the King and Queen;
Albert went down to Claremont to see them on Saturday, and yesterday
they came here with Montpensier. They both look very _abattus_,
and the poor Queen cried much in thinking of what she had gone
through--and what dangers the King had incurred; in short, humbled
poor people they looked. Dearest Vic I saw on Sunday; _she_ has also
gone through much, and is so dear and good and gentle. She looked
wonderfully well _considering_. They are still _very_ much in want of
means, and live on a very reduced scale.

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S VIEW OF THE CRISIS]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _11th March 1848._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I profit by the departure of Andrews to write to
you a few lines, and to wish you joy of the continued satisfactory
behaviour of my friends, the good Belgians; fervently do I hope and
really trust all will go on well; but what an extraordinary state of
things everywhere! _"Je ne sais plus ou je suis,"_ and I fancy really
that we have gone back into the _old_ century. But I also feel one
must not be nervous or alarmed at these moments, but be of good cheer,
and muster up courage to meet all the difficulties.

Our little riots are mere nothing, and the feeling here is good....
_What_ is _your_ opinion as to the late events at Paris? Do you not
think the King ought to have retired to Vincenness or somewhere else a
day or two before, and put himself at the head of the army? Ought
not Montpensier at least to have gone to Vincennes? I know Clem even
thinks this--as also that _one_ ought to have foreseen, and ought to
have managed things better. Certainly at the _very last_, if they had
not gone, they would all have been massacred; and _I_ think they were
quite right, and in short could not avoid going as quickly as they
could; but there is an impression they _fled_ too quickly. Still the
recollection of Louis XVI.... is enough to justify all, and everybody
will admit that; but the Princes, they think, ought to have remained.
_What_ do _you_ think of all this? I think the blunders were _all_ on
the last three or four days--and on the last day, but were no longer
to be avoided at last; there seemed a _fatality_, and _all_ was lost.
Poor Nemours did his best till he could _no longer_ get to the troops.
People here also abuse him for letting Victoire go alone--but he
_remained_ to do his _duty_; a little more _empressement_ on her
arrival here I