quences of it may be the All-knowing One alone can foresee.
Although the poor Emperor has died as our enemy, I have not forgotten
former and more happy times, and no one has more than I regretted that
he himself evoked this sad war.[46] To you I must address my request
to express to the poor Empress, as well as to the family, my heartfelt
condolence. I cannot do it officially, but you, my beloved friend, you
will surely be able to convey it to your sister-in-law as well as to
the present young Emperor in a manner which shall not compromise me. I
have a deep, heartfelt desire to express this. To your dear, honoured
mother convey, pray, my condolence on the death of her brother....

[Footnote 46: The Queen records, in the _Life of the Prince
Consort_, that she entertained a sincere respect for the
Emperor personally, and received the news of his death with
regret (vol. iii. p. 225, note).]

[Pageheading: THE HOSPITAL QUESTION]

_Queen Victoria to Lord Panmure._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _5th March 1855_.

The Queen is very anxious to bring before Lord Panmure the subject
which she mentioned to him the other night, viz. that of Hospitals for
our sick and wounded soldiers. This is absolutely necessary, and
_now_ is the moment to have them built, for no doubt there would be no
difficulty in obtaining the money requisite for this purpose, from the
strong feeling now existing in the public mind for improvements of all
kinds connected with the Army and the well-being and comfort of the
soldier.

Nothing can exceed the attention paid to these poor men in the
Barracks at Chatham (or rather more Fort Pitt and Brompton), and they
are in that respect very comfortable; but the buildings are bad--the
wards more like prisons than hospitals, with the windows so high that
no one can look out of them; and the generality of the wards are small
rooms, with hardly space for you to walk between the beds. There is no
dining-room or hall, so that the poor men must have their dinners in
the same room in which they sleep, and in which some may be dying,
and at any rate many suffering, while others are at their meals. The
proposition of having hulks prepared for their reception will do very
well at first, but it would not, the Queen thinks, do for any length
of time. A hulk is a very gloomy place, and these poor men require
their spirits to be cheered as much as their physical sufferings to be
attended to. The Queen is par