l whether Normanby will be able to go on with
[Palmerston] if this sort of thing continues, for he talks of "I hear
this" and "I am told that," with reference to Normanby's conduct here,
which no man in his position can stand, as, if Palmerston takes the
_on-dits_ of others, and not Normanby's own accounts, there is an end
of confidence; but I must say his last letter appears to me a sort of
exuberance of anger, which spends itself on many subjects rather than
the one which first caused it, and therefore I suspect he has received
some rap on the knuckles at home, which he resents here, or on the
first person who is not of the same opinion as himself; but it is a
curious anomaly that he should quarrel with Normanby in support of
arbitrary and absolute Government. All is quiet here now, and will, I
hope, continue so till the Elections, when I suppose we may have some
more _emeutes_....

They have been told at the Clubs that they may meet, but they are
not to talk politics. In short, I do not suppose that despotism ever
reached such a pitch.... You may suppose what the French feel; it
serves them all quite right, but that does not prevent one's feeling
indignant at it. And this is what Palmerston is now supporting without
restriction. We are entirely without any other news from England
from any one. Would you not send me or Normanby a letter through
Rothschild? I am rather anxious to know whether this is a general
feeling in England; it could not be, if they know all that had
happened here. Mind, I can quite understand the policy of keeping well
with Louis Napoleon, and Normanby is so, and has never expressed to
any one a hostile opinion except in his despatches and private letters
to Palmerston.... I shall send this by a private hand, not to run the
risk of its being read. Ever yours affectionately,

M. NORMANBY.

[Footnote 31: On the 6th, Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord
Normanby the strange letter printed by Mr Evelyn Ashley in the
_Life_, censuring Lord Normanby's supposed hostility to
the French President; Lord Normanby in reply defended his
attitude, and asked for an explicit statement as to the
Foreign Secretary's approval or otherwise of the conduct and
policy of the President.]

[Pageheading: AFFAIRS IN FRANCE]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

OSBORNE, _9th December 1851._

DEAREST UNCLE,--Your kind letter of the 5th reached me on Sunday
morning. Much blood