and that they are not infringed against
her.[42]

[Footnote 42: A summary of Lord Granville's Memorandum in
reply (which was couched in very general terms) will be found
in Lord Fitzmaurice's _Life of Earl Granville_, vol. ii. p.
49.]

[Pageheading: AFFAIRS IN FRANCE]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _30th December 1851._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--Most warmly do I thank you for your kind and
affectionate and interesting letter of the 26th, which I received on
Sunday. All that you say about Lord Palmerston is but too true.... He
_brouilled_ us and the country with every one; and his very first
act precipitated the unfortunate Spanish marriages which was _le
commencement de la fin_. It is too grievous to think how much misery
and mischief might have been avoided. However, now he has done with
the Foreign Office for ever, and "the veteran statesman," as the
newspapers, to our great amusement and I am sure to _his_ infinite
annoyance, call him, must rest upon his laurels.... I fear much lest
they should be imprudent at Claremont; the poor Queen hinted to Mamma
that she hoped you would not become a friend to the President; no
doubt you can have no sympathies for him, but _just because_ you
are related to the poor Orleanses, you feel that you must be doubly
cautious to do nothing which could provoke the enmity of Louis
Napoleon. I fear that poor Joinville _had_ some _mad_ idea of going to
France, which, fortunately, his illness prevented. It would have been
the height of folly. Their only safe policy is to remain entirely
passive _et de se faire oublier_, which was Nemours' expression to
me two years ago; nothing could be wiser or more prudent than he was
then--but I don't think they were wise since. _La Candidature_ of
Joinville was in every way unwise, and led Louis Napoleon to take so
desperate a course. Nemours told me also _last_ year that they were
not at all against a _fusion_, but that they could not _disposer de la
France_, unless called upon to do so by the nation. I wish you would
caution them to be very circumspect and silent--for all the mistakes
made by others is in _their_ favour; in fact, no good for them could
come till Paris is old enough to be his own master--unless indeed
they all returned under Henri V., but a Regency for Paris would be an
impossibility....

We spent a very happy Christmas, and now wish you a very happy New
Year--for many succeedin