Chapter XX
Reading edition
CHAPTER XX.
THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued).
The Session of 1860—Debates on Nice and Savoy—Mr. Gladstone's Budget—The French Commercial Treaty—The Paper Duties Bill—Lord Palmerston's Motion of Inquiry—Mr. Gladstone's Resolution—Lord John Russell's Reform Bill—Mr. James Wilson and Sir Charles Trevelyan—The Defences of India and Great Britain—The Massacre by the Druses—The French Expedition—China once more—Repulse on the Peiho—Lord Elgin and Baron Gros—The Advance on Pekin—Capture of the Taku Forts—The Summer Palace looted—Release of Mr. Parkes—Lord Elgin decrees the Destruction of the Palace—The Treaty of Peace—The Prince of Wales in Canada—Death of the Duchess of Kent—The American Civil War—Election of Lincoln—Secession of South Carolina—The Confederate States—The British Cabinet declares Neutrality—Affair of the Trent—The Paper Duties Bill and the Church Rates Bill—Sidney Herbert and the Volunteers 310