The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Ii Part 1

The Letters of Queen Victoria.

Vol 2.

1844-1853.

by Queen Victoria.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XIII

The new year (1844) opened with signs of improved trade, and a feeling of confidence, partly due to the friendly _entente_ with France. In Ireland, soon after the collapse of the Clontarf meeting, O'Connell and some of his a.s.sociates were indicted for seditious conspiracy, and convicted. The conviction was subsequently quashed on technical grounds, but O'Connell's political influence was at an end. In Parliament, owing chiefly to the exertions of Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury), an important Bill was pa.s.sed restricting factory labour, and limiting its hours. The Bank Charter Act, separating the issue and banking departments, as well as regulating the note issue of the Bank of England in proportion to its stock of gold, also became law. Meanwhile the dissensions in the Conservative party were increasing, and the Ministry were defeated on a motion made by their own supporters to extend the preferential treatment of colonial produce. With great difficulty the vote was rescinded and a crisis averted; but the Young England section of the Tory party were becoming more and more an embarra.s.sment to the Premier. Towards the end of the year the new Royal Exchange was opened amid much ceremony by the Queen.

The services rendered by Sir Charles Napier in India were the subject of votes of thanks in both Houses, but shortly afterwards Lord Ellenborough, the Governor-General, was recalled by the Directors of the East India Company: their action was no doubt due to his overbearing methods and love of display, but it was disapproved by the Ministry, and Lord Ellenborough was accorded an Earldom.

During the year there was a recrudescence of the friction between this country and France, due partly to questions as to the right of search of foreign ships, partly to a _brochure_ issued by the Prince de Joinville, a son of Louis Philippe, partly to the a.s.sumption of French sovereignty over Tahiti and the seizure of the English consul there by the French authorities. Reparation however was made, and the ill-feeling subsided sufficiently to enable the King of the French to visit Queen Victoria,--the first friendly visit ever paid by a French king to the Sovereign of England. Louis Philippe was cordially received in this country.

Another historic royal visit also took place in 1844, that of the Emperor Nicholas, who no doubt was so much impressed with his friendly reception, both by the Court and by Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, that nine years later he thought he could calculate on the support of England under Aberdeen (then Premier) in a scheme for the part.i.tion of Turkey. Lord Malmesbury, who a few years later became Foreign Secretary, states in his memoirs that during this visit, the Czar, Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Aberdeen "drew up and signed a Memorandum, the spirit and scope of which was to support Russia in her legitimate protectorship of the Greek religion and the Holy Shrines, and to do so without consulting France," but the Memorandum was in reality only one made by Nicholas of his recollection of the interview, and communicated subsequently to Lord Aberdeen.

No events of special interest took place in other parts of Europe; the condition of affairs in the Peninsula improved, though the announcement of the unfortunate marriage of the Queen Mother with the Duke of Rianzares was not of hopeful augury for the young Queen Isabella's future; as a matter of fact, the marriage had taken place some time previously.

CHAPTER XIII

1844

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th January 1844._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I had the pleasure of receiving your kind letter of the 4th, which is written from Ardenne, where I grieve to see you are again gone without my beloved Louise.

Charlotte is the admiration of every one, and I wish much I could have seen the three dear children _en representation_.

Our fat Vic or p.u.s.s.ette learns a verse of _Lamartine_ by heart, which ends with "le tableau se deroule a mes pieds"; to show how well she had understood this difficult line which Mdlle. Charier had explained to her, I must tell you the following _bon mot_. When she was riding on her pony, and looking at the cows and sheep, she turned to Mdlle.

Charier and said: "_Voila_ le tableau qui se deroule a mes pieds." Is not this extraordinary for a little child of three years old? It is more like what a person of twenty would say. You have no notion _what_ a knowing, and I am sorry to say _sly_, little rogue she is, and so _obstinate_. She and _le pet.i.t Frere_ accompany us to dear old Claremont to-day; Alice remains here under Lady Lyttelton's care. How sorry I am that you should have hurt your leg, and in such a provoking way; Albert says he remembers well your playing often with a pen-knife when you talked, and I remember it also, but it is really dangerous.

I am happy that the news from Paris are good; the really good understanding between our two Governments provokes the Carlists and Anarchists. Bordeaux[1] is not yet gone; I saw in a letter that it was _debated_ in his presence whether he was on any favourable occasion _de se presenter en France!_Do you think that possible? Then again the papers say that there are fortifications being made on the coast of Normandy for fear of an invasion; is this so? These are many questions, but I hope you will kindly answer them, as they interest me. With Albert's love. Believe me, ever, your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

[Footnote 1: The Duc de Bordeaux, only son of the Duc de Berri, had by the death of Charles X. and the renunciation of all claims to the French Throne on the part of the Duc d'Angouleme, become the representative of the elder branch of the Bourbons. He had intended his visit to England to have a private character only.]

[Pageheading: THE SPANISH MARRIAGE]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

CLAREMONT, _10th January 1844_.

The Queen understands that there is a negotiation with Sweden and Denmark pending about the cessation of their tribute to Morocco, likewise that Prince Metternich has sent a despatch condemning as unfair the understanding come to between us and France about the Spanish marriage;[2] that there is a notion of exchanging Hong Kong for a more healthy colony.

The Queen, taking a deep interest in all these matters, and feeling it her duty to do so, begs Lord Aberdeen to keep her always well informed of what is on the _tapis_ in his Department.

[Footnote 2: _See ante_, vol. i. p. 487.]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen._

CLAREMONT, _13th January 1844._

The Queen has received Lord Aberdeen's letter of the 10th, and returns him the papers which he sent her, with her best thanks. She does not remember to have seen them before.

The Queen takes this opportunity to beg Lord Aberdeen to cause the despatches to be sent a little sooner from the Foreign Office, as drafts in particular have often come to the Queen a week or a fortnight after they had actually been sent across the sea.

With respect to the Hanoverian Orders, Lord Aberdeen has not quite understood what the Queen meant. It was Sir C. Thornton and others to whom the Queen had refused permission to accept the favour, on a former occasion, by which the King of Hanover was much affronted. The Queen would not like to have herself additionally fettered by any new regulation, but Lord Aberdeen will certainly concur with the Queen that it would not be expedient to give to the King of Hanover a power which the Queen herself does not possess, viz. that of granting orders as favours, or for personal services; as the number of the different cla.s.ses of the Guelphic Order bestowed on Englishmen is innumerable, it would actually invest the King with such a power, which, considering how much such things are sought after, might be extremely inconvenient.

The Queen will not give a final decision upon this case until she returns to Windsor, where she has papers explanatory of the reasons which caused her to decline the King of Hanover's application in 1838.

[Pageheading: A CARRIAGE ACCIDENT]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

CLAREMONT, _16th January 1844._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Many thanks for your kind letter of the 11th.

Louise can give you the details of the little upset I and Lady Douro had, and which I did not think worth while to mention.[3] It was the strangest thing possible to happen, and the most _unlikely_, for we were going quite quietly, not at all in a narrow lane, with very quiet ponies and my usual postillion; the fact was that the boy looked the _wrong_ way, and therefore did not perceive the ditch which he so cleverly got us into.

We leave dear Claremont, as usual, with the greatest regret; we are so peaceable here; Windsor is beautiful and comfortable, but it is a _palace_, and G.o.d knows _how willingly_ I would _always_ live with my beloved Albert and our children in the quiet and retirement of private life, and not be the constant object of observation, and of newspaper articles. The children (p.u.s.s.ette and Bertie) have been most remarkably well, and so have we, in spite of the very bad weather we had most days. I am truly and really grieved that good excellent Nemours is again _not_ to get his _dotation_.[4] Really we const.i.tutional countries are _too shabby_.

Now, dearest Uncle, I must bid you adieu, begging you to believe me, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

[Footnote 3: On the 5th of January the Queen's phaeton was overturned at Horton, near Dachet, while driving to the meet of Prince Albert's Harriers.]

[Footnote 4: On the occasion of the marriage of the Duc and d.u.c.h.esse de Nemours (1840), the proposal made by the Soult Government for a Parliamentary grant of 500,000 francs had been rejected.]