| Collection | Victorian Papers, Main Series |
| Description | Lord John Russell's view of the Hungarian question entirely agrees with the Queen's. Lord Palmerston's letter to Lord John, on the other hand, is a most able and violent party pamphlet for the Hungarians, and shows again that he is incapable of viewing a question as a whole and judging it with impartiality. The question of rights and wrongs in the Hungarian revolution is not the one to be decided, but merely the question whether Britain is to interfere on behalf of the refugees. The Queen adheres to the opinion she previously expressed, that it is right to support the independence of the Porte so far as moral support will suffice, but that Britain ought to carefully abstain from urging the Porte to adopt a course which may expose it to inroads on its independence, and this on behalf of a quarrel in which Britain is not concerned. |