emy of the
opposite Party.[18]

The Queen thanks Lord Palmerston for his zeal about Portugal, which
is really in an alarming state.[19] She sends herewith the last letter
which she received from the King of Portugal. The Queen is sorry to
have lost the opportunity of seeing Marshal Saldanha.

[Footnote 18: On the 18th of July Lord Palmerston wrote his
celebrated despatch to Mr Bulwer, and unfortunately showed
a copy of it to Jarnac, the French Ambassador in London. The
mention of Prince Leopold in it, as a possible candidate for
the Queen of Spain's hand, gave the French King and Minister
the opportunity they wanted, and brought matters to a crisis.
See _Life of the Prince Consort_, vol. i. chap. xvii.;
Dalling's _Life of Lord Palmerston,_ vol. iii. chaps. vii. and
viii.]

[Footnote 19: Owing to the insurrection, a run took place on
the Bank of Lisbon. The Ministry (in which Saldanha was War
Minister) had some difficulty in raising a loan.]

[Pageheading: THE PREROGATIVE OF DISSOLUTION]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE HOUSE, _16th July 1846._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell's communication of yesterday,
and sincerely hopes that Lord John's sugar measure[20] may be such
that the Committee of the Cabinet, as well as the whole Cabinet and
_Parliament_, may concur in it, which would save the country another
struggle this year. The Queen trusts, moreover, that late experience
and good sense may induce the West Indians to be moderate and
accommodating. As Lord John touches in his letter on the possibility
of a Dissolution, the Queen thinks it right to put Lord John in
possession of her views upon this subject _generally_. She considers
the power of dissolving Parliament a most valuable and powerful
instrument in the hands of the Crown, but which ought not to be used
except in extreme cases and with a certainty of success. To use this
instrument and be defeated is a thing most lowering to the Crown
and hurtful to the country. The Queen strongly feels that she made
a mistake in allowing the Dissolution in 1841; the result has been a
majority returned against her of nearly one hundred votes; but suppose
the result to have been nearly an equality of votes between the two
contending parties, the Queen would have thrown away her last remedy,
and it would have been impossible for her to get any Government which
could have carried on public bus