wrong premises in politics, he perpetually blundered into erroneous conclusions. His saving virtue as a politician was his strong common sense. It taught him with unerring certitude when a thing _must_ be done long before his reasoning faculty, obscured by faulty data, taught him that it ought to be done. He never regarded himself as in any sense the servant of the people. It was as the sworn servant of the Crown that he always spoke and acted, and the only test he ever applied to any project of legislation was whether it was likely to strengthen or weaken the Monarchy. No considerations of personal consistency, conviction, or convenience could deter him from accepting or abandoning a policy or a principle, if it could be shown that by doing either he prevented the authority of his Sovereign from being undermined. Duty to the Crown was the pole-star of his life. To gain a point for the advantage of his Sovereign he would even push aside all considerations of personal dignity. Sir Francis Doyle tells a story about him which illustrates most curiously this dominant trait in his character. One day, when Sir Francis Doyle’s father was dining at Apsley House, the Duke said to him, “After the battle of Talavera I wanted the Spanish force to make a movement, and called upon Cuesta to take the necessary steps, but he demurred. He said, by way of answer, ‘For the honour of the Spanish Crown I cannot attend to the directions of the British general, unless that British general go upon his knees and entreat me to follow his advice.’ Now,” proceeded the Duke, “I wanted this thing done, while as to going upon my knees I did not care a twopenny damn, so down I plumped.”[63] This little anecdote gives one a clearer insight into the secret of the Duke of Wellington’s public life than all the biographies of him that have ever been written. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE LAST YEAR OF “THE GREAT PEACE.” Abortive Attacks on the Ministry--Mr. Disraeli’s First Budget--Fall of the Tory Cabinet--The Queen and Lord Aberdeen--Organising the Coalition--A Ministry of “All the Talents”--The Queen and South Kensington--A Miser’s Legacy to the Queen--Sport at Balmoral--Proclamation of the Second Empire--The “Battle of the Numeral”--The Queen Initiates a Policy--Personal Government in the Victorian Age--A Servile Minister--Lord Malmesbury’s Spies--Napoleon III. and “Mrs. Howard”--Creole Card-Parties at Kensington--Napoleon III. Proposes to Marry the Queen’s Niece--Lord John Russell’s Education Scheme--Mr. Gladstone’s First Budget--The India Bill--Transportation of Convicts to Australia Stopped--The Gold Fever in Australia--The Rush to the Diggings--The First Gold Ships in the Thames--Gold Discoveries and Free Trade--Chagrin of the Protectionists--The Rise in Prices--Practical Success of Peel’s Fiscal Policy--Strikes and Dear Bread--End of the Great Peace.