On the 19th of October the Court returned to Windsor, and on the 17th of November, Stockmar, in response to a pressing appeal to come and advise the Queen in the midst of her growing difficulties, paid her what was destined to be his last visit. He found her heavily stricken with grief because of the death of her half-brother, Prince Leiningen, on the 13th. “We three,” (the Prince, the Princess Hohenlohe, and the Queen), she writes to King Leopold, “were very fond of each other, and never felt or fancied that we were not real _Geschwister_ (children of the same parents). We knew but _one_ parent--_our_ mother.”[291] The last day of the year brought with it one consolation. The Conference in Paris had settled our dispute with Russia, and a map was signed by the plenipotentiaries which met the requirements of the Czar, without giving Russia strategical advantages which she had tried to obtain.[292] CHAPTER XXXV. TWO LITTLE WARS AND A “PENAL DISSOLUTION.” The Queen’s New Year Greeting to Napoleon III.--A Gladstone-Disraeli Coalition--A “Scene” in the Carlton Club--Mr. Disraeli’s Attack on Lord Palmerston’s Foreign Policy--The Queen Consents to Reduce the Income Tax--A Fallacious Budget, with Imaginary Remissions--The Persian War--General Outram’s Victories--Unpopularity of the War--Making War without Consulting Parliament--The Rupture with China--A “Prancing Proconsul”--The Bombardment of Canton--Defeat of Lord Palmerston, and his Appeal to the Country--A Penal Dissolution--Abortive Coalition between the Peelites and Tories--Mr. Gladstone and the Intriguers--Split in the Peelite Party--Palmerston’s Victory at the Polls--The Rout of the Manchester School--The Lesson of the Election--Opening of the New Parliament--The Work of the Session--Mr. Gladstone’s Obstruction of the Divorce Bill--The Settlement of the Neufchâtel Difficulty--The Question of the Principalities--Visit of the French Emperor to the Queen.