Financing the War--The Queen’s Opinion of War Loans--A Dreadful Winter--Distress in the Country--The “Devil” in Devonshire--Bread Riots--War Loans and a War Budget--The Queen and the Wounded Soldiers--Her Condemnation of “the Hulks”--Presentation of War Medals in Hyde Park--Visit of the Emperor and Empress of the French--A Plot to Capture the Queen--Councils of War at Windsor--The Grand Chapter of the Order of the Garter--Imperial Compliments--Napoleon III. in the City--At the Opera--The Queen’s Birthday Gift to the Emperor--Scarlet Fever at Osborne--Prorogation of Parliament--A Court Intrigue with Dom Pedro of Portugal--The Queen Visits Paris--Her Reception at St. Cloud--The Ball at the Hôtel de Ville--Staring at the “Koh-i-noor”--At the Tomb of the Great Emperor--Prince Bismarck’s Introduction to the Queen--Home again--Lord Clarendon on the Queen’s Visit to Paris--How the Prince of Wales Enjoyed himself--At Balmoral--The Bonfire on Craig Gowan--Sebastopol Rejoicings--“A Witches’ Dance supported by Whisky”--Courtship of the Princess Royal--Prince Frederick William of Prussia--His Proposal of Marriage--Attacks of the _Times_--Visit of Victor Emmanuel--His Reputation in Paris--Memorial of the Grenadier Guards--Fresh Charges against Prince Albert--His Vindication of the Crimean Officers. Early in 1855 her Majesty became anxious, not to say nervous, as to the plans that were to be adopted for financing the war. Her personal prepossessions were all in favour of Mr. Gladstone’s policy--which was that of meeting expenditure out of current revenue. But then the cost of the campaign was now so enormous that it was impossible to increase taxation so as to cover it. The winter had been severe. Though the end of December and the first thirteen days of January had been like summer, during the night of the 13th, says Sir F. Hastings Doyle, “the wind shifted suddenly to the N.N.E., and a savage frost came on which lasted at least two months without intermission or abatement.”[220] Outdoor workers found themselves without employment. Gangs of hungry-eyed labouring men began to parade the streets of London, levying black-mail on well-to-do householders. Ultimately mobs of roughs attacked and plundered the bakers’ and chandlers’ shops in the East End on the 21st and 22nd of February, and in Liverpool, where some 15,000 riverside labourers were out of work, terrible scenes of riot and outrage were enacted. It was a time when the abstraction of capital from the country by raising a war loan would be a slight evil, compared with that which might follow from the imposition of heavy war taxes on a discontented and suffering industrial population. It was therefore decided that the cost of the war should be met by a loan.