THE BEDCHAMBER PLOT (1839).
I. The Queen and Lord Melbourne.
Source.—Letters of Queen Victoria: 1837-1861, vol. i., p. 204.(London: 1907.)
A.—Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria. May 9, 1839.
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to suggest that if Sir Robert Peel presses for the dismissal of those of your Household who are not in Parliament, you may observe that in so doing he is pressing your Majesty more hardly than any Minister ever pressed a Sovereign before.
When the Government was changed in 1830, the principal posts of the Household were placed at the disposal of Lord Grey, but the Grooms and Equerries were not removed.
When Sir Robert Peel himself became Minister in 1834, no part of the Household were removed except those who were in Parliament.
When I became Prime Minister again in 1835, none of the Grooms or Equerries were removed because none of them were in Parliament.
They press upon your Majesty, whose personal feelings ought from your circumstances to be more consulted, a measure which no Minister before ever pressed upon a Sovereign.