Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
THE QUEEN'S ESTIMATE OF PEEL
Windsor Castle, 23rd December 1845.
My dearest Uncle,—Many thanks for your two kind letters of the 17th and 19th, which gave me much pleasure. I have little to add to Albert's letter of yesterday, except my extreme admiration of our worthy Peel, who shows himself a man of unbounded loyalty, courage, patriotism, and high-mindedness, and his conduct towards me has been chivalrous almost, I might say. I never have seen him so excited or so determined, and such a good cause must succeed. We have indeed had an escape, for though Lord John's own notions were very good and moderate, he let himself be entirely twisted and twirled about by his violent friends, and all the moderate ones were crushed....
Victoria R.
Sir Robert Peel to the Prince Albert.
Whitehall, 23rd December 1845.
Sir,—I think Her Majesty and your Royal Highness will have been pleased with the progress I have made in execution of the great trust again committed to me by Her Majesty.
It will be of great importance to conciliate Lord Stanley's support out of office, to induce him to discourage hostile combinations.
I would humbly recommend Her Majesty, when Her Majesty sees Lord Stanley to-day, to receive him with her usual kindness, to say that I had done full justice in my reports to Her Majesty to the motives by which he had been actuated, and to the openness and frankness of his conduct, to regret greatly the loss of his services, but to hope that he might be still enabled not to oppose and even to promote the accomplishment of what cannot now be safely resisted. I have the honour to be, etc., etc., etc.,