Queen Victoria to Mr Vernon Smith

SUCCESSOR TO LORD DALHOUSIE

Buckingham Palace, 19th June 1855.

The Queen has received Mr Vernon Smith's letter on the subject of Lord Dalhousie's resignation and the appointment of a successor. She was somewhat astonished that the name of a successor to that most important appointment should for the first time be brought before her after all official steps for carrying it out had been completed. If the selection should now not receive the Queen's approval, it is evident that great awkwardness must arise.

Footnote 60: Mr Vernon Smith, in reply, referred to the statutory power then existing of the Directors of the East India Company to nominate a Governor-General, subject to the approbation of the Crown.