Volume Ii Part 1 (1/2)
The Letters of Queen Victoria.
Vol 2.
1844-1853.
by Queen Victoria.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO CHAPTER XIII
The new year (1844) opened with signs of improved trade, and a feeling of confidence, partly due to the friendly _entente_ with France. In Ireland, soon after the collapse of the Clontarf meeting, O'Connell and some of his a.s.sociates were indicted for seditious conspiracy, and convicted. The conviction was subsequently quashed on technical grounds, but O'Connell's political influence was at an end. In Parliament, owing chiefly to the exertions of Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury), an important Bill was pa.s.sed restricting factory labour, and limiting its hours. The Bank Charter Act, separating the issue and banking departments, as well as regulating the note issue of the Bank of England in proportion to its stock of gold, also became law. Meanwhile the dissensions in the Conservative party were increasing, and the Ministry were defeated on a motion made by their own supporters to extend the preferential treatment of colonial produce. With great difficulty the vote was rescinded and a crisis averted; but the Young England section of the Tory party were becoming more and more an embarra.s.sment to the Premier. Towards the end of the year the new Royal Exchange was opened amid much ceremony by the Queen.
The services rendered by Sir Charles Napier in India were the subject of votes of thanks in both Houses, but shortly afterwards Lord Ellenborough, the Governor-General, was recalled by the Directors of the East India Company: their action was no doubt due to his overbearing methods and love of display, but it was disapproved by the Ministry, and Lord Ellenborough was accorded an Earldom.
During the year there was a recrudescence of the friction between this country and France, due partly to questions as to the right of search of foreign s.h.i.+ps, partly to a _brochure_ issued by the Prince de Joinville, a son of Louis Philippe, partly to the a.s.sumption of French sovereignty over Tahiti and the seizure of the English consul there by the French authorities. Reparation however was made, and the ill-feeling subsided sufficiently to enable the King of the French to visit Queen Victoria,--the first friendly visit ever paid by a French king to the Sovereign of England. Louis Philippe was cordially received in this country.
Another historic royal visit also took place in 1844, that of the Emperor Nicholas, who no doubt was so much impressed with his friendly reception, both by the Court and by Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, that nine years later he thought he could calculate on the support of England under Aberdeen (then Premier) in a scheme for the part.i.tion of Turkey. Lord Malmesbury, who a few years later became Foreign Secretary, states in his memoirs that during this visit, the Czar, Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Aberdeen ”drew up and signed a Memorandum, the spirit and scope of which was to support Russia in her legitimate protectors.h.i.+p of the Greek religion and the Holy Shrines, and to do so without consulting France,” but the Memorandum was in reality only one made by Nicholas of his recollection of the interview, and communicated subsequently to Lord Aberdeen.
No events of special interest took place in other parts of Europe; the condition of affairs in the Peninsula improved, though the announcement of the unfortunate marriage of the Queen Mother with the Duke of Rianzares was not of hopeful augury for the young Queen Isabella's future; as a matter of fact, the marriage had taken place some time previously.
CHAPTER XIII
1844
_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
WINDSOR CASTLE, _9th January 1844._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I had the pleasure of receiving your kind letter of the 4th, which is written from Ardenne, where I grieve to see you are again gone without my beloved Louise.
Charlotte is the admiration of every one, and I wish much I could have seen the three dear children _en representation_.
Our fat Vic or p.u.s.s.ette learns a verse of _Lamartine_ by heart, which ends with ”le tableau se deroule a mes pieds”; to show how well she had understood this difficult line which Mdlle. Charier had explained to her, I must tell you the following _bon mot_. When she was riding on her pony, and looking at the cows and sheep, she turned to Mdlle.
Charier and said: ”_Voila_ le tableau qui se deroule a mes pieds.” Is not this extraordinary for a little child of three years old? It is more like what a person of twenty would say. You have no notion _what_ a knowing, and I am sorry to say _sly_, little rogue she is, and so _obstinate_. She and _le pet.i.t Frere_ accompany us to dear old Claremont to-day; Alice remains here under Lady Lyttelton's care. How sorry I am that you should have hurt your leg, and in such a provoking way; Albert says he remembers well your playing often with a pen-knife when you talked, and I remember it also, but it is really dangerous.
I am happy that the news from Paris are good; the really good understanding between our two Governments provokes the Carlists and Anarchists. Bordeaux[1] is not yet gone; I saw in a letter that it was _debated_ in his presence whether he was on any favourable occasion _de se presenter en France!_Do you think that possible? Then again the papers say that there are fortifications being made on the coast of Normandy for fear of an invasion; is this so? These are many questions, but I hope you will kindly answer them, as they interest me. With Albert's love. Believe me, ever, your devoted Niece,
VICTORIA R.
[Footnote 1: The Duc de Bordeaux, only son of the Duc de Berri, had by the death of Charles X. and the renunciation of all claims to the French Throne on the part of the Duc d'Angouleme, become the representative of the elder branch of the Bourbons. He had intended his visit to England to have a private character only.]
[Pageheading: THE SPANISH MARRIAGE]