To any danger which may come out of this to Her Majesty's character, the caution and objection must come from him, and from him alone; and if I was standing in his shoes I would show the Queen, of my own accord, and upon constitutional grounds _too_, that a continued correspondence of that sort must be fraught with imminent danger to the Queen, especially to Lord Melbourne, and to the State.
[Footnote 113: _I.e._ with.] I then gave Anson the further arguments with which he was to accompany the reading out of this Memo.
[Pageheading: DISCRETION URGED ON MELBOURNE] [Pageheading: MELBOURNE'S INFLUENCE] On the next day Anson went to Melbourne and told him that his note to him had raised a great consultation, that the Prince felt much averse to giving any opinion in a case upon which he could exercise no control, and in which, if it was known that he had given his sanction, he would be held responsible for any mischief which might arise.

He had consulted Baron Stockmar, who had written the enclosed opinion, which the Prince had desired Anson to read to Lord Melbourne.
Melbourne read it attentively twice through, with an occasional change of countenance and compression of lips.

He said on concluding it: "This is a most decided opinion indeed, quite an '_apple[114] opinion_.'" Anson told him that the Prince felt that if the Queen's confidence in Peel was in a way to be established, it would be extremely shaken by his (Lord Melbourne's) visit at such a moment.

He felt that it would be better that Lord Melbourne's appearance should be in London, where he would meet the Queen only on the terms of general society, but at the same time he (the Prince) was extremely reluctant to give an opinion upon a case which Lord Melbourne's own sense of right ought to decide.

Anson added how he feared his speech of yesterday in the House of Lords[115] had added another impediment to his coming at this moment, as it had identified him with and established as the head of the Opposition party, which he (Anson) had hoped Melbourne would have been able to avoid.