The new Ministry was formed with unexampled celerity. Mr. Gladstone, accepting the verdict of the country, did not attempt to meet the new Parliament, but resigned on February 18, 1874. Three days later the Queen had approved of the names submitted to her by Mr. Disraeli for all the offices in the Government, both in the Cabinet and outside it. Lord Salisbury, sometimes known then as "the terrible Marquis," and Lord Carnarvon, both of whom had seceded in 1867 on the question of the franchise, resumed their former seats at the India and Colonial Offices respectively. The Liberal party were languishing in that political anæmia which follows on overwhelming defeat, when they received an additional blow in the retirement of Mr. Gladstone from the leadership. Some hard things were said about one who thus abandoned his party at the lowest ebb of their fortunes, and uncomplimentary contrasts were drawn between him and Disraeli, who had cheered his followers by his constant presence in adversity which seemed irredeemable. After some months of indecision, during which the Liberal leadership was administered by a kind of _junta_, the Marquis of Hartington assumed the thankless task of leading the deserted and dispirited Opposition, an office made all the more difficult by the occasional raids upon the debates made by Mr. Gladstone as often as some subject which specially interested him turned up, such as the Public Worship Bill, and the Bill abolishing patronage in the Church of Scotland. [Illustration: _Orlando Norrie_} {_From the Royal Collection._ THE ASHANTI WAR: THE ENTRY INTO COOMASSIE, February 4, 1874.] [Illustration: _N. Chevalier._} {_From the Royal Collection._ MARRIAGE OF H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AND THE GRAND-DUCHESS MARIE OF RUSSIA AT THE WINTER PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG, January 23, 1874. View of the interior of the chapel of the Winter Palace. The bride and bridegroom are standing before the altar, and over them the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg elevates the cross. The Emperor and Empress of Russia stand together against the great piers supporting the dome, and near them are the Czarewitch with his wife, the Princess Dagmar, and the Princess of Wales, her sister. In the foreground are the Prince of Wales and the Crown Prince of Prussia, and among others present are the Crown Princess of Prussia, the Crown Prince of Denmark, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a long train of Grand Dukes and Nobles.] [Sidenote: Annexation of the Fiji Islands.]