A fresh cause of disagreement had, however, now arisen with France. The seizure of a French slaver, called the _Charles-et-Georges_, by the Portuguese authorities at Mozambique, tempted the French Government to demand its surrender, and an indemnity whilst her status was _sub judice_. Coercion was threatened by the appearance of a French squadron in the Tagus, and an offer on the part of Portugal to submit to arbitration was refused. Englishmen in these circumstances gave vent to much indignation against a revival of the old brutal methods of Bonapartism in dealing with a small Power, and this indignation was shared by the Queen, though it was prudently veiled, her personal relations with the Portuguese Court being of an unusually cordial character. Lord Malmesbury was also well known not only to be a partisan of the French alliance, but a personal friend of the French Emperor. This led many to suspect that the British Government had played into the hands of France; and Lord Malmesbury’s policy was, in truth, so spiritless in defence of Portugal, that the Portuguese, fearing to waste time in appealing for the good offices of England, yielded to the overbearing menaces of France. At the same time, it is quite clear, from a sentence in one of the Prince Consort’s letters to Baron Stockmar, that the Court, on the whole, approved of the Foreign Secretary’s policy, which, at all events, kept the country clear of war. The loyal reception of the Queen’s Proclamation in India on the 17th of October, and the end of the rebellion in Oudh, gladdened the closing months of 1858. Over these, however, the first symptoms of the Prince Consort’s failing health projected the slowly-advancing shadow, that was so soon to shroud the remainder of the Queen’s career in widowed sorrow. CHAPTER II. THE ITALIAN REVOLUTION. Napoleon’s New Year’s Reception--The Secret _pacte de famille_--Victor Emmanuel and the _Grido di Dolore_--The Queen’s Views on the Italian Movement--The Queen’s Letter to Napoleon--Meeting of Parliament--Cavour Threatens Napoleon--Appeal of Prussia to the Queen for Advice--Mr. Disraeli’s Reform Bill--Lord John Russell’s Amendment--Defeat of the Government--An Appeal to the Country--The Queen Criticises Austria’s Blunders--War at Last--The General Election--Reconciliation of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell--Fall of the Derby-Disraeli Administration--The Palmerston-Russell Ministry--Austrian Defeats and French Victories--The Peace of Villafranca--Palmerston Duped--Illness of the Duchess of Kent--The Budget--The Queen and Palmerston--Triumph of the Queen’s Policy--The Holiday at Balmoral--Dancing in the New Year.