(Friday night.)
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to state that after he had made his statement this afternoon, a conversation of some length took place, in which Mr Disraeli, Mr Roebuck, Mr Thomas Duncombe, and several other Members took part, the subject of discussion being whether Mr Roebuck's Committee should or should not be appointed.
Viscount Palmerston is concerned to say that it was not only his own impression but the opinion of a great number of persons with whom he communicated in the course of the evening, including the Speaker, that the appointment of the Committee will be carried by a very great majority, perhaps scarcely less great than that by which the original Motion was affirmed; and it was also the opinion of good judges that a refusal to grant an enquiry would not be a good ground on which to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the Country. The general opinion was that the best way of meeting the Motion for naming the Committee which Mr Roebuck has fixed for next Thursday, would be to move some instruction to the Committee directing or limiting the range of its enquiry. This is a matter, however, which will be well considered at the meeting of the Cabinet to-morrow....
The reason alleged for the determination of Members to vote for Mr Roebuck's Committee is the general desire throughout the Country that an enquiry should be instituted to ascertain the causes of the sufferings of your Majesty's troops in the Crimea.
Queen Victoria to the King of Prussia.
[Translation.]
Buckingham Palace, 20th February 1855.
Dearest Brother,—I must not let Lord John Russell visit Berlin without personally recommending him to your Majesty—an honour which he deserves in a high degree, as a statesman of wide outlook, well-informed, and moderate. At the same time I may be allowed to repeat my conviction, which I have expressed several times already, that it appears to me impossible to obtain peace so long as Prussia continues indisposed to maintain, in case of necessity by force of arms, the principles publicly expressed in concert with the belligerent Powers and Austria.
Much blood, very much blood, has already been shed. Honour and justice force the belligerent Powers to make every sacrifice in continually defending those principles to the utmost. Whether diplomacy will succeed in saving Prussia from taking an active share in this defence—that remains the secret of the future, which the King of kings alone possesses!
Albert presents his homage to your Majesty, and I beg to be most cordially remembered, and remain as ever, my dear Brother, your Majesty's faithful Servant and Friend,