t assured that he will
always speak to your Majesty without scruple or reserve, and that he
will never ask anything of your Majesty, or ever make a suggestion,
which he does not consider to be for your Majesty's service and
advantage. Lord Melbourne is of opinion that his visits to the Palace
should not only avoid exciting suspicion and uneasiness in your
Majesty's present advisers, a result of which he has very little
apprehension, but they should not be so frequent as to attract public
notice, comment, and observation, of which he would be more fearful.
A public rumour, however unfounded and absurd, has more force in this
country than objections which have in them more of truth and reality.
Upon these grounds, and as your Majesty will probably not see much
company at present, and the parties therefore will be a good deal
confined to the actual Household, Lord Melbourne thinks it would
perhaps be as well if he were not again to dine at the Palace at
present.

The course which it may be prudent to take hereafter will depend very
much upon that which cannot now be foreseen, namely, upon the general
course which will be taken by politics and political parties. In this
Lord Melbourne does not at present discern his way, and he will
not therefore hazard opinions which would not be founded upon any
certainty, and might be liable to immediate change and alteration.

[Pageheading: STOCKMAR'S ADVICE]

[Pageheading: STOCKMAR'S EXPOSTULATIONS]

_Memorandum: Baron Stockmar to Viscount Melbourne._

_23 November 1841._

The apprehension which haunts me since my return to England is well
known to you. It was my intention to have written to you upon it some
time hereafter, but the contents of a certain letter, sent by you just
before your departure, accelerates the execution of my design. From
your own expressions used some time back, I was led to expect that you
would be glad to take advantage _of any fair opportunity_ which might
contribute towards that devoutly to be wished for object, viz., to let
a certain correspondence die a natural death. You may easily conceive
how much I felt disappointed when I heard that you had written
again, without a challenge, and that, without apparent cause, you had
volunteered the promise to write from time to time. This happens at
a moment when _your_ harassing apprehension received new life and
strength from two incidents which I think it my duty to make known to
you, and of which