Page:The Letters Of Queen Victoria, vol. 3 (1908).djvu/52

38 alone; moreover, he acts constitutionally under the authority of the Queen, on his own responsibility and not that of the Cabinet.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 17th July 1854, The Queen has just received Lord Aberdeen’s letter, and has fully considered the contents of it. She has finally decided to make no change in her intended departure, from a conviction that her doing so might shake confidence in the result of this night’s Debate. Should anything serious occur, she would be ready to return to-morrow or at any time that her presence in town was considered of importance to the public service.

OSBORNE, 19th July 1854, The Queen has received Lord John Russell’s letter of yesterday, and was very glad to hear that both the meeting and the Debate went off so well. The party which supports the Government is certainly “a strange basis for a Government to rest upon,” but such as it is we must make the best of it, and nothing will contribute more to keeping it together than to give it the impression that the Government is thoroughly united.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 26th July 1854. It is a very long time since the Queen has had the pleasure of hearing from Lord Dalhousie, but she supposes that (fortunately) there is very little to say, everything being so quiet and prosperous. The Queen highly appreciates and values Lord Dalhousie’s kind offer to remain in India while there is any prospect of difficulty being caused by the present War, which will be a source of great satisfaction and tranquillity to her, as she feels that her Indian Dominions cannot be in safer hands.

The Queen wishes to tell Lord Dalhousie how much