ustomed to carry it out, which annoyed the Court. He was a bad courtier;
he domineered over princelings and kings abroad, and his behaviour to his
own Sovereign did not in any way resemble Disraeli's. He not only "never
contradicted, only sometimes forgot"; on the contrary, he often omitted to
tell the Queen what he was doing, and consequently she found herself in a
false position.

At last the following peremptory reproof was addressed to him:

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell,_ [36]

Osborne, _August_ 12, 1850

... The Queen requires, first, that Lord Palmerston will distinctly
state what he proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen may
know as distinctly to what she has given her royal sanction;
secondly, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be
not arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. Such an act
she must consider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and
justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of
dismissing that Minister. She expects to be kept informed of what
passes between him and Foreign Ministers before important decisions
are taken, based upon that intercourse: to receive foreign
dispatches in good time; and to have the drafts for her approval
sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with
their contents before they must be sent off. The Queen thinks it
best that Lord John Russell should show this letter to Lord
Palmerston.

[36] "Letters of Queen Victoria," vol. ii, chap. xix.

Palmerston apologized and promised amendment, but he did not resign, nor
did the Prime Minister request him to do so. His foreign policy had
hitherto vigorously befriended liberty on the Continent, and although the
Queen and Prince Consort never strained the constitutional limits of the
prerogative, these limits are elastic and there was a general feeling among
Liberals that the Court might acquire an overwhelming influence in
diplomacy, and that certainly at the moment the Prince Consort's sympathies
were too largely determined by his relationship to foreign royal families.
It is clear, however, that as long as the Crown is an integral part of the
Executive, the Sovereign must have the fullest information upon foreign
affairs. Palmerston had gone a great deal too far.

_Lady John Russell to Lady Mary Abercromby_

LONDON, _March_ 14, 1851

We have now heard from