Suddenly the nation found itself under the awful shadow of imminent war.

For several months, amid the shifting mysteries of diplomacy and the perplexed agitations of politics, the issue grew more doubtful and more dark, while the national temper was strained to the breaking-point.

At the very crisis of the long and ominous negotiations, it was announced that Lord Palmerston had resigned.

Then the pent-up fury of the people burst forth.

They had felt that in the terrible complexity of events they were being guided by weak and embarrassed counsels; but they had been reassured by the knowledge that at the centre of power there was one man with strength, with courage, with determination, in whom they could put their trust.