"It may have very serious consequences.
If we can't go on with this House of Commons, we may have to dissolve Parliament, and we don't know if we may get as good a House of Commons." I begged him to come, and he said: "I'll come if it is in any time--if it's twelve; but if it's one or two, I'll write." After dinner (as usual with the Household) I went to my room, and sat up till a quarter past two.

At a quarter to two I received the following letter from Lord Melbourne, written at one o'clock:-- [Pageheading: THE QUEEN'S ULTIMATUM] _Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._ _10th May 1839_ (1 A.M.).
Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty.

The Cabinet has sate until now, and, after much discussion, advises your Majesty to return the following answer to Sir Robert Peel:-- "The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings."[38] [Footnote 38: Greville asserts that the plan adopted by the outgoing Cabinet, of meeting and suggesting that this letter should be despatched, was "utterly anomalous and unprecedented, and a course as dangerous as unconstitutional....

They ought to have explained to her that until Sir Robert Peel had formally and finally resigned his commission into her hands, they could tender no advice....

The Cabinet of Lord Melbourne discussed the proposals of that of Sir Robert Peel, and they dictated to the Queen the reply in which she refused to consent to the advice tendered to her by the man who was _at that moment_ her Minister."-- _Greville's Journal, 12th May 1839._] _Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel._ _10th May 1839._ The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings.[39] [Footnote 39: Sixty years later the Queen, during a conversation at Osborne with Sir Arthur Bigge, her Private Secretary, after eulogising Sir Robert Peel, said: "I was very young then, and perhaps I should act differently if it was all to be done again."] _Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne._ BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _10th May 1839._ The Queen wrote the letter before she went to bed, and sent it at nine this morning; she has received no answer, and concludes she will receive none, as Sir Robert told the Queen if the Ladies were not removed, his party would fall directly, and could not go on, and that he only awaited the Queen's decision.