| Collection | Victorian Papers, Main Series |
| Description | The Queen returns the important letter from Lord Cowley and Lord John's reply, and hopes they will be communicated to the Cabinet. She comments on the attitude of the Emperor [Napoleon III] with regard to Italy, noting that Lord Cowley's letter clearly proves, as she has often felt and said, the danger of Britain binding itself to a common action with the Emperor, when he has entered into a variety of engagements with the different parties in the dispute of which Britain knows nothing, and has unknown aims which are not for the good of Italy but for his own aggrandizement to the detriment of Europe. Regarding Lord John's answer, the British proposal having been made after serious reflection and anxious discussion by the Cabinet and the Queen, there should be no deviation from it without ample opportunity to consider the probable results of such alteration. |