The first sign of trouble in the Duchies was given in 1846, when Christian VIII., as the Queen and Prince Consort knew, acting at the instigation of Russia, issued letters-patent extending the Danish law of female succession to all his dominions. These letters were a flagrant outrage on the public law of Europe, which excluded female sovereignty from his German provinces. Still Germany could only interfere on behalf of Holstein, which, as one of the States of the Germanic Confederation, was--as we have seen--under Salic Law. On the other hand, the German Party in the Duchies agitated against the letters-patent as an infringement of their autonomy; they demanded the union of the two Duchies, and their full and final absorption by the German Bund or Diet. The Diet, however, merely promised to defend their rights in Holstein, and vindicate the claims of all legal agnates in the succession to the Sovereignty of the Duchies. The death of Christian VIII. on the 20th of January, 1848, gave the German Party an opportunity for revolt. A Provisional Government was formed for the Duchies, and Prussia helped the Germans in Sleswig-Holstein to expel their Danish masters. The dispute dragged on till the 2nd of July, 1850, when a Treaty between Denmark and Prussia was signed at Berlin, vesting the Danish succession in Prince Christian of Sleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and on his issue in the male line by his marriage with Louise, Princess of Hesse, heiress of the Crown of Denmark, who ceded to him all her rights. But the rights of the German Federation as regards Holstein and Lauenburg were not prejudiced by this Treaty. As for the heir to the Sovereignty of the Duchies under Salic Law--the Duke of Augustenburg--he sold his claims for 3,500,000 dollars. But obviously such a Treaty had no validity till it was sanctioned by the German Diet, inasmuch as it changed the legal succession in Holstein. An acknowledgment of the principle of maintaining at all hazards the integrity of Denmark, to be of use, must therefore have European sanction. To pave the way for a Treaty embodying this sanction Russian diplomacy at once set to work, and, unfortunately, Palmerston’s indiscretion at this juncture put him at the mercy of Baron Brunnow, the Russian Minister in London. It will be remembered that Palmerston’s policy of coercing Greece to recover Don Pacifico’s bad debts, had caused France to withdraw her Minister from London. But Russia took up the quarrel quite as fiercely as France, and Baron Brunnow not only absented himself from the official dinner at the Foreign Office on the Queen’s birthday, but finding that, through Lady Palmerston’s agency, means were taken to persuade the Queen that he meant to insult her personally, Brunnow called on Prince Albert privately and told him why he could not be present. It need hardly be said that this explanation did not soften her Majesty’s feeling towards Palmerston.