All Parliamentary business, it was understood, including, the redistribution of seats, was to be speedily disposed of in order to make an early appeal to the constituencies under the new franchise. But, in an unlucky hour for his colleagues, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Childers, decided to include in his Budget provision for increasing the duties on beer and spirits. There is no more perfectly organised body than the Licensed Victuallers; none whom ordinary members are more unblushingly anxious to conciliate on the eve of a general election. Early in June the Government were beaten on Mr. Childers' proposal by a majority of twelve votes, and resigned. [Illustration: _R. Caton Woodville._} {_From the Royal Collection._ MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS BEATRICE TO PRINCE HENRY OF BATTENBERG, AT WHIPPINGHAM CHURCH, July 23, 1885. The Queen and the bride are accompanied on either side by the Prince and Princess of Wales. The bridegroom is supported by Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg and Prince Alexander of Bulgaria. The Bridesmaids are the Princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud of Wales, Princesses Marie, Victoria and Alexandra of Edinburgh, Princesses Irene and Alix of Hesse, and Princesses Victoria and Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. The Archbishop (Benson) of Canterbury and Canon Prothero officiate.] [Sidenote: Lord Salisbury's First Administration.] The Queen accepted Mr. Gladstone's resignation by telegram, and entrusted Lord Salisbury with the task of forming a new Cabinet. No easy duty on the brink of a general election, even had the Conservative Party been at Peace within itself. But it was far from being so: a determined revolt was being conducted by Lord Randolph Churchill and his sympathisers--the "rapier and rosette" Tories--against Sir Stafford Northcote's ineffective leadership. Amiable, cultivated, experienced, and sagacious as he was, Northcote had failed to gain the confidence of the combative spirits in his party, who recognised their real captain in the brilliant but erratic Churchill. Lord Salisbury solved the difficulty of uniting these discordant elements by removing Northcote to the Lords, with the title of Earl of Iddesleigh and the office of First Lord of the Treasury, placing Churchill in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for India, and committing the leadership of the Commons to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach as Chancellor of the Exchequer. [Illustration: REPRESENTATIVE COINS OF THE REIGN. 1, 2. Sovereign, first issue. 3. Florin, first issue. 4. Crown piece, 1845. 5, 6. "Godless" florin (the words "Dei Gratiâ" being omitted from the legend). 7. Sovereign, second issue. 8. £5 Piece, Jubilee issue. 9, 10, 11. Double florin, half-crown and shilling, Jubilee issue. 12, 13. Half-crown, new issue. 14, 15. Florin and shilling, new issue. 16. Maundy fourpenny piece. 17. Bronze penny, 1870.