Osborne, 6th August 1854.
The Queen has received Lord Hardinge's letter of the 4th.46 She would for the future wish all papers for signature to be accompanied by a descriptive list showing at a glance the purport of the documents, as is done with papers from other Government offices.
The Queen has looked over the lists of Major-Generals made by the last brevet which Lord Hardinge submitted, and must confess that it does not afford a great choice; yet, leaving out the cavalry officers and those disqualified by age or infirmities, there remain some few whom she has marked with an "X," for whose exclusion no adequate reason is apparent. An exclusion of officers who have served in the Guards, merely on that account, the Queen would not wish to see adopted as a principle, and the selection of Colonels of the Line (because there are no Generals fit), in preference to Generals of the Guards who are perfectly so, will amount to this. General Eden,47 moreover, has been in command of a Regiment of the Line, and General Knollys48 has not been promoted from the Guards, and, in accepting the Governorship of Guernsey, specially begged that this might not exclude him from active service—a circumstance which he mentioned to the Prince at the time. Both these have the reputation of very good officers.
The Queen does not wish anything to be arranged prospectively now, but would recommend the subject to Lord Hardinge's future consideration.
Footnote 46: In reply to a letter from the Queen, stating that she had inadvertently signed certain papers in the ordinary course. Her attention had not been drawn to their important features.
Footnote 47: Lieut.-General John Eden, C.B., nephew of the first Lord Auckland.
Footnote 48: Sir William Knollys, K.C.B., 1797-1883, became in 1855 the organiser of the newly formed Camp at Aldershot.
Queen Victoria to the Earl of Aberdeen.
SPECIAL PRAYERS
Osborne, 21st August 1854.