e Queen cannot see the difference between the one and
the other.

[Pageheading: CIVIL LIST PENSIONS]

_The Earl of Aberdeen to Queen Victoria._

LONDON, _1st September 1854._

Lord Aberdeen, with his humble duty, begs to lay before your Majesty
the pensions proposed to be granted on the Civil List at this time.
The only case requiring any special remark is that of the children
of Lord Nelson's adopted daughter. There seems little doubt that the
person referred to was really Lord Nelson's daughter, according to
evidence recently produced, and was recommended by him to the care of
the country, just before the battle of Trafalgar.[49]

A numerous party in the House of Commons wished that your Majesty's
Government should propose a special vote for this person and her
family; but the Cabinet thought that it would give rise to much
scandal and disagreeable debate, and finally recommended Lord Aberdeen
to place the three daughters on the Pension List. The circumstances of
the case are, no doubt, very peculiar; and although Lord Aberdeen does
not feel perfectly satisfied with the course pursued, he thinks it
very desirable to avoid the sort of Parliamentary debates to which the
discussion of such a subject would necessarily give rise.

[Footnote 49: Horatia, daughter of Nelson and Lady Hamilton,
was born on the 29th of January 1801, and married in 1822 the
Rev. Philip Ward of Tenterden. She died in 1881.]

_The Emperor of the French to Queen Victoria._[50]

BOULOGNE, _le 8 Septembre 1854._

MADAME ET BONNE S[OE]UR,--La presence du digne epoux de votre Majeste
au milieu d'un camp francais est un fait d'une grande signification
politique, puisqu'il prouve l'union intime des deux pays: mais j'aime
mieux aujourd'hui ne pas envisager le cote politique de cette visite
et vous dire sincerement combien j'ai ete heureux de me trouver
pendant quelques jours avec un Prince aussi accompli, un homme doue de
qualites si seduisantes et de connaissances si profondes. Il peut
etre convaincu d'emporter avec lui mes sentiments de haute estime et
d'amitie. Mais plus il m'a ete donne d'apprecier le Prince Albert,
plus je dois etre touche de la bienveillance qu'a eue votre Majeste de
s'en separer pour moi quelque jours.

Je remercie votre Majeste de l'admirable lettre qu'elle a bien
voulu m'ecrire et des choses affectueuses qu'elle contenait pour
l'Imperatrice. Je me suis empresse de lui en faire part et elle y