i in confidence requested Lord Clarendon to impress
upon Lord Cowley the necessity of often seeing the Emperor, and not
trusting to the Minister, when any question of difficulty arose.

Count Walewski said the Emperor was particularly anxious that your
Majesty should know that the liberation of the Madiai[13] was owing to
the interference which the French Legation had been instructed by the
Emperor to use in their behalf.

[Footnote 13: Two persons, husband and wife, domiciled in
Florence, who had embraced the English reformed religion. In
1852 they were seized, imprisoned in separate dungeons, and
subjected to great hardships. Lords Shaftesbury and Roden went
to Florence and appealed to the Grand Duke on their behalf,
but were unsuccessful. In March 1853, however, after the
British Government had interposed, the two were released, a
pension being provided for them by public subscription.]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _29th March 1853._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I have to thank you very much for your kind letter
of the 25th....

I hope that the Oriental Question will be satisfactorily settled.
From all the confidential reports we have received from the Emperor of
Russia, I think I may safely say that though he has treated the Sultan
rather overbearingly and roughly, there is _no_ alteration in
his views--and _no wish whatever_ on his part to appropriate
Constantinople or any of those parts to himself--though he does not
wish us, or France or Austria _or Greece_, to have it either. But he
thinks the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire very imminent, which
I really think is not the case. The Russians accuse us (as we have
preached moderation) of being too French--and the French of being too
Russian!....

Now with Albert's love, ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

_Queen Victoria to Lord Clarendon_.

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th March 1853._

The Queen has received Lord Clarendon's letter with great
satisfaction. We are now reaping the fruits of an honest and
straightforward conduct, and the Queen hopes Lord Clarendon will
likewise in all future cases of difficulty arrest the mischief, sure
to arise from a continuance of mutual suspicion between this
Country and any Power, by at once entering upon full and unreserved
explanations, on the first symptoms of distrust.

As the Emperor deserves great credit, if he really caused the
liberation of