QUEEN VICTORIA AND CANADA

NOTES

• Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.I. (London, 1966 edn.); C. Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria: from her birth to the death of the Prince Consort (New York, 1973); L. Strachey, Queen Victoria (London, 1924 edn.); F. Hardie, The political influence of Queen Victoria 1861–1901 (London, 1938 edn.), esp. p. 174.
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• W. Bagehot, The English constitution, ed. H. Crossman (London, 1963 edn.), p. 111.
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• P. Ziegler, King William IV (London, 1973 edn.), pp. 274–275.
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• Prince Albert to Earl Grey, 3 August 1846, in A. C. Benson and Lord Esher (eds.), The letters of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's correspondence between the years 1837 and 1861. 3 vols. (London, 1968 edn.), ii, p. 94, cited as QVL(1). Also in M. Jagow, trs. T. S. Dugdale, Letters of the Prince Consort 1831–1861 (London, 1938). p. 105.
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• University of Nottingham, Newcastle Papers, NeC 12729, Queen Victoria to Newcastle, 18 January 1860.
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• Longford, Victoria R. I., pp. 602–603; Galt to Macdonald, private, 16 May 1683, in J. Pope, Correspondence of Sir John Macdonald (New York edn., 1921). pp. 299–300. The Queen's support is clear from G. E. Buckle, The letters of Queen Victoria, second series, third volume (London, 1928), H. Ponsonby to Lord Derby, 10 May 1883, p. 442.
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• Public Record Office, CO 42/610, minutes by Blackwood, 3 July 1857, fo. 157. On leave in England in 1857, Sir Edmund Head attended a Palace ball where “Her Majesty & Prince Albert both spoke to me very graciously on the subject of Canada.” D. G. G. Kerr, Sir Edmund Head: a scholarly governor (Toronto, 1954), p. 176.
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• Royal Archives, journal of Queen Victoria (typescript), 12 October 1837 [cited as Journal]. Material in the Royal Archives is quoted by gracious permission of H. M. the Queen.
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• Lord Esher, The girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries between the years 1832 and 1840, 2 vols. (London, 1912), i. pp. 246–247 (22 December 1837) [cited as Girlhood].
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• Girlhood, i. pp. 251–252 (4 January 1838).
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• QVL(i), i, pp. 98–99, Queen Victoria to Melbourne, 28 December 1837.
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• Lady Dorchester (ed.), Recollections of a long life by Lord Broughton, 6 vols. (London, 1909–1911), v, pp. 117–118 (27 January 1838). quoting Public Record Office, CO 42/444, Head to Glenelg, private and confidential, [19 December 1837], fos. 15–16.
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• Royal Archives, Journal, 27 January 1838.
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• Girlhood, i, pp. 277–278 (9 February 1838).
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• QVL(i), i, pp. 103–104, Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 14 January 1838.
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• Ibid., p. 104, Queen Victoria to Melbourne, 15 January 1838.
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• For the delays in the Durham mission, see Ged Martin, The Durham Report and British policy (Cambridge, 1972). pp. 21–23.
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• Royal Archives, Journal, 4 April 1838.
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• Girlhood, ii, p. 3 (2 September 1838).
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• Royal Archives, Journal, 20 May 1838.
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• QVL(i), p. 133, Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 12 November 1838.
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• Ibid., pp. 136–137, Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 8 December 1838. Again, this was no mere formality. Durham was “much hurt and vexed” at the government's rebuke to his proclamation of resignation, which expressed the Queen's displeasure. Lady Durham resigned her court post, and much of the Durham Report was addressed directly to the Queen.
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• Royal Archives, RA/A1/198, Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 25 October 1838.
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• Ibid., RA/B3/14, Stanley to Queen Victoria, 6 September 1841.
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• Ibid., RA/A4/5 Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 8 September 1841.
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• Ibid., RA/A11/18, Queen Victoria to Peel, 9 September 1841.
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• Ibid., RA/A11/25, Peel to Queen Victoria, 10 September 1841.
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• Ibid., RA/A4/8, Melbourne to Queen Victoria, 11 September 1841. Melbourne had opposed the grant of a peerage to Bagot in 1831. P. Ziegler, Melbourne: a biography of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (London, 1976), pp. 143–144.
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• Ziegler, Melbourne, pp. 343–348.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B6/27, Stanley to Queen Victoria, 19 January 1843.
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• QVL(i), pp. 4–47, Queen Victoria to Stanley, 2 November 1845, draft in Royal Archives, RA/B9/152, in Prince Albert's handwriting. There is a hint in this of the theory which Stockmar was to put to the Queen in 1854: that ministers might come and go, but she was the “permanent premier.” Longford, op. cit., p. 300.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B9/155, Stanley to Queen Victoria, 7 December 1845.
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• Ibid., RA/C44/34, Stanley to Queen Victoria, 11 December 1845.
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• Ibid., RA/B9/167, Gladstone to Queen Victoria, 27 December 1845; RA/B9/170, same to same, 2 January 1846.
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• QVL(i), ii, p. 94, Prince Albert to Earl Grey, 3 August 1846, also in Jagow, Letters, p. 105. Russell, the incoming prime minister, had agreed on 31 July that “you cannot have a better Governor of Canada than Lord Elgin” and the Queen had been “very gracious” in approving a change. On 3 August Grey submitted a draft letter offering Elgin the post for Russell's approval, adding “you will see by the Prince's letter which accompanies this that the Queen wd. like it.” Russell approved, but the letter was also shown to the Queen, since it held out hopes that Elgin, a Scottish peer, would receive a British title as a reward for service. University of Durham, Grey Papers, Russell to Grey, confidential, 31 July 1846, diary of third Earl Grey, 31 July, 3, 4 August 1846; Public Record Office, Russell Papers, PRO 30/22/5B, Grey to Russell, 3 August 1846, fos. 614–615.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B13/97, Newcastle to Queen Victoria, 31 May 1854.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/62, Newcastle to Queen Victoria, 8 August 1861.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/63, Newcastle to Queen Victoria, 27 August 1861. Correspondence in RA/B19 suggests that the duke was a personal favorite.
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• QVL(i), iii, p. 190, Queen Victoria to Labouchere, 14 May 1856. Labouchere had tried to secure Elgin, Monck or Chandos to be governor of Victoria, before suggesting James Wilson, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, whom the Queen vetoed as insufficiently distinguished. Labouchere's next suggestion, Edward Deas Thomson, who was about to be ousted from the post of Colonial Secretary in New South Wales was also vetoed, on the grounds that the Governor was the only remaining link between Britain and the self-governing colonies, and the post must therefore be held by an Englishman—a view which George V was to advance against the appointment of Sir Isaac lsaacs as governor-general of Australia in 1930. The Queen had, however, approved the appointment of Francis Hincks as governor of Barbados the previous year, accepting Molesworth's argument that' “this selection of an eminent colonist for a high Imperial Post will give satisfaction to Your Majesty's Colonial Subjects.” QVL(i), iii, pp. 190–191, Royal Archives, RA/P22/18–22, and RA/P22/11, Molesworth to Queen Victoria, 4 September 1855. Cf. Harold Nicholson, King George V: his life and reign (London, 1952). pp. 477–482. Chandos, who had become duke of Buckingham, was offered Canada before Monck in 1861.
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• G. E. Buckle(ed.), The letters of Queen Victoria: second series: a selection from Her Majesty's correspondence and journal between the years 1862 and 1878, 2 vols. (London, 1926). i, p. 250, quoting journal for 12 February 1865, cited as QVL(ii), with third volume, continuation to 1885, published 1928.
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• This theory apparently stems from a flowery remark by Disraeli, made appropriately to the Saxon minister in London, which Lytton Strachey magnified. Robert Blake, Disraeli (London, 1966). p. 431; Strachey, Queen Victoria, pp. 190–192. Despite its frequent protestations against rumors of the Prince's influence, the sheer bulk of Sir Theodore Martin's Life of the Prince Consort (5 vols., London, 1875–1880) and its obvious royal inspiration gave some color to the theory. Roger Fulford, The Prince Consort (London, 1949), pp. 275–277 cautiously endorses Strachey's argument, but despite her title, Daphne Bennett, King without a crown: Albert, Prince Consort of England 1819–1861 (London, 1977), pp. 377–378, places him firmly in the constitutional camp, as did F. Eyck, The Prince Consort: a political biography (London, 1959), pp. 253–257.
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• Public Archives of Canada, Derby Papers, microfilm A-30, Prince Albert to Stanley, 20 May 1843.
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• Ibid., Prince Albert to Stanley, 31 May 1843.
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• Anson served the Prince from 1840 to 1849. Albert had originally resisted his appointment since Anson was closely associated with the Whigs, but long before Anson's sudden death their relationship had become close.
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• Royal Archives, RA/Y/55/13, memorandum by George Anson, 31 May 1843.
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• Public Archives of Canada, Derby Papers, A-30, Prince Albert to Stanley, 2 June 1843.
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• Royal Archives, RA/M51/180, Prince Albert to Stanley (? copy), 20 August 1843.
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• QVL(i), ii, p. 94, Prince Albert to Earl Grey, 3 August 1846, also in Jagow, op. cit., p. 105.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B/10/174, Earl Grey to Queen Victoria, 15 February 1848. The letter was probably Elgin to Grey, private, 22 January 1848, in A. G. Doughty (ed.), The Elgin-Grey Papers, 4 vols. (Ottawa, 1937), i, pp. 118–120.
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• Grey told Elgin that he had sent his letter of 4 May 1848 (Ibid., i, private, pp. 148–150) “to the Queen as I thought it cd not fail to interest & to gratify her as it contains so very satisfactory an account of the working of a judicious system of policy properly & firmly acted upon.” This seems to have been the first intimation given to Elgin that his often forthright private correspondence might be so used. Grey to Elgin, private, 1 June 1848, ibid., i, pp. 164–165.
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• Prince Albert to Palmerston, 9 August 1846, Jagow, op. cit., pp. 105–106.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B11/29, Earl Grey to Queen Victoria, 2 May 1849.
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• Ibid., RA/B11/39, Earl Grey to Queen Victoria, 15 May 1849; RA/B11/47, same to same, 22 May 1849.
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• Ibid., RA/B11/49, Earl Grey to Queen Victoria, 29 May 1849. Russell reported two weeks later on the Commons defeat of Gladstone's attempt to secure British intervention against the Rebellion Losses Act. “This decisive majority will put an end to the hope of the minority in Canada that they shall be supported at home. But serious events may follow.” RA/A20/61, Russell to Queen Victoria, 16 June 1849.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/1, Earl Grey to Queen Victoria, 21 January 1851.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/4, Prince Albert to Earl Grey, 26 January 1851.
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• Ibid., RA/M54/102, Lytton to Prince Albert, 9 September 1858, copy in Hertfordshire County Record Office, Lytton Papers, D/EK 01.
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• Royal Archives, RA/M54/106, Lytton to Prince Albert, 11 November 1858.
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• Hertfordshire County Record Office, Lytton Papers, D/EK 024, Prince Albert to Lytton, 10 July 1858.
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• QVL(i), iii, p. 189, Queen Victoria to Lord Hardinge, 21 April 1856.
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• Public Record Office, Carnarvon Papers, PRO 30/6/144, Carnarvon to General Grey, 4 May 1866, Grey to Carnarvon, 5 May 1866, fos. 27–30.
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• Ibid., PRO 30/6/149, Carnarvon to Michel (copy), 15 December 1866, fos. 61–63.
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• Ibid. fos. 8, 10, 14.
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• G. B. Browne (ed.), Documents on the Confederation of British North America (Toronto, 1969), p. 165. The resolution was in fact added to the Quebec scheme at a subsequent meeting in Montreal.
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• Kerr, Sir Edmund Head, pp. 171–172.
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/39, memorandum by Prince Albert, 27 October 1857. W. G. Ormsby points out that Charles Grey, the Prince's secretary in 1857, had visited Bytown (Ottawa) in 1839, and thought it “intended from its magnificent situation, finer in my opinion than that of Quebec, to be the first place in British North America.” William Ormsby (ed.), Crisis in the canadas: 1838–1839. The Grey journals and letters (Toronto, 1964), p. 221, and n.
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/42, Labouchere to Queen Victoria, 30 October 1857.
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• Kerr, op. cit., p. 177.
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/36, Labouchere to Queen Victoria, 16 October 1857, with enclosures, RA/P22/, 37–38. Cf. Kerr, op. cit., p. 173.
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• Kerr, op. cit., pp. 177–178.
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• The Times, 4 April 1857. (“The Queen has been invited to discharge one of the most interesting and poetical duties of empire, and one of very rare occurrence.”).
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• Royal Archives, RA/P/22/46, Labouchere to Prince Albert, 16 May 1858.
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• D. G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald; vol. i: the young politician (Toronto, 1952), p. 265.
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• Ged Martin, “The naming of British Columbia”, Albion, x, 1978, pp. 257–263.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B17/13, Lytton to Queen Victoria, 24 June 1858; Hertfordshire County Record Office, Lytton Papers, D/EK 027, Queen Victoria to Lytton, 27 June 1858.
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• Royal Archives, RA/B17/54, Lytton to Queen Victoria, 23 July 1858; RA/B17/55, Queen Victoria to Lytton, copy, 24 July 1858.
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• Ibid., RA/B17/56, Lytton to Queen Victoria, 25 July 1858; RA/B17/57, Queen Victoria to Lytton, copy, 26 July 1858.
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• Margaret A. Ormsby, British Columbia: a history (Toronto, 1958). pp. 174–175.
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• QVL(i), ii, 225; RA/P22/53, Lytton to Queen Victoria, 24 April 1859, arid note by Queen Victoria.
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• Creighton, Macdonald, i, p. 463. Thanking the Queen for her kindness to Macdonald in 1884, the governor-general, Lord Lansdowne, thought it “very desirable that advantage should be taken, as your Majesty has taken it on this occasion, of every opportunity of showing attention to Colonial Statesmen. They are quick both to notice a slight and to appreciate a kindness.” QVL(ii), iii, Lansdowne to Queen Victoria, 21 December 1884, pp. 584–585.
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• Grey to Elgin, 14 June 1849, in Doughty (ed.), Elgin-Grey Papers, i, pp. 359–361.
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• D. C. Thomson, Alexander Mackenzie: Clear Grit (Toronto, 1960), p. 240.
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• W. L. Morton (ed.), Monck letters and journals 1863–1868: Canada from Government House at Confederation (Toronto, 1970), journal of Frances Monck, 4 November 1864, p. 166.
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• Galt to Mrs. Galt, 5 November 1858, in O. D. Skelton (ed. G. MacLean), Life and times of Alexander Tilloch Galt (Toronto, 1966 edn.), p. 101.
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• D. G. Creighton, John A. Macdonald, vol. ii: the old chieftain (Toronto, 1955). pp. 272–273. In 1884 the Queen called Macdonald “an interesting, agreeable old man.” QVL(ii), iii, p. 583 (journal, 24 November 1884). The Queen “expressed her great gratification” at the result of the 1891 elections. Creighton, Macdonald, ii, p. 558.
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• I am grateful to Miss Jane Langton of the Royal Archives for correcting the very loose account of J. Castell Hopkins, Life and work of the Rt. Hon. Sir John Thompson (Toronto, 1895). pp. 438–445.
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• Morton (ed.), Monck letters and journals, journal of Frances Monck, 6 February 1865, p. 220.
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• E. W. Watkin, Canada and the States: recollections 1851 to 1886 (London, n.d.), p. 499. Proximity to royalty had a similar effect on Laurier; Joseph Schull, Laurier: the first Canadian (Toronto, 1966), p. 355.
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• Public Archives of Canada, Monck Papers, microfilm A-755, Cardwell to Monck, quite private, 6 January 1865.
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/97, Monck to Cardwell, copy (with omissions), private, 14 November 1864.
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• Galt to Mrs. Galt, 30 May 1865, in Skelton (ed. MacLean), Galt, pp. 168–169; Public Archives of Canada, Brown Papers, MG 24 B40, vol. 5, George Brown to Anne Brown, 3 June 1865, pp. 1282–1286.
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• The presentation is described in Galt to Mrs. Galt, 17 May 1865. in Skelton (ed. Mac-Lean), op. cit., pp. 165–166; Public Archives of Canada, Brown Papers, MG24 B40, vol. 5, George Brown to Anne Brown, 18 May 1865, pp. 1257–1261.
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/104, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 24 December 1864.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/95, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 11 November 1864.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/105, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 2 January 1865.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/109, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 3 February 1865.
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• Ibid., RA/P22/100, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 21 January 1865
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• QVL(ii), i, p. 250 (Journal, 12 February 1865).
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• Royal Archives, RA/P22/109, Monck to Cardwell. copy, private, 3 February 1865.
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• Ibid., RA/P23/21, Monck to Cardwell, copy, private, 16 April 1866.
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• Public Record Office, Carnarvon Papers, PRO 30/6/144, General Grey to Carnarvon, private, 15 November 1866, fos. 72–73. Grey, who had been Prince Albert's secretary, acted as such for the Queen until his formal appointment in 1867.
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• Ibid., fos. 114–115(19 January 1867).
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• Ibid., Carnarvon to Grey (copy), 23 November 1866, fos. 95–96.
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• The correspondence is in Royal Archives, RA/B23/16–22, QVL(ii), i, pp. 392–394; PRO 30/6/144, fos. 136–154, and covers 4–9 February 1867.
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• Public Record Office, Carnarvon Papers, PRO 30/6/144, Carnarvon to Grey (copy), 12 February (copy), 21 February; Grey to Carnarvon, 14, 22 February, fos. 160, 166–170. Galt was to receive a later mark of royal favor. In 1880 he returned to London as Canada's first high commissioner. Galt's second wife was the sister of his first, a marriage which English law did not then recognize. The Prince of Wales intervened and persuaded the Queen that Lady Galt could be presented, as the marriage had been legal in the United States where it had been contracted. Skelton (ed. MacLean), op. cit., pp. 260–261; Creighton, op. cit., ii, pp. 290–291.
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• Public Record Office, Carnarvon Papers, PRO 30/6/141, Fisher to Carnarvon, 21, 25 February 1867, fos. 90–91, 94–95.
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• Royal Archives, Journal, 27 February 1867.
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• P. B. Waite, “Sir Oliver Mowat's Canada: reflections on an un-Victorian society” in D. Swainson (ed.), Oliver Mowat's Ontario (Toronto, 1972). pp. 12–32.
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• Winston Churchill to Lady Randolph Churchill, 22 January 1901, in R. S. Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, vol. i: Youth 1874–1900 (London, 1966). pp. 545–546.
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