Buckingham Palace, 13th May 1852.
With respect to this despatch from Lord Howden,35 the Queen wishes to observe that hitherto we have on all similar occasions declined accepting any Foreign Order for the Prince of Wales, on account of his being too young and not even having any of the English Orders. Might this not therefore be communicated to Lord Howden?
Footnote 35: British Minister at Madrid.
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Derby.
AFFAIRS IN FRANCE
Osborne, 27th May 1852.
The Queen returns the enclosed most interesting letters. It is evident that the President is meeting with the first symptoms of a reviving public feeling in France; whether this will drive him to hurry on the Empire remains to be seen. All the Foreign Powers have to be careful about is to receive an assurance that the Empire does not mean a return to the policy of the Empire, but that the existing Treaties will be acknowledged and adhered to.
The session seems to advance very rapidly. The Queen hails Lord Derby's declaration of his conviction that a majority for a duty on corn will not be returned to the new Parliament, as the first step towards the abandonment of hostility to the Free Trade on which our commercial policy is now established, and which has produced so flourishing a condition of the finances of the country.
Mr Disraeli's speech about Spain was very good, though he had certainly better not have alluded to Portugal.
We return to Town to-morrow.