CHAPTER XXI.

THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (_continued_).

The Queen's Visit to Ireland--The Royal Family at Balmoral--Illness and Death of the Prince Consort--The Address in Parliament--The Education Code--The American War in Parliament--The _Nashville_--The Blockade and the Cotton Famine--The Game Act--Palmerston and Cobden--Prorogation of Parliament--The Garotters--The _Alabama_--Mr. Adams and Earl Russell--The _Alabama sails_--Progress of the War in America--Greece and the Ionian Islands--The Society of Arts--The Exhibition of 1862--Jealousy of Prussia and France--The Colonial Exhibition--The Cotton Famine in 1863--Engagement and Marriage of the Prince of Wales--Mr. Gladstone's Budget--"Essays and Reviews"--Obituary of the Year--Russell and Gortschakoff--The Polish Revolution--Russell and Brazil--The Coercion of Japan--The American War in 1863--The Crown of Mexico offered to the Archduke Maximilian--Captain Speke in Central Africa 326