Stagnant Politics--Excitement over the Danish War--Attitude of the Queen--Withdrawal of the Danes from Holstein--Lord Wodehouse’s Mission--The _Quarterly Review_ advocates War--Mr. Disraeli Repudiates a War Policy--Lord Palmerston’s Secret Plans--The Case against Germany--The Queen’s Warnings--Mr. Cobden’s Arguments--Lord Russell’s “Demands”--Palmerston drafts a Warlike Queen’s Speech--The Queen Refuses to Sanction it--Lord Derby Summoned to Osborne--He is Pledged to a Peace Policy--Austria and Prussia in Conflict with the Diet--The Occupation of Sleswig--War at Last--Retreat of the Danes to Düppel--Palmerston’s Protests Answered by German Victories--The Invasion of Jutland--Storming of the Düppel Redoubts--Excitement in London--Garibaldi’s Visit to London--Garibaldi and the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland--Anecdotes of Garibaldi’s Visit--Clarendon’s Visit to Napoleon III.--Expulsion of Garibaldi by Palmerston--Napoleon III. Agrees to Accept the Proposal for a Conference--Triumph of the Queen’s Peace Policy--Palmerston’s Last Struggle--His Ministry Saved by Surrender to Mr. Cobden--The Treaty of Vienna--End of the War. The year 1864 gives one a vivid illustration of the stagnant condition of politics in England under Lord Palmerston. The mind of the country was absorbed in one question, and one only, namely, whether England should make war in Prussia and Austria to maintain the integrity of Denmark and uphold the Treaty of London. Ten years before, England had rushed headlong into war for a cause that was more shameful, and for “British interests” that were much more visionary than those which were now at stake. But great progress had been made during these ten years. The disasters and disgrace which had fallen on the nation during the Crimean struggle had not been endured for nothing. Englishmen had no longer boundless confidence in the aristocratic war party, whose clumsy diplomacy and military incapacity had involved the country in the inglorious contest with Russia. Moreover, while the Court was neutral in that struggle, latterly leaning, if to any side, to the side of the war party, in 1864 the Queen was obstinately determined to keep out of war, and Palmerston found in her a much more formidable antagonist than either Mr. Cobden or Mr. Bright. Mr. Morley, in his “Life of Cobden,” asserts that it was his (Cobden’s) influence, and the pressure brought to bear on the Ministry by Lancashire, that thwarted Palmerston at the end of the struggle. Count Vitzthum, on the other hand, credits the Queen with the honour of defeating the Premier. The truth is that neither the Queen nor Mr. Cobden, acting alone, could have saved their country from a fate as melancholy as that which smote Austria to the dust at Sadowa.[179] But, acting together, though quite independently of each other, they represented a combination of social and political