second is the Slavonic idea, which was to maintain, at all costs, the integrity of Denmark, and as far as possible encourage the policy that promoted a closer union between her and the Duchies. In this conflict of diplomatic forces the policy of England was vacillating and inconsistent, and for an excellent reason. Palmerston committed the fatal blunder of identifying British interests with the veiled designs of Russia, and he became a violent partisan of Denmark, whose policy was solely directed to what was called the “Danification” of the Duchies. On the other hand, the Queen had what Palmerston lacked--patience to master the complicated facts of the Danish question, and she became convinced that law and justice were on the side of the German Party in Sleswig-Holstein. The Prince Consort, again, was perhaps the only eminent man of his time who detected the hand of Russia in the game of intrigue at Copenhagen, from which sprang the policy of absorbing the Duchies against their will. He had the sense to see that British interests could hardly depend on maintaining the integrity of a small State like Denmark against the will of its people, and against the public law of Europe, and with no other practical result than that of preventing Germany from establishing herself as a rival power to Russia in the Baltic. Prince Albert’s death merely strengthened the Queen in her loyalty to his ideas--which in this instance were in harmony with her own conclusions. Hence, in 1863 and 1864, when the Danish Question became acute, the Queen and Lord Palmerston were in irreconcilable conflict, which explains why English policy seemed to the world at the time, a tissue of unintelligible inconsistencies. Happily for the English people, this conflict ended in the humiliating defeat of Palmerston--who, however, fought for his hand to the bitter end, with a courage and an obstinacy worthy of a better cause. No Tudor Sovereign ever strove more unweariedly and with more complete success than did the Queen at this time, to thwart the policy of her Minister, in the interests of peace, progress, and civilisation.