As the amended draft secures us against these appearances, and leaves us free for the future, the Queen approves it.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
MINOR GERMAN STATES
Osborne, 1st August 1848.
My dearest Uncle,—I had yesterday the happiness of receiving your kind letter of the 29th, for which I return my best thanks.
There are ample means of crushing the Rebellion in Ireland,34 and I think it now is very likely to go off without any contest. ...Lord Hardinge is going over there to serve on the Staff, which is very praiseworthy of him.
I do not think the fate of the Minor Princes in Germany is so completely decided as Charles35 ... is so anxious to make one believe. There is only a question of taking certain powers and rights away, and not at all of getting rid of them; and I think you will see that the Ausführung of the Unity will be an impossibility, at least in the sense they propose at Frankfort. The Archduke John has spoken very reassuringly both to Ernest and the Duke of Meiningen, and the attachment in many of those smaller principalities is still extremely great, and I am sure they will never consent to being ausgewischt. Coburg, for instance, on the occasion of the suppression of a very small riot, showed the greatest attachment and devotion to Ernest; at Gotha the feeling of independence is very great, and at Strelitz, on the occasion of Augusta's confinement with a son, the enthusiasm and rejoicing was universal. All this cannot be entirely despised.
We are as happy as possible here, and would be perfectly so, if it was not for the sorrow and misfortunes of so many dear to us, and for the state of the world in general.
I have always forgotten to tell you that we bought a fine marble bust of you quite by accident in London the other day. It is in armour and with moustaches, but quite different to the one the Gardners have at Melbourne; Albert saw it at the window of a shop, and heard it had been bought in a sale of a General Somebody. Now, with Albert's best love, ever your devoted Niece,
Victoria R.