then
the civilisation of Europe would be delivered up to the play of winds;
right will then no longer find a champion, the oppressed will find no
longer an umpire.

Let not your Majesty believe that what has been said in this letter
is aimed at persuading you to change your resolves; it flows from the
affectionate heart of a sister, who could not pardon herself, were she
not, at so weighty a moment, to let you see into her inmost soul. So
little is it my intention to desire to win you over to our view, that
nothing has grieved me more than the suspicion, expressed in your name
by General von der Groeben, that England had desired to seduce you from
your purpose by opening a prospect of advantages to be gained. The
baselessness of such a supposition is evident from the Treaty itself
which had been offered to you, and whose most important clause
consisted in the promise of the contracting parties, _not to desire in
any case to derive from the War any advantage for themselves_.

Your Majesty could not have given a more powerful proof of your
unselfishness than by the very fact of attaching your signature to
this Treaty.

To come to a close. You suppose that War may already have been
declared; you express, however, at the same time, the hope that it may
not already have actually broken out. I cannot unfortunately hold out
any hope that the sentence will be followed by any stay of execution.
Shakespeare's words:

"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee,"

are deeply engraved on the hearts of all Englishmen. Sad that they
are to find an application at this crisis, in a nation with whom
previously nothing prevailed but friendship and affection! And how
much more melancholy must be the present emotions of your Majesty's
heart and mind to see such words applied to a beloved brother-in-law,
whom yet--however much you love him--your conscience cannot absolve
from the crime of having brought upon the world wilfully and
frivolously such awful misery!

May the Almighty take you under His protection!

With Albert's most cordial compliments, and our united greetings
to the dear Queen, I remain, my much honoured Sir and Brother, your
Majesty's faithful Sister and Friend,

VICTORIA R.[22]

[Footnote 22: The King afterwards agreed to the proposed
protocol for the preservation of the integrity of Turkey,
which was signed at Vienna o