Osborne, 6th December 1852.
The Queen has this morning received Lord Malmesbury's letter of yesterday, relative to Count Walewski's audience. The manner in which Lord Malmesbury proposes this should be done the Queen approves, and only wishes Lord Malmesbury to communicate with the proper authorities in order that the Fairy may be at Southampton at the right hour, and the Frigate, as suggested, in attendance off Osborne or Cowes, according to what the weather may be. The landing at Osborne Pier, in wet or stormy weather, is very bad, particularly for a lady.
The Queen wishes that the Count and Countess Walewski should come down here with Lord Malmesbury on Thursday next, and we should receive them at half-past one. We wish then that they should all three dine and sleep here that day.
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Malmesbury.
A SECRET PROTOCOL
Osborne, 8th December 1852.
The Queen was very much surprised to receive this morning in a box from Lord Malmesbury, without any further explanation, a secret Protocol54 signed by the representatives of the four great Powers at the Foreign Office on the 3rd instant.
A step of such importance should not have been taken without even the intention of it having been previously mentioned to the Queen, and her leave having been obtained. She must therefore ask for an explanation from Lord Malmesbury. Though the purport of the Protocol appears to the Queen quite right, she ought not to allow the honour of England to be pledged by her Minister without her sanction.
The exact wording of a document of that nature is a matter of such serious importance that it requires the greatest consideration, and it is a question with the Queen whether it be always quite safe to adopt entirely what is proposed by Baron Brunnow, who is generally the rédacteur of such documents.
Footnote 54: By this Protocol Louis Napoleon was to be recognised as Emperor by Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia.