The Queen must compliment Sir Robert Peel on his beautiful and indeed _unanswerable_ speech of last night, which we have been reading with the greatest attention.[1] The concluding part we also greatly admire. Sir R. Peel has made a very strong case. Surely the impression which it has made must have been a good one. Lord John's explanation is a fair one;[2] the Queen has _not_ a doubt that he will support Sir Robert Peel.
He has indeed pledged himself to it. He does not give a very satisfactory explanation of the causes of his failure, but perhaps he could not do so without exposing Lord Palmerston.
What does Sir Robert think of the temper of the House of Commons, and of the debate in the House of Lords? The debates not being adjourned is a good thing. The crowd was immense out-of-doors yesterday, and we were never better received.
[Footnote 1: The Queen had opened Parliament in person; the Prime Minister took the unusual course of speaking immediately after the seconder of the Address, and in his peroration, after laying stress on the responsibilities he was incurring, proceeded: "I do not desire to be Minister of England; but while I am Minister of England I will hold office by no servile tenure; I will hold office unshackled by any other obligation than that of consulting the public interests and providing for the public safety."]
[Footnote 2: He explained that the attitude of Lord Grey made the difficulties attending the formation of a Whig Ministry insuperable.]
[Pageheading: EXTENSION OF INDIAN FRONTIER]
_Sir Henry Hardinge to Queen Victoria._[3]
CAMP, LULLIANEE, 24 miles from LAHORE, _18th February 1846._
The territory which it is proposed should be ceded in perpetuity to your Majesty is a fine district between the Rivers Sutlej and Beas, throwing our frontier forward, within 30 miles of Amritsar, so as to have 50 miles of British territory in front of Loodiana, which, relatively with Ferozepore, is so weak, that it appeared desirable to the Governor-General to improve our frontier on its weakest side, to curb the Sikhs by an easy approach towards Amritsar across the Beas River instead of the Sutlej--to round off our hill possessions near Simla--to weaken the Sikh State which has proved itself to be too strong--and to show to all Asia that although the British Government has not deemed it expedient to annex this immense country of the Punjab, making the Indus the British boundary, it has punished the treachery and violence of the Sikh nation, and exhibited its powers in a manner which cannot be misunderstood. For the same political and military reason, the Governor-General hopes to be able before the negotiations are closed to make arrangements by which Cashmere may be added to the possessions of Gholab Singh, declaring the Rajpoot Hill States with Cashmere independent of the Sikhs of the Plains. The Sikhs declare their inability to pay the indemnity of one million and a half, and will probably offer Cashmere as an equivalent. In this case, if Gholab Singh pays the money demanded for the expenses of the war, the district of Cashmere will be ceded by the British to him, and the Rajah become one of the Princes of Hindostan.