Simultaneously with the despatch of Lord John Russell's demand for the surrender of the prisoners, 8,000 troops were embarked in England for service in Canada, and every preparation was made for immediate war. This not only cost Great Britain about a million of money, but also deprived President Lincoln's act of all grace in the eyes of English people. [Illustration: SYDNEY TOWN AND HARBOUR, FROM PALACE GARDENS. The colony of New South Wales, originally comprising the eastern half of the continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania, was formally founded by an expedition under the command of Capt. Arthur Phillip. The first landing was effected at Botany Bay, and the City of Sydney was founded on January 26, 1788. New South Wales became a self-governing colony in 1855. Population (1893), 1,277,870; imports (1895), £15,992,415; exports (1895), £21,934,785.] [Sidenote: Death of the Prince Consort.] The _Trent_ difficulty was the last public question in which the Prince Consort was to take part. A memorandum dated December 1, 1861, written by him and conveying to Lord Russell the Queen's remarks on the drafts of despatches he was about to forward to Lord Lyons, was the last State paper to which the Prince Consort set his hand. He had been ill for some days previously, and soon afterwards gastric fever developed itself. In spite of the tender attention of the Queen and the Princesses, the malady continued, not much worse, apparently, but no better. Congestion of the lungs set in, and at midnight on Saturday, December 14, the tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's Cathedral announced to the people of London that the Monarch's Consort was no more--that their Queen was a widow. [Illustration: THE HAWKESBURY BRIDGE, NEW SOUTH WALES. On the railway between Adelaide and Brisbane; the largest work of the kind south of the Equator. Opened May 1, 1889.] [Illustration: THE TOWN HALL, CENTENNIAL HALL, AND CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY.]