Balmoral, 22nd September 1855.
My dearest Uncle,—I profit by your own messenger to confide to you, and to you alone, begging you not to mention it to your children, that our wishes on the subject of a future marriage for Vicky have been realised in the most gratifying and satisfactory manner.
On Thursday (20th) after breakfast, Fritz Wilhelm said he was anxious to speak of a subject which he knew his parents had never broached to us—which was to belong to our Family; that this had long been his wish, that he had the entire concurrence and approval not only of his parents but of the King —and that finding Vicky so allerliebst, he could delay no longer in making this proposal. I need not tell you with what joy we accepted him for our part; but the child herself is to know nothing till after her confirmation, which is to take place next Easter, when he probably will come over, and, as he wishes himself, make her the proposal, which, however, I have little—indeed no—doubt she will gladly accept. He is a dear, excellent, charming young man, whom we shall give our dear child to with perfect confidence. What pleases us greatly is to see that he is really delighted with Vicky.
Now, with Albert's affectionate love, and with the prayer that you will give your blessing to this alliance, as you have done to ours, ever your devoted Niece and Child,
Piccadilly, 22nd September 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs, in the first place, to be allowed to offer to your Majesty his most sincere congratulations upon the prospective arrangement which His Royal Highness the Prince Albert announced in his letter to Lord Clarendon, but which, for obvious reasons, should be left to public conjecture for the present. Viscount Palmerston trusts that the event, when, it takes place, will contribute as much to the happiness of those more immediately concerned, and to the comfort of your Majesty and of the Royal Family, as it undoubtedly will to the interests of the two countries, and of Europe in general....
Viscount Palmerston begs to state that the Professorship of Greek at the University of Oxford, which was held by the late Dean of Christchurch,86 is still vacant, Viscount Palmerston having doubts as to the best person to be appointed. The present Dean of Christchurch admitted that the Professorship ought to be separated from the Deanery; he has now recommended for the Professorship the Rev. B. Jowett, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, who is an eminent Greek scholar and won the Hertford Scholarship; and Viscount Palmerston submits, for your Majesty's gracious approval, that Mr Jowett may be appointed.
Footnote 86: The Very Rev. Thomas Gaisford, D.D., who was appointed Regius Professor of Greek in 1811, and Dean of Christchurch in 1831.
Piccadilly, 31st October 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that he has this morning seen Lord Stanley, and offered to him the post of Secretary of State for the Colonies.87 Lord Stanley expressed himself as highly gratified personally by an offer which he said he was wholly unprepared to receive, and which was above his expectations and pretensions; but he said that as he owed to his father Lord Derby whatever position he may have gained in public life, he could not give an answer without first consulting Lord Derby. Viscount Palmerston said that of course in making the proposal, he had taken for granted that Lord Stanley would consult Lord Derby first, because a son would not take a decision on such a subject without consulting his father, even if that father were merely in private life; and next because such a course would be still more natural in this case, considering Lord Derby's political position with reference to those with whom Lord Stanley has more or less been generally acting. Lord Stanley said that he should go down to Knowsley by the five o'clock train this afternoon, and that he would at an early moment communicate his answer to Viscount Palmerston; but he said that if he was to state now his anticipation of what Lord Derby would recommend and wish him to do, it would rather be to decline the offer.
Footnote 87: Sir William Molesworth, who had represented Radicalism in the Cabinets of Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston, died on the 22nd, at the age of forty-five. The Premier thereupon offered the vacant place to Lord Stanley, one of his political opponents, then only twenty-eight, who was the son of the leader of the Conservative Opposition, and had already held office under his father. Lord Stanley's temperament was, in fact, more inclined to Liberalism than that of Lord Palmerston himself, and, twenty-seven years later, he took the office in a Liberal Government which he now declined.
Piccadilly, 10th November 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that in consequence of some things that passed in conversation at Sir Charles Wood's two days ago, when Mr and Mrs Sidney Herbert dined there, Sir Charles Wood is under a strong impression that Mr Herbert would be willing to separate himself from Mr Gladstone and Sir James Graham, and the Peace Party, and to join the present Government. Viscount Palmerston having well considered the matter in concert with Sir Charles Wood and Sir George Grey, is of opinion that it would be advantageous not only for the present, but also with a view to the future, to detach Mr Herbert from the clique with which accidental circumstances have for the moment apparently associated him, and to fix him to better principles of action than those by which Mr Gladstone and Sir James Graham appear to be guided. For this purpose Viscount Palmerston proposes with your Majesty's sanction to offer to Mr Herbert to return to the Colonial Office, which he held on the formation of the present Government.
Mr Herbert is the most promising man of his standing in the House of Commons, and is personally very popular in that House; he is a good and an improving speaker, and his accession to the Government would add a good speaker to the Treasury Bench, and take away a good speaker from ranks that may become hostile.
He would also supply the place of Lord Canning as a kind of link between the Government and some well-disposed members of both Houses who belonged more or less to what is called the Peel Party. It would be necessary, of course, to ascertain clearly that Mr Herbert's views about the war and about conditions of peace are the same as they were when he was a Member of the Government, and not such as those which Mr Gladstone and Sir James Graham have of late adopted.
If Mr Herbert were to accept, Sir George Grey, who has a strong disinclination for the Colonies, would remain at the Home Office; and if Lord Harrowby would take the Post Office, which must be held by a Peer, the Duchy of Lancaster, which may be held by a Commoner, might be offered to Mr Baines88 with a seat in the Cabinet, and Mr Baines might perhaps, with reference to his health, prefer an office not attended with much departmental business of detail, while he would be thus more free to make himself master of general questions. Such an arrangement would leave the Cabinet, as stated in the accompanying paper, seven and seven; and if afterwards Lord Stanley of Alderley were added in the Lords, and Sir Benjamin Hall in the Commons, which, however, would be a matter entirely for future consideration, the equality of division would still be preserved.89
Viscount Palmerston finds that Mr Herbert is gone down to Wilton, and as Viscount Palmerston is going this afternoon to Broadlands to remain there till Tuesday morning, he proposes during the interval to communicate with Mr Herbert, Wilton being not much more than an hour's distance from Broadlands by the Salisbury railway.
Footnote 88: Mr. Matthew Talbot Baines died prematurely in 1860. His abilities were of a solid rather than a brilliant kind.
Footnote 89: Mr. Labouchere became Colonial Secretary. See List of Cabinet as it stood in 1858, post, p. 272.
Broadlands, 11th November 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that he has seen Mr Sidney Herbert, who declines joining the Government, because he thinks that his doing so would expose both him and the Government to the suspicion of having altered their opinions. The difference between him and the Government is not as to the necessity of prosecuting the war with vigour, but as to the conditions of peace with which he would be satisfied. He would consent to accept conditions which he is aware that the country would not approve, and to which he does not expect that the Government would agree. Viscount Palmerston will have to consider with his Colleagues on Tuesday what arrangement it will be best for him to submit for the sanction of your Majesty.
Windsor Castle, 13th November 1855.
The Queen returns the enclosed most important letters. She has read them with much interest, but not without a very anxious feeling that great changes are taking place in the whole position of the Eastern Question and the War, without our having the power to direct them or even a complete knowledge of them.90 Should Austria really be sincere,—if the Emperor Napoleon is really determined not to carry on the war on a large scale without her joining, we shall be obliged by common prudence to follow him in his negotiations. He may mistrust our secrecy and diplomacy, and wish to obtain by his personal exertions a continental league against Russia. The missions to Stockholm and Copenhagen, the language to Baron Beust and M. von der Pfordten and M. de Bourqueney's single-handed negotiation, seem to point to this. Can Russia have secretly declared her readiness to accept the "Neutralisation"? It is hardly possible, and if so it would be a concession we cannot refuse to close upon. Whatever may be the case, the Queen thinks it the wisest course not to disturb the Emperor's plans, or to show suspicion of them, but merely to insist upon the importance of the Army in the Crimea being kept so imposing that Russia cannot safely arrange her plans on the supposition of a change of policy on the part of the Western Powers.
Had the Queen known of Lord Cowley's letter a few hours earlier, she could have spoken to the Duke of Cambridge, who was here; as it was, both she and the Prince were very cautious and reserved in what they told him.
The Queen thought it right to let Sir Hamilton Seymour, who is staying here, see the letters, as his thorough acquaintance with the present position of affairs is most important.
Footnote 90: The Emperor was now bent on the termination of hostilities, and the French and Austrian Governments had concerted proposals for peace to be submitted to Russia, with which they somewhat peremptorily demanded that England should concur. Lord Palmerston announced that, rather than make an unsatisfactory peace, he would continue the war without the aid of France. States such as Saxony and Bavaria favoured Russia, and Baron Beust and M. von der Pfordten, their respective Prime Ministers, had interviews with the Emperor, who was anxious for peace on the basis of the Third Point, on which, since the fall of Sebastopol, the Allies were in a better position to insist.
Windsor Castle, 16th November 1855.
The Queen wishes to draw Sir Charles Wood's attention to a subject which may become of much importance for the future. It is the absence of any Dockyard for building and repairing out of the Channel, with the exception of Pembroke. Should we ever be threatened by a combination of Russia and France, the absence of a Government establishment in the north would be very serious. It strikes the Queen that the present moment, when our yards hardly supply the demands made upon them, and when attention is directed to the Baltic, is a particularly favourable one to add an establishment in the Firth of Forth, for which the Queen believes the Government possess the ground at Leith. Such a measure would at the same time be very popular in Scotland, and by making the Queen's Navy known there, which it hardly is at present, would open a new field for recruiting our Marine.
Whether Cork in Ireland should not also be made more available is very well worth consideration.
The Queen would ask Sir Charles to communicate this letter to Lord Palmerston, who has always had the state of our powers of defence so much at heart.
Windsor Castle, 19th November 1855.
The Queen has attentively perused the voluminous papers, which she now returns according to Lord Clarendon's wish.
An anxious consideration of their contents has convinced her that it would be the height of impolicy if we were not to enter fairly and unreservedly into the French proposal, and she wishes Lord Clarendon to express this her opinion to the Cabinet.
The terms of the Austrian Ultimatum are clear and complete and very favourable to us, if accepted by Russia.91 If refused, which they almost must be, rupture of diplomatic relations between Austria and Russia is a decided step gained by us, and will produce a state of things which can scarcely fail to lead them to war.
A refusal to entertain the proposal may induce and perhaps justify the Emperor of the French in backing out of the War, which would leave us in a miserable position.
If we are to agree to the Emperor's wishes, it must be politic not to risk the advantage of the whole measure by a discussion with Austria upon minor points of detail, which will cost time, and may lead to differences.
Footnote 91: The Queen and her Ministers, however, insisted that the neutralisation clause (the Third Point) should be made effective, not left illusory, and incorporated in the principal and not in a supplementary treaty. Modified in this and other particulars, an ultimatum embodying the Austrian proposals, which stipulated, inter alia, for the cession of a portion of Bessarabia, was despatched to St Petersburg on the 15th of December, and the 18th of January was fixed as the last day on which a reply would be accepted.
Windsor Castle, 22nd November 1855.
The Queen informs Lord Hardinge that on speaking to Sir Colin Campbell yesterday, and informing him how much she wished that his valuable services should not be lost to her Army in the Crimea, he replied in the handsomest manner, that he would return immediately—"for that, if the Queen wished it, he was ready to serve under a Corporal"! Conduct like this is very gratifying, and will only add to Sir Colin Campbell's high name; but, as by Lord Hardinge's and Lord Panmure's advice, the Queen has obtained from him this sacrifice of his own feelings to her wishes, she feels personally bound not to permit him to be passed over a second time should the Command again become vacant.
The Queen has had a good deal of conversation with him, and from what he told her, as well as from what she has heard from others, there seems to be a good deal of laxity of discipline—particularly as regards the officers—in the Army in the Crimea; and she thinks Lord Hardinge should give an order to prevent so many officers coming home on leave except when really ill. The effect of this on the French is very bad, and the Prince had a letter only two days ago from the Prince of Prussia, saying that every one was shocked at the manner in which our officers came home, and that it lowered our Army very much in the eyes of foreign Armies, and generally decreased the sympathy for our troops. We deeply regret the death of poor General Markham.92
Footnote 92: He commanded the 2nd Division of the Army at the attack on the Redan, and after the fall of Sebastopol, his health, already shattered, broke down completely; he returned home, and died on the 21st of November.
Windsor Castle, 23rd November 1855.
The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter, and returns the very satisfactory enclosures from Lord Cowley. Count Walewski remains true to himself; yet the admission that the Neutralisation Clause ought to be part of the European treaty, and not an annex, which he makes, is the most important concession which we could desire. That the Sea of Azov is to be dropped the Queen is glad of, as it would appear so humiliating to Russia that Austria would probably decline proposing it. What the Queen is most afraid of, and what she believes actuates the Emperor also, is the consideration that Austria, made aware of the intense feeling for Peace à tout prix in France, might get frightened at the good terms for us she meant to propose to Russia, and might long for an opportunity given by us, in any unreasonable demand for modification, to back out of her proposal altogether. Lord A. Loftus in his last letter states that Baron Manteuffel93 even was afraid of having admitted as proper, terms too hard upon Russia, since peace is wanted at Paris.
The course intended to be pursued by Lord Clarendon in summing up the whole question in a public Despatch seems quite the right one, as it would never do, on the other hand, to let England be considered as merely à la remorque of France, an impression unfortunately very prevalent on the Continent at this moment.94
As to Marshal Pélissier, the best thing the Emperor could do would be to recall him, and to put a younger and more enterprising man in his place. As we have got our hero coming home, his French colleague might be recalled also.
The Duke of Newcastle's letter is very interesting; the Queen will return it this evening. It confirms the truth of the axiom that a settled policy ought to precede a military plan of campaign, for which the Prince is always contending.
We have been much pleased with old Sir Colin Campbell, who is a thorough soldier, and appears not at all wanting in good sense. On asking him about our rising men, and the officer whom he would point out as the one of most promise, he said that Colonel Mansfield95 was without comparison the man from whom great services could be expected both in the Field and as an Administrator. Lord Clarendon will be pleased to hear this, but will also not be surprised if the Queen should look out for an opportunity to reclaim him for the Army from the Foreign Office.
Footnote 93: President of the Prussian Ministry.
Footnote 94: Lord Clarendon, in the letter to which this was a reply, observed that he had asked Lord Cowley to inform Count Walewski that he would have to learn that England was a principal in the matter, and "not a political and diplomatic Contingent."
Footnote 95: He had distinguished himself in the first Sikh War, and was in 1855 Military Adviser to the British Ambassador at Constantinople.
Windsor Castle, 24th November 1855.
The Queen returns Lord Cowley's letter and General Pélissier's telegram. Lord Cowley is quite right in insisting upon a clear understanding between England and France before negotiations are entered into with Austria. To come to a speedy agreement, it will be wise to drop the minor points and insist upon the most important. These the Queen takes to be the incorporation of the Neutralisation Clause in the general Treaty, and the promise on the part of Austria not to accept and communicate to us counter-proposals from Russia. If France agreed to this, we might agree to the rest of the arrangement. General Pélissier's plan has the advantage of setting us free, but deprives us of the Sardinians in the field, an object the French have kept steadily in view. The Duke of Cambridge will come down here to-night, and we may then hear more on the subject.
The Queen of the French has been taken dangerously ill at Genoa; the Duc d'Aumale and Prince de Joinville have been summoned by telegraph. The Queen has asked the Foreign Office to telegraph to enquire after the Queen's state.
Windsor Castle, 26th November 1855.
The first Despatches of Sir William Codrington, acknowledging his appointment to the Command of the Queen's gallant Army in the East, having arrived, she will no longer delay writing herself to Sir William, to assure him of her support and confidence in his new, proud, and important, though at the same time difficult position. She wishes to assure him of her confidence and support. It is with pleasure that she sees the son of her old friend and devoted servant, himself so distinguished in the sister Service, raised by his own merits to so exalted a position. Sir William knows the Queen's pride in her beloved Troops, as well as her unceasing solicitude for their welfare and glory, and she trusts he will on all occasions express these feelings from herself personally.
The Queen feels certain that Sir William Codrington will learn, with great satisfaction, that that distinguished and gallant officer, Sir Colin Campbell, has most readily and handsomely complied with the Queen's wishes that he should return to the Crimea and take command of the First Corps d'Armée. His presence and his assistance will be of essential service to Sir William Codrington, who, the Queen knows, entertains so high an opinion of him.
The Prince wishes his sincere congratulations and kind remembrance to be conveyed to Sir William Codrington.
The Queen would be glad if Sir William could—when he has leisure to do so—from time to time write to her himself, informing her of the state of her Army, and of affairs in the Crimea.
She concludes with every wish for his welfare and success.
Footnote 96: Considerable difficulty had been found in appointing a successor to General Simpson, who had resigned a task which he found overtaxed his powers. Sir William Codrington was junior to three other Generals, who might have felt aggrieved by being passed over. The sagacity of the Prince found a way out of the difficulty by appointing two of the three to the commands of the two corps d'armée into which the Army had, at his instance, been subdivided. See ante. p. 153.
Windsor Castle, 5th December 1855.
My dearest Uncle,—I must make many excuses for not writing to you yesterday, to thank you for your kind letter of the 30th, as on Friday and Saturday my time was entirely taken up with my Royal brother, the King of Sardinia,97 and I had to make up for loss of time these last days. He leaves us to-morrow at an extraordinary hour—four o'clock in the morning (which you did once or twice)—wishing to be at Compiègne to-morrow night, and at Turin on Tuesday. He is eine ganz besondere, abenteuerliche Erscheinung, startling in the extreme in appearance and manner when you first see him, but, just as Aumale says, il faut l'aimer quand on le connaît bien. He is so frank, open, just, straightforward, liberal and tolerant, with much sound good sense. He never breaks his word, and you may rely on him, but wild and extravagant, courting adventures and dangers, and with a very strange, short, rough manner, an exaggeration of that short manner of speaking which his poor brother had. He is shy in society, which makes him still more brusque, and he does not know (never having been out of his own country or even out in Society) what to say to the number of people who are presented to him here, and which is, I know from experience, a most odious thing. He is truly attached to the Orleans family, particularly to Aumale, and will be a friend and adviser to them. To-day he will be invested with the Order of the Garter. He is more like a Knight or King of the Middle Ages than anything one knows nowadays.
On Monday we go to Osborne till the 21st.
One word about Vicky. I must say that she has a quick discernment of character, and I have never seen her take any predilection for a person which was not motivé by personal amiability, goodness, or distinction of some kind or other. You need be under no apprehension whatever on this subject; and she has, moreover, great tact and esprit de conduite. It is quite extraordinary how popular she is in Society—and again now, all these Foreigners are so struck with her sense and conversation for her age.
Hoping soon to hear from you again, and wishing that naughty Stockmar may yet be brought to come, believe me ever your devoted Niece,
Footnote 97: King Victor Emmanuel was received with great cordiality by the English people, grateful for his co-operation and for the gallantry of his soldiers at the Tchernaya. Count Cavour accompanied him, and drafted the reply read by the King at Guildhall to the address of the Corporation.
Downing Street, 11th December 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty and submits a letter which he received a few days ago from the Duke of Newcastle declining the Garter. Viscount Palmerston on his return from Woburn, where he was for two days, saw the Duke of Newcastle, but found that the enclosed letter expressed the intention which he had formed. Viscount Palmerston would propose to your Majesty the Earl of Fortescue as a deserving object of your Majesty's gracious favour; Lord Fortescue held the high office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and is a person highly and universally respected.98
Viscount Palmerston cannot refrain from saying on this occasion that he is not without a misgiving that the high amount of fees which he understands is paid by persons who are made Knights of the Garter may have some effect in rendering those whose incomes are not very large less anxious than they would otherwise be to receive this distinction; and he cannot but think that it is unseemly in general that persons upon whom your Majesty may be disposed to confer dignities and honours, either as a mark of your Majesty's favour or as a reward for their public services, should on that account be subject to a heavy pecuniary fine; and he intends to collect information with a view to consider whether all such fees might not be abolished, the officers to whom they are now paid receiving compensation in the shape of adequate fixed salary.99 ...
Footnote 98: Earl Fortescue received the Garter; he died in 1861.
Footnote 99: This reform was effected in 1905.
Windsor Castle, 22nd December 1855.
The Queen has received Lord Panmure's answer to her letter from Osborne, and is glad to see from it that he is quite agreed with the Queen on the subject of the Land Transport Corps. She would most strongly urge Lord Panmure to give at once carte blanche to Sir W. Codrington to organise it as he thinks best, and to make him personally responsible for it. We have only eight weeks left to the beginning of spring; a few references home and their answers would consume the whole of that time! The Army has now to carry their huts on their backs up to the Camp; if it had been fighting, it would have perished for want of them, like the last winter. If each Division, Brigade, and Battalion has not got within itself what it requires for its daily existence in the field, a movement will be quite impossible.
The Queen approves the intended increase of Artillery and Sappers and Miners; but hopes that these will be taken from the nominal and not the existing strength of the Army.
After two years' duration, the Crimean War was terminated in March 1856, at a Conference of the Powers assembled at Paris, by a treaty the principal terms of which provided for the integrity of Turkey, and her due participation in the public law and system of Europe, the neutralisation of the Black Sea, and the opening of its waters to commerce (with the interdiction, except in a limited degree, of the flag of war of any nation, and of the erection by either Russia or Turkey of arsenals), free navigation of the Danube, cession of a portion of Bessarabia by Russia, and the reciprocal evacuation of invaded territories; the Principalities to be continued in their existing privileges under the suzerainty of the Porte and a guarantee of the Contracting Powers. No European protectorate was to be established over the Sultan's Christian subjects. Certain general principles of International Law were also agreed upon. In the course of the summer, the Guards made a public re-entry into London; and the Crimea was finally evacuated; great reviews of the returned troops taking place at Aldershot. The thanks of Parliament were accorded to the soldiers and sailors engaged, and peace-rejoicings celebrated on a great scale.
The Commissioners who had been sent out, nearly a year before, to the Crimea, to investigate the causes of the breakdown in various military departments, presented a Report, censuring several high officials; a Military Commission was accordingly appointed to investigate the Report, and after sitting for some months at Chelsea, completely exonerated the officials in question.
The Government having resolved to strengthen the administration of the appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords, Letters Patent were made out purporting to create Sir James Parke, an ex-Judge, a Baron for his life, under the title of Lord Wensleydale. After frequent and protracted debates on this question, the Peers decided that such a patent conferred no right to sit and vote in Parliament. The Government gave up the contest by creating Sir James (who had no son) a hereditary peer.
The Czar Alexander was crowned at Moscow in September with great ceremonial, the Sultan being duly represented, while Lord Granville was present as special Ambassador for the Queen. The discovery of the cruelty with which political offenders were being treated in Neapolitan prisons led to the rupture of diplomatic relations between England in union with France on the one hand, and King Ferdinand on the other; while a dispute as to the enlistment of recruits for the English Army in the United States led to the dismissal of the British Minister at Washington, and to temporary friction between the two countries.
The provisions of the Treaty of Paris were not carried out without considerable procrastination on the part of Russia, which, by its method of evacuating Kars and surrendering Ismail and Reni, and by laying claim to Serpent's Island at the mouth of the Danube, compelled England to send a fleet to the Black Sea, to enforce strict observance of the Treaty. By the end of the year the matter was arranged, though in the meantime the possibility of Great Britain being represented at the Czar's coronation had been imperilled.
The abuses which had long existed in the Government of Oudh induced the Governor-General of India, early in the year, to issue a proclamation placing that kingdom permanently under the authority of the British Crown. Lord Dalhousie at this time retired from the office (which he had held for eight years) of Governor-General, and was succeeded by Lord Canning. It fell to the lot of the latter to announce the commencement of hostilities between this country and Persia, on the ground that the latter was endeavouring, in defiance of Treaties, to subvert the independence of Herat. The Shah had laid siege to the town, when, in December, the English fleet, under Admiral Sir Henry Leeke, attacked and captured Bushire on the Persian Gulf. Soon afterwards, Sir James Outram arrived on the scene from Bombay, and assumed the command.
Windsor Castle, 5th January 1856.
The Queen returns the drawings for the "Victoria Cross." She has marked the one she approves with an X; she thinks, however, that it might be a trifle smaller. The motto would be better "For Valour" than "For the Brave," as this would lead to the inference that only those are deemed brave who have got the Victoria Cross.
Windsor Castle, 7th January 1856.
The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter, and in answer to his question expresses her opinion that Lord Cowley's presence at the Council of War will be absolutely necessary.1 She believes Lord Clarendon to be agreed with her, that the value of a plan of military campaign is entirely dependent upon the general policy which the Government intends to pursue. As none of our Commissioners at the Council of War are in the least acquainted with the latter, they might be drawn into plans which would not at all agree with it. Lord Cowley would take that part of the question into his own hands, in which it will be quite safe. The Queen thinks that it is of secondary importance whether Count Walewski attends or not, but that the Emperor cannot have the same need of his presence which we have of that of our Ambassador.
Footnote 1: A satisfactory and speedy conclusion of hostilities appearing at this time far from probable, a Council of War to settle the course of operations was, at the Emperor's suggestion, summoned to meet at Paris. Lord Cowley, Count Walewski, Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, and others, were present, besides Naval and Military representatives of the Allies, among whom was the Duke of Cambridge.
Windsor Castle, 9th January 1856.
The Queen has read Sir J. Hudson's2 letter with much interest. There is much truth in what Count Cavour says, and it must ever be our object and our interest to see Sardinia independent and strong; as a Liberal constitutional country, opposing a barrier alike to unenlightened and absolute as well as revolutionary principles—and this she has a right to expect us to support her in.
But what she wants to obtain from Austria is not clear. She has no right, however, to expect further assurances from us on wishes which she seems even to be afraid to state distinctly.
It is clearly impossible to ask Austria to give up a portion of Italy to her, if nothing has occurred to make this necessary to Austria. At any rate Sardinia can have lost nothing, but on the contrary must have gained by the position which she is placed in as an ally of the Western Powers.
Footnote 2: British Minister at Turin, and an enthusiastic sympathiser with Cavour. The latter had complained to him that if the Austrian proposals were accepted, and peace were made, Sardinia could expect no realisation of her cherished hopes, viz. Anglo-French support against Austria and against Papal aggression, increased political consideration in Europe, and the development of Constitutional Government.
Windsor Castle, 11th January 1856.
The Queen now returns the draft3 to Lord Bloomfield, which she could only write about in haste yesterday, as being of a nature not to be sanctioned by her. It is quite natural and excusable that our patience should at last be worn out by the miserable policy which Prussia is pursuing, but it can never be our interest openly to quarrel with her. This would be simply playing the game of Russia, who would thus be relieved from all attacks upon her and see the theatre of the war transferred to Germany; all other complications (which would arise therefrom)—ruinous to the best interests of the Western Powers as they would be—the Queen need not refer to. But when the draft concludes with a declaration to Prussia that England "considers her neutrality as now at an end," this is tantamount to a declaration of war! The late articles in our newspapers, and the language of Count Walewski to Lord Cowley, make the Queen doubly anxious to warn the Government not to let themselves be drawn on to such a policy.
Footnote 3: The draft expressed disapproval of the silence maintained by the Prussian Government towards England with regard to the Austrian proposals, of the active measures adopted to induce the German Powers not to take part with Austria, as well as of the extended facilities afforded by Prussia to Russia for carrying on the war.