Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon

END OF THE WAR

Windsor Castle, 31st March 1856.

The Queen thanks Lord Clarendon much for his two letters of Saturday and yesterday; and we congratulate him on the success of his efforts in obtaining the Peace, for to him alone it is due, and also to him alone is due the dignified position which the Queen's beloved country holds, and which she owes to a straightforward, steady, and unselfish policy throughout.

Much as the Queen disliked the idea of Peace, she has become reconciled to it, by the conviction that France would either not have continued the war, or continued it in such a manner that no glory could have been hoped for for us.

We have a striking proof of this in Pélissier not having obeyed the Emperor's orders and never having thought of occupying Sak. This really might be hinted to the Emperor....

The Queen finds Lord Palmerston very well pleased with the Peace, though he struggled as long as he could for better conditions....

Footnote 22: The word is so written in the original draft. There was a place of the name near Old Fort in the Crimea, but this is more probably an abbreviation for Sakatal in Caucasia.