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Transcriber's note:

      Many of the images in the book have multi-line captions, and
      the first line of most of them contains attributions (credits)
      set off by unpaired curly braces.  For example,
         J. A. Vinter.} {National Portrait Gallery.
         SIR ROWLAND HILL
      under a portrait tells us the the portrait of Sir Rowland
      Hill was by J. A. Vinter and hangs in the National Portrait
      Gallery.  Some illustrations have only an artist or only a
      location.

      Sidenotes have been repositioned to immediately precede the
      paragraphs in which they occurred.

      Inverted asterisms are indicated by three asterisks ***.

      Table of Contents added by transcriber.





SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.




CONTENTS

                                                                    PAGE
    Preface                                                          iii

    PART ONE: SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN

    CHAPTER I.

    1837-1838.

    Death of William IV.--Princess Alexandrina Victoria summoned to
    the Throne--Ignorance of the Public about the young Queen--Her
    early training--Severance of the Crown of Great Britain and
    Hanover--Prorogation of Parliament--Early Railways--Electric
    Telegraph--The Coronation--Popular Reception of Wellington and
    Soult--State of Parties--Result of General Election--Rebellion
    in Canada--The Earl of Durham--Debate on Vote by Ballot.           3


    CHAPTER II.

    1837-1842.

    Lord Melbourne's services and character--Prevailing discontent
    of the Working Classes--Its Causes--The Chartists--Riots at
    Newport and elsewhere--Fall of the Ministry--Sir Robert Peel
    sent for--The "Bedchamber Question"--Melbourne recalled to
    Office--The Penny Post--Its remarkable Success--Betrothal of the
    Queen--Character of Prince Albert--Announcement to
    Parliament--Debates--Marriage of the Queen and Prince
    Albert--War declared with China--Capture of Chusan--Bombardment
    of the Bogue Forts--Peace concluded under the Walls of Nankin.    18


    CHAPTER III.

    1841-1846.

    Unpopularity of the Whigs--Fall of the Melbourne
    Ministry--Peel's Cabinet--The Afghan War--Murder of Sir A.
    Burnes and Sir W. Macnaghten--The Retreat from
    Cabul--Annihilation of the British Force--The Corn Duties--The
    Pioneers of Free Trade--Failure of Potato Crop in Ireland--Lord
    John Russell's conversion to Free Trade--Peel and Repeal--Rupture
    of the Tory Party--The Corn Duties repealed--Defeat and
    Resignation of the Government--Review of Peel's Administration.   30


    CHAPTER IV.

    1833-1849.

    The Churches of England and Scotland--"Tracts for the
    Times"--Newman, Keble, and Pusey--"Ten Years' Conflict" in
    Scotland--Disruption of the Church--Dr. Chalmers--Rise of the
    Free Church--Affairs of British India--First Sikh War--Battles
    of Meeanee, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon--Second Sikh
    War--Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson--Battle of
    Ramnuggur--Siege and Fall of Mooltan--Battles of Chilianwalla
    and Goojerat--Annexation of the Punjab.                           41


    CHAPTER V.

    1846-1850.

    The Irish Famine--Smith O'Brien's Rebellion--Widow Cormack's
    Cabbages--The Special Commission--Revival of the Chartist
    Movement--The Monster Petition--Its Exposure and Collapse of the
    Movement--Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those
    in other Countries--Growing Affection for the Queen--Its
    Causes--Royal Visit to Ireland--The Pacifico Imbroglio--Rupture
    with France Imminent--_Civis Romanus Sum_--Lord Palmerston's
    Rise--Sir Robert Peel's Death--The Invention of Chloroform.       47


    CHAPTER VI.

    1849-1851.

    Prince Albert's Industry--His proposal for a Great
    Exhibition--Adoption of the Scheme--Competing Designs--Mr.
    Paxton's selected--Erection of the Crystal Palace--Colonel
    Sibthorp denounces the Scheme--Papal Titles in Great
    Britain--Popular Indignation--The Ecclesiastical Titles
    Bill--Defeat of Ministers on the Question of the
    Franchise--Difficulty in finding a Successor to Russell--He
    resumes Office--Opening of the Great Exhibition--Its success and
    close.                                                            55


    CHAPTER VII.

    1851-1853.

    Louis Napoleon's Coup d'Etat--Condemned in the English
    Press--Lord Palmerston's Indiscretion Rebuked by the Queen--He
    Repeats it and is Removed from Office--Opening of the New Houses
    of Parliament--French Invasion Apprehended--Russell's Militia
    Bill--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The "Who? Who?"
    Cabinet--Death of the Duke of Wellington--His Funeral--The
    Haynau Incident--General Election--Disraeli's First
    Budget--Defeat and Resignation of Ministers--The Coalition
    Cabinet--Expansion of the British Colonies--Repeal of the
    Transportation Act.                                               63


    CHAPTER VIII.

    1853-1854.

    The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of
    the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince
    Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The
    Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the
    Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and
    France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments.   73


    CHAPTER IX.

    1854-1856.

    Mr. Gladstone's War Budget--Humiliation and Prayer--The Invasion
    of the Crimea--The Battle of Alma--A Fruitless Victory--Effect
    in England--War Correspondents--Balaklava--Cavalry Charges by
    the Heavy and Light Brigades--"Our's Not to Reason Why"--Russian
    Sortie--Battle of Inkermann--Breakdown of Transport and
    Commissariat--Hurricane in the Black Sea--Florence
    Nightingale--Fall of the Coalition Cabinet--Lord Palmerston
    Forms a Ministry--Victory of the Turks at
    Eupatoria--Unsuccessful Attack by the Allies--Death of Lord
    Raglan--His Character--Battle of Tchernaya--Evacuation of
    Sebastopol--Surrender of Kars--Conclusion of Peace.               79


    CHAPTER X.

    1857-1858.

    The Lorcha _