Translation

Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia.

THE QUEEN'S REPLY

Buckingham Palace, June 1854.

Dearest Sir and Brother,—Your faithful Bunsen has handed me your Majesty's long explanatory letter, and has taken his leave of us, with tears in his eyes, and I can assure your Majesty that I, too, see with pain the departure of one whom I have been accustomed to consider as the faithful mirror of your feelings, wishes, and views, and whose depth and warmth of heart I esteem no less highly than his high mental gifts. Sympathy with his fate is general here. I entirely recognise in your letter the expression of your friendship, which is so dear to me, and which does not admit any sort of misunderstanding to exist between us, without my endeavouring at once to clear it up and remove it. How could I meet your friendship otherwise than by equally absolute frankness, allowing you to look into my inmost heart! Though you have shown me a proof of your gracious confidence in giving me, down to the smallest detail, an account of your personal and business relations with your servants, I still believe that I have no right to formulate any judgment. Only one thing my heart bids me to express, viz., that the men with whom you have broken were faithful, veracious servants, warmly devoted to you, and that just by the freedom and independence of spirit, with which they have expressed their opinions to your Majesty, they have given an indisputable proof of having had in view, not their own personal advantage and the favour of their Sovereign, but his true interests and welfare alone; and if just such men as these—among them even your loving brother, a thoroughly noble and chivalrous Prince, standing next to the throne—find themselves forced, in a grave crisis, to turn away from you, this is a momentous sign, which might well give cause to your Majesty to take counsel with yourself, and to examine with anxious care, whether perhaps the hidden cause of past and future evils may not lie in your Majesty's own views? You complain, most honoured Sire and Brother, that your policy is blamed as vacillating, and that your own person is insulted at home and abroad (a thing which has often filled me with deep grief and indignation), and you asseverate that your policy rests upon a firm basis, which the conscience of "a King and a Christian has laid down for it." But should it be possible to discover in your Majesty's fundamental views something self-contradictory, then necessarily, the more consistently and conscientiously these fundamental views are revealed in their consequences, the more contradictory must your actions appear to those who are not intimately aware of your intentions, and cannot but force upon the world the impression that your views themselves were wavering.

You will not take it amiss in a true friend and sister, if she endeavours to place before you her impressions on this matter, as frankly as they appear to her.

INVASION OF THE PRINCIPALITIES

Your Majesty has acknowledged in the face of the world that Russia has addressed to the Porte demands which she had no right to make. You have further acknowledged that the forcible taking possession of two Turkish provinces with the intention of enforcing the demand was a political wrong. You have, together with Austria, France, and England, several times declared in Protocols the preservation of the integrity of the Turkish empire to be a European interest. Notwithstanding all this, Russia continues to occupy the Danube principalities, penetrates further into Turkey, and, by forcing on a sanguinary and exhausting war, leads the unhappy and suffering empire on to the brink of the grave. What should Europe then do under these circumstances?

It could not possibly be the intention of the Powers to declare the preservation and integrity of the Porte to be a matter of European concern, solely in order to allow that empire to be destroyed before their very eyes! As to Prussia, I can conceive a line of policy, not that indeed which I should think in harmony with the generosity and chivalry of your rule, but still one possible in itself, by which she would say to herself: "The preservation of this integrity I have indeed declared to be a matter of European concern, but I wish to leave England and France to defend that policy with their wealth and blood, and reserve to myself only a moral co-operation." But what am I to think if, after England and France with courageous readiness have taken upon themselves alone this immense responsibility, sacrifice, and danger, your Majesty is now mainly considering the erection of a barrier of 72,000,000 of men between them and that Power, against whose encroachment the European interest is to be defended? What am I to say to the threat uttered against the West as well as against the East? and to your even asking from the West gratitude for "the enormous advantage" that you do not, into the bargain, yourself join in attacking it!! For your Majesty says expressly in your letter: "The Emperor ought to thank God that my view of Russian policy, my fidelity to your Majesty, have prevented me from making him begin the Turkish war on the other side of his own frontier. The enormous advantage of this abstention is totally forgotten in France, and, unfortunately, in England too!"

Dearest Sir and Brother, this language shows a contradiction in your own mind, which fills me with the greatest anxiety for possible consequences, an anxiety not diminished by your kindly adding: "Duty, Conscience, and Tradition forbid you to draw the sword against Old England."

I shall gladly with you bless the day on which the word of Peace can be uttered. Your Majesty can, by vigorous co-operation, help to usher in that day, just as you might have—in my conviction—contributed, by vigorous co-operation to prevent the War altogether.

FRIENDLY RELATIONS

Whatever these troublous times may bring us, I harbour the firm confidence that the warmth of our friendly relations cannot be troubled by anything, and rejoice in the circumstance that the personal relations of the two Sovereigns are, in this matter, so entirely in harmony with the interests of the two nations.

Albert sends you his homage, and I remain, with most cordial remembrance to the dear Queen, and with thanks for the kind wishes expressed by both of you, ever your Majesty's faithful Sister and Friend,

Victoria R.

The influence of Russia over the King had been proved by the recall of Baron Bunsen, and the dismissal of all those Ministers who had opposed the policy of the Czar in Turkey.

The Prince of Prussia had shown his dissatisfaction with the King's policy by quitting Berlin.