The word "again" used by the Queen in this letter had reference to Lord Palmerston's action in regard to the visit of Kossuth, the Hungarian refugee, to England in the previous October. There had been much sympathy in England with the cause of Hungarian independence; Kossuth had been fêted in many towns as an illustrious patriot and exile, and Palmerston consented to receive a visit from him. This was more than the susceptibilities of the Austrian Government could endure; Russell having summoned a Cabinet Council to consider the intended reception by the Foreign Minister, Palmerston reluctantly yielded to the opinion of his colleagues, and the reception was given up. But he consoled himself by receiving at the Foreign Office addresses from Radical meetings, in which the Emperors of Russia and Austria were described as "odious and detestable assassins" and "merciless tyrants and despots"; and, in expressing himself "extremely flattered and highly gratified" at the terms directed towards himself, he added that "it could not be expected that he should concur in some of the expressions which had been used in the addresses." It was in receiving the deputation conveying these addresses that this characteristically English Minister earned one of his most-enduring nicknames. He said in the course of his speech that the conduct of Foreign Affairs required "a great deal of good generalship and judgment, and during the pending struggle a good deal of judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play." However much this allusion to the prize ring may have scandalised some of the "unco guid," it was just one of those sayings that tickle the popular fancy, and the "Judicious Bottle-holder" furnished the subject of one of _Punch's_ lively cartoons. [Illustration: H.M.S. "BOXER," TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER. The _Boxer_, a twin-screw vessel, built by Messrs. Thornycroft, of Chiswick, is one of the fastest ships in the world. Her length is 200 feet; speed, 29·17 knots. Her sister-ship, the _Desperate_, has steamed 30 knots.] But it was necessary to put a check on the Foreign Secretary's recklessness. It was intimated to him that his conduct was calculated to place the Sovereign in a most painful position towards her allies, and this rebuke, Russell wrote to the Queen, it was hoped would "have its effect on Lord Palmerston." This incident closed on December 4, only two days after the French _coup d'état_, and when it became apparent that the Foreign Secretary had perpetrated a further indiscretion, strong measures had to be taken. The dismissal of a Minister is an extreme exertion of the Royal Prerogative, though it is one that was not uncommon in former reigns. Nevertheless, it is the only expedient when a Minister refuses to carry out the policy of the Queen's Government or enters upon an independent one of his own. [Sidenote: Dismissal of Palmerston.] [Illustration: H.M.S. "VICTORIA" FIRING HER 110-TON GUN.