Lucan (who had been given the
command of a Regiment), Lord Cardigan, Inspector of Cavalry,
Sir Richard Airey, Quartermaster-General, and Colonel Gordon,
Deputy Quartermaster-General. Lord Panmure wrote on the 17th
of February that the Government recommended the appointment
of a Commission of Enquiry, consisting of General Sir Howard
Douglas and six other high military officers. The Commission
sat at Chelsea, and made its report in July, exonerating the
officers censured.]

[Footnote 13: The Convention of Cintra was concluded on
the 30th of August 1808. It was founded on the basis of an
armistice agreed upon between Sir Arthur Wellesley and General
Kellerman, on the day after the battle of Vimiera, and some of
its provisions were considered too favourable to the French. A
Board of Enquiry, under the presidency of Sir David Dundas,
in the first instance exculpated the British officers; but the
Government having instructed the members of the Board to give
their opinions individually, four were found to approve and
three to disapprove the armistice and convention.]

[Pageheading: THE EMPEROR'S CORDIALITY]

_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._

PARIS, _18th February 1856_.

Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that he dined last night at the Tuileries, and had a
conversation of two hours with the Emperor, which was in all respects
satisfactory. On no occasion has Lord Clarendon heard the Emperor
express himself more warmly or with greater determination in favour
of the Alliance, and H.M. entirely concurred with Lord Clarendon, that
upon the perfect understanding between the two Governments, and the
conviction on the part of others that the Alliance was not to be
shaken, depended the facility with which negotiations might be
conducted, and the terms on which peace would be made. Lord Clarendon
spoke with the utmost frankness about the flattery that had been
and would continue to be addressed to His Majesty, and the contrast
perpetually drawn between England and France, to the disparagement of
the former, for the purpose of disturbing the relations between them;
but that your Majesty and your Majesty's Government had always treated
these tricks with contempt, because the confidence in the Emperor's
honour and loyalty was complete. Lord Clarendon dwelt particularly
upon the feelings of your Ma