One fact must, however, be borne in mind. It happens in many cases that a correspondence on some particular point seems to be about to lead up to a definite conclusion, but that the salient and decisive document is absent. In these cases it is clear that the matter was settled at a personal interview; in many cases the Prince prepared a memorandum of an important interview; but there are a considerable number of such correspondences, where no record is preserved of the eventual solution, and this incompleteness is regrettable, but, by the nature of the case, inevitable.
LEADING STATESMEN IN 1837
The young Queen, on coming to the Throne, had little technical knowledge of the details of diplomacy, but she already had a real and intelligent acquaintance with foreign affairs, though it was rather personal than political, and, as we have seen, was more inspired by her interest in the fortunes and position of her numerous maternal relations than by the political views of her paternal relatives. Among the English statesmen of the day there were few who were qualified to help and instruct her. The two men who for over twenty years alternately guided the foreign policy of the country were Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston. They represented two opposed schools. Lord Aberdeen, a Peelite, was naturally and by tradition inclined to desire harmonious relations with all foreign Powers, and to abstain, as far as was consistent with maintaining British interests, from any sort of intervention in European affairs; Palmerston was a disciple of Canning, who had definitely broken with the principles of the Congress of Vienna, and openly avowed his approval of a policy of intervention, to any extent short of actual war, in the interests of liberty and good government. The only other man who had any title to speak with authority on foreign affairs was the Duke of Wellington, who had held the seals as Foreign Secretary for a few months in 1834 and 1835. He had, however, lost much of the reputation for political sagacity which he had held at the time when he was the arbiter of Europe and virtual ruler of France. Moreover, being, as he was, a much occupied man, with varied business to transact, and at the mercy of his almost excessive conscientiousness, he held himself to a considerable extent aloof from current politics, though he never lost his absorbing interest in Continental affairs.
CHAPTER IV
1821-1835
[The first letter ever received by Queen Victoria appears to be the following little note, written by the Duchess of Clarence, afterwards Queen Adelaide, in May 1821, when the Princess entered upon her third year. It is pathetic to recollect that the Duchess's surviving child, Princess Elizabeth, had died, aged three months, in March of the same year.
EARLY LETTERS
My dear little heart,—I hope you are well and don't forget Aunt Adelaide, who loves you so fondly.
Loulou and Wilhelm1 desire their love to you, and Uncle William also.