ive rise to erroneous
impressions and would be of an equivocal character. The fall of
Sebastopol would in fact be the conquest of the Crimea, and the Allies
might winter there with perfect security, as, by occupying the
lines of Perekop,[53] any access to the Crimea would effectually be
prevented by land. Lord Aberdeen thought that with a view to peace,
and the restitution of the Crimea to Russia, it would be more easy
for the Emperor to accept the destruction of the fortifications when
accomplished, than to agree to any stipulation having such an object.

On the whole, Lord Aberdeen was inclined to think that if the place
should not be at once destroyed, it might be better to preserve it in
its present state, until the matter should be further considered.
The Allies would always have it in their power to act as they thought
best, and the question might in some degree be affected by future
events. The great objection to leaving the matter undecided for the
present appeared to be from the possibility of differences hereafter
between France and England upon the subject. After the astounding
proposition made to Lord Raglan by the French Generals when actually
embarked and at sea, it would be well to leave nothing in doubt. The
Turks, too, might perhaps desire to have a voice in the matter, and
might become troublesome....

[Footnote 52: Mr (afterwards Sir) Robert Gilmour Colquhoun
(1803-1870), Agent and Consul-General at Bucharest.]

[Footnote 53: A district on the isthmus of Crimea, guarded by
a wall and a ditch, the name meaning "Cross-ditch." The whole
isthmus is now often called Perekop.]

[Pageheading: INDIAN AFFAIRS]

[Pageheading: INDIA AND RUSSIA]

_The Marquis of Dalhousie to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, _2nd October 1854._

The Governor-General presents his most humble duty to your Majesty,
and begs to offer his respectful thanks for the very gracious manner
in which your Majesty has been pleased to acknowledge the offer he has
made to retain still the Government of India during the ensuing year.

The Governor-General does not affect to say that he makes no sacrifice
in so doing. Many things unite to warn him that it is time he were
gone: and his family circumstances, in which your Majesty has long
shown so gracious an interest, have rendered the prospect of his
remaining longer absent from England a source of much anxiety and
perplexity to him. But he felt that this