Simultaneously, Atropos herself conspired to favour him.

Sir Robert Peel was thrown from his horse and killed.

By this tragic chance, Palmerston saw the one rival great enough to cope with him removed from his path.

He judged--and judged rightly--that he was the most popular man in England; and when Lord John revived the project of his exchanging the Foreign Office for some other position in the Cabinet, he absolutely refused to stir.
Great was the disappointment of Albert; great was the indignation of Victoria.

"The House of Commons," she wrote, "is becoming very unmanageable and troublesome." The Prince, perceiving that Palmerston was more firmly fixed in the saddle than ever, decided that something drastic must be done.