Laeken, 25th March 1850.
My dearest Victoria,— ... King Louis Philippe seems better, but still he is evidently breaking; there is no wonder when one considers all he has gone through, and is still to suffer! No one can tell a day [ahead] what may happen in France, and if all the family have, which is but7 in France, may not be confiscated. The thirst for spoliation is great; the people who lead have no other view, they are not fanatics, their aim is to rise and to enrich themselves; the remainder is mere humbug, exactly as you have it very near home. Never was there a nation in a worse and a more helpless state, and the numerous parties who will not unite render all solutions impossible, and the republic will be maintained for that very reason. It is but a name and no substance, but that name of republic encourages every extravagant or desperate proceeding, and turns people's heads in the old monarchies; every doctor or magistrate sees himself president of some republic, and the ambitions of so many people who see all the impediments which existed formerly removed, and who, according to their own opinion, are wonderful people, will be insatiable and much more dangerous than you imagine in England. On the Continent every man thinks himself fit to be at the head of the Government; there is no political measure or scale, and the success of some bookseller or doctor or advocate, etc., turns the heads of all those in similar positions—on ne doute de rien. When you consider that a banqueroutier like Ledru Rollin8 ruled over France for six months almost with absolute power, merely because he took it, you may imagine how many thousands, even of workmen, cooks, stage people, etc., look to be taken to rule over their fellow-citizens; toujours convaincu de leur propre mérite. I am happy to see that you escaped a ministerial crisis; the peril was great, and it would have been dreadful for you at such a moment.
Albert made a fine long speech, I see.9 Did he read it? ex tempore, it would have been very trying. I trust we may come to that unity of mankind of which he speaks, and of universal peace which our friend Richard Cobden considers as very near at hand; if, however, the red benefactors of mankind at Paris get the upper hand, universal war will be the order of the day. We are so strongly convinced of this that we are very seriously occupied with the means of defence which this country can afford, and we imagine that if we are not abandoned by our friends, it will be impossible to force our positions on the Schelde.
I must now quickly conclude. Remaining ever, my beloved Victoria, your devoted Uncle,
Leopold R.
Footnote 7: I.e. "only."
Footnote 8: He was President in 1848.
Footnote 9: At the Mansion House banquet to the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. See quotation from it in Sir T. Martin's Life, vol. ii, p. 247.
