The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume I Part 38

and he said he would return in two or three hours with the result, which I said I should await.[35]

[Footnote 35: It was a curious circ.u.mstance, much commented on at the time, that in the _Globe_ of 9th May, a Ministerial evening paper, which would probably have gone to press at two o'clock in the afternoon, the following paragraph appeared: "The determination which it is well known Her Majesty has taken, not to allow the change in the Government to interfere with the ladies of her Court, has given great offence to the Tories."]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _9th May 1839._

The Queen has received Lord Melbourne's letter. Lord Melbourne will since have heard what has taken place. Lord Melbourne must not think the Queen rash in her conduct; she saw both the Duke and Sir Robert again, and declared to them she could not change her opinion. The Ladies are not (as the Duke imagined was stated in the Civil List Bill) in the _place_ of the Lords; and the Queen felt this was an attempt to see whether she could be led and managed like a child; if it should lead to Sir Robert Peel's refusing to undertake the formation of the Government, which would be absurd, the Queen will feel satisfied that she has only been defending her own rights, on a point which so nearly concerned her person, and which, if they had succeeded in, would have led to every sort of unfair attempt at power; the Queen maintains _all_ her ladies,--and thinks her Prime Minister will cut a sorry figure indeed if he resigns on this. Sir Robert is gone to consult with his friends, and will return in two or three hours with his decision. The Queen also maintained the Mistress of the Robes, for as he said _only_ those who are _in Parliament_ shall be removed, I should like to know if they mean to give the _Ladies_ seats in Parliament?

We shall see what will be done. The Queen would not have _stood so firmly_ on the Grooms and Equerries, but her _Ladies_ are _entirely_ her own affair, and _not_ the Ministers'.

[Pageheading: THE CRISIS]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_9th May 1839._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Lord Melbourne had certainly never expected that this demand would be urged, and therefore had never advised your Majesty as to what was to be done in such a case. Lord Melbourne strongly advises your Majesty to hear what the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel urge, but to take time before you come to a peremptory and final decision.

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_9th May 1839._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. This is a matter of so much importance, and may have such grave results, that any advice which Lord Melbourne could give would be of little importance unless it coincided with the opinions of others, and particularly of all those who were and intend still [to] continue to be his colleagues.

It will depend upon their determination whether your Majesty is to be supported or not. The best course will perhaps be that you should hear Sir Robert Peel's determination, say nothing, but send for Lord Melbourne, and lay the matter before him. Lord Melbourne will then summon a Cabinet to consider of it.

[Pageheading: THE LADIES OF THE BEDCHAMBER]

_Extract from the Queen's Journal._

_9th May 1839._

At half-past six came Lord Melbourne and stayed with me till ten minutes past seven.

[Pageheading: THE LADIES]

I then began by giving him a detailed account of the whole proceeding, which I shall state here as briefly as possible. I first again related what took place in the two first interviews, and when I said that the Duke said he had a.s.sisted my Government often very much, Lord Melbourne said: "Well, that is true enough, but the Duke did all he could about this vote." "Well, then," I said, "when Sir Robert Peel came this morning, he began first about the Ministry. I consented, though I said I might have my personal feelings about Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Aberdeen, but that I would suppress every personal feeling and be quite fair. I then repeated that I wished to retain about me those who were not in Parliament, and Sir Robert _pretended_ that I had the preceding day expressed a wish to keep about me those who _were_ in Parliament. I mentioned my wish to have Lord Liverpool, to which Sir Robert readily acceded, saying he would offer him the place of Lord Steward, or of Lord in Waiting. He then suggested my having Lord Ashley,[36] which I said I should like, as Treasurer or Comptroller. Soon after this Sir Robert said: 'Now, about the Ladies,'

upon which I said I could _not_ give up _any_ of my Ladies, and never had imagined such a thing. He asked if I meant to retain _all_.

'_All_,' I said. 'The Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber?' I replied, '_All_,'--for he said they were the wives of the opponents of the Government, mentioning Lady Normanby[37] in particular as one of the late Ministers' wives. I said that would not interfere; that I never talked politics with them, and that they were related, many of them, to Tories, and I enumerated those of my Bedchamber women and Maids of Honour; upon which he said he did not mean _all_ the Bedchamber women and _all_ the Maids of Honour, he meant the Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber; to which I replied _they_ were of more consequence than the others, and that I could _not_ consent, and that it had never been done before. He said I was a Queen Regnant, and that made the difference. 'Not here,'

I said--and I maintained my right. Sir Robert then urged it upon _public grounds only_, but I said here I could not consent. He then begged to be allowed to consult with the Duke upon such an important matter. I expressed a wish also to see the Duke, if Sir Robert approved, which he said he did, and that he would return with the Duke, if I would then be prepared for the decision, which I said I would. Well," I continued, "the Duke and Sir Robert returned soon, and I first saw the Duke, who talked first of his being ready to take the post of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, which I had pressed Peel to urge on him (the Duke having first wished to be in the Cabinet, without accepting office), and the Duke said, 'I am able to do anything,' for I asked him if it would not be too much for him. Then I told him that I had been very well satisfied with Sir Robert yesterday, and asked the Duke if Sir Robert had told him what had pa.s.sed about the Ladies. He said he had, and then I repeated all my arguments, and the Duke his; but the Duke and Sir Robert differed considerably on two points. The Duke said the _opinions_ of the Ladies were nothing, but it was the _principle_, whether the Minister could remove the Ladies or not, and that he (the Duke) had understood it was stated in the Civil List Bill, 'that the _Ladies were instead of the Lords_,' which is quite false, and I told the Duke that there were not _twelve Lords_, as the expense _with the Ladies_ would have been too great." Lord Melbourne said: "There you had the better of him, and what did he say?" "Not much," I replied. I repeated many of my arguments, all which pleased Lord Melbourne, and which he agreed to, amongst others, that I said to the Duke, Was Sir Robert so weak that _even_ the Ladies must be of his opinion? The Duke denied that. The Duke then took my decision to Sir Robert, who was waiting in the next room; after a few minutes Sir Robert returned. After stopping a few minutes, as I have already stated, Sir Robert went to see his colleagues, and returned at five: said he had consulted with those who were to have been his colleagues, and that they agreed that, with the probability of being beat the first night about the Speaker, and beginning with a Minority in the House of Commons, that unless there was _some_ (_all_ the Officers of State and Lords I gave up) demonstration of my confidence, and if I retained all my Ladies this would not be, "they agreed unanimously they could not go on." I replied I would reflect, that I felt certain I should not change my mind, but that I should do nothing in a hurry, and would write him my decision either that evening or the next morning. He said, meanwhile, he would suspend all further proceedings.

[Footnote 36: Afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury, the well-known Philanthropist.]

[Footnote 37: J. W. Croker wrote to the King of Hanover:--

"_11th May 1839._

"... This is the sum of the whole affair. Sir R. Peel could not admit that broad principle that all were to remain.

Lady Normanby (whom the Queen particularly wishes for), for instance, the wife of the very Minister whose measures have been the cause of the change, two sisters of Lord Morpeth, the sisters-in-law of Lord John Russell, the daughter of the Privy Seal and the Chancellor of the Exchequer....

"Her Majesty's ball last night was, I am told, rather dull, though she herself seemed in high spirits, as if she were pleased at retaining her Ministers. She has a great concert on the 13th, but to both, as I hear, the invitations have been on a very exclusive principle, no Tories being invited who could on any pretence be left out. These are small matters, but everything tends to create a public impression that Her Majesty takes a personal and strong interest in the Whigs--a new ingredient of difficulty."--_Croker Papers_, II. 347.]

I also told Lord Melbourne that I feared I had embarra.s.sed the Government; that I acted quite alone. Lord Melbourne saw, and said I could not do otherwise. "I must summon the Cabinet," said Lord Melbourne, at half-past nine. "It may have very serious consequences.

If we can't go on with this House of Commons, we may have to dissolve Parliament, and we don't know if we may get as good a House of Commons." I begged him to come, and he said: "I'll come if it is in any time--if it's twelve; but if it's one or two, I'll write."

After dinner (as usual with the Household) I went to my room, and sat up till a quarter past two. At a quarter to two I received the following letter from Lord Melbourne, written at one o'clock:--

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S ULTIMATUM]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_10th May 1839_ (1 A.M.).

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. The Cabinet has sate until now, and, after much discussion, advises your Majesty to return the following answer to Sir Robert Peel:--

"The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings."[38]

[Footnote 38: Greville a.s.serts that the plan adopted by the outgoing Cabinet, of meeting and suggesting that this letter should be despatched, was "utterly anomalous and unprecedented, and a course as dangerous as unconst.i.tutional.... They ought to have explained to her that until Sir Robert Peel had formally and finally resigned his commission into her hands, they could tender no advice.... The Cabinet of Lord Melbourne discussed the proposals of that of Sir Robert Peel, and they dictated to the Queen the reply in which she refused to consent to the advice tendered to her by the man who was _at that moment_ her Minister."--_Greville's Journal, 12th May 1839._]

_Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel._

_10th May 1839._

The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings.[39]

[Footnote 39: Sixty years later the Queen, during a conversation at Osborne with Sir Arthur Bigge, her Private Secretary, after eulogising Sir Robert Peel, said: "I was very young then, and perhaps I should act differently if it was all to be done again."]