The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume 1 (of 3), 1837 to 1843)

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Lord Melbourne has one vague recollection of a correspondence upon
this subject between Lord Holland and some King, but does not remember
the circumstances with any accuracy.

Duncannon[119] persuaded Brougham to give up asking an Audience upon
condition of Lord Melbourne's promising to place his letters in your
Majesty's hands, which he did.[120] Lord Charlemont[121] also was
prevented in some manner or another, which Lord Melbourne forgets.

Upon the whole, Lord Melbourne thinks that it is best to concede this
privilege of the Peerage, whether it actually exists or not, but to
restrain it within due and reasonable bounds, which in ordinary times
it is not difficult to do. Extraordinary times must be dealt with as
they can be....

Lady A---- is, as your Majesty says, good-natured. She talks three or
four times as much as she ought, and like many such women often says
exactly the things she ought not to say. Lady B---- has ten times the
sense of her mother, and a little residue of her folly.

[Footnote 119: Ex-First Commissioner of Land Revenue.]

[Footnote 120: See _ante_, pp. 293 and 335-6.
(Ch. X, 'Lord Brougham'; 'Peers and Audiences')]

[Footnote 121: Francis William, fifth Viscount Charlemont
(1775-1863), created a Peer of the United Kingdom in 1837.]

[Pageheading: GOVERNOR-GENERALSHIP OF INDIA]

[Pageheading: LORD ELLENBOROUGH]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

_9th October 1841._

Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave
to inform your Majesty that in consequence of the opinion which your
Majesty was graciously pleased to express when Sir Robert Peel last
had the honour of waiting upon your Majesty, with respect to the
superior qualifications of Lord Ellenborough for the important
trust of Governor-General of India, Sir Robert Peel saw his Lordship
yesterday, and enquired whether he would permit Sir Robert Peel to
propose his appointment to your Majesty.

Lord Ellenborough was very much gratified by the proposal, admitted at
once that it was very difficult to find an unexceptionable candidate
for an office of such pre-eminent importance, but made some difficulty
on two points.

First--Considerations of health, which though disregarded personally,
might, he feared, interfere with the execution of such unremitting and
laborious duties as would devolve upon the Governor-General of India.

Secondly--The consideration that on his acceptance of the office he
would be required by law to give up during his tenure of it no less
than L7,500 per annum, the amount of compensation now paid to him in
consequence of the abolition of a very valuable office[122] which he
held in the Courts of Law.

During Lord Ellenborough's conversation with Sir Robert Peel, and
while the mind of Lord Ellenborough was very much in doubt as to the
policy of his acceptance of the office, the box which contained your
Majesty's note of yesterday was brought to Sir Robert Peel.

Sir Robert Peel humbly acquaints your Majesty that he ventured to read
to Lord Ellenborough on the instant the concluding paragraph of your
Majesty's note, namely--

"The more the Queen thinks of it, the more she thinks that Lord
Ellenborough would be far the most fit person to send to India."

Sir Robert Peel is perfectly convinced that this opinion of your
Majesty, so graciously expressed, removed every doubt and difficulty
from Lord Ellenborough's mind, and decided him to forgo every personal
consideration rather than appear unmindful of such a favourable
impression of his qualifications for public service on the part of his
Sovereign.

Sir Robert Peel humbly hopes that your Majesty will not disapprove of
the use which he made of a confidential note from your Majesty.

As your Majesty kindly permitted Sir Robert Peel to send occasionally
letters to your Majesty of a private rather than a public character,
he ventures to enclose one from the Duke of Wellington on the subject
of the appointment of Governor-General.

Sir Robert Peel had observed to the Duke of Wellington that he
had great confidence in Lord Ellenborough's integrity, unremitting
industry, and intimate knowledge of Indian affairs; that his only
fear was that Lord Ellenborough might err from _over-activity_ and
eagerness--but that he hoped his tendency to hasty decisions would be
checked by the experience and mature judgment of Indian advisers on
the spot.

The Duke of Wellington's comments have reference to these observations
of Sir Robert Peel. Your Majesty will nevertheless perceive that the
Duke considers, upon the whole, "that Lord Ellenborough is better
qualified than any man in England for the office of Governor-General."

[Footnote 122: He was Joint Chief Clerk of the Pleas in the
Queen's Bench, a sinecure conferred on him by his father, who
was Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1802-1818.]

[Pageheading: AFFAIRS IN SPAIN]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _12th October 1841._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--- ... Respecting the Spanish affairs,[123] I can
give you perfectly satisfactory intelligence concerning the Infants'
return. Espartero sees them return with the greatest regret, but said
he felt he could not prevent them from doing so. If, however, they
should be found to intrigue at all, they will not be allowed to
remain. Respecting a marriage with the eldest son of Dona Carlotta, I
know _positively_ that Espartero _never_ would _hear_ of it; but, on
the other hand, he is equally strongly opposed to poor little Isabel
marrying any French Prince, and I must add that _we_ could _never
allow that_. You will see that I have given you a frank and fair
account....

[Footnote 123: The Queen-mother, who was living in Paris, had
been deprived by a vote of the Cortes of the guardianship of
the young Queen, Isabella II., and risings in her interest now
took place at Pampeluna and Vittoria. On the 7th October, a
bold attempt was made at Madrid to storm the Palace and get
possession of the person of the young Queen. Queen Christina
denied complicity, but the Regent, Espartero, suspended
her pension on the ground that she had encouraged the
conspirators.]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

SOUTH STREET, _12th October 1841._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and returns
many thanks for the letter received yesterday informing Lord Melbourne
of the time of your Majesty's coming to London. Lord Melbourne
earnestly hopes that your Majesty continues well.

Lord Melbourne is very glad to hear of the appointment of Lord
Ellenborough. The reasons which your Majesty gives are sound and just,
and it is of great importance that a man not only of great ability but
of high station, and perfectly in the confidence of the Government at
home, should be named to this important post. Lord Ellenborough is a
man of great abilities, of much knowledge of India, of great industry
and of very accurate habits of business, and Lord Melbourne knows of
no objection to his appointment, except the loss of him here, where,
whether in or out of office, he has always been of great service.
He has hitherto been an unpopular man and his manners have been
considered contemptuous and overbearing, but he is evidently much
softened and amended in this respect, as most men are by time,
experience, and observation. Lord Fitzgerald[124] is a very able
public man, Lord Melbourne would say one of the most able, if not the
most able they have; but Lord Melbourne is told by others, who know
Lord Fitzgerald better, that Lord Melbourne overrates him. He is a
very good speaker, he has not naturally much industry, and his
health is bad, which will probably disable him from a very close and
assiduous attention to business. It is, however, upon the whole an
adequate appointment, and he is perhaps more likely to go on smoothly
with the Court of Directors, which is a great matter, than Lord
Ellenborough.

[Footnote 124: On Lord Ellenborough becoming Governor-General,
Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci, an ex-M.P., and former Chancellor
of the Irish Exchequer, succeeded him at the Board of
Control.]

[Pageheading: FRANCE AND SPAIN]

_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

FOREIGN OFFICE, _16th October 1841._

Lord Aberdeen, with his most humble duty, begs to lay before
your Majesty a private letter from M. Guizot, which has just been
communicated to him by M. de Ste-Aulaire, on the recent attempt
in favour of Queen Christina in Spain. Your Majesty will see that
although M. Guizot denies, with every appearance of sincerity, all
participation of the French Government in this attempt, he does not
conceal that it has their cordial good wishes for its success. These
feelings, on the part of such a Government as that of France, will
probably be connected with practical assistance of some kind, although
M. Guizot's declarations may perhaps be literally true.

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

The Queen must say that she fears the French are at the bottom of it,
for their jealousy of our influence in Spain is such, that the Queen
fears they would not be indisposed to see civil war to a certain
degree restored rather than that Spain should go on quietly supported
by us.[125] The Queen, however, hopes that, as far as it is possible,
the English Government will support the present Regent, who is
thoroughly attached to England, and who, from all that the Queen
hears of him, is the fittest man they have in Spain for the post he
occupies; and indeed matters till now had gone on much more quietly
than they had for some time previous, since Espartero is at the head
of the Government. The French intrigues should really be frustrated.
The Queen certainly thinks that M. Guizot's veracity is generally not
to be doubted, but the conduct of France regarding Spain has always
been very equivocal.

[Footnote 125: See _post_, p. 349. (Ch. X, 17th October, 1841)]

[Pageheading: MASTERSHIP OF TRINITY]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

_16th October 1841._

Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave to
acquaint your Majesty that the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge,
has formally signified his wish to retire from the duties of that
important trust.

Sir Robert Peel has reason to believe that it would be advantageous
that the selection of a successor to Dr. Wordsworth should be made
from members of Trinity College who are or have been fellows of the
College. Of these, the most eminent in respect to the qualifications
required in the office of Master, and to academical distinction,
are:--

Professor Whewell.[126]
The Rev. Mr Martin,[127] Bursar of the College.
The Rev. Dr Wordsworth,[128] Head Master of Harrow School,
and son of the present Master of Trinity.

The latter is a highly distinguished scholar, but his success as Head
Master of Harrow has not been such as to overcome the objection which
applies on general grounds to the succession of a father by a son in
an office of this description.

Professor Whewell is a member of Trinity College of the highest
scientific attainments. His name is probably familiar to your Majesty
as the author of one of the Bridgewater Treatises,[129] and of other
works which have attracted considerable notice.

He is a general favourite among all who have had intercourse with him
from his good temper and easy and conciliatory manners. Though not
_peculiarly_ eminent as a divine (less so at least than a writer on
scientific and philosophical subjects), his works manifest a deep
sense of the importance of religion and sound religious views. The
Archbishop of Canterbury[130] and the Bishop of London[131] (himself
of Trinity College) incline to think that the most satisfactory
appointment upon the whole would be that of Professor Whewell.

Sir Robert Peel, after making every enquiry into the subject, and with
a deep conviction of the importance of the appointment, has arrived at
the same conclusion, and humbly therefore recommends to your Majesty
that Professor Whewell should succeed Dr Wordsworth as Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge.

[Footnote 126: Then Knightsbridge Professor of Moral
Philosophy.]

[Footnote 127: Francis Martin, afterwards Vice-Master, died
1868.]

[Footnote 128: Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Bishop of
Lincoln.]

[Footnote 129: By the will (dated 1825) of the eighth Earl
of Bridgewater--who must not be confounded with the third and
last Duke, projector of inland navigation--L8,000 was left
for the best work on the "Goodness of God as manifested in
the Creation." The money was divided amongst eight persons,
including Whewell, who wrote on Astronomy considered in
reference to Natural Theology.]

[Footnote 130: William Howley.]

[Footnote 131: O. J. Blomfield.]

[Pageheading: QUEEN ISABELLA]

[Pageheading: THE SPANISH MARRIAGE]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

_17th October 1841._

The Queen received Lord Aberdeen's letter yesterday evening, and quite
approves of the draft to Mr Aston, and of Lord Aberdeen's having sent
it off at once. Her earnest wish is that the English Government should
be firm, and uphold the Regent as far as it is in our power. The Queen
has perused M. Guizot's letter with great attention, but she cannot
help fearing that assistance and encouragement has been given in
some shape or other to the revolts which have taken place. The Queen
Christina's residence at Paris is very suspicious, and much to be
regretted; every one who saw the Queen and knew her when Regent, knew
her to be clever and _capable_ of governing, had she but attended
to her duties. This she did not, but wasted her time in frivolous
amusements and neglected her children sadly, and finally left them.
It was her _own_ doing, and therefore it is not the kindest conduct
towards her children, but the very _worst_, to try and disturb the
tranquillity of a country which was just beginning to recover from the
baneful effects of one of the most bloody civil wars imaginable.

The Queen is certain that Lord Aberdeen will feel with her of what
importance it is to England that Spain should not become subject to
French interests, as it is evident _France wishes_ to make it. The
marriage of Queen Isabel is a most important question, and the Queen
is likewise certain that Lord Aberdeen sees at once that we could
never let her marry a French Prince. Ere long the Queen must speak to
Lord Aberdeen on this subject. In the meantime the Queen thought
it might be of use to Lord Aberdeen to put him in possession of her
feelings on the state of Spain, in which the Queen has always taken a
very warm interest.

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

PANSHANGER, _21st October 1841._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received
here yesterday your Majesty's letter of the 19th inst., and he
earnestly hopes that your Majesty has arrived quite safe and well in
London. Besides the family, we have had hardly anybody here except
Lady Clanricarde.[132] Yesterday Sir Edward L. Bulwer[133] came,
beating his brother hollow in ridiculousness of attire, ridiculous as
the other is. He has, however, much in him, and is agreeable when you
come to converse with him....

Lord Melbourne is rather in doubt about his own movements. Lord
Leicester[134] presses him much to go to Holkham, where Lord
Fortescue,[135] Mr Ellice[136] and others are to be, and considering
Lord Leicester's age, Lord Melbourne thinks that it will gratify him
to see Lord Melbourne again there. But at Holkham they shoot from
morning until night, and if you do not shoot you are like a fish
upon dry land. Lord Melbourne hardly feels equal to the exertion, and
therefore thinks that he shall establish himself for the present
at Melbourne, where he will be within reach of Trentham, Beau
Desert,[137] Wentworth,[138] and Castle Howard,[139] if he likes to
go to them. The only annoyance is that it is close to Lord and Lady
G----, whom he will be perpetually meeting.

[Footnote 132: A daughter of George Canning, the Prime
Minister.]

[Footnote 133: Afterwards Lord Lytton, the novelist.]

[Footnote 134: The famous country gentleman, "Mr Coke of
Norfolk."]

[Footnote 135: Hugh, second Earl, K.G.]

[Footnote 136: The Right Hon. Edward Ellice, M.P. ("Bear"
Ellice).]

[Footnote 137: Near Lichfield, a seat of Lord Anglesey.]

[Footnote 138: Lord Fitzwilliam's house, near Rotherham.]

[Footnote 139: Lord Carlisle's house, near York, built by
Vanbrugh.]

[Pageheading: HOLLAND AND BELGIUM]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _22 October 1841._

... In France there is a great outcry that a Bourbon must be the
future husband of the Queen of Spain, etc. I must say that as the
Spaniards and the late King changed themselves the Salic custom which
Philip V. had brought from France,[140] it is natural for the rest of
Europe to wish that no Bourbon should go there. Besides, it must be
confessed that the thing is not even easy, as there is great hatred
amongst the various branches of that family. The King of the French
himself has always been _opposed_ to the idea of one of his sons going
there; in France, however, that opinion still exists, and Thiers had
it, strongly.

I confess that I regret that Queen Christina was encouraged to
settle at Paris, as it gave the thing the appearance of something
preconcerted. I believe that a wish existed that Christina would
retire peaceably and _par la force des circonstances_, but now this
took a turn which I am sure the King does not like; it places him,
besides, into _une position ingrate_; the Radicals hate him, the
Moderates will cry out that he has left them in the lurch, and the
Carlists are kept under key, and of course also not much pleased. I
meant to have remained in my wilds till yesterday, but my Ministers
were so anxious for my return, there being a good many things on the
_tapis_, that I came back on Tuesday, the 19th....

Here one is exactly shut up as if one was in a menagerie, walking
round and round like a tame bear. One breathes here also a mixture
of all sorts of moist compounds, which one is told is fresh air, but
which is not the least like it. I suppose, however, that my neighbour
in Holland, where they have not even got a hill as high as yours in
Buckingham Gardens, would consider Laeken as an Alpine country. The
tender meeting of the old King and the new King,[141] as one can
hardly call him a young King, must be most amusing. I am told that if
the old King had not made that love-match, he would be perfectly
able to dethrone his son; I heard that yesterday from a person rather
attached to the son and hating the father. In the meantime, though
one can hardly say that he is well at home, some strange mixture of
cut-throats and ruined soldiers of fortune had a mind to play us some
tricks here; we have got more and more insight into this. Is it by
instigation from him personally, or does he only know of it without
being a party to it? That _is_ difficult to tell, the more so as he
makes immense demonstration of friendly dispositions towards us,
and me in particular. I would I could make a _chassez croisez_ with
Otho;[142] he would be the gainer in solids, and I should have sun and
an interesting country; I will try to make him understand this, the
more so as you do not any longer want me in the West.

[Footnote 140: The Pragmatic Sanction of Philip V. was
repealed in 1792 by the Cortes, but the repeal was not
promulgated by the King. Under the Salic Law, Don Carlos would
have been on the throne. See _ante_, p. 44. (Ch. V, Footnote 9)]

[Footnote 141: William I., who had abdicated in order to marry
again, and William II., his son, who was nearly fifty.]

[Footnote 142: The King of Greece, elected in 1833.]

[Pageheading: AMBASSADORS' AUDIENCES]

_Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel._

_25th October 1841._

With respect to the appointment of Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench,
the Queen approves of Mr Pennefather[143] for that office. The Queen
may be mistaken, for she is not very well acquainted with the judicial
officers in Ireland, but it strikes her that Serjeant Jackson belonged
to the very violent Orange party in Ireland, and if this should be the
case she suggests to Sir Robert Peel whether it would not be better
_not_ to appoint him. If, on the other hand, the Queen should be
mistaken as to his political opinions, she would not disapprove of his
succeeding Mr Pennefather.

The Queen saw in the papers that Lord Stuart de Rothesay is already
gone. The Queen can hardly believe this, as no Ambassador or Minister
_ever_ left England without previously asking for an Audience and
receiving one, as the Queen wishes always to see them before they
repair to their posts. Would Sir Robert be so very good as to ask Lord
Aberdeen whether Lord Stuart de Rothesay is gone or not, and if he
should be, to tell Lord Aberdeen that in future she would wish
him always to inform her when they intend to go, and to ask for an
Audience, which, if the Queen is well, she would always grant. It is
possible that as the Queen said the other day that she did not wish
to give many Audiences after the Council, that Lord Aberdeen may have
misunderstood this and thought the Queen would give none, which was
_not_ her intention. The Queen would be thankful to Sir Robert if he
would undertake to clear up this mistake, which she is certain (should
Lord Stuart be gone) arose entirely from misapprehension.

The Queen also wishes Sir Robert to desire Lord Haddington to send her
some details of the intended reductions in the Fleet which she sees by
a draft of Lord Aberdeen's to Mr Bulwer have taken place.[144]

[Footnote 143: Recently appointed Solicitor-General; Sergeant
J. D. Jackson now succeeded him.]

[Footnote 144: The statement of the Royal Navy in Commission
at the beginning of 1841 sets out 160 vessels carrying 4,277
guns.]

[Pageheading: STOCKMAR AND MELBOURNE]

[Pageheading: STOCKMAR'S ADVICE]

_Memorandum by Baron Stockmar._

_25th October 1841._

... I told [Lord Melbourne] that, as I read the English Constitution,
it meant to assign to _the Sovereign in his functions a deliberative
part_--that I was not sure the Queen had the means within herself to
execute this deliberative part properly, but I was sure that the only
way for her to execute her functions at all was to be strictly honest
to those men who at the time being were her Ministers. That it was
chiefly on this account that I had been so very sorry to have found
now, on my return from the Continent, that on the change of the
Ministry a capital opportunity to read a great Constitutional maxim
to the Queen had not only been lost by Lord Melbourne, but that he had
himself turned an instrument for working great good into an instrument
which must produce mischief and danger. That I was afraid that, from
what Lord Melbourne had been so weak as to have allowed himself to be
driven into, _against his own and better conviction_, the Queen must
have received a most pernicious bias, which on any future occasion
would make her inclined to act in a similar position similarly to that
what she does now, being convinced that what she does _now_ must be
right on all future occasions, or else Lord Melbourne would not have
sanctioned it. Upon this, Lord Melbourne endeavoured to palliate, to
represent the danger, which would arise from his secret correspondence
with the Queen as very little, to adduce precedents from history,
and to screen his present conduct behind what he imagined Lord Bute's
conduct had been under George III.[145] I listened patiently, and
replied in the end: All this might be mighty fine and quite calculated
to lay a flattering unction on his own soul, or it might suffice to
tranquillize the minds of the Prince and Anson, but that I was too old
to find the slightest argument in what I had just now heard, nor could
it in any way allay my apprehension. I began then to dissect all
that he had produced for his excusation, and showed him--as I thought
clearly, and as he admitted convincingly--that it would be impossible
to carry on this secret commerce with the Sovereign for any length
of time without exposing the Queen's character and creating mighty
embarrassments in the quiet and regular working of a Constitutional
machine.

My representations seemed to make a very deep impression, and Lord
Melbourne became visibly nervous, perplexed, and distressed. After
he had recovered a little I said, "I never was inclined to obtrude
advice; but if you don't dislike to hear my opinion, I am prepared to
give it to you." He said, "What is it?" I said, "You allow the Queen's
confinement to pass over quietly, and you wait till her perfect
recovery of it. As soon as this period has arrived, you state of
your own accord to Her Majesty that this secret and confidential
correspondence with her must cease; that you gave in to it, much
against your feelings, and with a decided notion of its impropriety
and danger, and merely out of a sincere solicitude to calm Her
Majesty's mind in a critical time, and to prevent the ill effects
which great and mental agitation might have produced on her health.
That this part of your purpose now being most happily achieved, you
thought yourself in duty bound to advise Her Majesty to _cease all
her communications_ to you on political subjects, as you felt it wrong
within yourself to receive them, and to return your political advice
and opinions on such matters; that painful as such a step must be to
your feelings, which to the last moment of your life will remain those
of the most loyal attachment and devotion to the Queen's person, it
is dictated to you by a deep sense of what you owe to the country, to
your Sovereign, and to yourself."