The Letters of Queen Victoria Volume Iii Part 42

[Footnote 15: The earlier annexations were those of the Punjab (1849), Pegu (1852), and Nagpur (1853); some minor additions were also made under what was called the "doctrine of lapse."]

[Pageheading: PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _27th February 1856_.

The Queen returns Lord Clarendon's letter.

The matter becomes very serious, and it would be a bad position for us to be left quite alone in the Conference, which the Russians, the Queen has every reason to believe, are anxiously striving to bring about. In fact, well-informed persons pretend that this was the main aim of Russia in accepting the Austrian ultimatum and going to Paris.

Would it not answer to take this line: to say to Russia, "You have accepted the ultimatum, _pur et simple_, and have now again recognised its stipulations as preliminaries of peace. You will, therefore, first of all, have to execute them; you may then come to the question of Kars and say you mean to keep it--then you will see that Europe, bound to maintain the integrity of Turkey, will be obliged to go on with the war, and it will be for you to consider whether you mean to go on fighting for Kars; but at present this is not in question, as you are only called upon to fulfil the engagements to which you have solemnly pledged yourself"?

Perhaps Lord Palmerston will discuss this suggestion with his colleagues to-night.

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _27th February 1856_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that as the result of the deliberations of the Cabinet this evening, the accompanying telegraphic message is proposed to be sent to-morrow morning to Lord Clarendon. It is founded upon the substance of your Majesty's memorandum of this afternoon. Viscount Palmerston has taken another copy of this draft.

_Telegram to the Earl of Clarendon._

_28th February 1856_.

[_Enclosure._]

Your letter has been considered by the Cabinet.

Russia should be told that she cannot recede from the conditions which she deliberately agreed to by a _pur et simple_ acceptance at Petersburg, which she afterwards formally recorded in a protocol at Vienna, and which she has within a few days solemnly converted into preliminaries of peace.

Those engagements must be fulfilled, and those conditions must be carried into execution.

As to Kars, Austria, France, and Great Britain have undertaken to maintain the integrity of the Turkish Empire, and that integrity must be maintained.

Russia received no equivalent for giving up the princ.i.p.alities which she had occupied as a material pledge. She can receive none for giving up Kars.

If Russia determines to carry on the war, rather than give up Kars, things must take their course.

[Pageheading: TRANQUILLITY OF INDIA]

_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _29th February 1856_.

Lord Dalhousie presents his most humble duty to your Majesty.

The guns are announcing from the ramparts of Fort William that Lord Canning has arrived. In an hour's time he will have a.s.sumed the Government of India. Lord Dalhousie will transfer it to him in a state of perfect tranquillity. There is peace, within and without. And although no prudent man will ever venture to predict the certainty of continued peace in India, yet Lord Dalhousie is able to declare, within reservation, that he knows of no quarter in which it is probable that trouble will arise.[16]

Lord Dalhousie desires that his very last act, as Governor-General, should be to submit to your Majesty a respectful expression of the deep sense he entertains of your Majesty's constant approbation of his public conduct while he has held the office of Governor-General of India; together with a humble a.s.surance of the heartfelt grat.i.tude with which he shall ever remember your Majesty's gracious favour towards him through the eight long years during which he has borne the ponderous burden he lays down to-day.

Lord Dalhousie begs permission to take leave of your Majesty, and has the honour to subscribe himself, with deep devotion, your Majesty's most obedient, most humble and faithful Subject and Servant,

DALHOUSIE.

[Footnote 16: It has been, however, freely alleged that the failure to repress acts of insubordination in the administration of Lord Dalhousie was a contributory, if not the direct, cause of the events of 1857. See _post_, Introductory Note to Chapter XXVI, and Walpole's _History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815_, ch. xxvii., and authorities there referred to.]

[Pageheading: LORD CLARENDON'S INSTRUCTIONS]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, [_? March_] _1856_.

The Queen returns these letters to Lord Palmerston. She entirely concurs in Lord Palmerston's general views of the question, but at the same time she thinks--as circ.u.mstances, which are beyond our control, may so vary from day to day or even from hour to hour--that Lord Clarendon should receive full powers to act according to what may appear to him to be best and wisest at the time, even if it should not be in strict accordance with what we originally contemplated and must naturally wish. Such a power would certainly not be misplaced in Lord Clarendon's hands; his firmness, and his sense of what this country expects, are too well known to lead us to doubt of his permitting anything but what would _really_ be for the best of this country, and for the maintenance of the Alliance.

[Pageheading: THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _6th March 1856_.

With reference to Lord Clarendon's letter, the Queen must say that she, though _very reluctantly_, shares his opinion, that we have no choice _now_ but to accept the peace, even if it is not all we could desire, and if another campaign might have got us better terms. She feels certain that the bad accounts of the French Army in the Crimea, which appears to suffer _now_ all the misery which ours suffered last year at the worst time of the siege, will more than ever indispose the Emperor from risking a renewal of hostilities. It is affirmed that the French have beyond 20,000 men in hospital!

If we are to have this peace, however, the Queen must again agree with Lord Clarendon that we ought not _ourselves_ to depreciate it, as our Press has done the deeds of our Army.

With regard to the princ.i.p.alities, it is the Queen's opinion that nothing will oppose a barrier to Russia and her intrigues but the arrangement which will satisfy the people themselves, viz. an _hereditary monarchy_. The example of Egypt might perfectly well be followed in Wallachia and Moldavia.