In January, fresh overtures were made to Lord Palmerston by the Conservative leaders, with a view of supporting him in office against the dissentients in his Ministry, especially Lord John Russell and Mr Gladstone, whose views on the questions of Reform and National Defence respectively were opposed to those of the Premier. Lord Palmerston was indifferent to the support of Mr Gladstone; but a unity of view on the Italian policy of the Government held the three Liberal statesmen together.
The attack on the Paper Duties was repeated by Mr Gladstone, who, on this occasion, combined all his fiscal proposals in a single Bill. The measure, after strong opposition, passed the Commons by a majority of fifteen, and the Peers subsequently accepted the Budget, which took a penny off the income tax, while maintaining the existing tea and sugar Duties. In July, Lord John Russell, who had entered Parliament in 1813, before he came of age and had been leader of the House of Commons at the time of the Queen's accession, was transferred to the House of Lords. In August, the Queen and the Prince Consort, with the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, paid a third visit to Ireland.
The affairs of Italy still continued to attract public attention. At the end of 1860, the French fleet had been despatched to Gaëta to protect the interests of King Francis; this protection, given in violation of the principle of non-intervention, was withdrawn in January, and the garrison surrendered to the Piedmontese Admiral. On the 18th of February, the new Parliament of Italy met at Turin, the debates emphasising the vital necessity of including both Rome and Venetia in a united nation; Victor Emmanuel was declared King of Italy, a title promptly recognised by Great Britain; but in June, to the profound grief of the Italian nation, Cavour, its Prime Minister, and the mainspring of the Piedmontese policy, died while still in the prime of life.
King Frederick William of Prussia had died in January, and was succeeded by his brother, William I., Prince of Prussia, who was crowned with Queen Augusta, at Königsberg, on the 18th of October, Lord Clarendon attending as British representative. In the following month, King Pedro of Portugal, son and successor of Donna Maria, and his brother Ferdinand, died of typhoid fever; another brother, Prince John, succumbed to the same malady before the close of the year.
Events of great importance took place in North America, where the secession of South Carolina was followed by that of other Southern States. The delegates of the latter assembled in February at Montgomery, Alabama, and nominated Jefferson Davis as their President, Abraham Lincoln having been previously elected as the new President of the United States. The first shot had been fired, on the 9th of January, in Charleston Harbour, where a Secessionist battery opened its guns on a vessel sent by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter. In April, the Confederate troops attacked the Fort, which was compelled to surrender, whereupon President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers; President Davis replied by issuing (in default of an official fleet) letters of marque to privately owned vessels, and Lincoln declared the Southern ports in a state of blockade. In May, Lord John Russell announced that the British Government would recognise the South as a belligerent power, and a proclamation of neutrality was issued. At Bull Run, on the 21st of July, the Federals were defeated, and fled in confusion to Washington. Hostilities continued during the year, and Great Britain was nearly involved in war, by the seizure, on the 8th of November, by the captain of a Federal vessel, the San Jacinto, of Messrs Slidell and Mason, the envoys accredited by the Confederate States to Great Britain and France. This high-handed action was taken while the envoys in question were passengers to Europe, by the British mail steamer Trent, between Havana and St Thomas, and the public mind of Great Britain was greatly excited in consequence; but eventually the envoys were transferred to a British ship-of-war, and arrived in Great Britain, not, however, until in view of a threatened aggression on British North America, troops had been despatched from England to strengthen the Canadian garrisons on the frontier. The despatch of Lord Russell to the American Government, which led to a pacific result, had been revised by Prince Albert, in the direction of leaving open to that Government an honourable retreat from the aggressive attitude they had taken up; the Prince's action in this respect, the beneficial effect of which it would be difficult to exaggerate, was destined to be the last of a long series of political services rendered to this country.
It had become apparent in the autumn that Prince Albert's normal health was impaired, and in November he began to suffer from persistent insomnia; towards the end of the month the fever originated which was to prove fatal to him. He suffered at first from rheumatic pains and constant weakness, until, early in December, what was thought to be influenza developed, and the Prince was confined to his room. By the 11th his condition, though not hopeless, had become grave, and the serious nature of the illness was made public; and, although on the 12th the Queen could write hopefully to King Leopold, the malady continued to increase. On the evening of the 13th, a rally took place, and encouraging reports were brought hourly to the Queen through the night; but congestion of the lungs supervened on the following day, in the closing hours of which, to the inexpressible grief both of the Queen and her subjects, the Prince passed peacefully away. The letters of the Queen to King Leopold and Lord Canning express, in language to which nothing can be added, the intensity of her grief, and, no less, the noble and unselfish courage with which she resolved to devote her life to her children and country.