There was considerable sensation when the news came to England. Lord Derby moved a vote of censure in the Lords, and the only answer the Lord Chancellor could make to the enquiry whether, supposing a Chinese owner of a Chinese vessel bought a British ensign, that made her a British vessel, was that the Chinese had no right to assume that the flag was hoisted illegally. The House of Lords supported the Government, but it went worse with them in the Commons. On the motion of Mr. Cobden, Ministers were defeated by a majority of sixteen. Mr. Disraeli had dared the Government to go to the country on the question. "I should like," he had said, in the measured, biting accents of his later manner, "to see the proud leaders of the Liberal party--no reform, new taxes, Canton blazing, Pekin invaded!" Palmerston took up the gauntlet; he appealed to the country, and he put his policy--thorough "Jingo," as it would be termed nowadays--before the constituencies in such sort that he was returned to power stronger than before. Never was a Minister more thoroughly justified in settling his plans for a long spell of office. But Palmerston himself is said to have observed once that "the life of a Ministry was never worth three months' purchase," of which the fate of his own second Administration was a striking illustration. It lasted just long enough to enable him to announce to the House of Commons in February 1858 that Canton had fallen before a combined English and French force; for the French in the interval had managed to pick a quarrel with the Chinese. A treaty was concluded securing access to the interior of China for Englishmen and Frenchmen, establishing diplomatic relations between England and France and the Court of China, and securing the toleration of Christianity. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Thiele, Chancery Lane._ WINDING CORDITE IN THE GOVERNMENT FACTORY. Cordite is composed of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine. In the form of greasy cord it is wound on reels, and afterwards cut into lengths.] On June 25, 1857, the Queen issued Letters Patent conferring on Prince Albert the title of Prince Consort, a name which had been popularly applied to him for many years in England, and by which he was known henceforward to the world. The change may seem an unimportant one, but it created some unreasonable dissatisfaction at the time, and the Press of the country betrayed no enthusiasm in its favour. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Eyre & Spottiswoode._ MACHINE-GUN SHOP AT THE SMALL ARMS FACTORY, ENFIELD.] [Sidenote: Startling News from India.]