The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume I Part 69

"At twenty minutes to one came Lord Melbourne.... I returned him Lord John Russell's letter, and talked of it, and of John Russell's saying the division and Peel's speech made it absolutely necessary to decide _to-day_ whether to _resign_ or _dissolve_. I asked what Peel had said in his speech about the Corn Laws. 'I'll tell you, Ma'am, what he said,' Lord Melbourne replied, 'that he was for a sliding duty and not for a fixed duty; but he did not pledge himself as to what rate of duty it should be. I must say,' Lord Melbourne continued, 'I am still against dissolution. I don't think our chances of success are sufficient.' I replied that I couldn't quite believe that, but that I might be wrong. Lord John is for dissolving. '_You_ wish it?' I said I always did. Talked of the feeling in the City and in the country being so good. Lord Melbourne don't think so much of the feeling in the country. Talked of the majority of thirty-six having not been more than they expected.... Lord Melbourne said people thought the debate was lengthened to please me. I said not at all, but that it was more convenient for me. Anyhow I need do nothing till Sat.u.r.day. The House of Commons was adjourned to the next day, and the House of Lords to Monday. 'Mr Baring says,' he said, 'if there was only a majority one way or another, it would be better than this state of complete equality.'

"At twenty minutes past four Lord Melbourne returned. 'Well, Ma'am,'

he said, 'we've considered this question, and both the sides of it well, and at last we voted upon it; and there were--the Lord Chancellor for dissolution, Lord Minto[38] for it, Lord Normanby against it, but greatly modified; Lord John for, Lord Palmerston for, Lord Clarendon for, Lord Morpeth for, Lord Lansdowne for, Labouchere for, Hobhouse for, Duncannon[39] for, Baring for, Macaulay for; and under those circ.u.mstances of course I felt I could not but go with them.[40] Lord Melbourne was much affected in saying all this. 'So we shall go on, bring on the Sugar Duties, and then, if things are in a pretty good state, dissolve. I hope you approve?' I said I did highly ... and that I felt so happy to keep him longer. 'You are aware we may have a majority against us?' he said; he means in our election. The Sugar Duties would probably take a fortnight or three weeks to pa.s.s, and they would dissolve in June and meet again in October. He thought they must."

[Footnote 38: Lord Minto was First Lord of the Admiralty.]

[Footnote 39: Then First Commissioner of Land Revenue.]

[Footnote 40: See Sir John Hobhouse's account of this Cabinet meeting, _Edinburgh Review_, vol. 133, p. 336.]

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND THE CHURCH]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_21st May 1841._

Lord Melbourne thinks that what your Majesty proposes to say will do very well, but it is thought best to say "Church as Reformed" at the Reformation.

If your Majesty could say this, it would be well:

"I am very grateful for your congratulations on the return of this day. I am happy to take this opportunity of again expressing to you my firm determination to maintain the Church of England as settled at the Reformation, and my firm belief in her Articles and Creeds, as. .h.i.therto understood and interpreted by her soundest divines."

Nothing could go off better than the dinner. Everybody was much pleased with the Prince.

Lord Melbourne is not conscious of having slept.[41]

[Footnote 41: It seems that some one had told the Queen that Lord Melbourne had fallen asleep at dinner.]

[Pageheading: FEELING IN FRANCE]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

BRUSSELS, _20th May 1841._

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I receive this very moment your dear letter of the 18th, and without loss of time I begin my answer here, though the messenger can only go to-morrow. I cannot _sufficiently_ express to you my _grat.i.tude_ for the frankness with which you have written to me--and let me entreat you, whenever you have anything _sur le c[oe]ur_, to _do the same_. I shall begin with your postscript concerning the idea that I wished your present Ministers to retire, because they had become disagreeable to France. The people who _avancent quelque chose de la sorte_ probably have some ill-natured motive which it is not always easy to guess; perhaps in the present instance does it mean, let us say, _that?_ whatever opinion he may then express we can easily counteract it, representing it as the result of _strong partiality to France_. Let us therefore examine what France has to gain in a change of Administration. Certainly your present Ministers are _not_ much loved _now_ in France, not so much in consequence of the political events of last year themselves, than for the _manner_ in which they came to pa.s.s. Nevertheless, when I was at Paris, King and Council were decided to sign the treaty with the four other Powers, which would put an end to the _isolement_, though many people are stoutly _for the isolement_. There end the relations which will exist for some time between the two countries--they will be on _decent_ terms; that is all I wish for the present, and it is matter of moonshine who your Ministers are. No doubt, formerly there existed such a predilection in favour of Lord Grey's[42] Administration and those who continued it, that the coming in of the Tories would have been considered as a great public calamity; but even now, though this affection is gone, the Tories will also be looked on with some suspicion. Lord Melbourne's Administration has had the great merit of being liberal, and at the same time prudent, conservative in the good sense of the word, preserving what was good. Monarchy, by an adherence to this system, was very safe, and the popular liberal cry needless.

[Footnote 42: 1830-1834.]

[Pageheading: KING LEOPOLD'S ADVICE]

(_Continued at_) LAEKEN, _21st May._

I regret that the Corn question was brought forward somewhat abruptly;[43] it is a dangerous one, as it roused the most numerous and poorest cla.s.ses of society, and may easily degenerate into bloodshed. The dissolution under such circ.u.mstances would become still more a source of agitation, as it generally always is in England. Lord Melbourne, I am sure, will think so too.

I am delighted by what you say of Albert; it is just the proper line for him to take, without bia.s.sing you either way, to show you honestly the consequences which in his opinion the one or the other may have.

As he has really a very clear and logical judgment, his opinion will be valuable for you. I feel very much for you, and these Ministerial complications are of a most painful and perplexing nature, though less in England than on the Continent, as the thing is at least better understood. To amuse you a little, and to prove to you how impartial I must be to be in this way accused by both parties, I must tell you that it is said in France that, conjointly with Lord Melbourne, we _artfully_ ruined the Thiers Administration,[44] to the great detriment of the honour and welfare of France. But what is still stranger is, that the younger branches of the family, seeing that my arrival at Paris was delayed from time to time, became convinced that _I would not come at all_, and that my intention was to _cut them completely_, not to _compromettre_ myself with England! Truly people are strange, and the unnecessary suspicions and stories which they love to have, and to tell, a great bore....

Pray have the goodness of giving my _kindest_ regards to Lord Melbourne. I will love him very _tenderly_ in and out of office, as I am really attached to him. Now last, though first, I offer my sincerest wishes on the happy return of your birthday; may every blessing be always bestowed on your beloved head. You possess _much_, let your warm and honest heart _appreciate_ that. Let me also express the hope that you always will maintain your _dear character true_ and _good_ as it is, and let us also humbly express the hope that our warmth of feeling, a valuable gift, will not be permitted to grow occasionally a little violent, and particularly not against your uncle. You may pull Albertus by the ear, when so inclined, but be never irritated against your uncle. But I have _not to complain_ when other people do not instigate such things; you have always been kind and affectionate, and when you look at my deeds for you, and on behalf of you, these twenty-two years, I think you will not have many hardships to recollect. I am happy to hear of my G.o.d-daughter's teeth, and that she is so well. May G.o.d keep the whole dear little family well and happy for ever. My dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Footnote 43: The Ministerial proposal of a fixed duty instead of a sliding scale.]

[Footnote 44: The Thiers Government had resigned in the preceding October, owing to the King objecting to the warlike speech which they wished him to p.r.o.nounce to the Chambers. The Soult-Guizot Cabinet was accordingly formed.]

[Pageheading: SIR ROBERT PEEL]

_Memorandum of Mr Anson's last secret interview with Sir R. Peel._ (No. 4.)

_Sunday, 23rd May 1841._

Called upon Sir Robert Peel this morning. I said I could not feel satisfied without seeing him after the very unexpected course which political affairs had taken. I wished to know that he felt a.s.sured, though I trusted there could be no doubt upon his mind, that there had been perfect honesty of purpose on my part towards him, and more especially upon the part of those with whose knowledge I had been acting. I a.s.sured Sir Robert that H.M. had acted in _the most perfect fairness towards him_, and I was most anxious that there should be no erroneous impression upon his mind as to the conduct of either H.M. or the Prince.

I said (quoting the Prince's expression), "that the Queen has a natural modesty upon her const.i.tutional views, and when she receives an advice from men like the Lord Chancellor, Lord John Russell, Mr Baring, Mr Labouchere, and Lord Clarendon, and knows that they have been weighing the question through so many days, she concludes that her judgment cannot be better than theirs, and that she would do wrong to reject their advice."

The Prince, I said, however strongly impressed for or against a question, thinks it wrong and impolitic, considering his age and inexperience and his novelty to the country, to press upon the Queen views of his own in opposition to those of experienced statesmen. Sir Robert said he could relieve my mind entirely; that he was convinced that all that had taken place had been with the most perfect honesty; that he had no feeling whatever of annoyance, or of having been ill-used; that, on the contrary, he had the feeling, and should always retain it, of the deepest grat.i.tude to the Queen for the condescension which Her Majesty had been pleased to show him, and that it had only increased his devotion to Her Majesty's person. He said that much of the reserve which he had shown in treating with me was not on _his own_ account, but that he felt from his own experience that events were by no means certain, and he most cautiously abstained from permitting her Majesty in any way to commit herself, or to bind herself by any engagement which unforeseen circ.u.mstances might render inconvenient. Sir Robert said it was very natural to try and remove obstacles which had before created so much confusion, and he was convinced that they would have been practically removed by what had pa.s.sed. He said that neither Lord Stanley nor Sir James Graham knew a word of what had pa.s.sed. That Mr Greville had asked his friend Mr Arbuthnot whether some understanding had not been entered into between Lord Melbourne and him. That Mr Arbuthnot had replied that he was certain that nothing of the sort could have pa.s.sed,[45] as, if it had, Sir Robert Peel would have informed him (Mr Arbuthnot) of the fact.

Again, Lady de Grey, the night of the ball at the Palace, came up to him and said the Duke of Bedford had been speaking to her about the resignation of the d.u.c.h.ess of Bedford, and asking her whether she thought it necessary. She volunteered to find out from Sir Robert whether he thought it requisite. She asked the question, which Sir Robert tried to evade, but not being able, he said it struck him that if it was a question of doubt the best means of solving it, was for the Duke of Bedford to ask Lord Melbourne for his opinion.

I added that if the dissolution was a failure, which it was generally apprehended would be the case, I felt convinced that Sir Robert would be dealt with in the most perfect fairness by Her Majesty.

[Footnote 45: "After I had been told by the Duke of Bedford that Peel was going to insist on certain terms, which was repeated to me by Clarendon, I went to Arbuthnot, told him Melbourne's impression, and asked him what it all meant. He said it was all false, that he was certain Peel had no such intentions, but, on the contrary, as he had before a.s.sured me, was disposed to do everything that would be conciliatory and agreeable to the Queen."--_Greville's Journal_, 19th May 1841.]

[Pageheading: VOTE OF WANT OF CONFIDENCE]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

SOUTH STREET, _24th May 1841._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has to acquaint your Majesty that in the House of Commons this evening Sir Robert Peel gave notice that on Thursday next he would move a resolution to the following effect: "That Her Majesty's Ministers not possessing power sufficient to carry into effect the measures which they considered necessary, their retention of office was unconst.i.tutional and contrary to usage."[46] These are not the exact words, but they convey the substance. This is a direct vote of want of confidence, and Lord Melbourne would be inclined to doubt whether it will be carried, and if it is, it certainly will not be by so large a majority as the former vote. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the resolution upon the Sugar Duties, Sir Robert Peel seconded the motion, thereby intending to intimate that he did not mean to interfere with the Supplies. This course was determined upon at a meeting held at Sir R. Peel's this morning.