Great was the disappointment of Albert; great was the indignation of Victoria. 'The House of Commons,' she wrote, 'is becoming very unmanageable and troublesome.'[21] The Prince, perceiving that Palmerston was more firmly fixed in the saddle than ever, decided that something drastic must be done. Five months before, the prescient Baron had drawn up, in case of emergency, a memorandum, which had been carefully docketed, and placed in a pigeon-hole ready to hand. The emergency had now arisen, and the memorandum must be used. The Queen copied out the words of Stockmar, and sent them to the Prime Minister, requesting him to show her letter to Palmerston. 'She thinks it right,' she wrote, 'in order _to prevent any mistake for the future_, shortly to explain _what it is she expects from her Foreign Secretary_. She requires: (1) That he will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to _what_ she has given her Royal sanction; (2) Having _once given_ her sanction {170} to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister; such an act she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her Constitutional right of dismissing that Minister.'[22] Lord John Russell did as he was bid, and forwarded the Queen's letter to Lord Palmerston. This transaction, which was of grave constitutional significance, was entirely unknown to the outside world. If Palmerston had been a sensitive man, he would probably have resigned on the receipt of the Queen's missive. But he was far from sensitive; he loved power, and his power was greater than ever; an unerring instinct told him that this was not the time to go. Nevertheless, he was seriously perturbed. He understood at last that he was struggling with a formidable adversary, whose skill and strength, unless they were mollified, might do irreparable injury to his career. He therefore wrote to Lord John, briefly acquiescing in the Queen's requirements--'I have taken a copy of this memorandum of the Queen and will not fail to attend to the directions which it contains'--and at the same time, he asked for an interview with the Prince. Albert at once summoned him to the Palace, and was astonished to observe, as he noted in a memorandum, that when Palmerston entered the room 'he was very much agitated, shook, and had tears in his eyes, so as quite to move me, who never under any circumstances had known him otherwise than with a bland smile on his face.' The old statesman was profuse in protestations and excuses; the young one was coldly polite. At last, after a long and inconclusive conversation, the Prince, drawing himself up, said that, in order to give Lord {171} Palmerston 'an example of what the Queen wanted,' he would 'ask him a question point-blank.' Lord Palmerston waited in respectful silence, while the Prince proceeded as