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