Queen of Great Britain Victoria

“ The English coast appeared terribly flat. Lord Aberdeen was quite touched when I told him I was so attached to the dear, dear Highlands and missed the fine hills so much. There is a great peculiarity about the Highlands and Highlanders; and they are such a chivalrous, fine, active people. Our stay among them was so delightful. Independently of the beautiful scenery, there was a quiet, a retirement, a wildness, a liberty, and a solitude that had such a charm for us. ”

“ I was convinced that Lord Melbourne's right and good feeling would make him pause before he proposed to you a dissolution. A general election in England, when great passions must be roused or created to render it efficacious for one party or another, is a dangerous experiment, always calculated to shake the foundations on which have hitherto reposed the great elements of the political power of the country. Albert will be a great comfort to you, and to hear it from yourself has given me the sincerest delight. ”

“ It is a strange omission in our Constitution that while the wife of a King has the highest rank and dignity in the realm after her husband assigned to her by law, the husband of a Queen regnant is entirely ignored by the law. This is the more extraordinary, as a husband has in this country such particular rights and such great power over his wife, and as the Queen is married just as any other woman is, and swears to obey her lord and master, as such, while by law he has no rank or defined position. ”

“ Now I bless Providence for having placed Lord Palmerston at the head of your Foreign Office, and keeping him there at this very moment. During the last quarter of the past year I could not always cordially agree with him. His genuine British disposition will honour this open confession. All the more frankly may I now express the hopes which rise in me, from the very fact of his holding that office at the present moment; for a more active, more vivid, more energetic Minister of foreign affairs, a man that would more indefatigably pursue great aims, your Majesty could probably never have. ”

“ We got on our ponies again and crossed the Fishie (a stream we forded many times in the course of the day) to a place where the finest fir-trees are, amidst some of the most beautiful scenery possible.
Then we came upon a most lovely spot—the scene of all Landseer’s glory—and where there is a little encampment of wooden and turf huts, built by the late Duchess of Bedford; now no longer belonging to the family, and, alas! all falling into decay—among splendid fir-trees, the mountains rising abruptly from the sides of the valley. We were quite enchanted with the beauty of the view. ”

“ Deep affection makes us always diffident and very humble. Those that we love stand so high in our own esteem, and are in our opinion so much above us and all others that we naturally feel unworthy of them and unequal to the task of making them happy: but there is, I think, a mingled charm in this feeling, for although we regret not to be what we should wish to be for them, feeling and acknowledging the superiority of those we love and must always love and respect, is a great satisfaction, and an increasing and everlasting one. ”

“ My beloved Victoria,—Your dear letter of the 30th moved me very much. I can see everything, and it makes me shed tears of the sincerest sorrow.
[page 438]
The bereavement, the impossibility, they are what one feels most deeply and painfully, that nothing will bring back the beloved object, that there is a rupture with everything earthly that nothing can remedy. Your good, dear Mamma was without ostentation, sincerely religious, a great blessing, and the only solid support we can find. Happy those whose faith cannot be shaken; they can bear the hardships of earthly life with fortitude. ”

“ This must be our message to France; "that all of us are cordial well-wishers to France; we do not grudge her all possible welfare and glory; we mean never to encroach on it, and we will stand by the new Government as by the old, foi de gentils-hommes. But the first breach of the peace, be it with reference to Italy, Belgium, or Germany would be, undoubtedly and at the same time, a breach with 'all of us,' and we should, with all the power that God has given us, let France feel by sea and by land, as in the years '13, '14, and '15, what our union may mean." ”

“ Her only support—the only ray of comfort she gets for a moment, is in the firm conviction and certainty of his nearness, his undying love, and of their eternal reunion! Only she prays always, and pines for the latter with an anxiety she cannot describe. Like dear Lady Canning, the Queen's darling is to rest in a garden—at Frogmore, in a Mausoleum the Queen is going to build for him and herself. ”

“ Louise I told the affair mildly, as it might have made too great an impression on her otherwise. She always feels so much for you and loves you so much, that she was rejoiced beyond measure that you escaped so well and took the thing with so much courage. That you have shown great fortitude is not to be doubted, and will make a very great and good impression. I see that the general feeling is excellent, but what a melancholy thing to see a young man, without provocation, capable of such a diabolical act! ”

“ Lord Derby enclosed a few lines from Lord Charles Wellesley, saying that his dear great father had died on Tuesday at three o’clock, after a few hours’ illness and no suffering. God’s will be done! The day must have come: the Duke was eighty-three. It is well for him that he has been taken when still in the possession of his great mind, and without a long illness,—but what a loss! One cannot think of this country without “the Duke,”—our immortal hero! ”

“ Really, when one thinks of the very dull life, and particularly the life of constant self-denial, which my poor, dear Albert leads, he deserves every amusement in the world, and even about his amusements he is so accommodating that I am deeply touched by it. He is very fond of shooting, but it is all with the greatest moderation. Do you know that you never wished Albert joy of his birthday?
The state of politics in Europe is very critical, and one feels very anxious for the future.
With my dearest Albert's love, and mine, to my beloved Louise. ”

“ I have all the honours that can be given, and I am, politically speaking, very solidly established, more so than most Sovereigns in Europe. The only political longing I still have is for the Orient, where I perhaps shall once end my life, unlike the sun, rising in the West and setting in the East. I never press my services on you, nor my councils, though I may say with some truth that from the extraordinary fate which the higher Powers had ordained for me, my experience, both political and of private life, is great. ”

“ My whole soul and heart are in the Crimea. The conduct of our dear noble Troops is beyond praise; it is quite heroic, and really I feel a pride to have such Troops, which is only equalled by my grief for their sufferings. We now know that there has been a pitched battle on the 6th, in which we have been victorious over much greater numbers, but with great loss on both sides—the greatest on the Russian. But we know nothing more, and now we must live in a suspense which is indeed dreadful. Then to think of the numbers of families who are living in such anxiety! ”

“ Many, many thanks for your two dear and kind letters of the 6th and of yesterday. All you say about Louise, and about the disappearance for ever of all that she loved and was proud of, is so true, so dreadful. One fancies (foolishly and wrongly, but still one does) that the lost one has been hardly used in no longer enjoying these earthly blessings, and one's grief seems to break out afresh in bitter agony upon small and comparatively trifling occasions. Poor Lady Peel (whom I saw for the first time yesterday at Buckingham Palace, whither I had gone for an hour) expressed this strongly. ”

“ Now the Italians are a dissatisfied, interfering, turbulent and intriguing race; they can never learn to govern themselves, it is impossible; only see how they follow Sardinia in all she tells them to do, simply because they love intrigue and revolution, whilst in reality they do not know what they want; a hot-headed people like the Italians require a firm and just government to guide and take care of them, and Italy might have continued tranquil and contented, had not the ambition of Sardinia led her to revolutionise the whole country. ”

“ It does seem strange that at the moment of triumph the Government should have to resign. The Queen read Sir Robert Peel's speech with great admiration. The Queen seizes this opportunity (though she will see Sir Robert again) of expressing her deep concern at losing his services, which she regrets as much for the Country as for herself and the Prince. In whatever position Sir Robert Peel may be, we shall ever look on him as a kind and true friend, and ever have the greatest esteem and regard for him as a Minister and as a private individual. ”

“ It has always been Lord Melbourne's policy to keep himself aloof from the public press and to hold it at arm's-length, and he considers it the best course, but it is subject to disadvantages. You are never in that case strongly supported by them, nor are the motives and reasons of your conduct given to the public with that force and distinctness which they might be.
Lord Melbourne has no doubt that your Majesty's assurance is well founded, and that the present Government are anxious for the welfare and prosperity and tranquillity of Spain. It cannot be otherwise. ”

“ When one looks to the changes, brought about in England in consequence of the Revolution of July, one is quite astounded. Here they changed nothing but the dynasty, in England the very spirit of the old Monarchy has been abolished, and what will be, in the course of time, the consequences, it is not easy to tell. A bad Constitution acts strongly on the people. Look to America, even to Belgium. Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell. ”

“ I think, dearest Uncle, you cannot really wish me to be the "Mamma d'une nombreuse famille," for I think you will see with me the great inconvenience a large family would be to us all, and particularly to the country, independent of the hardship and inconvenience to myself; men never think, at least seldom think, what a hard task it is for us women to go through this very often. God's will be done, and if He decrees that we are to have a great number of children, why we must try to bring them up as useful and exemplary members of society. ”

“ This is very natural, and it strikes the Queen to be an arrangement difficult to be justified, in a moral point of view, to give these poor people—who after all were once so mighty—no security beyond their lives. Whilst we remain permanently in possession of their vast Empire, they receive a pension, which is not even continued to their descendants. Would it not be much the best to allow them, instead of a pension, to hold, perhaps under the Government, a property, which would enable them and their descendants to live respectably, maintaining a certain rank and position? ”