The war went on; the Allies being strengthened in a minute degree by the active adherence of the little kingdom of Sardinia, of which the gallant and resolute monarch, Victor Emmanuel, perceived ultimate advantage to his designs on the throne of Italy through alliance with Great Britain and France in a war which concerned him about as much as it did the Queen of the Sandwich Islands. The bombardment of Sebastopol was resumed on April 10, and 400 great guns battered away without much result. But the trenches were drawing ever closer round the doomed city, and the Allies made a successful expedition to Kertch on May 24, where they destroyed immense stores provided for the Russian army, as well as a convoy of cargo ships in the Sea of Azoff. On June 18 a combined assault was delivered on the Malakoff and Redan Forts, but the Allies were repulsed with heavy loss. It had been undertaken against the judgment of Lord Raglan, who yielded reluctantly to General Pelissier's urgent request. He took this reverse grievously to heart: harassed as he had been by the censures passed at home on his administration, his health gave way under this additional blow, and he succumbed to dysentery on the 29th. [Illustration: _E. M. Ward, R.A._} {_In the Royal Collection._ HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN INVESTING THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON III. WITH THE ORDER OF THE GARTER AT WINDSOR CASTLE, April 18, 1855. The friendly feeling between England and France which sprang out of their common interests in the war against Russia, found expression in an interchange of visits between the Sovereigns of the two countries. The Emperor Napoleon III. and his beautiful Empress visited the Queen at Windsor in April 1855. They were met at Dover by the Prince Consort on the 16th, and remained at Windsor until the 21st. One of the most impressive ceremonies of their visit was the Installation of the Emperor as a Knight of the Garter.]