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1874-1878

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

969

1843 Natal had been a British colony. In 1871 the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley attracted immigration, and in 1875 the population of colonised South Africa was 1,759,000, of which 1,339,000 were in British territory and the remainder in the two Boer Republics. That which distinguishes the South African settlements from those in North America and in Australasia is the enormous preponderance of a native population. The total white population in 1875 was only 350,000, five persons out of every six being natives.

Summary of Events, 1874-188,

1874-1880.-The

I. The Disraeli (Beaconsfield) Ministry. Conservative ministry, formed under Disraeli in 1874, contented itself for some time with domestic legislation. In 1876 troubles broke out in the Balkan Peninsula, caused by the misdeeds of the Turkish officials. Servia and Montenegro made war upon the Turks, and in January 1877 a conference of European ministers was held at Constantinople to settle all questions at issue. Nothing, however, was done to coerce the Turkish Government into better behaviour, and as other European powers refused to act, Russia declared war against Turkey. After a long and doubtful struggle, the Turkish power of resistance collapsed early in 1878, and a treaty between Russia and the Sultan was signed at San Stefano, by which the latter abandoned a considerable amount of territory. Disraeli, who had recently been made Earl of Beaconsfield, insisted that no engagement between Russia and Turkey would be valid unless it were confirmed by a European congress, and a congress was accordingly held at Berlin. By the Treaty of Berlin, which was signed in the course of 1878, Roumania and Servia became independent kingdoms, with some addition to their territory; Montenegro was also enlarged, and Bulgaria erected into a principality paying tribute to the Sultan; whilst a district to which the name of Eastern Roumelia was given was to be ruled by a Christian governor nominated by the Sultan, who was to have the right of garrisoning fortresses in the Balkan Mountains. Russia acquired the piece of land near the mouth of the Danube which she had lost after the Crimean War, and also another piece of land round Kars, which she had just conquered. The Sultan was recommended to cede Thessaly and part of Epirus to Greece. The protectorate over Bosnia and Herzegovina was given to Austria, and, by a

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separate convention, Cyprus was given to England on condition of paying tribute to the Sultan and protecting Asia Minor, which the Sultan promised to govern on an improved system. These arrangements have remained to the present day (1891), except that the Sultan has never garrisoned the fortresses in the Balkans, and that Eastern Roumelia has been annexed by its own population to Bulgaria, whilst the Sultan has only given over Thessaly to Greece, refusing to abandon any part of Epirus. In 1879 Egypt, having become practically bankrupt, was brought under the dual control of England and France. In South Africa, the territory of the republic of the Transvaal was annexed in 1877, and in 1879 there was a war with the Zulus, which began with the slaughter of a British force, though it ended in a complete victory. In Asia there was in 1878 an attempt to check Russia by interfering in Afghanistan. An impression grew up in the country that the Government was too fond of war, and when Parliament was dissolved in 1880, a considerable Liberal majority was returned.

2. The Second Gladstone Ministry. 1880-1885.-Gladstone formed a ministry which was soon confronted by difficulties in Ireland. There were troubles arising from the relations between landlord and tenant, and a Land League had been formed to support the tenants in their contentions with their landlords. There had also for some little time been amongst the Irish members a parliamentary party which demanded Home Rule, or the concession of an Irish parliament for the management of Irish affairs. This party was led by Parnell. In 1880 the ministry, in which the leading authority on Irish questions was Forster, the Irish Secretary, brought in a Compensation for Disturbance Bill, giving an evicted tenant compensation for the loss falling on him by being thrust out of his holding. This Bill passed the Commons, but was rejected by the Lords. In 1881 the ministry carried another fresh Land Act, appointing a land court to fix rents which were not to be changed for fifteen years. At the same time it carried an Act for the protection of life and property, intended to suppress the murders and outrages which were rife in Ireland, by authorising the imprisonment of suspected persons without legal trial. In 1881 Parnell and other leading Irishmen were arrested, but in 1882 the Government let them out of prison, with the intention of pursuing a more conciliatory course. On this Forster resigned. His successor, Lord Frederick Cavendish, was murdered, together with the Irish Under-Secretary, Burke, in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, by a band of ruffians who called themselves Invincibles. An Act for

1880-1884

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

971

the prevention of crimes was then passed. The Irish members of parliament continued bitterly hostile to the ministry. On the other hand, some at least of the members of the Government and of their supporters were becoming convinced that another method for the suppression of violence than compulsion must be employed, if Ireland was ever to be tranquil. As had been the case with the last Government, foreign complications discredited the ministry. In 1880 the Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaal rose against the English government set up in their territory in 1877, and drove back with slaughter at Majuba Hill a British force sent against them. On this, the home government acknowledged the independence of the republic. The greatest trouble, however, arose in Egypt. An insurrection headed by Arabi Pacha with the object of getting rid of European influence, broke out against the Khedive, as the Pacha of Egypt had been called since his power had become hereditary (see p. 922). France, which had joined Great Britain in establishing the dual control, refused to act, and the British Government sent a fleet and army to overthrow Arabi. The forts of Alexandria were destroyed by the fleet, and a great part of the town burnt by the native populace. Sir Garnet Wolseley, at the head of a British army, defeated Arabi's troops at Tel-el-Kebir, and since that time the British Government has temporarily assumed the protectorate of Egypt, helping the Khedive to improve the condition of the Egyptian people. Farther south, in the Soudan, a Mahommedan fanatic calling himself the Mahdi roused his Mahommedan followers against the tyranny of the Egyptian officials, and almost the whole country broke loose from Egyptian control. An Egyptian army under an Englishman, Hicks, was massacred, and a few posts, of which the principal was Khartoum, alone held out. An enthusiastic and heroic Englishman, General Gordon, who had at one time put down a widespread rebellion in China, and had at another time been governor of the Soudan, where he had been renowned for his justice and kindliness as well as for his vigour, offered to go out, in the hope of saving the people at Khartoum from being overwhelmed by the Mahdi. The Government sent him off, but refused to comply with his requests. In 1884 Gordon's position was so critical that Wolseley, now Lord Wolseley, was sent to relieve him. It was too late, as, before Wolseley could reach Khartoum, the town was betrayed into the hands of the Mahdi, and Gordon himself murdered. The vacillation of the Cabinet, probably resulting from differences of opinion inside it, alienated a large amount of public opinion. In Asia, Russia was

pushing on in the direction of Afghanistan, and in 1885 seized a post called Penjdeh. For a time war with Russia seemed imminent, but eventually an arrangement was come to which left Penjdeh in Russian hands. At home, in 1884, by an agreement between Liberals and Conservatives, a third Reform Act was passed, conferring the franchise in the counties on the same conditions as those on which it had been conferred by the second Reform Act on the boroughs. The county constituencies and those in the large towns were split up into separate constituencies each of them returning a single member, so that with a few exceptions no constituency now returns more than one. The ministry was by this time thoroughly unpopular, and in 1885 it was defeated and resigned, being followed by a Conservative Government under Lord Salisbury.

From the time of the passing of the third Reform Act, whichever party may have been in power, the country has been under democratic influence. New questions have arisen-political questions about the relations of one territorial part of the British dominions with another, and social questions about the relations between capital and labour; but none of these have yet reached the stage at which they justly come within the province of the historian.

Books recommended for the further study of Part XI. WALPOLE, SPENCER. A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815. Vol. ii. p. 159-vol. V.

Life of Lord John Russell.

LE MARCHANT. Memoir of Viscount Althorp, third Earl Spencer.
GREVILLE, CHARLES C. F. Memoirs.

MCLELLAN, J. K. Memoirs of Thomas Drummond.

THURSFIELD. Peel.

MORLEY, J. Life of Richard Cobden.

BULWER, SIR H. L., and ASHLEY, HON. E.

Palmerston.

REID, T. WEMYSS. Life of W. E. Forster.

HAMLEY, GEN. SIR E. The Crimean War.

Life of Viscount

KAYE, SIR JOHN, and MALLESON, COL. G. B. History of the

Indian Mutiny.

INDEX

AAR

AARON, martyrdom of, 23

Abbey lands, the, distributed by Henry
VIII., 400; Mary wishes for the re-
storation of, 422

Abdul Medjid succeeds his father as
sultan, 922
Abercrombie,

General, repulsed at

Ticonderoga, 753
Abercromby, Sir Ralph, resigns his
command in Ireland, 841; killed in
Egypt, 844

Aberdeen, Earl of, foreign policy of,
927 becomes Prime Minister, 943
Aberdeen, Montrose's victory at, 547
Abhorrers, party name of, 620
Aclea, battle of, 57

Acre, captured by the Crusaders, 161;
Edward I. at, 204; failure of Bona-
parte to take, 838; taken by Napier,

922

Act of Settlement, the, 622
Addington becomes Prime Minister, 843;
resignation of, 848; enters Pitt's
ministry and becomes Viscount Sid-
mouth, 851; see Sidmouth, Viscount
Addison, literary and political position
of, 693

Addled Parliament, the, 486

Admonition to Parliament, An, 446
Adrian IV. grants Ireland to Henry II.,

152

Adulterine castles, 137

Adwalton Moor, battle of, 538

Aedan, king of the Scots, is defeated
at Degsastan, 42

Ælfgar, earl of the Mercians, 90
Elfgifu, wife of Eadwig, 65, 66
Elfheah, Archbishop, murdered by the
Danes, 82

Alfred, his struggle with the Danes, 58;
his position after the Treaty of Wed-
more, 59 gains London, ib. ; character
of his work, 60

Alfred the Etheling, murder of, 85,
86

Elfthryth, wife of Eadgar, 78

Ella, king of Deira, slave-boys from
his kingdom found at Rome, 38
Æscesdun, battle of, 58

Ethelbald, king of the Mercians, 53

ALA

Æthelbald, king of the West Saxons, 57
Æthelberht, king of Kent, his supremacy,
38; becomes a Christian, 39; helps
Augustine to set up bishoprics, 40;
death of, 41

Ethelberht, king of the West Saxons, 57
Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, 62
Æthelfrith, king of North-humberland,
his struggle with the northern Welsh,
41; defeats the Scots at Degsastan,
42 and the Kymry near Chester, 43:
is defeated and slain by Eadwine, 10.
Ethelred, ealdorman of Mercia, 65
Ethelred, king of the West Saxons,
his struggle with the Danes, 58, 62
Æthelred the Unready, his relations with
the Danes, 79; and with the Nor-
mans, 80 orders a massacre of the
Danes, 81 flies to Normandy, 82;
returns and dies, 83

Ethelric unites North-humberland, 41
Ethelstan, reign of, 63

Æthelstan, the Half-King, 73

Ethelwold drives secular canons from
Winchester, 68

Ethelwulf defeats the Northmen, 57
Aetius refuses help to the Britons, 26
Afghan war, the first, 949; the second, 972
Afghanistan, invasions of India from,
948

Agincourt, battle of, 302

Agitators, choice of, 554; propose to
purge the House, 556

Agreement of the People, the, drawn up
by the Agitators, 556

Agricola, campaigns of, 16; forts built
by, 17

Agriculture in Eadgar's time, 75; More's
views on the decline of, 368; progress
of, in Elizabeth's reign, 464: improve.
ments in, 813

Aidan establishes himself in Holy
Island, 47 his relations with Oswald,
ib. and with Oswine, ib.

Aislabie, sent to the Tower, 712
Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), peace of, 599,
743; congress at, 879

Alabama, the, depredations of, 959;
award of a court of arbitration for
damages caused by, 966

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