Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and cannot express how deeply concerned he is to find himself restrained from obeying your Majesty"s commands, and repairing without delay to Brighton. Both his duty and his inclination would prompt him to do this without a moment"s delay, if he did not find it inc.u.mbent upon him to represent to your Majesty the very important circ.u.mstances which require his presence for two or three days longer in London.
The session of Parliament approaches; the questions which are to be considered and prepared are of the most appalling magnitude, and of the greatest difficulty. Many of your Majesty"s servants, who fill the most important offices, are compelled by domestic calamity to be absent, and it is absolutely necessary that there should be some general superintendence of the measures to be proposed, and some consideration of the arrangements to be made. Lord Melbourne a.s.sures your Majesty that he would not delay in London if he did not feel it to be absolutely necessary for your Majesty"s service....
[Pageheading: BRIGHTON]
_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._
LAEKEN, _28th December 1838._
MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I have to thank you for two extremely kind and dear letters, which made me very happy, and your kind heart would be pleased to know _how happy_. Sir H. Seymour[46] gave me a very favourable account of your dearest Majesty, and was deeply gratified by your gracious reception.
I am glad to find that you like Brighton better than last year. I think Brighton very agreeable at this time of the year, till the east winds set in. It also gives the possibility of seeing people without having them on one"s hands the whole day, as is the case in the country. The Pavilion, besides, is comfortable; that cannot be denied.
Before my marriage it was there that I met the Regent. Charlotte afterwards came with old Queen Charlotte. How distant all this already, but still how present to one"s memory.
The portrait of your Aunt and Leopold is nicely done. Don Leopoldo is like, and has at times even a more intelligent look; he would amuse you--he is very original and very sly. I often call him the little tyrant, because n.o.body knows so well _de faire aller le monde_.... My most beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
LEOPOLD R.
[Footnote 46: Sir Hamilton Seymour, Minister at Brussels.]
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO CHAPTER VIII
THE chief political event of the year (1839) at home arose out of the troubles in Jamaica. In addition to the apprenticeship question, the state of the prisons, much overcrowded owing to the planters"
severity, had excited attention, and an Imperial Act was pa.s.sed for their regulation. To this action the Colonial a.s.sembly showed marked hostility, and, after the dissolution by Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor, the new House was no more placable. Accordingly, the home Government brought in a Bill, in April, to suspend temporarily the Jamaica Const.i.tution, but on a division had a majority of five only in a house of five hundred and eighty-three. The Ministers therefore resigned, and Sir Robert Peel was sent for; a difficulty as to the Ladies of the Household, commonly called the Bedchamber Plot, compelled him to resign the task, and the Whigs, much injured in reputation, resumed office. Some changes took place, Macaulay joining the Ministry, and Lord Normanby, who had succeeded Lord Glenelg at the Colonial Office, exchanging places with Lord John Russell, the Home Secretary. The trial of strength over the Speakership ended in a victory for the Ministerial candidate, Mr Shaw Lefevre, by a majority of eighteen in a house of six hundred and sixteen.
Penny Postage was introduced by an Act of this session.
The Princes Ernest and Albert of Saxe-Coburg arrived on a visit to the Queen in October, and on the 14th the Queen"s engagement to the latter was announced by herself to Lord Melbourne. A few weeks later the Queen announced her betrothal at a meeting of the Privy Council.
During the year risings in favour of the "people"s charter" took place in various parts of the country, especially Birmingham and Newport, the six points demanded being the ballot, universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, payment of members, the abolition of a property qualification for members, and equal electoral districts. At Newport one Frost, a linen-draper whom Lord John Russell had made a magistrate, headed a riot. He was tried with his confederates by a special commission at Monmouth, and, with two others, sentenced to death; a sentence afterwards commuted.
In the East, war broke out between the Sultan Mahmoud and the Pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, who had originally helped Turkey against Greece, but had since revolted and driven the Turks from Syria. On that occasion (1833) Turkey had been saved by Russian intervention, a defensive alliance, known as the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, made between Russia and Turkey, and Mehemet granted Syria as well as Egypt.
On the revival of hostilities, Ibrahim, son of Mehemet, defeated the Turkish army on June 24; a week later the Sultan Mahmoud died, and the Turkish admiral treacherously delivered over the Turkish fleet to Mehemet at Alexandria. Once more the four Powers (Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia) interfered to save the Sultan. The Czar accepted the principle of a joint mediation, the advance of the Egyptians was stopped, and the Sultan was informed that no terms of peace would be accepted which had not received the approval of the Powers. The terms were settled at a congress held in London. Mehemet refused to accept the terms, and was encouraged by France to persevere in his refusal.
The dispute between Belgium and Holland as to the Luxemburg territory was settled by a treaty in the course of the year. Lord Durham presented his report on Canada, a doc.u.ment drafted by Charles Buller but inspired by Lord Durham himself; though legislation did not take place this year, this doc.u.ment laid the foundation of the federal union of the Canadas, and of the Const.i.tution of other autonomous colonies, but for the present the ex-Commissioner met with much criticism of his actions.
Our troops were engaged during the year against Dost Mahommed, the Ameer of Afghanistan, a usurper who many years earlier had driven Shah Sooja into exile. Lord Auckland, the Viceroy of India, had sent Captain (afterwards Sir Alexander) Burnes on a Mission to Cabul, and the Ameer had received him hospitably at first, but subsequently dismissed him from his Court. Lord Auckland thereupon resolved to restore Shah Sooja, and in the autumn of 1838 issued a manifesto dethroning Dost Mahommed. Operations were accordingly directed against him under Sir John (afterwards Lord) Keane, who, on August 6, 1839, entered Cabul and placed Shah Sooja on the throne. However open to criticism, the news of this result was enthusiastically received in England, and Lord Auckland was promoted to an Earldom.
In China a dispute of long standing became acute. With the renewal of the East India Company"s charter, in 1834, the Chinese ports had been thrown open, and the opium trade became a source of great profit to private traders. In spite of the prohibition which the Chinese Government laid on importation of opium, the traffic was actively carried on, and, as a result of the strained relations which ensued, Captain Elliot, the British Chief Superintendent, requested that warships should proceed to China for the protection of British life and property.
CHAPTER VIII
1839
_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
PAVILION [BRIGHTON], _1st January 1839._
MY DEAR UNCLE,--... I don"t like your _croaking_ so about damp climates; if a niece may venture to say such a thing, I might almost say it is ungrateful to your faithful and attached Belgians.
The Queen-Dowager"s letters do tantalize one a good deal, I must own.[1] You will see that old Lord Clarendon[2] is dead, which makes our friend Villiers Earl of Clarendon, but I am afraid not with a large income.
Lord Palmerston has been unwell and obliged to go to Broadlands, where he still is. He had gone through so much grief and labour, that it was absolutely necessary for him to recruit his strength. The Normanbys spent two nights here.[3] Lord Melbourne is the only person staying in the house besides several of my Court and my suite, and, I am sorry to say, is not very well; he has also had, I fear, too much business to do.
Lady Breadalbane[4] is my new Lady of the Bedchamber, and a very nice person. Ever your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
Forgive this short scrawl.
[Footnote 1: Queen Adelaide had described the orange-trees and tropical fruits in the gardens of the Palace of St Antonio, Valetta.]
[Footnote 2: John Charles, third Earl, Chief Justice-in-eyre, North of Trent. His successor, who had been Minister to Spain since 1833, was afterwards the celebrated Foreign Secretary.]
[Footnote 3: Lord Normanby, at this time Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, became successively during the year, Colonial and Home Secretary. Lady Normanby, who had been a Lady-in-Waiting since the accession, was a daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth.]
[Footnote 4: Eliza, daughter of George Baillie of Jerviswood.
Her brother afterwards became tenth Earl of Haddington.]
[Pageheading: MURDER OF LORD NORBURY]
_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._
_6th January 1839._
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and returns his best and warmest thanks for the very kind and gracious communication which he had the honour and pleasure of receiving from your Majesty yesterday evening. Your Majesty will have seen in the newspapers that Lord Norbury was shot at in his own grounds and dangerously wounded.[5] Lord Melbourne learns to-day by a letter from Lord Morpeth that Lord Norbury is since dead. This is a shocking event, and will, of course, create a strong sensation, much stronger than the death in the same manner of several persons of inferior degree. It is almost the first time that an attempt of this kind has been directed against an individual of that rank or station....
Lord Melbourne has seen Sir Henry Halford,[6] who says that his pulse is low and his system languid. He has prescribed some draughts, which Lord Melbourne trusts will be of service, but he feels much depressed to-day. He dined yesterday at Lady Holland"s, where he met Mr Ellice,[7] civil and friendly enough in appearance, but Lord Melbourne fears hostile at heart, and a determined partisan of Lord Durham. Lord Durham has not yet made to Lord Glenelg the promised communication of his report and plan, but it is said that he will do so soon....
[Footnote 5: At Kilbeggan Abbey, County Meath. The murderer escaped.]