Page:The Letters Of Queen Victoria, vol. 3 (1908).djvu/52

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38

INDIAN AFFAIRS

[CHAP. XXIII

alone; moreover, he acts constitutionally under the authority of the Queen, on his own responsibility and not that of the Cabinet.

Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 17th July 1854, The Queen has just received Lord Aberdeen’s letter, and has fully considered the contents of it. She has finally decided to make no change in her intended departure, from a conviction that her doing so might shake confidence in the result of this night’s Debate. Should anything serious occur, she would be ready to return to-morrow or at any time that her presence in town was considered of importance to the public service.

Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell.

OSBORNE, 19th July 1854, The Queen has received Lord John Russell’s letter of yesterday, and was very glad to hear that both the meeting and the Debate went off so well. The party which supports the Government is certainly “a strange basis for a Government to rest upon,” but such as it is we must make the best of it, and nothing will contribute more to keeping it together than to give it the impression that the Government is thoroughly united.^[1]

Queen Victoria to the Marquis of Dalhousie.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 26th July 1854. It is a very long time since the Queen has had the pleasure of hearing from Lord Dalhousie, but she supposes that (fortunately) there is very little to say, everything being so quiet and prosperous. The Queen highly appreciates and values Lord Dalhousie’s kind offer to remain in India while there is any prospect of difficulty being caused by the present War, which will be a source of great satisfaction and tranquillity to her, as she feels that her Indian Dominions cannot be in safer hands.

The Queen wishes to tell Lord Dalhousie how much inter-

↑ During a desultory discussion on the 13th of July, Mr Disraeli had assailed the Government and its chief in the Commons, to such purpose that Lord John Russell, stung by his sarcasms, and mortified by his own failure, asked Lord Aberdeen to relieve him of the Leadership of the House. The Queen, to whom he had also written, entreated Lord John not to let his opponent see that his object in making his attack had been successful. A meeting of the Ministerialists was held on the 17th at the Foreign Office, at which one hundred and eighty members of the House of Commons were present, and some diversity of opinion was expressed; the result of the meeting was that the Government was more satisfactorily supported.

[1] During a desultory discussion on the 13th of July, Mr Disraeli had assailed the Government and its chief in the Commons, to such purpose that Lord John Russell, stung by his sarcasms, and mortified by his own failure, asked Lord Aberdeen to relieve him of the Leadership of the House. The Queen, to whom he had also written, entreated Lord John not to let his opponent see that his object in making his attack had been successful. A meeting of the Ministerialists was held on the 17th at the Foreign Office, at which one hundred and eighty members of the House of Commons were present, and some diversity of opinion was expressed; the result of the meeting was that the Government was more satisfactorily supported.

[1]