The Queen would wish Lord Aberdeen to give this as her decided opinion to the Archbishop, at all events, for the present. Last year the cholera quite decimated Newcastle, and was bad in many other places, but there was _no special_ prayer, and _now_ the illness is in _London_ but _not_ in any other place, a prayer is proposed by the Archbishop. The Queen cannot see the difference between the one and the other.
_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._
Lord Aberdeen, with his humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty the pensions proposed to be granted on the Civil List at this time. The only case requiring any special remark is that of the children of Lord Nelson's adopted daughter. There seems little doubt that the person referred to was really Lord Nelson's daughter, according to evidence recently produced, and was recommended by him to the care of the country, just before the battle of Trafalgar.[49]
A numerous party in the House of Commons wished that your Majesty's Government should propose a special vote for this person and her family; but the Cabinet thought that it would give rise to much scandal and disagreeable debate, and finally recommended Lord Aberdeen to place the three daughters on the Pension List. The circumstances of the case are, no doubt, very peculiar; and although Lord Aberdeen does not feel perfectly satisfied with the course pursued, he thinks it very desirable to avoid the sort of Parliamentary debates to which the discussion of such a subject would necessarily give rise.
[Footnote 49: Horatia, daughter of Nelson and Lady Hamilton, was born on the 29th of January 1801, and married in 1822 the Rev. Philip Ward of Tenterden. She died in 1881.]
_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._[50]
MADAME ET BONNE S[OE]UR,--La présence du digne époux de votre Majesté au milieu d'un camp français est un fait d'une grande signification politique, puisqu'il prouve l'union intime des deux pays: mais j'aime mieux aujourd'hui ne pas envisager le côté politique de cette visite et vous dire sincèrement combien j'ai été heureux de me trouver pendant quelques jours avec un Prince aussi accompli, un homme doué de qualités si séduisantes et de connaissances si profondes. Il peut être convaincu d'emporter avec lui mes sentiments de haute estime et d'amitié. Mais plus il m'a été donné d'apprécier le Prince Albert, plus je dois être touché de la bienveillance qu'a eue votre Majesté de s'en séparer pour moi quelque jours.