ian magazines and stores in the Sea of Azov. General
Canrobert was succeeded in the French command by General Pelissier,
and on the 7th of June the Mamelon was taken by the French. A
desperate but, as it proved, unsuccessful assault was then made by
the Allies on the Redan and Malakhoff batteries; at this juncture Lord
Raglan died, and was succeeded in the command by General Simpson.

The Vienna Conference proved abortive, Russia refusing to accept the
third point, and though a compromise was proposed by Austria, which
was favoured by the British and French Plenipotentiaries, their
respective Governments did not ratify their views. The negotiations
accordingly broke down, and Lord John Russell, on his return, used
language in Parliament quite inconsistent with the view which it
afterwards appeared he had urged at Vienna. He was loudly denounced
for this, and, to avoid Parliamentary censure, again resigned office.

Among the measures which became law during the session, were those
for enabling companies to be formed with limited liability, and for
granting self-government to some of the Australasian Colonies. The
Committee appointed by the House of Commons held its meetings in
public (after a proposal to keep its investigations secret had been
rejected), and, by the casting vote of the Chairman, reported that the
late Cabinet, when directing the expedition to the Crimea, had had
no adequate information as to the force they would have to encounter
there; but a motion to "visit with severe reprehension" every member
of the Cabinet was parried by carrying the "previous question."

In August, the Queen and Prince Albert paid a return visit to the
French Emperor, and were received with great magnificence in Paris,
while later in the year King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia visited this
country, and was made a Knight of the Garter. On the 9th of August,
Sweaborg was severely bombarded by the allied fleets in the Baltic,
and a forlorn attempt to raise the siege of Sebastopol resulted in
another decisive success at the Tchernaya, the Sardinian contingent
fighting with great bravery. Sebastopol fell on the 8th of September,
after a siege of three hundred and forty-nine days; the citadel of
Kinburn was bombarded and surrendered in October, after which General
Simpson retired, in favour of Sir William Codrington. On the other
hand, the fortress of Kars in Armenia, which had been defended by
General Fenwick Williams, had to surrender