A mishap like this might have passed without immediate effect on the fortunes of the Government, had it not been that the form of the amendment carried was one reflecting on the departmental administration of one of the Secretaries of State. Lord Rosebery tendered his resignation, and the Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, who commenced at once to form his third Administration. The Liberal Unionist contingent, with the Duke of Devonshire as their chief, elected to maintain their organisation independent of their Conservative allies; but the Ministry was formed by a coalition of the two wings of the Unionist party. They approached the general election in July with such confidence of success as very rarely can be entertained under a system of household suffrage; but the result far exceeded their most sanguine calculations. Sir William Harcourt lost his seat for Derby on the first day's polling, the prelude of such discomfiture as has scarcely any parallel in the history of a political party. Reckoning the Gladstonian or Home Rule majority in the previous Parliament at forty-three, it was converted at the polls of 1895 into an Unionist majority of 152. The new Ministry, in entering office, found domestic affairs in a very tranquil state; but troubles had been gathering for some time, endangering the peaceful relations of Great Britain with several foreign Powers, which called for the exercise of all Lord Salisbury's experience and foresight in undertaking once more the administration of foreign affairs. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde._ HER MAJESTY WITH HER GREAT-GRANDSON PRINCE EDWARD OF YORK, THIRD IN THE DIRECT LINE OF SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE.] [Illustration: _L. Tuxen._} {_From the Royal Collection, by permission of Mr. Mendoza, St. James's Gallery, King Street, St. James's, proprietor of the copyright._ THE MARRIAGE OF T.R.H. THE DUKE OF YORK AND PRINCESS VICTORIA MARY (MAY) OF TECK, AT THE CHAPEL ROYAL, ST. JAMES'S, July 6, 1893.