regard the entrance of line of battle-ships into the
Black Sea as a virtual declaration of war against herself.

There is yet no confirmation of the actual declaration of war by
the Porte, and although there is no reason to suspect any serious
impediment to the decision of the Divan being fulfilled, it is rather
strange that intelligence to this effect has not been received. If
Lord Stratford should see great cause for apprehension at the prospect
of the Turks in the prosecution of hostilities, it is just possible
that by his influence he may have arrested the progress of their
warlike measures; but probably this is too much to hope. At all
events, Lord Aberdeen trusts that the path of negotiation is not
finally closed, and that, notwithstanding the equivocal position of
Great Britain in this contest, it may still be possible to employ
words of conciliation and peace....

[Pageheading: WAR IMMINENT]

[Pageheading: LORD ABERDEEN OVERBORNE]

_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

BALMORAL, _10th October 1853._

I had a long interview with Sir James Graham this morning, and told
him that Lord Aberdeen's last letter to the Queen and him[26] made us
very uneasy. It was evident that Lord Aberdeen was, against his
better judgment, consenting to a course of policy which he inwardly
condemned, that his desire to maintain unanimity at the Cabinet led
to concessions which by degrees altered the whole character of the
policy, while he held out no hope of being able permanently to secure
agreement. I described the Queen's position as a very painful one.
Here were decisions taken by the Cabinet, perhaps even acted upon,
involving the most momentous consequences, without her previous
concurrence or even the means for her to judge of the propriety or
impropriety of course to be adopted, with evidence that the Minister,
in whose judgment the Queen placed her chief reliance, disapproved
of it. The position was morally and constitutionally a wrong one. The
Queen ought to have the whole policy in spirit and ultimate tendency
developed before her to give her deliberate sanction to it, knowing
what it involved her in abroad and at home. She might now be involved
in war, of which the consequences could not be calculated, chiefly by
the desire of Lord Aberdeen to keep his Cabinet together; this might
then break down, and the Queen would be left without an efficient
Government, and a war on her hands. Lord Aberdeen renounced one o