The _Victoria_ was built in 1887 by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell. & Co., and was one of three "first-class armourclads" which were armed with 110-ton guns--the heaviest ordnance ever made. She was of steel, 10,500 tons displacement. The loss of this magnificent ship, with the Admiral, 30 officers, and 320 men out of a crew of 600, on the 22nd June 1893, through colliding with H.M.S. _Camperdown_ while executing manoeuvres off the Syrian coast, is one of the most tragic events in recent history.] After some correspondence between Russell and Palmerston, the former wrote, on December 17, informing Palmerston "that the conduct of Foreign Affairs could no longer be left in his hands with advantage to the country," and offering him the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland. Of course Lord Palmerston resigned, and the Queen accepted the resignation. "The distinction," wrote Her Majesty to the Prime Minister, "which Lord Palmerston tries to establish between his personal and his official acts is perfectly untenable." [Illustration: H.M.S. "TERRIBLE," 1897. This is the latest of the "first class cruisers"; displacement, 14,200 tons; horse-power, 25,000; speed, 22 knots. Built by the Clydebank Shipbuilding Company.] [Sidenote: The New Houses of Parliament.] In this year (1852) the Houses of Lords and Commons took possession of the new Palace of Westminster, built from the design of Barry on the site of the old Palace, destroyed by fire in 1835. The style of architecture selected--the Tudor-Gothic--is not one which lends itself readily to grand or massive treatment, owing to the infinite repetition of detailed ornament; but it has this to recommend it, that it is exclusively indigenous to England, and the architect was successful in erecting on a very unpromising site a crowning example of that particular form of Gothic building. The cost of the new Palace as it stands amounted to about £3,000,000; but it should be said that Barry's design has never been completed. It was intended to extend the buildings to form a quadrangle round the court at the foot of the Clock Tower, to accommodate various Public Departments now housed in Whitehall and Downing Street. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Valentine & Sons, Dundee._ THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.] [Sidenote: French Invasion Apprehended.] [Sidenote: Resignation of Ministers.] [Sidenote: The "Who? Who?" Cabinet.]