512 Right Hon. Viscount Esher [March 5, 



The Queen and Political Initiative. 



But there is even stronger proof at present unrevealed, for it was 

 after 18G1, when the published correspondence closes, that, owing to 

 the responsibilities of high office and personal intercourse, he obtained 

 a deeper knowledge of the inner workings of the Monarchical system 

 under our institutions, and a firmer basis for his reasoned opinions. 

 The story, however, as it is unfolded to the reader of the Queen's 

 Letters, ilhistrated clearly Mr. Gladstone's so-called " idealism," and 

 explains his point of view. Only a very few instances can be quoted. 

 These do not show — and this is a cardinal point — initiation by the 

 Sovereign of foreign policy, or attempts to divert into some special 

 political channel the course of public events. There are no signs of 

 doctrinaire statecraft, or claims to authority or privilege. They do, 

 however, illustrate, in clear and unmistakable fashion, the most im- 

 portant attributes, the retarding and arresting action of the Crown. 



As I have said, the Queen very rarely took what is called political 

 initiative. That function, so clearly Ministerial, was as a rule left 

 scrupulously alone, although in the free domain of science and art 

 the Prince Consort showed a stimulating zeal and a marked capacity 

 for originating new departures. The first of the great series of 

 International Exhibitions was promoted by him, and the success 

 achieved was mainly due to his persistence and unwearied activity of 

 mind and body. But if the Queen rarely initiated a policy, she could 

 be pertinacious and consistent. Many times during her long reign 

 she encouraged the flagging energies of her Ministers, and urged 

 them to be consistent in their aims and to show firmness in carrying 

 out a policy to which they had committed the nation. 



The Exercise of Patronage. 



In another important sphere of government she showed unre- 

 mitting care. She scrutinized the exercise of patronage by public 

 servants, and no appointment of serious importance, whether eccle- 

 siastical, naval, military, or civil, could be made unchallenged by and 

 unexplained to the Sovereign. The comparative inaccessibility of the 

 Crown to ordinary influence was realized by the Queen, and her 

 letters, full of heart-searching upon these matters of patronage, show 

 how keenly alive she was to the nature of the trust she believed 

 herself to hold for her people. Every appointment had to be ex- 

 plained and justified, sometimes at considerable length and in minute 

 detail, by the Minister recommending it. 



The Queen rarely approved a " submission " unless the reasons 

 were fully stated, and often they had to be re-stated, and oftener 

 supplemented, in consequence of queries from the Palace. In 

 September 1841, when the Queen was only two-and-twenty years 



