On the 22nd of December a Cabinet Meeting unanimously condemned Palmerston’s conduct, and the post vacated by him was accepted by Lord Granville, who was installed at the Foreign Office on the 27th of December. Lord Palmerston’s friends forthwith began to fill the Press with foolish reports, that he had been dismissed because foreign Courts had influenced the Queen against him. These insinuations were utterly unjust. For when Baron Brunnow asked Lord John Russell to contradict these rumours, the Queen wrote to Lord John as follows:--“Baron Brunnow’s letter is in fact very presuming, as it insinuates the possibility of changes of government in this country taking place at the instigation of Foreign Ministers, and the Queen is glad that Lord John gave him a dignified answer.” Palmerston’s dismissal, in truth, was due to his incurable recklessness, and his inveterate habit of not only compromising both the Queen and the Cabinet without consulting them, but of acting contrary to the course which had been definitely adopted by Queen and Cabinet alike, in grave and delicate affairs. Louis Napoleon was the only personage of distinction who regretted his fall. “So long as he was in office,” remarked the Prince-President cynically, “England would have no allies.” [Illustration: DIANA FOUNTAIN, BUSHEY PARK.] CHAPTER XXVII. A YEAR OF EXCITEMENT AND PANIC. Cassandras in the Service Clubs--The Tories and the Queen’s Speech--Lord John Russell’s Triumph--The Militia Bill--Defeat of the Russell Ministry--Fall of the Whig Cabinet--Palmerston’s “Tit for Tat”--A Protectionist Government--Novices in Office--A Cabinet of Affairs--Mr. Disraeli’s Budget--Lord John Russell’s Fatal Blunder--The Second Burmese War--Dalhousie’s Designs on Burmah--How the Quarrel Grew--Lambert’s Indiscretion--The Attack on Rangoon--Fall of the Citadel--Annexation--Desultory Warfare--Dissolution of Parliament--The General Election--Equipoise of Parties--Factions and Free Trade--Palmerston’s Forecasts--Forcing the Hand of the Ministry--Death of the Duke of Wellington--The Queen’s Grief--The Nation in Mourning--The Lying-in-State--Shocking Scenes--The Funeral Pageant--The Ceremony in St. Paul’s--A Veteran in Tears--The Laureate’s Votive Wreath--Review of the Duke’s Character. Eighteen hundred and fifty-two was a year fruitful in alarms and excitement. The excitement arose from the discovery of gold in Australia towards the end of the year 1851, and from the rich supplies of the precious metal which came pouring in from the new El Dorado. The alarms arose from the unsettled state of affairs abroad, the tortuous policy of Louis Napoleon, and Cassandra-like warnings from military writers that the national defences were utterly untrustworthy. A troublesome Caffre War at the Cape had also been draining away the best blood of the army during eighteen months, and absorbing troops who could be ill spared at home.