little letter of the
30th. I have ever had the care and affection of a _real father_ for
you, and it has perhaps even been freer from many drawbacks which
occasionally will exist betwixt parents and children, be they ever
so well and affectionately together. With me, even from the moment in
January 1820, when I was called by a messenger to Sidmouth, my care
for you has been unremitting, and never has there been a cloud between
us.... A thing which often strikes me, in a very satisfactory manner,
is that we never had any bitter words, a thing which happens even with
people who are very lovingly together; and the little row which we
had in 1838 you remember well, and do not now think that _I_
was wrong.[11] _De pareilles relations sont rares; may they ever
continue!_

I cannot leave this more serious topic without adding that though you
were always warm-hearted and right-minded, it must strike yourself how
matured every kind and good feeling is in your generous heart. _The
heart, and not the head, is the safest guide in positions like yours_,
and this not only for this earthly and very short life, but for that
which we must hope for hereafter. When a life draws nearer its close,
how many earthly concerns are there that appear _still in the same
light_? and how clearly the mind is struck that nothing has been and
is still of _real_ value, than the nobler and better feelings of the
heart; the only good we can hope to keep as a precious store for the
future. What do we keep of youth, beauty, richness, power, and even
the greatest extent of earthly possessions? NOTHING! ... Your truly
devoted Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Footnote 11: _See_ Letters of Queen Victoria and the King of
the Belgians, _ante_, vol. i. pp. 116-120.]

[Pageheading: HONOURS FOR LORD ELLENBOROUGH]

_Sir Robert Peel to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _5th May 1844._

Sir Robert Peel, with his humble duty to your Majesty, and believing
that he is acting in accordance with your Majesty's own opinion,
begs leave to submit to your Majesty that it may be advisable that he
should by the present mail inform Lord Ellenborough that it is your
Majesty's intention to confer on him, at a very early period, as a
mark of your Majesty's approval of Lord Ellenborough's conduct and
services in India, the rank of an Earl and the Grand Cross of the
Bath.

Lord Ellenborough may be at liberty (should your Majesty approve) to
notify this publicly in India--and