nser que l'heureuse direction que
la Princesse votre excellente et bien aimee Mere a si sagement donnee
a votre jeune age, vous met a portee de supporter dignement le grand
fardeau qui vous est echu. Je fais les v[oe]ux les plus sinceres pour
que la Providence benisse votre Regne, et qu'il soit une epoque de
bonheur et de prosperite pour les peuples que vous etes appelee a
gouverner. Puissiez-vous aussi jouir longtemps de tout le bonheur
personnel que je vous souhaite du fond de mon c[oe]ur. Je serai
toujours bien empresse de manifester a votre Majeste tous les
sentiments d'attachement et d'affection que je lui porte. Qu'elle
me permette d'y ajouter l'expression de la haute estime et de
l'inviolable amitie avec lesquelles je ne cesserai d'etre, Madame ma
S[oe]ur, de votre Majeste Le Bon Frere,

LOUIS PHILIPPE R.

[Footnote 55: In 1799 the Duke of Kent was Commander-in-Chief
in British North America.]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _23rd June 1837._

MY BELOVED CHILD,--Your new dignities will not change or increase
my old affection for you; may Heaven assist you, and may I have the
_happiness of being able to be of use to you_, and to contribute to
those successes in your new career for which I am so anxious. Your
letter of the 19th, written very shortly before the important event
took place, gave me _great satisfaction_; it showed me a temper of
mind well calculated for the occasion. To see the difficulties of the
task without shrinking from them or feeling alarm, and to meet them
with courage, is the way to succeed. I have often seen that the
_confidence_ of success has been the _cause of the success itself_,
and you will do well to _preserve_ that sentiment.

I have been most happy to learn that the swearing in of the Council
passed so well. The Declaration in the newspapers I find simple and
appropriate. The translation in the papers says, "_J'ai ete eleves en
Angleterre._" 1. I should advise to say as often as possible that you
are _born_ in England. George III. _gloried_ in this, and as _none_
of your cousins are born in England, it is your interest _de faire
reporter cela fortement_. 2. You never can say too much in praise of
your country and its inhabitants. Two nations in Europe are really
almost ridiculous in their own exaggerated praises of themselves;
these are the English and the French. Your being very national is
highly important, and as you happen to be born