man and wife, even where difference is sure to ensue,
are much better discussed than avoided, for the latter course is sure
to beget distrust. I do not think that the Baroness[23] is the cause
of this want of openness, though her name to me is never mentioned by
the Queen."

_Baron Stockmar._--"I wish to have a talk with you. The Prince leans
more on you than any one else, and gives you his entire confidence;
you are honest, moral, and religious, and will not belie that trust.
The Queen has not started upon a right principle. She should by
degrees impart everything to him, but there is danger in his wishing
it all at once. A case may be laid before him; he may give some
crude and unformed opinion; the opinion may be taken and the result
disastrous, and a forcible argument is thus raised against advice
being asked for the future.

"The Queen is influenced more than she is aware of by the Baroness. In
consequence of that influence, she is not so ingenuous as she was two
years ago. I do not think that the withholding of her confidence does
proceed wholly from indolence, though it may partly arise, as the
Prince suggests, from the entire confidence which she reposes in her
present Ministers, making her inattentive to the plans and measures
proposed, and thinking it unnecessary entirely to comprehend them; she
is of necessity unable to impart their views and projects to him who
ought to be her friend and counsellor."

[Footnote 23: Baroness Lehzen.]

[Pageheading: OXFORD'S ATTEMPT]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

CARLTON TERRACE, _10th June 1840._

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
though your Majesty must be overwhelmed with congratulations at
your Majesty's escape from the aim of the assassin,[24] yet Viscount
Palmerston trusts that he may be allowed to express the horror with
which he heard of the diabolical attempt, and the deep thankfulness
which he feels at your Majesty's providential preservation.

Viscount Palmerston humbly trusts that the failure of this atrocious
attempt may be considered as an indication that your Majesty is
reserved for a long and prosperous reign, and is destined to assure,
for many years to come, the welfare and happiness of this nation.

[Footnote 24: Edward Oxford, a pot-boy, aged eighteen, fired
twice at the Queen on Constitution Hill. The Queen, who was
untouched either shot, immediately drove to the Duchess of