Granville.
Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston.
LIFE PEERAGES
Balmoral, 19th September 1855.
The Queen has to thank Lord Palmerston for his letter of the 16th. The want of Law Lords in the Upper House has often been complained of, and the Queen has long been of opinion that in order to remedy the same without adding permanently to the Peerage, the Crown ought to use its prerogative in creating Peers for life only. Lord Lansdowne coincided with this view, and Lord John Russell actually proposed a "Life Peerage" to Dr. Lushington, who declined it, however, from a dislike to become the first of the kind. Mr Pemberton Leigh has twice declined a Peerage, but the Queen can have no objection to its being offered to him again.81...
Footnote 81: See ante, [vol. ii. p. 284].
Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria.
Piccadilly, 20th September 1855.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty....