Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria.
DEATH OF LORD MELBOURNE
Brocket Hall, 25th November 1848.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has to state that Viscount Melbourne was released from further suffering at about six o'clock yesterday afternoon. His bodily strength had been rapidly declining during the last few days, and it was only at intervals that he retained any degree of apparent consciousness. The last transition took place quietly and with almost imperceptible gradation.
Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria.
Pembroke Lodge, 26th November 1848.
Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty: he sees no political objection to a visit to Osborne on the part of the Duke and Duchess of Nemours. The election of a President in France is so completely absorbing attention that any mark of regard to the Duke of Nemours may well pass unnoticed.
Lord John Russell had the honour of seeing Louis Philippe in this house on Friday. He was in much better spirits, owing to the convalescence of the Queen; but the illness has been a very serious one.
Lord John Russell had understood that the affairs of property belonging to the Orleans family were arranged, and that Louis Philippe would ultimately be possessed of more than a million sterling.
Louis Philippe expressed his opinion in favour of Louis Bonaparte as a candidate for the Presidency. He feels confident that France cannot go to war on account of the state of her finances.