e to the interests of England,
could then only be generally conceived and vaguely expressed.

But although the Queen is still convinced that the general principles
laid down by Lord John at that time for the conduct of our Foreign
Policy were in themselves right, she has in the progress of the last
three years become painfully convinced that the manner in which they
have been _practically applied_ has worked out very different results
from those which the correctness of the principles themselves had led
her to expect. For when the revolutionary movements on the Continent
had laid prostrate almost all its Governments, and England alone
displayed that order, vigour, and prosperity which it owes to a
stable, free, and good Government, the Queen, instead of earning the
natural good results of such a glorious position, viz. consideration,
goodwill, confidence, and influence abroad, obtained the very reverse,
and had the grief to see her Government and herself treated on many
occasions with neglect, aversion, distrust, and even contumely.

Frequently, when our Foreign Policy was called in question, it has
been said by Lord John and his colleagues that the principles on which
it was conducted were the right ones, and having been approved of
by them, received their support, and that it was only the _personal
manner_ of Lord Palmerston in conducting the affairs which could be
blamed in tracing the causes which led to the disastrous results the
Queen complains of.

The Queen is certainly not disposed to defend the personal manner in
which Lord Palmerston has conducted Foreign Affairs, but she cannot
admit that the errors he committed were merely _faults in form
and method_, that they were no more than acts of "inconsideration,
indiscretion, or bad taste." The Queen considers that she has also to
complain of what appeared to her deviations from the principles laid
down by the Cabinet for his conduct, nay, she sees distinctly in their
practical application a _personal and arbitrary perversion_ of the
very nature and essence of those principles. She has only to refer
here to Italy, Spain, Greece, Holstein, France, etc., etc., which
afford ample illustrations of this charge.

It was one thing for Lord Palmerston to have attempted such
substantial deviations; it will be another for the Cabinet to consider
whether they had not the power to check him in these attempts.

The Queen, however, considering times to have now changed, thi