Secondly, by admitting to office some of their Radical supporters.
This course must lead to concessions on measures as well as men, and those concessions would provoke hostility in other quarters. The great question of the defence of the country is besides one of too great importance to be made a matter of compromise.
Third, by seeking aid from the Party which has followed Lord Stanley.
This cannot be done by means of official connection; but something might be effected by adopting measures calculated to convince the Landed Interest that their sufferings were not disregarded.
Upon the whole, if the late Ministers are invited by your Majesty to resume office, the easiest course would be to proceed at once with the Ecclesiastical t.i.tles Bill. That question disposed of, it would be seen whether the Ministry had sufficient strength to go on; if they had, they might, as occasion arose, seek a.s.sistance from other quarters, looking to those with whom there is the greatest agreement of opinion.
Should the Ministry, on the other hand, not receive Parliamentary support sufficient to enable them to carry on the Government, the Queen would be in a position to form a new Government free from the obstacles which have lately been fatal.
_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th March 1851._
... The Queen was in hopes to have heard from Lord John Russell this morning relative to what pa.s.sed in the House of Commons last night.
She wishes likewise to hear what takes place at the meeting of Lord John"s supporters to-day. The Queen must ask Lord John to keep her constantly informed of what is going on, and of the temper of parties in and out of Parliament; for no one _can_ deny that the present state of affairs is most critical; and after all that has happened it is absolutely necessary that the Queen should not be in a state of uncertainty, not to say of ignorance, as to what is pa.s.sing. She can else not form a just opinion of the position of affairs.
_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _4th March 1851._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Pray receive my warmest thanks for two kind letters of the 28th, and my excuses for the terribly incoherent scrawl of last Sat.u.r.day. The _denouement_ of ten days of the greatest anxiety and excitement I cannot call satisfactory, for it holds out only the prospect of another crisis in a very short time, and the so much wished-for union of Parties has been again frustrated. I have been speaking _very strongly_ about Lord Palmerston to Lord John, and he has _promised_ that if the Government should still be in at Easter, then to make a change.... Lord Stanley can never succeed _until_ he gives up Protection, which he would do, if the country decides against him;[12] he has failed solely from the _impossibility_ of finding _one_ single man capable to take the important Offices. He said last night to Lord John Russell, "I am _l"homme impossible_; they cannot come to me again." Still it would be very desirable that there should be a strong Conservative Party; nothing but the abandonment of Protection can bring this to pa.s.s, and Lord Stanley cannot abandon it with honour till _after_ the _next Election_. This is the state of Parties, which is greatly _erschwert_ by the Papal Question, which divides the Liberals and Conservatives. In short, there _never_ was _such_ a _complicated_ and difficult state of affairs. Ever your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
Stockmar has been an immense comfort to us in our trials, and I hope you will tell him so.
[Footnote 12: The Queen"s judgment was amply confirmed by the events of 1852. See _post_, p. 404. note 1.]
[Pageheading: THE NATIONAL GALLERY]
_Memorandum by the Queen._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th March 1851._
The Queen would give every facility to the selection of a good site for a new National Gallery, and would therefore not object to its being built on to Kensington Palace or anywhere in Kensington Gardens; but does not see why it should exactly be placed upon the site of the present Palace, if not for the purpose of taking from the Crown the last available set of apartments. She is not disposed to trust in the disposition of Parliament or the public to give her an equivalent for these apartments from time to time when emergencies arise. The surrender of Kensington Palace will most likely not be thanked for at the moment, and any new demand in consequence of such surrender would be met with lavish abuse. As to economy in the construction, it will most likely be best consulted by building on a spot perfectly free and unenc.u.mbered.
_Lord John Russell to the Prince Albert._
CHESHAM PLACE, _14th March 1851._
SIR,--I cannot undertake to make any change in the Foreign Office. Our Party is hardly reunited, and any break into sections, following one man or the other, would be fatal to us. I need not say that the Queen would suffer if it were attributed to her desire, and that as I have no difference of opinion on Foreign Policy, that could not fail to be the case.
Upon the whole, the situation of affairs is most perplexing. A Dissolution I fear would not improve it.
I can only say that my Office is at all times at the Queen"s disposal.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your Royal Highness"s most dutiful Servant,
J. RUSSELL.
_Queen Victoria to Sir George Grey._
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _30th March 1851._
The Queen approves of the draft of a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury. With respect to the Archbishop"s letter and the address, the Queen will receive it in the Closet. It seems strange to propose as a remedy for the present evils in the Church, and for its evident great disunion, _600_ more churches to be built! There ought clearly to be some security given to those who are to encourage such a scheme against the extension of those evils.
[Pageheading: THE GREAT EXHIBITION]
_Lord John Russell to the Prince Albert._
PEMBROKE LODGE, _19th April 1851._
SIR,--Lord Granville came here yesterday to speak to me upon the order for opening the Exhibition at one o"clock on the 1st of May. He is anxious to have the order changed, and the season-ticket bearers admitted at eleven o"clock.
I did not give him any positive opinion on the subject. But the account he gave me of the route which the Queen will follow in going to the Exhibition takes away the main objection which I felt to the admission of visitors before one o"clock. It appears there cannot well be any interruption to Her Majesty"s progress to and from the Crystal Palace on the 1st of May.
I conclude that Her Majesty will not go in the State Coach, but in the same manner that Her Majesty goes in state to the theatres....
I feel a.s.sured there will be no undue and inconvenient pressure of the crowd in the part of the building in which Her Majesty may be. Colonel Wemyss and Colonel Bouverie might easily be in attendance to request the visitors not to crowd where the Queen is. At the same time, I am ready to abide by the existing order, if Her Majesty wishes it to be enforced.
I have the honour to submit two private letters sent by Lord Palmerston. I have the honour to be, Sir, your Royal Highness"s most dutiful Servant,
J. RUSSELL.
[Pageheading: THE OPENING CEREMONY]