840.
Footnote 54: See ante, p. 144.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
THE CORN LAWS
Whitehall, 23rd July 1842.
Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that last night was occupied in the House of Commons with another debate on the Corn Laws, again impeding any progress with the Government business. The debate was entirely confined to those members who act in concert with the Anti-Corn Law League.55 It continued until twelve, when Mr Cobden, the Member for Stockport, moved an adjournment of the House, on the ground that none of your Majesty's servants had taken a part in the debate....
Several members of the Opposition voted with the Government, and declared that they would not be parties to such vexatious proceedings.
A division on the main question—a Committee to enquire into the state of the country with a view to the Repeal of the Corn Laws—then took place.
The motion was negatived by a majority of 156 to 64—92. The House did not adjourn until three this morning.
Footnote 55: The Anti-Corn Law League was rapidly gaining importance, and fiscal policy occupied a great part of the session of 1842. Peel was already reducing import duties on articles other than corn. Cobden had been elected at Stockport, for the first time, in 1841.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF ACCIDENT
Neuilly, 22nd July 1842.
My dearest Victoria,—I was anxious to write to you on the 18th, but I was so overpowered with all that surrounded me that I could really not. Yesterday I received your dear letter of the 19th, and I will answer it, so as to give you a clear view of the sad case. On the 12th, Tuesday, Chartres had taken leave, as he meant to go to St Omer, the 13th; however, in the family the Queen and others said he ought to come once more to see them. The King had ordered his carriage to go to town on the 13th, to a Council; Chartres meant to have called shortly after ten.
It is necessary to tell you all this, as it shows how strangely circumstances turned fatally. Chartres did not want to return once more to Neuilly, and the King, if exact, might see him once more in town. Chartres, however, instead of coming early, set off after eleven; his Off. d'Ordonnance, M. Bertin de Veaux, his valet de chambre, a German, Holder, begged him not to go quite alone in that small phaeton through Paris, as he was in uniform, but all this did not avail; he insisted to go in the phaeton and to go alone. He set out later than he expected, and if the King had set out exactly as he had named, the parents and the son would probably have met on the rising avenue of the Champs Elysees, towards the Barrière de l'Étoile and Arc de Triomphe. However, the King delayed his departure and the son set off. At the place where from the great avenue one turns off towards Neuilly, the horses, which were not even young horses, as I am told that he has had them some years, moved by that stupid longing to get to Neuilly, where they knew their stables, got rather above the postillion, and ran quasi away. Chartres got up and asked the postillion if he could hold his horses no longer; the boy called out "Non, Monseigneur"; he had looked back when he said this, and saw his master for the last time standing in the phaeton. People at some distance saw him come out of his carriage and describe a sort of semicircle falling down. Nobody knows exactly if he jumped out of the carriage, or if he lost his position and fell out. I am inclined to think that, trusting to his lightness and agility, he wanted to jump out, forgetting the impulse which a quick-going carriage gives, as there were marks on his knees as if he had first fallen that way. The principal blow was, however, on the head, the skull being entirely fractured. He was taken up senseless, that is to say confused, but not fainting, and carried into a small inn. At first his appearance, sitting in a chair, was so little altered that people thought it was nothing of any consequence.
He knew no one, and only spoke a few incoherent words in German. The accident happened about a quarter before twelve, and at four he was no more.
I refer for some other details to Albert. Poor Louise looks like a shadow, and only her great devotion for me supports her. It may serve as a lesson how fragile all human affairs are. Poor Chartres, it seems, with the prospect of these camps and altogether, was never in better spirits. But I must end. Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen.
SIR EDWARD DISBROWE
Windsor Castle, 27th July 1842.
The Queen thanks Lord Aberdeen for the letter she has this morning received.
The Queen thinks that a reprimand would hardly do, as it is not so much from any particular despatch that she has formed this opinion of Sir Edward Disbrowe, but more from the general tenor of his conduct and despatches; therefore she thinks it would be difficult to censure him, which would probably not have the desired effect.56 For this reason the Queen would prefer his being removed without his being told that it was for his conduct, and without his being able to find this out, which, the Queen concludes from Lord Aberdeen's letter, could easily be done.
Footnote 56: See p. 409. Lord Aberdeen had suggested sending Sir Edward Disbrowe a private admonition.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
Windsor Castle, 2nd August 1842.
Dearest Uncle,—I had the pleasure of receiving your kind letter of the 29th, late on Sunday evening. You know all we have felt, and do feel, for the dear and exemplary French family. Really it is too dreadful, but God's will be done! Perhaps poor Chartres is saved great sorrow and grief. Him we must not pity!
God grant all may go off well on these dreadful days, and may He support the dear afflicted parents, widow, and brothers and sisters! My dearest Louise! I hope and trust that her dear children will occupy her and divert her attention; only don't let her swallow and suppress her grief and keep it to herself; that is dreadful, and very hurtful. Let her give way to her sorrow, and talk of it to her.
Pray, dearest Uncle, will not and ought not Paris to be Duke of Orleans now? Hélène is sole guardian, is she not?...
Dear Louise will, I trust, excuse my not answering her kind letter to-day; pray give her my best love, and believe me, always, your most devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
THE FATHERLESS CHILDREN
Laeken, 5th August 1842.
My dearest Victoria,—... Little Paris,57 who has gained much of late, will keep the name of Paris, at least for the present. Hélène will be, after the poor King's demise, sole guardian of her children; till then the King as head of the family will be supreme in all matters relating to the children.... Your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Footnote 57: The late Comte de Paris, who bore this title to the end of his life, father of the present Duc d'Orléans.
The Queen of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
Laeken, 5th August 1842.
My beloved Victoria,—... Poor little Paris is aware of his misfortune in the way he can be. Hélène told him that he saw everybody weep because he would see no more his beloved father. The poor child wept then very much, and he has done several times since, when the same thing was repeated to him. He wonders why he does not go any more in his unfortunate father's room, and why there is no more "de cher Papa," as he says: else he makes no question or observation and is very quiet and cheerful. He cannot yet feel what he has lost and his melancholy fate: but Hélène does what she can to keep alive in him the remembrance of his father.... Yours most affectionately,
Louise.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
South Street, 8th August 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He thanks your Majesty much for the letter of the 4th. It can hardly be expected that the grief of the French family will, as yet, much diminish, but Lord Melbourne hopes that they are somewhat more composed. He has heard this morning that Lord and Lady Beauvale were at Boulogne on Saturday; they would probably cross yesterday, and will be in London to-day.
Lord Melbourne understands that Lord Beauvale had an interview of three hours with the King of the French. Charles Howard was married this morning, and Lord Melbourne is going to meet Lord and Lady Carlisle and the rest of the family at Baron Parke's58 at dinner. Lord Melbourne thinks that Lord Prudhoe's marriage59 was to be expected.60 Upon looking at the Peerage, he is only fifty years old, and fifty is young enough to marry anybody. The only fault of fifty is that it advances too rapidly on to sixty, which, on the other hand, is too old to marry anybody. It is Lord Melbourne's opinion that if a man does marry either at fifty or sixty, he had much better take a young girl than a woman of more age and experience. Youth is more malleable, more gentle, and has often more respect and compassion for infirmity than middle-age.
Footnote 58: Afterwards Lord Wensleydale.
Footnote 59: To Lady Eleanor Grosvenor.
Footnote 60: Admiral Lord Algernon Percy (1792-1865), President of the Royal Institution, was created in 1816 Baron Prudhoe: in 1847, on the death of his brother, he became fourth Duke of Northumberland.
Lord Hill to Queen Victoria.
RESIGNATION OF LORD HILL
Hardwicke Grange,61 9th August 1842.
Lord Hill presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and craves your Majesty's gracious permission to lay before your Majesty his resignation of the Command of your Majesty's Army.
Lord Hill deeply regrets the necessity of taking a step which will deprive him of a charge that has been so long committed to his hands, and for his continuance in which he is indebted to your Majesty's grace and favour; but he has again suffered much from the illness under which he laboured in the early part of the year, and his health has in consequence become so indifferent as to render him unequal to the adequate discharge of the various important duties of his command, which therefore he feels he could not retain with due regard to the interests of your Majesty's Service.
Lord Hill had flattered himself that he should have been able to have laid his application for retirement before your Majesty himself, and personally to have expressed to your Majesty his deep and lasting sense of your Majesty's gracious kindness to him on all occasions. Having, however, left London by the advice of his medical attendants, and being too unwell to undertake a second journey, Lord Hill avails himself of this mode of assuring your Majesty of his unabated zeal for the Service, of his dutiful devotion to your Majesty's person, and of the pain and sorrow with which he relinquishes an appointment that afforded him the honour and advantage of executing your Majesty's commands, and receiving many gracious proofs of your Majesty's support and confidence.
Footnote 61: Lord Hill's country house in Shropshire.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
APPOINTMENT OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Whitehall, 10th August 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that he received at a late hour last night the accompanying letter to your Majesty from Lord Hill. From the one which accompanied it, addressed to Sir Robert Peel, he has reason to believe that it conveys to your Majesty the wish of Lord Hill to be relieved, on the ground of ill-health and increasing infirmities, from the Command of your Majesty's Forces.
Sir Robert Peel would humbly submit for your Majesty's consideration whether it might not be a deserved mark of your Majesty's approbation to confer upon Lord Hill the rank of Viscount, with remainder to his nephew Sir Rowland Hill,62 who will succeed Lord Hill in the Barony. Lord Beresford63 and Lord Combermere64 have the rank of Viscounts, and perhaps the long, faithful services of Lord Hill as Commander-in-Chief may appear to your Majesty to entitle him to equal distinction in the Peerage.
Sir Robert Peel has reason to believe that when Lord Hill's retirement shall be known there will be many competitors for the office of Commander-in-Chief.
Sir George Murray,65 Sir Edward Paget,66 Lord Londonderry,67 Lord Combermere, and perhaps Lord Beresford, will severally urge their pretensions.
Sir Robert Peel humbly submits to your Majesty that should the Duke of Wellington be willing to undertake the duties of this important trust, no claims could stand in competition with his, and no selection from the candidates whom he has named would be satisfactory to the Army or public in general.
Sir Robert Peel would therefore humbly recommend to your Majesty that the offer of this appointment should be made to the Duke of Wellington, with the signification of a wish on the part of your Majesty (should your Majesty be pleased to approve of the arrangement), that His Grace should continue a member of the Cabinet, and the organ of the Government, as at present, in the House of Lords.
Footnote 62: Lord Hill died 10th December 1842, and was succeeded in his peerages by Sir Rowland Hill, who died in 1875.
Footnote 63: William Carr Beresford (1768-1854), created Viscount Beresford in 1823 for the victory of Albuera, 1811.
Footnote 64: Sir Stapleton Cotton (1773-1865), created Viscount Combermere for the capture of Bhurtpore.
Footnote 65: Sir George Murray (1772-1846), received a K.C.B. for his services in the Peninsula, M.P. for Perth, and afterwards Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.
Footnote 66: General Sir Edward Paget, G.C.B. (1775-1849), brother of the first Marquis of Anglesey.
Footnote 67: Prior to being Ambassador at Vienna, Lord Londonderry had distinguished himself in the Peninsula.
The Duke of Wellington to Queen Victoria.
THE DUKE ACCEPTS
London, 12th August 1842.
Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has been informed by Sir Robert Peel that your Majesty had been graciously pleased to approve of the recommendation submitted by your Majesty's servants that he should be appointed the Commander-in-Chief of your Majesty's Forces.
He is sensible of and grateful for this fresh proof of your Majesty's confidence in him and gracious favour towards him.
He hopes that your Majesty will believe that your Majesty may rely upon his making every effort in his power to promote your Majesty's views for the honour and interest of the country in any situation in which he may be placed.
Which is humbly submitted to your Majesty by your Majesty's most dutiful and devoted Subject and Servant,
Wellington.
Queen Victoria to Lord Hill.
Windsor Castle, 12th August 1842.
The Queen has received Lord Hill's letter of the 9th inst., and is much concerned to learn that Lord Hill's health is so indifferent that he thinks it is his duty to resign the important office which he has so long and so honourably held. The Queen can only reluctantly give her consent to this determination, as she regrets to lose Lord Hill's services at the head of her Army. She cannot, however, miss this opportunity of expressing to Lord Hill her entire approbation of his conduct throughout the time he served her. The Prince begs to have his kind regards sent to Lord Hill.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
RIOTS IN MANCHESTER
Cabinet Room, Downing Street, 13th August 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is sorry to be under the necessity of troubling your Majesty so suddenly, but he is sure your Majesty will excuse him for making any proposal to your Majesty which the public service may render requisite.68
The accounts received this morning from Manchester with regard to the state of the country in that neighbourhood are very unsatisfactory, and they are confirmed by the personal testimony of magistrates who have arrived in London for the purpose of making representations to your Majesty's servants on the subject.
A Cabinet has just been held, and it is proposed to send a battalion of Guards by the railway this evening. The 16th of August (Tuesday next) is the anniversary of a conflict which took place in Manchester in the year 181969 between the Yeomanry Cavalry and the populace, and it is feared that there may be a great assemblage of persons riotously disposed on that day.
Under these circumstances it appears desirable to your Majesty's confidential advisers that a proclamation should be immediately issued, warning all persons against attendance on tumultuous meetings, and against all acts calculated to disturb the public peace. It is necessary that a Council should be held for the issue of this proclamation, and important that it should arrive in Manchester on Monday.
These considerations have prevented Sir Robert Peel from giving previous notice to your Majesty, and having your Majesty's sanction for the holding of a Council. On account of the urgency of the case, he has requested a sufficient number of Privy Councillors to repair to Windsor this evening, in order that should your Majesty be graciously pleased to hold a Council, the proclamation may be forthwith issued. The members of the Privy Council will be in attendance about half-past six o'clock, as Sir Robert Peel has considered that from that time to half-past seven will probably be the least inconvenient to your Majesty.
He writes this immediately after the breaking up of the Cabinet.
Footnote 68: The disturbances of this month, which originated in a strike for wages in Lancashire, were inflamed by agitators, and rapidly spread through Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire, eventually extending to the populous parts of Scotland and Wales. Several conflicts took place between the populace and the military, and there was much loss of life and property, as well as aggravated distress.
Footnote 69: On 16th August 1819, a great popular demonstration in favour of Parliamentary Reform, presided over by Henry Hunt, the Radical, had taken place in St Peter's Fields, Manchester. A riot ensued, and the Yeomanry charged the populace, with some loss of life. The affair was afterwards known as the Peterloo massacre.
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
CHARTIST DISTURBANCES
Whitehall, 15th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty the enclosed letter from Major-General Sir William Warre70 in command of the Northern District.
From this report it is evident that a strong and salutary moral impression had been produced by the arrival of a reinforcement of 1,400 men in the disturbed district in the short time of six-and-thirty hours after the first requisition for assistance had been sent from Manchester; and the General has now at his disposal a force quite adequate to cope with the vast assemblage of people who are expected to meet to-morrow at Manchester.
Some symptoms of this disposition forcibly to suspend labour have appeared in the West Riding of Yorkshire; but on the whole the accounts, both from Scotland and the disturbed district, which have been received this morning, may be considered favourable. The railroad communications as yet are uninterrupted; no collision has taken place between the troops and the multitude, except at Preston;71 and Sir James Graham is willing to hope that this insurrectionary movement may be suppressed without recourse to extreme measures. Every precaution, however, has been taken, and arrangements are made for augmenting the force under the command of Sir William Warre, if it should become necessary.
The character of these riots has assumed more decidedly a political aspect. It is no longer a strike for higher wages, but the Delegates, who direct the movement, avow that labour shall not be resumed until the people's Charter be granted.72
Sir James Graham will hasten to-morrow to inform your Majesty of the accounts which he may receive.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. Graham.
Footnote 70: Lieutenant-General Sir William Warre (1784-1853), a distinguished Peninsular officer.
Footnote 71: The mob attacked the military, who fired and killed three or four persons.
Footnote 72: A colossal petition in favour of the Charter had been presented during the Session by Mr T. Duncombe.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
SATISFACTORY RESULTS
Whitehall, 18th August 1842. (Thursday morning.)
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that he returned to London last night.
He has this morning gone through all the letters received from the country, with Sir James Graham, by whom the details of the information will be forwarded to your Majesty.
It appears to Sir Robert Peel that the general tenor of the reports is satisfactory. From Manchester, from Wigan, from Preston, the reports are very good.
The movement is not one caused by distress. The demand for employment has increased, and the price of provisions—and particularly of potatoes, bread, and bacon—has rapidly fallen within the last fortnight or three weeks.
People of property and the Magistrates (notwithstanding their political dissensions) are now acting in harmony, and with more energy.
Orders have been sent to apprehend the Delegates assembled in Manchester, the very moment that the law will warrant their apprehension, and Sir Robert Peel should not be surprised to hear of their committal to Lancaster Castle in the course of to-day.
Every vigilance will be exerted with reference to Cooper73 (whom your Majesty names) and all other itinerant agitators.
As might be naturally expected, the movements and disorderly spirit spreading from the centre (Manchester) are appearing in remote points; but when peace and confidence are thoroughly restored at Manchester, the example will quickly tell in the circumjacent districts.
Birmingham is tranquil and well-disposed. The accounts from Scotland are favourable.
Footnote 73: A Leicester Chartist, who was afterwards tried for sedition.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
PARLIAMENT PROROGUED
South Street, 17th August 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He is going down to-day to Brocket Hall with Lord and Lady Beauvale. Lord and Lady Palmerston are coming down to-morrow, and Lord and Lady Cowper will probably come over from Panshanger.
Your Majesty read extremely well in the House of Lords on Friday last.74 Lord Melbourne can judge better of this from the body of the House than he could when he stood close to your Majesty. Nothing can be more clear and distinct, and at the same time more natural and free from effort. Perhaps if your Majesty could read a tone louder it would be as well. Charles Buller, who was amongst the House of Commons, told Lord Melbourne that, where he stood, the voice, although well heard, sounded somewhat weak. But this should not be attempted unless it can be done with perfect ease. Nothing injures reading so much as the attempt to push the organ beyond its natural powers.
Lord Melbourne hopes that these tumults in the manufacturing districts are subsiding, but he cannot conceal from your Majesty that he views them with great alarm—much greater than he generally thinks it prudent to express. He fears that they may last in the form of strike, and turn out much longer than is looked for, as they did in 1832 and 1833.
There is a great mass of discontented feeling in the country arising from the actual state of society. It arises from the distress and destitution which will fall at times upon a great manufacturing population, and from the wild and extravagant opinions which are naturally generated in an advanced and speculative state of society.
This discontent has been aggravated and fermented by the language of every party in the state. Lord Melbourne can exempt no party from this blame, nor hardly any individual except himself. The Tories and Conservatives (not the Leaders, but the larger portion of the party) have done what they could to inflame the public mind upon that most inflammable topic of the Poor Laws. The Times newspaper has been the most forward in this. The Whigs and Radicals have done what they could in the same direction upon the Corn Laws. Mr Attwood75 and another set have worked the question of the Currency, and the whole career of Mr O'Connell in Ireland has been too manifest to be mistaken. It is no wonder if working in this manner altogether they have at last succeeded in driving the country into this which is certainly very near, if not actually a rebellion.
Lord Melbourne earnestly hopes that your Majesty and the Prince, the Prince, and Princess are all well.
Footnote 74: Parliament was prorogued by the Queen in person on 12th August.
Footnote 75: Who represented the Radical views of the Birmingham school.
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS
Whitehall, 18th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, is happily enabled to state to your Majesty that the accounts from the disturbed districts received this morning are more satisfactory.
In Lancashire a disposition to resume work has been partially evinced; and at Preston, where the most vigorous measures were taken in the first instance, there has hardly been a cessation of employment.
Sir James Graham encloses a letter from the Chief Constable of the County of Lancashire detailing a successful resistance to a fresh attempt on the part of a mob to enter Preston; and he sends also a report from the Mayor of Manchester and from Mr Forster, the Stipendiary Magistrate. Decisive measures will be adopted for the immediate apprehension of the Delegates, not only at Manchester, but in every other quarter where legal evidence can be obtained which will justify their arrest. The law, which clearly sanctions resistance to the entry of these mobs into cities, is now understood by the local authorities. A bolder and firmer spirit is rising among all classes possessing property in defence of their rights against these bands of plunderers, who are the enemies both of law and of property. The prisoners taken in the commission of treasonable felonies are numerous; warrants are issued against others whose persons are known: the supremacy of the law will be promptly vindicated, and Sir James Graham entertains the confident hope that order will be soon restored.
In the Potteries a signal example was made by a handful of your Majesty's troops opposed to a riotous multitude which had burnt houses and spread devastation, and Sir James Graham encloses a letter from Captain Powys giving a description of the occurrence. The effect of this example has been that yesterday throughout this district no rioting took place.
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
DISTURBANCES IN LONDON
Whitehall, 19th August 1842.
Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to announce to your Majesty that the accounts from the North, on the whole, may be considered satisfactory....
Five of the principal Delegates at Manchester have been apprehended. Warrants are out against four others. A very important seizure of papers has been made which discloses a conspiracy, extensive in its ramifications, going back as far as July 1841. It is hoped that these papers, which are still at Manchester, may lead to fresh discoveries. Sir James Graham will send to Manchester to-night an experienced law officer, for the purpose of pursuing the investigation on the spot.
There was a meeting last night in the neighbourhood of London, of a violent character. Sir James Graham had given positive orders to the police not to allow any mob, as night approached, to enter London. Notwithstanding these directions, a mob assembled in Lincoln's Inn Fields about eleven o'clock, and moved through the city to Bethnal Green. Sir James Graham had the troops on the alert, but the multitude dispersed without any serious disturbance.
Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria.
20th August 1842.
... An attempt to hold a meeting at dusk in the suburbs of London was resisted by the police yesterday evening in pursuance of orders issued by the Government in conjunction with the Lord Major, and the peace of the metropolis was preserved.
The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,
J. R. G. Graham.
Lord Stanley to Queen Victoria.
TROUBLE AT THE CAPE
Downing Street, 26th August 1842.
Lord Stanley, with his humble duty, submits for your Majesty's perusal copies of three despatches, received yesterday from the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, detailing the unfortunate result of an attack made by a small party of your Majesty's troops upon the camp of the insurgent Boers at Natal; and also the copy of a despatch which Lord Stanley has sent in consequence to Sir George Napier,76 which, he trusts, may meet your Majesty's approbation. Lord Stanley would have submitted the draft for your Majesty's approval previous to sending it, had not an opportunity presented itself of sending it off by a fast-sailing private ship which sailed this morning, the intelligence having only been received yesterday. The instructions sent to Sir George Napier, on the 10th of April, but not received when this unfortunate affair took place, were in substance not to attempt the subjugation of these people by direct force, but to warn them that their titles to the land which they occupy would not be recognised by your Majesty, that they would have no title to claim protection from the aggression of the neighbouring tribes, to interdict communication between them and the settled parts of the Colony, and to prevent any intercourse by sea with foreign or British traders. The unfortunate event which has now occurred will render it necessary to take steps, as Sir George Napier has already done, for vindicating the power of your Majesty's Arms; but when that shall have been effected, Lord Stanley would still hope that a considerable number of these misguided men may be induced to return to their allegiance, and to the settled parts of your Majesty's dominions, and he feels confident that in such an event he will be fulfilling your Majesty's wishes in directing that they may be treated with all possible lenity.
All which is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject,
Stanley.
Footnote 76: Sir George Napier (1784-1855) governed Cape Colony for seven years, and the Boers were extruded from Natal by him.
Queen Adelaide to Queen Victoria.
Bushey House, 7th September 1842.
My dearest Niece,—... Your Mamma's visit gave me great pleasure, and it has been a great treat to me to hear her sing again, and so well, which put me in mind of former happy days. I regret much that she leaves me already this afternoon again, but the strong and powerful magnet which you have left at the Castle draws her back, and I dare not keep her away from such treasures.
I beg you, my dearest Victoria, to give my affectionate love to dear Albert, and to believe me ever most devotedly, your very affectionate Aunt,
Adelaide.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
THE QUEEN VISITS SCOTLAND
Taymouth,77 8th September 1842.
My dearest Uncle,—I make no excuses for not having written, as I know that you will understand that when one is travelling about and seeing so much that is totally new, it is very difficult to find time to write....
Albert has told you already how successfully everything had gone off hitherto, and how much pleased we were with Edinburgh, which is an unique town in its way. We left Dalkeith on Monday, and lunched at Dupplin, Lord Kinnoul's, a pretty place with quite a new house, and which poor Lord Kinnoul displayed so well as to fall head over heels down a steep bank, and was proceeding down another, if Albert had not caught him; I did not see it, but Albert and I have nearly died with laughing at the relation of it. From Dalkeith we went through Perth (which is most beautifully situated on the Tay) to Scone Palace,78 Lord Mansfield's, where we slept; fine but rather gloomy. Yesterday morning (Tuesday) we left Scone and lunched at Dunkeld, the beginning of the Highlands, in a tent; all the Highlanders in their fine dress, being encamped there, and with their old shields and swords, looked very romantic; they were chiefly Lord Glenlyon's79 men. He, poor man! is suddenly become totally blind, and it was very melancholy to see him do the honours, not seeing anything. The situation of Dunkeld, down in a valley surrounded by wooded hills, is very, very pretty. From thence we proceeded to this enchanting and princely place; the whole drive here was beautiful. All Lord Breadalbane's80 Highlanders, with himself at their head, and a battalion of the 92nd Highlanders, were drawn up in front of the House. In the evening the grounds were splendidly illuminated, and bonfires burning on the hills; and a number of Highlanders danced reels by torchlight, to the bagpipes, which was very wild and pretty....
Footnote 77: Lord Breadalbane's house. The Queen left London on 29th August for Scotland by sea, reaching Edinburgh on 1st September.
Footnote 78: Scone Abbey was granted to Sir David Murray (afterwards Viscount Stormont) by James VI. of Scotland, whose cup-bearer he was, and whose life he saved.
Footnote 79: Afterwards George, sixth Duke of Atholl (1814-1864).
Footnote 80: John, second Marquis of Breadalbane, K.T. (1796-1862).
Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne.
DRUMMOND CASTLE
Taymouth, 10th September 1842.
It has been long the Queen's intention to write to Lord Melbourne, but we have seen and done so much, it has been impossible. Everything has gone off so well at Edinburgh, Perth, and elsewhere. This is a princely and most beautiful place, and we have been entertained by Lord Breadalbane in a magnificent way. The Highland Volunteers, two hundred in number (without the officers), keeping guard, are encamped in the park; the whole place was twice splendidly illuminated, and the sport he gave the Prince out shooting was on the largest scale.
The Highlands and the mountains are too beautiful, and we must come back for longer another time. The Queen will finish this letter at Drummond Castle,81 as we leave this in half an hour.
Drummond Castle, 11th.—We arrived here yesterday evening at seven, having had a most beautiful journey. We went with Lord Breadalbane up the Loch Tay (by water) to Ochmore82 (I don't know how it is written), a cottage belonging to Lord Breadalbane, close to Killin. The morning was very fine, and the view indescribably beautiful; the mountains so high, and so wooded close to Killin. It is impossible to say how kind and attentive Lord Breadalbane and poor Lady Breadalbane (who is so wretchedly delicate) were to us. We were so sorry to go away, and might perhaps have managed to stay two days longer at Taymouth, were we not fearful of delaying our sea voyage back too much. However, we mean to visit him for longer another time; the Highlands are so beautiful, and so new to me, that we are most anxious to return there again.
The journey from Killin to Comrie was most beautiful, and through such wild scenery—Glen Ogle, which of course Lord Melbourne knows—and then along Loch Ern. This house is quite a cottage, but the situation is fine, and the garden very beautiful. We leave this on Tuesday for Dalkeith83 where we sleep, and re-embark the next day for England. We greatly admire the extreme beauty of Edinburgh; the situation as well as the town is most striking; and the Prince, who has seen so much, says it is the finest town he ever saw. Scone Palace (where we slept on Tuesday night) is fine, but gloomy; Perth is beautiful.
The Queen hopes Lord Melbourne is very well. The Prince begs to be remembered to him.
Dalkeith is a fine good house, and the park and grounds very pretty.
Footnote 81: The seat of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby.
Footnote 82: It should be written Auchmore.
Footnote 83: The seat of the Duke of Buccleuch.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
Windsor Castle, 20th September 1842.
My dearest Uncle,—Pray accept my best thanks for your kind letter of the 15th, which I received on Saturday, the day of our arrival here. Dearest Louise will have told you what I wrote to her. We had a speedy and prosperous voyage home of forty-eight hours, on board a fine large and very fast steamer, the Trident, belonging to the General Steam Navigation Company. We found our dear little Victoria so grown and so improved, and speaking so plain, and become so independent; I think really few children are as forward as she is. She is quite a dear little companion. The Baby is sadly backward, but also grown, and very strong. I am so distressed about dearest Louise's still coughing, but she tells me it is decreasing. Only pray let her give way to her grief; much crying, even if it makes her cough for the moment, can do her no real harm, but stifling and swallowing grief (which she cannot repress) gnaws at the very roots of life and undermines health. Ostend and sea-baths would, I should think, do her good.
I am very glad that you went to see the King of Prussia, and saw so many old friends; Fritz of Mecklenburg84 is, you know, Albert's very dear friend; he is just arrived here.
Alexandrine's brother everybody praises; the whole family are handsome and well brought up.
The Archduke Frederic85 comes here to-morrow for a week's visit. Everybody praises him, and Ferdinand liked him very much; all Archduke Charles's86 sons are said to be very well brought up. How I wish Archduke John87 had come over here!
Now, dearest Uncle, adieu! and pray believe me, always, your most affectionate Niece,
Victoria R.
It would be very kind of you if you would tell me if there is a chance of Augustus's marrying Clementine.88 Don't believe I should say a word against it; but I have heard so much about it that I should be really and sincerely glad to know a little of the truth from you.
Footnote 84: Frederic William (1819-1904), afterwards Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. See post, p. 434.
Footnote 85: Son of the Archduke Charles.
Footnote 86: (1771-1847), third son of the Emperor Leopold II. Distinguished in the Napoleonic wars.
Footnote 87: (1782-1859), younger son of the Emperor Leopold II. Commanded on the Rhine, 1815. Administrator of the Empire, 1848.
Footnote 88: Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Clementine of Orleans were married in the following April. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria is their son.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
THE QUEEN'S STEAM YACHT
Whitehall, 22nd September 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave, with reference to your Majesty's note of yesterday, to state to your Majesty that the first act of Sir Robert Peel on his return from Scotland was to write to Lord Haddington89 and strongly urge upon the Admiralty the necessity of providing a steam yacht for your Majesty's accommodation.
Sir Robert Peel trusts that your Majesty may entirely depend upon being enabled to make any excursions your Majesty may resolve upon in the early part of next summer, in a steam vessel belonging to your Majesty, and suitable in every respect for your Majesty's accommodation.
Sir Robert Peel has had a personal communication with Sir John Barrow,90 one of the Secretaries to the Admiralty, this morning, upon the subject, and Sir Robert Peel has written by this post to Sir George Cockburn,91 who is out of town.
He finds that the Admiralty is now building a large vessel to be worked by steam power, applied by means of a revolving screw instead of paddles. It may be doubtful whether the same degree of velocity can be attained by means of the screw, particularly in a very large vessel. Of this a full trial will be made.
Sir John Barrow assures Sir Robert Peel that he has been on board a steam-boat moved by the screw, and that the working of the engine is scarcely perceptible; that there is none of the tremulous motion which accompanies the beats of the paddles, and that it will be possible to apply an apparatus by means of which the smoke can be consumed, and the disagreeable smell in great measure prevented.
Sir Robert Peel will leave nothing undone to ensure your Majesty's comfort and safety in any future naval excursions that your Majesty may be pleased to make.
Footnote 89: First Lord of the Admiralty.
Footnote 90: Barrow had been made second Secretary in 1804 by Dundas; he was a self-made man, and a most indefatigable traveller, writer, and promoter of Arctic exploration.
Footnote 91: Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn (1772-1853), First Naval Lord.
The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria.
QUEEN ISABELLA
27th September 1842.
Lord Aberdeen, with his most humble duty, lays before your Majesty a letter which he has received from Mr Aston, respecting the marriage of the Queen of Spain, and which, after what has already passed, may perhaps cause your Majesty some surprise.
Lord Aberdeen is humbly of opinion that the language hitherto employed by your Majesty's Government upon this subject ought not to undergo any change, and that it ought to be treated entirely as a Spanish question.
Great Britain would naturally regard a marriage with a son of the King of the French as injurious to Spain and menacing to Europe, but would probably not feel it necessary to give such an opinion respecting any other alliance. While this might be plainly stated, and the Spanish Government exhorted to act according to their own independent view of the real interests of the country and of the Queen, Lord Aberdeen would humbly propose that the Regent should be explicitly informed by Mr Aston that he must not expect to receive any assistance from your Majesty's Government in promoting a marriage with a Prince of the Netherlands.
Lord Aberdeen believes that the difficulties in the way of such an alliance will be found to be very great, and especially that the religion of the Prince will present an obstacle which in Spain must be nearly insurmountable.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
LORD MELBOURNE ON SCOTLAND
Brocket Hall, 29th September 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has to acknowledge your Majesty's letter of the 25th inst., which he had the honour and pleasure of receiving here on the 27th. Lord Melbourne is well aware how much your Majesty's time must have been occupied by the number of visitors at the Castle. We are much rejoiced here that your Majesty saw the Prince and Princess Liechtenstein.92 The latter is a great favourite of Lady Beauvale's, to whom she was always very kind, and who describes her exactly as your Majesty does, as being very "amiable and unassuming," and though one of the first, if not the first lady at Vienna, as not at all partaking of the insolence and hauteur which is by some ascribed to the society of that capital. As a beauty, she is perhaps upon too large a scale, except for those who admire women of all shapes and sizes; but her eyes and brow are very fine, and there is a very peculiarly soft and radiant expression about them. Lord Melbourne had heard of his Sovereignty, but understands that his territory is extremely limited. His possessions as a subject of Austria are worth a good deal more than his German principality.
Lord Melbourne greatly congratulates your Majesty upon the happy progress and termination of the expedition to Scotland. He is very glad of three things—that your Majesty returned by sea, in the steamer, and that the passage was a good one....
The country is indeed most interesting, full of real picturesque beauty and of historical and poetical associations and recollections. There is nothing to detract from it, except the very high opinion that the Scotch themselves entertain of it. Edinburgh is magnificent—situation, buildings, and all—but the boasting of the articles in the newspapers respecting it almost inclined one to deny its superiority. It is also, as your Majesty says, most striking to contemplate in the Clans the remains of feudal times and institutions. It is quite as well, however, particularly for Monarchy, that they are but remains, and that no more of them have been left.
Lord Melbourne thanks your Majesty much for your kind enquiries after his health. He thinks that he is getting better and stronger than he has been, and has a notion of trying a little shooting in October.
Lord Melbourne begs to be respectfully remembered to the Prince.
Footnote 92: Prince Aloysius Joseph of Liechtenstein (1796-1858) and his wife, Princess Françoise-de-Paule, Countess Kinsky.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
Windsor Castle, 18th October 1842.
My dearest Uncle,—I only received your kind letter yesterday, for which my best thanks. I am delighted to hear that Louise's cough is decidedly better, and that upon the whole the dear family are well, thank God! Certainly where He sees fit to afflict, He gives strength to bear up!
Louise says Vecto is in great beauty, and the baby magnificent. I wish you could see Pussy now; she is (unberufen) the picture of health, and has just cut her first eye-tooth, without the slightest suffering. We are going to Brighton on the 1st of November for a month; it is the best month there and the worst here. I think I may announce Augusta Cambridge's93 marriage as certain, as I have just received a note from the Duke, which is as follows:—
"Being very anxious to communicate to you as soon as possible an event which concerns deeply my family, I take the liberty of requesting you to let me know on what day and at what hour I may wait upon you."
I shall see him to-morrow, and report the result to Louise on Friday.
I have just taken leave of poor Esterhazy, who has presented his letters of recall. He looked wretched, and Lord Aberdeen told me he is only ill at being obliged to go; he is quite miserable to do so, but the great gentleman at Johannisberg has most ungraciously refused to listen to his entreaties to remain, which is very foolish, as they don't know who to send in his place. I am very sorry to lose him, he is so amiable and agreeable, and I have known him ever since I can remember anybody; he is, besides, equally liked and on equally good terms with both parties here, which was of the greatest importance. It was touching to see him so low and ill and unlike himself.
The accounts of poor dear Alexandrine's eyes continue very bad; she cannot write at all, or go out, or do anything.
Say everything proper from us to the whole family, and pray believe me, always, your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.
Footnote 93: The Princess Augusta of Cambridge, who was married to Frederic William, afterwards Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in the following June.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
HISTORICAL STUDIES
Brocket Hall, 20th October 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave respectfully to acknowledge your Majesty's of the 15th inst., which he received here the day before yesterday.
Lord Melbourne is very glad to hear that your Majesty is reading with the Prince. Hallam's work94 certainly requires much consideration and much explanation, but it is a fair, solid, impartial work, formed upon much thought and much reading. St Simon's95 is an excellent work; he has some prejudices, but was a good honest man, and his book is full of useful information. If your Majesty wishes for a book relating to what passed from one hundred to two hundred years ago, Lord Melbourne would strongly recommend the Private Memoirs of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon (Edward Hyde), not the great work, The History of the Rebellion, though that is well worth reading, but the Memoirs, and Bishop Burnet's History of his own time. The reigns of Charles II., James II., and the Revolution are very curious in the latter. During Queen Anne's reign the Bishop was not so much consulted, and his work is therefore not so interesting. If your Majesty wishes to turn your attention to more recent events, Professor Smyth's96 lectures upon Modern History, and particularly upon the French Revolution, seem to Lord Melbourne sound, fair, and comprehensive. Lord Mahon's97 is also a good work, and gives a good account of the reigns of George I. and George II. He has been thought by some in his last volume to have given too favourable a character of the Chevalier, Charles Edward Stuart.
Lord Melbourne is much touched by what your Majesty says of the Princess Royal, and the delight and comfort which your Majesty finds in her, as well as by the whole picture which your Majesty draws of your domestic happiness. When your Majesty refers to what passed three years ago, your Majesty may be assured that it is with no small pleasure that Lord Melbourne recalls any share which he may have had in that transaction, and congratulates himself as well as your Majesty and the Prince upon results which have been so fortunate both for yourselves and for the country. Lord Melbourne ventures to hope that your Majesty will convey these feelings to the Prince, together with the assurance of his respectful remembrance.
Footnote 94: The Constitutional History, published in 1827.
Footnote 95: Louis Rouffroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, author of the celebrated Mémoires, published 1829-30.
Footnote 96: William Smyth (1765-1849), Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.
Footnote 97: Afterwards fifth Earl Stanhope: the book referred to is his History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles.
The Duke of Wellington to Sir Robert Peel.
WALMER CASTLE
Walmer Castle, 26th October 1842.
My dear Peel,—Arbuthnot has shown me your letter to him respecting this house.
Nothing can be more convenient to me than to place it at Her Majesty's disposition at any time she pleases....
I am only apprehensive that the accommodation in the Castle would scarcely be sufficient for Her Majesty, the Prince, and the Royal children, and such suite as must attend....
It is the most delightful sea-residence to be found anywhere, particularly for children. They can be out all day, on the ramparts and platforms quite dry, and the beautiful gardens and wood are enclosed and sheltered from the severe gales of wind. There are good lodgings at Walmer village and on Walmer beach at no great distance from the Castle, not above half a mile. Believe me, ever, yours most sincerely,
Wellington.
If the Queen should send anybody here, I beg that he will write me a line, that I may have an apartment prepared for him.
Queen Adelaide to Queen Victoria.
LETTER FROM QUEEN ADELAIDE
Canford House, 31st October 1842.
My dearest Niece,—A thousand thanks for your very kind dear letter of yesterday with its enclosures, which I have just received. Your opinion respecting George of Hanover's98 marriage is quite my own, and I regret that the King does not seem to be inclined to settle it and fix a day for the celebration of it. I do not know his reasons against it, for I have not heard from him for a long, long time. I am so sorry to find that the accounts of his health are so indifferent, and fear he is not careful enough.
I am happy to hear that you thought the Cambridge visit went off well, and that the affianced99 looked and seemed happy. I hope it will always be the same, and that the marriage will not be delayed too long. I always had imagined that the Duke of Cambridge was rich and would give a fortune to his daughters, but I have lately heard that it is not the case. I do not know what is the usual marriage portion of an English Princess given by the country. In Germany those portions are called die Prinzessin Teuer.
We received 25,000 Fl. each when we married, and 10,000 Fl. for our trousseaux each.
If the young couple are to live in future with the Grand Duke they will not want any Plate, but if they are to have a separate ménage, then they will want it. I shall find it out by and by. I wonder that the Duchess likes to part with her fine sapphires. I thought the turquoises had been intended for Augusta.
I wish you could see the Convent to which I went the other day. The nuns belong to the Order of the Cistercian Trappists. They are not allowed to speak amongst themselves—what a relief my visit must have been to them!—and they neither eat meat, nor butter, nor eggs—nothing but milk, vegetables and rice. They look healthy, and there were several young rather pretty ones amongst them. One, the best-looking of them all, Sister Marie Josepha, took me affectionately by the hand and said, "I hope the air agrees with you here and that you feel better?" and then she added, "Come again—will you, before you leave this country again?" She told me that she was born in Ireland and had a German grandfather. She seemed to be the favourite amongst them all, for when I bought of their works and asked them to make up my bill, they called Marie Josepha to summon it up, and she said to me, "Do not stay for that; we will send you your things with the bill." Two hours after my visit to them I received my things, with a wreath of flowers besides as their gift to me; on the paper attached to it was written, "To the Queen-Dowager, from the Reverend Mother and her Community."
This old Reverend Mother, the Abbess, was very infirm, and could not get up from her chair, but she spoke very politely and ladylike to me in French. She has been forty years in her present situation, and comes from Bretagne. The chaplain of the Convent is also an old Frenchman, and there are several other French nuns amongst them—one who had been condemned to be guillotined in the Revolution, and was set at liberty just at the moment the execution was to have taken place. I should like to know whether these good nuns resumed again at once their silence when I left them, or whether they were permitted to talk over the events of that day.... Your most affectionately devoted Aunt,
Adelaide.
Footnote 98: Afterwards King George V. of Hanover. He married Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, 18th February 1843.
Footnote 99: Princess Augusta of Cambridge. See p. 434.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
LORD MELBOURNE'S ILLNESS
1st November 1842.
... Many thanks for your most kind and amiable letter of the 28th, which I received yesterday. The prospect of the possibility of dearest Louise's spending some time with us quite enchants us, and I hope and trust that you will carry your plan into execution. Our plans, which we only settled last night, are as follows:—the scarlet fever is on the decrease at Brighton, but not sufficiently so to justify our going there immediately; so we therefore intend going to Walmer with the children, but a very reduced suite (as the house is considerably smaller than Claremont), on the 10th, and to stay there till the 22nd inst., when we shall go to Brighton and remain there till the 13th of December. Now if dearest Louise would meet us there then, and perhaps come back with us here for a little while then? Windsor is beautiful in December.
The news of Lord Melbourne, I am thankful to say, are excellent, and he improves rapidly under Dr Holland's care, but his first seizure was very alarming.100 I shall not fail to convey your kind message to this worthy friend of ours.
I am so pleased at your account of Nemours and poor Hélène. Tatane101 is not your favourite, is he?
Lord Douglas's102 marriage with Princess M. of Baden is settled; I shall of course treat her as a Princess of Baden—I can't do otherwise (it is like Aunt Sophie,103 and Princess M. of Würtemberg who married Count Neipperg104)—and him as Lord Douglas, which won't please him.
I wish Clem's marriage was no longer a secret, now that it is settled, as it is (forgive my saying it) really a fashion in our family to have these secrets de la comédie, when one is almost forced to tell a lie about what is true. I own I dislike these secrets; it was so with poor Marie and with Vecto. Now adieu! dearest, kindest Uncle, and believe me, always, your most affectionate Niece,
Victoria R.
Footnote 100: He had a paralytic seizure, and never regained his former health or spirits.
Footnote 101: Duc de Montpensier.
Footnote 102: Afterwards eleventh Duke of Hamilton: he was married to Princess Mary on 23rd February following.
Footnote 103: Sister of the Duchess of Kent and of the King of the Belgians, and the wife of Count Mensdorff.
Footnote 104: Alfred, Count Neipperg, who died in 1865.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
THE CROWN JEWELS
Whitehall, 11th November 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that he brought under the consideration of your Majesty's servants the questions relating to certain of the Crown Jewels, and the claim upon them preferred by the King of Hanover.105
In the course of the discussion it appeared to Sir Robert Peel that there were still some points in respect to this very embarrassing question which required the grave consideration of legal authorities, and that it would not be prudent to take any step, even that of submitting the case to arbitration, without the highest legal authority.
The submission to arbitration might avoid the evil (and a very great one it would be) of public controversy in a Court of Justice, and of public examination of members of the Royal Family on a matter partly of a domestic nature; but on the other hand, great care must be taken that by submitting the case to the award of arbitrators, even should they be nominated altogether by your Majesty, we do not relinquish any fair advantage for the Crown of England which would have accompanied an appeal to the regularly constituted tribunals of the country.
Your Majesty's Solicitor-General was employed as Counsel for the King of Hanover, and it has been thought therefore advisable to make the reference to the Attorney-General and to the Queen's Advocate.
Sir Robert Peel has attempted to bring every questionable point in the case submitted to them under the consideration of your Majesty's law advisers, and when their report shall be received he will not fail to lay it before your Majesty.
Sir Robert Peel had a personal interview a few days since with His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, on the subject of a public provision for the Princess Augusta on the occasion of her marriage.106
Sir Robert Peel thought it advisable to enquire from the Duke of Cambridge, as the impression of the public (of which His Royal Highness is quite aware) is that he has a considerable fortune of his own, independently of his annual allowance from Parliament.
PROVISION FOR PRINCESS AUGUSTA
The Duke of Cambridge seemed entirely to share the impressions of Sir Robert Peel that in the present state of the country, and of the public revenue, great caution is requisite in respect to the proposal of a grant of public money as a marriage portion to the Princess Augusta, and that it would be important that in any proposal to be made there should be a general acquiescence on the part of the House of Commons.
As the marriage is not to take place for some time it appears to Sir Robert Peel that it might be advisable to postpone a decision, at least in respect to the particular amount of any provision to be made, till a period nearer to the meeting of Parliament.
A public intimation, or the public notoriety long beforehand of the intention to propose a grant of public money might, in the present temper of the times, interpose additional obstacles in the way of it.
Sir Robert Peel proposes to return to Drayton Manor for a short time, and to leave London to-morrow morning.
Footnote 105: The King claimed them on the ground that part belonged to the Crown of Hanover, and part had been bequeathed to him by Queen Charlotte. The matter was referred to a Commission consisting of Lords Lyndhurst and Langdale, and Chief Justice Tindal. The two former were divided in opinion, and the Chief Justice died before the award was made. It was not till 1857 that a final decision, substantially in favour of Hanover, was given.
Footnote 106: See ante, p. 437.
Lord Stanley to Queen Victoria.
SUCCESSES IN CHINA
Downing Street, 23rd November 1842.
Lord Stanley, with his humble duty, has the honour of submitting to your Majesty an original despatch from Lieutenant-General Sir Hugh Gough, received this morning, detailing the triumphant successes which had crowned the exertions of your Majesty's Naval and Military forces in China,107 and of the completely satisfactory result in the execution of a Treaty of Peace with the Emperor of China, upon terms highly honourable to your Majesty and advantageous to this country.
Lord Stanley learns from Lord Fitzgerald that he is also forwarding to your Majesty, by this messenger, the details which the same mail has brought of the complete and triumphant issue of the campaign in Afghanistan.
Lord Stanley trusts that he may be permitted to offer to your Majesty his humble congratulations upon intelligence so glorious to British Arms, and so important to British interests. It is difficult to estimate the moral effect which these victories may produce, not on Asia merely, but throughout Europe also. At the same moment your Majesty has brought to a triumphant issue two gigantic operations, one in the centre of Asia, the other in the heart of the hitherto unapproachable Chinese Empire. In the former, past disasters have been retrieved; a signal victory has been achieved on the very spot memorable for former failure and massacre; the honour of the British Arms has been signally vindicated; the interests of humanity have been consulted by the rescue of the whole of the prisoners; and, after a series of victories, the Governor-General of India is free, without discredit, to enter upon measures of internal improvement, and having established the supremacy of British power, to carry on henceforth a more pacific policy.
In China a termination has been put to the effusion of blood by the signature of a treaty which has placed your Majesty's dominions on a footing never recognised in favour of any foreign Power—a footing of perfect equality with the Chinese Empire; which has obtained large indemnity for the past, and ample security for the future, and which has opened to British enterprise the commerce of China to an extent which it is almost impossible to anticipate. It may interest your Majesty to hear that already enquiries are made in the City for superintendents of ships to trade to Ningpo direct.
Lord Stanley has taken upon himself to give orders in your Majesty's name for firing the Park and Tower guns in honour of these glorious successes. A Gazette extraordinary will be published to-morrow, the voluminous nature of the despatches rendering it necessary to take some time lest an important despatch should be omitted.
All which is humbly submitted by your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject,
Stanley.
Footnote 107: Chapoo was taken by Sir Hugh Gough in May: in June the squadron, under Admiral William Parker, entered the waters of the Yang-tze, captured Chin-kiang-fu, and were about to attack Nanking, when the treaty was concluded, embracing among other things a payment by the Chinese of 21,000,000 dollars, the cession of Hong Kong, and the opening of the ports of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai.
Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci to Queen Victoria.
VICTORIES IN AFGHANISTAN
India Board, 23rd November 1842.108
Lord Fitzgerald, with his most humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave most humbly to inform your Majesty that the despatches received from the Governor-General of India announce the results of a series of most brilliant exploits by the armies under Major-General Nott and General Pollock in Afghanistan.
Each of those armies has achieved a glorious victory over superior numbers of the enemy.
The city of Ghuznee has been captured, and its formidable fortress utterly razed and destroyed.
The survivors of the British garrison, which had capitulated in the spring of the year, and who had been reduced to slavery, have been redeemed from bondage.
The splendid victory of General Pollock has been obtained over the army commanded by Akbar Khan in person, on the very spot where the greatest disaster had befallen the British Army on their retreat, and where the last gun had been lost.
On the 16th of September, General Pollock entered Cabul with his victorious troops and planted the Colours of your Majesty in the Bala Hissar, on the spot most conspicuous from the city.
An extract from a letter from General Pollock to Lord Ellenborough, dated at Cabul the 21st of September, gives the most gratifying intelligence that all the British prisoners, with the exception of Captain Bygrave, have been rescued from Akbar Khan, and were expected in the British camp on the 22nd of September.
An extract from a letter from General Pollock announcing the redemption of the prisoners is also most humbly submitted to your Majesty, by your Majesty's most dutiful Subject and Servant,
Fitzgerald and Vesci.
Footnote 108: The mail, which informed Ministers of the Chinese success, also brought the news of the capture of Cabul. General Nott (see ante, p. 402) had by the end of July completed his preparations, and marched upon Ghuznee, having arranged to meet Pollock at Cabul, and having transferred the Scinde command to General England. Nott was before Ghuznee on 5th September, but at daylight on the 6th found it evacuated; the citadel was destroyed by him and the Gates of Somnauth removed, as directed by Lord Ellenborough. Pollock, to whose discretion Ellenborough had entrusted the policy of advancing on Cabul, secured supplies at Gundamuck, and on his advance met the enemy in a strong position in the Jugdulluck Pass and dispersed them; then at Tezeen, on 12th September, he was attacked by Akbar Khan with 20,000 men. The Pass was forced, and the Afghans retired to the Haft Kotal, where they were utterly defeated, close to the scene of Elphinstone's disaster. Nott arrived at Cabul on the day after Pollock.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL
Ardenne, 24th November 1842.
My dearest Victoria,—... I do not think, or I may say I am pretty certain, because I have often seen Donna Maria's letters, they hardly ever speak of politics, except just saying that they are surrounded by such very sad people without honour or honesty. I am sure they are not French at Lisbon beyond the kindly feelings which result from the recollection of Donna Maria's stay at Paris. My constant advice has been to look exclusively to the closest alliance with England, and Ferdinand is now well aware of it; but you know that the Liberal party tried to even harm him by representing him as a mere creature of England. We live in odd times when really one very often thinks people mad; their uncontrouled passions do not develop amiable feelings, but on the contrary everything that is bad and unreasonable....
You are a very affectionate and kind Mamma, which is very praiseworthy; may Heaven preserve your dear little children! Victoria is very clever, and it will give you great pleasure to see the development which takes place with children just at that time of life. What you say of Ernest is unfortunately but too true; that trick of exaggeration is one of the worst I almost know, and particularly in people in high stations, as one finally knows not what to believe, and it generally ends with people disbelieving all such individuals do say.... Your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
Walmer Castle, 25th November 1842.
The Queen wishes Sir Robert to consider, and at an early period to submit to her, his propositions as to how to recompense and how to mark her high approbation of the admirable conduct of all those meritorious persons who have by their strenuous endeavour, brought about the recent brilliant successes in China and Afghanistan.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
MILITARY HONOURS
Walmer Castle, 29th November 1842.
Approve of the G.C.B. given to—
Sir H. Pottinger.
Sir W. Parker.
General Nott.
General Pollock.
Likewise of the proposed pension to Sir R. Sale, and the Baronetcy to Sir Hugh Gough.
Thinks the latter very fit to succeed Sir Jasper Nicols109 as Commander-in-Chief in India.
Grants with pleasure the permission to her troops engaged in Afghanistan to accept and wear the four medals which the Governor-General has had struck for the Indian Army, and hopes that besides gratifying the troops, it will have the beneficial effect of still further strengthening the good feeling existing between the two armies. Were it not for this impression, the Queen would have thought it more becoming that she herself should have rewarded her troops with a medal than leaving it to the Governor-General.
Footnote 109: Lieut.-General Sir Jasper Nicols (1778-1849), created a K.C.B. for his services at Bhurtpore.
Lord Ellenborough to Queen Victoria.
THE GATES OF SOMNAUTH
Simla, 18th October 1842.
Lord Ellenborough, with his most humble duty to your Majesty, humbly offers to your Majesty his congratulation on the entire success which has attended the operations of the Fleet and Army under your Majesty's direction in the Yantze-Kiang,110 and submits to your Majesty the general order which, on the receipt of the intelligence of that success and of the peace concluded with the Emperor of China upon the terms dictated by your Majesty, he issued to the Army of India.
Your Majesty will have observed that in the letter of the 4th of July to Major-General Nott, that officer was instructed to bring away the gates of the Temple of Somnauth, from the tomb of Mahmood of Ghuznee, and the club of Mahmood also.
The club was no longer upon the tomb, and it seems to be doubtful whether it was taken away by some person of Lord Keane's Army in 1839, or by Shah Sooja, or whether it was hidden in order to prevent its being taken away at that time.
The gates of the Temple of Somnauth have been brought away by Major-General Nott.
These gates were taken to Ghuznee by Sultan Mahmood in the year 1024. The tradition of the Invasion of India by Sultan Mahmood in that year, and of the carrying away of the gates after the destruction of the Temple, is still current in every part of India, and known to every one. So earnest is the desire of the Hindoos and of all who are not Mussulmans to recover the gates of the Temple, that when ten or twelve years ago Runjeet Singh was making arrangements with Shah Sooja for assisting him in the endeavour to recover his throne,111 he wished to make a stipulation that when Shah Sooja recovered his power he should restore the gates to India, and Shah Sooja refused.
Lord Ellenborough transmits for your Majesty's information a copy of the Address he intends to publish on announcing that the gates of the Temple will be restored.112
The progress of the gates from Ferozepore to Somnauth will be one great national triumph, and their restoration to India will endear the Government to the whole people.113
Footnote 110: See ante, p. 441, note 107.
Footnote 111: See ante, p. 142.
Footnote 112: "The insult of 800 years," he wrote in this rather theatrical proclamation, "is at last avenged. The gates of the temple of Somnauth, so long the memorial of your humiliation, are become the proudest record of your national glory.... You will yourselves, with all honour, transmit the gates of sandal-wood, through your respective territories, to the restored Temple of Somnauth."
Footnote 113: See post, pp. 463, 468, and 477.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
FRANCE AND SPAIN
Windsor Castle, 13th December 1842.
Dearest Uncle,—I have to thank you for two most kind letters of the 5th and 8th. I can report very favourably of the healths of young and old; we are all very flourishing, and have since yesterday perfectly May weather. Clear, dry frost would be wholesome.
Victoire gave me yesterday a much better account of poor little Robert.114
In Portugal affairs seem quieted down, but Ferdinand is imprudent enough to say to Mamma that he would be wretched to lose Dietz (very naturally), and would not be at all sorry to go away. Now, this is folly, and a most dangerous language to hold, as if he entertains this, I fear the Portuguese will some beau matin indulge him in his wishes.
The news from Spain are better, but I must own frankly to you, that we are all disgusted at the French intrigues which have without a doubt been at the bottom of it all, and can, I fear, be traced very close to the Tuileries. Why attempt to ruin a country (which they luckily cannot succeed in) merely out of personal dislike to a man who certainly has proved himself capable of keeping the country quiet, and certainly is by far the most honest Spaniard in existence, whatever crimes or faults the French may choose to bring against him. And what will be the effect of all this? A total dislike and mistrust of France, and a still closer alliance with England. I have spoken thus freely, as a repetition of last year's scenes is too much to remain silent, and as I have ever been privileged to tell you, dearest Uncle, my feelings, and the truth.
Poor Lord Hill's death, though fully expected, will grieve you, as it has grieved us.
I am much amused at what you say about Charles, and shall tell it him, when I write to him. Believe me, always, your most affectionate Niece,
Victoria R.
Footnote 114: The infant Duc de Chartres.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
Windsor Castle, 19th December 1842.
The Queen is very desirous that something should be done for Major Malcolm115 (who was the bearer of "the news of Victory and Peace"), either by promotion in the Army or by any other distinction. He is a very intelligent and well-informed officer, and has been employed in China both in a Civil and Military capacity, and has made, and is going to make again, a long journey at a very bad time of the year, though suffering severely at this moment from ague.
Footnote 115: In such cases it has been usual to confer some distinction.
Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel.
Windsor Castle, 26th December 1842.
The Queen thanks Sir Robert for his letter of the 23rd. She thinks that Major Malcolm's going back to China the bearer of verbal instructions as well as written ones will greatly facilitate the matter and prevent misunderstandings, which at such a great distance are mostly fatal. The Queen joins in Sir Robert's opinion, that before coming to a final arrangement it will be most valuable to have Sir H. Pottinger's opinion upon your present message, and thinks it much the best that Sir H. should in the meantime be entrusted with the extraordinary full powers for concluding any provisional arrangements, as she believes that very great confidence may be placed in him. Lord Stanley's suggestions strike the Queen as very judicious and calculated to facilitate the future Government of Hong-Kong.
The Queen hopes to hear more from Sir Robert when she sees him here, which she hopes to do from Monday the 2nd to Wednesday the 4th.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
THE SCOTCH CHURCH
Drayton Manor, 26th December 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and with reference to enquiries made by your Majesty when Sir Robert Peel was last at Windsor, on the subject of the Scotch Church and the proceedings of the last General Assembly, begs leave to acquaint your Majesty that the Moderator of the Assembly has recently addressed a letter to Sir Robert Peel, requiring an answer to the demands urged by the General Assembly in a document entitled a Protest and Declaration of Right.116
The demands of the General Assembly amount to a reversal by Law of the recent decisions of the Court of Session and of the House of Lords, and to a repeal of the Act of Queen Anne, which establishes the Right of Patronage in respect to Livings in the Church of Scotland.
That Act by no means gives any such absolute right of appointment to the Crown or other patrons of Livings, as exists in England. It enables those legally entitled to the patronage to present a clergyman to the Living, but the Church Courts have the power, on valid objections being made and duly sustained by the parishioners, to set aside the presentation of the patron, and to require from him a new nomination.
The Church, however, requires the absolute repeal of the Act of Anne.
An answer to the demands of the Church will now become requisite.
Sir James Graham has been in communication with the law advisers of your Majesty in Scotland upon the legal questions involved in this matter, and will shortly send for your Majesty's consideration the draft of a proposed answer to the General Assembly.117
Footnote 116: The famous Auchterarder case had decided that, notwithstanding the vetoing by the congregation of the nominee of the patron, the Presbytery must take him on trial if qualified by life, learning, and doctrine,—in other words, that the Act of Anne, subjecting the power of the Presbytery to the control of the law courts, was not superseded by the Veto Act, a declaration made by the General Assembly. In the Strathbogie case, a minister had been nominated to Marnock, and 261 out of 300 heads of families had objected to him. The General Assembly having directed the Presbytery to reject him, the civil court held that he must be taken on trial. Seven members of the Presbytery obeyed the civil power, and the General Assembly, on the motion of Dr Chalmers, deposed them and declared their parishes vacant.
Footnote 117: Sir James Graham's letter is printed in the Annual Register for 1843. A petition in answer was drawn by the Assembly and presented to Parliament by Mr Fox Maule. After the debate on it in the Commons, preparations were made throughout Scotland for the secession of the non-intrusionists, as they were called, which event took place on 18th May 1843, when about 500 Ministers, headed by Chalmers, seceded from the Old Kirk, and founded the Free Church.
Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria.
A SERIOUS CRISIS
Drayton Manor, 30th December 1842.
Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and rejoices to hear that your Majesty approved of the letter which, with your Majesty's sanction, James Graham proposes to write to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Sir Robert Peel fears that there is too much ground for the apprehensions expressed by your Majesty in respect to future embarrassment arising out of the position of the Church Question in Scotland.
Sir Robert Peel saw yesterday a letter addressed by Dr Abercrombie,118 the eminent physician in Edinburgh, to Sir George Sinclair,119 declaring his conviction that the Secession of Ministers from their Livings would take place to a very great extent—would comprise very many of the Ministers most distinguished for learning and professional character, and would meet with very general support among their congregations.
Sir Robert Peel has little doubt that a serious crisis in the History of the Church of Scotland is at hand, and that the result of it will be greatly to be lamented; but still he could not advise your Majesty to seek to avert it by the acquiescence in demands amounting to the abrogation of important civil rights and to the establishment in Scotland of an ecclesiastical domination independent of all control....
He is very confident that your Majesty will feel that in the present state of the controversy with the Church of Scotland, there is peculiar reason for taking the greatest care that every minister presented to a Crown Living should be not only above exception, but should, if possible, be pre-eminently distinguished for his fitness for a pastoral charge.
Footnote 118: John Abercrombie (1780-1844), one of the chief consulting physicians in Scotland, and a great medical writer. He left the Established Church.
Footnote 119: Sir George Sinclair (1790-1868), M.P. for Caithness-shire, was a supporter of the Anti-Patronage Society, and joined the Free Church.
Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.
HISTORICAL READING
Brocket Hall, 30th December 1842.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He has been much delighted this morning by receiving your Majesty's letter of the 28th. He was the more gratified, as he had begun to be a little annoyed at being such a very long time without hearing from your Majesty.
Lord Mahon has sent Lord Melbourne his book.120 Lord Melbourne has not yet read it, but he has read the review of it in the Quarterly, which seems to be a sort of abstract or abridgment of the book. The effect of writing it in French has naturally been to direct all attention and criticism from the merits of the work to the faults of the French. People who have read the work speak of it as entertaining, and the times are curious and interesting. The characters engaged in them, striking and remarkable. Lord Melbourne is very glad to hear that Pottinger's conduct is so universally approved. He always appeared to Lord Melbourne to be a man of great ability, resolution and discretion, and Lord Melbourne much rejoices that he has turned out so.
Hallam's opinions Lord Melbourne believes to be in general sound, and such as have been held and approved by the most able and constitutional statesmen in this country.
Lord Melbourne is much rejoiced to hear of the Princess and the Prince of Wales, and also that your Majesty is pursuing your studies quietly, cheerfully, and happily.
Lord Melbourne is very sensible of the interest which the Baron takes in his health and which he warmly reciprocates. There is no man whom he esteems more, nor of whose head and heart he has a better opinion.
We expect here to-morrow the Duchess of Sutherland121 and Lady Elizabeth Gower,122 who have been kind enough to propose to pay Lord Melbourne a visit.