Memorandum by the Prince Albert.
PALMERSTON AND THE EMPEROR
Windsor Castle, 11th February 1855.
This letter gave us great uneasiness.... The sort of private correspondence which Lord Palmerston means to establish with the Emperor Napoleon is a novel and unconstitutional practice. If carried on behind the back of the Sovereign, it makes her Minister the Privy Councillor of a foreign Sovereign at the head of her affairs. How can the Foreign Secretary and Ambassador at Paris, the legitimate organs of communication, carry on their business, if everything has been privately preconcerted between the Emperor and the English Prime Minister? What control can the Cabinet hope to exercise on the Foreign Affairs under these circumstances?...
Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston.
Windsor Castle, 11th February 1855.
The Queen thanks Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 10th, and for communicating to her the letter which he had addressed upon the 8th to the Emperor of the French on the formation of the present Government, the copy of which the Queen herewith returns.
Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria.
THE ROEBUCK COMMITTEE
Piccadilly, 16th February 1855.