308 INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE PRINCE 1850 want of time, and would be sure to receive his denial of any intentional want of regard, but that she had felt that things could no longer go on so. The Queen had often,-I was sorry to say, latterly almost invariably,-differed from the line of policy pursued by Lord Palmerston. She had always openly stated her objections; but, when overruled by the Cabinet, or convinced that it would from political reasons be more prudent to waive her objections, she knew her Constitutional position too well not to give her full support to whatever was done on the part of the Government. She knew that they were going to battle together, and that she was going to receive the blows which were aimed at the Government; and she had these last years received several, such as no Sovereign of England had before been obliged to put up with, and which had been most painful to her. But what she had a right to require in return was, that before a line of policy was adopted or brought before her for her sanction, she should be in full possession of all the facts and all the motives operating; she felt, that in this respect she was not dealt with as she ought to be. She never found a matter "intact," nor a question, in which we were not already compromised, when it was submitted to her. She had no means of knowing what passed in the Cabinet, nor what passed between Lord Palmerston and the Foreign Ministers in their conferences, but what Lord Palmerston chose to tell her, or what she found in the newspapers. Lord Palmerston interrupted me, saying that his conferences took some four hours a day, and it would require as much time again to make a report of them; but then he would have no time left for any part of the business of his office at the House of Commons. The documents, in which the results of the conferences appeared, and which came to the Queen, were the drafts of despatches. I replied, that the Queen could not mean to ask for 1850 AND LORD PALMERSTON. 309 details, which ought to be managed by him; but, when principles were settled, she ought to be informed, and this could be done in a few words. She now lost much time in disputing with Lord John and Lord Palmerston about the wording of despatches, which was most unprofitable; but in the absence of any explanation of the facts which determined, or the motives which guided the decisions come to, she was bound at least to watch these despatches. Words might mean very little or very much according to the sense intended to be conveyed. To this Lord Palmerston answered, that he felt the full force of this objection, but that this was the result of the arrangement represented to him by Lord John Russell some years ago, as desired by the Queen, that all drafts should go through him to the Queen. The Prime Minister could not be as well informed as the Minister whose department was concerned. He had been ready to give explanations or to come to the Palace at any time, but could not have known beforehand whether he would be received, or whether he would not appear intruding. He was ready to come to me at any time, or to give me any explanation I might desire. 'I replied, that there had been found great convenience in the drafts passing through the hands of the Prime Minister to the Sovereign; but that this did not preclude Lord Palmerston's writing to the Queen as often and as much as he thought necessary, and giving the information. required. To give him an example of what the Queen wanted, I would ask him a question point-blank. He was aware the Queen had objected to the Protocol about Schleswig, and of the grounds on which she had done so. Her opinion had been overruled, the Protocol stating the desire of the Great Powers to see the integrity of the Danish Monarchy preserved had been signed, and upon this the King of Denmark had invaded Schleswig, where the war was 310 MEMORANDUM BY THE PRINCE. 1850 raging. If Holstein were attacked also, which was likely, the Germans would not be restrained from flying to her assistance. Russia had menaced to interfere with arms, if the Schleswigers were successful. What would Lord Palmerston do, when this emergency arose (provoking most likely an European war), and which would arise very probably when we should be at Balmoral, and Lord John in another part of Scotland? The Queen expected from his foresight, that he had contemplated this possibility, and required a categorical answer as to what he would do in the event supposed. 'Lord Palmerston entered into a long controversy about the Protocol and the complicated state of the Danish question, called the contingency a very unlikely one, &c. &c. After a full hour's conversation on this subject, we were, however, interrupted, without my being able to get a positive answer. 'I spoke to Lord John Russell the following day of our interview, and told him how low and agitated I had found Lord Palmerston, almost to make me pity him. Lord John answered, that he thought what had passed had done a great deal of good.' CHAPTER XL. IN proroguing Parliament, which was done by Her Majesty in person (15th August), the Queen was able to refer with satisfaction to several measures, as the result of their labours. Among these, not the least important was one for the abolition of Interments within the limits of the Metropolis, and another for extending the jurisdiction of the County Courts. The first of these was a Government measure, and an important step in the system of sanitary improvement, to which public attention was now seriously directed. The second, introduced by a private Member, had been forced upon the Government by immense majorities, in which they were compelled to recognise the prevailing current of opinion in favour of cheaper and simpler means of obtaining legal redress. War was at this time raging between Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein Duchies, and the Royal Speech could express no more than a hope, that the treaty which had been concluded between Germany and Denmark under the mediation of England might lead, at no distant period, to the restoration of peace in the North of Europe.' The hope was, however, a very shadowy one. Germany had set her heart upon the incorporation of these Duchies. To her they were of the last importance, as securing an outlet to the sea, and enabling her to realise her cherished dream of one day becoming a great naval Power. The German people viewed, therefore, with extreme bitterness the combined action of England and the other great maritime Powers of Europe, 312 SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 1850 which seemed to have for its object to defeat this very natural and deep-seated ambition. The Protocol of 4th of July referred to in the previous chapter, embodying the views of England, Austria, Denmark, France, Russia, Sweden, and Norway, could not fail to provoke the suspicion, that the dispute between Denmark and the Duchies was to be settled not so much with reference to the just claims of the Duchies, or to the rights of the respective parties to the dispute, as to the interests and the jealousies of the parties to the Protocol. The very terms of the Protocol seemed to argue a foregone conclusion on their part, that their efforts would be directed to the severance of the Duchies from Germany. Prussia, it was true, had concluded a peace with Denmark on the 2nd of July, but this left the whole question unsettled. The hands of her Government might be tied; but this did not prevent her German subjects from volunteering into the ranks, or her generals from taking the lead, of the Holstein insurgents. A terrible defeat which they had sustained at Idstedt on the 25th of July had not crushed their hopes. Rallying what remained of their forces, they moved forward again early in September, to attack the strongly fortified town of Friedrichstadt, in Schleswig, and it was only after a protracted, but abortive bombardment, that they were compelled to abandon the attack, and to retreat into Holstein. Meanwhile Denmark, sorely pressed, was doing her best to engage the other Great Powers to put pressure upon Austria and Prussia, or themselves to take active measures, to put down the movement of the national party in the Duchies. Any step in this direction, however, could scarcely be taken without the risk of provoking a war, so long as Prussia refused her sanction to the terms of the London Protocol, and more than once during the autumn of this year the apprehensions of such a contingency, expressed by the Prince in his interview with Lord Palmerston, seemed on the point of |