Vous excuserez, Sire, la longueur de cette lettre, mais il m'est si doux de pouvoir épancher mes sentiments sur toutes ces questions si importantes et si difficiles, avec une personne que je considère non seulement comme un Allié fidèle, mais comme un ami sur lequel je puis compter en toute occasion, et qui, j'en suis sûre, est animé envers nous des mêmes sentiments.
Le Prince me charge de vous offrir ses hommages les plus affectueux, et moi je me dis pour toujours, Sire et cher Frère, de V.M.I., la très affectionnée Sœur et Amie,
Victoria R.
Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston.
THE CRIMEAN ENQUIRY
Buckingham Palace, 16th February 1856.
The subject to which Lord Palmerston refers in his letter of last night, and upon which the Cabinet is going to deliberate to-day, has also caused the Queen much anxiety.
A Civil Commission is sent out by the Government to enquire into the conduct of the officers in command in the Crimea; this is done without any consultation with the Commander-in-Chief. They report to the Government, inculpating several general officers and others in high command; this report is not communicated to the military authorities, nor to the persons affected by it, but is laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament.12 These officers then for the first time find themselves accused under the authority of Government, and that accusation communicated to the Legislature without ever having been heard in answer or allowed an opportunity to defend themselves. It is stated in both Houses by the Government that the officers may send papers in reply if they choose! But who is to be the Judge on the trial? The Press, of course, and the Times at the head, have already judged and condemned, and the House of Commons is now moving in default of another Judge to constitute its tribunal by a Committee of Enquiry.
It is quite evident if matters are left so, and military officers of the Queen's Army are to be judged as to the manner in which they have discharged their military duties before an enemy by a Committee of the House of Commons, the command of the Army is at once transferred from the Crown to that Assembly.