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

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Lord Melbourne was very glad to hear of the marriage of Prince
Augustus of Coburg with the Princess Clementine, as he apprehends that
the connection must be very agreeable to your Majesty.

Lord Melbourne begs to be respectfully and affectionately remembered
to His Royal Highness.

[Pageheading: COMMITTAL OF MACNAGHTEN]

_Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _28th January 1843._

Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to inform your Majesty, that
the prisoner Daniel MacNaghten was fully committed for trial this
afternoon. He was not defended before the Magistrates; but in his
manner he was quite cool, intelligent, and collected; he asked no
questions, but he expressed a wish to have copies of the Depositions.

His trial will probably commence on Friday or Saturday next, and there
is reason to believe that, at the request of his relatives in Glasgow,
counsel will be retained, and that the plea of insanity will be raised
in his defence.[8]

Every preparation is in progress to meet this vague and dangerous
excuse. It will turn out that the pistols were bought at Paisley by
MacNaghten on the 6th of August last; and information has reached
Sir James Graham, which, he thinks, will prove that MacNaghten is a
Chartist, that he has attended political meetings at Glasgow, and
that he has taken a violent part in politics. He yesterday saw a
Presbyterian clergyman, who prayed with him; who pointed out the
atrocity of his crime, the innocence of his victim, the pangs
of sorrowing relatives, and who exhorted him to contrition and
repentance. Some impression was made at the moment; but his general
demeanour is marked by cold reserve and hardness of heart.

[Footnote 8: He was defended by four counsel, including Mr
Cockburn, afterwards Lord Chief Justice.]

[Pageheading: THE ROYAL FAMILY AND POLITICS]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET HALL, _2nd February 1843._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and thanks
much for the letter of the 30th ult., which he received here yesterday
morning. He believes it is more prudent not to go to London, but he
greatly regrets that his not doing so will deprive him for so long a
time of the honour and pleasure of seeing your Majesty.

The Duke of Sussex acquainted Lord Melbourne and took his opinion
before he issued his cards for the dinner. Lord Melbourne does not
think that he can have any idea of playing the part to which Lord
Erroll alluded. It is better that a dinner should be given somewhere.
He having nothing of the kind would look too much like giving up
the whole business and disbanding the party. Lord Melbourne entirely
agrees with your Majesty as to the political conduct which ought to be
pursued by the members of the Royal Family, but he remembers no time
in which they have been induced to act with so much prudence and
propriety. Your Majesty will see in Adolphus the very prominent share
which the Duke of Cumberland,[9] the General of Culloden, took in the
Party contentions of those days. He was a strong partisan and in a
great measure the founder of the Whig party. Lord Melbourne has often
heard George IV. converse upon that subject, and he used to contend
that it was quite impossible for a Prince of Wales in this country to
avoid taking an active part in politics and political contentions. The
fact is, that George III. did not discourage this in his own family
sufficiently, and the King of Hanover always said that his father had
encouraged him in the active part which he took, and which certainly
was sufficiently objectionable.

The assassination of Drummond is indeed a horrible event. Lord
Melbourne does not see as yet any clear, distinct, and certain
evidence of what were the real motives and object of the man. But we
shall hear upon his trial what it is that he urges. Your Majesty will,
of course, recollect that the Jury acquitted Oxford, and there then
was nothing to do but to acquiesce in the verdict. If the Jury should
take a similar view of this man's crime, it will be impossible for
the Government to do anything to remedy the evil which Lord Melbourne
thinks will be caused by such a decision. Lord Melbourne knew Mr
Drummond pretty well. He used formerly to be much in Hertfordshire,
both at Hatfield and at Gorhambury, and Lord Melbourne has often met
him at both places, and thought him with all the rest of the world, a
very quiet, gentlemanly, and agreeable man. Lord Melbourne very well
remembers the murder of Mr Perceval and Bellingham's trial. Lord
Melbourne was then in the House of Commons, but was not present at the
time the crime was perpetrated. There were differences of opinion as
to the manner in which Sir James Mansfield conducted the trial. Many
thought that he ought to have given more time, which was asked for
on the part of the prisoner, in order to search for evidence at
Liverpool. But the law which he laid down in his charge is certainly
sound, correct, and reasonable. Lord Melbourne is very glad to think
that your Majesty has not to go to the House of Lords to-day.

[Footnote 9: This Duke died unmarried in 1765, and his nephew,
the fourth son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was created Duke
of Cumberland in 1766. He in his turn died without issue, in
1790, and in 1799 the fifth son of George III. (afterwards
King of Hanover) received the same title.]

[Pageheading: THE AMERICAN TREATY]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET HALL, _3rd February 1843._

... Lord Melbourne thinks that the Speech was very well and
judiciously drawn; the only paragraph which he does not like is that
about the American treaty.[10] It betrays too great an anxiety for
peace, and too much fear of war.[11]

[Footnote 10: See _ante_, pp. 368, 370 (Ch. X, 'The United States').
The treaty had been negotiated by Lord Ashburton.]

[Footnote 11: "By the treaty which Her Majesty has concluded
with the United States of America, and by the adjustment of
those differences which, from their long continuance, had
endangered the preservation of peace, Her Majesty trusts
that the amicable relations of the two countries have been
confirmed."]

_The Queen of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _6th February 1843._

MY BELOVED VICTORIA,--I am quite of your opinion about balls.
_Nothing_ can change what _cannot change_, and I consider all these
things, which have always been _a bore_ to me, as a matter _of duty_
and not otherwise. The duties of station are to be fulfilled like the
others, and my _first_ and _most pleasant_ duty is to do _all_ that
your Uncle may command or wish. Your Uncle was much _shocked_ by
your answer about _Miss Meyer_,[12] whom he considered of _uncommon
beauty_. He is quite in love with her picture, and is very anxious
to discover who she is. The other pictures of the _book of beauty_
he abandons to you, and they are certainly worthy of a _book of
ugliness_.... Yours most devotedly,

LOUISE.

[Footnote 12: Eugenie Meyer, step-daughter of Colonel Gurwood,
C.B., married the first Viscount Esher, Master of the Rolls.
The Queen had written that she did not admire that style of
beauty.]

[Pageheading: KING LEOPOLD AND PEEL]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _10th February 1843._

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--... I am very much gratified by your having
shown my hasty scrawl to Sir Robert Peel, and that the sincere
expression of a conscientious opinion should have given him pleasure.

It was natural at first that you should _not_ have liked to take him
as your Premier; many circumstances united against him. But I must
say for you and your family, as well as for England, it was a great
blessing that so firm and honourable a man as Peel should have become
the head of your Administration. The State machine breaks often down
in consequence of mistakes made forty and fifty years ago; so it was
in France where even Louis XIV. had already laid the first foundation
for what happened nearly a hundred years afterwards.

I believe, besides, Sir Robert sincerely and warmly attached to you,
and as you say with great truth, _quite above_ mere party feeling.
Poor Lady Peel must be much affected by what has happened.... Your
truly devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET HALL, _12th February 1843._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received
here on Friday last, the 10th, your Majesty's letter of the 8th,
which gave him great pleasure, and for which he gratefully thanks your
Majesty. Lord Melbourne is getting better, and hopes soon to be nearly
as well as he was before this last attack, but he still finds his
left hand and arm and his left leg very much affected, and he does not
recover his appetite, and worse still, he is very sleepless at night,
an evil which he is very little used to, and of which he is very
impatient....

Lord Melbourne adheres to all he said about Lord Ashburton and the
Treaty, but he thinks more fire than otherwise would have taken place
was drawn upon Lord Ashburton by the confident declaration of Stanley
that his appointment was generally approved. The contrary is certainly
the case. There is much of popular objection to him from his American
connection and his supposed strong American interests. Lady Ashburton,
with whom he received a large fortune, is a born American. But he is
supposed to possess much funded property in that country, and to
have almost as strong an interest in its welfare as in that of Great
Britain. With all this behind, it is a bad thing to say that his
appointment was liable to no suspicion or objection. It seems to Lord
Melbourne that what with Ellenborough with the Gates of Ghuznee upon
his shoulders,[13] and Ashburton with the American Treaty round his
neck, the Ministry have nearly as heavy a load upon them as they can
stand up under, and Lord Melbourne would not be surprised if they were
to lighten themselves of one or the other.

[Footnote 13: The Somnauth Proclamation created a good deal of
ridicule.]

[Pageheading: POSITION OF THE PRINCE OF WALES]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET HALL, _13th February 1843._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has just
recollected that in the letter which he wrote yesterday, he omitted
to advert to a part of your Majesty's last to which your Majesty may
expect some answer. He means the part relating to the character and
situation of a Prince of Wales in this country. George IV. was so
conscious of having mixed himself most unrestrainedly in politics,
and of having taken a very general part in opposition to his father's
Government and wishes, that he was naturally anxious to exonerate
himself from blame, and to blame it upon the necessity of his position
rather than upon his own restless and intermeddling disposition. But
Lord Melbourne agrees with your Majesty that his excuse was neither
valid nor justifiable, and Lord Melbourne earnestly hopes that your
Majesty and the Prince may be successful in training and instructing
the young Prince of Wales, and to make him understand correctly his
real position and its duties, and to enable him to withstand the
temptations and seductions with which he will find himself beset, when
he approaches the age of twenty-one. It is true that Sir John made the
observation, which Lord Melbourne mentioned to your Majesty, and which
you now remember correctly. He made it to Sir James Graham, when he
went to talk to him about the offence which William IV. had taken at
the Duchess of Kent's marine excursion; and at the receiving of
royal salutes. Your Majesty was not very long in the situation of
an acknowledged, admitted, and certain Heir Apparent, but still long
enough to be aware of the use which those around you were inclined to
make of that situation and of the petitions and applications which it
naturally produced from others, and therefore to have an idea of the
difficulties of it.

Lord Melbourne heartily wishes your Majesty every success in the
interesting and important task in which you are engaged of forming the
character and disposition of the young Prince.

[Pageheading: DOMESTIC HAPPINESS]

_Queen Adelaide to Queen Victoria._

CANFORD HOUSE, _14th February 1843._

MY DEAREST NIECE,--Your delightful letter of Tuesday gave me such
pleasure and satisfaction that I must thank you with all my heart for
it. Your happiness, and your gratitude for that happiness, is most
gratifying to my feelings, having loved you from your infancy almost
as much as if you had been my own child. It is therefore happiness to
me to hear from yourself those expressions to which you gave vent. I
thank God that you have such an excellent husband, so well calculated
to make you happy and to assist you in your arduous duties by his
advice, as well as his help in sharing your troubles. I pray that your
domestic happiness may last uninterruptedly, and that you may enjoy it
through a long, long period of _many, many years_. You cannot say too
much of _yourself_ and dear Albert when you write to me, for it is a
most interesting subject to my heart, I assure you.

What a _shame_ to have put on darling little Victoria a _powdered
wig_! Poor dear child must have looked very strange with it! Did her
brother appear in _einer Allonge-Peruecke_?...

I shall hope to follow you to town early next month, and look forward
with great pleasure to seeing you so soon again. Forgive me my
horrible scrawl, and with my best love to dearest Albert, believe
me, ever, my dearest Victoria, your most affectionate and faithfully
devoted Aunt,

ADELAIDE.

Pray tell your dear mother, with my affectionate love, that I will
answer her letter to-morrow.

[Pageheading: INTERCHANGE OF VISITS]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _14th February 1843._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many thanks for your kind letter of the 10th, which
I received on Sunday. I am only a little wee bit distressed at your
writing _on the 10th_, and not taking any notice of the _dearest,
happiest_ day in my life, to which I owe the present _great_ domestic
happiness I now enjoy, and which is much greater than I deserve,
though certainly my Kensington life for the last six or seven years
had been one of great misery and oppression, and I may expect some
little retribution, and, indeed, _after_ my accession, there was a
great deal of worry. Indeed I _am_ grateful for possessing (_really
without_ vanity or flattery or _blindness_) the _most perfect_ being
as a husband in existence, or who ever did exist; and I doubt whether
anybody _ever_ did love or respect another as I do my dear Angel! And
indeed Providence has ever mercifully protected us, through manifold
dangers and trials, and I feel confident will continue to do so, and
then let outward storms and trials and sorrows be sent us, and we can
bear all....

I could not help smiling at the exactitude about Monday the 19th
of June; it is a great happiness to us to think with such certainty
(_D.V._) of your kind visit, which would suit perfectly. _A propos_ of
this, I am anxious to tell you that we are full of hope of paying you
in August a little visit, which last year was in so melancholy a way
interrupted; but we think that for _many_ reasons it would be better
for us to pay you our _first_ visit only at _Ostend_, and not at
Brussels or Laeken; you could lodge us _anywhere_, and we need then
bring but very few people with us--it might also facilitate the
meeting with Albert's good old grandmother, who fears to cross the
sea, and whose great _wish_ is to behold Albert again--and would
not be so difficult (_pour la lere fois_) in many ways. I could,
nevertheless, see Bruges and Ghent from thence by help of the
railroad, and return the same day to Ostend.

What you say about Peel is very just. Good Lord Melbourne is much
better.

I hope soon to hear more about Joinville and Donna Francesca. Now,
ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

We are all very well (_unberufen_) and move, _to our horror_, to town
on Friday.

[Pageheading: COBDEN'S ATTACK ON PEEL]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _18th February (1843)._

(_Saturday morning._)

Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
leave to acquaint your Majesty that the debate was brought to a
close this morning about half-past three o'clock. The motion of Lord
Howick[14] was rejected by a large majority, the number being--

For the Motion 191
Against it 305
---
Majority 114
---

The chief speakers were Mr R. Cobden and Lord John Russell in favour
of the motion, Mr Attwood, Lord Francis Egerton, and Sir Robert Peel
against it.

In the course of the evening there was much excitement and animated
discussion, in consequence of the speech of Mr Cobden, who is the
chief patron of the Anti-Corn Law League.

Mr Cobden with great vehemence of manner observed more than once that
Sir Robert Peel ought to be held _individually responsible_ for the
distress of the country.[15]

Coupling these expressions with the language frequently held at the
meetings of the Anti-Corn Law League, and by the press in connection
with it, Sir Robert Peel in replying to Mr Cobden charged him with
holding language calculated to excite to personal violence.

[Footnote 14: To go into Committee on the depression of the
manufacturing industry. The debate turned mainly on the Corn
Laws.]

[Footnote 15: To this attack Peel replied with excessive
warmth, amid the frantic cheering of his party, who almost
refused to hear Cobden's explanation in reply. Peel, alarmed
at the fate of Drummond, thought (or affected to think) that
Cobden was singling him out as a fit object for assassination.
For years Cobden resented this language of Peel most deeply.
"Peel's atrocious conduct towards me ought not to be lost
sight of," he wrote in February 1846. A _rapprochement_ was
effected by Miss Martineau--see her letter to Peel (Parker,
vol. iii. p. 330)--and a reference to the matter by Disraeli
in the House of Commons led to satisfactory explanations on
both sides.]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Lincoln._[16]

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _18th February 1843._

The Queen, immediately on her arrival yesterday, went to look at
the new Chapel, with which she is much pleased, but was extremely
disappointed to find it still in such a backward state. As it is of
the utmost importance to the Queen to be able to _use_ it _very soon_,
she wishes Lord Lincoln would be so good as to hurry on the work as
much as possible; perhaps Lord Lincoln could increase the number of
workmen, as there seemed to her to be very few there yesterday.

[Footnote 16: Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests.]

[Pageheading: FANNY BURNEY'S DIARY]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

BROCKET HALL, _21st February 1843._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. He received
safely your Majesty's letter of the 18th inst. Lord Melbourne entreats
your Majesty that you never will think for a moment that you can
tire him by questions, or that it can be to him anything but a great
pleasure to answer them. He will be only too happy if any information
that he possesses or can procure can be of the least use or pleasure
to your Majesty. Lord Melbourne conceives that your Majesty must be
surprised at his complaining of sleeplessness. He is much obliged by
the suggestion of the camphor. He mentioned it to the gentleman who
attends him, and he said that it was a very good thing, and certainly
has a soothing and quieting effect, and that in fact there was some
in the draught which Lord Melbourne now takes at night. But Lord
Melbourne has taken to going down to dinner with those who are in the
house, and sitting up afterwards until near twelve o'clock, and since
he has done this he has slept better. We expect the Duke and Duchess
of Bedford for two nights on Wednesday next. Lord and Lady Uxbridge
and Ella and Constance often come over in the morning and eat their
luncheon here, which Lord Melbourne takes very kindly of them. George
Byng[17] came the other morning in a waistcoat of Peel's velveteen.
Lord Strafford brought the whole piece off the manufacturer, and let
George Byng have enough for a waistcoat. It is a dull blue stuff, and
the device and inscription not very clear nor easy to make out.[18]

Adolphus is, as Aberdeen says, too rigidly Tory, but there are plenty
of narratives of the same period, such as Belsham[19] and others, of
whom it may be said with equal truth that they are too Whig....

Lord Melbourne read the _Edinburgh_ on Madame d'Arblay, which is
certainly Macaulay's, but thought it unnecessarily severe upon Queen
Charlotte, and that it did not do her justice, and also that it rather
countenanced too much Miss Burney's dislike to her situation. It
appears to Lord Melbourne that Miss Burney was well enough contented
to live in the Palace and receive her salary, but that she was
surprised and disgusted as soon as she found that she was expected to
give up some part of her time to conform to some rules, and to perform
some duty. Lord Melbourne is sorry to say that he missed the article
on Children's Books,[20] a subject of much importance, and in which he
is much interested.

Lord Melbourne has received the engraving of the Princess, and is
much pleased by it, and returns many thanks. It is very pretty, very
spirited, and as far as Lord Melbourne's recollection, serves him,
very like. Lord Melbourne remains, ever, your Majesty's faithful,
devoted, and attached Servant.

[Footnote 17: Brother-in-law of Lord Uxbridge, and afterwards
Earl of Stratford.]

[Footnote 18: The allusion is to a hoax played on the Premier,
by a presentation made to him of a piece of the then novel
fabric, velveteen, stamped with a free-trade design. Peel
afterwards wrote that he was unaware that the specimen bore
"any allusion to any matters which are the subject of public
controversy."]

[Footnote 19: William Belsham (1752-1827) wrote, in twelve
volumes, _A History of Great Britain to the Conclusion of the
Peace of Amiens in 1802_.]

[Footnote 20: In the _Quarterly Review_, by Lady Eastlake.]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL (_4th March 1843_). (_Sunday morning._)

Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
leave to acquaint your Majesty that the prisoner MacNaghten was
acquitted last night, after a trial which lasted two days, upon the
ground of insanity.

The fuller account of the evidence which Sir Robert Peel has seen is
on the accompanying newspaper.

The only other information which has reached Sir Robert Peel is
contained in a note (enclosed) from Mr Maule, the solicitor to the
Treasury, who conducted the prosecution. The three Judges[21] appear
to have concurred in opinion, that the evidence of insanity was so
strong as to require a verdict of acquittal--and the Chief Justice
advised the Jury to find that verdict without summing up the evidence
or delivering any detailed charge upon the facts of the case and the
law bearing upon them.

It is a lamentable reflection that a man may be at the same time so
insane as to be reckless of his own life and the lives of others, and
to be pronounced free from moral responsibility, and yet capable of
preparing for the commission of murder with the utmost caution and
deliberation, and of taking every step which shall enable him to
commit it with certainty.

[Footnote 21: Chief Justice Tindal, and Justices Williams and
Coleridge.]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _10th March 1843._

Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, begs leave
to acquaint your Majesty that the House of Commons was occupied
last night with the attack upon Lord Ellenborough for the Somnauth
Proclamation.[22]

The motion was made by Mr Vernon Smith.[23] The resolution
proposed condemned the Proclamation as _unwise_, _indecorous_
and _reprehensible_. Mr Vernon Smith was followed by Mr Emerson
Tennent,[24] one of the Secretaries to the Board of Controul.

Mr Macaulay next spoke, and condemned the conduct of Lord Ellenborough
in a speech of great bitterness and great ability.

The motion was negatived by a majority of 242 to 157.

The minority included Lord Ashley, Sir Robert Inglis, and six other
gentlemen, who generally support your Majesty's servants.

The debate was a very animated one, with a strong infusion of Party
zeal.

[Footnote 22: See _ante_, p. 445. (Ch. XI, 'The Gates of Somnauth')]

[Footnote 23: Robert Vernon Smith (1800-1873), afterwards
President of the Board of Control, created Lord Lyveden in
1859.]

[Footnote 24: James Emerson (1804-1869), afterwards Sir James
Emerson Tennent, M.P. for Belfast, author of _Letters from the
AEgean_, etc.]