In the month of March
the ministry was modified in its inferior offices in a way calculated
to improve its strength. Generally, throughout the united kingdom, it
inspired confidence and received support.
One of the last acts of the Aberdeen ministry was to establish an order
of military merit for bravery--the Victoria Cross.
Upon the resignation of the Aberdeen ministry, the court paid signal
attention to its members; and the fallen premier received the highest
badge of honour the queen could bestow--the Order of the Garter.
This excited loud murmurs throughout the country, and impaired public
confidence in the vigour of will possessed by the premier, when the will
of the court was expressed apart from the great and leading principles
of his policy.
The estimates for the service of 1855 were much discussed in the house,
and were generally considered far below the exigencies of the country.
The estimates for the army were L13,721,158; for the navy, L10,716,388;
for the transport service, L5,181,465; for the ordnance, L7,808,042. The
whole nearly equalling thirty-seven millions and a half sterling.
With the discussions of March, and the consolidations of the cabinet,
ended the parliamentary events, of the year most worthy of note;
although various discussions, full of interest and importance, arose
from time to time throughout the whole of the session. Those which were
most vital to the government arose out of the negotiations of Vienna,
where Lord John Russell appeared as the chief representative of England.
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