The rumour which immediately flew round was that the Holy Alliance was to be revived, that the three Powers were to combine for the revision of the Treaty of 1856, and, having isolated England, to coerce all struggling nationalities, and defend Austria in Venetia and Hungary. This rumour was quite unfounded. The Powers did agree, however, that if Austria, attacked in Venetia, proved victorious and re-conquered Lombardy, she could not be asked beforehand to give back Lombardy to Italy, though the fate of that province might properly be determined by a Peace Congress. The Prince Regent of Prussia insisted that England must be kept informed of all their transactions in such a Congress. But at this meeting there was a decided tendency to isolate England because of Lord John Russell’s despatch of the 27th of October, and the Russian Czar pressed forward Prince Gortschakoff’s idea, which was that by conciliating France, a quadruple alliance might be formed against the progress of revolution, which Lord John Russell was supposed to have stimulated. The objection of the Prince Regent of Prussia--who, like the Austrian Emperor, thought that France ought to give new guarantees against raising revolutionary disturbances in Europe--to act save in concert with England, was, however, fatal to Prince Gortschakoff’s schemes. Prussia, in fact, held obstinately to the opinion that the friendship of England was of vital importance to the defence of Germany against French encroachments. These facts are worth noting, for they explain the just indignation of the Queen against a series of attacks on Prussia which at this inopportune moment began to appear in the _Times_. They preyed on the mind of the Prince Consort to such an extent that the Queen asserts his health gave way, which but served to add to her sorrows and anxieties.