Madam,—As it is some time that I had the honour to address your Majesty, I hope that a further account of our crusades will meet with a favourable reception.
It is now somewhat better than a month that we left Florence, I may say with regret, for we were there very comfortably in every respect. On our route to Rome we enjoyed the beautiful sight of the cataract at Terni, the place where Queen Caroline sojourned for some time. We were particularly fortunate that day, as the brightest sunshine heightened its picturesque effects beyond description. We found old Rome very full, and to see it and its ecclesiastic governors to advantage, the Holy Week is certainly the properest time. From morning to noon the Prince was at seeing sights, and he made so good a use of his time, that I don't think that something really remarkable was left unseen. Upon this very principle, we paid our respects to the Holy Father,26 of which interview the Prince made so admirable a sketch, so very worthy of H.B.,27 that I am very much tempted to send it for the inspection of your Majesty. We assisted at the Church ceremonies of the Holy Week from the beginning to the end. The music of the Sistine Chapel, which is only vocal, may be well considered as unique, and has not failed to make a lasting impression upon a mind so musical as the Prince's....
I never think of your Majesty—and I take the liberty of thinking very frequently of you—without praying for health, serenity of mind, comfort and success for you, and I can well say that I am from my heart, your Majesty's sincerely attached and devoted Servant,
Stockmar.
Footnote 26: Gregory XVI.
Footnote 27: Initials adopted by Mr Doyle, father of Richard Doyle, in his Reform Caricatures.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
BELGIUM
19th April 1839.
... I am glad I extracted some spark of politics from your dear Majesty, very kindly and nicely expressed. I know that your generous little heart would not have wished at any time but what was good for a country in which you were much beloved. But the fact is, that certainly your Government have taken the lead in maintaining a condition which time had rendered difficult to comply with. Physicians will tell you that often an operation, which might have been performed at one time, could not, without great danger for the patient, be undertaken some years later. We have not been listened to, and arrangements are forced on us, in themselves full of seeds of danger, when by consulting the real interests of Holland and Belgium, both countries might have been placed on a footing of sincere peace and good neighbourhood. This country feels now humbled and désenchanté with its soi-disant political independence as it pleased the Conference to settle it. They will take a dislike to a political state which wounds their vanity, and will, in consequence of this, not wish it to continue. Two things will happen, therefore, on the very first opportunity, either that this country will be involved in war to better a position which it thinks too humiliating, or that it will voluntarily throw up a nominal independence in which it is now hemmed in between France and Holland, which begins on the North Sea, and ends, of all the things in this world, on the Moselle!