Outbreak of Civil War in the United States--Origin of the Dispute--The Missouri Compromise--Effect of the “Gold Rush” on the Extension of Slavery--Colonising Nebraska--The Struggle in “Bleeding Kansas”--Assault on Senator Sumner--The Wyandotte Constitution--The Dred Scott Case--Election of Mr. Lincoln as President--Secession of South Carolina--Organisation of the Southern Confederacy--The Firing of the First Shot--Capture of Fort Sumter--Lincoln’s Call to Arms--Opinion in England--The _Trent_ Affair--The Queen and the Prince Consort avert War--Opening of Parliament--Bitter Controversy over the Education Code--Parliament and the Civil War--The Cotton Famine--A Relief Bill--War Expenditure--Mr. Disraeli denounces Lord Palmerston’s “Bloated Armaments”--A Budget without a Surplus--The Fortifications at Spithead--Floating versus Fixed Forts--A Mexican Adventure--Revolution in Greece--Bismarck’s Visit to London--Anecdote of Bismarck and Mr. Disraeli--Progress of the American War--Mr. Peabody’s Benefactions--The Exhibition of 1862--The Prince of Wales’s Tour in the East--The Hartley Colliery Accident--Marriage of the Princess Alice--The Queen’s Visit to Belgium--Her Meeting with the Princess Alexandra of Denmark--The Queen’s Visit to Gotha--Removal of the Prince Consort’s Remains to the Mausoleum at Frogmore 111 CHAPTER VI. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. England in 1863--The Prince of Wales Summoned as a Peer of Parliament--His Introduction to the House of Lords--Cession of the Ionian Islands to Greece--Mr. Disraeli’s Policy--The Prince of Wales’s Income--The Dowry of the Princess--Approaching Marriage of the Prince of Wales--The Voyage of the “Sea-King’s Daughter”--Reception of the Princess Alexandra at Gravesend--Her Entry into London--The Scene in the City--The West End _en Fête_--Loyalty of Clubland--Accident to the Royal Party at Slough--The High Churchmen and the Queen--Objections to a Royal Marriage in Lent--The Dispensing Power of the Primate--A Visit to Frogmore--The Queen at the Prince of Wales’s Marriage--The Scene in St. George’s Chapel--The Wedding Presents--The Ceremony--The Wedding Guests hustled by Roughs--Riots in Ireland--Illuminated London--Foreign Policy--The Polish Question--The Russian Rebuff to Lord Palmerston--Napoleon III. Proposes a Congress of Sovereigns--Lord Russell Condemns the Proposal--The Death-Knell of the Anglo-French Alliance--France and Mexico and the Archduke Maximilian 146 CHAPTER VII. LORD PALMERSTON’S LAST CONTEST WITH THE QUEEN.