Nicolas.
Je prie votre Majesté de vouloir bien faire mes amitiés à Monseigneur le Prince Albert.
Footnote 30: Greville calls the writing of this letter an unusual step; but in sending it to Lord Aberdeen and Lord Clarendon, the Queen observed that its despatch was an important and advantageous fact, as it both committed the Czar personally, and enabled her to state certain truths to him, as well as to explain privately the views which guided her own and her Ministers' conduct.
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen.
LORD STRATFORD'S PROPOSAL
Windsor Castle, 5th November 1853.
Although the Queen will have the pleasure of seeing Lord Aberdeen this evening, she wishes to make some observations on the subject of Lord Stratford's last private letters communicated to her yesterday by Lord Clarendon.31 They exhibit clearly on his part a desire for war, and to drag us into it. When he speaks of the sword which will not only have to be drawn, but the scabbard thrown away, and says, the war to be successful must be a "very comprehensive one" on the part of England and France, the intention is unmistakable, and it becomes a serious question whether we are justified in allowing Lord Stratford any longer to remain in a situation which gives him the means of frustrating all our efforts for peace. The question becomes still graver when it is considered that General Baraguay d'Hilliers seems from Lord Cowley's account of his conversation with him equally anxious for extreme measures.
The Queen must express her surprise that Lord Stratford should have coolly sent on so preposterous a proposal as Redschid Pasha's note asking for a Treaty of Alliance, the amalgamation of our Fleets with the Turkish one, and the sending of our surplus ships to the "White" Sea (!) without any hesitation or remark on his part. As the note ends, however, by saying that the Porte desires que les points ci-dessus émenés (sic) soient appréciés par les Cours d'Angleterre et de France, et que ces Cours veuillent bien déclarer leur intention d'agir en conséquence, this appears to the Queen to afford an admirable opportunity for stating plainly and strongly to the Turkish Government that we have no intention of being used by them for their own purposes. This time such a declaration might be handed in to the Turkish Government, so that there can be no mistake about the matter for the future.
The Queen encloses the letter and note, and wishes Lord Aberdeen to show her letter to Lord Clarendon.
Footnote 31: Lord Stratford had written that Redschid Pasha was unable to make head against his warlike colleagues, and that unless some proposal of a decidedly satisfactory kind should come from Vienna very soon, there would be no chance of avoiding hostilities. Lord Stratford added that he had obtained a promise that no act of hostility should take place on the Turkish side before the expiration of fifteen days, and concluded with the words: "I fear that war is the decree of Fate, and our wisest part will be to do what we can to bring it to a thoroughly good conclusion."