e 7: Lord Canning had written that he thought it would
be best to adhere to the precise titles already in use in
India, and that they should be at the direct disposal of the
Queen's Representative, without reference to the Crown. He did
not recommend that titles should be hereditary (except in
very special cases), in a country where primogeniture was
not established. As to the proposed Order of Knighthood, Lord
Canning thought that the institution of such an Order would
be both expedient and opportune. He recommended that it should
include both British-born and Native subjects.]

[Pageheading: THE QUEEN AND HER MINISTERS]

_Queen Victoria to Viscount Palmerston._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _10th February 1860_.

The Queen sends a letter to Lord Palmerston which she has received
yesterday evening from Lord John Russell.[8] She is induced to do
so from a feeling that it is to Lord Palmerston, as head of the
Government, that she has to look, when she may have reason to take
exception to the tone of communications she may receive from members
of his Cabinet. Lord Palmerston will not fail to perceive that the
enclosed is not the kind of communication which the Foreign Secretary
ought to make, when asked by his Sovereign to explain the views of the
Cabinet upon a question so important and momentous as the annexation
of Savoy to France, and the steps which they propose to take with
regard to it. She need not remind Lord Palmerston that in her letter
communicated to the Cabinet she had given no opinion whatever upon
Italian liberation from a foreign yoke, nor need she protest against
a covert insinuation, such as is contained in Lord John's letter, that
she is no well-wisher of mankind and indifferent to its freedom and
happiness. But she must refer to the constitutional position of her
Ministers towards herself. They are responsible for the advice they
gave her, but they are bound fully, respectfully, and openly to place
before her the grounds and reasons upon which their advice may be
founded, to enable her to judge whether she can give her assent to
that advice or not. The Government must come to a standstill if
the Minister meets a demand for explanation with an answer like the
following: "I was asked by the Cabinet to give an answer, but as I do
not agree with you, I think it useless to explain my views."

The Queen must demand that respect which is due from a Minister to his
Soverei