Buckingham Palace, 12th April 1856.
The Queen returns the draft of Treaty, which she approves, and of which she would wish to have a copy.
The Queen believes that the Cabinet are going to consider to-day the amount of retrenchments which may be necessary in the Army and Navy.
She trusts and expects that this will be done with great moderation and very gradually; and that the difficulties we have had, and the sufferings which we have endured, may not be forgotten, for to the miserable reductions of the last thirty years are entirely owing our state of helplessness when the War began; and it would be unpardonable if we were to be found in a similar condition, when another War—and who can tell how soon there may be one?—breaks out.
We must never for a moment forget the very peculiar state of France, and how entirely all there depends upon one man's life.
We ought and must be prepared for every eventuality, and we have splendid material in that magnificent little Army in the Crimea.
The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston to show this letter to the Cabinet.
The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria.
LETTER FROM THE EMPEROR