ans._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _25th May 1838._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I am most thankful for your very kind letter, and
for the beautiful little sword, which delights me.

I have been dancing till past four o'clock this morning; we have had a
charming ball, and I have spent the happiest birthday that I have had
for many years; oh, _how_ different to last year! Everybody was so
kind and so friendly to me.

We have got a number of Austrians and Milanese here, among whom are
a Prince Odescalchi, and a Count Eugene Zichy, renowned for his
magnificent _turquoises_ and his famous valzing, a good-natured
_elegant_; we have also Esterhazy's daughter Marie--now Countess
Chorinsky--a Count and Countess Grippa, and a Marquis and Marchioness
of Trivalzi, etc.

Old Talleyrand[16] is at last dead. I hear he showed wonderful
composure and firmness to the last. He was one of those people who I
thought never would die. Did you know what Pozzo said to somebody here
about him? He said he (Talleyrand) would not die yet, "_parce que le
Diable ne voulait pas l'avoir_."

[Footnote 16: Died 17th May, aged eighty-four.]

[Pageheading: INDEPENDENCE OF BELGIUM]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

LAEKEN, _2nd June 1838._

... I have not all this time touched on our affairs, from motives of
_great discretion_, but as the battle draws nigh,[17] I cannot very
well help writing a few words on the subject. I found an Article in
the French _Constitutionnel_ which paints our position in pretty true
colours. As it is not very long, I beg you to have the goodness to
read it. You have given me so many proofs of affection, and your kind
speech at Windsor is so fresh in my memory, that it would be _very
wrong_ in me to think that in so short a time, and without any cause,
those feelings which are so _precious_ to me could have changed. This
makes me appeal to those sentiments.

The independent existence of the Provinces which form this Kingdom has
always been an object of importance to England; the surest proof of
it is, that for centuries England has made the greatest sacrifices of
blood and treasure for that object. The last time I saw the late King
at Windsor, in 1836, he said to me: "If ever France or any other
Power invades your country, it will be a question of immediate war for
England; we cannot suffer that." I answered him I was happy to hear
him speak so, as I also did not want any foreign Power to invade
us....

All