If Palmerston had been a sensitive man, he would probably have resigned on the receipt of the Queen’s missive.  But he was far from sensitive; he loved power, and his power was greater than ever; an unerring instinct told him that this was not the time to go.  Nevertheless, he was seriously perturbed.  He understood at last that he was struggling with a formidable adversary, whose skill and strength, unless they were mollified, might do irreparable injury to his career.  He therefore wrote to Lord John, briefly acquiescing in the Queen’s requirements—­“I have taken a copy of this memorandum of the Queen and will not fail to attend to the directions which it contains”—­and at the same time, he asked for an interview with the Prince.  Albert at once summoned him to the Palace, and was astonished to observe, as he noted in a memorandum, that when Palmerston entered the room “he was very much agitated, shook, and had tears in his eyes, so as quite to move me, who never under any circumstances had known him otherwise than with a bland smile on his face.”  The old statesman was profuse in protestations and excuses; the young one was coldly polite.  At last, after a long and inconclusive conversation, the Prince, drawing himself up, said that, in order to give Lord Palmerston “an example of what the Queen wanted,” he would “ask him a question point-blank.”  Lord Palmerston waited in respectful silence, while the Prince proceeded as follows:  “You are aware that the Queen has objected to the Protocol about Schleswig, and of the grounds on which she has done so.  Her opinion has been overruled, the Protocol stating the desire of the Great Powers to see the integrity of the Danish monarchy preserved has been signed, and upon this the King of Denmark has invaded Schleswig, where the war is raging.  If Holstein is attacked also, which is likely, the Germans will not be restrained from flying to her assistance; Russia has menaced to interfere with arms, if the Schleswigers are successful.  What will you do, if this emergency arises (provoking most likely an European war), and which will arise very probably when we shall be at Balmoral and Lord John in another part of Scotland?  The Queen expects from your foresight that you have contemplated this possibility, and requires a categorical answer as to what you would do in the event supposed.”  Strangely enough, to this pointblank question, the Foreign Secretary appeared to be unable to reply.  The whole matter, he said, was extremely complicated, and the contingencies mentioned by His Royal Highness were very unlikely to arise.  The Prince persisted; but it was useless; for a full hour he struggled to extract a categorical answer, until at length Palmerston bowed himself out of the room.  Albert threw up his hands in shocked amazement:  what could one do with such a man?