Majesty....

A Blue Ribbon has become vacant by the death of the late Duke of
Somerset, and Viscount Palmerston having communicated with Lord
Lansdowne and Lord Clarendon on the subject, would beg to submit for
your Majesty's gracious consideration that this honour might be well
conferred upon the Duke of Newcastle, who has been the object of much
undeserved attack, though certainly from inexperience not altogether
exempt from criticism, and who since his retirement from office
has shaped his public course in a manner honourable to himself, and
advantageously contrasting with the aberrations of some of his former
colleagues.[82]

Your Majesty must no doubt have been struck with the vast accumulation
of warlike stores found at Sebastopol. That there should have remained
there four thousand cannon, after the wear and tear of the Siege,
proves the great importance attached by the Russian Government to that
Arsenal over which your Majesty's Flag is now triumphantly flying.

[Footnote 82: He had gone out to the Crimea, and entered
Sebastopol with General Simpson. The Duke did not at this time
accept the Garter, which was bestowed on Earl Fortescue. See
_post_, 26th November, 1855, note 98.]

[Pageheading: DISTRIBUTION OF HONOURS]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

BALMORAL, _21st September 1855_.

The Queen is anxious to mark her sense of the services of the Army and
Military Departments at home by conferring the rank of Field-Marshal
on Lord Hardinge, who, from his position as Commander-in-Chief,
and his long, distinguished services, has a strong claim to such an
honour. Moreover, Marshal Vaillant receiving the G.C.B., whilst it
has been thought more prudent not to accept the _Legion d'Honneur_ for
Lord Hardinge, makes it the more desirable. The Prince is now again
the only Field-Marshal in the Army, which has always had several. The
Queen thinks that Lord Combermere, being the second senior officer of
the whole Army, a full General of 1825, might expect not to be passed
over when Lord Hardinge is made. The only other General of distinction
and seniority might be Lord Strafford, but he is only a full General
of 1841. On this point Lord Palmerston might consult Lord Hardinge
himself. If he and Lord Combermere alone are made, the honour is the
greater for him.[83]

The Queen thinks likewise that Lord Panmure ought to receive a mark
of favour and approval of his conduct on the occasion