Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby

LORD DERBY'S POLICY

Windsor Castle, 29th April 1859.

The Queen has read the last telegrams with much pain, as they show that there is no chance left of stopping war. Indeed she thinks, considering the progress of revolution in the Duchies, and the daily increase of military strength of France and financial exhaustion of Austria, that it would not be morally defensible to try to restrain Austria from defending herself while she still can.

Count Buol's proposal to continue negotiations during the fight sounds strange, but ought not to be altogether put aside. The King of Sardinia's assumption of the Government of Tuscany and military occupation of Massa-Carrara form gross infractions of the Treaties of 1815 and international law, and can hardly be left without a protest from us.

Has Lord Derby heard that a Russian Fleet is expected soon to appear in the Black Sea? The Queen has just heard it from Berlin, where it is supposed to be certain, and it would explain Lord Cowley's report of (the Queen believes) Prince Napoleon's account of the Russian engagements, which are admitted to contemplate a junction of the French and Russian Fleets to defend the Treaty closing the Dardanelles.

Footnote 28: See Introductory Note, ante, p. 308. The Duchy of Modena and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany were in revolution, and the Duchy of Parma soon followed their example.

Footnote 29: See post, p. 331, note 30.