I add a little pin as a small Christmas present. I hope you will sometimes wear it.
Footnote 80: A pet dog of the Queen's.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.
THE PROTESTANT QUESTION
Laeken, 14th December 1839.
My dearest Victoria,—I lived in the hope of receiving some letters for you from Albert, but nothing is arrived to-day. Your dear long letter gave me great pleasure. Before I answer some parts of it, I will say a few words on Lord Melbourne's letter. Perhaps you will be so good to tell him that it gratified me much. It is the letter of an honest and an amiable statesman, practical and straightforward. In the omission of the word "Protestant" he was probably right, and it is equally probable that they would have abused him—maybe even more if he had put it in. There is only this to say, however: the Ernestine branch of the Saxon family has been, there is no doubt, the real cause of the establishment of Protestantism in Germany, and consequently in great parts of Northern Europe. This same line became a martyr to that cause, and was deprived of almost all its possessions in consequence of it.
Recently there have been two cases of Catholic marriages, but the main branch has remained, and is, in fact, very sincerely Protestant. Both Ernest and Albert are much attached to it, and when deviations took place they were connected more with new branches transplanted out of the parent soil than with what more properly must be considered as the reigning family.
The Peerage question may remain as it is, but it will not be denied that the great object must be to make Albert as English as possible, and that nothing will render this more difficult than a foreign name....
I shall be most happy to see poor Charlotte's bust in the Gallery at Windsor, and it is kind of you to have had the thought. She was a high and noble-minded creature, and her affection and kindness for me very great. She had placed the most unbounded confidence in me; our principle had been never to let a single day pass over any little subject of irritation. The only subjects of that sort we had were about the family, particularly the Regent, and then the old Queen Charlotte. Now I must conclude with my best love. Ever, my dearest Victoria, your devoted Uncle,