to congratulate your
Majesty upon this rapid and peaceful settlement of a matter which at
different periods has assumed appearances so threatening to the peace
of Europe.[3]

[Footnote 3: See _ante_, pp. 252, 254.
(Ch. IX, Footnote 58; Intro. Note to Ch. X)]

[Pageheading: ILLNESS OF DUKE OF WELLINGTON]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_2nd February 1841._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty. Lord
Melbourne will be happy to wait upon your Majesty on Thursday,
Saturday and Sunday, but he finds that there is to be a Cabinet dinner
to-morrow.

Lord Melbourne will speak to Lord Palmerston about Lord John Russell.

Lord Melbourne does not see the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury
as a subscriber to this "Parker" Society, and if your Majesty will
give him leave, he will ask him about it before he gives your Majesty
an answer. It is in some degree a party measure, and levelled against
these new Oxford doctrines. The proposal is to republish the works of
the older divines up to the time of the death of Queen Elizabeth. Up
to that period the doctrines of the Church of England were decidedly
Calvinistic. During the reign of James II.,[4] and particularly after
the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), the English clergy very generally
adopted _Arminian_ opinions.

It is proposed to republish the works of the divines who wrote during
the first period, and to stop short when they come to the second.
There is meaning in this. But, after all, the object is not a bad one,
and it may not be worth while to consider it so closely.

[Footnote 4: Lord Melbourne must have meant James I.]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

_5th February 1841 (6 o'clock)._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and is very
sorry to have to acquaint your Majesty that the Duke of Wellington was
taken ill in the House of Lords this evening with a seizure, probably
paralytic, and of the same nature with those which he has had before.
Lord Brougham, who was standing opposite to the Duke and addressing
the House, observed the Duke's face to be drawn and distorted, and
soon afterwards the Duke rose from his seat and walked staggeringly
towards the door. He walked down the gallery, supported on each side,
but never spoke. A medical man was procured to attend him; he was
placed in his carriage and driven home....

[Pageheading: THE UNITED STATES]

_Lord John Russell