sirdar, Lal Singh, were at the mercy of their Sikh soldiery. To
save themselves they determined to launch their army upon the British.

[Sidenote: John Franklin's Arctic quest]

[Sidenote: Conflagration of Quebec]

[Sidenote: Irish famine]

[Sidenote: Peel's Cabinet resigns]

British enterprise found a vent in other ways beyond colonial conquests. In
the spring of this year Sir John Franklin sailed out once more with the
"Erebus" and "Terror," in quest of the Northwest Passage. The last message
from him was received in July. News also reached England that he had
entered Lancaster Sound, but it was long after that before anything was
heard concerning him. Since then more than thirty Arctic expeditions have
searched in vain for the body of Franklin. About the same time that
Franklin sailed on this expedition, a great fire in Quebec destroyed 1,650
houses, rendering 12,000 people homeless. Just one month later, on June 29,
a second fire destroyed 1,365 houses. Two-thirds of the city was laid in
ashes. Another serious calamity was the Irish famine of this year, caused
by the failure of the potato crop. The distress thus occasioned increased
the agitation against the corn laws. As during the preceding year, great
mass meetings were held in Birmingham and Manchester. Sir Robert Peel,
early in the year, had showed his new leanings toward free trade, by the
introduction of a bill for the abolition of import duties on no less than
four hundred and thirty articles. The government's discrimination in favor
of the duties on sugar provoked a long debate in Parliament. Gladstone
continued to support his old colleagues in the government, while Cobden and
Bright led the opposition on the floor of the House. By the time Parliament
was prorogued in August, the Ministry had won a complete victory. The
spread of the famine during the summer, when almost all harvests failed,
reacted powerfully upon the government. A strong public letter from the pen
of Lord Russell brought the precarious position of the government home to
the Cabinet. Sir Robert Peel admitted the necessity of an absolute repeal
of the corn laws. Rather than confess such a complete change of position,
Peel's Cabinet resigned. Lord Russell was summoned to form a new Cabinet.

[Sidenote: Death of Hood]

[Sidenote: Thomas Hood's Works]

During this interim the practice of duelling in England, but recently
countenanced in the army by the Duke of Wellington, fell under las