Petersburg by an Envoy who could have opposed with his own tact, patience, and cool common sense the monomaniacal ideas and arguments of the Czar, the conflict between Russia and England could have been averted.[88] [Illustration: THE QUEEN’S PRIVATE SITTING-ROOM, OSBORNE. (_From a Photograph by Hughes and Mullins, Ryde._)] CHAPTER IV. THE DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. England in 1861--The Jumble of Parties--Secret Alliance Between Palmerston and the Tories--Opening of Parliament--The Prince Consort and the “Two Old Italian Masters”--Lady William Russell’s _Salon_--The Proposed Sale of Venice--The Fall of Gaeta--Prussia and Italy--Death of Cavour--A _casus belli_ Against France--Napoleon in the East--Denmark and the Duchies--The Queen’s Private Sorrows--Last Illness and Death of the Duchess of Kent--Renewed Attacks in the Press on Prince Albert--Palmerston Accused of Tampering with Despatches--Anecdote of Lord Derby and Lord Granville--The Budget--Repeal of the Paper Duty--Palmerston’s “Grudge” Against Prince Albert--The Marriage of the Princess Alice announced--The Queen and Her Social Duties--Two Drawing-Rooms and Two Investitures--A Season of Mourning--Death of Lord Herbert of Lea--Lord John Russell’s Peerage--Reform and the Working Classes--Ministerial Changes--The Queen’s Tour in Ireland--The Queen and German Unity--Coronation of the King of Prussia--Death of the King of Portugal--Fatigue of the Prince Consort--Signs of His Last Illness--The Queen at Her Husband’s Sick Bed--A Mournful Vigil--The Prince Consort’s Last Words--Scene at the Death-Bed--The Sorrow of the Country--The Queen’s Despair--Her Removal from Windsor--Prince Albert’s Character and Career--His Funeral--The Scene at the Grave--The Queen and the Princess Alice.