The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume I Part 22

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _28th December 1837._

The Queen received Lord Melbourne's communication yesterday evening, and is glad to see that the Speaker consents to remain a little while longer, though, as Lord Melbourne says, it is still very inconvenient.

The Queen regrets that there should have been any difference of opinion with respect to Canada, but hopes with Lord Melbourne that some final arrangement may be come to next Wednesday.

The Queen is very sorry to learn that Lord Melbourne will be detained in London until Sat.u.r.day. She omitted to ask Lord Melbourne when he thinks it would be convenient for Lord Palmerston to come down to Windsor for a few days, as it is the Queen's wish to ask him in the course of the Recess. The Queen is very thankful to Lord Melbourne for his kind enquiries after her health; she is sorry to say she had one of her bad headaches yesterday, but feels very well this morning and thinks a drive will quite cure her.

[Pageheading: ARMY ESTIMATES]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th December 1837._

The Queen received Lord Melbourne's two letters yesterday evening, and another this morning, enclosing one from Lord Duncannon.[82] The Queen is very much gratified by the kind expressions in the letter she got last night; she is grieved to see Lord Melbourne is so much oppressed with business.

The Queen thinks Lord Melbourne has acted with the greatest judgment with respect to Sir J. Conroy,[83] and highly approves the course he intends pursuing.

The Queen regrets that there should be so much difficulty with respect to the Report of the Army Estimates, but fervently trusts that no serious difficulties will arise from it; she will be very anxious to talk about this and many other matters when she sees Lord Melbourne, which the Queen _hopes_ (as Lord Melbourne says nothing to the contrary) she will do on the 3rd or 4th.

The Queen thinks that it will be quite right if Lord Melbourne writes to Lord John about the Staffords.h.i.+re Yeomanry. The Queen will be delighted to see Lady John Russell's little girl, and would be very happy if Lady John was to bring the _Baby_ also. The Queen begs Lord Melbourne to invite them (Lord and Lady John) in her name on the 8th, and to stay till the 11th.

The Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Cambridge are here, and the Queen is very sorry to say, that from what she _sees_ and _hears_, she has reason to fear all is _not_ as it _should_ be; _her_ mother is most _markedly_ civil and affectionate towards both the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess, and spoke Politics with the former. The Queen will tell Lord Melbourne more about this when she sees him.

The weather was beautiful yesterday, and the Queen had a _long_ drive and _walk_, which have done her great good; it is still finer to-day.

[Footnote 82: Commissioner of Woods and Forests and Lord Privy Seal.]

[Footnote 83: Sir J. Conroy, who had been Comptroller to the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent, made certain claims which it was not considered expedient to grant. He received a pension and a baronetcy.]

[Pageheading: CANADA]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_30th December 1837._

... Lord Melbourne will do his utmost to compose these differences respecting Canada and the Army,[84] but your Majesty must contemplate the possibility, not to say the probability, of his not being able to succeed. It will not do for the sake of temporary accommodation to sacrifice the honour of your Majesty's Crown or the interests of your Majesty's subjects.

[Footnote 84: _See_ Introductory Notes for 1837 and 1838, pp.

56 and 102. (to Ch. VI and Ch. VII)]

[Pageheading: STATE DEPARTMENTS]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_31st December 1837._

... Lord Melbourne has not yet been able to leave London. In order to have a chance of arranging these troublesome affairs it is necessary continually to see those who are princ.i.p.ally engaged in them. From a conversation which he has had this evening with Lord Howick, Lord Melbourne has better hopes of producing a general agreement upon Canadian affairs, but the question of the administration of the Army, which is of less immediate importance, is of more difficulty. Your Majesty knows the importance attached by the King of the Belgians to this matter. The opinion of the Duke of Wellington is also strongly against the projected alteration. On the other hand, five Cabinet Ministers have pledged themselves to it by signing the report, and consider themselves as having publicly undertaken to the House of Commons that some such measure shall be proposed. Lord Melbourne has asked for the opinions of Lord Hill[85] and Sir Hussey Vivian[86] in writing. When Lord Melbourne receives them he must submit them to your Majesty with as short and as clear a statement as he can make of a question which is of a technical and official character, and with which Lord Melbourne does not feel himself to be very familiar. Lord Melbourne transmits a copy of the proposed Order in Council to carry the recommendation of the report into effect, which will acquaint your Majesty precisely what the powers and duties are which it is intended to transfer from the Secretary of State[87] to the Secretary-at-War.

It is the more necessary to be cautious, because it can be done without taking the opinion or having recourse to the authority of Parliament.

Your Majesty will not suppose that Lord Melbourne by laying before you the whole case has an idea of throwing the weight of such a decision entirely upon your Majesty. Lord Melbourne will deem it his duty to offer your Majesty a decided opinion upon the subject.

Lord Melbourne is much rejoiced to hear that your Majesty enjoys Windsor. The d.u.c.h.ess of Sutherland,[88] who appreciates both the grand and the beautiful, could not be otherwise than delighted with it....

Lord Melbourne has the pleasure of wis.h.i.+ng your Majesty a happy and prosperous New Year.

[Footnote 85: Commander-in-Chief.]

[Footnote 86: Master-General of the Ordnance.]

[Footnote 87: The Secretaries of State (then three, now five in number) have co-extensive authority, that is to say, any one of them can legally execute the duties of all, although separate spheres of action are for convenience a.s.signed to them; at that time the administration of Colonial and Military affairs were combined, the Secretary-at-War not being a Secretary of State. After the Crimean War a fourth Secretary was appointed, and after the Indian Mutiny a fifth was added, entrusted severally with the supervision of Military affairs and the administration of India. See letters of Lord Melbourne of 1st, 4th, and 5th November 1841. (Ch. X, 'Secretaries of State')]

[Footnote 88: Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana, d.u.c.h.ess of Sutherland (1806-1868), was the daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle, and married her cousin, Earl Gower (1786-1861), who became Duke of Sutherland in 1833. On the accession of the Queen, the d.u.c.h.ess of Sutherland became Mistress of the Robes, a post which she held till 1841, and on three subsequent occasions. The d.u.c.h.ess was a cultivated woman with many tastes, and made Stafford House a great social centre. She was deeply interested in philanthropic and social movements, such as the Abolition of Slavery, and had a strong sympathy for national movements, which she showed by entertaining Garibaldi in 1864. She combined a considerable sense of humour with a rare capacity for affection, and became one of the Queen's closest friends; after the Prince Consort's death she was for some weeks the Queen's constant companion.]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER VII

The Melbourne Ministry were able to maintain themselves in office during the year (1838), but were too weak to carry important measures.

The prevailing distress led to much criticism of the Poor Law Act of 1834, and the disturbances in Canada turned the tide of emigration to Australia. But public interest in politics was eclipsed by the gaieties of the Coronation, in which all ranks partook. The events of Imperial importance elsewhere centred in Jamaica and Canada, the apprentices.h.i.+p system in the former place leading to a renewal of the anti-slavery agitation at home, and the pa.s.sing of a Colonial Bill for absolute emanc.i.p.ation. The Canadian troubles brought about the pa.s.sing of an Imperial Act for the suspension for two years of the Legislative a.s.sembly of Lower Canada, and Lord Durham, an impulsive and generous-hearted man, was sent out as High Commissioner. Having dismissed the Executive Council of his predecessor, he nominated a fresh one, but an ordinance thereafter promulgated in reference to the rebels was severely criticised. Lord Brougham, rejoicing at the opportunity of paying off old scores, castigated the Government, especially Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, and carried a measure censuring their Canadian policy. The Ministry disallowed the ordinance of Lord Durham, who, finding himself unsupported, resigned his Commission and returned home. On his arrival at Plymouth, he made a speech, in which he described the rebellion as finally at an end; the news, however, subsequently arrived that after his departure from Canada, disturbances had broken out afresh. Sir John Colborne was appointed to succeed Lord Durham with full powers.

The Civil War continued in Spain through the year, and intermittent rioting took place in Portugal, a country which was now verging on bankruptcy. The old Dutch and Belgian controversy as to the possession of Luxemburg was revived, the King of Holland, who had obstinately withheld his concurrence for six years from the Articles on the faith of which King Leopold accepted the throne of Belgium, now showing overt hostility in the disputed territory. As was natural, France was in sympathy with Belgium, and the two countries entered into a treaty of commerce and reciprocity.

CHAPTER VII

1838