e of the present position of affairs. Probably at this
moment I am in a better position to do this than anybody else, from
the peculiar circumstances in which I have been placed while here, and
it is this feeling which makes me desirous to return to England with
the least possible delay. It is my intention therefore to start
with my colleagues to-morrow, Monday night, for England, to which
arrangement the Emperor has given his sanction, and by which time he
will be prepared to tell me what he thinks had best be done, from his
view of the question. I think it my duty to communicate this to you,
and hope that you will give my resolution your sanction. I beg to
remain, my dear Cousin, your most dutiful Cousin,

GEORGE.

[Footnote 5: At the Council of War. See _ante_, 7th January, 1856,
note 1.]

[Pageheading: ENGLAND AND FRANCE]

_Queen Victoria to the Earl of Clarendon._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _28th January 1856_.

The Queen sends a letter which she wishes Lord Clarendon to give to
General La Marmora.[6] We have been extremely pleased with him (indeed
he is a universal favourite) and found him so sensible, mild, and
right-minded, in all he says--and a valuable adviser to the King.
The Queen wishes _just_ to mention to Lord Clarendon that the Duke of
Cambridge told her that the Emperor had spoken to _him_ about what the
King of Sardinia had said relative to _Austria and France_, asking
the Duke whether such a thing had been said.[7] The Duke seems to have
answered as we could wish, and the Queen pretended _never_ to have
_heard_ the report, merely saying that as the proposed ultimatum
was then much talked of, it was very possible the King might
unintentionally have mistaken the observations of the Ministers and
ourselves as to our being _unable_ to _agree_, without great caution,
to what appeared to be _agreed_ on beforehand between _France_ and
_Austria_, and possibly _might_ have in his blunt way stated something
which alarmed the Emperor--but that she could not imagine it could be
anything else. There seems, however, really no _end_ to _cancans_ at
_Paris_; for the Duke of Cambridge seems to have shared the same fate.
The two atmospheres of France and England, as well as the Society, are
so different that people get to talk differently. It seems also that
the King got frightened lest he should at Paris be thought too liberal
in his _religious_ views (having been complimented for it) which he
was very p