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diff --git a/14644-h/14644-h.htm b/14644-h/14644-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c677c81 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/14644-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,26247 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Development of the +European Nations, by J. Holland Rose.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .rgt { float: right; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: -5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .lft { float: left; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .indx {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .indx .letter {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .indx p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .indx p.i1 {margin-left: 1em;} + .indx p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .indx p.i3 {margin-left: 3em;} + .indx p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .indx p.i5 {margin-left: 5em;} + .indx p.i6 {margin-left: 6em;} + .indx p.i7 {margin-left: 7em;} + .indx p.i8 {margin-left: 8em;} + .indx p.i9 {margin-left: 9em;} + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14644 ***</div> + +<a name="001.png"></a> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/001.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Campaigns 1859-71.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<h2>THE DEVELOPMENT</h2> +<h4>OF THE</h4> +<h1>EUROPEAN NATIONS</h1> +<h3>1870-1914</h3> +<h5>BY</h5> +<h3>J. HOLLAND ROSE LITT.D.</h3> +<h5>FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE<br> +AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON,' 'THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PITT,'<br> +'THE ORIGINS OF THE WAR,' ETC.</h5> +<center>'Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere +causas.'--VIRGIL.</center> +<br> +<h5>FIFTH EDITION, WITH A NEW PREFACE AND THREE SUPPLEMENTARY +CHAPTERS</h5> +<h5>1915</h5> +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<td><i>First Edition</i></td> +<td align="right"><i>October</i> 1905.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><i>Second</i> "</td> +<td align="right"><i>November</i> 1905.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><i>Third</i> "</td> +<td align="right"><i>December</i> 1911.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><i>Fourth</i> "</td> +<td align="right"><i>November</i> 1914.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><i>Fifth</i> "</td> +<td align="right"><i>October</i> 1915.</td> +</tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> +<br> +<center>TO<br> +MY WIFE<br> +WITHOUT WHOSE HELP<br> +THIS WORK<br> +COULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></a>[pg +vii]</span> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION</h2> +<br> +<p>In this Edition are included three new chapters (Nos. +XXI.-XXIII.), in which I seek to describe the most important and +best-ascertained facts of the period 1900-14. Necessarily, the +narrative is tentative at many points; and it is impossible to +attain impartiality; but I have sought to view events from the +German as well as the British standpoint, and to sum up the +evidence fairly. The addition of these chapters has necessitated +the omission of the former Epilogue and Appendices. I regret the +sacrifice of the Epilogue, for it emphasised two important +considerations, (1) the tendency of British foreign policy towards +undue complaisance, which by other Powers is often interpreted as +weakness; (2) the danger arising from the keen competition in +armaments. No one can review recent events without perceiving the +significance of these considerations. Perhaps they may prove to be +among the chief causes producing the terrible finale of July-August +1914. I desire to express my acknowledgments and thanks for +valuable advice given by Mr. J.W. Headlam, M.A., Mr. A.B. Hinds, +M.A., and Dr. R.W. Seton-Watson, D. Litt.</p> +<p>J.H.R.</p> +<p>CAMBRIDGE,</p> +<p><i>September</i> 5, 1915.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" id="pageix"></a>[pg +ix]</span> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION</h2> +<br> +<p>The outbreak of war in Europe is an event too momentous to be +treated fully in this Preface. But I may point out that the +catastrophe resulted from the two causes of unrest described in +this volume, namely, the Alsace-Lorraine Question and the Eastern +Question. Those disputes have dragged on without any attempt at +settlement by the Great Powers. The Zabern incident inflamed public +opinion in Alsace-Lorraine, and illustrated the overbearing +demeanour of the German military caste; while the insidious +attempts of Austria in 1913 to incite Bulgaria against Servia +marked out the Hapsburg Empire as the chief enemy of the Slav +peoples of the Balkan Peninsula after the collapse of Turkish power +in 1912. The internal troubles of the United Kingdom, France, and +Russia in July 1914 furnished the opportunity so long sought by the +forward party at Berlin and Vienna; and the Austro-German Alliance, +which, in its origin, was defensive (as I have shown in this +volume), became offensive, Italy parting from her allies when she +discovered their designs. Drawn into the Triple Alliance solely by +pique against France after the Tunis affair, she now inclines +towards the Anglo-French connection.</p> +<p>Readers of my chapter on the Eastern Question will not fail to +see how the neglect of the Balkan peoples by the Great Powers has +left that wound festering in the weak side of Europe; and they will +surmise that the Balkan troubles have, by a natural Nemesis, played +their part in bringing about the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"pagex" id="pagex"></a>[pg x]</span> European War. It is for +students of modern Europe to seek to form a healthy public opinion +so that the errors of the past may not be repeated, and that the +new Europe shall be constituted in conformity with the aspirations +of the peoples themselves.</p> +<p>CAMBRIDGE,</p> +<p><i>September</i> 25, 1914.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexi" id="pagexi"></a>[pg +xi]</span> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<br> +<p>The line of Virgil quoted on the title-page represents in the +present case a sigh of aspiration, not a paean of achievement. No +historical student, surely, can ever feel the conviction that he +has fathomed the depths of that well where Truth is said to lie +hid. What, then, must be the feelings of one who ventures into the +mazy domain of recent annals, and essays to pick his way through +thickets all but untrodden? More than once I have been tempted to +give up the quest and turn aside to paths where pioneers have +cleared the way. There, at least, the whereabouts of that fabulous +well is known and the plummet is ready to hand. Nevertheless, I +resolved to struggle through with my task, in the consciousness +that the work of a pioneer may be helpful, provided that he +carefully notches the track and thereby enables those who come +after him to know what to seek and what to avoid.</p> +<p>After all, there is no lack of guides in the present age. The +number of memoir-writers and newspaper correspondents is legion; +and I have come to believe that they are fully as trustworthy as +similar witnesses have been in any age. The very keenness of their +rivalry is some guarantee for truth. Doubtless competition for good +"copy" occasionally leads to artful embroidering on humdrum +actuality; but, after spending much time in scanning similar +embroidery in the literature of the Napoleonic Era, I +unhesitatingly place the work of Archibald Forbes, and that of +several knights of the pen still living, far above the delusive +tinsel of Marbot, Thiébault, and Ségur. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="pagexii" id="pagexii"></a>[pg xii]</span> I will +go further and say that, if we could find out what were the sources +used by Thucydides, we should notice qualms of misgiving shoot +through the circles of scientific historians as they contemplated +his majestic work. In any case, I may appeal to the example of the +great Athenian in support of the thesis that to undertake to write +contemporary history is no vain thing.</p> +<p>Above and beyond the accounts of memoir-writers and newspaper +correspondents there are Blue Books. I am well aware that they do +not always contain the whole truth. Sometimes the most important +items are of necessity omitted. But the information which they +contain is enormous; and, seeing that the rules of the public +service keep the original records in Great Britain closed for +well-nigh a century, only the most fastidious can object to the use +of the wealth of materials given to the world in <i>Parliamentary +Papers</i>.</p> +<p>Besides these published sources there is the fund of information +possessed by public men and the "well-informed" of various grades. +Unfortunately this is rarely accessible, or only under conventional +restrictions. Here and there I have been able to make use of it +without any breach of trust; and to those who have enlightened my +darkness I am very grateful. The illumination, I know, is only +partial; but I hope that its effect, in respect to the twilight of +diplomacy, may be compared to that of the Aurora Borealis +lights.</p> +<p>After working at my subject for some time, I found it desirable +to limit it to events which had a distinctly formative influence on +the development of European States. On questions of motive and +policy I have generally refrained from expressing a decided +verdict, seeing that these are always the most difficult to probe; +and facile dogmatism on them is better fitted to omniscient +leaderettes than to the pages of an historical work. At the same +time, I have not hesitated to pronounce a judgment on these +questions, and to differ from other writers, where the evidence has +seemed to me decisive. To quote one instance, I reject the verdict +of most authorities <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiii" id= +"pagexiii"></a>[pg xiii]</span> on the question of Bismarck's +treatment of the Ems telegram, and of its effect in the +negotiations with France in July 1870.</p> +<p>For the most part, however, I have dealt only with external +events, pointing out now and again the part which they have played +in the great drama of human action still going on around us. This +limitation of aim has enabled me to take only specific topics, and +to treat them far more fully than is done in the brief chronicle of +facts presented by MM. Lavisse and Rambaud in the concluding volume +of their <i>Histoire Générale</i>. Where a series of +events began in the year 1899 or 1900, and did not conclude before +the time with which this narrative closes, I have left it on one +side. Obviously the Boer War falls under this head. Owing to lack +of space my references to the domestic concerns of the United +Kingdom have been brief. I have regretfully omitted one imperial +event of great importance, the formation of the Australian +Commonwealth. After all, that concerned only the British race; and +in my survey of the affairs of the Empire I have treated only those +which directly affected other nations as well, namely the Afghan +and Egyptian questions and the Partition of Africa. Here I have +sought to show the connection with "world politics," and I trust +that even specialists will find something new and suggestive in +this method of treatment.</p> +<p>In attempting to write a history of contemporary affairs, I +regard it as essential to refer to the original authority, or +authorities, in the case of every important statement. I have +sought to carry out this rule (though at the cost of great +additional toil) because it enables the reader to check the +accuracy of the narrative and to gain hints for further reading. To +compile bibliographies, where many new books are coming out every +year, is a useless task; but exact references to the sources of +information never lose their value.</p> +<p>My thanks are due to many who have helped me in this +undertaking. Among them I may name Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Mr. +James Bryce, M.P., and Mr. Chedo Mijatovich, who have given me +valuable advice on special topics. My <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="pagexiv" id="pagexiv"></a>[pg xiv]</span> +obligations are also due to a subject of the Czar, who has placed +his knowledge at my service, but for obvious reasons does not wish +his name to be known. Mr. Bernard Pares, M.A., of the University of +Liverpool, has very kindly read over the proofs of the early +chapters, and has offered most helpful suggestions. Messrs. G. Bell +and Sons have granted me permission to make use of the plans of the +chief battles of the Franco-German War from Mr. Hooper's work, +<i>Sedan and the Downfall of the Second Empire</i>, published by +them. To Mr. H.W. Wilson, author of <i>Ironclads in Action</i>, my +thanks are also due for permission to make use of the plan +illustrating the fighting at Alexandria in 1882.</p> +<p>J.H.R.</p> +<p><i>July, 1905.</i></p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexv" id="pagexv"></a>[pg +xv]</span> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<center><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page025">CHAPTER I<br> +THE CAUSES OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page050">CHAPTER II<br> +FROM WÖRTH TO GRAVELOTTE</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page073">CHAPTER III<br> +SEDAN</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page093">CHAPTER IV<br> +THE FOUNDING OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page114">CHAPTER V<br> +THE FOUNDING OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC--<i>continued</i></a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page129">CHAPTER VI<br> +THE GERMAN EMPIRE</a><br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexvi" id="pagexvi"></a>[pg +xvi]</span> <a href="#page155">CHAPTER VII<br> +THE EASTERN QUESTION</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page190">CHAPTER VIII<br> +THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page222">CHAPTER IX<br> +THE BALKAN SETTLEMENT</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page251">CHAPTER X<br> +THE MAKING OF BULGARIA</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page289">CHAPTER XI<br> +NIHILISM AND ABSOLUTISM IN RUSSIA</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page317">CHAPTER XII<br> +THE TRIPLE AND DUAL ALLIANCES</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page353">CHAPTER XIII<br> +THE CENTRAL ASIAN QUESTION</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page394">CHAPTER XIV<br> +THE AFGHAN AND TURKOMAN CAMPAIGNS</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page436">CHAPTER XV<br> +BRITAIN IN EGYPT</a><br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexvii" id="pagexvii"></a>[pg +xvii]</span> <a href="#page460">CHAPTER XVI<br> +GORDON AND THE SUDAN</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page483">CHAPTER XVII<br> +THE CONQUEST OF THE SUDAN</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page508">CHAPTER XVIII<br> +THE PARTITION OF AFRICA</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page543">CHAPTER XIX<br> +THE CONGO FREE STATE</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page568">CHAPTER XX<br> +RUSSIA IN THE FAR EAST</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page585">CHAPTER XXI<br> +THE NEW GROUPING OF THE GREAT POWERS (1900-1907)</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page612">CHAPTER XXII<br> +TEUTON <i>versus</i> SLAV (1908-13)</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page633">CHAPTER XXIII<br> +THE CRISIS OF 1914</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page651">INDEX</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexix" id="pagexix"></a>[pg +xix]</span> +<h3>MAPS AND PLANS</h3> +<br> +<center><a href="#001.png">Campaigns of 1859-71</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page053">Sketch Map of the District between Metz and the +Rhine</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page059">Plan of the Battle of Wörth</a><br> +<br> +Plan of the Battles of Rezonville and Gravelotte<br> +<br> +<a href="#page079">Plan of the Battle of Sedan</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page195">Map of Bulgaria</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page213">Plan of Plevna</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page239">Map of the Treaties of Berlin and San +Stefano</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page249">Map of Thessaly</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page375">Map of Afghanistan</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page409">Battle of Maiwand</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page451">Battle of Alexandria (Bombardment of, +1882)</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page477">Map of the Nile</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page495">The Battle of Omdurman</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page499">Plan of Khartum</a><br> +<br> +<a href="#page650">Map of Africa (1902) end of volume</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page001" id="page001"></a>[pg +001]</span> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<blockquote>"The movements in the masses of European peoples are +divided and slow, and their progress interrupted and impeded, +because they are such great and unequally formed masses; but the +preparation for the future is widely diffused, and . . . the promises +of the age are so great that even the most faint-hearted rouse +themselves to the belief that a time has arrived in which it is a +privilege to live."--GERVINUS, 1853.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The Roman poet Lucretius in an oft-quoted passage describes the +satisfaction that naturally fills the mind when from some safe +vantage-ground one looks forth on travellers tossed about on the +stormy deep. We may perhaps use the poet's not very altruistic +words as symbolising many of the feelings with which, at the dawn +of the twentieth century, we look back over the stormy waters of +the century that has passed away. Some congratulation on this score +is justifiable, especially as those wars and revolutions have +served to build up States that are far stronger than their +predecessors, in proportion as they correspond more nearly with the +desires of the nations that compose them.</p> +<p>As we gaze at the revolutions and wars that form the +storm-centres of the past century, we can now see some of the +causes that brought about those storms. If we survey them with +discerning eye, we soon begin to see that, in the main, the +cyclonic disturbances had their origins in two great natural +impulses of the civilised races of mankind. The first of these +forces is that great impulse towards individual liberty, which we +name Democracy; the second is that impulse, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page002" id="page002"></a>[pg 002]</span> +scarcely less mighty and elemental, that prompts men to effect a +close union with their kith and kin: this we may term +Nationality.</p> +<p>Now, it is true that these two forces have not led up to the +last and crowning phase of human development, as their enthusiastic +champions at one time asserted that they would; far from that, they +are accountable, especially so the force of Nationality, for +numerous defects in the life of the several peoples; and the +national principle is at this very time producing great and +needless friction in the dealings of nations. Yet, granting all +this, it still remains true that Democracy and Nationality have +been the two chief formative influences in the political +development of Europe during the Nineteenth Century.</p> +<p>In no age of the world's history have these two impulses worked +with so triumphant an activity. They have not always been endowed +with living force. Among many peoples they lay dormant for ages and +were only called to life by some great event, such as the +intolerable oppression of a despot or of a governing caste that +crushed the liberties of the individual, or the domination of an +alien people over one that obstinately refused to be assimilated. +Sometimes the spark that kindled vital consciousness was the flash +of a poet's genius, or the heroism of some sturdy son of the soil. +The causes of awakening have been infinitely various, and have +never wholly died away; but it is the special glory of the +Nineteenth Century that races which had hitherto lain helpless and +well-nigh dead, rose to manhood as if by magic, and shed their +blood like water in the effort to secure a free and unfettered +existence both for the individual and the nation. It is a true +saying of the German historian, Gervinus, "The history of this age +will no longer be only a relation of the lives of great men and of +princes, but a biography of nations."</p> +<p>At first sight, this illuminating statement seems to leave out +of count the career of the mighty Napoleon. But it does not. The +great Emperor unconsciously called into vigorous <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page003" id="page003"></a>[pg 003]</span> life +the forces of Democracy and Nationality both in Germany and in +Italy, where there had been naught but servility and disunion. His +career, if viewed from our present standpoint, falls into two +portions: first, that in which he figured as the champion of +Revolutionary France and the liberator of Italy from foreign and +domestic tyrants; and secondly, as imperial autocrat who conquered +and held down a great part of Europe in his attempt to ruin British +commerce. In the former of these enterprises he had the new forces +of the age acting with him and endowing him with seemingly +resistless might; in the latter part of his life he mistook his +place in the economy of Nature, and by his violation of the +principles of individual liberty and racial kinship in Spain and +Central Europe, assured his own downfall.</p> +<p>The greatest battle of the century was the tremendous strife +that for three days surged to and fro around Leipzig in the month +of October 1813, when Russians, Prussians, Austrians, Swedes, +together with a few Britons, Hanoverians, and finally his own Saxon +allies, combined to shake the imperial yoke from the neck of the +Germanic peoples. This <i>Völkerschlacht</i> (Battle of the +Peoples), as the Germans term it, decided that the future of Europe +was not to be moulded by the imperial autocrat, but by the will of +the princes and nations whom his obstinacy had embattled against +him. Far from recognising the verdict, the great man struggled on +until the pertinacity of the allies finally drove him from power +and assigned to France practically the same boundaries that she had +had in 1791, before the time of her mighty expansion. That is to +say, the nation which in its purely democratic form had easily +overrun and subdued the neighbouring States in the time of their +old, inert, semi-feudal existence, was overthrown by them when +their national consciousness had been trampled into being by the +legions of the great Emperor.</p> +<p>In 1814, and again after Waterloo, France was driven in on +herself, and resumed something like her old position in Europe, +save that the throne of the Bourbons never acquired <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page004" id="page004"></a>[pg 004]</span> any +solidity--the older branch of that family being unseated by the +Revolution of 1830. In the centre of the Continent, the old +dynasties had made common cause with the peoples in the national +struggles of 1813-14, and therefore enjoyed more consideration--a +fact which enabled them for a time to repress popular aspirations +for constitutional rule and national unity.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, by the Treaties of Vienna (1814-15) the centre of +Europe was more solidly organised than ever before. In place of the +effete institution known as the Holy Roman Empire, which Napoleon +swept away in 1806, the Central States were reorganised in the +German Confederation--a cumbrous and ineffective league in which +Austria held the presidency. Austria also gained Venetia and +Lombardy in Italy. The acquisition of the fertile Rhine Province by +Prussia brought that vigorous State up to the bounds of Lorraine +and made her the natural protectress of Germany against France. +Russia acquired complete control over nearly the whole of the +former Kingdom of Poland. Thus, the Powers that had been foremost +in the struggle against Napoleon now gained most largely in the +redistribution of lands in 1814-15, while the States that had been +friendly to him now suffered for their devotion. Italy was split up +into a mosaic of States; Saxony ceded nearly the half of her lands +to Prussia; Denmark yielded up her ancient possession, Norway, to +the Swedish Crown.</p> +<p>In some respects the triumph of the national principle, which +had brought victory to the old dynasties, strengthened the European +fabric. The Treaties of Vienna brought the boundaries of States +more nearly into accord with racial interests and sentiments than +had been the case before; but in several instances those interests +and feelings were chafed or violated by designing or short-sighted +statesmen. The Germans, who had longed for an effective national +union, saw with indignation that the constitution of the new +Germanic Confederation left them under the control of the rulers of +the component States and of the very real headship exercised by +Austria, which was always used to repress popular movements. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page005" id="page005"></a>[pg +005]</span> The Italians, who had also learned from Napoleon the +secret that they were in all essentials a nation, deeply resented +the domination of Austria in Lombardy-Venetia and the parcelling +out of the rest of the Peninsula between reactionary kings +somnolent dukes, and obscurantist clerics. The Belgians likewise +protested against the enforced union with Holland in what was now +called the Kingdom of the United Netherlands (1815-30). In the east +of Europe the Poles struggled in vain against the fate which once +more partitioned them between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The +Germans of Holstein, Schleswig, and Lauenburg submitted uneasily to +the Danish rule; and only under the stress of demonstrations by the +allies did the Norwegians accept the union with Sweden.</p> +<p>It should be carefully noted that these were the very cases +which caused most of the political troubles in the following +period. In fact, most of the political occurrences on the Continent +in the years 1815 to 1870--the revolts, revolutions, and wars, that +give a special character to the history of the century--resulted +directly from the bad or imperfect arrangements of the Congress of +Vienna and of the so-called Holy Alliance of the monarchs who +sought to perpetuate them. The effect of this widespread discontent +was not felt at once. The peoples were too exhausted by the +terrific strain of the Napoleonic wars to do much for a generation +or more, save in times of popular excitement. Except in the +south-east of Europe, where Greece, with the aid of Russia, +Britain, and France, wrested her political independence from the +grasp of the Sultan (1827), the forty years that succeeded Waterloo +were broken by no important war; but they were marked by +oft-recurring unrest and sedition. Thus, when the French Revolution +of 1830 overthrew the reactionary dynasty of the elder Bourbons, +the universal excitement caused by this event endowed the Belgians +with strength sufficient to shake off the heavy yoke of the Dutch; +while in Italy, Germany, and Poland the democrats and nationalists +(now working generally <span class="pagenum"><a name="page006" id= +"page006"></a>[pg 006]</span> in accord) made valiant but +unsuccessful efforts to achieve their ideals.</p> +<p>The same was the case in 1848. The excitement, which this time +originated in Italy, spread to France, overthrew the throne of +Louis Philippe (of the younger branch of the French Bourbons), and +bade fair to roll half of the crowns of Europe into the gutter. But +these spasmodic efforts of the democrats speedily failed. +Inexperience, disunion, and jealousy paralysed their actions and +yielded the victory to the old Governments. Frenchmen, in dismay at +the seeming approach of communism and anarchy, fell back upon the +odd expedient of a Napoleonic Republic, which in 1852 was easily +changed by Louis Napoleon into an Empire modelled on that of his +far greater uncle. The democrats of Germany achieved some startling +successes over their repressive Governments in the spring of the +year 1848, only to find that they could not devise a working +constitution for the Fatherland; and the deputies who met at the +federal capital, Frankfurt, to unify Germany "by speechifying and +majorities," saw power slip back little by little into the hands of +the monarchs and princes. In the Austrian Empire nationalist claims +and strivings led to a very Babel of discordant talk and action, +amidst which the young Hapsburg ruler, Francis Joseph, thanks to +Russian military aid, was able to triumph over the valour of the +Hungarians and the devotion of their champion, Kossuth.</p> +<p>In Italy the same sad tale was told. In the spring of that year +of revolutions, 1848, the rulers in quick succession granted +constitutions to their subjects. The reforming Pope, Pius IX., and +the patriotic King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, also made common +cause with their peoples in the effort to drive out the Austrians +from Lombardy-Venetia; but the Pope and all the potentates except +Charles Albert speedily deserted the popular cause; friction +between the King and the republican leaders, Mazzini and Garibaldi, +further weakened the nationalists, and the Austrians had little +difficulty in crushing Charles Albert's forces, whereupon he +abdicated in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page007" id= +"page007"></a>[pg 007]</span> favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel +II. (1849). The Republics set up at Rome and Venice struggled +valiantly for a time against great odds--Mazzini, Garibaldi, and +their volunteers being finally overborne at the Eternal City by the +French troops whom Louis Napoleon sent to restore the Pope (June +1849); while, two months later, Venice surrendered to the Austrians +whom she had long held at bay. The Queen of the Adriatic under the +inspiring dictatorship of Manin had given a remarkable example of +orderly constitutional government in time of siege.</p> +<p>It seemed to be the lot of the nationalists and democrats to +produce leaders who could thrill the imagination of men by lofty +teachings and sublime heroism; who could, in a word, achieve +everything but success. A poetess, who looked forth from Casa Guidi +windows upon the tragi-comedy of Florentine failure in those years, +wrote that what was needed was a firmer union, a more practical and +intelligent activity, on the part both of the people and of the +future leader:</p> +<blockquote> + +A land's brotherhood<br> +Is most puissant: men, upon the whole,<br> + Are what they can be,--nations, what they would.<br> +<br> +Will therefore to be strong, thou Italy!<br> + Will to be noble! Austrian Metternich<br> +Can fix no yoke unless the neck agree.<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<br> +<br> + Whatever hand shall grasp this oriflamme,<br> +Whatever man (last peasant or first Pope<br> + Seeking to free his country) shall appear,<br> +Teach, lead, strike fire into the masses, fill<br> + These empty bladders with fine air, insphere<br> +These wills into a unity of will,<br> + And make of Italy a nation--dear<br> +And blessed be that man!</blockquote> +<p>When Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned those lines she cannot +have surmised that two men were working their way up the rungs of +the political ladder in Piedmont and Prussia, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page008" id="page008"></a>[pg 008]</span> whose +keen intellects and masterful wills were to weld their Fatherlands +into indissoluble union within the space of one momentous decade. +These men were Cavour and Bismarck.</p> +<p>It would far exceed the limits of space of this brief +Introduction to tell, except in the briefest outline, the story of +the plodding preparation and far-seeing diplomacy by which these +statesmen raised their respective countries from depths of +humiliation to undreamt of heights of triumph. The first thing was +to restore the prestige of their States. No people can be strong in +action that has lost belief in its own powers and has allowed its +neighbours openly to flout it. The history of the world has shown +again and again that politicians who allow their country to be +regarded as <i>une quantité négligeable</i> bequeath +to some abler successor a heritage of struggle and war--struggle +for the nation to recover its self-respect, and war to regain +consideration and fair treatment from others. However much frothy +talkers in their clubs may decry the claims of national prestige, +no great statesman has ever underrated their importance. Certainly +the first aim both of Cavour and Bismarck was to restore +self-respect and confidence to their States after the humiliations +and the dreary isolation of those dark years, 1848-51. We will +glance, first, at the resurrection (<i>Risorgimento</i>) of the +little Kingdom of Sardinia, which was destined to unify Italy.</p> +<p>Charles Albert's abdication immediately after his defeat by the +Austrians left no alternative to his son and successor, Victor +Emmanuel II., but that of signing a disastrous peace with Austria. +In a short time the stout-hearted young King called to his councils +Count Cavour, the second son of a noble Piedmontese family, but of +firmly Liberal principles, who resolved to make the little kingdom +the centre of enlightenment and hope for despairing Italy. He +strengthened the constitution (the only one out of many granted in +1848 that survived the time of reaction); he reformed the tariff in +the direction of Free Trade; and during the course of the Crimean +War he persuaded his sovereign to make an active alliance with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page009" id="page009"></a>[pg +009]</span> France and England, so as to bind them by all the +claims of honour to help Sardinia in the future against Austria. +The occasion was most opportune; for Austria was then suspected and +disliked both by Russia and the Western Powers owing to her policy +of armed neutrality. Nevertheless the reward of Cavour's diplomacy +came slowly and incompletely. By skilfully vague promises (never +reduced to writing) Cavour induced Napoleon III. to take up arms +against Austria; but, after the great victory of Solferino (June +24, 1859), the French Emperor enraged the Italians by breaking off +the struggle before the allies recovered the great province of +Venetia, which he had pledged himself to do. Worse still, he +required the cession of Savoy and Nice to France, if the Central +Duchies and the northern part of the Papal States joined the +Kingdom of Sardinia, as they now did. Thus, the net result of +Napoleon's intervention in Italy was his acquisition of Savoy and +Nice (at the price of Italian hatred), and the gain of Lombardy and +the central districts for the national cause (1859-60).</p> +<p>The agony of mind caused by this comparative failure undermined +Cavour's health; but in the last months of his life he helped to +impel and guide the revolutionary elements in Italy to an +enterprise that ended in a startling and momentous triumph. This +was nothing less than the overthrow of Bourbon rule in Sicily and +Southern Italy by Garibaldi. Thanks to Cavour's connivance, this +dashing republican organised an expedition of about 1000 volunteers +near Genoa, set sail for Sicily, and by a few blows shivered the +chains of tyranny in that island. It is noteworthy that British +war-ships lent him covert but most important help at Palermo and +again in his crossing to the mainland; this timely aid and the +presence of a band of Britons in his ranks laid the foundation of +that friendship which has ever since united the two nations. In +Calabria the hero met with the feeblest resistance from the Bourbon +troops and the wildest of welcomes from the populace. At Salerno he +took tickets for Naples and entered the enemy's capital by railway +train (September 7). Then he <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page010" id="page010"></a>[pg 010]</span> purposed, after routing +the Bourbon force north of the city, to go on and attack the French +at Rome and proclaim a united Italy.</p> +<p>Cavour took care that he should do no such thing. The +Piedmontese statesman knew when to march onwards and when to halt. +As his compatriot, Manzoni, said of him, "Cavour has all the +prudence and all the imprudence of the true statesman." He had +dared and won in 1855-59, and again in secretly encouraging +Garibaldi's venture. Now it was time to stop in order to +consolidate the gains to the national cause.</p> +<p>The leader of the red-shirts, having done what no king could do, +was thenceforth to be controlled by the monarchy of the north. +Victor Emmanuel came in as the <i>deus ex machina</i>; his troops +pressed southwards, occupying the eastern part of the Papal States +in their march, and joined hands with the Garibaldians to the north +of Naples, thus preventing the collision with France which the +irregulars would have brought about. Even as it was, Cavour had +hard work to persuade Napoleon that this was the only way of +curbing Garibaldi and preventing the erection of a South Italian +Republic; but finally the French Emperor looked on uneasily while +the Pope's eastern territories were violated, and while the cause +of Italian Unity was assured at the expense of the Pontiff whom +France was officially supporting in Rome. A +<i>plébiscite</i>, or mass vote, of the people of Sicily, +South Italy, and the eastern and central parts of the Papal States, +was resorted to by Cavour in order to throw a cloak of legality +over these irregular proceedings. The device pleased Napoleon, and +it resulted in an overwhelming vote in favour of annexation to +Victor Emmanuel's kingdom. Thus, in March 1861, the soldier-king +was able amidst universal acclaim to take the title of King of +Italy. Florence was declared to be the capital of the realm (1864), +which embraced all parts of Italy except the Province of Venetia, +pertaining to Austria, and the "Patrimonium Petri"--that is, Rome +and its vicinity,--still held by the Pope and garrisoned by the +French. The former of these was to be regained for <i>la patria</i> +in 1866, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page011" id= +"page011"></a>[pg 011]</span> the latter in 1870, in consequence of +the mighty triumphs then achieved by the principle of nationality +in Prussia and Germany. To these triumphs we must now briefly +advert.</p> +<p>No one who looked at the state of European politics in 1861, +could have imagined that in less than ten years Prussia would have +waged three wars and humbled the might of Austria and France. At +that time she showed no signs of exceptional vigour: she had as yet +produced no leaders so inspiring as Mazzini and Garibaldi, no +statesman so able as Cavour. Her new king, William, far from +arousing the feelings of growing enthusiasm that centred in Victor +Emmanuel, was more and more distrusted and disliked by Liberals for +the policy of militarism on which he had just embarked. In fact, +the Hohenzollern dynasty was passing into a "Conflict Time" with +its Parliament which threatened to impair the influence of Prussia +abroad and to retard her recovery from the period of humiliations +through which she had recently passed.</p> +<p>A brief recital of those humiliations is desirable as showing, +firstly, the suddenness with which the affairs of a nation may go +to ruin in slack and unskilful hands, and, secondly, the immense +results that can be achieved in a few years by a small band of able +men who throw their whole heart into the work of national +regeneration.</p> +<p>The previous ruler, Frederick William IV., was a gifted and +learned man, but he lacked soundness of judgment and strength of +will--qualities which are of more worth in governing than graces of +the intellect. At the time of the revolutionary outbreaks of 1848 +he capitulated to the Berlin mob and declared for a constitutional +régime in which Prussia should merge herself in Germany; but +when the excesses of the democrats had weakened their authority, he +put them down by military force, refused the German Crown offered +him by the popularly elected German Parliament assembled at +Frankfurt-on-Main (April 1849); and thereupon attempted to form a +smaller union of States, namely, Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover. This +Three Kings' League, as it was called, soon <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page012" id="page012"></a>[pg 012]</span> came +to an end; for it did not satisfy the nationalists who wished to +see Germany united, the constitutionalists who aimed at the +supremacy of Parliament, or the friends of the old order of things. +The vacillations of Frederick William and the unpractical +theorisings of the German Parliament at Frankfurt having aroused +general disgust, Austria found little difficulty in restoring the +power of the old Germanic Confederation in September, 1850. Strong +in her alliance with Russia, she next compelled Frederick William +to sign the Convention of Olmütz (Nov. 1850). By this +humiliating compact he agreed to forbear helping the German +nationalists in Schleswig-Holstein to shake off the oppressive rule +of the Danes; to withdraw Prussian troops from Hesse-Cassel and +Baden, where strifes had broken out; and to acknowledge the +supremacy of the old Federal Diet under the headship of Austria. +Thus, it seemed that the Prussian monarchy was a source of weakness +and disunion for North Germany, and that Austria, backed up by the +might of Russia, must long continue to lord it over the cumbrous +Germanic Confederation.</p> +<p>But a young country squire, named Bismarck, even then resolved +that the Prussian monarchy should be the means of strengthening and +binding together the Fatherland. The resolve bespoke the patriotism +of a sturdy, hopeful nature; and the young Bismarck was nothing if +not patriotic, sturdy, and hopeful. The son of an ancient family in +the Mark of Brandenburg, he brought to his life-work powers +inherited from a line of fighting ancestors; and his mind was no +less robust than his body. Quick at mastering a mass of details, he +soon saw into the heart of a problem, and his solution of it was +marked both by unfailing skill and by sound common sense as to the +choice of men and means. In some respects he resembles Napoleon the +Great. Granted that he was his inferior in the width of vision and +the versatility of gifts that mark a world-genius, yet he was his +equal in diplomatic resourcefulness and in the power of dealing +lightning strokes; while his possession of the priceless gift of +moderation endowed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page013" id= +"page013"></a>[pg 013]</span> his greatest political achievements +with a soundness and solidity never possessed by those of the +mighty conqueror who "sought to give the <i>mot d'ordre</i> to the +universe." If the figure of the Prussian does not loom so large on +the canvas of universal history as that of the Corsican--if he did +not tame a Revolution, remodel society, and reorganise a +Continent--be it remembered that he made a United Germany, while +Napoleon the Great left France smaller and weaker than he found +her.</p> +<p>Bismarck's first efforts, like those of Cavour for Sardinia, +were directed to the task of restoring the prestige of his State. +Early in his official career, the Prussian patriot urged the +expediency of befriending Russia during the Crimean War, and he +thus helped on that <i>rapprochement</i> between Berlin and St. +Petersburg which brought the mighty triumphs of 1866 and 1870 +within the range of possibility. In 1857 Frederick William became +insane; and his brother William took the reins of Government as +Regent, and early in 1861 as King. The new ruler was less gifted +than his unfortunate brother; but his homely common sense and +tenacious will strengthened Prussian policy where it had been +weakest. He soon saw the worth of Bismarck, employed him in high +diplomatic positions, and when the royal proposals for +strengthening the army were decisively rejected by the Prussian +House of Representatives, he speedily sent for Bismarck to act as +Minister-President (Prime Minister) and "tame" the refractory +Parliament. The constitutional crisis was becoming more and more +acute when a great national question came into prominence owing to +the action of the Danes in Schleswig-Holstein affairs.</p> +<p>Without entering into the very tangled web of customs, treaties, +and dynastic claims that made up the Schleswig-Holstein question, +we may here state that those Duchies were by ancient law very +closely connected together, that the King of Denmark was only Duke +of Schleswig-Holstein, and that the latter duchy, wholly German in +population, formed part of the Germanic Confederation. Latterly the +fervent nationalists in Denmark, while leaving Holstein to its +German connections, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page014" id= +"page014"></a>[pg 014]</span> had resolved thoroughly to "Danify" +Schleswig, the northern half of which was wholly Danish, and they +pressed on this policy by harsh and intolerant measures, making it +difficult or well-nigh impossible for the Germans to have public +worship in their own tongue and to secure German teachers for their +children in the schools. Matters were already in a very strained +state, when shortly before the death of King Frederick VII. of +Denmark (November, 1863) the Rigsraad at Copenhagen sanctioned a +constitution for Schleswig, which would practically have made it a +part of the Danish monarchy. The King gave his assent to it, an act +which his successor, Christian IX., ratified.</p> +<p>Now, this action violated the last treaty--that signed by the +Powers at London in 1852, which settled the affairs of the Duchies; +and Bismarck therefore had strong ground for appealing to the +Powers concerned, as also to the German Confederation, against this +breach of treaty obligations. The Powers, especially England and +France, sought to set things straight, but the efforts of our +Foreign Minister, Lord John Russell, had no effect. The German +Confederation also refused to take any steps about Schleswig as +being outside its jurisdiction. Bismarck next persuaded Austria to +help Prussia in defeating Danish designs on that duchy. The Danes, +on the other hand, counted on the unofficial expressions of +sympathy which came from the people of Great Britain and France at +sight of a small State menaced by two powerful monarchies. In fact, +the whole situation was complicated by this explosion of feeling, +which seemed to the Danes to portend the armed intervention of the +Western States, especially England, on their behalf. As far as is +known, no official assurance to that effect ever went forth from +London. In fact, it is certain that Queen Victoria absolutely +forbade any such step; but the mischief done by sentimental +orators, heedless newspaper-editors, and factious busybodies, could +not be undone. As Lord John Russell afterwards stated in a short +"Essay on the Policy of England": "It pleased some English +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page015" id="page015"></a>[pg +015]</span> advisers of great influence to meddle in this affair; +they were successful in thwarting the British Government, and in +the end, with the professed view, and perhaps the real intention, +of helping Denmark, their friendship tended to deprive her of +Holstein and Schleswig altogether." This final judgment of a +veteran statesman is worth quoting as showing his sense of the +mischief done by well-meant but misguided sympathy, which pushed +the Danes on to ruin and embittered our relations with Prussia for +many years.</p> +<p>Not that the conduct of the German Powers was flawless. On +January 16, 1864, they sent to Copenhagen a demand for the +withdrawal of the constitution for Schleswig within two days. The +Danish Foreign Minister pointed out that, as the Rigsraad was not +in session, this could not possibly be done within two days. In +this last step, then, the German Powers were undoubtedly the +aggressors<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a>. +The Prussian troops were ready near the River Eider, and at once +invaded Schleswig. The Danes were soon beaten on the mainland; then +a pause occurred, during which a Conference of the Powers concerned +was held at London. It has been proved by the German historian, von +Sybel, that the first serious suggestion to Prussia that she should +take both the Duchies came secretly from Napoleon III. It was in +vain that Lord John Russell suggested a sensible compromise, +namely, the partition of Schleswig between Denmark and Germany +according to the language-frontier inside the Duchy. To this the +belligerents demurred on points of detail, the Prussian +representative asserting that he would not leave a single German +under Danish rule. The war was therefore resumed, and ended in a +complete defeat for the weaker State, which finally surrendered +both Duchies to Austria and Prussia (1864)<a name= +"FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page016" id="page016"></a>[pg +016]</span> +<p>The question of the sharing of the Duchies now formed one of the +causes of the far greater war between the victors; but, in truth, +it was only part of the much larger question, which had agitated +Germany for centuries, whether the balance of power should belong +to the North or the South. Bismarck also saw that the time was +nearly ripe for settling this matter once for all in favour of +Prussia; but he had hard work even to persuade his own sovereign; +while the Prussian Parliament, as well as public opinion throughout +Germany, was violently hostile to his schemes and favoured the +claims of the young Duke of Augustenburg to the Duchies--claims +that had much show of right. Matters were patched up for a time +between the two German States, by the Convention of Gastein (August +1865), while in reality each prepared for war and sought to gain +allies.</p> +<p>Here again Bismarck was successful. After vainly seeking to +<i>buy</i> Venetia from the Austrian Court, Italy agreed to side +with Prussia against that Power in order to wrest by force a +province which she could not hope to gain peaceably. Russia, too, +was friendly to the Court of Berlin, owing to the help which the +latter had given her in crushing the formidable revolt of the Poles +in 1863. It remained to keep France quiet. In this Bismarck thought +he had succeeded by means of interviews which he held with Napoleon +III. at Biarritz (Nov. 1865). What there occurred is not clearly +known. That Bismarck played on the Emperor's foible for oppressed +nationalities, in the case of Italy, is fairly certain; that he fed +him with hopes of gaining Belgium, or a slice of German land, is +highly probable, and none the less so because he later on +indignantly denied in the Reichstag that he ever "held out the +prospect to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page017" id= +"page017"></a>[pg 017]</span> anybody of ceding a single German +village, or even as much as a clover-field." In any case Napoleon +seems to have promised to observe neutrality--not because he loved +Prussia, but because he expected the German Powers to wear one +another out and thus leave him master of the situation. In common +with most of the wiseacres of those days he believed that Prussia +and Italy would ultimately fall before the combined weight of +Austria and of the German States, which closely followed her in the +Confederation; whereupon he could step in and dictate his own +terms<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a>.</p> +<p>Bismarck and the leaders of the Prussian army had few doubts as +to the result. They were determined to force on the war, and early +in June 1866 brought forward proposals at the Frankfurt Diet for +the "reform" of the German Confederation, the chief of them being +the exclusion of Austria, the establishment of a German Parliament +elected by manhood suffrage, and the formation of a North German +army commanded by the King of Prussia.</p> +<p>A great majority of the Federal Diet rejected these proposals, +and war speedily broke out, Austria being supported by nearly all +the German States except the two Mecklenburgs.</p> +<p>The weight of numbers was against Prussia, even though she had +the help of the Italians operating against Venetia. On that side +Austria was completely successful, as also in a sea-fight near +Lissa in the Adriatic; but in the north the Hapsburgs and their +German allies soon found out that organisation, armament, and +genius count for more than numbers. The great organiser, von Roon, +had brought Prussia's citizen army to a degree of efficiency that +surprised every one; and the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page018" id="page018"></a>[pg 018]</span> quick-firing +"needle-gun" dealt havoc and terror among the enemy. Using to the +full the advantage of her central position against the German +States, Prussia speedily worsted their isolated and badly-handled +forces, while her chief armies overthrew those of Austria and +Saxony in Bohemia. The Austrian plan of campaign had been to invade +Prussia by two armies--a comparatively small force advancing from +Cracow as a base into Silesia, while another, acting from +Olmütz, advanced through Bohemia to join the Saxons and march +on Berlin, some 50,000 Bavarians joining them in Bohemia for the +same enterprise. This design speedily broke down owing to the +short-sighted timidity of the Bavarian Government, which refused to +let its forces leave their own territory; the lack of railway +facilities in the Austrian Empire also hampered the moving of two +large armies to the northern frontier. Above all, the swift and +decisive movements of the Prussians speedily drove the allies to +act on the defensive--itself a grave misfortune in war.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Prussian strategist, von Moltke, was carrying out +a far more incisive plan of operations--that of sending three +Prussian armies into the middle of Bohemia, and there forming a +great mass which would sweep away all obstacles from the road to +Vienna. This design received prompt and skilful execution. Saxony +was quickly overrun, and the irruption of three great armies into +Bohemia compelled the Austrians and their Saxon allies hurriedly to +alter their plans. After suffering several reverses in the north of +Bohemia, their chief array under Benedek barred the way of the two +northern Prussian armies on the heights north of the town of +Königgrätz. On the morning of July 3 the defenders long +beat off all frontal attacks with heavy loss; but about 2 P.M. the +Army of Silesia, under the Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, after +a forced march of twelve miles, threw itself on their right flank, +where Benedek expected no very serious onset. After desperate +fighting the Army of Silesia carried the village of Chlum in the +heart of the Austrian position, and compelled Austrians and Saxons +to a hurried retreat over the Elbe. In this the Austrian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page019" id="page019"></a>[pg +019]</span> infantry was saved from destruction by the heroic stand +made by the artillery. Even so, the allies lost more than 13,000 +killed and wounded, 22,000 prisoners, and 187 guns<a name= +"FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a>.</p> +<p>Königgrätz (or Sadowa, as it is often called) decided +the whole campaign. The invaders now advanced rapidly towards +Vienna, and at the town of Nikolsburg concluded the Preliminaries +of Peace with Austria (July 26), whereupon a mandate came from +Paris, bidding them stop. In fact, the Emperor of the French +offered his intervention in a manner most threatening to the +victors. He sought to detach Italy from the Prussian alliance by +the offer of Venetia as a left-handed present from himself--an +offer which the Italian Government subsequently refused.</p> +<p>To understand how Napoleon III. came to change front and belie +his earlier promises, one must look behind the scenes. Enough is +already known to show that the Emperor's hand was forced by his +Ministers and by the Parisian Press, probably also by the Empress +Eugénie. Though desirous, apparently, of befriending +Prussia, he had already yielded to their persistent pleas urging +him to stay the growth of the Protestant Power of North Germany. On +June 10, at the outbreak of the war, he secretly concluded a treaty +with Austria, holding out to her the prospect of recovering the +great province of Silesia (torn from her by Frederick the Great in +1740) in return for a magnanimous cession of Venetia to Italy. The +news of Königgrätz led to a violent outburst of +anti-Prussian feeling; but Napoleon refused to take action at once, +when it might have been very effective.</p> +<p>The best plan for the French Government would have been to send +to the Rhine all the seasoned troops left available by Napoleon +III.'s ill-starred Mexican enterprise, so as to help the +hard-pressed South German forces, offering also the armed mediation +of France to the combatants. In that case Prussia must have drawn +back, and Napoleon III. could have dictated <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page020" id="page020"></a>[pg 020]</span> his +own terms to Central Europe. But his earlier leanings towards +Prussia and Italy, the advice of Prince Napoleon ("Plon-Plon") and +Lavalette, and the wheedlings of the Prussian ambassador as to +compensations which France might gain as a set-off to Prussia's +aggrandisement, told on the French Emperor's nature, always +somewhat sluggish and then prostrated by severe internal pain; with +the result that he sent his proposals for a settlement of the +points in dispute, but took no steps towards enforcing them. A +fortnight thus slipped away, during which the Prussians reaped the +full fruits of their triumph at Königgrätz; and it was +not until July 29, three days after the Preliminaries of Peace were +signed, that the French Foreign Minister, Drouyn de Lhuys, worried +his master, then prostrate with pain at Vichy, into sanctioning the +following demands from victorious Prussia: the cession to France of +the Rhenish Palatinate (belonging to Bavaria), the south-western +part of Hesse Darmstadt, and that part of Prussia's Rhine-Province +lying in the valley of the Saar which she had acquired after +Waterloo. This would have brought within the French frontier the +great fortress of Mainz (Mayence); but the great mass of these +gains, it will be observed, would have been at the expense of South +German States, whose cause France proclaimed her earnest desire to +uphold against the encroaching power of Prussia.</p> +<p>Bismarck took care to have an official copy of these demands in +writing, the use of which will shortly appear; and having procured +this precious document, he defied the French envoy, telling him +that King William, rather than agree to such a surrender of German +land, would make peace with Austria and the German States on any +terms, and invade France at the head of the forces of a united +Germany. This reply caused another change of front at Napoleon's +Court. The demands were disavowed and the Foreign Minister, Drouyn +de Lhuys, resigned<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_5">[5]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page021" id="page021"></a>[pg +021]</span> +<p>The completeness of Prussia's triumph over Austria and her +German allies, together with the preparations of the Hungarians for +revolt, decided the Court of Vienna to accept the Prussian terms +which were embodied in the Treaty of Prague (Aug. 23); they were, +the direct cession of Venetia to Italy; the exclusion of Austria +from German affairs and her acceptance of the changes there +pending; the cession to Prussia of Schleswig-Holstein; and the +payment of 20,000,000 thalers (about £3,000,000) as war +indemnity. The lenience of these conditions was to have a very +noteworthy result, namely, the speedy reconciliation of the two +Powers: within twenty years they were firmly united in the Triple +Alliance with Italy (see Chapter X.).</p> +<p>Some difficulties stood in the way of peace between Prussia and +her late enemies in the German Confederation, especially Bavaria. +These last were removed when Bismarck privately disclosed to the +Bavarian Foreign Minister the secret demand made by France for the +cession of the Bavarian Palatinate. In the month of August, the +South German States, Bavaria, Würtemberg and Baden, accepted +Prussia's terms; whereby they paid small war indemnities and +recognised the new constitution of Germany. Outwardly they formed a +South German Confederation; but this had a very shadowy existence; +and the three States by secret treaties with Prussia agreed to +place their armies and all military arrangements, in case of war, +under the control of the King of Prussia. Thus within a month from +the close of "the Seven Weeks' War," the whole of Germany was +quietly but firmly bound to common action in military matters; and +the actions of France left little doubt as to the need of these +timely precautions.</p> +<p>On those German States which stood in the way of Prussia's +territorial development and had shown marked hostility, Bismarck +bore hard. The Kingdom of Hanover, Electoral Hesse (Hesse-Cassel), +the Duchy of Nassau, and the Free City of Frankfurt were annexed +outright, Prussia thereby gaining direct contact with her +Westphalian and Rhenish <span class="pagenum"><a name="page022" id= +"page022"></a>[pg 022]</span> Provinces. The absorption of +Frankfurt-on-the-Main, and the formation of a new league, the North +German Confederation, swept away all the old federal machinery, and +marked out Berlin, not Vienna or Frankfurt, as the future governing +centre of the Fatherland. It was doubtless a perception of the vast +gains to the national cause which prompted the Prussian Parliament +to pass a Bill of Indemnity exonerating the King's Ministers for +the illegal acts committed by them during the "Conflict Time" +(1861-66)--acts which saved Prussia in spite of her Parliament.</p> +<p>Constitutional freedom likewise benefited largely by the results +of the war. The new North German Confederation was based avowedly +on manhood suffrage, not because either King William or Bismarck +loved democracy, but because after lately pledging themselves to it +as the groundwork of reform of the old Confederation, they could +not draw back in the hour of triumph. As Bismarck afterwards +confessed to his Secretary, Dr. Busch, "I accepted universal +suffrage, but with reluctance, as a Frankfurt tradition" +(<i>i.e.</i> of the democratic Parliament of Frankfurt in +1848)<a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a>. All the +lands, therefore, between the Niemen and the Main were bound +together in a Confederation based on constitutional principles, +though the governing powers of the King and his Ministers continued +to be far larger than is the case in Great Britain. To this matter +we shall recur when we treat of the German Empire, formed by the +union of the North and South German Confederations of 1866.</p> +<p>Austria also was soon compelled to give way before the +persistent demands of the Hungarian patriots for their ancient +constitution, which happily blended monarchy and democracy. +Accordingly, the centralised Hapsburg monarchy was remodelled by +the <i>Ausgleich</i> (compromise) of 1867, and became the +Dual-Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, the two parts of the realm being +ruled quite separately for most purposes of government, and united +only for those of army organisation, foreign <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page023" id="page023"></a>[pg 023]</span> +policy, and finance. Parliamentary control became dominant in each +part of the Empire; and the grievances resulting from autocratic or +bureaucratic rule vanished from Hungary. They disappeared also from +Hanover and Hesse-Cassel, where the Guelf sovereigns and Electors +had generally repressed popular movements.</p> +<p>Greatest of all the results of the war of 1866, however, was the +gain to the national cause in Germany and Italy. Peoples that had +long been divided were now in the brief space of three months +brought within sight of the long-wished-for unity. The rush of +these events blinded men to their enduring import and produced an +impression that the Prussian triumph was like that of Napoleon I., +too sudden and brilliant to last. Those who hazarded this verdict +forgot that his political arrangements for Europe violated every +instinct of national solidarity; while those of 1866 served to +group the hitherto divided peoples of North Germany and Italy +around the monarchies that had proved to be the only possible +rallying points in their respective countries. It was this +harmonising of the claims and aspirations of monarchy, nationality, +and democracy that gave to the settlement of 1866 its abiding +importance, and fitted the two peoples for the crowning triumph of +1870.</p> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page024" id="page024"></a>[pg +024]</span> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> Lord +Wodehouse (afterwards Earl of Kimberley) was at that time sent on a +special mission to Copenhagen. When his official correspondence is +published, it will probably throw light on many points.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> Sybel, +<i>Die Begründung des deutschen Reiches</i>, vol. iii. pp. +299-344; Débidour, <i>Hist. diplomatique de l'Europe</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 261-273; Lowe, <i>Life of Bismarck</i>, vol. i. chap. +vi.; Headlam, <i>Bismarck</i>, chap. viii.; Lord Malmesbury, +<i>Memoirs of an ex-Minister</i> pp. 584-593 (small edition); +Spencer Walpole, <i>Life of Lord J. Russell</i>, vol. ii. pp. +396-411.<br> +<br> +In several respects the cause of ruin to Denmark in 1863-64 bears a +remarkable resemblance to that which produced war in South Africa +in 1899, viz. high-handed action of a minority towards men whom +they treated as Outlanders, the stiff-necked obstinacy of the +smaller State, and reliance on the vehement but (probably) +unofficial offers of help or intervention by other nations.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> Busch, +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol. ii. p. 17 (Eng. edit.); +Débidour, <i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe +(1814-1878)</i>, vol ii. pp. 291-293. Lord Loftus in his +<i>Diplomatic Reminiscences</i> (vol. ii. p. 280) says: "So +satisfied was Bismarck that he could count on the neutrality of +France, that no defensive military measures were taken on the Rhine +and western frontier. He had no fears of Russia on the eastern +frontier, and was therefore able to concentrate the military might +of Prussia against Austria and her South German Allies."<br> +<br> +Light has been thrown on the bargainings between Italy and Prussia +by the <i>Memoirs of General Govone</i>, who found Bismarck a hard +bargainer.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> Sybel, +<i>Die Begründung des deutschen Reiches</i>, vol. v. pp. +174-205; <i>Journals of Field Marshal Count von Blumenthal for 1866 +and 1871</i> (Eng. edit.), pp. 37-44.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> Sybel, +<i>op. cit.</i> vol. v. pp. 365-374. Débidour, <i>op. +cit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 315-318. See too volume viii. of Ollivier's +work, <i>L'Empire libéral</i>, published in 1904; and M. de +la Gorce's work, <i>Histoire du second Empire</i>, vol. vi. (Paris +1903).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> Busch, +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol. ii. p. 196 (English edit.).</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page025" id="page025"></a>[pg +025]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h3>THE CAUSES OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR</h3> +<blockquote>"After the fatal year 1866, the Empire was in a state +of decadence."--L. GREGOIRE, <i>Histoire de +France</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The irony of history is nowhere more manifest than in the +curious destiny which called a Napoleon III. to the place once +occupied by Napoleon I., and at the very time when the national +movements, unwittingly called to vigorous life by the great +warrior, were attaining to the full strength of manhood. Napoleon +III. was in many ways a well-meaning dreamer, who, unluckily for +himself, allowed his dreams to encroach on his waking moments. In +truth, his sluggish but very persistent mind never saw quite +clearly where dreams must give way to realities; or, as M. de +Falloux phrased it, "He does not know the difference between +dreaming and thinking<a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_7">[7]</a>." Thus his policy showed an odd mixture of +generous haziness and belated practicality.</p> +<p>Long study of his uncle's policy showed him, rightly enough, +that it erred in trampling down the feeling of nationality in +Germany and elsewhere. The nephew resolved to avoid this mistake +and to pose as the champion of the oppressed and divided peoples of +Italy, Germany, Poland, and the Balkan Peninsula--a programme that +promised to appeal to the ideal aspirations of the French, to +embarrass the dynasties that had overthrown the first Napoleon, and +to yield substantial gains <span class="pagenum"><a name="page026" +id="page026"></a>[pg 026]</span> for his nephew. Certainly it did +so in the case of Italy; his championship of the Roumanians also +helped on the making of that interesting Principality (1861) and +gained the goodwill of Russia; but he speedily forfeited this by +his wholly ineffective efforts on behalf of the Poles in 1863. His +great mistakes, however, were committed in and after the year 1863, +when he plunged into Mexican politics with the chimerical aim of +founding a Roman Catholic Empire in Central America, and favoured +the rise of Prussia in connection with the Schleswig-Holstein +question. By the former of these he locked up no small part of his +army in Mexico when he greatly needed it on the Rhine; by the +latter he helped on the rise of the vigorous North German +Power.</p> +<p>As we have seen, he secretly advised Prussia to take both +Schleswig and Holstein, thereby announcing his wish for the +effective union of Germans with the one great State composed almost +solely of Germans. "I shall always be consistent in my conduct," he +said. "If I have fought for the independence of Italy, if I have +lifted up my voice for Polish nationality, I cannot have other +sentiments in Germany, or obey other principles." This declaration +bespoke the doctrinaire rather than the statesman. Untaught by the +clamour which French Chauvinists and ardent Catholics had raised +against his armed support of the Italian national cause in 1859, he +now proposed to further the aggrandisement of the Protestant North +German Power which had sought to partition France in 1815.</p> +<p>The clamour aroused by his leanings towards Prussia in 1864-66 +was naturally far more violent, in proportion as the interests of +France were more closely at stake. Prussia held the Rhine Province; +and French patriots, who clung to the doctrine of the "natural +frontiers"--the Ocean, Pyrenees, Alps, and Rhine--looked on her as +the natural enemy. They pointed out that millions of Frenchmen had +shed their blood in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars to win +and to keep the Rhine boundary; and their most eloquent spokesman, +M. Thiers, who had devoted his historical gifts to glorifying those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page027" id="page027"></a>[pg +027]</span> great days, passionately declaimed against the policy +of helping on the growth of the hereditary foe.</p> +<p>We have already seen the results of this strife between the +pro-Prussian foibles of the Emperor and the eager prejudices of +Frenchmen, whose love of oppressed and divided nations grew in +proportion to their distance from France, and changed to suspicion +or hatred in the case of her neighbours. In 1866, under the breath +of ministerial arguments and oratorical onslaughts Napoleon III.'s +policy weakly wavered, thereby giving to Bismarck's statecraft a +decisive triumph all along the line. In vain did he in the latter +part of that year remind the Prussian statesman of his earlier +promises (always discreetly vague) of compensation for France, and +throw out diplomatic feelers for Belgium, or at any rate +Luxemburg<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a>. In +vain did M. Thiers declare in the Chamber of Deputies that France, +while recognising accomplished facts in Germany, ought "firmly to +declare that we will not allow them to go further" (March 14, +1867). Bismarck replied to this challenge of the French orator by +publishing five days later the hitherto secret military alliances +concluded with the South German States in August 1866. Thenceforth +France knew that a war with Prussia would be war with a united +Germany.</p> +<p>In the following year the Zollverein, or German Customs' Union +(which had been gradually growing since 1833), took a definitely +national form in a Customs' Parliament which assembled in April +1868, thus unifying Germany for purposes of trade as well as those +of war. This sharp rebuff came at a time when Napoleon's throne was +tottering from the utter collapse of his Mexican expedition; when, +too, he more than ever needed popular support in France for the +beginnings of a more constitutional rule. Early in 1867 he sought +to buy Luxemburg from Holland. This action aroused a storm of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page028" id="page028"></a>[pg +028]</span> wrath in Prussia, which had the right to garrison +Luxemburg; but the question was patched up by a Conference of the +Powers at London, the Duchy being declared neutral territory under +the guarantee of Europe; the fortifications of its capital were +also to be demolished, and the Prussian garrison withdrawn. This +success for French diplomacy was repeated in Italy, where the +French troops supporting the Pope crushed the efforts of Garibaldi +and his irregulars to capture Rome, at the sanguinary fight of +Mentana (November 3, 1867). The official despatch, stating that the +new French rifle, the <i>chassepôt</i>, "had done wonders," +spread jubilation through France and a sharp anti-Gallic sentiment +throughout Italy.</p> +<p>And while Italy heaved with longings for her natural capital, +popular feelings in France and North Germany made steadily for +war.</p> +<p>Before entering upon the final stages of the dispute, it may be +well to take a bird's-eye view of the condition of the chief Powers +in so far as it explains their attitude towards the great +struggle.</p> +<p>The condition of French politics was strangely complex. The +Emperor had always professed that he was the elect of France, and +would ultimately crown his political edifice with the corner-stone +of constitutional liberty. Had he done so in the successful years +1855-61, possibly his dynasty might have taken root. He deferred +action, however, until the darker years that came after 1866. In +1868 greater freedom was allowed to the Press and in the case of +public meetings. The General Election of the spring of 1869 showed +large gains to the Opposition, and decided the Emperor to grant to +the Corps Législatif the right of initiating laws +concurrently with himself, and he declared that Ministers should be +responsible to it (September 1869).</p> +<p>These and a few other changes marked the transition from +autocracy to the "Liberal Empire." One of the champions of +constitutional principles, M. Emile Ollivier, formed a Cabinet to +give effect to the new policy, and the Emperor, deeming the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page029" id="page029"></a>[pg +029]</span> time ripe for consolidating his power on a democratic +basis, consulted the country in a <i>plébiscite</i>, or mass +vote, primarily as to their judgment on the recent changes, but +implicitly as to their confidence in the imperial system as a +whole. His skill in joining together two topics that were really +distinct, gained him a tactical victory. More than 7,350,000 +affirmative votes were given, as against 1,572,000 negatives; while +1,900,000 voters registered no vote. This success at the polls +emboldened the supporters of the Empire; and very many of them, +especially, it is thought, the Empress Eugénie, believed +that only one thing remained in order to place the Napoleonic +dynasty on a lasting basis--that was, a successful war.</p> +<p>Champions of autocracy pointed out that the growth of Radicalism +coincided with the period of military failures and diplomatic +slights. Let Napoleon III., they said in effect, imitate the policy +of his uncle, who, as long as he dazzled France by triumphs, could +afford to laugh at the efforts of constitution-mongers. The big +towns might prate of liberty; but what France wanted was glory and +strong government. Such were their pleas: there was much in the +past history of France to support them. The responsible advisers of +the Emperor determined to take a stronger tone in foreign affairs, +while the out-and-out Bonapartists jealously looked for any signs +of official weakness so that they might undermine the Ollivier +Ministry and hark back to absolutism. When two great parties in a +State make national prestige a catchword of the political game, +peace cannot be secure: that was the position of France in the +early part of 1870<a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_9">[9]</a>.</p> +<p>The eve of the Franco-German War was a time of great importance +for the United Kingdom. The Reform Bill of 1867 gave a great +accession of power to the Liberal Party; and the General Election +of November 1868 speedily led to the resignation of the Disraeli +Cabinet and the accession of the Gladstone Ministry to power. This +portended change in other directions than home affairs. The +tradition of a spirited <span class="pagenum"><a name="page030" id= +"page030"></a>[pg 030]</span> foreign policy died with Lord +Palmerston in 1865. With the entry of John Bright to the new +Cabinet peace at all costs became the dominant note of British +statesmanship. There was much to be said in favour of this. England +needed a time of rest in order to cope with the discontent of +Ireland and the problems brought about by the growth of democracy +and commercialism in the larger island. The disestablishment and +partial disendowment of the Protestant Church in Ireland (July +1869), the Irish Land Act (August 1870), and the Education Act of +1870, showed the preoccupation of the Ministry for home affairs; +while the readiness with which, a little later, they complied with +all the wishes of the United States in the "Alabama" case, equally +proclaimed their pacific intentions. England, which in 1860 had +exercised so powerful an influence on the Italian national +question, was for five years a factor of small account in European +affairs. Far from pleasing the combatants, our neutrality annoyed +both of them. The French accused England of "deserting" Napoleon +III. in his time of need--a charge that has lately been revived by +M. Hanotaux. To this it is only needful to reply that the French +Emperor entered into alliance with us at the time of the Crimean +War merely for his own objects, and allowed all friendly feeling to +be ended by French threats of an invasion of England in 1858 and +his shabby treatment of Italy in the matter of Savoy and Nice a +year later. On his side, Bismarck also complained that our feeling +for the German cause went no further than "theoretical sympathy," +and that "during the war England never compromised herself so far +in our favour as to endanger her friendship with France. On the +contrary." These vague and enigmatic charges at bottom only express +the annoyance of the combatants at their failure to draw neutrals +into the strife<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_10">[10]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page031" id="page031"></a>[pg +031]</span> +<p>The traditions of the United States, of course, forbade their +intervention in the Franco-Prussian dispute. By an article of their +political creed termed the Monroe Doctrine, they asserted their +resolve not to interfere in European affairs and to prevent the +interference of any strictly European State in those of the New +World. It was on this rather vague doctrine that they cried "hands +off" from Mexico to the French Emperor; and the abandonment of his +<i>protégé</i>, the so-called Emperor Maximilian, by +French troops, brought about the death of that unhappy prince and a +sensible decline in the prestige of his patron (June 1867).</p> +<p>Russia likewise remembered Napoleon III.'s championship of the +Poles in 1863, which, however Platonic in its nature, caused the +Czar some embarrassment. Moreover, King William of Prussia had +soothed the Czar's feelings, ruffled by the dethroning of three +German dynasties in 1866, by a skilful reply which alluded to his +(King William's) desire to be of service to Russian interests +elsewhere--a hint which the diplomatists of St. Petersburg +remembered in 1870 to some effect.</p> +<p>For the rest, the Czar Alexander II. (1855-81) and his Ministers +were still absorbed in the internal policy of reform, which in the +sixties freed the serfs and gave Russia new judicial and local +institutions, doomed to be swept away in the reaction following the +murder of that enlightened ruler. The Russian Government therefore +pledged itself to neutrality, but in a sense favourable to Prussia. +The Czar ascribed the Crimean War to the ambition of Napoleon III., +and remembered the friendship of Prussia at that time, as also in +the Polish Revolt of 1863<a name="FNanchor11"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_11">[11]</a>. Bismarck's policy now brought its +reward.</p> +<p>The neutrality of Russia is always a matter of the utmost moment +for the Central Powers in any war on their western frontiers. Their +efforts against Revolutionary France in 1792-94 failed chiefly +because of the ambiguous attitude of the Czarina Catherine II.; and +the collapse of Frederick William IV.'s <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page032" id="page032"></a>[pg 032]</span> policy +in 1848-51 was due to the hostility of his eastern neighbour. In +fact, the removal of anxiety about her open frontier on the east +was now worth a quarter of a million of men to Prussia.</p> +<p>But the Czar's neutrality was in one matter distinctly friendly +to his uncle, King William of Prussia. It is an open secret that +unmistakable hints went from St. Petersburg to Vienna to the effect +that, if Austria drew the sword for Napoleon III. she would have to +reckon with an irruption of the Russians into her open Galician +frontier. Probably this accounts for the conduct of the Hapsburg +Power, which otherwise is inexplicable. A war of revenge against +Prussia seemed to be the natural step to take. True, the Emperor +Francis Joseph had small cause to like Napoleon III. The loss of +Lombardy in 1859 still rankled in the breast of every patriotic +Austrian; and the suspicions which that enigmatical ruler managed +to arouse, prevented any definite agreement resulting from the +meeting of the two sovereigns at Salzburg in 1867.</p> +<p>The relations of France and Austria were still in the same +uncertain state before the War of 1870. The foreign policy of +Austria was in the hands of Count Beust, a bitter foe of Prussia; +but after the concession of constitutional rule to Hungary by the +compromise (<i>Ausgleich</i>) of 1867, the Dual Monarchy urgently +needed rest, especially as its army was undergoing many changes. +The Chancellor's action was therefore clogged on all sides. +Nevertheless, when the Luxemburg affair of 1867 brought France and +Prussia near to war, Napoleon began to make advances to the Court +of Vienna. How far they went is not known. Beust has asserted in +his correspondence with the French Foreign Minister, the Duc de +Gramont (formerly ambassador at Vienna), that they never were more +than discussions, and that they ended in 1869 without any written +agreement. The sole understanding was to the effect that the policy +of both States should be friendly and pacific, Austria reserving +the right to remain neutral if France were compelled to make war. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page033" id="page033"></a>[pg +033]</span> The two Empires further promised not to make any +engagement with a third Power without informing the other.</p> +<p>This statement is not very convincing. States do not usually +bind themselves in the way just described, unless they have some +advantageous agreement with the Power which has the first claim on +their alliance. It is noteworthy, however, that the Duc de Gramont, +in the correspondence alluded to above, admits that, as Ambassador +and as Foreign Minister of France, he never had to claim the +support of Austria in the war with Prussia<a name= +"FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a>.</p> +<p>How are we to reconcile these statements with the undoubted fact +that the Emperor Napoleon certainly expected help from Austria and +also from Italy? The solution of the riddle seems to be that +Napoleon, as also Francis Joseph and Victor Emmanuel, kept their +Foreign Ministers in the dark on many questions of high policy, +which they transacted either by private letters among themselves, +or through military men who had their confidence. The French and +Italian sovereigns certainly employed these methods, the latter +because he was far more French in sympathy than his Ministers.</p> +<p>As far back as the year 1868, Victor Emmanuel made overtures to +Napoleon with a view to alliance, the chief aim of which, from his +standpoint, was to secure the evacuation of Rome by the French +troops, and the gain of the Eternal City for the national cause. +Prince Napoleon lent his support to this scheme, and from an +article written by him we know that the two sovereigns discussed +the matter almost entirely by means of confidential letters<a name= +"FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13">[13]</a>. These discussions +went on up to the month of June 1869. Francis Joseph, on hearing of +them, urged the French Emperor to satisfy Italy, and thus pave the +way for an alliance between the three Powers against Prussia. +Nothing definite came of the affair, and chiefly, it would seem, +owing to the influence of the Empress Eugénie and the French +clerics. She is said to have remarked: "Better <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page034" id="page034"></a>[pg 034]</span> the +Prussians in Paris than the Italian troops in Rome." The diplomatic +situation therefore remained vague, though in the second week of +July 1870, the Emperor again took up the threads which, with +greater firmness and foresight, he might have woven into a firm +design.</p> +<p>The understanding between the three Powers advanced only in +regard to military preparations. The Austrian Archduke Albrecht, +the victor of Custoza, burned to avenge the defeat of +Königgrätz, and with this aim in view visited Paris in +February to March 1870. He then proposed to Napoleon an invasion of +North Germany by the armies of France, Austria, and Italy. The +French Emperor developed the plan by more specific overtures which +he made in the month of June; but his Ministers were so far in the +dark as to these military proposals that they were then suggesting +the reduction of the French army by 10,000 men, while Ollivier, the +Prime Minister, on June 30 declared to the French Chamber that +peace had never been better assured<a name= +"FNanchor14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a>.</p> +<p>And yet on that same day General Lebrun, aide-de-camp to the +Emperor, was drawing up at Paris a confidential report of the +mission with which he had lately been entrusted to the Austrian +military authorities. From that report we take the following +particulars. On arriving at Vienna, he had three private interviews +with the Archduke Albrecht, and set before him the desirability of +a joint invasion of North Germany in the autumn of that year. To +this the Archduke demurred, on the ground that such a campaign +ought to begin in the spring if the full fruits of victory were to +be gathered in before the short days came. Austria and Italy, he +said, could not place adequate forces in the field in less than six +weeks owing to lack of railways<a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_15">[15]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page035" id="page035"></a>[pg +035]</span> +<p>Developing his own views, the Archduke then suggested that it +would be desirable for France to undertake the war against North +Germany not later than the middle of March 1871, Austria and Italy +at the same time beginning their mobilisations, though not +declaring war until their armies were ready at the end of six +weeks. Two French armies should in the meantime cross the Rhine in +order to sever the South Germans from the Confederation of the +North, one of them marching towards Nuremberg, where it would be +joined by the western army of Austria and the Italian forces sent +through Tyrol. The other Austrian army would then invade Saxony or +Lusatia in order to strike at Berlin. He estimated the forces of +the States hostile to Prussia as follows:--</p> +<br> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th>Men.</th> +<th>Horses.</th> +<th>Cannon.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>France</td> +<td>309,000</td> +<td>35,000</td> +<td>972</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Austria (exclusive of reserve)</td> +<td>360,000</td> +<td>27,000</td> +<td>1128</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Italy</td> +<td>68,000</td> +<td>5000</td> +<td>180</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Denmark</td> +<td>260,000 (?)</td> +<td>2000</td> +<td>72</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<p>He thus reckoned the forces of the two German +Confederations:--</p> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th> </th> +<th> </th> +<th> </th> +<th>Men.</th> +<th>Horses.</th> +<th>Cannon.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>North</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +<td>377,000</td> +<td>48,000</td> +<td>1284</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>South</td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +<td> </td> +<td>97,000</td> +<td>10,000</td> +<td>288</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<p>but the support of the latter might be hoped for. Lebrun again +urged the desirability of a campaign in the autumn, but the +Archduke repeated that it must begin in the spring. In <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page036" id="page036"></a>[pg 036]</span> that +condition, as in his earlier statement that France must declare war +first, while her allies prepared for war, we may discern a +deep-rooted distrust of Napoleon III.</p> +<p>On June 14 the Archduke introduced Lebrun to the Emperor Francis +Joseph, who informed him that he wanted peace; but, he added, "if I +make war, I must be forced to it." In case of war Prussia might +exploit the national German sentiment existing in South Germany and +Austria. He concluded with these words, "But if the Emperor +Napoleon, compelled to accept or to declare war, came with his +armies into South Germany, not as an enemy but as a liberator, I +should be forced on my side to declare that I [would] make common +cause with him. In the eyes of my people I could do no other than +join my armies to those of France. That is what I pray you to say +for me to the Emperor Napoleon; I hope that he will see, as I do, +my situation both in home and foreign affairs." Such was the report +which Lebrun drew up for Napoleon III. on June 30. It certainly led +that sovereign to believe in the probability of Austrian help in +the spring of 1871, but not before that time.</p> +<p>The question now arises whether Bismarck was aware of these +proposals. If warlike counsels prevailed at Vienna, it is probable +that some preparations would be made, and the secret may have +leaked out in this way, or possibly through the Hungarian +administration. In any case, Bismarck knew that the Austrian +chancellor, Count Beust, thirsted for revenge for the events of +1866<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a>. If he +heard any whispers of an approaching league against Prussia, he +would naturally see the advantage of pressing on war at once, +before Austria and Italy were ready to enter the lists. Probably in +this fact will be found one explanation of the origin of the +Franco-German War.</p> +<p>Before adverting to the proximate cause of the rupture, we may +note that Beust's despatch of July 11, 1870, to Prince Metternich, +Austrian ambassador at Paris, displayed genuine <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page037" id="page037"></a>[pg 037]</span> fear +lest France should rush blindly into war with Prussia; and he +charged Metternich tactfully to warn the French Government against +such a course of action, which would "be contrary to all that we +have agreed upon. . . . Even if we wished, we could not suddenly equip +a respectably large force. . . . Our services are gained to a certain +extent [by France]; but we shall not go further unless events carry +us on; and we do not dream of plunging into war because it might +suit France to do so."</p> +<p>Again, however, the military men seem to have pushed on the +diplomatists. The Archduke Albrecht and Count Vitzthum went to +Paris charged with some promises of support to France in case of +war. Thereafter, Count Beust gave the assurance at Vienna that the +Austrians would be "faithful to our engagements, as they have been +recorded in the letters exchanged last year between the two +sovereigns. We consider the cause of France as ours, and we will +contribute to the success of her arms to the utmost of our +power<a name="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a>."</p> +<p>In the midst of this maze of cross-purposes this much is clear: +that both Emperors had gone to work behind the backs of their +Ministers, and that the military chiefs of France and Austria +brought their States to the brink of war while their Ministers and +diplomatists were unaware of the nearness of danger.</p> +<p>As we have seen, King Victor Emmanuel II. longed to draw the +sword for Napoleon III., whose help to Italy in 1859-60 he so +curiously overrated. Fortunately for Italy, his Ministers took a +more practical view of the situation; but probably they too would +have made common cause with France had they received a definite +promise of the withdrawal of French troops from Rome and the +satisfaction of Italian desires for the Eternal City as the +national capital. This promise, even after the outbreak of war, the +French Emperor declined to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page038" +id="page038"></a>[pg 038]</span> give, though his cousin, Prince +Napoleon, urged him vehemently to give way on that point<a name= +"FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a>.</p> +<p>In truth, the Emperor could not well give way. An Oecumenical +Council sat at Rome from December 1869 to July 1870; its +Ultramontane tendencies were throughout strongly marked, as against +the "Old Catholic" views; and it was a foregone conclusion that the +Council would vote the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope in +matters of religion--as it did on the day before France declared +war against Prussia. How, then, could the Emperor, the "eldest son +of the Church," as French monarchs have proudly styled themselves, +bargain away Rome to the Italian Government, already stained by +sacrilege, when this crowning aureole of grace was about to +encircle the visible Head of the Church? There was no escape from +the dilemma. Either Napoleon must go into war with shouts of +"Judas" hurled at him by all pious Roman Catholics; or he must try +his fortunes without the much-coveted help of Austria and Italy. He +chose the latter alternative, largely, it would seem, owing to the +influence of his vehemently Catholic Empress<a name= +"FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a>. After the first +defeats he sought to open negotiations, but then it was too late. +Prince Napoleon went to Florence and arrived there on August 20; +but his utmost efforts failed to move the Italian Cabinet from +neutrality.</p> +<p>Even this brief survey of international relations shows that +Napoleon III. was a source of weakness to France. Having seized on +power by perfidious means, he throughout his whole reign strove to +dazzle the French by a series of adventures, which indeed pleased +the Parisians for the time, but at the cost of lasting distrust +among the Powers. Generous in his aims, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page039" id="page039"></a>[pg 039]</span> he at +first befriended the German and Italian national movements, but +forfeited all the fruits of those actions by his pettifogging +conduct about Savoy and Nice, the Rhineland and Belgium; while his +final efforts to please French clericals and Chauvinists<a name= +"FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a> by supporting the +Pope at Rome, lost him the support of States that might have +retrieved the earlier blunders. In brief, by helping on the +nationalists of North Germany and Italy he offended French public +opinion; and his belated and spasmodic efforts to regain popularity +at home aroused against him the distrust of all the Powers. Their +feelings about him may be summarised in the <i>mot</i> of a +diplomatist, "Scratch the Emperor and you will find the political +refugee."</p> +<p>How different were the careers of Napoleon III. and of Bismarck! +By resolutely keeping before him the national aim, and that only, +the Prussian statesman had reduced the tangle of German affairs to +simplicity and now made ready for the crowning work of all. In his +<i>Reminiscences</i> he avows his belief, as early as 1866, "that a +war with France would succeed the war with Austria lay in the logic +of history"; and again, "I did not doubt that a Franco-German War +must take place before the construction of a United Germany could +take place<a name="FNanchor21"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_21">[21]</a>." War would doubtless have broken out in +1867 over the Luxemburg question, had he not seen the need of delay +for strengthening the bonds of union with South Germany and +assuring the increase of the armies of the Fatherland by the +adoption of Prussian methods; or, as he phrased it, "each year's +postponement of the war would add 100,000 trained soldiers to our +army<a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a>." In +1870 little was to be gained by delay. In fact, the unionist +movement in Germany then showed ominous signs of slackening. In the +South the Parliaments opposed any further approach to union with +the North; and the voting of the military budget in the North for +that year was likely to lead to strong opposition <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page040" id="page040"></a>[pg 040]</span> in the +interests of the overtaxed people. A war might solve the unionist +problem which was insoluble in time of peace; and a <i>casus +belli</i> was at hand.</p> +<p>Early in July 1870, the news leaked out that Prince Leopold of +Hohenzollern was the officially accepted candidate for the throne +of Spain, left vacant since the revolution which drove Queen +Isabella into exile in 1868<a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_23">[23]</a>. At once a thrill of rage shot through +France; and the Duc de Gramont, Foreign Minister of the new +Ollivier Ministry, gave expression to the prevailing feeling in his +answer to a question on the subject in the Chamber of Deputies +(July 6):--</p> +<blockquote>We do not think that respect for the rights of a +neighbouring people [Spain] obliges us to allow an alien Power +[Prussia], by placing one of its princes on the throne of Charles +V., to succeed in upsetting to our disadvantage the present +equilibrium of forces in Europe, and imperil the interests and +honour of France. We have the firm hope that this eventuality will +not be realised. To hinder it, we count both on the wisdom of the +German people and on the friendship of the Spanish people. If that +should not be so, strong in your support and in that of the nation, +we shall know how to fulfil our duty without hesitation and without +weakness<a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_24">[24]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>The opening phrases were inaccurate. The prince in question was +Prince Leopold of the Swabian and Roman Catholic branch of the +Hohenzollern family, who, as the Duc de Gramont knew, could by no +possibility recall the days when Charles V. reigned as Emperor in +Germany and monarch in Spain. This misstatement showed the +intention of the French Ministry to throw down the glove to +Prussia--as is also clear from this statement in Gramont's despatch +of July 10 to Benedetti: "If the King will not advise the Prince of +Hohenzollern to withdraw, well, it is war forthwith, and in a few +days we are at the Rhine<a name="FNanchor25"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_25">[25]</a>."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page041" id="page041"></a>[pg +041]</span> +<p>Nevertheless, those who were behind the scenes had just cause +for anger against Bismarck. The revelations of Benedetti, French +ambassador at Berlin, as well as the Memoirs of the King of +Roumania (brother to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern) leave no doubt +that the candidature of the latter was privately and unofficially +mooted in 1868, and again in the spring of 1869 through a Prussian +diplomatist, Werthern, and that it met with no encouragement +whatever from the Prussian monarch or the prince himself. But early +in 1870 it was renewed in an official manner by the provisional +Government of Spain, and (as seems certain) at the instigation of +Bismarck, who, in May-June, succeeded in overcoming the reluctance +of the prince and of King William. Bismarck even sought to hurry +the matter through the Spanish Cortes so as to commit Spain to the +plan; but this failed owing to the misinterpretation of a ciphered +telegram from Berlin at Madrid<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_26">[26]</a>.</p> +<p>Such was the state of the case when the affair became known to +the Ollivier Ministry. Though not aware, seemingly, of all these +details, Napoleon's advisers were justified in treating the matter, +not as a private affair between the Hohenzollerns and Spain (as +Germans then maintained it was) but as an attempt of the Prussian +Government to place on the Spanish throne a prince who could not +but be friendly to the North German Power. In fact, the French saw +in it a challenge to war; and putting together all the facts as now +known, we must pronounce that they were almost certainly right. +Bismarck undoubtedly wanted war; and it is impossible to think that +he did not intend to use this candidature as a means of +exasperating the French. The man who afterwards declared that, at +the beginning of the Danish disputes in 1863, he made up his mind +to have Schleswig-Holstein for Prussia<a name= +"FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a>, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page042" id="page042"></a>[pg 042]</span> +certainly saw in the Hohenzollern candidature a step towards a +Prusso-Spanish alliance or a war with France that might cement +German unity.</p> +<p>In any case, that was the outcome of events. The French papers +at once declaimed against the candidature in a way that aroused no +less passion on the other side of the Rhine. For a brief space, +however, matters seemed to be smoothed over by the calm good sense +of the Prussian monarch and his nephew. The King was then at Ems, +taking the waters, when Benedetti, the French ambassador, waited on +him and pressed him most urgently to request Prince Leopold to +withdraw from the candidature to the Spanish Crown. This the King +declined to do in the way that was pointed out to him, rightly +considering that such a course would play into the hands of the +French by lowering his own dignity and the prestige of Prussia. +Moreover, he, rather illogically, held the whole matter to be +primarily one that affected the Hohenzollern family and Spain. The +young prince, however, on hearing of the drift of events, solved +the problem by declaring his intention not to accept the Crown of +Spain (July 12). The action was spontaneous, emanating from Prince +Leopold and his father Prince Antony, not from the Prussian +monarch, though, on hearing of their decision, he informed +Benedetti that he entirely approved it.</p> +<p>If the French Government had really wished for peace, it would +have let the matter end there. But it did not do so. The extreme +Bonapartists--<i>plus royalistes que le roi</i>--all along wished +to gain prestige for their sovereign by inflicting an open +humiliation on King William and through him on Prussia. They were +angry that he had evaded the snare, and now brought pressure to +bear on the Ministry, especially the Duc de Gramont, so that at 7 +P.M. of that same day (July 12) he sent a telegram to Benedetti at +Ems directing him to see King William and press him to declare that +he "would not again authorise this candidature." The Minister +added: "The effervescence of spirits [at Paris] is such that we do +not know whether we shall succeed in mastering it." This was true. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page043" id="page043"></a>[pg +043]</span> Paris was almost beside herself. As M. Sorel says: "The +warm July evening drove into the streets a populace greedy of shows +and excitements, whose imagination was spoiled by the custom of +political quackery, for whom war was but a drama and history a +romance<a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28">[28]</a>." +Such was the impulse which led to Gramont's new demand, and it was +made in spite of the remonstrances of the British ambassador, Lord +Lyons.</p> +<p>Viewing that demand in the clearer light of the present time, we +must say that it was not unreasonable in itself; but it was +presented in so insistent a way that King William declined to +entertain it. Again Gramont pressed Benedetti to urge the matter; +but the utmost that the King would do was to state: "He gives his +approbation entirely and without reserve to the withdrawal of the +Prince of Hohenzollern: he cannot do more." He refused to see the +ambassador further on this subject; but on setting out to return to +Berlin--a step necessitated by the growing excitement throughout +Germany--he took leave of Benedetti with perfect cordiality (July +14). The ambassador thereupon returned to Paris.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, however, Bismarck had given the last flick to the +restive courses of the Press on both sides of the Rhine. In his +<i>Reminiscences</i> he has described his depression of spirits on +hearing the news of the withdrawal of Prince Leopold's candidature +and of his nearly formed resolve to resign as a protest against so +tame a retreat before French demands. But while Moltke, Roon, and +he were dining together, a telegram reached him from the King at +Ems, dated July 13, 3.50 P.M., which gave him leave to inform the +ambassadors and the Press of the present state of affairs. Bismarck +saw his chance. The telegram could be cut down so as to give a more +resolute look to the whole affair. And, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page044" id="page044"></a>[pg 044]</span> after +gaining Moltke's assurance that everything was ready for war, he +proceeded to condense it. The facts here can only be understood by +a comparison of the two versions. We therefore give the original as +sent to Bismarck by Abeken, Secretary to the Foreign Office, who +was then at Ems:--</p> +<blockquote>His Majesty writes to me: "Count Benedetti spoke to me +on<br> +the promenade, in order to demand from me, finally in a very<br> +importunate manner, that I should authorise him to telegraph at<br> +once that I bound myself for all future time never again to give +my<br> +consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew their candidature. I<br> +refused at last somewhat sternly, as it is neither right nor +possible<br> +to undertake engagements of this kind <i>à tout jamais</i>. +Naturally I<br> +told him that I had as yet received no news, and as he was +earlier<br> +informed about Paris and Madrid than myself, he could see +clearly<br> +that my Government once more had no hand in the matter." His<br> +Majesty has since received a letter from the Prince. His +Majesty<br> +having told Count Benedetti that he was awaiting news from the<br> +Prince, has decided, with reference to the above demand, upon +the<br> +representation of Count Eulenburg and myself, not to receive<br> +Count Benedetti again, but only to let him be informed through +an<br> +aide-de-camp: "That his Majesty had now received from the<br> +Prince confirmation of the news which Benedetti had already<br> +received from Paris, and had nothing further to say to the<br> +ambassador." His Majesty leaves it to your Excellency whether<br> +Benedetti's fresh demand and its rejection should not be at +once<br> +communicated both to our ambassadors and to the Press.</blockquote> +<p>Bismarck cut this down to the following:--</p> +<blockquote>After the news of the renunciation of the hereditary +Prince of<br> +Hohenzollern had been officially communicated to the Imperial<br> +Government of France by the Royal Government of Spain, the<br> +French ambassador at Ems further demanded of his Majesty, the<br> +King, that he would authorise him to telegraph to Paris that +his<br> +Majesty, the King, bound himself for all future time never +again<br> +to give his consent if the Hohenzollerns should renew their<br> +candidature. His Majesty, the King, thereupon decided not to<br> +receive the French ambassador again, and sent to tell him +through<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page045" id="page045"></a>[pg +045]</span> the aide-de-camp on duty that his Majesty had nothing +further to<br> +communicate to the ambassador.</blockquote> +<p>Efforts have been made to represent Bismarck's "editing" of the +Ems telegram as the decisive step leading to war; and in his +closing years, when seized with the morbid desire of a partly +discredited statesman to exaggerate his influence on events, he +himself sought to perpetuate this version. He claims that the +telegram, as it came from Ems, described the incident there "as a +fragment of a negotiation still pending, and to be continued at +Berlin." This claim is quite untenable. A careful perusal of the +original despatch from Ems shows that the negotiation, far from +being "still pending," was clearly described as having been closed +on that matter. That Benedetti so regarded it is proved by his +returning at once to Paris. If it could have been "continued at +Berlin," he most certainly would have proceeded thither. Finally, +the words in the original as to the King refusing Benedetti +"somewhat sternly" were omitted, and very properly omitted, by +Bismarck in his abbreviated version. Had he included those words, +he might have claimed to be the final cause of the War of 1870. As +it is, his claim must be set aside as the offspring of senile +vanity. His version of the original Ems despatch did not contain a +single offensive word, neither did it alter any statement. Abeken +also admitted that his original telegram was far too long, and that +Bismarck was quite justified in abbreviating it as he did<a name= +"FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29">[29]</a>.</p> +<p>If we pay attention, not to the present more complete knowledge +of the whole affair, but to the imperfect information then open to +the German public, war was the natural result of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page046" id="page046"></a>[pg 046]</span> the +second and very urgent demand that came from Paris. The Duc de +Gramont in dispatching it must have known that he was playing a +desperate game. Either Prussia would give way and France would +score a diplomatic triumph over a hated rival; or Prussia would +fight. The friends of peace in France thought matters hopeless when +that demand was sent in so insistent a manner. As soon as Gladstone +heard of the second demand of the Ollivier Ministry, he wrote to +Lord Granville, then Foreign Minister: "It is our duty to represent +the immense responsibility which will rest upon France, if she does +not at once accept as satisfactory and conclusive the withdrawal of +the candidature of Prince Leopold<a name="FNanchor30"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_30">[30]</a>."</p> +<p>On the other hand, we must note that the conduct of the German +Press at this crisis was certainly provocative of war. The morning +on which Bismarck's telegram appeared in the official <i>North +German Gazette</i>, saw a host of violent articles against France, +and gleeful accounts of imaginary insults inflicted by the King on +Benedetti. All this was to be expected after the taunts of +cowardice freely levelled by the Parisian papers against Prussia +for the last two days; but whether Bismarck directly inspired the +many sensational versions of the Ems affair that appeared in North +German papers on July 14 is not yet proven.</p> +<p>However that may be, the French Government looked on the refusal +of its last demand, the publication of Bismarck's telegram, and the +insults of the German Press as a <i>casus belli</i>. The details of +the sitting of the Emperor's Council at 10 P.M. on July 14, at +which it was decided to call out the French reserves, are not yet +known. Ollivier was not present. There had been a few hours of +wavering on this question; but the tone of the Parisian evening +papers--it was the French national day--the loud cries of the +rabble for war, and their smashing the windows of the Prussian +embassy, seem to have convinced the Emperor and his advisers that +to draw back now would involve the fall of the dynasty. Report has +uniformly pointed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page047" id= +"page047"></a>[pg 047]</span> to the Empress as pressing these +ideas on her consort, and the account which the Duc de Gramont +later on gave to Lord Malmesbury of her words at that momentous +Council-meeting support popular rumour. It is as follows:--</p> +<blockquote>Before the final resolve to declare war the Emperor, +Empress, and Ministers went to St. Cloud. After some discussion +Gramont told me that the Empress, a high-spirited and +impressionable woman, made a strong and most excited address, +declaring that "war was inevitable if the honour of France was to +be sustained." She was immediately followed by Marshal Leboeuf, +who, in the most violent tone, threw down his portfolio and swore +that if war was not declared he would give it up and renounce his +military rank. The Emperor gave way, and Gramont went straight to +the Chamber to announce the fatal news<a name= +"FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31">[31]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>On the morrow (July 15) the Chamber of Deputies appointed a +Commission, which hastily examined the diplomatic documents and +reported in a sense favourable to the Ollivier Ministry, The +subsequent debate made strongly for a rupture; and it is important +to note that Ollivier and Gramont based the demand for warlike +preparations on the fact that King William had refused to see the +French ambassador, and held that that alone was a sufficient +insult. In vain did Thiers protest against the war as inopportune, +and demand to see all the necessary documents. The Chamber passed +the war supplies by 246 votes to 10; and Thiers had his windows +broken. Late on that night Gramont set aside a last attempt of Lord +Granville to offer the mediation of England in the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page048" id="page048"></a>[pg 048]</span> cause +of peace, on the ground that this would be to the harm of +France--"unless means were found to stop the rapid mobilisation of +the Prussian armies which were approaching our frontier<a name= +"FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32">[32]</a>." In this +connection it is needful to state that the order for mobilising the +North German troops was not given by the King of Prussia until late +on July 15, when the war votes of the French Chambers were known at +Berlin.</p> +<p>Benedetti, in his review of the whole question, passes the +following very noteworthy and sensible verdict: "It was public +opinion which forced the [French] Government to draw the sword, and +by an irresistible onset dictated its resolutions<a name= +"FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a>." This is +certainly true for the public opinion of Paris, though not of +France as a whole. The rural districts which form the real strength +of France nearly always cling to peace. It is significant that the +Prefects of French Departments reported that only 16 declared in +favour of war, while 37 were in doubt on the matter, and 34 +accepted war with regret. This is what might be expected from a +people which in the Provinces is marked by prudence and thrift.</p> +<p>In truth, the people of modern Europe have settled down to a +life of peaceful industry, in which war is the most hateful of +evils. On the other hand, the massing of mankind in great cities, +where thought is superficial and feelings can quickly be stirred by +a sensation-mongering Press, has undoubtedly helped to feed +political passions and national hatred. A rural population is not +deeply stirred by stories of slights to ambassadors. The peasant of +Brittany had no active dislike for the peasant of Brandenburg. Each +only asked to be left to till his fields in peace and safety. But +the crowds on the Parisian boulevards and in <i>Unter den +Linden</i> took (and seemingly always will take) a very different +view of life. To them the news of the humiliation of the rival +beyond the Rhine was the greatest and therefore the most welcome of +sensations; and, unfortunately, the papers which pandered to their +habits set the tone of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page049" id= +"page049"></a>[pg 049]</span> thought for no small part of France +and Germany and exerted on national policy an influence out of all +proportion to its real weight.</p> +<p>The story of the Franco-German dispute is one of national +jealousy carefully fanned for four years by newspaper editors and +popular speakers until a spark sufficed to set Western Europe in a +blaze. The spark was the Hohenzollern candidature, which would have +fallen harmless had not the tinder been prepared since +Königgratz by journalists at Paris and Berlin. The resulting +conflagration may justly be described as due partly to national +friction and partly to the supposed interests of the Napoleonic +dynasty, but also to the heat engendered by a sensational +Press.</p> +<p>It is well that one of the chief dangers to the peace of the +modern world should be clearly recognised. The centralisation of +governments and of population may have its advantages; but over +against them we must set grave drawbacks; among those of a +political kind the worst are the growth of nervousness and +excitability, and the craving for sensation--qualities which +undoubtedly tend to embitter national jealousies at all times, and +in the last case to drive weak dynasties or Cabinets on to war. +Certainly Bismarck's clever shifts to bring about a rupture in 1870 +would have failed had not the atmosphere both at Paris and Berlin +been charged with electricity<a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_34">[34]</a>.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> <i>Notes +from a Diary, 1851-1872</i>, by Sir M.E. Grant Duff, vol. i. p. +120.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> In 1867 +Bismarck's promises went so far as the framing of a secret compact +with France, one article of which stated that Prussia would not +object to the annexation of Belgium by France. The agreement was +first published by the <i>Times</i> on July 25, 1870, Bismarck then +divulging the secret so as to inflame public opinion against +France.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> See +Ollivier's great work, <i>L'Empire libéral</i>, for full +details of this time.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> +Hanotaux, <i>Contemporary France</i>, vol. i. p. 9 (Eng. ed.); +<i>Bismarck: his Reflections and Reminiscences,</i> vol. ii. p. 61. +The popular Prussian view about England found expression in the +comic paper <i>Kladderdatsch</i>:--<br> +<br> +Deutschland beziehe billige Sympathien<br> +Und Frankreich theures Kriegsmateriel.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> See Sir +H. Rumbold's <i>Recollections of a Diplomatist</i> (First Series), +vol. ii. p. 292, for the Czar's hostility to France in 1870.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> +<i>Memoirs of Count Beust</i>, vol. ii. pp. 358-359 (Appendix D, +Eng. edit.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> +<i>Revue des deux Mondes</i> for April 1, 1878.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> +Seignobos, <i>A Political History of Contemporary Europe</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 806-807 (Eng. edit.). Oncken, <i>Zeitalter des Kaisers +Wilhelm</i> (vol. i. pp. 720-740), tries to prove that there was a +deep conspiracy against Prussia. I am not convinced by his +evidence.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> +<i>Souvenirs militaires</i>, by General B.L.J. Lebrun (Paris 1895), +pp. 95-148.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> +<i>Bismarck: his Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. p. +58.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> +<i>Memoirs of Count Beust,</i> vol. ii. p. 359. <i>The Present +Position of European Politics</i> p. 366 (1887). By the author of +<i>Greater Britain.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> See the +<i>Rev. des deux Mondes</i> for April 1, 1878, and "Chronique" of +the <i>Revue d'Histoire diplomatique</i> for 1905, p. 298; also +W.H. Stillman, <i>The Union of Italy, 1815-1895</i>, p. 348.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> For the +relations of France to the Vatican, see <i>Histoire du second +Empire</i>, by M. De la Gorce, vol. vi. (Paris, 1903); also +<i>Histoire Contemporaine</i> (<i>i.e.</i> of France in 1869-1875), +by M. Samuel Denis, 4 vols. The Empress Eugénie once said +that she was "deux fois Catholique," as a Spaniard and as French +Empress. (Sir M.K. Grant Duff, <i>Notes from a Diary, +1851-1872</i>, vol. i. p. 125.)</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> +Chauvinist is a term corresponding to our "Jingo." It is derived +from a man named Chauvin, who lauded Napoleon I. and French glory +to the skies.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> +Bismarck, <i>Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. pp. 41, 57 (Eng. +edit.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> +<i>Ib.</i> p. 58.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> The +ex-queen Isabella died in Paris in April 1904.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> Sorel, +<i>Hist. diplomatique de la Guerre Franco-Allemande</i>, vol. i. p. +77.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> +Benedetti, <i>Ma Mission en Prusse</i>, p.34. This work contains +the French despatches on the whole affair.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> In a +recent work, <i>Kaiser Wilhelm und die Begründung des Reichs, +1866-1871</i>, Dr. Lorenz tries to absolve Bismarck from complicity +in these intrigues, but without success. See <i>Reminiscences of +the King of Roumania</i> (edited by S. Whitman), pp. 70, 86-87, +92-95; also Headlam's <i>Bismarck</i>, p. 327.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> Busch, +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol. i. p. 367.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> Sorel, +<i>Hist. diplomatique de la Guerre Franco-Allemande</i>, vol. i. +chap. iv.; also for the tone of the French Press, Giraudeau, <i>La +Vérité sur la Campagne de 1870</i>, pp. 46-60.<br> +<br> +Ollivier tried to persuade Sir M.E. Grant Duff (<i>Notes from a +Diary, 1873-1881</i>, vol. i. p. 45) that the French demand to King +William was quite friendly and natural.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> +<i>Heinrich Abeken</i>, by Hedwig Abeken, p. 375. Bismarck's +successor in the chancellory, Count Caprivi, set matters in their +true light in a speech in the Reichstag shortly after the +publication of Bismarck's <i>Reminiscences</i>.<br> +<br> +I dissent from the views expressed by the well-informed reviewer of +Ollivier's <i>L'Empire libéral</i> (vol. viii.) in the +<i>Times</i> of May 27, 1904, who pins his faith to an interview of +Bismarck with Lord Loftus on July 13, 1870. Bismarck, of course +wanted war; but so did Gramont, and I hold that <i>the latter</i> +brought it about.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> J. +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. ii. p. 328.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> This +version has, I believe, not been refuted. Still, I must look on it +with suspicion. No Minister, who had done so much to stir up the +war-feeling, ought to have made any such confession--least of all +against a lady, who could not answer it. M. Seignobos in his +<i>Political History of Contemporary Europe</i>, vol. i. chap. vi. +p. 184 (Eng edit.) says of Gramont: "He it was who embroiled France +in the war with Prussia." In the course of the parliamentary +inquiry of 1872 Gramont convicted himself and his Cabinet of folly +in 1870 by using these words: "Je crois pouvoir déclarer que +si on avait eu un doute, un seule doute, sur notre aptitude +à la guerre, on eût immédiatement +arrêté la négociation" (<i>Enquête +parlementaire</i>, I. vol. i. p. 108).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> Quoted +by Sorel, <i>op. cit</i>. vol. i. p. 196.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> +Benedetti, <i>Ma Mission en Prusse,</i> p. 411.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> Prince +Leopold of Hohenzollern died at Berlin on June 8, 1905. He was born +in 1835, and in 1861 married the Infanta of Portugal.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page050" id="page050"></a>[pg +050]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<h3>FROM WÖRTH TO GRAVELOTTE</h3> +<blockquote>"The Chief of the General Staff had his eye fixed from +the first upon the capture of the enemy's capital, the possession +of which is of more importance in France than in other +countries. . . . It is a delusion to believe that a plan of war may be +laid for a prolonged period and carried out in every point."--VON +MOLTKE, <i>The Franco-German War</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>In olden times, before the invention of long-range arms of +precision, warfare was decided mainly by individual bravery and +strength. In the modern world victory has inclined more and more to +that side which carefully prepares beforehand to throw a force, +superior alike in armament and numbers, against the vitals of its +enemy. Assuming that the combatants are fairly equal in physical +qualities--and the spread of liberty has undoubtedly lessened the +great differences that once were observable in this respect among +European peoples--war becomes largely an affair of preliminary +organisation. That is to say, it is now a matter of brain rather +than muscle. Writers of the school of Carlyle may protest that all +modern warfare is tame when compared with the splendidly rampant +animalism of the Homeric fights. In the interests of Humanity it is +to be hoped that the change will go on until war becomes wholly +scientific and utterly unattractive. Meanwhile, the soldier-caste, +the politician, and the tax-payer have to face the fact that the +fortunes of war are very largely decided by humdrum costly +preparations in time of peace.</p> +<p>The last chapter set forth the causes that led to war in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page051" id="page051"></a>[pg +051]</span> 1870. That event found Germany fully prepared. The +lessons of the campaign of 1866 had not been lost upon the Prussian +General Staff. The artillery was improved alike in +<i>matériel</i> and in drill-tactics, Napoleon I.'s plan of +bringing massed batteries to bear on decisive points being +developed with Prussian thoroughness. The cavalry learnt to scout +effectively and act as "the eyes and ears of an army," as well as +to charge in brigades on a wavering foe. Universal military service +had been compulsory in Prussia since 1813; but the organisation of +territorial army corps now received fuller development, so that +each part of Prussia, including, too, most of the North German +Confederation, had its own small army complete in all arms, and +reinforced from the Reserve, and, at need, from the +Landwehr<a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a>. +By virtue of the military conventions of 1866, the other German +States adopted a similar system, save that while Prussians served +for three years (with few exceptions in the case of successful +examinees), the South Germans served with the colours for a shorter +period. Those conventions also secured uniformity, or harmony, in +the railway arrangements for the transport of troops.</p> +<p>The General Staff of the North German Army had used these +advantages to the utmost, by preparing a most complete plan of +mobilisation--so complete, in fact, that the myriad orders had only +to be drawn from their pigeon-holes and dated in the last hours of +July 15. Forthwith the whole of the vast machinery started in swift +but smooth working. Reservists speedily appeared at their +regimental depôts, there found their equipment, and speedily +brought their regiments up to the war footing; trains were ready, +timed according to an elaborate plan, to carry them Rhinewards; +provisions and stores were sent forward, <i>ohne Hast, ohne +Rast</i>, as the Germans say; and so perfect were the plans on +rail, river, and road, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page052" id= +"page052"></a>[pg 052]</span> that none of those blocks occurred +which frequently upset the plans of the French. Thus, by dint of +plodding preparation, a group of federal States gained a decisive +advantage over a centralised Empire which left too many things to +be arranged in the last few hours.</p> +<p>Herein lies the true significance of the War of 1870. All +Governments that were not content to jog along in the old military +ruts saw the need of careful organisation, including the eventual +control of all needful means of transport; and all that were wise +hastened to adapt their system to the new order of things, which +aimed at assuring the swift orderly movement of great masses of men +by all the resources of mechanical science. Most of the civilised +States soon responded to the new needs of the age; but a few (among +them Great Britain) were content to make one or two superficial +changes and slightly increase the number of troops, while leaving +the all-important matter of organisation almost untouched; and +that, too, despite the vivid contrast which every one could see +between the machine-like regularity of the German mobilisation and +the chaos that reigned on the French side.</p> +<p>Outwardly, the French army appeared to be beyond the reach of +criticism. The troops had in large measure seen active service in +the various wars whereby Napoleon III. fulfilled his promise of +1852--"The Empire is peace"; and their successes in the Crimea, +Lombardy, Syria, and China, everywhere in fact but Mexico, filled +them with warlike pride. Armed with the <i>chassepôt</i>, a +newer and better rifle than the needle-gun, while their artillery +(admittedly rather weak) was strengthened by the +<i>mitrailleuse</i>, they claimed to be the best in the world, and +burned to measure swords with the upstart forces of Prussia.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page053" id="page053"></a>[pg +053]</span> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img002.jpg"><img src= +"images/img002.jpg" width="100%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Sketch Map Of The District Between Metz And The Rhine.</b></p> +<p>But there was a sombre reverse to this bright side. All thinking +Frenchmen, including the Emperor, were aware of grave defects--the +lack of training of the officers<a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_36">[36]</a>, and the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page054" id="page054"></a>[pg 054]</span> want of adaptability in +the General Staff, which had little of that practical knowledge +that the German Staff secured by periods of service with the +troops. Add to this the leaven of republicanism working strongly in +the army as in the State, and producing distrust between officers +and men; above all, the lack of men and materials; and the outlook +was not reassuring to those who knew the whole truth. Inclusive of +the levies of the year 1869, which were not quite ready for active +service, France would have by August 1, 1870, as many as 567,000 +men in her regular army; but of these colonial, garrison, and other +duties claimed as many as 230,000--a figure which seems designed to +include the troops that existed only on paper. Not only the +<i>personnel</i> but the <i>matériel</i> came far below what +was expected. General Leboeuf, the War Minister, ventured to +declare that all was ready even to the last button on the gaiters; +but his boast at once rang false when at scores of military +depôts neither gaiters, boots, nor uniforms were ready for +the reservists who needed them.</p> +<p>Even where the organisation worked at its best, that best was +slow and confused. There were no territorial army corps in time of +peace; and the lack of this organisation led to a grievous waste of +time and energy. Regiments were frequently far away from the +depôts which contained the reservists' equipment; and when +these had found their equipment, they often wandered widely before +finding their regiments on the way to the frontier. One general +officer hunted about on the frontier for a command which did not +exist. As a result of this lack of organisation, and of that +control over the railways which the Germans had methodically +enforced, France lost the many advantages which her compact +territory and excellent railway system ought to have ensured over +her more straggling and poorer rival.</p> +<p>The loss of time was as fatal as it was singular under the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page055" id="page055"></a>[pg +055]</span> rule of a Napoleon whose uncle had so often shattered +his foes by swift movements of troops. In 1870 Napoleonic France +had nothing but speed and dash on which to count. Numbers were +against her. In 1869 Marshal Leboeuf had done away with the Garde +Mobile, a sort of militia which had involved only fifteen days' +drill in the year; and the Garde Nationale of the towns was less +fit for campaigning than the re-formed Mobiles proved to be later +on in the war. Thus France had no reserves: everything rested on +the 330,000 men struggling towards the frontiers. It is doubtful +whether there were more than 220,000 men in the first line by +August 6, with some 50,000 more in reserve at Metz, etc.</p> +<p>Against them Germany could at once put into the field 460,000 +infantry, 56,000 cavalry, with 1584 cannon; and she could raise +these forces to some 1,180,000 men by calling out all the reserves +and Landwehr. These last were men who had served their time and had +not, as a rule, lost their soldierly qualities in civil life. +Nearly 400,000 highly trained troops were ready to invade France +early in August.</p> +<p>In view of these facts it seems incredible that Ollivier, the +French Prime Minister, could have publicly stated that he entered +on war with a light heart. Doubtless, Ministers counted on help +from Austria or Italy, perhaps from both; but, as it proved, they +judged too hastily. As was stated in Chapter I. of this work, +Austria was not likely to move as long as Russia favoured the cause +of Prussia; for any threatening pressure of the Muscovites on the +open flank of the Hapsburg States, Galicia, has sufficed to keep +them from embarking on a campaign in the West. In this case, the +statesmen of Vienna are said to have known by July 20 that Russia +would quietly help Prussia; she informed the Hapsburg Government +that any increase in its armaments would be met by a corresponding +increase in those of Russia. The meaning of such a hint was clear; +and Austria decided not to seek revenge for Königgrätz +unless the French triumph proved to be overwhelming. As for Italy, +her alliance with <span class="pagenum"><a name="page056" id= +"page056"></a>[pg 056]</span> France alone was very improbable for +the reasons previously stated.</p> +<p>Another will o' the wisp which flitted before the ardent +Bonapartists who pushed on the Emperor to war, was that the South +German States would forsake the North and range their troops under +the French eagles, as they had done in the years 1805-12. The first +plan of campaign drawn up at Paris aimed at driving a solid wedge +of French troops between the two Confederations and inducing or +compelling the South to join France; it was hoped that Saxony would +follow. As a matter of fact, very many of the South Germans and +Saxons disliked Prussian supremacy; Catholic Bavaria looked askance +at the growing power of Protestant Prussia. Würtemberg was +Protestant, but far too democratic to wish for the control of the +cast-iron bureaucrats of Berlin. The same was even more true of +Saxony, where hostility to Prussia was a deep-rooted tradition; +some of the Saxon troops on leaving their towns even shouted +<i>Napoleon soll leben</i><a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_37">[37]</a>. It is therefore quite possible that, had +France struck quickly at the valleys of the Neckar and Main, she +might have reduced the South German States to neutrality. Alliance +perhaps was out of the question save under overwhelming compulsion; +for France had alienated the Bavarian and Hessian Governments by +her claims in 1866, and the South German people by her recent +offensive treatment of the Hohenzollern candidature. It is, +however, safe to assert that if Napoleon I. had ordered French +affairs he would have swept the South Germans into his net a month +after the outbreak of war, as he had done in 1805. But Nature had +not bestowed warlike gifts on the nephew, who took command of the +French army at Metz at the close of July 1870. His feeble health, +alternating with periods of severe pain, took from him all that +buoyancy which lends life to an army and vigour to the +headquarters; and his Chief of Staff, Leboeuf, did not make good +the lack of these qualities in the nominal chief.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page057" id="page057"></a>[pg +057]</span> +<p>All the initiative and vigour were on the east of the Rhine. The +spread of the national principle to Central and South Germany had +recently met with several checks; but the diplomatic blunders of +the French Government, the threats of their Press that the +Napoleonic troops would repeat the wonders of 1805; above all, +admiration of the dignified conduct of King William under what were +thought to be gratuitous insults from France, began to kindle the +flame of German patriotism even in the particularists of the South. +The news that the deservedly popular Crown Prince of Prussia, +Frederick William, would command the army now mustering in the +Palatinate, largely composed of South Germans, sent a thrill of joy +through those States. Taught by the folly of her stay-at-home +strategy in 1866, Bavaria readily sent her large contingent beyond +the Rhine; and all danger of a French irruption into South Germany +was ended by the speedy massing of the Third German Army, some +200,000 strong in all, on the north of Alsace. For the French to +cross the Rhine at Speyer, or even at Kehl, in front of a greatly +superior army (though as yet they knew not its actual strength) was +clearly impossible; and in the closing hours of July the French +headquarters fell back on other plans, which, speaking generally, +were to defend the French frontier from the Moselle to the Rhine by +striking at the advanced German troops. At least, that seems to be +the most natural explanation of the sudden and rather flurried +changes then made.</p> +<p>It was wise to hide this change to a strategic defensive by +assuming a tactical offensive; and on August 2 two divisions of +Frossard's corps attacked and drove back the advanced troops of the +Second German Army from Saarbrücken. The affair was +unimportant: it could lead to nothing, unless the French had the +means of following up the success. This they had not; and the +advance of the First and Second German Armies, commanded by General +Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles, was soon to deprive them of +this position.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Germans were making ready a weighty <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page058" id="page058"></a>[pg 058]</span> +enterprise. The muster of the huge Third Army to the north of +Alsace enabled their General Staff to fix August 4 for a general +advance against that frontier. It fell to this army, under the +Crown Prince of Prussia, Frederick William, to strike the first +great blow. Early on August 4 a strong Bavarian division advanced +against the small fortified town of Weissenburg, which lies deep +down in the valley of the Lauter, surrounded by lofty hills. There +it surprised a weak French division, the vanguard of MacMahon's +army, commanded by General Abel Douay, whose scouts had found no +trace of the advancing enemy. About 10 A.M. Douay fell, mortally +wounded; another German division, working round the town to the +east, carried the strong position of the Geisberg; and these +combined efforts, frontal and on the flank, forced the French +hastily to retreat westwards over the hills to Wörth, after +losing more than 2000 men.</p> +<p>The news of this reverse and of the large German forces ready to +pour into the north of Alsace led the Emperor to order the 7th +French corps at Belfort, and the 5th in and around Bitsch, to send +reinforcements to MacMahon, whose main force held the steep and +wooded hills between the villages of Wörth, Fröschweiler, +and Reichshofen. The line of railway between Strassburg and Bitsch +touches Reichshofen; but, for some reason that has never been +satisfactorily explained, MacMahon was able to draw up only one +division from the side of Strassburg and Belfort, and not one from +Bitsch, which was within an easy march. The fact seems to be that +de Failly, in command at Bitsch, was a prey to conflicting orders +from Metz, and therefore failed to bring up the 5th corps as he +should have done. MacMahon's cavalry was also very defective in +scouting, and he knew nothing as to the strength of the forces +rapidly drawing near from Weissenburg and the east.</p> +<p>Certainly his position at Wörth was very strong. The French +lines were ranged along the steep wooded slope running north and +south, with buttress-like projections, intersected by gullies, the +whole leading up to a plateau on which stand the village</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page059" id="page059"></a>[pg +059]</span> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img001.jpg"><img src= +"images/img001.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Plan of the Battle of Wörth.</b></p> +<p>of Fröschweiler and the hamlet of Elsasshausen. Behind is +the wood called the Grosser Wald, while the hamlet is flanked on +the south and in front by an outlying wood, the Niederwald. Behind +the Grosser Wald the ground sinks away to the valley in which runs +the Bitsch-Reichshofen railway. In front of MacMahon's position lay +the village of Wörth, deep in the valley of the Sauerbach. The +invader would therefore have to carry this village or cross the +stream, and press up the long open slopes on which were ranged the +French troops and batteries with all the advantages of cover and +elevation on their side. A poor general, having forces smaller than +those of his enemy, might hope to hold such a position. But there +was one great defect. Owing to de Failly's absence MacMahon had not +enough men to hold the whole of the position marked out by Nature +for defence.</p> +<p>Conscious of its strength, the Prussian Crown Prince ordered the +leaders of his vanguard not to bring on a general engagement on +August 6, when the invading army had not at hand its full striking +strength<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38">[38]</a>. +But orders failed to hold in the ardour of the Germans under the +attacks of the French. Affairs of outposts along the Sauerbach +early on that morning brought on a serious fight, which up to noon +went against the invaders. At that time the Crown Prince galloped +to the front, and ordered an attack with all available forces. The +fighting, hitherto fierce but spasmodic between division and +division, was now fed by a steady stream of German reinforcements, +until 87,000 of the invaders sought to wrest from MacMahon the +heights, with their woods and villages, which he had but 54,000 to +defend. The superiority of numbers soon made itself felt. Pursuant +to the Crown Prince's orders, parts of two Bavarian corps began to +work their way (but with one strangely long interval of inaction) +through the wood to the north of the French left wing; on the +Prussian <span class="pagenum"><a name="page060" id= +"page060"></a>[pg 060]</span> 11th corps fell the severer task of +winning their way up the slopes south of Wörth, and thence up +to the Niederwald and Elsasshausen. When these woods were won, the +5th corps was to make its frontal attack from Wörth against +Fröschweiler. Despite the desperate efforts of the French and +their Turco regiments, and a splendid but hopeless charge of two +regiments of Cuirassiers and one of Lancers against the German +infantry, the Niederwald and Elsasshausen were won; and about four +o'clock the sustained fire of fifteen German batteries against +Fröschweiler enabled the 5th corps to struggle up that deadly +glacis in spite of desperate charges by the defenders.</p> +<p>Throughout the day the French showed their usual dash and +devotion, some regiments being cut to pieces rather than retire. +But by five o'clock the defence was outflanked on the two wings and +crushed at the centre; human nature could stand no more after eight +hours' fighting; and after a final despairing effort of the French +Cuirassiers all their line gave way in a general rout down the +slopes to Reichshofen and towards Saverne. Apart from the +Würtembergers held in reserve, few of the Germans were in a +condition to press the pursuit. Nevertheless the fruits of victory +were very great: 10,000 Frenchmen lay dead or wounded; 6000 +unwounded prisoners were taken, with 28 cannon and 5 mitrailleuses. +Above all, MacMahon's fine army was utterly broken, and made no +attempt to defend any of the positions on the north of the Vosges. +Not even a tunnel was there blown up to delay the advance of the +Germans. Hastily gathering up the 5th corps from Bitsch--the corps +which ought to have been at Wörth--that gallant but +unfortunate general struck out to the south-west for the great camp +at Châlons. The triumph, however, cost the Germans dear. As +many as 10,600 men were killed or wounded, the 5th Prussian corps +alone losing more than half that number. Their cavalry failed to +keep touch with the retreating French.</p> +<p>On that same day (August 6) a disaster scarcely less serious +overtook the French 2nd corps, which had been holding +Saarbrücken. Convinced that that post was too advanced and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page061" id="page061"></a>[pg +061]</span> too weak in presence of the foremost divisions of the +First and Second German Armies now advancing rapidly against it, +General Frossard drew back his vanguard some mile and a half to the +line of steep hills between Spicheren and Forbach, just within the +French frontier. This retreat, as it seemed, tempted General Kameke +to attack with a single division, as he was justified in doing in +order to find the direction and strength of the retiring force. The +attack, when pushed home, showed that the French were bent on +making a stand on their commanding heights; and an onset on the +Rothe Berg was stoutly beaten off about noon.</p> +<p>But now the speedy advance and intelligent co-operation of other +German columns was instrumental in turning an inconsiderable +repulse into an important victory. General Göben was not far +off, and marching towards the firing, sent to offer his help with +the 8th corps. General von Alvensleben, also, with the 3rd corps +had reached Neunkirchen when the sound of firing near +Saarbrücken led him to push on for that place with the utmost +speed. He entrained part of his corps and brought it up in time to +strengthen the attack on the Rothe Berg and other heights nearer to +Forbach. Each battalion as it arrived was hurled forward, and +General von François, charging with his regiment, gained a +lodgment half-way up the broken slope of the Rothe Berg, which was +stoutly maintained even when he fell mortally wounded. Elsewhere +the onsets were repelled by the French, who, despite their smaller +numbers, kept up a sturdy resistance on the line of hills in the +woods behind, and in the iron-works in front of Forbach. Even when +the Germans carried the top of the Rothe Berg, their ranks were +riddled by a cross fire; but by incredible exertions they managed +to bring guns to the summit and retaliate with effect<a name= +"FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39">[39]</a>.</p> +<p>This, together with the outflanking movement which <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page062" id="page062"></a>[pg 062]</span> their +increasing numbers enabled them to carry out against the French +left wing at Forbach, decided the day; and Frossard's corps fell +back shattered towards the corps of Bazaine. It is noteworthy that +this was but nine or ten miles to the rear. Bazaine had ordered +three divisions to march towards the firing: one made for a wrong +point and returned; the others made half-hearted efforts, and thus +left Frossard to be overborne by numbers. The result of these +disjointed movements was that both Frossard and Bazaine hurriedly +retired towards Metz, while the First and Second German Armies now +gathered up all their strength with the aim of shutting up the +French in that fortress. To this end the First Army made for +Colombey, east of Metz, while the leading part of the Second Army +purposed to cross the Moselle south of Metz, and circle round that +stronghold on the west.</p> +<p>It is now time to turn to the French headquarters. These two +crushing defeats on a single day utterly dashed Napoleon's plan of +a spirited defence of the north-east frontier, until such time as +the levies of 1869 should be ready, or Austria and Italy should +draw the sword. On July 26 the Austrian ambassador assured the +French Ministry that Austria was pushing on her preparations. +Victor Emmanuel was with difficulty restrained by his Ministers +from openly taking the side of France. On the night of August 6 he +received telegraphic news of the Battles of Wörth and Forbach, +whereupon he exclaimed, "Poor Emperor! I pity him, but I have had a +lucky escape." Austria also drew back, and thus left France face to +face with the naked truth that she stood alone and unready before a +united and triumphant Germany, able to pour treble her own forces +through the open portals of Lorraine and northern Alsace.</p> +<p>Napoleon III., to do him justice, had never cherished the wild +dreams that haunted the minds of his consort and of the frothy +"Mamelukes" lately in favour at Court; still less did the "silent +man of destiny" indulge in the idle boasts that had helped to +alienate the sympathy of Europe and to weld together <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page063" id="page063"></a>[pg 063]</span> +Germany to withstand the blows of a second Napoleonic invasion. The +nephew knew full well that he was not the Great Napoleon--he knew +it before Victor Hugo in spiteful verse vainly sought to dub him +the Little. True, his statesmanship proved to be mere dreamy +philosophising about nationalities; his administrative powers, +small at the best, were ever clogged by his too generous desire to +reward his fellow-conspirators of the <i>coup d'état</i> of +1851; and his gifts for war were scarcely greater than those of the +other <i>Napoléonides</i>, Joseph and Jerome. Nevertheless +the reverses of his early life had strengthened that fund of quiet +stoicism, that energy to resist if not to dare, which formed the +backbone of an otherwise somewhat weak, shadowy, and uninspiring +character. And now, in the rapid fall of his fortunes, the greatest +adventurer of the nineteenth century showed to the full those +qualities of toughness and dignified reserve which for twenty years +had puzzled and imposed on that lively emotional people. By the +side of the downcast braggarts of the Court and the unstrung +screamers of the Parisian Press, his mien had something of the +heroic. <i>Tout peut se rétablir</i>--"All may yet be set +right"--such was the vague but dignified phrase in which he +summarised the results of August 6 to his people.</p> +<p>The military situation now required a prompt retirement beyond +the Moselle. The southerly line of retreat, which MacMahon and de +Failly had been driven to take, forbade the hope of their junction +with the main army at Metz in time to oppose a united front to the +enemy. And it was soon known that their flight could not be stayed +at Nancy or even at Toul. During the agony of suspense as to their +movements and those of their German pursuers, the Emperor daily +changed his plans. First, he and Leboeuf planned a retreat beyond +the Moselle and Meuse; next, political considerations bade them +stand firm on the banks of the Nied, some twelve miles east of +Metz; and when this position seemed unsafe, they ended the +marchings and counter-marchings of their troops by taking up a +position at Colombey, nearer to Metz.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page064" id="page064"></a>[pg +064]</span> +<p>Meanwhile at Paris the Chamber of Deputies had overthrown the +Ollivier Ministry, and the Empress-Regent installed in office Count +Palikao. There was a general outcry against Leboeuf, and on the +12th the Emperor resigned the command to Marshal Bazaine (Lebrun +now acting as Chief of Staff), with the injunction to retreat +westwards to Verdun. For the Emperor to order such a retreat in his +own name was thought to be inopportune. Bazaine was a convenient +scapegoat, and he himself knew it. Had he thrown an army corps into +Metz and obeyed the Emperor's orders by retreating on Verdun, +things would certainly have gone better than was now to be the +case. In his printed defence Bazaine has urged that the army had +not enough provisions for the march, and, further, that the +outlying forts of Metz were not yet ready to withstand a siege--a +circumstance which, if true, partly explains Bazaine's reluctance +to leave the "virgin city<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_40">[40]</a>." Napoleon III. quitted it early on the +16th: he and his escort were the last Frenchmen to get free of that +death-trap for many a week.</p> +<p>While Metz exercised this fatal fascination over the protecting +army, the First and Second German Armies were striding westwards to +envelop both the city and its guardians. Moltke's aim was to hold +as many of the French to the neighbourhood of the fortress, while +his left wing swung round it on the south. The result was the +battle of Colombey on the east of Metz (August 14). It was a +stubborn fight, costing the Germans some 5000 men, while the French +with smaller losses finally withdrew under the eastern walls of +Metz. But that heavy loss meant a great ultimate gain to Germany. +The vacillations of Bazaine, whose strategy was far more faulty +than that of Napoleon III. had been, together with the delay caused +by the defiling of a great part of the army through the narrow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page065" id="page065"></a>[pg +065]</span> streets of Metz, gave the Germans an opportunity such +as had not occurred since the year 1805, when Napoleon I. shut up +an Austrian army in Ulm.</p> +<p>The man who now saw the splendid chance of which Fortune +vouchsafed a glimpse, was Lieutenant-General von Alvensleben, +Commander of the 3rd corps, whose activity and resource had so +largely contributed to the victory of Spicheren-Forbach. Though the +orders of his Commander-in-Chief, Prince Frederick Charles, forbade +an advance until the situation in front was more fully known, the +General heard enough to convince himself that a rapid advance +southwards to and over the Moselle might enable him to intercept +the French retreat on Verdun, which might now be looked on as +certain. Reporting his conviction to his chief as also to the royal +headquarters, he struck out with all speed on the 15th, quietly +threw a bridge over the river, and sent on his advanced guard as +far as Pagny, near Gorze, while all his corps, about 33,000 strong, +crossed the river about midnight. Soon after dawn, he pushed on +towards Gorze, knowing by this time that the other corps of the +Second Army were following him, while the 7th and 8th corps of the +First Army were about to cross the river nearly opposite that +town.</p> +<p>This bold movement, which would have drawn on him sharp censure +in case of overthrow, was more than justifiable seeing the +discouraged state of the French troops, the supreme need of finding +their line of retreat, and the splendid results that must follow on +the interception of that retreat. The operations of war must always +be attended with risk, and the great commander is he whose +knowledge of the principles of strategy enables him quickly to see +when the final gain warrants the running of risks, and how they may +be met with the least likelihood of disaster.</p> +<p>Alvensleben's advance was in accordance with Moltke's general +plan of operations; but that corps-leader, finding the French to be +in force between him and Metz, determined to attack them in order +to delay their retreat. The result was the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page066" id="page066"></a>[pg 066]</span> battle +of August 16, variously known as Vionville, Rezonville, or +Mars-la-Tour--a battle that defies brief description, inasmuch as +it represented the effort of the Third, or Brandenburg, corps, with +little help at first from others, to hold its ground against the +onsets of two French corps. Early in the fight Bazaine galloped up, +but he did not bring forward the masses in his rear, probably +because he feared to be cut off from Metz. Even so, all through the +forenoon, it seemed that the gathering forces of the French must +break through the thin lines audaciously thrust into that almost +open plain on the flank of their line of march. But Alvensleben and +his men held their ground with a dogged will that nothing could +shatter. In one sense their audacity saved them. Bazaine for a long +time could not believe that a single corps would throw itself +against one of the two roads by which his great army was about to +retreat. He believed that the northern road might also be in +danger, and therefore did not launch at Alvensleben the solid +masses that must have swept him back towards the Meuse. At noon +four battalions of the German 10th corps struggled up from the +south and took their share of the hitherto unequal fight.</p> +<p>But the crisis of the fight came a little later. It was marked +by one of the most daring and effective strokes ever dealt in +modern warfare. At 2 o'clock, when the advance of Canrobert's 6th +corps towards Vionville threatened to sweep away the wearied +Brandenburgers, six squadrons of the 7th regiment of Cuirassiers +with a few Uhlans flung themselves on the new lines of foemen, not +to overpower them--that was impossible--but to delay their advance +and weaken their impact. Only half of the brave horsemen returned +from that ride of death, but they gained their end.</p> +<p>The mad charge drove deep into the French array about +Rezonville, and gave their leaders pause in the belief that it was +but the first of a series of systematic attacks on the French left. +System rather than dash was supposed to characterise German +tactics; and the daring of their enemies for once made the French +too methodical. Bazaine scarcely brought <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page067" id="page067"></a>[pg 067]</span> the +3rd corps and the Guard into action at all, but kept them in +reserve. As the afternoon sun waned, the whole weight of the German +10th corps was thrown into the fight about Vionville, and the +vanguards of the 8th and 9th came up from Gorze to threaten the +French left. Fearing that he might be cut off from Metz on the +south--a fear which had unaccountably haunted him all the +day--Bazaine continued to feed that part of his lines; and thus +Alvensleben was able to hold the positions near the southern road +to Verdun, which he had seized in the morning. The day closed with +a great cavalry combat on the German left wing in which the French +had to give way. Darkness alone put an end to the deadly strife. +Little more than two German corps had sufficed to stay the march of +an army which potentially numbered in all more than 170,000 +men.</p> +<p>On both sides the losses were enormous, namely, some 16,000 +killed and wounded. No cannon, standards, or prisoners were taken; +but on that day the army of Prince Frederick Charles practically +captured the whole of Bazaine's army. The statement may seem +overdrawn, but it is none the less true. The advance of other +German troops on that night made Bazaine's escape from Metz far +more difficult than before, and very early on the morrow he drew +back his lines through Gravelotte to a strong position nearer Metz. +Thus, a battle, which in a tactical sense seemed to be +inconclusive, became, when viewed in the light of strategy, the +most decisive of the war. Had Bazaine used even the forces which he +had in the field ready to hand he must have overborne Alvensleben; +and the arrival of 170,000 good troops at Verdun or Châlons +would have changed the whole course of the war. The campaign would +probably have followed the course of the many campaigns waged in +the valleys of the Meuse and Marne; and Metz, held by a garrison of +suitable size, might have defied the efforts of a large besieging +army for fully six months. These conjectures are not fanciful. The +duration of the food supply of a garrison cut off from the outside +world varies inversely with the size of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page068" id="page068"></a>[pg 068]</span> that +garrison. The experiences of armies invading and defending the East +of France also show with general accuracy what might have been +expected if the rules of sound strategy had been observed. It was +the actual course of events which transcended experience and set +all probabilities at defiance.</p> +<p>The battle of Gravelotte, or St. Privat, on the 18th completed +the work so hardily begun by the 3rd German corps on the 16th. The +need of driving back Bazaine's army upon Metz was pressing, and his +inaction on the 17th gave time for nearly all the forces of the +First and Second German Armies to be brought up to the German +positions, some nine miles west of Metz, though one corps was left +to the east of that fortress to hinder any attempt of the French to +break out on that side. Bazaine, however, massed his great army on +the west along a ridge stretching north and south, and presenting, +especially in the southern half, steep slopes to the assailants. It +also sloped away to the rear, thus enabling the defenders (as was +the case with Wellington at Waterloo) secretly to reinforce any +part of the line. On the French left wing, too, the slopes curved +inward, thus giving the defenders ample advantage against any +flanking movements on that side. On the north, between Amanvillers +and Ste. Marie-aux-Chênes, the defence had fewer strong +points except those villages, the Jaumont Wood, and the gradual +slope of the ground away to the little River Orne, which formed an +open glacis. Bazaine massed his reserves on the plateau of +Plappeville and to the rear of his left wing; but this cardinal +fault in his dispositions--due to his haunting fear of being cut +off from Metz--was long hidden by the woods and slopes in the rear +of his centre. The position here and on the French left was very +strong, and at several parts so far concealed the troops that up to +11 A.M. the advancing Germans were in doubt whether the French +would not seek to break away towards the north-west. That so great +an army would remain merely on the defensive, a course so repugnant +to the ardour of the French nature and the traditions of their +army, entered into the thoughts of few.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page069" id="page069"></a>[pg +069]</span> <span class="pagenum"><a name="page070" id= +"page070"></a>[pg 070]</span> +<p>Yet such was the case. The solution of the riddle is to be found +in Bazaine's despatch of August 17 to the Minister of War: "We are +going to put forth every effort to make good our supplies of all +kinds in order to resume our march in two days if that is +possible<a name="FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a>." +That the army was badly hampered by lack of stores is certain; but +to postpone even for a single day the march to Verdun by the +northern road--that by way of Briey--was fatal. Possibly, however, +he hoped to deal the Germans so serious a blow, if they attacked +him on the 18th, as to lighten the heavy task of cutting his way +out on the 19th.</p> +<p>If so, he nearly succeeded. The Germans were quite taken aback +by the extent and strength of his lines. Their intention was to +outflank his right wing, which was believed to stretch no further +north than Amanvillers; but the rather premature advance of +Manstein's 9th corps soon drew a deadly fire from that village and +the heights on either side, which crushed the artillery of that +corps. Soon the Prussian Guards and the 12th corps began to suffer +from the fire poured in from the trenches that crowned the hill. On +the German right, General Steinmetz, instead of waiting for the +hoped-for flank attack on the north to take effect, sent the +columns of the First Army to almost certain death in the defile in +front of Gravelotte, and he persisted in these costly efforts even +when the strength of the French position on that side was patent to +all. For this the tough old soldier met with severe censure and +ultimate disgrace. In his defence, however, it may be urged that +when a great battle is raging with doubtful fortunes, the duty of a +commander on the attacking side is to busy the enemy at as many +points as possible, so that the final blow may be dealt with +telling effect on a vital point where he cannot be adequately +reinforced; and the bull-dog tactics of Steinmetz in front of +Gravelotte, which cost the assailants many thousands of men, at any +rate <span class="pagenum"><a name="page071" id="page071"></a>[pg +071]</span> served to keep the French reserves on that side, and +thereby weaken the support available for a more important point at +the crisis of the fight. It so happened, too, that the action of +Steinmetz strengthened the strange misconception of Bazaine that +the Germans were striving to cut him off from Metz on the +south.</p> +<p>The real aim of the Germans was exactly the contrary, namely, to +pin his whole army to Metz by swinging round their right flank on +the villages of St. Privat and Raucourt. Having some 40,000 men +under Canrobert in and between these villages, whose solid +buildings gave the defence the best of cover, Bazaine had latterly +taken little thought for that part of his lines, though it was +dangerously far removed from his reserves. These he kept on the +south, under the misconception which clung to him here as at +Rezonville.</p> +<p>The mistake was to prove fatal. As we have said, the German plan +was to turn the French right wing in the more open country on the +north. To this end the Prussian Guards and the Saxons, after +driving the French outposts from Ste. Marie-aux-Chênes, +brought all their strength to the task of crushing the French at +their chief stronghold on the right, St. Privat. The struggle of +the Prussian Guards up the open slope between that village and +Amanvillers left them a mere shadow of their splendid array; but +the efforts of the German artillery cost the defenders dear: by +seven o'clock St. Privat was in flames, and as the Saxons (the 12th +corps), wheeling round from the north after a long flank-march, +closed in on the outlying village of Raucourt, Canrobert saw that +the day was lost unless he received prompt aid from the Imperial +Guard. Bourbaki, however, brought up only some 3000 of these choice +troops, and that too late to save St. Privat from the persistent +fury of the German onset.</p> +<p>As dusk fell over the scene of carnage the French right fell +back in some disorder, even from part of Amanvillers. Farther +south, they held their ground. On the whole they had dealt to their +foes a loss of 20,159 men, or nearly a tenth of their <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page072" id="page072"></a>[pg 072]</span> total. +Of the French forces engaged, some 150,000 in number, 7853 were +killed and wounded, and 4419 were taken prisoners. The +disproportion in the losses shows the toughness of the French +defence and the (in part) unskilful character of the German attack. +On this latter point the recently published <i>Journals</i> of +Field-Marshal Count von Blumenthal supply some piquant details. He +describes the indignation of King William at the wastefulness of +the German tactics at Gravelotte: "He complained bitterly that the +officers of the higher grades appeared to have forgotten all that +had been so carefully taught them at manoeuvres, and had apparently +all lost their heads." The same authority supplies what may be in +part an explanation of this in his comment, written shortly before +Gravelotte, that he believed there might not be another battle in +the whole war--a remark which savours of presumption and folly. +Gravelotte, therefore, cannot be considered as wholly creditable to +the victors. Still, the result was that some 180,000 French troops +were shut up within the outworks of Metz<a name= +"FNanchor42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42">[42]</a>.</p> +<br> +<p>NOTE THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>With reference to M. Ollivier's statement (quoted on p. 55) that +he entered on war with a light heart, it should be added that he +has since explained his meaning to have been that the cause of +France was just, that of Prussia unjust.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> By the +Prussian law of November 9, 1867, soldiers had to serve three years +with the colours, four in the reserve, and five in the Landwehr. +Three new army corps (9th, 10th, and 11th) were formed in the newly +annexed or confederated lands, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Saxony, etc. +(Maurice, <i>The Franco-German War</i>, 1900).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> M. de +la Gorce in his <i>Histoire du second Empire</i>, vol. vi., tells +how the French officers scouted study of the art of war, while most +of them looked on favouritism as the only means of promotion. The +warnings of Colonel Stoffel, French Military Attaché at +Berlin, were passed over, as those of "a Prussomane, whom Bismarck +had fascinated."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> +<i>I.e</i>. "Long live Napoleon." The author had this from an +Englishman who was then living in Saxony.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> See von +Blumenthal's <i>Journals</i>, p. 87 (Eng. edit.): "The battle which +I had expected to take place on the 7th, and for which I had +prepared a good scheme for turning the enemy's right flank, came on +of itself to-day."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a> For +these details about the fighting at the Rothe Berg I am largely +indebted to my friend, Mr. Bernard Pares, M.A., who has made a +careful study of the ground there, as also at Wörth and +Sedan.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a> Bazaine +gave this excuse in his <i>Rapport sommaire sur les +Opérations de l'Armée du Rhin</i>; but as a +staff-officer pointed out in his incisive <i>Réponse</i>, +this reason must have been equally cogent when Napoleon (August 12) +ordered him to retreat; and he was still bound to obey the +Emperor's orders.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a> +Bazaine, <i>Rapport sommaire, etc.</i> The sentence quoted above is +decisive. The defence which Bazaine and his few defenders later on +put forward, as well as the attacks of his foes, are of course +mixed up with theories evolved <i>after</i> the event.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a> For +fuller details of these battles the student should consult the two +great works on the subject--the Staff Histories of the war, issued +by the French and German General Staffs; Bazaine, <i>L'Armée +du Rhin</i>, and <i>Episodes de la Guerre</i>; General Blumenthal's +<i>Journals</i>; <i>Aus drei Kriegen</i>, by Gen. von Lignitz; +Maurice, <i>The Franco-German War</i>; Hooper, <i>The Campaign of +Sedan</i>; the War Correspondence of the <i>Times</i> and the +<i>Daily News</i>, published in book form.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page073" id="page073"></a>[pg +073]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h3>SEDAN</h3> +<blockquote>"Nothing is more rash and contrary to the principles of +war than to make a flank-march before an army in position, +especially when this army occupies heights before which it is +necessary to defile."--NAPOLEON I.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The success of the German operations to the south and west of +Metz virtually decided the whole of the campaign. The Germans could +now draw on their vast reserves ever coming on from the Rhine, +throw an iron ring around that fortress, and thereby deprive France +of her only great force of regular troops. The throwing up of +field-works and barricades went on with such speed that the +blockading forces were able in a few days to detach a strong column +towards Châlons-sur-Marne in order to help the army of the +Crown Prince of Prussia. That army in the meantime was in pursuit +of MacMahon by way of Nancy, and strained every nerve so as to be +able to strike at the southern railway lines out of Paris. It was, +however, diverted to the north-west by events soon to be +described.</p> +<p>The German force detached from the neighbourhood of Metz +consisted of the Prussian Guards, the 4th and 12th corps, and two +cavalry divisions. This army, known as the Army of the Meuse, was +placed under the command of the Crown Prince of Saxony. Its aim +was, in common with the Third German Army (that of the Crown Prince +of Prussia), to strike at MacMahon before he received +reinforcements. The screen of cavalry which preceded the Army of +the Meuse passed that <span class="pagenum"><a name="page074" id= +"page074"></a>[pg 074]</span> river on the 22nd, when the bulk of +the forces of the Crown Prince of Prussia crossed not many miles +farther to the south. The two armies swept on westwards within easy +distance of one another; and on the 23rd their cavalry gleaned news +of priceless value, namely, that MacMahon's army had left +Châlons. On the next day the great camp was found +deserted.</p> +<p>In fact, MacMahon had undertaken a task of terrible difficulty. +On taking over the command at Châlons, where Napoleon III. +arrived from Metz on the 16th, he found hopeless disorder not only +among his own beaten troops, but among many of the newcomers; the +worst were the Garde Mobile, many regiments of whom greeted the +Emperor with shouts of <i>À Paris</i>. To meet the Germans +in the open plains of Champagne with forces so incoherent and +dispirited was sheer madness; and a council of war on the 17th came +to the conclusion to fall back on the capital and operate within +its outer forts--a step which might enable the army to regain +confidence, repress any rising in the capital, and perhaps inflict +checks on the Germans, until the provinces rose <i>en masse</i> +against the invaders. But at this very time the Empress-Regent and +the Palikao Ministry at Paris came to an exactly contrary decision, +on the ground that the return of the Emperor with MacMahon's army +would look like personal cowardice and a mean desertion of Bazaine +at Metz. The Empress was for fighting <i>à outrance</i>, and +her Government issued orders for a national rising and the +enrolling of bodies of irregulars, or <i>francs-tireurs</i>, to +harass the Germans<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_43">[43]</a>.</p> +<p>Their decision was telegraphed to Napoleon III. at +Châlons. Against his own better judgment the Emperor yielded +to political considerations--that mill-stone around the neck of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page075" id="page075"></a>[pg +075]</span> French army in 1870--and decided to strike out to the +north with MacMahon's army, and by way of Montmédy stretch a +hand to Bazaine, who, on his side, was expected to make for that +rendezvous. On the 21st, therefore, they marched to Reims. There +the Emperor received a despatch which Bazaine had been able to get +through the enemies' lines on the 19th, stating that the Germans +were making their way in on Metz, but that he (Bazaine) hoped to +break away towards Montmédy and so join MacMahon's army. +(This, it will be observed, was <i>after</i> Gravelotte had been +lost.) Napoleon III. thereupon replied: "Received yours of the 19th +at Reims; am going towards Montmédy; shall be on the Aisne +the day after to-morrow, and there will act according to +circumstances to come to your aid." Bazaine did not receive this +message until August 30, and then made only two weak efforts to +break out on the north (August 31-September 1). The Marshal's +action in sending that message must be pronounced one of the most +fatal in the whole war. It led the Emperor and MacMahon to a false +belief as to the position at Metz, and furnished a potent argument +to the Empress and Palikao at Paris to urge a march towards +Montmédy at all costs.</p> +<p>Doubtfully MacMahon led his straggling array from Reims in a +north-easterly direction towards Stenay on the Meuse. Rain checked +his progress, and dispirited the troops; but on the 27th August, +while about half-way between the Aisne and the Meuse, his outposts +touched those of the enemy. They were, in fact, those of the +Prussian Crown Prince, whose army was about to cross the northern +roads over the Argonne, the line of hills that saw the French stem +the Prussian invasion in 1792. Far different was the state of +affairs now. National enthusiasm, organisation, enterprise--all +were on the side of the invaders. As has been pointed out, their +horsemen found out on the 23rd that the Châlons camp was +deserted; on the next day their scouts found out from a Parisian +newspaper that MacMahon was at Reims; and, on the day following, +newspaper tidings that had come round by way of London <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page076" id="page076"></a>[pg 076]</span> +revealed the secret that MacMahon was striving to reach +Bazaine.</p> +<p>How it came about that this news escaped the eye of the censor +has not been explained. If it was the work of an English +journalist, that does not absolve the official censorship from the +charge of gross carelessness in leaving even a loophole for the +transmission of important secrets. Newspaper correspondents, of +course, are the natural enemies of Governments in time of war; and +the experience of the year 1870 shows that the fate of Empires may +depend on the efficacy of the arrangements for controlling them. As +a proof of the superiority of the German organisation, or of the +higher patriotism of their newspapers, we may mention that no +tidings of urgent importance leaked out through the German Press. +This may have been due to a solemn declaration made by German +newspaper editors and correspondents that they would never reveal +such secrets; but, from what we know of the fierce competition of +newspapers for priority of news, it is reasonable to suppose that +the German Government took very good care that none came in their +way.</p> +<p>As a result of the excellent scouting of their cavalry and of +the slipshod Press arrangements of the French Government, the +German Army of the Meuse, on the 26th, took a general turn towards +the north-west. This movement brought its outposts near to the +southernmost divisions of MacMahon, and sent through that Marshal's +staff the foreboding thrill felt by the commander of an unseaworthy +craft at the oncoming of the first gust of a cyclone. He saw the +madness of holding on his present course and issued orders for a +retreat to Mézières, a fortress on the Meuse below +Sedan. Once more, however, the Palikao Ministry intervened to +forbid this salutary move--the only way out of imminent danger--and +ordered him to march to the relief of Bazaine. At this crisis +Napoleon III. showed the good sense which seemed to have deserted +the French politicians: he advised the Marshal not to obey this +order if he thought it dangerous. Nevertheless, MacMahon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page077" id="page077"></a>[pg +077]</span> decided to yield to the supposed interests of the +dynasty, which the Emperor was ready to sacrifice to the higher +claims of the safety of France. Their rôles were thus +curiously reversed. The Emperor reasoned as a sound patriot and a +good strategist. MacMahon must have felt the same promptings, but +obedience to the Empress and the Ministry, or chivalrous regard for +Bazaine, overcame his scruples. He decided to plod on towards the +Meuse.</p> +<p>The Germans were now on the alert to entrap this army that +exposed its flank in a long line of march near to the Belgian +frontier. Their ubiquitous horsemen captured French despatches +which showed them the intended moves in MacMahon's desperate game; +Moltke hurried up every available division; and the elder of the +two Alvenslebens had the honour of surprising de Failly's corps +amidst the woods of the Ardennes near Beaumont, as they were in the +midst of a meal. The French rallied and offered a brisk defence, +but finally fell back in confusion northwards on Mouzon, with the +loss of 2000 prisoners and 42 guns (August 30).</p> +<p>This mishap, the lack of provisions, and the fatigue and +demoralisation of his troops, caused MacMahon on the 31st to fall +back on Sedan, a little town in the valley of the Meuse. It is +surrounded by ramparts planned by the great Vauban, but, being +commanded by wooded heights, it no longer has the importance that +it possessed before the age of long-range guns of precision. The +chief strength of the position for defence lay in the deep loop of +the river below the town, the dense Garenne Wood to the north-east, +and the hollow formed by the Givonne brook on the east, with the +important village of Bazeilles. It is therefore not surprising that +von Moltke, on seeing the French forces concentrating in this +hollow, remarked to von Blumenthal, Chief of the Staff: "Now we +have them in a trap; to-morrow we must cross over the Meuse early +in the morning."</p> +<p>The Emperor and MacMahon seem even then, on the afternoon of the +31st, to have hoped to give their weary troops <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page078" id="page078"></a>[pg 078]</span> a +brief rest, supply them with provisions and stores from the +fortress, and on the morrow, or the 2nd, make their escape by way +of Mézières. Possibly they might have done so on that +night, and certainly they could have reached the Belgian frontier, +only some six miles distant, and there laid down their arms to the +Belgian troops whom the resourceful Bismarck had set on the <i>qui +vive.</i> To remain quiet even for a day in Sedan was to court +disaster; yet passivity characterised the French headquarters and +the whole army on that afternoon and evening. True, MacMahon gave +orders for the bridge over the Meuse at Donchéry to be blown +up, but the engine-driver who took the engineers charged with this +important task, lost his nerve when German shells whizzed about his +engine, and drove off before the powder and tools could be +deposited. A second party, sent later on, found that bridge in the +possession of the enemy. On the east side, above Sedan, the +Bavarians seized the railway bridge south of Bazeilles, driving off +the French who sought to blow it up<a name= +"FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44">[44]</a>.</p> +<p>Over the Donchéry bridge and two pontoon bridges +constructed below that village the Germans poured their troops +before dawn of September 1, and as the morning fog of that day +slowly lifted, their columns were seen working round the north of +the deep loop of the Meuse, thus cutting off escape on the west and +north-west. Meanwhile, on the other side of the town, von der +Tann's Bavarians had begun the fight. Pressing in on Bazeilles so +as to hinder the retreat of the enemy (as had been so effectively +done at Colombey, on the east of Metz), they at first surprised the +sleeping French, but quickly drew on themselves a sharp and +sustained counter-attack from the marines attached to the 12th +French corps.</p> +<p>In order to understand the persistent vigour of the French on +this side, we must note the decisions formed by their headquarters +on August 31 and early on September 1. At a council of war held on +the afternoon of the 31st no decision</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page079" id="page079"></a>[pg +079]</span> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img003.jpg"><img src= +"images/img003.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Plan of the Battle of Sedan.</b></p> +<p>was reached, probably because the exhaustion of the 5th and 7th +corps and the attack of the Bavarians on the 12th corps at +Bazeilles rendered any decided movement very difficult. The general +conclusion was that the army must have some repose; and Germans +afterwards found on the battlefield a French order--"Rest to-day +for the whole army." But already on the 30th an officer had come +from Paris determined to restore the morale of the army and break +through towards Bazaine. This was General de Wimpffen, who had +gained distinction in previous wars, and, coming lately from +Algeria to Paris, was there appointed to supersede de Failly in +command of the 5th corps. Nor was this all. The Palikao Ministry +apparently had some doubts as to MacMahon's energy, and feared that +the Emperor himself hampered the operations. De Wimpffen therefore +received an unofficial mandate to infuse vigour into the counsels +at headquarters, and was entrusted with a secret written order to +take over the supreme command if anything were to happen to +MacMahon. On taking command of the 5th corps on the 30th, de +Wimpffen found it demoralised by the hurried retreat through +Mouzon; but neither this fact nor the exhaustion of the whole army +abated the determination of this stalwart soldier to break through +towards Metz.</p> +<p>Early on September 1 the positions held by the French formed, +roughly speaking, a triangle resting on the right bank of the Meuse +from, near Bazeilles to Sedan and Glaire. Damming operations and +the heavy rains of previous days had spread the river over the +low-lying meadows, thus rendering it difficult, if not impossible, +for an enemy to cross under fire; but this same fact lessened the +space by which the French could endeavour to break through. +Accordingly they deployed their forces almost wholly along the +inner slopes of the Givonne brook and of the smaller stream that +flows from the high land about Illy down to the village of Floing +and thence to the Meuse. The heights of Illy, crowned by the +Calvaire, formed the apex of the French position, while Floing and +Bazeilles formed the other corners of what was in many <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page080" id="page080"></a>[pg 080]</span> +respects good fighting-ground. Their strength was about 120,000 +men, though many of these were disabled or almost helpless from +fatigue; that of the Germans was greater on the whole, but three of +their corps could not reach the scene of action before 1 P.M. owing +to the heaviness of the roads<a name="FNanchor45"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_45">[45]</a>. At first, then, the French had a +superiority of force and a far more compact position, as will be +seen by the accompanying plan.</p> +<p>We now resume the account of the battle. The fighting in and +around Bazeilles speedily led to one very important result. At 6 +A.M. a splinter of a shell fired by the assailants from the hills +north-east of that village, severely wounded Marshal MacMahon as he +watched the conflict from a point in front of the village of Balan. +Thereupon he named General Ducrot as his successor, passing over +the claims of two generals senior to him. Ducrot, realising the +seriousness of the position, prepared to draw off the troops +towards the Calvaire of Illy preparatory to a retreat on +Mézières by way of St. Menges. The news of this +impending retreat, which must be conducted under the hot fire of +the Germans now threatening the line of the Givonne, cut de +Wimpffen to the quick. He knew that the Crown Prince held a force +to the south-west of Sedan, ready to fall on the flank of any force +that sought to break away to Mézières; and a +temporary success of his own 5th corps against the Saxons in la +Moncelle strengthened his prepossession in favour of a combined +move eastwards towards Carignan and Metz. Accordingly, about nine +o'clock he produced the secret order empowering him to succeed +MacMahon should the latter be incapacitated. Ducrot at once yielded +to the ministerial ukase; the Emperor sought to intervene in favour +of Ducrot, only to be waved aside by the confident de Wimpffen; and +thus the long conflict between MacMahon and the Palikao Ministry +ended in victory for the latter--and disaster for France<a name= +"FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page081" id="page081"></a>[pg +081]</span> +<p>In hazarding this last statement we do not mean to imply that a +retreat on Mézières would then have saved the whole +army. It might, however, have enabled part of it to break through +either to Mézières or the Belgian boundary; and it is +possible that Ducrot had the latter objective in view when he +ordered the concentration at Illy. In any case, that move was now +countermanded in favour of a desperate attack on the eastern +assailants. It need hardly be said that the result of these +vacillations was deplorable, unsteadying the defenders, and giving +the assailants time to bring up troops and cannon, and thereby +strengthen their grip on every important point. Especially valuable +was the approach of the 2nd Bavarian corps; setting out from +Raucourt at 4 A.M. it reached the hills south of Sedan about 9, and +its artillery posted near Frénois began a terrible fire on +the town and the French troops near it.</p> +<p>About the same time the Second Division of the Saxons reinforced +their hard-pressed comrades to the north of la Moncelle, where, on +de Wimpffen's orders, the French were making a strong forward move. +The opportune arrival of these new German troops saved their +artillery, which had been doing splendid service. The French were +driven back across the Givonne with heavy loss, and the massed +battery of 100 guns crushed all further efforts at advance on this +side. Meanwhile at Bazeilles the marines had worthily upheld the +honour of the French arms. Despite the terrible artillery fire now +concentrated on the village, they pushed the German footmen back, +but never quite drove them out. These, when reinforced, renewed the +fight with equal obstinacy; the inhabitants themselves joined in +with whatever weapons fury suggested to them and as that merciless +strife swayed to and fro amidst the roar of artillery, the crash of +walls, and the hiss of flame, war was seen in all its naked +ferocity.</p> +<p>Yet here again, as at all points, the defence was gradually +overborne by the superiority of the German artillery. About eleven +o'clock the French, despite their superhuman efforts, were +outflanked by the Bavarians and Saxons on the north of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page082" id="page082"></a>[pg 082]</span> the +village. Even then, when the regulars fell back, some of the +inhabitants went on with their mad resistance; a great part of the +village was now in flames, but whether they were kindled by the +Germans, or by the retiring French so as to delay the victors, has +never been cleared up. In either case, several of the inhabitants +perished in the flames; and it is admitted that the Bavarians burnt +some of the villagers for firing on them from the windows<a name= +"FNanchor47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47">[47]</a>.</p> +<p>In the defence of Bazeilles the French infantry showed its usual +courage and tenacity. Elsewhere the weary and dispirited columns +were speedily becoming demoralised under the terrific artillery +fire which the Germans poured in from many points of vantage. The +Prussian Guards coming up from Villers Cernay about 10 A.M. planted +their formidable batteries so as to sweep the Bois de Garenne and +the ground about the Calvaire d'Illy from the eastward; and about +that time the guns of the 5th and 11th German corps, that had early +crossed the Meuse below Sedan, were brought to bear on the west +front of that part of the French position. The apex of the +defenders' triangle was thus severely searched by some 200 guns; +and their discharges, soon supported by the fire of skirmishers and +volleys from the troops, broke all forward movements of the French +on that side. On the south and south-east as many cannon swept the +French lines, but from a greater distance.</p> +<p>Up to nearly noon there seemed some chance of the French +bursting through on the north, and some of them did escape. Yet no +well-sustained effort took place on that side, apparently because, +even after the loss of Bazeilles at eleven o'clock, de Wimpffen +clung to the belief that he could cut his way out towards Carignan, +if not by Bazeilles, then perhaps by some other way, as Daigny or +la Moncelle. The reasoning by which he convinced himself is hard to +follow; for the only road to Carignan on that side runs through +Bazeilles. Perhaps we ought to say that he did not reason, but was +haunted by <span class="pagenum"><a name="page083" id= +"page083"></a>[pg 083]</span> one fixed notion; and the history of +war from the time of the Roman Varro down to the age of the +Austrian Mack and the French de Wimpffen shows that men whose +brains work in grooves and take no account of what is on the right +hand and the left, are not fit to command armies; they only yield +easy triumphs to the great masters of warfare--Hannibal, Napoleon +the Great, and von Moltke.</p> +<p>De Wimpffen, we say, paid little heed to the remonstrances of +Generals Douay and Ducrot at leaving the northern apex and the +north-western front of the defence to be crushed by weight of metal +and of numbers. He rode off towards Balan, near which village the +former defenders of Bazeilles were making a gallant and partly +successful stand, and no reinforcements were sent to the hills on +the north. The villages of Illy and Floing were lost; then the +French columns gave ground even up the higher ground behind them, +so great was the pressure of the German converging advance. Worst +of all, skulkers began to hurry from the ranks and seek shelter in +the woods, or even under the ramparts of Sedan far in the rear. The +French gunners still plied their guns with steady devotion, though +hopelessly outmatched at all points, but it was clear that only a +great forward dash could save the day. Ducrot therefore ordered +General Margueritte with three choice cavalry regiments (Chasseurs +d'Afrique) and several squadrons of Lancers to charge the advancing +lines. Moving forward from the northern edge of the Bois de Garenne +to judge his ground, Margueritte fell mortally wounded. De +Bauffremont took his place, and those brave horsemen swept forward +on a task as hopeless as that of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, or +that of the French Cuirassiers at Wörth<a name= +"FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48">[48]</a>. Their conduct was +as glorious; but the terrible power of the modern rifle was once +more revealed. The pounding of distant batteries they could brave; +disordered but defiant they swept on towards the German lines, but +when the German infantry opened fire almost at <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page084" id="page084"></a>[pg 084]</span> pistol +range, rank after rank of the horsemen went down as grass before +the scythe. Here and there small bands of horsemen charged the +footmen on the flank, even in a few cases on their rear, it is +said; but the charge, though bravely renewed, did little except to +delay the German triumph and retrieve the honour of France.</p> +<p>By about two o'clock the French cavalry was practically +disabled, and there now remained no Imperial Guard, as at Waterloo, +to shed some rays of glory over the disaster. Meanwhile, however, +de Wimpffen had resolved to make one more effort. Gathering about +him a few of the best infantry battalions in and about Sedan, he +besought the Emperor to join him in cutting a way out towards the +east. The Emperor sent no answer to this appeal; he judged that too +much blood had already been needlessly shed. Still, de Wimpffen +persisted in his mad endeavour. Bursting upon the Bavarians in the +village of Balan, he drove them back for a space until his men, +disordered by the rush, fell before the stubborn rally of the +Bavarians and Saxons. With the collapse of this effort and the +cutting up of the French cavalry behind Floing, the last frail +barriers to the enemy's advance gave way. The roads to Sedan were +now thronged with masses of fugitives, whose struggles to pass the +drawbridges into the little fortress resembled an African battue; +for King William and his Staff, in order to hurry on the inevitable +surrender, bade the 200 or more pieces on the southern heights play +upon the town. Still de Wimpffen refused to surrender, and, despite +the orders of his sovereign, continued the hopeless struggle. At +length, to stay the frightful carnage, the Emperor himself ordered +the white flag to be hoisted<a name="FNanchor49"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_49">[49]</a>. A German officer went down to arrange +preliminaries, and to his astonishment was ushered into the +presence of the Emperor. The German Staff had no knowledge of his +whereabouts. On hearing the news, King William, who throughout the +day sat on horseback at the top of the slope behind Frénois, +said to his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page085" id= +"page085"></a>[pg 085]</span> son, the Crown Prince: "This is +indeed a great success; and I thank thee that thou hast contributed +to it." He gave his hand to his son, who kissed it, and then, in +turn, to Moltke and to Bismarck, who kissed it also. In a short +time, the French General Reille brought to the King the following +autograph letter:--</p> +<blockquote>MONSIEUR MON FRÈRE--N'ayant pu mourir au milieu +de mes troupes, il ne me reste qu'à remettre mon +épée entre les mains de Votre Majesté.--Je +suis de Votre Majesté le bon Frère<br> +<br> +NAPOLÉON.<br> +<br> +SÉDAN, <i>le 1er Septembre, 1870</i>.</blockquote> +<p>The King named von Moltke to arrange the terms and then rode +away to a village farther south, it being arranged, probably at +Bismarck's suggestion, that he should not see the Emperor until all +was settled. Meanwhile de Wimpffen and other French generals, in +conference with von Moltke, Bismarck, and Blumenthal, at the +village of Donchéry, sought to gain easy terms by appealing +to their generosity and by arguing that this would end the war and +earn the gratitude of France. To all appeals for permission to let +the captive army go to Algeria, or to lay down its arms in Belgium, +the Germans were deaf,--Bismarck at length plainly saying that the +French were an envious and jealous people on whose gratitude it +would be idle to count. De Wimpffen then threatened to renew the +fight rather than surrender, to which von Moltke grimly assented, +but Bismarck again interposed to bring about a prolongation of the +truce. Early on the morrow, Napoleon himself drove out to +Donchéry in the hope of seeing the King. The Bismarckian +Boswell has given us a glimpse of him as he then appeared: "The +look in his light grey eyes was somewhat soft and dreamy, like that +of people who have lived too fast." [In his case, we may remark, +this was induced by the painful disease which never left him all +through the campaign, and carried him off three years later.] "He +wore his cap a little on the right, to which side his head also +inclined. His short legs <span class="pagenum"><a name="page086" +id="page086"></a>[pg 086]</span> were out of proportion to the long +upper body. His whole appearance was a little unsoldier-like. The +man looked too soft--I might say too spongy--for the uniform he +wore."</p> +<p>Bismarck, the stalwart Teuton who had wrecked his policy at all +points, met him at Donchéry and foiled his wish to see the +King, declaring this to be impossible until the terms of the +capitulation were settled. The Emperor then had a conversation with +the Chancellor in a little cottage belonging to a weaver. Seating +themselves on two rush-bottomed chairs beside the one deal table, +they conversed on the greatest affairs of State. The Emperor said +he had not sought this war--"he had been driven into it by the +pressure of public opinion. I replied" (wrote Bismarck) "that +neither had any one with us wished for war--the King least of +all<a name="FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a>." +Napoleon then pleaded for generous terms, but admitted that he, as +a prisoner, could not fix them; they must be arranged with de +Wimpffen. About ten o'clock the latter agreed to an unconditional +surrender for the rank and file of the French army, but those +officers who bound themselves by their word of honour (in writing) +not to fight again during the present war were to be set free. +Napoleon then had an interview with the King. What transpired is +not known, but when the Emperor came out "his eyes" (wrote +Bismarck) "were full of tears."</p> +<p>The fallen monarch accepted the King's offer of the castle of +Wilhelmshöhe near Cassel for his residence up to the end of +the war; it was the abode on which Jerome Bonaparte had spent +millions of thalers, wrung from Westphalian burghers, during his +brief sovereignty in 1807-1813. Thither his nephew set out two days +after the catastrophe of Sedan. And this, as it seems, was the end +of a dynasty whose rise to power dated from the thrilling events of +the Bridge of Lodi, Arcola, Rivoli, and the Pyramids. The French +losses on September 1 were about 3000 killed, 14,000 wounded, and +21,000 prisoners. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page087" id= +"page087"></a>[pg 087]</span> On the next day there surrendered +83,000 prisoners by virtue of the capitulation, along with 419 +field-pieces and 139 cannon of the fortress. Some 3000 had escaped, +through the gap in the German lines on the north-east, to the +Belgian frontier, and there laid down their arms.</p> +<p>The news of this unparalleled disaster began to leak out at +Paris late on the 2nd; on the morrow, when details were known, +crowds thronged into the streets shouting "Down with the Empire! +Long live the Republic!" Power still remained with the +Empress-Regent and the Palikao Ministry. All must admit that the +Empress Eugénie did what was possible in this hopeless +position. She appealed to that charming literary man, M. Prosper +Mérimée, to go to his friend, M. Thiers (at whom we +shall glance presently), and beg him to form a Ministry that would +save the Empire for the young Prince Imperial. M. Thiers politely +but firmly refused to give a helping hand to the dynasty which he +looked on as the author of his country's ruin.</p> +<p>On that day the Empress also summoned the Chambers--the Senate +and the Corps Législatif--a vain expedient, for in times of +crisis the French look to a man, not to Chambers. The Empire had no +man at hand. General Trochu, Governor of Paris, was suspected of +being a Republican--at any rate he let matters take their course. +On the 4th, vast crowds filled the streets; a rush was made to the +Chamber, where various compromises were being discussed; the doors +were forced, and amid wild excitement a proposal to dethrone the +Napoleonic dynasty was put. Two Republican deputies, Gambetta and +Jules Favre, declared that the Hôtel de Ville was the fit +place to declare the Republic. There, accordingly, it was +proclaimed, the deputies for the city of Paris taking office as the +Government of National Defence. They were just in time to prevent +Socialists like Blanqui, Flourens, and Henri Rochefort from +installing the "Commune" in power. The Empress and the Prince +Imperial at once fled, and, apart from a protest <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page088" id="page088"></a>[pg 088]</span> by the +Senate, no voice was raised in defence of the Empire. Jules Favre +who took up the burden of Foreign Affairs in the new Government of +National Defence was able to say in his circular note of September +6 that "the Revolution of September 4 took place without the +shedding of a drop of blood or the loss of liberty to a single +person<a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_51">[51]</a>."</p> +<p>That fact shows the unreality of Bonapartist rule in France. At +bottom Napoleon III.'s ascendancy was due to several causes, that +told against possible rivals rather than directly in his favour. +Hatred of the socialists, whose rash political experiments had led +to the bloody days of street fighting in Paris in June 1848, +counted for much. Added to this was the unpopularity of the House +of Orleans after the sordid and uninteresting rule of Louis +Philippe (1830-48). The antiquated royalism of the Elder or +Legitimist branch of that ill-starred dynasty made it equally an +impossibility. Louis Napoleon promised to do what his predecessors, +Monarchical and Republican, had signally failed to do, namely, to +reconcile the claims of liberty and order at home and uphold the +prestige of France abroad. For the first ten years the glamour of +his name, the skill with which he promoted the material prosperity +of France, and the successes of his early wars, promised to build +up a lasting power. But then came the days of failing health and +tottering prestige--of financial scandals, of the Mexican blunder, +of the humiliation before the rising power of Prussia. To retrieve +matters he toyed with democracy in France, and finally allowed his +Ministers to throw down a challenge to Prussia; for, in the words +of a French historian, the conditions on which he held power +"condemned him to be brilliant<a name="FNanchor52"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_52">[52]</a>."</p> +<p>Failing at Sedan, he lost all; and he knew it. His reign, in +fact, was one long disaster for France. The canker of moral +corruption began to weaken her public life when the creatures +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page089" id="page089"></a>[pg +089]</span> of whom he made use in the <i>coup d'état</i> of +1851 crept into place and power. The flashy sensationalism of his +policy, setting the tone for Parisian society, was fatal to the +honest unseen drudgery which builds up a solid edifice alike in +public and in private life. Even the better qualities of his nature +told against ultimate success. As has been shown, his vague but +generous ideas on Nationality drew French policy away from the +paths of obvious self-interest after the year 1864, and gave an +easy victory to the keen and objective statecraft of Bismarck. That +he loved France as sincerely as he believed in the power of the +Bonapartist tradition to help her, can scarcely admit of doubt. His +conduct during the war of 1870 showed him to be disinterested, +while his vision was clearer than that of the Generals about him. +But in the field of high policy, as in the moral events that make +or mar a nation's life, his influence told heavily against the +welfare of France; and he must have carried into exile the +consciousness that his complex nature and ill-matched strivings had +but served to bring his dynasty and his country to an unexampled +overthrow.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It may be well to notice here an event of world-wide importance, +which came as a sequel to the military collapse of France. Italians +had always looked to the day when Rome would be the national +capital. The great Napoleon during his time of exile at St. Helena +had uttered the prophetic words: "Italy isolated between her +natural limits is destined to form a great and powerful nation. . . . +Rome will without doubt be chosen by the Italians as their +capital." The political and economic needs of the present, +coinciding herein with the voice of tradition, always so strong in +Italian hearts, pointed imperiously to Rome as the only possible +centre of national life.</p> +<p>As was pointed out in the Introduction, Pius IX. after the years +of revolution, 1848-49, felt the need of French troops in his +capital, and his harsh and reactionary policy (or rather, that of +his masterful Secretary of State, Antonelli) before long completely +alienated the feelings of his subjects.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page090" id="page090"></a>[pg +090]</span> +<p>After the master-mind of Cavour was removed by death, (June +1861), the patriots struggled desperately, but in vain, to rid Rome +of the presence of foreign troops and win her for the national +cause. Garibaldi's raids of 1862 and 1867 were foiled, the one by +Italian, the other by French troops; and the latter case, which led +to the sharp fight of Mentana, effaced any feelings of gratitude to +Napoleon III. for his earlier help, which survived after his +appropriation of Savoy and Nice. Thus matters remained in 1867-70, +the Pope relying on the support of French bayonets to coerce his +own subjects. Clearly this was a state of things which could not +continue. The first great shock must always bring down a political +edifice which rests not on its own foundations, but on external +buttresses. These were suddenly withdrawn by the war of 1870. Early +in August, Napoleon ordered all his troops to leave the Papal +States; and the downfall of his power a month later absolved Victor +Emmanuel from the claims of gratitude which he still felt towards +his ally of 1859.</p> +<p>At once the forward wing of the Italian national party took +action in a way that either forced, or more probably encouraged, +Victor Emmanuel's Government to step in under the pretext of +preventing the creation of a Roman Republic. The King invited Pius +IX. to assent to the peaceful occupation of Rome by the royal +troops, and on receiving the expected refusal, moved forward 35,000 +soldiers. The resistance of the 11,000 Papal troops proved to be +mainly a matter of form. The wall near the Porta Pia soon crumbled +before the Italian cannon, and after a brief struggle at the +breach, the white flag was hoisted at the bidding of the Pope +(Sept. 20).</p> +<p>Thus fell the temporal power of the Papacy. The event aroused +comparatively little notice in that year of marvels, but its +results have been momentous. At the time there was a general sense +of relief, if not of joy, in Italy, that the national movement had +reached its goal, albeit in so tame and uninspiring a manner. Rome +had long been a prey to political reaction, accompanied by police +supervision of the most exasperating <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page091" id="page091"></a>[pg 091]</span> kind. The +<i>plébiscite</i> as to the future government gave 133,681 +votes for Victor Emmanuel's rule, and only 1507 negative +votes<a name="FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53">[53]</a>.</p> +<p>Now, for the first time since the days of Napoleon I. and of the +short-lived Republic for which Mazzini and Garibaldi worked and +fought so nobly in 1849, the Eternal City began to experience the +benefits of progressive rule. The royal government soon proved to +be very far from perfect. Favouritism, the multiplication of +sinecures, municipal corruption, and the prosaic inroads of +builders and speculators, soon helped to mar the work of political +reconstruction, and began to arouse a certain amount of regret for +the more picturesque times of the Papal rule. A sentimental +reaction of this kind is certain to occur in all cases of political +change, especially in a city where tradition and emotion so long +held sway.</p> +<p>The consciences of the faithful were also troubled when the +<i>fiat</i> of the Pope went forth excommunicating the robber-king +and all his chief abettors in the work of sacrilege. Sons of the +Church throughout Italy were bidden to hold no intercourse with the +interlopers and to take no part in elections to the Italian +Parliament which thenceforth met in Rome. The schism between the +Vatican and the King's Court and Government was never to be bridged +over; and even to-day it constitutes one of the most perplexing +problems of Italy.</p> +<p>Despite the fact that Rome and Italy gained little of that +mental and moral stimulus which might have resulted from the +completion of the national movement solely by the action of the +people themselves, the fact nevertheless remains that Rome needed +Italy and Italy needed Rome. The disappointment loudly expressed by +idealists, sentimentalists, and reactionaries must not blind us to +the fact that the Italians, and above all the Romans, have +benefited by the advent of unity, political freedom, and civic +responsibility. It may well be that, in acting as the leader of a +constitutional people, the Eternal City <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page092" id="page092"></a>[pg 092]</span> will +little by little develop higher gifts than those nurtured under +Papal tutelage, and perhaps as beneficent to Humanity as those +which, in the ancient world, bestowed laws on Europe.</p> +<p>As Mazzini always insisted, political progress, to be sound, +must be based ultimately on moral progress. It is of its very +nature slow, and is therefore apt to escape the eyes of the +moralist or cynic who dwells on the untoward signs of the present. +But the Rome for which Mazzini and his compatriots yearned and +struggled can hardly fail ultimately to rise to the height of her +ancient traditions and of that noble prophecy of Dante: +"<i>There</i> is the seat of empire. There never was, and there +never will be, a people endowed with such capacity to acquire +command, with more vigour to maintain it, and more gentleness in +its exercise, than the Italian nation, and especially the Holy +Roman people." The lines with which Mr. Swinburne closed his +"Dedication" of <i>Songs before Sunrise</i> to Joseph Mazzini are +worthy of finding a place side by side with the words of the +mediaeval seer:--</p> +<blockquote>Yea, even she as at first,<br> +Yea, she alone and none other,<br> +Shall cast down, shall build up, shall bring home,<br> +Slake earth's hunger and thirst,<br> +Lighten, and lead as a mother;<br> +First name of the world's names, Rome.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a> See +General Lebrun's <i>Guerre de 1870: Bazailles-Sedan</i>, for an +account of his corps of MacMahon's army.<br> +<br> +In view of the events of the late Boer War, it is worth noting that +the Germans never acknowledged the <i>francs-tireurs</i> as +soldiers, and forthwith issued an order ending with the words, +"They are amenable to martial law and liable to be sentenced to +death" (Maurice, <i>Franco-German War</i>, p. 215).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a> Moltke, +<i>The Franco-German War</i>, vol. i. p. 114. Hooper, <i>The +Campaign of Sedan</i>, p. 296.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a> +Maurice, <i>The Franco-German War</i>, p. 235.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a> See +Lebrun's <i>Guerre de 1870: Bazeilles-Sédan</i>, for these +disputes.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a> M. +Busch, <i>Bismarck in the Franco-German War</i>, vol. i. p. +114.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a> Lebrun +(<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 126-127; also Appendix D) maintains that de +Bauffremont then led the charge, de Gallifet leading only the 3rd +Chasseurs d'Afrique.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a> Lebrun, +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 130 <i>et seq.</i> for the disputes about +surrender.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a> Busch, +<i>Bismarck on the Franco-German War</i>, vol. i. p. 109. Contrast +this statement with his later efforts (<i>Reminiscences</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 95-100) to prove that he helped to bring on war.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a> Gabriel +Hanotaux, <i>Contemporary France</i>, vol. i. p. 14 (Eng. +edit.)</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a> Said in +1852 by an eminent Frenchman to our countryman, Nassau Senior +(<i>Journals</i>, ii. <i>ad fin</i>).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a> +Countess Cesaresco, <i>The Liberation of Italy</i>, p. 411.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page093" id="page093"></a>[pg +093]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>THE FOUNDING OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC</h3> +<blockquote>"[Greek: egigneto te logo men daemokratia, ergo de hupo +tou protou andros archae]."<br> +<br> +"Thus Athens, though still in name a democracy, was in fact ruled +by her greatest man."--THUCYDIDES, book ii. chap. 65.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The aim of this work being to trace the outlines only of those +outstanding events which made the chief States of the world what +they are to-day, we can give only the briefest glance at the +remaining events of the Franco-German War and the splendid though +hopeless rally attempted by the newly-installed Government of +National Defence. Few facts in recent history have a more thrilling +interest than the details of the valiant efforts made by the young +Republic against the invaders. The spirit in which they were made +breathed through the words of M. Picard's proclamation on September +4: "The Republic saved us from the invasion of 1792. The Republic +is proclaimed."</p> +<p>Inspiring as was this reference to the great and successful +effort of the First Republic against the troops of Central Europe +in 1792, it was misleading. At that time Prussia had lapsed into a +state of weakness through the double evils of favouritism and a +facing-both-ways policy. Now she felt the strength born of sturdy +championship of a great principle--that of Nationality--which had +ranged nearly the whole of the German race on her side. France, on +the other hand, owing to the shocking blunders of her politicians +and generals during the war, had but one army corps free, that of +General Vinoy, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page094" id= +"page094"></a>[pg 094]</span> which hastily retreated from the +neighbourhood of Mézières towards Paris on September +2 to 4. She therefore had to count almost entirely on the Garde +Mobile, the Garde Nationale, and Francs-tireurs; but bitter +experience was to show that this raw material could not be +organised in a few weeks to withstand the trained and triumphant +legions of Germany.</p> +<p>Nevertheless there was no thought of making peace with the +invaders. The last message of Count Palikao to the Chambers had +been one of defiance to the enemy; and the Parisian deputies, +nearly all of them Republicans, who formed the Government of +National Defence, scouted all faint-hearted proposals. Their policy +took form in the famous phrase of Jules Favre, Minister of Foreign +Affairs: "We will give up neither an inch of our territory nor a +stone of our fortresses." This being so, all hope of compromise +with the Germans was vain. Favre had interviews with Bismarck at +the Château de Ferrières (September 19); but his fine +oratory, even his tears, made no impression on the Iron Chancellor, +who declared that in no case would an armistice be granted, not +even for the election of a National Assembly, unless France agreed +to give up Alsace and a part of Lorraine, allowing the German +troops also to hold, among other places, Strassburg and Toul.</p> +<p>Obviously, a self-constituted body like the provisional +Government at Paris could not accept these terms, which most deeply +concerned the nation at large. In the existing temper of Paris and +France, the mention of such terms meant war to the knife, as +Bismarck must have known. On their side, Frenchmen could not +believe that their great capital, with its bulwarks and ring of +outer forts, could be taken; while the Germans--so it seems from +the Diary of General von Blumenthal--looked forward to its speedy +capitulation. One man there was who saw the pressing need of +foreign aid. M. Thiers (whose personality will concern us a little +later) undertook to go on a mission to the chief Powers of Europe +in the hope of urging one or more of them to intervene on behalf of +France.</p> +<p>The details of that mission are, of course, not fully known. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page095" id="page095"></a>[pg +095]</span> We can only state here that Russia now repaid Prussia's +help in crushing the Polish rebellion of 1863 by neutrality, albeit +tinged with a certain jealousy of German success. Bismarck had been +careful to dull that feeling by suggesting that she (Russia) should +take the present opportunity of annulling the provision, made after +the Crimean War, which prevented her from sending war-ships on to +the Black Sea; and this was subsequently done, under a thin +diplomatic disguise, at the Congress of London (March 1871). +Bismarck's astuteness in supporting Russia at this time therefore +kept that Power quiet. As for Austria, she undoubtedly wished to +intervene, but did not choose to risk a war with Russia, which +would probably have brought another overthrow. Italy would not +unsheathe her sword for France unless the latter recognised her +right to Rome (which the Italian troops entered on September 20). +To this the young French Republic demurred. Great Britain, of +course, adhered to the policy of neutrality which she at first +declared<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_54">[54]</a>.</p> +<p>Accordingly, France had to rely on her own efforts. They were +surprisingly great. Before the complete investment of Paris +(September 20), a Delegation of the Government of National Defence +had gone forth to Tours with the aim of stirring up the provinces +to the succour of the besieged capital. Probably the whole of the +Government ought to have gone there; for, shut up in the capital, +it lost touch with the provinces, save when balloons and +carrier-pigeons eluded the German sharpshooters and brought +precious news<a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_55">[55]</a>. The <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page096" id="page096"></a>[pg 096]</span> mistake was seen in time +to enable a man of wondrous energy to leave Paris by balloon on +October 7, to descend as a veritable <i>deus ex machina</i> on the +faltering Delegation at Tours, and to stir the blood of France by +his invective. There was a touch of the melodramatic not only in +his apparition but in his speeches. Frenchmen, however, follow a +leader all the better if he is a good stage-manager and a clever +actor. The new leader was both; but he was something more.</p> +<p>Léon Gambetta had leaped to the front rank at the Bar in +the closing days of 1868 by a passionate outburst against the +<i>coup d'état</i>, uttered, to the astonishment of all, in +a small Court of Correctional Police, over a petty case of State +prosecution of a small Parisian paper. Rejecting the ordinary +methods of defence, the young barrister flung defiance at Napoleon +III. as the author of the <i>coup d'état</i> and of all the +present degradation of France. The daring of the young barrister, +who thus turned the tables on the authorities and impeached the +head of the State, made a profound impression; it was redoubled by +the Southern intensity of his thought and expression. Disdaining +all forms of rhetoric, he poured forth a torrent of ideas, clothing +them in the first words that came to his facile tongue, enforcing +them by blows of the fist or the most violent gestures, and yet, +again, modulating the roar of passion to the falsetto of satire or +the whisper of emotion. His short, thick-set frame, vibrating with +strength, doubled the force of all his utterances. Nor did they +lack the glamour of poetry and romance that might be expected from +his Italian ancestry. He came of a Genoese stock that had for some +time settled in the South of France. Strange fate, that called him +now to the front with the aim of repairing the ills wrought to +France by another Italian House! In time of peace his power over +men would have raised him to the highest positions had his Bohemian +exuberance of thought and speech been tameable. It was not. He +scorned prudence in moderation at all times, and his behaviour, +when the wave of Revolution at last carried him to power, gave +point to the taunt of Thiers--"c'est un fou furieux." Such was the +man who <span class="pagenum"><a name="page097" id= +"page097"></a>[pg 097]</span> now brought the quenchless ardour of +his patriotism to the task of rousing France. As far as words and +energy could call forth armies, he succeeded; but as he lacked all +military knowledge, his blind self-confidence was to cost France +dear.</p> +<p>Possibly the new levies of the Republic might at some point have +pierced the immense circle of the German lines around Paris (for at +first the besieging forces were less numerous than the besieged), +had not the assailants been strengthened by the fall of Metz (Oct. +27). This is not the place to discuss the culpability of Bazaine +for the softness shown in the defence. The voluminous evidence +taken at his trial shows that he was very slack in the critical +days at the close of August; it is also certain that Bismarck duped +him under the pretence that, on certain conditions to be arranged +with the Empress Eugénie, his army might be kept intact for +the sake of re-establishing the Empire<a name= +"FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56">[56]</a>. The whole scheme +was merely a device to gain time and keep Bazaine idle, and the +German Chancellor succeeded here as at all points in his great +game. On October 27, then, 6000 officers, 173,000 rank and file, +were constrained by famine to surrender, along with 541 +field-pieces and 800 siege guns.</p> +<p>This capitulation, the greatest recorded in the history of +civilised nations, dealt a death-blow to the hopes of France. +Strassburg had hoisted the white flag a month earlier; and the +besiegers of these fortresses were free to march westwards and +overwhelm the new levies. After gaining a success at Coulmiers, +near Orleans (Nov. 9), the French were speedily driven down the +valley of the Loire and thence as far west as Le <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page098" id="page098"></a>[pg 098]</span> Mans. +In the North, at St. Quentin, the Germans were equally successful, +as also in Burgundy against that once effective free-lance, +Garibaldi, who came with his sons to fight for the Republic. The +last effort was made by Bourbaki and a large but ill-compacted army +against the enemy's communications in Alsace. By a speedy +concentration the Germans at Héricourt, near Belfort, +defeated this daring move (imposed by the Government of National +Defence on Bourbaki against his better judgment), and compelled him +and his hard-pressed followers to pass over into Switzerland +(January 30, 1871).</p> +<p>Meanwhile Paris had already surrendered. During 130 days, and +that too in a winter of unusual severity, the great city had held +out with a courage that neither defeats, schisms, dearth of food, +nor the bombardment directed against its southern quarters could +overcome. Towards the close of January famine stared the defenders +in the face, and on the 28th an armistice was concluded, which put +an end to the war except in the neighbourhood of Belfort. That +exception was due to the determination of the Germans to press +Bourbaki hard, while the French negotiators were not aware of his +plight. The garrison of Paris, except 12,000 men charged with the +duty of keeping order, surrendered; the forts were placed in the +besiegers' hands. When that was done the city was to be +revictualled and thereafter pay a war contribution of 200,000,000 +francs (£8,000,000). A National Assembly was to be freely +elected and meet at Bordeaux to discuss the question of peace. The +National Guards retained their arms, Favre maintaining that it +would be impossible to disarm them; for this mistaken weakness he +afterwards expressed his profound sorrow<a name= +"FNanchor57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57">[57]</a>.</p> +<p>Despite the very natural protests of Gambetta and many others +against the virtual ending of the war at the dictation of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page099" id="page099"></a>[pg +099]</span> the Parisian authorities, the voice of France ratified +their action. An overwhelming majority declared for peace. The +young Republic had done wonders in reviving the national spirit: +Frenchmen could once more feel the self-confidence which had been +damped by the surrenders of Sedan and Metz; but the instinct of +self-preservation now called imperiously for the ending of the +hopeless struggle. In the hurried preparations for the elections +held on February 8, few questions were asked of the candidates +except that of peace or war; and it soon appeared that a great +majority was in favour of peace, even at the cost of part of the +eastern provinces.</p> +<p>Of the 630 deputies who met at Bordeaux on February 12, fully +400 were Monarchists, nearly evenly divided between the Legitimists +and Orleanists; 200 were professed Republicans; but only 30 +Bonapartists were returned. It is not surprising that the Assembly, +which met in the middle of February, should soon have declared that +the Napoleonic Empire had ceased to exist, as being "responsible +for the ruin, invasion, and dismemberment of the country" (March +1). These rather exaggerated charges (against which Napoleon III. +protested from his place of exile, Chislehurst) were natural in the +then deplorable condition of France. What is surprising and needs a +brief explanation here, is the fact that a monarchical Assembly +should have allowed the Republic to be founded.</p> +<p>This paradoxical result sprang from several causes, some of them +of a general nature, others due to party considerations, while the +personal influence of one man perhaps turned the balance at this +crisis in the history of France. We will consider them in the order +here named.</p> +<p>Stating the matter broadly, we may say that the present Assembly +was not competent to decide on the future constitution of France; +and that vague but powerful instinct, which guides representative +bodies in such cases, told against any avowedly partisan effort in +that direction. The deputies were fully aware that they were +elected to decide the urgent question of peace or war, either to +rescue France from her long agony, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> or to pledge the last +drops of her life-blood in an affair of honour. By an instinct of +self-preservation, the electors, especially in the country +districts, turned to the men of property and local influence as +those who were most likely to save them from the frothy followers +of Gambetta. Accordingly, local magnates were preferred to the +barristers and pressmen, whose oratorical and literary gifts +usually carry the day in France; and more than 200 noblemen were +elected. They were chosen not on account of their nobility and +royalism, but because they were certain to vote against the <i>fou +furieux</i>.</p> +<p>Then, too, the Royalists knew very well that time would be +required to accustom France to the idea of a King, and to adjust +the keen rivalries between the older and the younger branches of +the Bourbon House. Furthermore, they were anxious that the odium of +signing a disastrous peace should fall on the young Republic, not +on the monarch of the future. Just as the great Napoleon in 1814 +was undoubtedly glad that the giving up of Belgium and the Rhine +boundary should devolve on his successor, Louis XVIII., and counted +on that as one of the causes undermining the restored monarchy, so +now the Royalists intended to leave the disagreeable duty of ceding +the eastern districts of France to the Republicans who had so +persistently prolonged the struggle. The clamour of no small +section of the Republican party for war <i>à outrance</i> +still played into the hands of the royalists and partly justified +this narrow partisanship. Events, however, were to prove here, as +in so many cases, that the party which undertook a pressing duty +and discharged it manfully, gained more in the end than those who +shirked responsibility and left the conduct of affairs to their +opponents. Men admire those who dauntlessly pluck the flower, +safety, out of the nettle, danger.</p> +<p>Finally, the influence of one commanding personality was +ultimately to be given to the cause of the Republic. That strange +instinct which in times of crisis turns the gaze of a people +towards the one necessary man, now singled out M. Thiers. The +veteran statesman was elected in twenty-six <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +Departments. Gambetta and General Trochu, Governor of Paris, were +each elected nine times over. It was clear that the popular voice +was for the policy of statesmanlike moderation which Thiers now +summed up in his person; and Gambetta for a time retired to +Spain.</p> +<p>The name of Thiers had not always stood for moderation. From the +time of his youth, when his journalistic criticisms on the +politics, literature, art and drama of the Restoration period set +all tongues wagging, to the day when his many-sided gifts bore him +to power under Louis Philippe, he stood for all that is most +beloved by the vivacious sons of France. His early work, <i>The +History of the French Revolution</i>, had endeared him to the +survivors of the old Jacobin and Girondin parties, and his eager +hostility to England during his term of office flattered the +Chauvinist feelings that steadily grew in volume during the +otherwise dull reign of Louis Philippe. In the main, Thiers was an +upholder of the Orleans dynasty, yet his devotion to constitutional +principles, the ardour of his Southern temperament,--he was a +Marseillais by birth,--and the vivacious egotism that never brooked +contradiction, often caused sharp friction with the King and the +King's friends. He seemed born for opposition and criticism. +Thereafter, his conduct of affairs helped to undermine the fabric +of the Second Republic (1848-51). Flung into prison by the minions +of Louis Napoleon at the time of the <i>coup d'état</i>, he +emerged buoyant as ever, and took up again the rôle that he +loved so well.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, amidst all the seeming vagaries of Thiers' conduct +there emerge two governing principles--a passionate love of France, +and a sincere attachment to reasoned liberty. The first was +absolute and unchangeable; the second admitted of some variations +if the ruler did not enhance the glory of France, and also (as some +cynics said) recognise the greatness of M. Thiers. For the many +gibes to which his lively talents and successful career exposed +him, he had his revenge. His keen glance and incisive reasoning +generally warned him <span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id= +"page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> of the probable fate of Dynasties and +Ministries. Like Talleyrand, whom he somewhat resembled in +versatility, opportunism, and undying love of France, he might have +said that he never deserted a Government before it deserted itself. +He foretold the fall of Louis Philippe under the reactionary Guizot +Ministry as, later on, he foretold the fall of Napoleon III. He +blamed the Emperor for not making war on Prussia in 1866 with the +same unanswerable logic that marked his opposition to the mad rush +for war in 1870. And yet the war spirit had been in some sense +strengthened by his own writings. His great work, <i>The History of +the Consulate and Empire</i>, which appeared from 1845 to 1862--the +last eight volumes came out during the Second Empire--was in the +main a glorification of the First Napoleon. Men therefore asked +with some impatience why the panegyrist of the uncle should oppose +the supremacy of the nephew; and the action of the crowd in +smashing the historian's windows after his great speech against the +war of 1870 cannot be called wholly illogical, even if it erred on +the side of Gallic vivacity.</p> +<p>In the feverish drama of French politics Time sometimes brings +an appropriate Nemesis. It was so now. The man who had divided the +energies of his manhood between parliamentary opposition of a +somewhat factious type and the literary cultivation of the +Napoleonic legend, was now in the evening of his days called upon +to bear a crushing load of responsibility in struggling to win the +best possible terms of peace from the victorious Teuton, in +mediating between contending factions at Bordeaux and Paris, and, +finally, in founding a form of government which never enlisted his +whole-hearted sympathy, save as the least objectionable expedient +then open to France.</p> +<p>For the present, the great thing was to gain peace with the +minimum of sacrifice for France. Who could drive a better bargain +than Thiers, the man who knew France so well, and had recently felt +the pulse of the Governments of Europe? Accordingly, on the 17th of +February, the Assembly named him Head of the Executive Power "until +it is based upon the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id= +"page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> French Constitution." He declined to +accept this post until the words "of the French Republic" were +substituted for the latter clause. He had every reason for urging +this demand. Unlike the Republic of 1848, the strength of which was +chiefly, or almost solely, in Paris, the Republic was proclaimed at +Lyons, Marseilles, and Bordeaux, before any news came of the +overthrow of the Napoleonic dynasty at the capital<a name= +"FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a>.</p> +<p>He now entrusted three important portfolios, those for Foreign +Affairs, Home Affairs, and Public Instruction, to pronounced +Republicans--Jules Favre, Picard, and Jules Simon. Having pacified +the monarchical majority by appealing to them to defer all +questions respecting the future constitution until affairs were +more settled, he set out to meet Bismarck at Versailles.</p> +<p>A disadvantage which almost necessarily besets parliamentary +institutions had weakened the French case before the negotiations +began. The composition of the Assembly implied a strong desire for +peace--a fact which Thiers had needlessly emphasised before he left +Bordeaux. On the other hand, Bismarck was anxious to end the war. +He knew enough to be uneasy at the attitude of the neutral States; +for public opinion was veering round in England, Austria, and Italy +to a feeling of keen sympathy for France, and even Russia was +restless at the sight of the great military Empire that had sprung +into being on her flank. The recent proclamation of the German +Empire at Versailles--an event that will be treated in a later +chapter--opened up a vista of great developments for the +Fatherland, not unmixed with difficulties and dangers. Above all, +sharp differences had arisen between him and the military men at +the German headquarters, who wished to "bleed France white" by +taking a large portion of French Lorraine (including its capital +Nancy), a few colonies, and part of her fleet. It is now known that +Bismarck, with the same moderation that he displayed after +Königgrätz, opposed these extreme claims, because he +doubted the advisability of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" +id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> keeping Metz, with its large +French population. The words in which he let fall these thoughts +while at dinner with Busch on February 21 deserve to be +quoted:--</p> +<blockquote>If they (the French) gave us a milliard more +(£40,000,000) we might perhaps let them have Metz. We would +then take 800,000,000 francs, and build ourselves a fortress a few +miles further back, somewhere about Falkenberg or +Saarbrück--there must be some suitable spot thereabouts. We +should thus make a clear profit of 200,000,000 francs. [N.B.--A +milliard = 1,000,000,000 francs.] I do not like so many Frenchmen +being in our house against their will. It is just the same with +Belfort. It is all French there too. The military men, however, +will not be willing to let Metz slip, and perhaps they are +right<a name="FNanchor59"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_59">[59]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>A sharp difference of opinion had arisen between Bismarck and +Moltke on this question, and the Emperor Wilhelm intervened in +favour of Moltke. That decided the question of Metz against Thiers +despite his threat that this might lead to a renewal of war. For +Belfort, however, the French statesman made a supreme effort. That +fortress holds a most important position. Strong in itself, it +stands as sentinel guarding the gap of nearly level ground between +the spurs of the Vosges and those of the Jura. If that virgin +stronghold were handed over to Germany, she would easily be able to +pour her legions down the valley of the Doubs and dominate the rich +districts of Burgundy and the Lyonnais. Besides, military honour +required France to keep a fortress that had kept the tricolour +flying. Metz the Germans held, and it was impossible to turn them +out. Obviously the case of Belfort was on a different footing. In +his conference of February 24, Thiers at last defied Bismarck in +these words: "No; I will never yield Belfort and Metz in the same +breath. You wish to ruin France in her finances, in her frontiers. +Well! Take her. Conduct her administration, collect her revenues, +and you will have to govern her in the face of Europe--if Europe +permits<a name="FNanchor60"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_60">[60]</a>."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg +105]</span> +<p>Probably this defiance had less weight with the Iron Chancellor +than his conviction, noticed above, that to bring two entirely +French towns within the German Empire would prove a source of +weakness; beside which his own motto, <i>Beati possidentes</i>, +told with effect in the case of Belfort. That stronghold was +accordingly saved for France. Thiers also obtained a reduction of a +milliard from the impossible sum of six milliards first named for +the war indemnity due to Germany; in this matter Jules Favre states +that British mediation had been of some avail. If so, it partly +accounts for the hatred of England which Bismarck displayed in his +later years. The Preliminaries of Peace were signed at Versailles +on February 26.</p> +<p>One other matter remained. The Germans insisted that, if Belfort +remained to France, part of their army should enter Paris. In vain +did Thiers and Jules Favre point out the irritation that this would +cause and the possible ensuing danger. The German Emperor and his +Staff made it a point of honour, and 30,000 of their troops +accordingly marched in and occupied for a brief space the district +of the Champs Élysées. The terms of peace were +finally ratified in the Treaty of Frankfurt (May 10, 1871), whereby +France ceded Alsace and part of Lorraine, with a population of some +1,600,000 souls, and underwent the other losses noted above. Last +but not least was the burden of supporting the German army of +occupation that kept its grip on the north-east of France until, as +the instalments came in, the foreign troops were proportionately +drawn away eastwards. The magnitude of these losses and burdens had +already aroused cries of anguish in France. The National Assembly +at Bordeaux, on first hearing the terms, passionately confirmed the +deposition of Napoleon III.; while the deputies from the ceded +districts lodged a solemn protest against their expatriation (March +1). Some of the advanced Republican deputies, refusing to +acknowledge the cession of territory, resigned their seats in the +Assembly. Thus there began a <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> schism between the +Radicals, especially those of Paris, and the Assembly, which was +destined to widen into an impassable gulf. Matters were made worse +by the decision of the Assembly to sit, not at the capital, but at +Versailles, where it would be free from the commotions of the great +city. Thiers himself declared in favour of Versailles; there the +Assembly met for the first time on March 20, 1871.</p> +<p>A conflict between this monarchical Assembly and the eager +Radicals of Paris perhaps lay in the nature of things. The majority +of the deputies looked forward to the return of the King (whether +the Comte de Chambord of the elder Bourbons, or the Comte de Paris +of the House of Orleans) as soon as France should be freed from the +German armies of occupation and the spectre of the Red Terror. Some +of their more impatient members openly showed their hand, and while +at Bordeaux began to upbraid Thiers for his obstinate neutrality on +this question. For his part, the wise old man had early seen the +need of keeping the parties in check. On February 17 he begged them +to defer questions as to the future form of government, working +meanwhile solely for the present needs of France, and allowing +future victory to be the meed of that party which showed itself +most worthy of trust. "Can there be any man" (he exclaimed) "who +would dare learnedly to discuss the articles of the Constitution, +while our prisoners are dying of misery far away, or while our +people, perishing of hunger, are obliged to give their last crust +to the foreign soldiers?" A similar appeal on March led to the +informal truce on constitutional questions known as the Compact of +Bordeaux. It was at best an uncertain truce, certain to be broken +at the first sign of activity on the Republican side.</p> +<p>That activity was now put forth by the "Reds" of Paris. It would +take us far too long to describe the origins of the municipal +socialism which took form in the Parisian Commune of 1871. The +first seeds of that movement had been sown by its prototype of +1792-93, which summed up all the daring and vigour of the +revolutionary socialism of that age. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> The idea had been kept +alive by the "National Workshops" of 1848, whose institution and +final suppression by the young Republic of that year had been its +own undoing.</p> +<p>History shows, then, that Paris, as the head of France, was +accustomed to think and act vigorously for herself in time of +revolution. But experience proved no less plainly that the limbs, +that is, the country districts, generally refused to follow the +head in these fantastic movements. Hence, after a short spell of +St. Vitus' activity, there always came a time of strife, followed +only too often by torpor, when the body reduced the head to a state +of benumbed subjection. The triumph of rural notions accounts for +the reactions of 1831-47, and 1851-70. Paris having once more +regained freedom of movement by the fall of the Second Empire on +September 4, at once sought to begin her politico-social +experiments, and, as we pointed out, only the promptitude of the +"moderates," when face to face with the advancing Germans, averted +the catastrophe of a socialistic regime in Paris during the siege. +Even so, the Communists made two determined efforts to gain power; +the former of these, on October 31, nearly succeeded. Other towns +in the centre and south, notably Lyons, were also on the brink of +revolutionary socialism, and the success of the movement in Paris +might conceivably have led to a widespread trial of the communal +experiment. The war helped to keep matters in the old lines.</p> +<p>But now, the feelings of rage at the surrender of Paris and the +cession of the eastern districts of France, together with hatred of +the monarchical assembly that flouted the capital by sitting at the +abode of the old Kings of France, served to raise popular passion +to fever heat. The Assembly undoubtedly made many mistakes: it +authorised the payment of rents and all other obligations in the +capital for the period of siege as if in ordinary times, and it +appointed an unpopular man to command the National Guards of Paris. +At the close of February the National Guards formed a Central +Committee to look after their interests and those of the capital; +and when <span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id= +"page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> the Executive of the State sent +troops of the line to seize their guns parked on Montmartre, the +Nationals and the rabble turned out in force. The troops refused to +act against the National Guards, and these murdered two Generals, +Lecomte and Thomas (March 18). Thiers and his Ministers thereupon +rather tamely retired to Versailles, and the capital fell into the +hands of the Communists. Greater firmness at the outset might have +averted the horrors that followed.</p> +<p>The Communists speedily consulted the voice of the people by +elections conducted in the most democratic spirit. In many respects +their programme of municipal reforms marked a great improvement on +the type of town-government prevalent during the Empire. That was, +practically, under the control of the imperial +<i>préfets</i>. The Communists now asserted the right of +each town to complete self-government, with the control of its +officials, magistrates, National Guards, and police, as well as of +taxation, education, and many other spheres of activity. The more +ambitious minds looked forward to a time when France would form a +federation of self-governing Communes, whose delegates, deciding +matters of national concern, would reduce the executive power to +complete subservience. At bottom this Communal Federalism was the +ideal of Rousseau and of his ideal Cantonal State.</p> +<p>By such means, they hoped, the brain of France would control the +body, the rural population inevitably taking the position of hewers +of wood and drawers of water, both in a political and material +sense. Undoubtedly the Paris Commune made some intelligent changes +which pointed the way to reforms of lasting benefit; but it is very +questionable whether its aims could have achieved permanence in a +land so very largely agricultural as France then was. Certainly it +started its experiment in the worst possible way, namely, by +defying the constituted authorities of the nation at large, and by +adopting the old revolutionary calendar, and the red flag, the +symbol of social revolution. Thenceforth it was an affair of war to +the knife.</p> +<p>The National Government, sitting at Versailles, could not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg +109]</span> at first act with much vigour. Many of the line +regiments sympathised with the National Guards of Paris: these were +200,000 strong, and had command of the walls and some of the posts +to the south-west of Paris. The Germans still held the forts to the +north and east of the capital, and refused to allow any attack on +that side. It has even been stated that Bismarck favoured the +Communists; but this is said to have resulted from their misreading +of his promise to maintain a <i>friedlich</i> (peaceful) attitude, +as if it were <i>freundlich</i> (friendly)<a name= +"FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61">[61]</a>. The full truth as +to Bismarck's relations to the Commune is not known. The Germans, +however, sent back a force of French prisoners, and these with +other troops, after beating back the Communist sortie of April 3, +began to threaten the defences of the city. The strife at once took +on a savage character, as was inevitable after the murder of two +Generals in Paris. The Versailles troops, treating the Communists +as mere rebels, shot their chief officers. Thereupon the Commune +retaliated by ordering the capture of hostages, and by seizing the +Archbishop of Paris, and several other ecclesiastics (April 5). It +also decreed the abolition of the budget for Public Worship and the +confiscation of clerical and monastic property <i>throughout +France</i>--a proposal which aroused ridicule and contempt.</p> +<p>It would be tedious to dwell on the details of this terrible +strife. Gradually the regular forces overpowered the National +Guards of Paris, drove them from the southern forts, and finally +(May 21) gained a lodgment within the walls of Paris at the Auteuil +gate. Then followed a week of street-fighting and madness such as +Europe had not seen since the Peninsular War. "Room for the people, +for the bare-armed fighting men. The hour of the revolutionary war +has struck." This was the placard posted throughout Paris on the +22nd, by order of the Communist chief, Delescluze. And again, +"After the barricades, our houses; after our houses, our ruins." +Preparations were made to burn down a part of Central Paris to +delay the progress of the Versaillese. Rumour magnified this into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg +110]</span> a plan of wholesale incendiarism, and wild stories were +told of <i>pétroleuses</i> flinging oil over buildings, and +of Communist firemen ready to pump petroleum. A squad of infuriated +"Reds" rushed off and massacred the Archbishop of Paris and six +other hostages, while elsewhere Dominican friars, captured +regulars, and police agents fell victims to the rage of the worsted +party.</p> +<p>Madness seemed to have seized on the women of Paris. Even when +the men were driven from barricades by weight of numbers or by the +capture of houses on their flank, these creatures fought on with +the fury of despair till they met the death which the enraged +linesmen dealt out to all who fought, or seemed to have fought. +Simpson, the British war correspondent, tells how he saw a brutal +officer tear the red cross off the arm of a nurse who tended the +Communist wounded, so that she might be done to death as a +fighter<a name="FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62">[62]</a>. +Both sides, in truth, were maddened by the long and murderous +struggle, which showed once again that no strife is so horrible as +that of civil war. On Sunday, May 28, the last desperate band was +cut down at the Cemetery Père-Lachaise, and fighting gave +way to fusillades. Most of the chiefs perished without the pretence +of trial, and the same fate befel thousands of National Guards, who +were mown down in swathes and cast into trenches. In the last day +of fighting, and the horrible time that followed, 17,000 Parisians +are said to have perished<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_63">[63]</a>. Little by little, law reasserted her sway, +but only to doom 9600 persons to heavy punishment. Not until 1879 +did feelings of mercy prevail, and then, owing to Gambetta's +powerful pleading, an amnesty was passed for the surviving +Communist prisoners.</p> +<p>The Paris Commune affords the last important instance of a +determined rising in Europe against a civilised Government. From +this statement we of course except the fitful efforts of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg +111]</span> the Carlists in Spain; and it is needless to say that +the risings of the Bulgarians and other Slavs against Turkish rule +have been directed against an uncivilised Government. The absence +of revolts in the present age marks it off from all that have +preceded, and seems to call for a brief explanation. Obviously, +there is no lack of discontent, as the sequel will show. Finland, +portions of Caucasia, and all the parts of the once mighty realm of +Poland which have fallen to Russia and Prussia, now and again heave +with anger and resentment. But these feelings are suppressed. They +do not flame forth, as was the case in Poland as late as the year +1863. What is the reason for this? Mainly, it would seem, the +enormous powers given to the modern organised State by the +discoveries of mechanical science and the triumphs of the engineer. +Telegraphy now flashes to the capital the news of a threatening +revolt in the hundredth part of the time formerly taken by couriers +with their relays of horses. Fully as great is the saving of time +in the transport of large bodies of troops to the disaffected +districts. Thus, the all-important factors that make for +success--force, skill, and time--are all on the side of the central +Governments<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_64">[64]</a>.</p> +<p>The spread of constitutional rule has also helped to dispel +discontent--or, at least, has altered its character. Representative +government has tended to withdraw disaffection from the +market-place, the purlieus of the poor, and the fastnesses of the +forest, and to focus it noisily but peacefully in the columns of +the Press and the arena of Parliament. The appeal now is not so +much to arms as to argument; and in this new sphere a minority, +provided that it is well organised and persistent, may generally +hope to attain its ends. Revolt, even if it take the form of a +refusal to pay taxes, is therefore an anachronism under a +democracy; unless, as in the case of the American Civil War, two +great sections of the country are irreconcilably opposed.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg +112]</span> +<p>The fact, however, that there has been no widespread revolt in +Russia since the year 1863, shows that democracy has not been the +chief influence tending to dissolve or suppress discontent. As we +shall see in a later chapter, Russia has defied constitutionalism +and ground down alien races and creeds; yet (up to the year 1904) +no great rising has shaken her autocratic system to its base. This +seems to prove that the immunity of the present age in regard to +insurrections is due rather to the triumphs of mechanical science +than to the progress of democracy. The fact is not pleasing to +contemplate; but it must be faced. So also must its natural +corollary: that the minority, if rendered desperate, may be driven +to arm itself with new and terrible engines of destruction in order +to shatter that superiority of force with which science has endowed +the centralised Governments of to-day.</p> +<p>Certain it is that desperation, perhaps brought about by a sense +of helplessness in face of an armed nation, was one of the +characteristics of the Paris Commune, as it was also of Nihilism in +Russia. In fact the Communist effort of 1871 may be termed a +belated attempt on the part of a daring minority to dominate France +by seizing the machinery of government at Paris. The success of the +Extremists of 1793 and 1848 in similar experiments--not to speak of +the Communistic rising of Babeuf in 1797--was only temporary; but +doubtless it encouraged the "Reds" of 1871 to make their mad bid +for power. Now, however, the case was very different. France was no +longer a lethargic mass, dominated solely by the eager brain of +Paris. The whole country thrilled with political life. For the +time, the provinces held the directing power, which had been +necessarily removed from the capital; and--most powerful motive of +all--they looked on the Parisian experiment as gross treason to +<i>la patrie</i>, while she lay at the feet of the Germans. Thus, +the very motives which for a space lent such prestige and power to +the Communistic Jacobins of 1793 told against their imitators in +1871.</p> +<p>The inmost details of their attempt will perhaps never be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg +113]</span> fully known; for too many of the actors died under the +ruins of the building they had so heedlessly reared. Nevertheless, +it is clear that the Commune was far from being the causeless +outburst that it has often been represented. In part it resulted +from the determination of the capital to free herself from the +control of the "rurals" who dominated the National Assembly; and in +that respect it foreshadowed, however crudely, what will probably +be the political future of all great States, wherein the urban +population promises altogether to outweigh and control that of the +country. Further, it should be remembered that the experimenters of +1871 believed the Assembly to have betrayed the cause of France by +ceding her eastern districts, and to be on the point of handing +over the Republic to the Monarchists. A fit of hysteria, or +hypochondria, brought on by the exhausting siege and by +exasperation at the triumphal entry of the Germans, added the touch +of fury which enabled the Radicals of Paris to challenge the +national authorities and thereafter to persist in their defiance +with French logicality and ardour.</p> +<p>France, on the other hand, looked on the Communist movement at +Paris and in the southern towns as treason to the cause of national +unity, when there was the utmost need of concord. Thus on both +sides there were deplorable misunderstandings. In ordinary times +they might have been cleared away by frank explanations between the +more moderate leaders; but the feverish state of the public mind +forbade all thoughts of compromise, and the very weakness brought +on by the war sharpened the fit of delirium which will render the +spring months of the year 1871 for ever memorable even in the +thrilling annals of Paris.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a> See +Débidour, <i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 412-415. For Bismarck's fears of intervention, especially that +of Austria, see his <i>Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. p. 109 (English +edit.); Count Beust's <i>Aus drei Viertel-Jahrhunderten</i>, pt. +ii. pp. 361, 395; for Thiers' efforts see his <i>Notes</i> on the +years 1870-73 (Paris 1904).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a> M. +Grégoire in his <i>Histoire de France</i>, vol. iv. p. 647, +states that 64 balloons left Paris during the siege, 5 were +captured and 2 lost in the sea; 363 carrier-pigeons left the city +and 57 came in. For details of the French efforts see <i>Les +Responsabilités de la Défense rationale</i>, by H. +Génevois; also <i>The People's War in France, 1870-1871</i>, +by Col. L. Hale (The Pall Mall Military Series, 1904), founded on +Hönig's <i>Der Volkskrieg an der Loire</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a> Bazaine +gives the details from his point of view in his <i>Episodes de la +Guerre de 1870 et le Blocus de Metz</i> (Madrid, 1883). One of the +go-betweens was a man Regnier, who pretended to come from the +Empress Eugénie, then at Hastings; but Bismarck seems to +have distrusted him and to have dismissed him curtly. The +adventuress, Mme. Humbert, recently claimed that she had her +"millions" from this Regnier. A sharp criticism on Bazaine's +conduct at Metz is given in a pamphlet, <i>Réponse au +Rapport sommaire sur les Opérations de l'Armée du +Rhin</i>, by one of his Staff Officers. See, too, M. Samuel Denis +in his recent work, <i>Histoire Contemporaine</i> (de France).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a> It of +course led up to the Communist revolt. Bismarck's relations to the +disorderly elements in Paris are not fully known; but he warned +Favre on Jan. 26 to "provoke an <i>émeute</i> while you have +an army to suppress it with" (<i>Bismarck in Franco-German War</i>, +vol. ii. p. 265).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a> +Seignobos, <i>A Political History of Contemporary Europe</i>, vol. +i. p. 187 (Eng. edit.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a> Busch, +<i>Bismarck in the Franco-German War</i>, vol. ii. p. 341.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a> G. +Hanotaux, <i>Contemporary France</i>, vol i. p. 124 (Eng. edit.). +This work is the most detailed and authoritative that has yet +appeared on these topics. See, too, M. Samuel Denis' work, +<i>Histoire Contemporaine</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a> +Débidour, <i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe</i>, vol. ii. +p. 438-440.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a> <i>The +Autobiography of William Simpson</i> (London, 1903), p. 261.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a> G. +Hanotaux, <i>Contemporary France</i>, p. 225. For further details +see Lissagaray's <i>History of the Commune</i>; also personal +details in Washburne's <i>Recollections of a Minister to +France</i>, 1869-1877, vol. ii. chaps, ii.-vii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a> See +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus" (p. 130), for the parallel +instance of the enhanced power of the Sultan Abdul Hamid owing to +the same causes.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg +114]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h3>THE FOUNDING OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC (<i>continued</i>)</h3> +<br> +<p>The seemingly suicidal energy shown in the civil strifes at +Paris served still further to depress the fortunes of France. On +the very day when the Versailles troops entered the walls of Paris, +Thiers and Favre signed the treaty of peace at Frankfurt. The terms +were substantially those agreed on in the preliminaries of +February, but the terms of payment of the indemnity were harder +than before. Resistance was hopeless. In truth, the Iron Chancellor +had recently used very threatening language: he accused the French +Government of bad faith in procuring the release of a large force +of French prisoners, ostensibly for the overthrow of the Commune, +but really in order to patch up matters with the "Reds" of Paris +and renew the war with Germany. Misrepresentations and threats like +these induced Thiers and Favre to agree to the German demands, +which took form in the Treaty of Frankfurt (May 10, 1871).</p> +<p>Peace having been duly ratified on the hard terms<a name= +"FNanchor65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65">[65]</a>, it remained to +build up France almost <i>de nova</i>. Nearly everything was +wanting. The treasury was nearly empty, and that <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> too in +face of the enormous demands made by Germany. It is said that in +February 1871, the unhappy man who took up the Ministry of Finance, +carried away all the funds of the national exchequer in his hat. As +Thiers confessed to the Assembly, he had, for very patriotism, to +close his eyes to the future and grapple with the problems of every +day as they arose. But he had faith in France, and France had faith +in him. The French people can perform wonders when they thoroughly +trust their rulers. The inexhaustible wealth inherent in their +soil, the thrift of the peasantry, and the self-sacrificing ardour +shown by the nation when nerved by a high ideal, constituted an +asset of unsuspected strength in face of the staggering blows dealt +to French wealth and credit. The losses caused by the war, the +Commune, and the cession of the eastern districts, involved losses +that have been reckoned at more than £614,000,000. Apart from +the 1,597,000 inhabitants transferred to German rule, the loss of +population due to the war and the civil strifes has been put as +high as 491,000 souls<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_66">[66]</a>.</p> +<p>Yet France flung herself with triumphant energy into the task of +paying off the invaders. At the close of June 1871, a loan for two +milliards and a quarter (£90,000,000) was opened for +subscription, and proved to be an immense success. The required +amount was more than doubled. By means of the help of international +banks, the first half milliard of the debt was paid off in July +1871, and Normandy was freed from the burden of German occupation. +We need not detail the dates of the successive payments. They +revealed the unsuspected vitality of France and the energy of her +Government and financiers. In March 1873, the arrangements for the +payment of the last instalment were made, and in the autumn of that +year the last German troops left Verdun and Belfort. For his great +services in bending all the powers of France to this great +financial feat, Thiers was universally acclaimed as the Liberator +of the Territory,</p> +<p>Yet that very same period saw him overthrown. To read +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg +116]</span> this riddle aright, we must review the outlines of +French internal politics. We have already referred to the causes +that sent up a monarchical majority to the National Assembly, the +schisms that weakened the action of that majority, and the peculiar +position held by M. Thiers, an Orleanist in theory, but the chief +magistrate of the French Republic. No more paradoxical situation +has ever existed; and its oddity was enhanced by the usually +clear-cut logicality of French political thought. Now, after the +war and the Commune, the outlook was dim, even to the keenest +sight. One thing alone was clear, the duty of all citizens to defer +raising any burning question until law, order, and the national +finances were re-established. It was the perception of this truth +that led to the provisional truce between the parties known as the +Compact of Bordeaux. Flagrantly broken by the "Reds" of Paris in +the spring of 1871, that agreement seemed doomed. The Republic +itself was in danger of perishing as it did after the socialistic +extravagances of the Revolution of 1848. But Thiers at once +disappointed the monarchists by stoutly declaring that he would not +abet the overthrow of the Republic: "We found the Republic +established, as a fact of which we are not the authors; but I will +not destroy the form of government which I am now using to restore +order. . . . When all is settled, the country will have the liberty to +choose as it pleases in what concerns its future destinies<a name= +"FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67">[67]</a>." Skilfully +pointing the factions to the future as offering a final reward for +their virtuous self-restraint, this masterly tactician gained time +in which to heal the worst wounds dealt by the war.</p> +<p>But it was amidst unending difficulties. The Monarchists, eager +to emphasise the political reaction set in motion by the +extravagances of the Paris Commune, wished to rid themselves at the +earliest possible time of this self-confident little bourgeois who +seemed to stand alone between them and the realisation of their +hopes. Their more unscrupulous members belittled his services and +hinted that love of power alone led him to cling to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> the +Republic, and thus belie his political past. Then, too, the Orleans +princes, the Duc d'Aumale and the Prince de Joinville, the +surviving sons of King Louis Philippe, took their seats as deputies +for the Oise and Haute-Marne Departments, thus keeping the +monarchical ideal steadily before the eye of France. True, the Duc +d'Aumale had declared to the electorate that he was ready to bow +before the will of France whether it decided for a Constitutional +Monarchy or a Liberal Republic; and the loyalty with which he +served his country was destined to set the seal of honesty on a +singularly interesting career. But there was no guarantee that the +Chamber would not take upon itself to interpret the will of France +and call from his place of exile in London the Comte de Paris, son +of the eldest descendant of Louis Philippe, around whom the hopes +of the Orleanists centred.</p> +<p>Had Thiers followed his earlier convictions and declared for +such a Restoration, it might quite conceivably have come about +without very much resistance. But early in the year 1871, or +perhaps after the fall of the Empire, he became convinced that +France could not heal her grievous wounds except under a government +that had its roots deep in the people's life. Now, the cause of +monarchy in France was hopelessly weakened by schisms. Legitimists +and Orleanists were at feud ever since, in 1830, Louis Philippe, so +the former said, cozened the rightful heir out of his inheritance; +and the efforts now made to fuse the claims of the two rival +branches remained without result, owing to the stiff and dogmatic +attitude of the Comte de Chambord, heir to the traditions of the +elder branch. A Bonapartist Restoration was out of the question. +Yet all three sections began more and more to urge their claims. +Thiers met them with consummate skill. Occasionally they had reason +to resent his tactics as showing unworthy finesse; but oftener they +quailed before the startling boldness of his reminders that, as +they constituted the majority of the deputies of France, they might +at once undertake to restore the monarchy--if they could. "You do +not, and you cannot, do so. There is only one throne and it cannot +have <span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg +118]</span> three occupants<a name="FNanchor68"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_68">[68]</a>." Or, again, he cowed them by the sheer +force of his personality: "If I were a weak man, I would flatter +you," he once exclaimed. In the last resort he replied to their +hints of his ambition and self-seeking by offering his resignation. +Here again the logic of facts was with him. For many months he was +the necessary man, and he and they knew it.</p> +<p>But, as we have seen, there came a time when the last hard +bargains with Bismarck as to the payment of the war debt neared +their end; and the rapier-play between the Liberator of the +Territory and the parties of the Assembly also drew to a close. In +one matter he had given them just cause for complaint. As far back +as November 13, 1872 (that is, before the financial problem was +solved), he suddenly and without provocation declared from the +tribune of the National Assembly that it was time to establish the +Republic. The proposal was adjourned, but Thiers had damaged his +influence. He had broken the "Compact of Bordeaux" and had shown +his hand. The Assembly now knew that he was a Republican. Finally, +he made a dignified speech to the Assembly, justifying his conduct +in the past, appealing from the verdict of parties to the impartial +tribunal of History, and prophesying that the welfare of France was +bound up with the maintenance of the Conservative Republic. The +Assembly by a majority of fourteen decided on a course of action +that he disapproved, and he therefore resigned (May 24, 1873).</p> +<p>It seems that History will justify his appeal to her tribunal. +Looking, not at the occasional shifts that he used in order to +disunite his opponents, but rather at the underlying motives that +prompted his resolve to maintain that form of government which +least divided his countrymen, posterity has praised his conduct as +evincing keen insight into the situation, a glowing love for France +before which all his earliest predilections vanished, and a +masterly skill in guiding her from the abyss of anarchy, civil war, +and bankruptcy that had but recently <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> yawned at her feet. +Having set her upon the path of safety, he now betook himself once +more to those historical and artistic studies which he loved better +than power and office. It is given to few men not only to write +history but also to make history; yet in both spheres Thiers +achieved signal success. Some one has dubbed him "the greatest +little man known to history." Granting even that the paradox is +tenable, we may still assert that his influence on the life of +France exceeded that of many of her so-called heroes.</p> +<p>In fact, it would be difficult to point out in any country +during the Nineteenth Century, since the time of Bonaparte's +Consulate, a work of political, economic, and social renovation +greater than that which went on in the two years during which +Thiers held the reins of power. Apart from the unparalleled feat of +paying off the Germans, the Chief of the Executive breathed new +vigour into the public service, revived national spirit in so +noteworthy a way as to bring down threats of war from German +military circles in 1872 (to be repeated more seriously in 1875), +and placed on the Statute Book two measures of paramount +importance. These were the reform of Local Government and the Army +Bill.</p> +<p>These measures claim a brief notice. The former of them +naturally falls into two parts, dealing severally with the Commune +and the Department. These are the two all-important areas in French +life. In rural districts the Commune corresponds to the English +parish; it is the oldest and best-defined of all local areas. In +urban districts it corresponds with the municipality or township. +The Revolutionists of 1790 and 1848 had sought to apply the +principle of manhood suffrage to communal government; but their +plans were swept away by the ensuing reactions, and the dawn of the +Third Republic found the Communes, both rural and urban, under the +control of the <i>préfets</i> and their subordinates. We +must note here that the office of <i>préfet</i>, instituted +by Bonaparte in 1800, was designed to link the local government of +the Departments closely to the central power: this magistrate, +appointed by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id= +"page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> Executive at Paris, having almost +unlimited control over local affairs throughout the several +Departments. Indeed, it was against the excessive centralisation of +the prefectorial system that the Parisian Communists made their +heedless and unmeasured protest. The question having thus been +thrust to the front, the Assembly brought forward (April 1871) a +measure authorising the election of Communal Councils elected by +every adult man who had resided for a year in the Commune. A +majority of the Assembly wished that the right of choosing mayors +should rest with the Communal Councils, but Thiers, browbeating the +deputies by his favourite device of threatening to resign, carried +an amendment limiting this right to towns of less than 20,000 +inhabitants. In the larger towns, and in all capitals of +Departments, the mayors were to be appointed by the central power. +Thus the Napoleonic tradition in favour of keeping local government +under the oversight of officials nominated from Paris was to some +extent perpetuated even in an avowedly democratic measure.</p> +<p>Paris was to have a Municipal Council composed of eighty members +elected by manhood suffrage from each ward; but the mayors of the +twenty <i>arrondissements</i>, into which Paris is divided, were, +and still are, appointed by the State; and here again the control +of the police and other extensive powers are vested in the +<i>Préfet</i> of the Department of the Seine, not in the +mayors of the <i>arrondissements</i> or the Municipal Council. The +Municipal or Communal Act of 1871, then, is a compromise--on the +whole a good working compromise--between the extreme demands for +local self-government and the Napoleonic tradition, now become an +instinct with most Frenchmen in favour of central control over +matters affecting public order<a name="FNanchor69"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_69">[69]</a>.</p> +<p>The matter of Army Reform was equally pressing. Here, again, +Thiers had the ground cleared before him by a great overturn, like +that which enabled Bonaparte in his day to remodel France, and the +builders of Modern Prussia--Stein, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> Scharnhorst, and +Hardenberg--to build up their State from its ruins. In particular, +the inefficiency of the National Guards and of the Garde Mobile +made it easy to reconstruct the French Army on the system of +universal conscription in a regular army, the efficiency of which +Prussia had so startlingly displayed in the campaigns of +Königgrätz (Sadowa) and Sedan. Thiers, however, had no +belief in a short service system with its result of a huge force of +imperfectly trained troops: he clung to the old professional army; +and when that was shown to be inadequate to the needs of the new +age, he pleaded that the period of compulsory service should be, +not three, but five years. On the Assembly demurring to the expense +and vital strain for the people which this implied, he declared +with passionate emphasis that he would resign unless the five years +were voted. They were voted (June 10, 1872). At the same time, the +exemptions, so numerous during the Second Empire, were curtailed +and the right of buying a substitute was swept away. After five +years' service with the active army were to come four years with +the reserve of the active army, followed by further terms in the +territorial army. The favour of one year's service instead of five +was to be accorded in certain well-defined cases, as, for instance, +to those who had distinguished themselves at the +<i>Lycées</i>, or highest grade public schools. Such was the +law which was published on July 27, 1872<a name= +"FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70">[70]</a>.</p> +<p>The sight of a nation taking on itself this heavy blood-tax +(heavier than that of Germany, where the time of service with the +colours was only for three years) aroused universal surprise, which +beyond the Rhine took the form of suspicion that France was +planning a war of revenge. That feeling grew in intensity in +military circles in Berlin three years later, as the sequel will +show. Undaunted by the thinly-veiled threats that came from +Germany, France proceeded with the tasks of paying off her +conquerors and reorganising her own forces; so that Thiers on his +retirement from office could proudly <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> point to the recovery of +French credit and prestige after an unexampled overthrow.</p> +<p>In feverish haste, the monarchical majority of the National +Assembly appointed Marshal MacMahon to the Presidency (May 24, +1873). They soon found out, however, the impossibility of founding +a monarchy. The Comte de Paris, in whom the hopes of the Orleanists +centred, went to the extreme of self-sacrifice, by visiting the +Comte de Chambord, the Legitimist "King" of France, and recognising +the validity of his claims to the throne. But this amiable +pliability, while angering very many of the Orleanists, failed to +move the monarch-designate by one hair's-breadth from those +principles of divine right against which the more liberal +monarchists always protested. "Henri V." soon declared that he +would neither accept any condition nor grant a single guarantee as +to the character of his future rule. Above all, he declared that he +would never give up the white flag of the <i>ancien +régime</i>. In his eyes the tricolour, which, shortly after +the fall of the Bastille, Louis XVI. had recognised as the flag of +France, represented the spirit of the Great Revolution, and for +that great event he had the deepest loathing. As if still further +to ruin his cause, the Count announced his intention of striving +with all his might for the restoration of the Temporal Power of the +Pope. It is said that the able Bishop of Orleans, Mgr. Dupanloup, +on reading one of the letters by which the Comte de Chambord nailed +the white flag to the mast, was driven to exclaim, "There! That +makes the Republic! Poor France! All is lost."</p> +<p>Thus the attempts at fusion of the two monarchical parties had +only served to expose the weaknesses of their position and to warn +France of the probable results of a monarchical restoration. That +the country had well learnt the lesson appeared in the +bye-elections, which in nearly every case went in favour of +Republican candidates. Another event that happened early in 1873 +further served to justify Thiers' contention that the Republic was +the only possible form of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" +id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> government. On January 9, Napoleon +III. died of the internal disease which for seven years past had +been undermining his strength. His son, the Prince Imperial, was at +present far too young to figure as a claimant to the throne.</p> +<p>It is also an open secret that Bismarck worked hard to prevent +all possibility of a royalist Restoration; and when the German +ambassador at Paris, Count Arnim, opposed his wishes in this +matter, he procured his recall and subjected him to a State +prosecution. In fact, Bismarck believed that under a Republic +France would be powerless in war, and, further, that she could +never form that alliance with Russia which was the bugbear of his +later days. A Russian diplomatist once told the Duc de Broglie that +the kind of Republic which Bismarck wanted to see in France was +"<i>une République dissolvante</i>."</p> +<p>Everything therefore concurred to postpone the monarchical +question, and to prolong the informal truce which Thiers had been +the first to bring about. Accordingly, in the month of November, +the Assembly extended the Presidency of Marshal MacMahon to seven +years--a period therefore known as the Septennate.</p> +<p>Having now briefly shown the causes of the helplessness of the +monarchical majority in the matter that it had most nearly at +heart, we must pass over subsequent events save as they refer to +that crowning paradox--the establishment of a Republican +Constitution. This was due to the despair felt by many of the +Orleanists of seeing a restoration during the lifetime of the Comte +de Chambord, and to the alarm felt by all sections of the +monarchists at the activity and partial success of the +Bonapartists, who in the latter part of 1874 captured a few seats. +Seeking above all things to keep out a Bonaparte, they did little +to hinder the formation of a Constitution which all of them looked +on as provisional. In fact, they adopted the policy of marking time +until the death of the Comte de Chambord--whose hold on life proved +to be no less tenacious than on his creed--should clear up the +situation. Accordingly, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id= +"page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> after many diplomatic delays, the +Committee which in 1873 had been charged to draw up the +Constitution, presented its plan, which took form in the organic +laws of February 25, 1875. They may be thus summarised:--</p> +<p>The Legislature consists of two Assemblies--the Chamber of +Deputies and the Senate, the former being elected by "universal" +(or, more properly, <i>manhood</i>) suffrage. The composition of +the Senate, as determined by a later law, lies with electoral +bodies in each of the Departments; these bodies consist of the +national deputies for that Department, the members of their General +Councils and District Councils, and delegates from the Municipal +Councils. Senators are elected for nine years; deputies to the +Chamber of Deputies for four years. The President of the Republic +is chosen by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies sitting +together for that purpose. He is chosen for seven years and is +eligible for re-election; he is responsible to the Chambers only in +case of high treason; he enjoys, conjointly with the members of the +two Chambers, the right of proposing laws; he promulgates them when +passed and supervises their execution; he disposes of the armed +forces of France and has the right of pardon formerly vested in the +Kings of France. Conformably to the advice of the Senate he may +dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. Each Chamber may initiate +proposals for laws, save that financial measures rest solely with +the Chamber of Deputies.</p> +<p>The Chambers may decide that the Constitution shall be revised. +In that case, they meet together, as a National Assembly, to carry +out such revision, which is determined by the bare majority. Each +<i>arrondissement</i>, or district of a Department, elects one +deputy. From 1885 to 1889 the elections were decided by each +Department on a list, but since that time the earlier plan has been +revived. We may also add that the seat of government was fixed at +Versailles; four years later this was altered in favour of Paris, +but certain of the most important functions, such as the election +of a new President, take place at Versailles.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg +125]</span> +<p>Taken as a whole, this Constitution was a clever compromise +between the democratic and autocratic principles of government. +Having its roots in manhood suffrage, it delegated very extensive +powers to the head of the State. These powers are especially +noteworthy if we compare them with those of the Ministry. The +President commissions such and such a senator or deputy to form a +Ministry (not necessarily representing the opinions of the majority +of the Chambers); and that Ministry is responsible to the Chambers +for the execution of laws and the general policy of the Government; +but the President is not responsible to the Chambers, save in the +single and very exceptional case of high treason to the State. +Obviously, the Assembly wished to keep up the autocratic traditions +of the past as well as to leave open the door for a revision of the +Constitution at any time favourable to the monarchical cause. That +this Constitution did not pave the way for the monarchy was due to +several causes. Some we have named above.</p> +<p>Another and perhaps a final cause was the unwillingness or +inability of Marshal MacMahon to bring matters to the test of +force. Actuated, perhaps, by motives similar to those which kept +the Duke of Wellington from pushing matters to an extreme in +England in 1831, the Marshal refused to carry out a <i>coup +d'état</i> against the Republican majority sent up to the +Chamber of Deputies by the General Election of January 1876. Once +or twice he seemed on the point of using force. Thus, in May 1877, +he ventured to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies; but the Republican +party, led by the impetuous Gambetta, appealed to the country with +decisive results. That orator's defiant challenge to the Marshal, +either to submit or to resign (<i>se soumettre ou se +démettre</i>) was taken up by France, with the result that +nearly all the Republican deputies were re-elected. The President +recognised the inevitable, and in December of that year charged M. +Dufaure to form a Ministry that represented the Republican +majority. In January 1879 even, some senatorial elections went +against the President, and he accordingly resigned, January 30, +1879.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg +126]</span> +<p>In the year 1887 the Republic seemed for a time to be in danger +owing to the intrigues of the Minister for War, General Boulanger. +Making capital out of the difficulties of France, the financial +scandals brought home to President Grévy, and his own +popularity with the army, the General seemed to be preparing a +<i>coup d'état</i>. The danger increased when the Ministry +had to resign office (May 1887). A "National party" was formed, +consisting of monarchists, Bonapartists, clericals, and even some +crotchety socialists--in fact, of all who hoped to make capital out +of the fell of the Parliamentary regime. The malcontents called for +a plebiscite as to the form of government, hoping by these means to +thrust in Boulanger as dictator to pave the way for the Comte de +Paris up to the throne of France. After a prolonged crisis, the +scheme ignominiously collapsed at the first show of vigour on the +Republican side. When the new Floquet Ministry summoned Boulanger +to appear before the High Court of Justice, he fled to Belgium, and +shortly afterwards committed suicide.</p> +<p>The chief feature of French political life, if one reviews it in +its broad outlines, is the increase of stability. When we remember +that that veteran opportunist, Talleyrand, on taking the oath of +allegiance to the new Constitution of 1830, could say, "It is the +thirteenth," and that no régime after that period lasted +longer than eighteen years, we shall be chary of foretelling the +speedy overthrow of the Third Republic at any and every period of +Ministerial crisis or political ferment. Certainly the Republic has +seen Ministries made and unmade in bewilderingly quick succession; +but these are at most superficial changes--the real work of +administration being done by the hierarchy of permanent officials +first established by the great Napoleon. Even so terrible an event +as the murder of President Sadi Carnot (June 1894) produced none of +the fatal events that British alarmists confidently predicted. M. +Casimir Périer was quietly elected and ruled firmly. The +same may be said of his successors, MM. Faure and Loubet. Sensible, +businesslike men of bourgeois origin, they typify the new +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg +127]</span> France that has grown up since the age when military +adventurers could keep their heels on her neck provided that they +crowned her brow with laurels. That age would seem to have passed +for ever away. A well-known adage says: "It is the unexpected that +happens in French politics." To forecast their course is +notoriously unsafe in that land of all lands. That careful and +sagacious student of French life, Mr. Bodley, believes that the +nation at heart dislikes the prudent tameness of Parliamentary +rule, and that "the day will come when no power will prevent France +from hailing a hero of her choice<a name="FNanchor71"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_71">[71]</a>."</p> +<p>Doubtless the advent of a Napoleon the Great would severely test +the qualities of prudence and patience that have gained strength +under the shelter of democratic institutions. Yet it must always be +remembered that Democracy has until now never had a fair chance in +France. The bright hopes of 1789 faded away ten years later amidst +the glamour of military glory. As for the Republic of 1848, it +scarcely outlived the troubles of infancy. The Third Republic, on +the other hand, has attained to manhood. It has met and overcome +very many difficulties; at the outset parts of two valued provinces +and a vast sum of treasure were torn away. In those early days of +weakness it also crushed a serious revolt. The intrigues of +Monarchists and Bonapartists were foiled. Hardest task of all, the +natural irritation of Frenchmen at playing a far smaller part in +the world was little by little allayed.</p> +<p>In spite of these difficulties, the Third Republic has now +lasted a quarter of a century. That is to say, it rests on the +support of a generation which has gradually become accustomed to +representative institutions--an advantage which its two +predecessors did not enjoy. The success of institutions depends in +the last resort on the character of those who work them; and the +testimony of all observers is that the character of Frenchmen has +slowly but surely changed in the direction which Thiers pointed out +in the dark days of February 1871 as offering the only means of a +sound national <span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id= +"page128"></a>[pg 128]</span> revival--"Yes: I believe in the +future of France: I believe in it, but on condition that we have +good sense; that we no longer use mere words as the current coin of +our speech, but that under words we shall place realities; that we +have not only good sense, but good sense endowed with courage."</p> +<p>These are the qualities that have built up the France of to-day. +The toil has been enormous, and it has been doubled by the worries +and disappointments incident to Parliamentarism when grafted on to +a semi-military bureaucracy; but the toil and the disappointments +have played their part in purging the French nature of the frothy +sensationalism and eager irresponsibility that naturally resulted +from the Imperialism of the two Napoleons. France seems to be +outgrowing the stage of hobble-de-hoyish ventures, military or +communistic, and to have taken on the staid, sober, and +self-respecting mien of manhood--a process helped on by the burdens +of debt and conscription resulting from her juvenile escapades. In +a word, she has attained to a full sense of responsibility. No +longer are her constructive powers hopelessly outmatched by her +critical powers. In the political sphere she has found a due +balance between the brain and the hand. From analysis she has +worked her way to synthesis.</p> +<p>NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>The following are the Ministries of the Republic in +1870-1900:--1870, Favre; 1871, Dufaure (1); 1873, De Broglie (1); +1874, Cissey; 1875, Buffet; 1876, Dufaure (2); 1876, Simon; 1877, +De Broglie (2); 1877, De Rochebouet; 1877, Dufaure (3); 1879, +Waddington; 1879, Freycinet (1); 1880, Ferry (1); 1881, Gambetta; +1882, Freycinet (2); 1882, Duclerc; 1883, Fallières; 1883, +Ferry (2); 1885, Brisson; 1886, Freycinet (3); 1886, Goblet; 1887, +Rouvier; 1887, Tirard (1); 1888, Floquet; 1889, Tirard (2); 1890, +Freycinet (4); 1892, Loubet; 1892, Ribot (1); 1892, Dupuy (1); +1893, Casimir Périer; 1894, Dupuy (2); 1895, Ribot (2); +1895, Bourgeois; 1896, Méline; 1898, Brisson; 1898 Dupuy +(3); 1899, Waldeck-Rousseau.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a> They +included the right to hold four more Departments until the third +half milliard (£20,000,000, that is, £60,000,000 in +all) had been paid. A commercial treaty on favourable terms, those +of the "most favoured nation," was arranged, as also an exchange of +frontier strips near Luxemburg and Belfort. Germany acquired Elsass +(Alsace) and part of Lorraine, free of all their debts.<br> +<br> +We may note here that the Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce arranged +in 1860 with Napoleon largely by the aid of Cobden, was not renewed +by the French Republic, which thereafter began to exclude British +goods. Bismarck forced France at Frankfurt to concede favourable +terms to German products. England was helpless. For this subject, +see <i>Protection in France</i>, by H.O. Meredith (1905).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a> Quoted +by M. Hanotaux, <i>Contemporary France</i>, vol. i. pp. +323-327.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a> Speech +of March 27, 1871.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a> De +Mazade, <i>Thiers</i>, p. 467. For a sharp criticism of Thiers, see +Samuel Denis' <i>Histoire Contemperaine</i> (written from the +royalist standpoint).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a> On the +strength of this instinct see Mr. Bodley's excellent work, +<i>France</i>, vol. i. pp. 32-42. etc. For the Act, see Hanotaux +<i>op. cit.</i> pp. 236-238.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a> +Hanotaux, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 452-465.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a> Mr. +Bodley, <i>France</i>, vol. i. <i>ad fin</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg +129]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3>THE GERMAN EMPIRE</h3> +<blockquote>"From the very beginning of my career my sole +guiding-star has been how to unify Germany, and, that being +achieved, how to strengthen, complete, and so constitute her +unification that it may be preserved enduringly and with the +goodwill of all concerned in it."--BISMARCK: Speech in the North +German Reichstag, July 9, 1869.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>On the 18th of January 1871, while the German cannon were still +thundering against Paris, a ceremony of world-wide import occurred +in the Palace of the Kings of France at Versailles. King William of +Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor. The scene lacked no element +that could appeal to the historic imagination. It took place in the +Mirror Hall, where all that was brilliant in the life of the old +French monarchy used to encircle the person of Louis XIV. And now, +long after that dynasty had passed away, and when the crown of the +last of the Corsican adventurers had but recently fallen beneath +the feet of the Parisians, the descendant of the Prussian +Hohenzollerns celebrated the advent to the German people of that +unity for which their patriots had vainly struggled for +centuries.</p> +<p>The men who had won this long-deferred boon were of no common +stamp. King William himself, as is now shown by the publication of +many of his letters to Bismarck, had played a far larger share in +the making of a united Germany than was formerly believed. His +plain good sense and unswerving fortitude had many times marked out +the path of safety and kept <span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" +id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span> his country therein. The policy of +the Army Bill of 1860, which brought salvation to Prussia in spite +of her Parliament, was wholly his. Bismarck's masterful grip of the +helm of State in and after 1862 helped to carry out that policy, +just as von Roon's organising ability perfected the resulting +military machine; but its prime author was the King, who now stood +triumphant in the hall of his ancestral foes. Beside and behind him +on the dais, in front of the colours of all the German States, were +the chief princes of Germany--witnesses to the strength of the +national sentiment which the wars against the First Napoleon had +called forth, and the struggle with the nephew had now brought to +maturity. Among their figures one might note the stalwart form of +the Crown Prince, along with other members of the House of Prussia; +the Grand Duke of Baden, son-in-law of the Prussian King; the Crown +Prince of Saxony, and representatives of every reigning family of +Germany. Still more remarkable were some of the men grouped before +the King and princes. There was the thin war-worn face of Moltke; +there, too, the sturdy figure of Bismarck: the latter, wrote Dr. +Russell, "looking pale, but calm and self-possessed, elevated, as +it were, by some internal force<a name="FNanchor72"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_72">[72]</a>."</p> +<p>The King announced the re-establishment of the German Empire; +and those around must have remembered that that venerable +institution (which differed so widely from the present one that the +word "re-establishment" was really misleading) had vanished but +sixty-four years before at the behests of the First Napoleon. Next, +Bismarck read the Kaiser's proclamation, stating his sense of duty +to the German nation and his hope that, within new and stronger +boundaries, which would guarantee them against attacks from France, +they would enjoy peace and prosperity. The Grand Duke of Baden then +called for three cheers for the Emperor, which were given with wild +enthusiasm, and were taken up by the troops far round the iron ring +that encircled Paris.</p> +<p>Few events in history so much impress one, at first sight, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg +131]</span> with a sense of strength, spontaneity, and +inevitableness. And yet, as more is known of the steps that led up +to the closer union of the German States, that feeling is +disagreeably warped. Even then it was known that Bavaria and +Würtemberg strongly objected to the closer form of union +desired by the northern patriots, which would have reduced the +secondary States to complete dependence on the federal Government. +Owing to the great reluctance of the Bavarian Government and people +to give up the control of their railways, posts and telegraphs, +these were left at their disposal, the two other Southern States +keeping the direction of the postal and telegraphic services in +time of peace. Bavaria and Würtemberg likewise reserved the +control of their armed forces, though in case of war they were to +be placed at the disposal of the Emperor--arrangements which also +hold good for the Saxon forces. In certain legal and fiscal matters +Bavaria also bargained for freedom of action.</p> +<p>What was not known then, and has leaked out in more or less +authentic ways, was the dislike, not only of most of the Bavarian +people, but also of its Government, to the whole scheme of imperial +union. It is certain that the letter which King Louis finally wrote +to his brother princes to propose that union was originally drafted +by Bismarck; and rumour asserts, on grounds not to be lightly +dismissed, that the opposition of King Louis was not withdrawn +until the Bavarian Court favourite, Count Holstein, came to +Versailles and left it, not only with Bismarck's letter, but also +with a considerable sum of money for his royal master and himself. +Probably, however, the assent of the Bavarian monarch, who not many +years after became insane, was helped by the knowledge that if he +did not take the initiative, it would pass to the Grand Duke of +Baden, an ardent champion of German unity.</p> +<p>Whatever may be the truth as to this, there can be no doubt as +to the annoyance felt by Roman Catholic Bavaria and Protestant +democratic Würtemberg at accepting the supremacy of the +Prussian bureaucracy. This doubtless explains <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> why +Bismarck was so anxious to hurry through the negotiations, first, +for the imperial union, and thereafter for the conclusion of peace +with France.</p> +<p>Even in a seemingly small matter he had met with much +opposition, this time from his master. The aged monarch clung to +the title King of Prussia; but if the title of Emperor was a +political necessity, he preferred the title "Emperor of Germany"; +nevertheless, the Chancellor tactfully but firmly pointed out that +this would imply a kind of feudal over-lordship of all German +lands, and that the title "German Emperor", as that of chief of the +nation, was far preferable. In the end the King yielded, but he +retained a sore feeling against his trusted servant for some time +on this matter. It seems that at one time he even thought of +abdicating in favour of his son rather than "see the Prussian title +supplanted<a name="FNanchor73"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_73">[73]</a>." However, he soon showed his gratitude for +the immense services rendered by Bismarck to the Fatherland. On his +next birthday (March 22) he raised the Chancellor to the rank of +Prince and appointed him Chancellor of the Empire.</p> +<p>It will be well to give here an outline of the Imperial +Constitution. In all essentials it was an extension, with few +changes, of the North German federal compact of the year 1866. It +applied to the twenty-five States of Germany--inclusive, that is, +of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, but exclusive, for the present, of +Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine). In those areas imperial law +takes precedence of local law (save in a few specially reserved +cases for Bavaria and the Free Cities). The same laws of +citizenship hold good in all parts of the Empire. The Empire +controls these laws, the issuing of passports, surveillance of +foreigners and of manufactures, likewise matters relating to +emigration and colonisation. Commerce, customs dues, weights and +measures, coinage, banking regulations, patents, the consular +service abroad, and matters relating to navigation also fall under +its control. Railways, posts and telegraphs (with the exceptions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg +133]</span> noted above) are subject to imperial supervision, the +importance of which during the war had been so abundantly +manifested.</p> +<p>The King of Prussia is <i>ipso facto</i> German Emperor. He +represents the Empire among foreign nations; he has the right to +declare war, conclude peace, and frame alliances; but the consent +of the Federal Council (Bundesrath) is needed for the declaration +of war in the name of the Empire. The Emperor convenes, adjourns, +and closes the sessions of the Federal Council and the Imperial +Diet (Reichstag). They are convened every year. The Chancellor of +the Empire presides in the Federal Council and supervises the +conduct of its business. Proposals of laws are laid before the +Reichstag in accordance with the resolutions of the Federal +Council, and are supported by members of that Council. To the +Emperor belongs the right of preparing and publishing the laws of +the Empire: they must be passed by the Bundesrath and Reichstag, +and then receive the assent of the Kaiser. They are then +countersigned by the Chancellor, who thereby becomes responsible +for their due execution.</p> +<p>The members of the Bundesrath are appointed by the Federal +Governments: they are sixty-two in number, and now include those +from the Reichstand of Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine)<a name= +"FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74">[74]</a></p> +<p>The Prussian Government nominates seventeen members; Bavaria +six; Saxony and Würtemburg and Alsace-Lorraine four each; and +so on. The Bundesrath is presided over by the Imperial Chancellor. +At the beginning of each yearly session it appoints eleven standing +committees to deal with the following matters: (1) Army and +fortifications; (2) the Navy; (3) tariff, excise, and taxes; (4) +commerce and trade; (5) railways, posts and telegraphs; (6) civil +and criminal law; (7) financial <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> accounts; (8) foreign +affairs; (9) Alsace-Lorraine; (10) the Imperial Constitution; (11) +Standing Orders. Each committee is presided over by a chairman. In +each committee at least four States of the Empire must be +represented, and each State is entitled only to one vote. To this +rule there are two modifications in the case of the committees on +the army and on foreign affairs. In the former of these Bavaria has +a permanent seat, while the Emperor appoints the other three +members from as many States: in the latter case, Prussia, Bavaria, +Saxony, and Würtemberg only are represented. The Bundesrath +takes action on the measures to be proposed to the Reichstag and +the resolutions passed by that body; it also supervises the +execution of laws, and may point out any defects in the laws or in +their execution.</p> +<p>The members of the Reichstag, or Diet, are elected by universal +(more properly <i>manhood</i>) suffrage and by direct secret +ballot, in proportion to the population of the several +States<a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75">[75]</a>. On +the average, each of the 397 members represents rather more than +100,000 of the population. The proceedings of the Reichstag are +public; it has the right (concurrently with those wielded by the +Emperor and the Bundesrath) to propose laws for the Empire. It sits +for three years, but may be dissolved by a resolution of the +Bundesrath, with the consent of the Emperor. Deputies may not be +bound by orders and instructions issued by their constituents. They +are not paid.</p> +<p>As has been noted above, important matters such as railway +management, so far as it relates to the harmonious and effective +working of the existing systems, and the construction of new lines +needful for the welfare and the defence of Germany, are under the +Control of the Empire--except in the case of Bavaria. The same +holds good of posts and telegraphs except in the Southern States. +Railway companies are bound to convey troops and warlike stores at +uniform reduced rates. In fact, the Imperial Government controls +the fares of all lines <span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id= +"page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> subject to its supervision, and has +ordered the reduction of freightage for coal, coke, minerals, wood, +stone, manure, etc., for long distances, "as demanded by the +interests of agriculture and industry." In case of dearth, the +railway companies can be compelled to forward food supplies at +specially low rates.</p> +<p>Further, with respect to military affairs, the central authority +exercises a very large measure of control over the federated +States. All German troops swear the oath of allegiance to the +Emperor. He appoints all commanders of fortresses; the power of +building fortresses within the Empire is also vested in him; he +determines the strength of the contingents of the federated States, +and in the last case may appoint their commanding officers; he may +even proclaim martial law in any portion of the Empire, if public +security demands it. The Prussian military code applies to all +parts of the Empire (save to Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Saxony +in time of peace); and the military organisation is everywhere of +the same general description, especially as regards length of +service, character of the drill, and organisation in corps and +regiments. Every German, unless physically unfit, is subject to +military duty and cannot shift the burden on a substitute. He must +serve for seven years in the standing army: that is, three years in +the field army and four in the reserve; thereafter he takes his +place in the Landwehr<a name="FNanchor76"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_76">[76]</a>.</p> +<p>The secondary States are protected in one important respect. The +last proviso of the Imperial Constitution stipulates that any +proposal to modify it shall fail if fourteen, or more, votes are +cast against it in the Federal Council. This implies that Bavaria, +Würtemberg, and Saxony, if they vote together, can prevent any +change detrimental to their interests. On the whole, the new system +is less centralised than that of the North German Confederation had +been; and many of the Prussian <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> Liberals, with whom the +Crown Prince of Prussia very decidedly ranged himself on this +question, complained that the government was more federal than +ever, and that far too much had been granted to the particularist +prejudices of the Southern States<a name="FNanchor77"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_77">[77]</a>. To all these objections Bismarck could +unanswerably reply that it was far better to gain this great end +without bitterness, even if the resulting compact were in some +respects faulty, than to force on the Southern States a more +logically perfect system that would perpetuate the sore feeling of +the past.</p> +<p>Such in its main outlines is the new Constitution of Germany. On +the whole, it has worked well. That it has fulfilled all the +expectations aroused in that year of triumph and jubilation will +surprise no one who knows that absolute and lasting success is +attained only in Utopias, never in practical politics. In truth, +the suddenness with which German unity was finally achieved was in +itself a danger.</p> +<p>The English reader will perhaps find it hard to realise this +until he remembers that the whole course of recorded history shows +us the Germans politically disunited, or for the most part engaged +in fratricidal strifes. When they first came within the ken of the +historians of Ancient Rome, they were a set of warring tribes who +banded together only under the pressure of overwhelming danger; and +such was to be their fate for well-nigh two thousand years. Their +union under the vigorous rule of the great Frankish chief whom the +French call Charlemagne, was at best nominal and partial. The Holy +Roman Empire, which he founded in the year 800 by a mystically +vague compact with the Pope, was never a close bond of union, even +in his stern and able hands. Under his weak successors that +imposing league rarely promoted peace among its peoples, while the +splendour of its chief elective dignity not seldom conduced to war. +Next, feudalism came in as a strong political solvent, and thus for +centuries Germany crumbled and mouldered away, until disunion +seemed to be the fate of her richest lands, and particularism +became a rooted instinct of her princes, burghers, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> and +peasants. Then again South was arrayed against North during and +long after the time of the Reformation; when the strife of creeds +was stayed, the rivalry of the Houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern +added another cause of hatred.</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, it was reserved for the two Napoleons, +uncle and nephew, to force those divided peoples to comradeship in +arms. The close of the campaign of 1813 and that of 1814 saw North +and South, Prussians and Austrians, for the first time fighting +heartily shoulder to shoulder in a great war--for that of 1792-94 +had only served to show their rooted suspicion and inner hostility. +Owing to reasons that cannot be stated here, the peace of 1814-15 +led up to no effective union: it even perpetuated the old dualism +of interests. But once more the hostility of France under a +Napoleon strengthened the impulse to German consolidation, and on +this occasion there was at hand a man who had carefully prepared +the way for an abiding form of political union; his diplomatic +campaign of the last seven years had secured Russia's friendship +and consequently Austria's reluctant neutrality; as for the dislike +of the Southern States to unite with the North, that feeling waned +for a few weeks amidst the enthusiasm caused by the German +triumphs. The opportunity was unexampled: it had not occurred even +in 1814; it might never occur again; and it was certain to pass +away when the war fever passed by. How wise, then, to strike while +the iron was hot! The smaller details of the welding process were +infinitely less important than the welding itself.</p> +<p>One last consideration remains. If the opportunity was +unexampled, so also were the statesmanlike qualities of the man who +seized it. The more that we know concerning the narrowly Prussian +feelings of King William, the centralising pedantry of the Crown +Prince of Prussia, and the petty particularism of the Governments +of Bavaria and Würtemberg, the more does the figure of +Bismarck stand out as that of the one great statesman of his +country and era. However censurable much of his conduct may be, his +action in working up to and finally consummating German unity at +the right <span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id= +"page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> psychological moment stands out as +one of the greatest feats of statesmanship which history +records.</p> +<p>But obviously a wedded life which had been preceded by no +wooing, over whose nuptials Mars shed more influence than Venus, +could not be expected to run a wholly smooth course. In fact, this +latest instance in ethnical lore of marriage by capture has on the +whole led to a more harmonious result than was to be expected. +Possibly, if we could lift the veil of secrecy which is wisely kept +drawn over the weightiest proceedings of the Bundesrath and its +committees, the scene would appear somewhat different. As it is, we +can refer here only to some questions of outstanding importance the +details of which are fairly well known.</p> +<p>The first of these which subjected the new Empire to any serious +strain was a sharp religious struggle against the new claims of the +Roman Catholic hierarchy. Without detailing the many causes of +friction that sprang up between the new Empire and the Roman +Catholic Church, we may state that most of them had their roots in +the activity shown by that Church among the Poles of Prussian +Poland (Posen), and also in the dogma of Papal infallibility. +Decreed by the Oecumenical Council at Rome on the very eve of the +outbreak of the Franco-German War, it seemed to be part and parcel +of that forward Jesuit policy which was working for the overthrow +of the chief Protestant States. Many persons--among them +Bismarck<a name="FNanchor78"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_78">[78]</a>--claimed that the Empress Eugénie's +hatred of Prussia and the warlike influence which she is said to +have exerted on Napoleon III. on that critical day, July 14, 1870, +were prompted by Jesuitical intrigues. However that may be (and it +is a matter on which no fair-minded man will dogmatise until her +confidential papers see the light) there is little doubt that the +Pope at Rome and the Roman hierarchy among the Catholics of Central +and Eastern Europe did their best to <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> prevent German unity and +to introduce elements of discord. The dogma of the infallibility of +the Pope in matters of faith and doctrine was itself a cause of +strife. Many of the more learned and moderate of the German +Catholics had protested against the new dogma, and some of these +"Old Catholics", as they were called, tried to avoid teaching it in +the Universities and schools. Their bishops, however, insisted that +it should be taught, placed some recalcitrants under the lesser +ban, and deprived them of their posts.</p> +<p>When these high-handed proceedings were extended even to the +schools, the Prussian Government intervened, and early in 1872 +passed a law ordaining that all school inspectors should be +appointed by the King's Government at Berlin. This greatly +irritated the Roman Catholic hierarchy and led up to aggressive +acts on both sides, the German Reichstag taking up the matter and +decreeing the exclusion of the Jesuits from all priestly and +scholastic duties of whatever kind within the Empire (July 1872). +The strife waxed ever fiercer. When the Roman Catholic bishops of +Germany persisted in depriving "Old Catholics" of professorial and +other charges, the central Government retorted by the famous "May +Laws" of 1873. The first of these forbade the Roman Catholic Church +to intervene in civil affairs in any way, or to coerce officials +and citizens of the Empire. The second required of all ministers of +religion that they should have passed the final examination at a +High School, and also should have studied theology for three years +at a German University: it further subjected all seminaries to +State inspection. The third accorded fuller legal protection to +dissidents from the various creeds.</p> +<p>This anti-clerical policy is known as the "Kultur-Kampf", a term +that denotes a struggle for civilisation against the forces of +reaction. For some years the strife was of the sharpest kind. The +Roman Catholic bishops continued to ban the "Old Catholics", while +the State refused to recognise any act of marriage or christening +performed by clerics who disobeyed the new laws. The logical sequel +to this was obvious, namely, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> that the State should +insist on the religious ceremony of marriage being supplemented by +a civil contract<a name="FNanchor79"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_79">[79]</a>. Acts to render this compulsory were first +passed by the Prussian Landtag late in 1873 and by the German +Reichstag in 1875.</p> +<p>It would be alike needless and tedious to detail the further +stages of this bitter controversy, especially as several of the +later "May Laws" have been repealed. We may, however, note its +significance in the development of parties. Many of the Prussian +nobles and squires (Junkers the latter were called) joined issue +with Bismarck on the Civil Marriage Act, and this schism weakened +Bismarck's long alliance with the Conservative party. He enjoyed, +however, the enthusiastic support of the powerful National Liberal +party, as well as the Imperialist and Progressive groups. Differing +on many points of detail, these parties aimed at strengthening the +fabric of the central power, and it was with their aid in the +Reichstag that the new institutions of Germany were planted and +took root. The General Election of 1874 sent up as many as 155 +National Liberals, and they, with the other groups just named, gave +the Government a force of 240 votes--a good working majority as +long as Bismarck's aims were of a moderately Liberal character. +This, however, was not always the case even in 1874-79, when he +needed their alliance. His demand for a permanently large military +establishment alienated his allies in 1874, and they found it hard +to satisfy the requirements of his exacting and rigorous +nature.</p> +<p>The harshness of the "May Laws" also caused endless friction. +Out of some 10,000 Roman Catholic priests in Prussia (to which +kingdom alone the severest of these laws applied) only about thirty +bowed the knee to the State. In 800 parishes the strife went so far +that all religious services came to an end. In the year 1875, fines +amounting to 28,000 marks (£2800) were imposed, and 103 +clerics or their supporters were expelled from the Empire<a name= +"FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80">[80]</a>. Clearly this +state of things <span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id= +"page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> could not continue without grave +danger to the Empire; for the Church held on her way with her usual +doggedness, strengthened by the "protesting" deputies from the +Reichsland on the south-west, from Hanover (where the Guelph +feeling was still uppermost), as well as those from Polish Posen +and Danish Schleswig. Bismarck and the anti-clerical majority of +the Reichstag scorned any thoughts of surrender. Yet, slowly but +surely, events at the Vatican and in Germany alike made for +compromise. In February 1878, Pope Pius IX. passed away. That +unfortunate pontiff had never ceased to work against the interests +of Prussia and Germany, while his encyclicals since 1873 mingled +threats of defiance of the May Laws with insults against Prince +Bismarck. His successor, Leo XIII. (1878-1903), showed rather more +disposition to come to a compromise, and that, too, at a time when +Bismarck's new commercial policy made the support of the Clerical +Centre in the Reichstag peculiarly acceptable.</p> +<p>Bismarck's resolve to give up the system of Free Trade, or +rather of light customs dues, adopted by Prussia and the German +Zollverein in 1865, is so momentous a fact in the economic history +of the modern world, that we must here give a few facts which will +enable the reader to understand the conditions attending German +commerce up to the years 1878-79, when the great change came. The +old order of things in Prussia, as in all German States, was +strongly protective--in fact, to such an extent as often to prevent +the passing of the necessaries of life from one little State to its +Lilliputian neighbours. The rise of the national idea in Germany +during the wars against the great Napoleon led to a more +enlightened system, especially for Prussia. The Prussian law of +1818 asserted the principle of imposing customs dues for revenue +purposes, but taxed foreign products to a moderate extent. On +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg +142]</span> this basis she induced neighbouring small German States +to join her in a Customs Union (Zollverein), which gradually +extended, until by 1836 it included all the States of the present +Empire except the two Mecklenburgs, the Elbe Duchies, and the three +Free Cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck. That is to say, +the attractive force of the highly developed Prussian State +practically unified Germany for purposes of trade and commerce, and +that, too, thirty-eight years before political union was +achieved.</p> +<p>This, be it observed, was on condition of internal Free Trade, +but of moderate duties being levied on foreign products. Up to 1840 +these import duties were on the whole reduced; after that date a +protectionist reaction set in; it was checked, however, by the +strong wave of Free Trade feeling which swept over Europe after the +victory of that principle in England in 1846-49. Of the new +champions of Free Trade on the Continent, the foremost in point of +time was Cavour, for that kingdom of Sardinia on which he built the +foundations of a regenerated and united Italy. Far more important, +however, was the victory which Cobden won in 1859-60 by inducing +Napoleon III. to depart from the almost prohibitive system then in +vogue in France. The Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of January 1860 +seemed to betoken the speedy conversion of the world to the +enlightened policy of unfettered exchange of all its products. In +1862 and 1865 the German Zollverein followed suit, relaxing duties +on imported articles and manufactured goods--a process which was +continued in its commercial treaties and tariff changes of the +years 1868 and 1869.</p> +<p>At this time Bismarck's opinions on fiscal matters were somewhat +vague. He afterwards declared that he held Free Trade to be +altogether false. But in this as in other matters he certainly let +his convictions be shaped by expediency. Just before the conclusion +of peace with France he so far approximated to Free Trade as to +insist that the Franco-German Commercial Treaty of 1862, which the +war had of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id= +"page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> course abrogated--- war puts an end +to all treaties between the States directly engaged--should now be +again regarded as in force and as holding good up to the year +1887<a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81">[81]</a>. He +even stated that he "would rather begin again the war of +cannon-balls than expose himself to a war of tariffs." France and +Germany, therefore, agreed to place one another permanently on "the +most favoured nation" footing. Yet this same man, who so much +desired to keep down the Franco-German tariff, was destined eight +years later to initiate a protectionist policy which set back the +cause of Free Trade for at least a generation.</p> +<p>What brought about this momentous change? To answer this fully +would take up a long chapter. We can only glance at the chief +forces then at work. Firstly, Germany, after the year 1873, passed +through a severe and prolonged economic crisis. It was largely due +to the fever of speculation induced by the incoming of the French +milliards into a land where gold had been none too plentiful. +Despite the efforts of the German Government to hold back a large +part of the war indemnity for purposes of military defence and +substantial enterprises, the people imagined themselves to be +suddenly rich. Prices rapidly rose, extravagant habits spread in +all directions, and in the years 1872-73 company-promoting attained +to the rank of a fine art, with the result that sober, hard-working +Germany seemed to be almost another England at the time of the +South Sea Bubble. Alluding to this time, Busch said to Bismarck +early in 1887: "In the long-run the [French] milliards were no +blessing, at least not for our manufacturers, as they led to +over-production. It was merely the bankers who benefited, and of +these only the big ones<a name="FNanchor82"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_82">[82]</a>."</p> +<p>The result happened that always happens when a nation mistakes +money, the means of commercial exchange, for the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +ultimate source of wealth. After a time of inflation came the +inevitable collapse. The unsound companies went by the board; even +sound ventures were in some cases overturned. How grievously public +credit suffered may be seen by the later official admission, that +liquidations and bankruptcies of public companies in the following +ten years inflicted on shareholders a total loss of more than +345,000,000 marks (£17,250,000)<a name= +"FNanchor83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83">[83]</a>.</p> +<p>Now, it was in the years 1876-77, while the nation lay deep in +the trough of economic depression, that the demand for "protection +for home industries" grew loud and persistent. Whether it would not +have been raised even if German finance and industry had held on +its way in a straight course and on an even keel, cannot of course +be determined, for the protectionist movement had been growing +since the year 1872, owing to the propaganda of the "Verein +für Sozialpolitik" (Union for Social Politics) founded in that +year. But it is safe to say that the collapse of speculation due to +inflowing of the French milliards greatly strengthened the forces +of economic reaction.</p> +<p>Bismarck himself put it in this way: that the introduction of +Free Trade in 1865 soon produced a state of atrophy in Germany; +this was checked for a time by the French war indemnity; but +Germany needed a permanent cure, namely, Protection. It is true +that his ideal of national life had always been strict and +narrow--in fact, that of the average German official; but we may +doubt whether he had in view solely the shelter of the presumedly +tender flora of German industry from the supposed deadly blasts of +British, Austrian, and Russian competition. He certainly hoped to +strengthen the fabric of his Empire by extending the customs system +and making its revenue depend more largely on that source and less +on the contributions of the federated States. But there was +probably a still wider consideration. He doubtless wished to bring +prominently before the public gaze another great subject that would +distract it <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id= +"page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> from the religious feuds described +above and bring about a rearrangement of political parties. The +British people has good reason to know that the discussion of +fiscal questions that vitally touch every trade and every consumer, +does act like the turning of a kaleidoscope upon party groupings; +and we may fairly well assume that so far-seeing a statesman as +Bismarck must have forecast the course of events.</p> +<p>Reasons of statecraft also warned him to build up the Empire +four-square while yet there was time. The rapid recovery of France, +whose milliards had proved somewhat of a "Greek gift" to Germany, +had led to threats on the part of the war party at Berlin, which +brought from Queen Victoria, as also from the Czar Alexander, +private but pressing intimations to Kaiser Wilhelm that no war of +extermination must take place. This affair and its results in +Germany's foreign policy will occupy us in Chapter XII. Here we may +note that Bismarck saw in it a reason for suspecting Russia, hating +England, and jealously watching every movement in France. Germany's +future, it seemed, would have to be safeguarded by all the +peaceable means available. How natural, then, to tone down her +internal religious strifes by bringing forward another topic of +still more absorbing interest, and to aim at building up a +self-contained commercial life in the midst of uncertain, or +possibly hostile, neighbours. In truth, if we view the question in +its broad issues in the life of nations, we must grant that Free +Trade could scarcely be expected to thrive amidst the jealousies +and fears entailed by the war of 1870. That principle presupposes +trust and good-will between nations; whereas the wars of 1859, +1864, and 1870 left behind bitter memories and rankling ills. +Viewed in this light, Germany's abandonment of Free Trade in 1878 +was but the natural result of that forceful policy by which she had +cut the Gordian knot of her national problem.</p> +<p>The economic change was decided on in the year 1879, when the +federated States returned to "the time-honoured ways of 1823-65." +Bismarck appealed to the Reichstag to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> +preserve at least the German market to German industry. The chances +of having a large export trade were on every ground precarious; but +Germany could, at the worst, support herself. All interests were +mollified by having moderate duties imposed to check imports. Small +customs dues were placed on corn and other food supplies so as to +please the agrarian party; imports of manufactured goods were taxed +for the benefit of German industries, and even raw materials +underwent small imposts. The Reichstag approved the change and on +July 7 passed the Government's proposals by 217 to 117: the +majority comprised the Conservatives, Clericals, the +Alsace-Lorrainers, and a few National Liberals; while the bulk of +the last-named, hitherto Bismarck's supporters on most topics, +along with Radicals and Social Democrats, opposed it. The new +tariff came into force on January 1, 1880.</p> +<p>On the whole, much may be said in favour of the immediate +results of the new policy. By the year 1885 the number of men +employed in iron and steel works had increased by 35 per cent over +the numbers of 1879; wages also had increased, and the returns of +shipping and of the export trade showed a considerable rise. Of +course, it is impossible to say whether this would not have +happened in any case owing to the natural tendency to recovery from +the deep depression of the years 1875-79. The duties on corn did +not raise its price, which appears strange until we know that the +foreign imports of corn were less than 8 per cent of the whole +amount consumed. In 1885, therefore, Bismarck gave way to the +demands of the agrarians that the corn duties should be raised +still further, in order to make agriculture lucrative and to +prevent the streaming of rural population to the towns. Again the +docile Reichstag followed his lead. But, two years later, it seemed +that the new corn duties had failed to check the fall of prices and +keep landlords and farmers from ruin; once more, then, the duties +were raised, being even doubled on certain food products. This time +they undoubtedly had one important result, that of making the urban +population, especially that of the great <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> +industrial centres, more and more hostile to the agrarians and to +the Government which seemed to be legislating in their interests. +From this time forward the Social Democrats began to be a power in +the land.</p> +<p>And yet, if we except the very important item of rent, which in +Berlin presses with cruel weight on the labouring classes, the +general trend of the prices of the necessaries of life in Germany +has been downwards, in spite of all the protectionist duties. The +evidence compiled in the British official Blue-book on "British and +Foreign Trade and Industry" (1903. Cd. 1761, p. 226) yields the +following results. By comparing the necessary expenditure on food +of a workman's family of the same size and living under the same +conditions, it appears that if we take that expenditure for the +period 1897-1901 to represent the number 100 we have these +results:--</p> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<th>Period.</th> +<th>Germany.</th> +<th>United Kingdom.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1877-1881</td> +<td align="center">112</td> +<td align="center">140</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1882-1886</td> +<td align="center">101</td> +<td align="center">125</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1887-1891</td> +<td align="center">103</td> +<td align="center">106</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1892-1896</td> +<td align="center"> 99</td> +<td align="center"> 98</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1897-1901</td> +<td align="center">100</td> +<td align="center">100</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<p>Thus the fall in the cost of living of a British working man's +family has been 40 points, while that of the German working man +shows a decline of only 12 points. It is, on the whole, surprising +that there has not been more difference between the two +countries<a name="FNanchor84"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_84">[84]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg +148]</span> +<p>Before dealing with the new social problems that resulted, at +least in part, from the new duties on food, we may point out that +Bismarck and his successors at the German Chancellory have used the +new tariff as a means of extorting better terms from the +surrounding countries. The Iron Chancellor has always acted on the +diplomatic principle <i>do ut des</i>--"I give that you may +give"--with its still more cynical corollary--"Those who have +nothing to give will get nothing." The new German tariff on +agricultural products was stiffly applied against Austria for many +years, to compel her to grant more favourable terms to German +manufactured goods. For eleven years Austria-Hungary maintained +their protective barriers; but in 1891 German persistence was +rewarded in the form of a treaty by which the Dual Monarchy let in +German goods on easier terms provided that the corn duties of the +northern Power were relaxed. The fiscal strife with Russia was +keener and longer, but had the same result (1894). Of a friendlier +kind were the negotiations with Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, +which led to treaties with those States in 1891. It is needless to +say that in each of these cases the lowering of the corn duties was +sharply resisted by the German agrarians. We may here add that the +Anglo-German commercial treaty which expired in 1903 has been +extended for two years; and that Germany's other commercial +treaties were at the same time continued.</p> +<p>It is hazardous at present to venture on any definite judgment +as to the measure of success attained by the German protectionist +policy. Protectionists always point to the prosperity of Germany as +the crowning proof of its efficacy. In one respect they are, +perhaps, fully justified in so doing. The persistent pressure which +Germany brought to bear on the even more protectionist systems of +Russia and Austria undoubtedly induced those Powers to grant easier +terms to German goods than they would have done had Germany lost +her bargaining power by persisting in her former Free Trade +tendencies. Her success in this matter is the best instance in +recent economic <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id= +"page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> history of the desirability of +holding back something in reserve so as to be able to bargain +effectively with a Power that keeps up hostile tariffs. In this +jealously competitive age the State that has nothing more to offer +is as badly off in economic negotiations as one that, in affairs of +general policy, has no armaments wherewith to face a well-equipped +foe. This consideration is of course scouted as heretical by +orthodox economists; but it counts for much in the workaday world, +where tariff wars and commercial treaty bargainings unfortunately +still distract the energies of mankind.</p> +<p>On the other hand, it would be risky to point to the internal +prosperity of Germany and the vast growth of her exports as proofs +of the soundness of protectionist theories. The marvellous growth +of that prosperity is very largely due to the natural richness of a +great part of the country, to the intelligence, energy, and +foresight of her people and their rulers, and to the comparatively +backward state of German industry and commerce up to the year 1870. +Far on into the Nineteenth Century, Germany was suffering from the +havoc wrought by the Napoleonic wars and still earlier struggles. +Even after the year 1850, the political uncertainties of the time +prevented her enjoying the prosperity that then visited England and +France. Therefore, only since 1870 (or rather since 1877-78, when +the results of the mad speculation of 1873 began to wear away) has +she entered on the normal development of a modern industrial State; +and he would be an eager partisan who would put down her prosperity +mainly to the credit of the protectionist régime. In truth, +no one can correctly gauge the value of the complex +causes--economic, political, educational, scientific and +engineering--that make for the prosperity of a vast industrial +community. So closely are they intertwined in the nature of things, +that dogmatic arguments laying stress on one of them alone must +speedily be seen to be the merest juggling with facts and +figures.</p> +<p>As regards the wider influences exerted by Germany's new +protective policy, we can here allude only to one; and that will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>[pg +150]</span> be treated more fully in the chapter dealing with the +Partition of Africa. That policy gave a great stimulus to the +colonial movement in Germany, and, through her, in all European +States. As happened in the time of the old Mercantile System, +Powers which limited their trade with their neighbours, felt an +imperious need for absorbing new lands in the tropics to serve as +close preserves for the mother-country. Other circumstances helped +to impel Germany on the path of colonial expansion; but probably +the most important, though the least obvious, was the recrudescence +of that "Mercantilism" which Adam Smith had exploded. Thus, the +triumph of the national principle in and after 1870 was +consolidated by means which tended to segregate the human race in +masses, regarding each other more or less as enemies or rivals, +alike in the spheres of politics, commerce, and colonial +expansion.</p> +<p>We may conclude our brief survey of German constructive policy +by glancing at the chief of the experiments which may be classed as +akin to State Socialism.</p> +<p>In 1882 the German Government introduced the Sickness Insurance +Bill and the Accident Insurance Bill, but they were not passed till +1884, and did not take effect till 1885. For the relief of sickness +the Government relied on existing institutions organised for that +object. This was very wise, seeing that the great difficulty is how +to find out whether a man really is ill or is merely shamming +illness. Obviously a local club can find that out far better than a +great imperial agency can. The local club has every reason for +looking sharply after doubtful cases as a State Insurance Fund +cannot do. As regards sickness, then, the Imperial Government +merely compelled all the labouring classes, with few exceptions, to +belong to some sick fund. They were obliged to pay in a sum of not +less than about fourpence in the pound of their weekly wages; and +this payment of the workman has to be supplemented by half as much, +paid by his employer--or rather, the employer pays the whole of the +premium and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id= +"page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> deducts the share payable by the +workman from his wages.</p> +<p>Closely linked with this is the Accident Insurance Law. Here the +brunt of the payment falls wholly on the employer. He alone pays +the premiums for all his work-people; the amount varies according +to (1) the man's wage, (2) the risk incidental to the employment. +The latter is determined by the actuaries of the Government. If a +man is injured (even if it be by his own carelessness) he receives +payments during the first thirteen weeks from the ordinary Sick +Fund. If his accident keeps him a prisoner any longer, he is paid +from the Accident Fund of the employers of that particular trade, +or from the Imperial Accident Fund. Here of course the chance of +shamming increases, particularly if the man knows that he is being +supported out of a general fund made up entirely by the employers' +payments. The burden on the employers is certainly very heavy, +seeing that for all kinds of accidents relief may be claimed; the +only exception is in cases where the injury can be shown to be +wilfully committed<a name="FNanchor85"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_85">[85]</a>. A British Blue-book issued on March 31, +1905, shows that the enormous sum of £5,372,150 was paid in +Germany in the year 1902 as compensation to workmen for injuries +sustained while at work.</p> +<p>The burden of the employers does not end here. They have to bear +their share of Old Age Insurance. This law was passed in 1889, at +the close of the first year of the present Kaiser's reign. His +father, the Emperor Frederick, during his brief reign had not +favoured the principles of State Socialism; but the young Emperor +William in November 1888 announced that he would further the work +begun by <i>his grandfather</i>, and though the difficulties of +insurance for old age were very great, yet, with God's help, they +would prove not to be insuperable.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>[pg +152]</span> +<p>Certainly the effort was by far the greatest that had yet been +made by any State. The young Emperor and his Chancellor sought to +build up a fund whereby 12,000,000 of work-people might be guarded +against the ills of a penniless old age. Their law provided for all +workmen (even men in domestic service) whose yearly income did not +exceed 2000 marks (£100). Like the preceding laws, it was +compulsory. Every youth who is physically and mentally sound, and +who earns more than a minimum wage, must begin to put by a fixed +proportion of that wage as soon as he completes his sixteenth year. +His employer is also compelled to contribute the same amount for +him. Mr. Dawson, in the work already referred to, gives some +figures showing what the joint payment of employer and employed +amount to on this score. If the workman earns £15 a year +(<i>i.e.</i> about 6s. a week), the sum of 3s. 3-1/2d. is put by +for him yearly into the State Fund. If he earns £36 a year, +the joint annual payment will be 5s. 7-1/2d.; if he earns +£78, it will be 7s. a year, and so on. These payments are +reckoned up in various classes, according to the amounts; and +according to the total amount is the final annuity payable to the +worker in the evening of his days. That evening is very slow in +coming for the German worker. For old age merely, he cannot begin +to draw his full pension until he has attained the ripe age of +seventy-one years. Then he will draw the full amount. He may +anticipate that if he be incapacitated; but in that case the +pension will be on a lower scale, proportioned to the amounts paid +in and the length of time of the payments.</p> +<p>The details of the measure are so complex as to cause a good +deal of friction and discontent. The calculation of the various +payments alone employs an army of clerks: the need of safeguarding +against personation and other kinds of fraud makes a great number +of precautions necessary; and thus the whole system becomes tied up +with red tape in a way that even the more patient workman of the +Continent cannot endure.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg +153]</span> +<p>In a large measure, then, the German Government has failed in +its efforts to cure the industrial classes of their socialistic +ideas. But its determination to attach them to the new German +Empire, and to make that Empire the leading industrial State of the +Continent, has had a complete triumph. So far as education, +technical training, research, and enlightened laws can make a +nation great, Germany is surely on the high road to national and +industrial supremacy.</p> +<p>It is a strange contrast that meets our eyes if we look back to +the years before the advent of King William and Bismarck to power. +In the dark days of the previous reign Germany was weak, divided, +and helpless. In regard to political life and industry she was +still almost in swaddling-clothes; and her struggles to escape from +the irksome restraints of the old Confederation seemed likely to be +as futile as they had been since the year 1815. But the advent of +the King and his sturdy helper to power speedily changed the +situation. The political problems were grappled with one by one, +and were trenchantly solved. Union was won by Bismarck's diplomacy +and Prussia's sword; and when the longed-for goal was reached in +seven momentous years, the same qualities were brought to bear on +the difficult task of consolidating that union. Those qualities +were the courage and honesty of purpose that the House of +Hohenzollern has always displayed since the days of the Great +Elector; added to these were rarer gifts, namely, the width of +view, the eagle foresight, the strength of will, the skill in the +choice of means, that made up the imposing personality of Bismarck. +It was with an eye to him, and to the astonishing triumphs wrought +by his diplomacy over France, that a diplomatist thus summed up the +results of the year 1870: "Europe has lost a mistress, but she has +got a master."</p> +<p>After the lapse of a generation that has been weighted with the +cuirass of Militarism, we are able to appreciate the force of that +remark. Equally true is it that the formation of the German Empire +has not added to the culture and the inner <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span> +happiness of the German people. The days of quiet culture and +happiness are gone; and in their place has come a straining after +ambitious aims which is a heavy drag even on the vitality of the +Teutonic race. Still, whether for good or for evil, the unification +of Germany must stand out as the greatest event in the history of +the Nineteenth Century.</p> +<br> +<p>NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>The statement on page 135 that service in the German army is +compulsory for seven years, three in the field army and four in the +reserve, applies to the cavalry and artillery only. In the infantry +the time of service is two years with the colours and five years in +the reserve.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a> Quoted +by C. Lowe, <i>Life of Bismarck</i>, vol. i. p. 615.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a> E. +Marcks, <i>Kaiser Wilhelm I.</i> (Leipzig, 1900), pp. 337-343.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a> Up to +1874 the government of Alsace-Lorraine was vested solely in the +Emperor and Chancellor. In 1874 the conquered lands returned +deputies to the Reichstag. In October 1879 they gained local +representative institutions, but under the strict control of the +Governor, Marshal von Manteuffel. This control has since been +relaxed, the present administration being quasi-constitutional.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a> +Bismarck said in a speech to the Reichstag, on September 16, 1878: +"I accepted universal suffrage, but with repugnance, as a Frankfurt +tradition."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a> The +three years are shortened to one year for those who have taken a +high place in the Gymnasia (highest of the public schools); they +feed and equip themselves and are termed "volunteers." Conscription +is the rule on the coasts for service in the German Navy. For the +text of the Imperial Constitution, see Lowe, <i>Life of +Bismarck</i>, vol. ii. App. F.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a> J.W. +Headlam, <i>Bismarck</i>, p. 367.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a> Busch, +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol i. p. 139, where he quotes a +conversation of Bismarck of Nov. 1883. On the Roman Catholic policy +in Posen, see <i>ibid</i>. pp. 143-145.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a> Lowe, +<i>Life of Bismarck</i>, vol. ii. p. 336, note.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a> Busch, +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol. i. p. 122, quotes speeches of his hero +to prove that Bismarck himself disliked this Civil Marriage Law. +"From the political point of view I have convinced myself that the +State . . . is constrained by the dictates of self-defence to enact +this law in order to avert from a portion of His Majesty's subjects +the evils with which they are menaced by the Bishops' rebellion +against the laws and the State" (Speech of Jan. 17, 1873). In 1849 +he had opposed civil marriage.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a> For +that treaty, and Austria's desire in 1862 to enter the German +Zollverein, see <i>The Diplomatic Reminiscences of Lord A. +Loftus,</i> vol. ii. pp. 250-251.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History,</i> by M. Busch, +vol. iii. p. 161 (English edition).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a> German +State Paper of June 28, 1884, quoted by Dawson, <i>Bismarck and +State Socialism</i>, App. B.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a> In a +recent work, <i>England and the English</i> (London, 1904), Dr. +Carl Peters says: "Considering that wages in England average 20 per +cent higher in England than in Germany, that the week has only 54 +working hours, and that all articles of food are cheaper, the +fundamental conditions of prosperous home-life are all round more +favourable in England than in Germany. And yet he [the British +working-man] does not derive greater comfort from them, for the +simple reason that a German labourer's wife is more economical and +more industrious than the English wife."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a> For the +account given above, as also that of the Old Age Insurance Law, I +am indebted to Mr. Dawson's excellent little work, <i>Bismarck and +State Socialism</i> (Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1890). See also +the Appendix to <i>The German Empire of To-day</i>, by "Veritas" +(1902).</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg +155]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<h3>THE EASTERN QUESTION</h3> +<blockquote>"Perhaps one fact which lies at the root of all the +actions of the Turks, small and great, is that they are by nature +nomads. . . . Hence it is that when the Turk retires from a country he +leaves no more sign of himself than does a Tartar camp on the +upland pastures where it has passed the summer."--<i>Turkey in +Europe</i>, by "Odysseus."</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The remark was once made that the Eastern Question was destined +to perplex mankind up to the Day of Judgment. Certainly that +problem is extraordinarily complex in its details. For a century +and a half it has distracted the statesmen and philanthropists of +Europe; for it concerns not only the ownership of lands of great +intrinsic and strategic importance, but also the welfare of many +peoples. It is a question, therefore, which no intelligent man +ought to overlook.</p> +<p>For the benefit of the tiresome person who insists on having a +definition of every term, the Eastern Question may be briefly +described as the problem of finding a <i>modus vivendi</i> between +the Turks and their Christian subjects and the neighbouring States. +This may serve as a general working statement. No one who is +acquainted with the rules of Logic will accept it as a definition. +Definitions can properly apply only to terms and facts that have a +clear outline; and they can therefore very rarely apply to the +facts of history, which are of necessity as many-sided as human +life itself. The statement given above is incomplete, inasmuch as +it neither hints at the great difficulty of reconciling the civic +ideas of Christian and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id= +"page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> Turkish peoples, nor describes the +political problems arising out of the decay of the Ottoman Power +and the ambitions of its neighbours.</p> +<p>It will be well briefly to see what are the difficulties that +arise out of the presence of Christians under the rule of a great +Moslem State. They are chiefly these. First, the Koran, though far +from enjoining persecution of Christians, yet distinctly asserts +the superiority of the true believer and the inferiority of "the +people of the book" (Christians). The latter therefore are excluded +from participation in public affairs, and in practice are refused a +hearing in the law courts. Consequently they tend to sink to the +position of hewers of wood and drawers of water to the Moslems, +these on their side inevitably developing the defects of an +exclusive dominant caste. This is so especially with the Turks. +They are one of the least gifted of the Mongolian family of +nations; brave in war and patient under suffering and reverses, +they nevertheless are hopelessly narrow-minded and bigoted; and the +Christians in their midst have fared perhaps worse than anywhere +else among the Mohammedan peoples.</p> +<p>M. de Lavelaye, who studied the condition of things in Turkey +not long after the war of 1877-78, thus summed up the causes of the +social and political decline of the Turks:--</p> +<p>The true Mussulman loves neither progress, novelty, nor +education; the Koran is enough for him. He is satisfied with his +lot, therefore cares little for its improvement, somewhat like a +Catholic monk; but at the same time he hates and despises the +Christian <i>raya</i>, who is the labourer. He pitilessly despoils, +fleeces, and ill-treats him to the extent of completely ruining and +destroying those families, which are the only ones who cultivate +the ground; it was a state of war continued in time of peace, and +transformed into a regime of permanent spoliation and murder. The +wife, even when she is the only one, is always an inferior being, a +kind of slave, destitute of any intellectual culture; and as it is +she who trains the children--boys and girls--the bad results are +plainly seen.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg +157]</span> +<p>Matters were not always and in all parts of Turkey so bad as +this; but they frequently became so under cruel or corrupt +governors, or in times when Moslem fanaticism ran riot. In truth, +the underlying cause of Turkey's troubles is the ignorance and +fanaticism of her people. These evils result largely from the utter +absorption of all devout Moslems in their creed and ritual. Texts +from the Koran guide their conduct; and all else is decided by +fatalism, which is very often a mere excuse for doing +nothing<a name="FNanchor86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86">[86]</a>. +Consequently all movements for reform are mere ripples on the +surface of Turkish life; they never touch its dull depths; and the +Sultan and officials, knowing this, cling to the old ways with full +confidence. The protests of Christian nations on behalf of their +co-religionists are therefore met with a polite compliance which +means nothing. Time after time the Sublime Porte has most solemnly +promised to grant religious liberty to its Christian subjects; but +the promises were but empty air, and those who made them knew it. +In fact, the firmans of reform now and again issued with so much +ostentation have never been looked on by good Moslems as binding, +because the chief spiritual functionary, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, whose +assent is needed to give validity to laws, has withheld it from +those very ordinances. As he has power to depose the Sultan for a +lapse of orthodoxy, the result may be imagined. The many attempts +of the Christian Powers to enforce their notions of religious +toleration on the Porte have in the end merely led to further +displays of Oriental politeness.</p> +<p>It may be asked: Why have not the Christians of Turkey united in +order to gain civic rights? The answer is that they are profoundly +divided in race and sentiment. In the north-east are the +Roumanians, a Romano-Slavonic race long ago Latinised in speech and +habit of mind by contact with Roman <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> soldiers and settlers on +the Lower Danube. South of that river there dwell the Bulgars, who, +strictly speaking, are not Slavs but Mongolians. After long sojourn +on the Volga they took to themselves the name of that river, lost +their Tartar speech, and became Slav in sentiment and language. +This change took place before the ninth century, when they migrated +to the south and conquered the districts which they now inhabit. +Their neighbours on the west, the Servians, are Slavs in every +sense, and look back with pride to the time of the great Servian +Kingdom, carved out by Stephen Dushan, which stretched southwards +to the <i>Ægean</i> and the Gulf of Corinth (about 1350).</p> +<p>To the west of the present Kingdom of Servia dwell other +Servians and Slavs, who have been partitioned and ground down by +various conquerors and have kept fewer traditions than the Servians +who won their freedom. But from this statement we must except the +Montenegrins, who in their mountain fastnesses have ever defied the +Turks. To the south of them is the large but little-known Province +of Albania, inhabited by the descendants of the ancient Illyrians, +with admixtures of Greeks in the south, Bulgarians in the east, and +Servians in the north-east. Most of the Albanians forsook +Christianity and are among the most fanatical and warlike upholders +of Islam; but in their turbulent clan-life they often defy the +authority of the Sultan, and uphold it only in order to keep their +supremacy over the hated and despised Greeks and Bulgars on their +outskirts. Last among the non-Turkish races of the Balkan Peninsula +are a few Wallachs in Central Macedonia, and Greeks; these last +inhabit Thessaly and the seaboard of Macedonia and of part of +Roumelia. It is well said that Greek influence in the Balkans +extends no further inland than that of the sea breezes.</p> +<p>Such is the medley of races that complicates the Eastern +Question. It may be said that Turkish rule in Europe survives owing +to the racial divisions and jealousies of the Christians. The +Sultan puts in force the old Roman motto, <i>Divide et impera</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg +159]</span> and has hitherto done so, in the main, with success. +That is the reason why Islam dominates Christianity in the +south-east of Europe.</p> +<p>This brief explanation will show what are the evils that affect +Turkey as a whole and her Christian subjects in particular. They +are due to the collision of two irreconcilable creeds and +civilisations, the Christian and the Mohammedan. Both of them are +gifted with vitality and propagandist power (witness the spread of +the latter in Africa and Central Asia in our own day); and, while +no comparison can be made between them on ideal grounds and in +their ethical and civic results, it still remains true that Islam +inspires its votaries with fanatical bravery in war. There is the +weakness of the Christians of south-eastern Europe. Superior in all +that makes for home life, civilisation, and civic excellence, they +have in time past generally failed as soldiers when pitted against +an equal number of Moslems. But the latter show no constructive +powers in time of peace, and have very rarely assimilated the +conquered races. Putting the matter baldly, we may say that it is a +question of the survival of the fittest between beavers and bears. +And in the Nineteenth Century the advantage has been increasingly +with the former.</p> +<p>These facts will appear if we take a brief glance at the salient +features of the European history of Turkey. After capturing +Constantinople, the capital of the old Eastern Empire, in the year +1453, the Turks for a time rapidly extended their power over the +neighbouring Christian States, Bulgaria, Servia, and Hungary. In +the year 1683 they laid siege to Vienna; but after being beaten +back from that city by the valiant Sobieski, King of Poland, they +gradually lost ground. Little by little Hungary, Transylvania, the +Crimea, and parts of the Ukraine (South Russia) were wrenched from +their grasp; and the close of the eighteenth century saw their +frontiers limited to the River Dniester and the Carpathians<a name= +"FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87">[87]</a>. Further losses +were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg +160]</span> staved off only by the jealousies of the Great Powers. +Joseph II. of Austria came near to effecting further conquests, but +his schemes of partition fell through amidst the wholesale collapse +of his too ambitious policy. Napoleon Bonaparte seized Egypt in +1798, but was forced by Great Britain to give it back to Turkey +(1801-2). In 1807-12 Alexander I. of Russia resumed the conquering +march of the Czars southward, captured Bessarabia, and forced the +Sultan to grant certain privileges to the Principalities of +Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1815 the Servians revolted against +Turkish rule: they had always remembered the days of their early +fame, and in 1817 wrested from the Porte large rights of local +self-government.</p> +<p>Ten years later the intervention of England and France in favour +of the Greek patriots led to the battle of Navarino, which +destroyed the Turco-Egyptian fleet and practically secured the +independence of Greece. An even worse blow was dealt by the Czar +Nicholas I. of Russia. In 1829, at the close of a war in which his +troops drove the Turks over the Balkans and away from Adrianople, +he compelled the Porte to sign a peace at that city, whereby they +acknowledged the almost complete independence of Moldavia and +Wallachia. These Danubian Principalities owned the suzerainty of +the Sultan and paid him a yearly tribute, but in other respects +were practically free from his control, while the Czar gained for +the time the right of protecting the Christians of the Eastern, or +Greek, Church in the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan also recognised the +independence of Greece. Further troubles ensued which laid Turkey +for a time at the feet of Russia. England and France, however, +intervened to raise her up; and they also thwarted the efforts of +Mehemet Ali, the rebellious Pacha of Egypt, to seize Syria from his +nominal lord, the Sultan.</p> +<p>Even this bare summary will serve to illustrate three +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg +161]</span> important facts: first, that Turkey never consolidated +her triumph over the neighbouring Christians, simply because she +could not assimilate them, alien as they were, in race, and in the +enjoyment of a higher creed and civilisation; second, that the +Christians gained more and more support from kindred peoples +(especially the Russians) as these last developed their energies; +third, that the liberating process was generally (though not in +1827) delayed by the action of the Western Powers (England and +France), which, on grounds of policy, sought to stop the +aggrandisement of Austria, or Russia, by supporting the Sultan's +authority.</p> +<p>The policy of supporting the Sultan against the aggression of +Russia reached its climax in the Crimean War (1854-55), which was +due mainly to the efforts of the Czar Nicholas to extend his +protection over the Greek Christians in Turkey. France, England, +and later on the Kingdom of Sardinia made war on Russia--France, +chiefly because her new ruler, Napoleon III., wished to play a +great part in the world, and avenge the disasters of the Moscow +campaign of 1812; England, because her Government and people +resented the encroachments of Russia in the East, and sincerely +believed that Turkey was about to become a civilised State; and +Sardinia, because her statesman Cavour saw in this action a means +of securing the alliance of the two western States in his projected +campaign against Austria. The war closed with the Treaty of Paris, +of 1856, whereby the signatory Powers formally admitted Turkey "to +participate in the advantages of the public law and system of +Europe."</p> +<p>This, however, merely signified that the signatory Powers would +resist encroachments on the territorial integrity of Turkey. It did +not limit the rights of the Powers, as specified in various +"Capitulations," to safeguard their own subjects residing in Turkey +against Turkish misrule. The Sultan raised great hopes by issuing a +firman granting religious liberty to his Christian subjects; this +was inserted in the Treaty of Paris, and thereby became part of the +public law of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id= +"page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> Europe. The Powers also became +<i>collectively</i> the guarantors of the local privileges of the +Danubian Principalities. Another article of the Treaty provided for +the exclusion of war-ships from the Black Sea. This of course +applied specially to Russia and Turkey<a name= +"FNanchor88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88">[88]</a>.</p> +<p>The chief diplomatic result of the Crimean War, then, was to +substitute a European recognition of religious toleration in Turkey +for the control over her subjects of the Greek Church which Russia +had claimed. The Sublime Porte was now placed in a stronger +position than it had held since the year 1770; and the due +performance of its promises would probably have led to the building +up of a strong State. But the promises proved to be mere +waste-paper. The Sultan, believing that England and France would +always take his part, let matters go on in the old bad way. The +natural results came to pass. The Christians showed increasing +restiveness under Turkish rule. In 1860 numbers of them were +massacred in the Lebanon, and Napoleon III. occupied part of Syria +with French troops. The vassal States in Europe also displayed +increasing vitality, while that of Turkey waned. In 1861, largely +owing to the diplomatic help of Napoleon III., Moldavia and +Wallachia united and formed the Principality of Roumania. In 1862, +after a short but terrible struggle, the Servians rid themselves of +the Turkish garrisons and framed a constitution of the Western +type. But the worst blow came in 1870. During the course of the +Franco-German War the Czar's Government (with the good-will and +perhaps the active connivance of the Court of Berlin) announced +that it would no longer be bound by the article of the Treaty of +Paris excluding Russian war-ships from the Black Sea. The Gladstone +Ministry sent a protest against this act, but took no steps to +enforce its protest. Our young diplomatist, Sir <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> Horace +Rumbold, then at St. Petersburg, believed that she would have drawn +back at a threat of war<a name="FNanchor89"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_89">[89]</a>. Finally, the Russian declaration was +agreed to by the Powers in a Treaty signed at London on March 31, +1871.</p> +<p>These warnings were all thrown away on the Porte. Its promises +of toleration to Christians were ignored; the wheels of government +clanked on in the traditional rusty way; governors of provinces and +districts continued, as of yore, to pocket the grants that were +made for local improvements; in defiance of the promises given in +1856, taxes continued to be "farmed" out to contractors; the +evidence of Christians against Moslems was persistently refused a +hearing in courts of justice<a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_90">[90]</a>; and the collectors of taxes gave further +turns of the financial screw in order to wring from the +cultivators, especially from the Christians, the means of +satisfying the needs of the State and the ever-increasing +extravagance of the Sultan. Incidents which were observed in Bosnia +by an Oxford scholar of high repute, in the summer of 1875, will be +found quoted in an Appendix at the end of this volume.</p> +<p>Matters came to a climax in the autumn of 1875 in Herzegovina, +the southern part of Bosnia. There after a bad harvest the farmers +of taxes and the Mohammedan landlords insisted on having their full +quota; for many years the peasants had suffered under agrarian +wrongs, which cannot be described here; and now this long-suffering +peasantry, mostly Christians, fled to the mountains, or into +Montenegro, whose sturdy mountaineers had never bent beneath the +Turkish yoke<a name="FNanchor91"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_91">[91]</a>. Thence they made forays against their +oppressors until the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id= +"page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> whole of that part of the Balkans was +aflame with the old religious and racial feuds. The Slavs of +Servia, Bulgaria, and of Austrian Dalmatia also gave secret aid to +their kith and kin in the struggle against their Moslem overlords. +These peoples had been aroused by the sight of the triumph of the +national cause in Italy, and felt that the time had come to strike +for freedom in the Balkans. Turkey therefore failed to stamp out +the revolt in Herzegovina, fed as it was by the neighbouring Slav +peoples; and it was clear to all the politicians of Europe that the +Eastern Question was entering once more on an acute phase.</p> +<p>These events aroused varied feelings in the European States. The +Russian people, being in the main of Slavonic descent, sympathised +deeply with the struggles of their kith and kin, who were rendered +doubly dear by their membership in the Greek Church. The +Panslavonic Movement, for bringing the scattered branches of the +Slav race into some form of political union, was already gaining +ground in Russia; but it found little favour with the St. +Petersburg Government owing to the revolutionary aims of its +partisans. Sympathy with the revolt in the Balkans was therefore +confined to nationalist enthusiasts in the towns of Russia. Austria +was still more anxious to prevent the spread of the Balkan rising +to the millions of her own Slavs. Accordingly, the Austrian +Chancellor, Count Andrassy, in concert with Prince Bismarck and the +Russian statesman, Prince Gortchakoff, began to prepare a scheme of +reforms which was to be pressed on the Sultan as a means of +conciliating the insurgents of Herzegovina. They comprised (1) the +improvement of the lot of the peasantry; (2) complete religious +liberty; (3) the abolition of the farming of taxes; (4) the +application of the local taxation to local needs; (5) the +appointment of a Commission, half of Moslems, half of Christians, +to supervise the execution of these reforms and of others recently +promised by the Porte<a name="FNanchor92"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_92">[92]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg +165]</span> +<p>These proposals would probably have been sent to the Porte +before the close of 1875 but for the diplomatic intervention of the +British Cabinet. Affairs at London were then in the hands of that +skilful and determined statesman, Disraeli, soon to become Lord +Beaconsfield. It is impossible to discuss fully the causes of that +bias in his nature which prejudiced him against supporting the +Christians of Turkey. Those causes were due in part to the Semitic +instincts of his Jewish ancestry,--the Jews having consistently +received better treatment from the Turks than from the +Russians,--and in part to his staunch Imperialism, which saw in +Muscovite expansion the chief danger to British communications with +India. Mr. Bryce has recently pointed out in a suggestive survey of +Disraeli's character that tradition had great weight with +him<a name="FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93">[93]</a>. It is +known to have been a potent influence on the mind of Queen +Victoria; and, as the traditional policy at Whitehall was to +support Turkey against Russia, all the personal leanings, which +count for so much, told in favour of a continuance in the old +lines, even though the circumstances had utterly changed since the +time of the Crimean War.</p> +<p>When, therefore, Disraeli became aware that pressure was about +to be applied to the Porte by the three Powers above named, he +warned them that he considered any such action to be inopportune, +seeing that Turkey ought to be allowed time to carry out a +programme of reforms of recent date. By an <i>iradé</i> of +October 2, 1875, the Sultan had promised to <i>all</i> his +Christian subjects a remission of taxation and the right of +choosing not only the controllers of taxes, but also delegates to +supervise their rights at Constantinople.</p> +<p>In taking these promises seriously, Disraeli stood almost alone. +But his speech of November 9, 1875, at the Lord Mayor's banquet, +showed that he viewed the Eastern Question solely from the +standpoint of British interests. His acts spoke even more forcibly +than his words. That was the time when the dawn of Imperialism +flushed all the eastern sky. H.R.H. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page166" id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> the Prince of Wales had +just begun his Indian tour amidst splendid festivities at Bombay; +and the repetition of these in the native States undoubtedly did +much to awaken interest in our Eastern Empire and cement the +loyalty of its Princes and peoples. Next, at the close of the month +of November, came the news that the British Government had bought +the shares in the Suez Canal, previously owned by the Khedive of +Egypt, for the sum of £4,500,000<a name= +"FNanchor94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94">[94]</a>. The transaction +is now acknowledged by every thinking man to have been a +master-stroke of policy, justified on all grounds, financial and +Imperial. In those days it met with sharp censure from Disraeli's +opponents. In a sense this was natural; for it seemed to be part of +a scheme for securing British influence in the Levant and riding +roughshod over the susceptibilities of the French (the constructors +of the canal) and the plans of Russia. Everything pointed to the +beginning of a period of spirited foreign policy which would lead +to war with Russia.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the three Empires delayed the presentation of their +scheme of reforms for Turkey, and, as it would seem, out of +deference to British representations. The troubles in Herzegovina +therefore went on unchecked through the winter, the insurgents +refusing to pay any heed to the Sultan's promises, even though +these were extended by the <i>iradé</i> of December 12, +offering religious liberty and the institution of electoral bodies +throughout the whole of European Turkey. The statesmen of the +Continent were equally sceptical as to the <i>bona fides</i> of +these offers, and on January 31, 1876, presented to the Porte their +scheme of reforms already described. Disraeli and our Foreign +Minister, Lord Derby, gave a cold and guarded assent to the +"Andrassy Note," though they were known to regard it as +"inopportune." To the surprise of the world, the Porte accepted the +Note on February 11, with one reservation.</p> +<p>This act of acceptance, however, failed to satisfy the +insurgents. They decided to continue the struggle. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg +167]</span> irreconcilable attitude doubtless arose from their +knowledge of the worthlessness of Turkish promises when not backed +by pressure from the Powers; and it should be observed that the +"Note" gave no hint of any such pressure<a name= +"FNanchor95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95">[95]</a>. But it was also +prompted by the hope that Servia and Montenegro would soon draw the +sword on their behalf--as indeed happened later on. Those warlike +peoples longed to join in the struggle against their ancestral +foes; and their rulers were nothing loth to do so. Servia was then +ruled by Prince Milan (1868-89), of that House of Obrenovitch which +has been extinguished by the cowardly murders of June 1903 at +Belgrade. He had recently married Nathalie Kechko, a noble Russian +lady, whose connections strengthened the hopes that he naturally +entertained of armed Muscovite help in case of a war with Turkey. +Prince Nikita of Montenegro had married his second daughter to a +Russian Grand Duke, cousin of the Czar Alexander II., and therefore +cherished the same hopes. It was clear that unless energetic steps +were taken by the Powers to stop the spread of the conflagration it +would soon wrap the whole of the Balkan Peninsula in flames. An +outbreak of Moslem fanaticism at Salonica (May 6), which led to the +murder of the French and German Consuls at that port, shed a lurid +light on the whole situation and convinced the Continental Powers +that sterner measures must be adopted towards the Porte.</p> +<p>Such was the position, and such the considerations, that led the +three Empires to adopt more drastic proposals. Having found, +meanwhile, by informal conferences with the Herzegovinian leaders, +what were the essentials to a lasting settlement, they prepared to +embody them in a second Note, the Berlin Memorandum, issued on May +13. It was drawn up by the three Imperial Chancellors at Berlin, +but Andrassy is <span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id= +"page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> known to have given a somewhat +doubtful consent. T his "Berlin Memorandum" demanded the adoption +of an armistice for two months; the repatriation of the Bosnian +exiles and fugitives; the establishment of a mixed Commission for +that purpose; the removal of Turkish troops from the rural +districts of Bosnia; the right of the Consuls of the European +Powers to see to the carrying out of all the promised reforms. +Lastly, the Memorandum stated that if within two months the three +Imperial Courts did not attain the end they had in view (viz. the +carrying out of the needed reforms), it would become necessary to +take "efficacious measures" for that purpose<a name= +"FNanchor96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96">[96]</a>. Bismarck is known +to have favoured the policy of Gortchakoff in this affair.</p> +<p>The proposals of the Memorandum were at once sent to the +British, French, and Italian Governments for their assent. The two +last immediately gave it. After a brief delay the Disraeli Ministry +sent a decisive refusal and made no alternative proposal, though +one of its members, Sir Stafford Northcote, is known to have +formulated a scheme<a name="FNanchor97"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_97">[97]</a>. The Cabinet took a still more serious +step: on May 24, it ordered the British fleet in the Mediterranean +to steam to Besika Bay, near the entrance to the Dardanelles--the +very position it had taken before the Crimean War<a name= +"FNanchor98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98">[98]</a>. It is needless to +say that this act not only broke up the "European Concert," but +ended all hopes of compelling Turkey at once to grant the +much-needed reforms. That compulsion would have been irresistible +had the British fleet joined the Powers in preventing the landing +of troops from Asia Minor in the Balkan Peninsula. As it was, the +Turks could draw those reinforcements without hindrance.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg +169]</span> +<p>The Berlin Memorandum was, of course, not presented to Turkey, +and partly owing to the rapid changes which then took place at +Constantinople. To these we must now advert.</p> +<p>The Sultan, Abdul Aziz, during his fifteen years of rule had +increasingly shown himself to be apathetic, wasteful, and +indifferent to the claims of duty. In the month of April, when the +State repudiated its debts, and officials and soldiers were left +unpaid, his life of luxurious retirement went on unchanged. It has +been reckoned that of the total Turkish debt of +£T200,000,000, as much as £T53,000,000 was due to his +private extravagance<a name="FNanchor99"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_99">[99]</a>. Discontent therefore became rife, +especially among the fanatical bands of theological students at +Constantinople. These Softas, as they are termed, numbering some +20,000 or more, determined to breathe new life into the Porte--an +aim which the patriotic "Young Turkey" party already had in view. +On May 11 large bands of Softas surrounded the buildings of the +Grand Vizier and the Sheik-ul-Islam, and with wild cries compelled +them to give up their powers in favour of more determined men. On +the night of May 29-30 they struck at the Sultan himself. The new +Ministers were on their side: the Sheik-ul-Islam, the chief of the +Ulemas, who interpret Mohammedan theology and law, now gave +sentence that the Sultan might be dethroned for mis-government; and +this was done without the least show of resistance. His nephew, +Murad Effendi, was at once proclaimed Sultan as Murad V.; a few +days later the dethroned Sultan was secretly murdered, though +possibly his death may have been due to suicide<a name= +"FNanchor100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100">[100]</a>.</p> +<p>We may add here that Murad soon showed himself to be a friend to +reform; and this, rather than any incapacity for ruling, was +probably the cause of the second palace revolution, which led to +his deposition on August 31. Thereupon his brother, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> the +present ruler, Abdul Hamid, ascended the throne. His appearance was +thus described by one who saw him at his first State progress +through his capital: "A somewhat heavy and stern countenance . . . +narrow at the temples, with a long gloomy cast of features, large +ears, and dingy complexion. . . . It seemed to me the countenance of a +ruler capable of good or evil, but knowing his own mind and +determined to have his own way<a name="FNanchor101"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_101">[101]</a>." This forecast has been fulfilled in the +most sinister manner.</p> +<p>If any persons believed in the official promise of June 1, that +there should be "liberty for all" in the Turkish dominions, they +might have been undeceived by the events that had just transpired +to the south of the Balkan Mountains. The outbreak of Moslem +fanaticism, which at Constantinople led to the dethronement of two +Sultans in order to place on the throne a stern devotee, had +already deluged with blood the Bulgarian districts near +Philippopolis. In the first days of May, the Christians of those +parts, angered by the increase of misrule and fired with hope by +the example of the Herzegovinians, had been guilty of acts of +insubordination; and at Tatar Bazardjik a few Turkish officials +were killed. The movement was of no importance, as the Christians +were nearly all unarmed. Nevertheless, the authorities poured into +the disaffected districts some 18,000 regulars, along with hordes +of irregulars, or Bashi-Bazouks; and these, especially the last, +proceeded to glut their hatred and lust in a wild orgy which +desolated the whole region with a thoroughness that the Huns of +Attila could scarcely have excelled (May 9-16). In the upper valley +of the Maritza out of eighty villages, all but fifteen were +practically wiped out. Batak, a flourishing town of some 7000 +inhabitants, underwent a systematic massacre, culminating in the +butchery of all who had taken refuge in the largest church; of the +whole population only 2000 managed to escape<a name= +"FNanchor102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102">[102]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg +171]</span> +<p>It is painful to have to add that the British Government was +indirectly responsible for these events. Not only had it let the +Turks know that it deprecated the intervention of the European +Powers in Turkey (which was equivalent to giving the Turks <i>carte +blanche</i> in dealing with their Christian subjects), but on +hearing of the Herzegovina revolt, it pressed on the Porte the need +of taking speedy measures to suppress them. The despatches of Sir +Henry Elliott, our ambassador at Constantinople, also show that he +had favoured the use of active measures towards the disaffected +districts north of Philippopolis<a name="FNanchor103"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_103">[103]</a>.</p> +<p>Of course, neither the British Government nor its ambassador +foresaw the awful results of this advice; but their knowledge of +Turkish methods should have warned them against giving it without +adding the cautions so obviously needed. Sir Henry Elliott speedily +protested against the measures adopted by the Turks, but then it +was too late<a name="FNanchor104"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_104">[104]</a>. Furthermore, the contemptuous way in +which Disraeli dismissed the first reports of the Bulgarian +massacres as "coffee-house babble" revealed his whole attitude of +mind on Turkish affairs; and the painful impression aroused by this +utterance was increased by his declaration of July 30 that the +British fleet then at Besika Bay was kept there solely in defence +of British interests. He made a similar but more general statement +in the House of Commons on August 11. On the next morning the world +heard that Queen Victoria had been pleased to confer on him the +title of Earl of Beaconsfield. It is well known, on his own +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>[pg +172]</span> admission, that he could no longer endure the strain of +the late sittings in the House of Commons and had besought Her +Majesty for leave to retire. She, however, suggested the gracious +alternative that he should continue in office with a seat in the +House of Lords. None the less, the conferring of this honour was +felt by very many to be singularly inopportune.</p> +<p>For at this time tidings of the massacres at Batak and elsewhere +began to be fully known. Despite the efforts of Ministers to +discredit them, they aroused growing excitement; and when the whole +truth was known, a storm of indignation swept over the country as +over the whole of Europe. Efforts were made by the Turcophil Press +to represent the new trend of popular feeling as a mere party move +and an insidious attempt of the Liberal Opposition to exploit +humanitarian sentiment; but this charge will not bear examination. +Mr. Gladstone had retired from the Liberal Leadership early in 1875 +and was deeply occupied in literary work; and Lords Granville and +Hartington, on whom devolved the duty of leading the Opposition, +had been very sparing of criticisms on the foreign policy of the +Cabinet. They, as well as Mr. Gladstone, had merely stated that the +Government, on refusing to join in the Berlin Memorandum, ought to +have formulated an alternative policy. We now know that Mr. +Gladstone left his literary work doubtfully and reluctantly<a name= +"FNanchor105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105">[105]</a>.</p> +<p>Now, however, the events in Bulgaria shed a ghastly light on the +whole situation, and showed the consequences of giving the "moral +support" of Britain to the Turks. The whole question ceased to rest +on the high and dry levels of diplomacy, and became one of life or +death for many thousands of men and women. The conscience of the +country was touched to the quick by the thought that the presence +of the British Mediterranean fleet at Besika Bay was giving the +same encouragement to the Turks as it had done before the Crimean +War, and that, too, when they had belied the promises so solemnly +given in 1856, and were now proved to be guilty of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> +unspeakable barbarities. In such a case, the British nation would +have been disgraced had it not demanded that no further alliance +should be formed. It was equally the duty of the leaders of the +Opposition to voice what was undoubtedly the national sentiment. To +have kept silence would have been to stultify our Parliamentary +institutions. The parrot cry that British interests were endangered +by Russia's supposed designs on Turkey, was met by the unanswerable +reply that, if those designs existed, the best way to check them +was to maintain the European Concert, and especially to keep in +close touch with Austria, seeing that that Power had as much cause +as England to dread any southward extension of the Czar's power. +Russia might conceivably fight Turkey and Great Britain; but she +would not wage war against Austria as well. Therefore, the dictates +of humanity as well as those of common sense alike condemned the +British policy, which from the outset had encouraged the Turks to +resist European intervention, had made us in some measure +responsible for the Bulgarian massacres, and, finally, had broken +up the Concert of the Powers, from which alone a peaceful solution +of the Eastern Question could be expected.</p> +<p>The union of the Powers having been dissolved by British action, +it was but natural that Russia and Austria should come to a private +understanding. This came about at Reichstadt in Bohemia on July 8. +No definitive treaty was signed, but the two Emperors and their +Chancellors framed an agreement defining their spheres of influence +in the Balkans in case war should break out between Russia and +Turkey. Francis Joseph of Austria covenanted to observe a +neutrality friendly to the Czar under certain conditions that will +be noticed later on. Some of those conditions were distasteful to +the Russian Government, which sounded Bismarck as to his attitude +in case war broke out between the Czar and the Hapsburg ruler. +Apparently the reply of the German Chancellor was unfavourable to +Russia<a name="FNanchor106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106">[106]</a>, +for it thereafter renewed the negotiations <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> with +the Court of Vienna. On the whole, the ensuing agreement was a +great diplomatic triumph; for the Czar thereby secured the +neutrality of Austria--a Power that might readily have remained in +close touch with Great Britain had British diplomacy displayed more +foresight.</p> +<p>The prospects of a great war, meanwhile, had increased owing to +the action of Servia and Montenegro. The rulers of those States, +unable any longer to hold in their peoples, and hoping for support +from their Muscovite kinsfolk, declared war on Turkey at the end of +June. Russian volunteers thronged to the Servian forces by +thousands; but, despite the leadership of the Russian General, +Tchernayeff, they were soon overborne by the numbers and fanatical +valour of the Turks. Early in September, Servia appealed to the +Powers for their mediation; and, owing chiefly to the efforts of +Great Britain, terms for an armistice were proposed by the new +Sultan, Abdul Hamid, but of so hard a nature that the Servians +rejected them.</p> +<p>On the fortune of war still inclining against the Slavonic +cause, the Russian people became intensely excited; and it was +clear that they would speedily join in the war unless the Turks +moderated their claims. There is reason to believe that the Czar +Alexander II. dreaded the outbreak of hostilities with Turkey in +which he might become embroiled with Great Britain. The Panslavonic +party in Russia was then permeated by revolutionary elements that +might threaten the stability of the dynasty at the end of a long +and exhausting struggle. But, feeling himself in honour bound to +rescue Servia and Montenegro from the results of their ill-judged +enterprise, he assembled large forces in South Russia and sent +General Ignatieff to Constantinople with the demand, urged in the +most imperious manner (Oct. 30), that the Porte should immediately +grant an armistice to those States. At once Abdul Hamid gave +way.</p> +<p>Even so, Alexander II. showed every desire of averting the +horrors of war. Speaking to the British ambassador at St. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg +175]</span> Petersburg on November 2, he said that the present +state of affairs in Turkey "was intolerable, and unless Europe was +prepared to act with firmness and energy, he should be obliged to +act alone." But he pledged his word that he desired no +aggrandisement, and that "he had not the smallest wish or intention +to be possessed of Constantinople<a name="FNanchor107"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_107">[107]</a>." At this time proposals for a Conference +of the Powers at Constantinople were being mooted: they had been +put forth by the British Government on October 5. There seemed, +therefore, to be some hope of a compromise if the Powers reunited +so as to bring pressure to bear on Turkey; for, a week later, the +Sultan announced his intention of granting a constitution, with an +elected Assembly to supervise the administration. But hopes of +peace as well as of effective reform in Turkey were damped by the +warlike speech of Lord Beaconsfield at the Lord Mayor's banquet on +November 9. He then used these words. If Britain draws the sword +"in a righteous cause; if the contest is one which concerns her +liberty, her independence, or her Empire, her resources, I feel, +are inexhaustible. She is not a country that, when she enters into +a campaign, has to ask herself whether she can support a second or +a third campaign." On the next day the Czar replied in a speech at +Moscow to the effect that if the forthcoming Conference at +Constantinople did not lead to practical results, Russia would be +forced to take up arms; and he counted on the support of his +people. A week later 160,000 Russian troops were mobilised.</p> +<p>The issue was thus clear as far as concerned Russia. It was not +so clear for Great Britain. Even now, we are in ignorance as to the +real intent of Lord Beaconsfield's speech at the Guildhall. It +seems probable that, as there were divisions in his Cabinet, he may +have wished to bring about such a demonstration of public feeling +as would strengthen his hands in proposing naval and military +preparations. The duties of a Prime Minister are so complex that +his words may be viewed either in an international sense, or as +prompted by administrative <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" +id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> needs, or by his relations to his +colleagues, or, again, they may be due merely to electioneering +considerations. Whatever their real intent on this occasion, they +were interpreted by Russia as a defiance and by Turkey as a promise +of armed help.</p> +<p>On the other hand, if Lord Beaconsfield hoped to strengthen the +pro-Turkish feeling in the Cabinet and the country, he failed. The +resentment aroused by Turkish methods of rule and repression was +too deep to be eradicated even by his skilful appeals to +Imperialist sentiment. The Bulgarian atrocities had at least +brought this much of good: they rendered a Turco-British alliance +absolutely impossible.</p> +<p>Lord Derby had written to this effect on August 29 to Sir Henry +Elliott: "The impression produced here by events in Bulgaria has +completely destroyed sympathy with Turkey. The feeling is universal +and so strong that even if Russia were to declare war against the +Porte, Her Majesty's Government would find it practically +impossible to interfere<a name="FNanchor108"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_108">[108]</a>."</p> +<p>The assembly of a Conference of the envoys of the Powers at +Constantinople was claimed to be a decisive triumph for British +diplomacy. There were indeed some grounds for hoping that Turkey +would give way before a reunited Europe. The pressure brought to +bear on the British Cabinet by public opinion resulted in +instructions being given to Lord Salisbury (our representative, +along with Sir H. Elliott, at the Conference) which did not differ +much from the avowed aims of Russia and of the other Powers. Those +instructions stated that the Powers could not accept mere promises +of reform, for "the whole history of the Ottoman Empire, since it +was admitted into the European Concert under the engagements of the +Treaty of Paris [1856], has proved that the Porte is unable to +guarantee the execution of reforms in the provinces by Turkish +officials, who accept them with reluctance and neglect them with +impunity." The Cabinet, therefore, insisted that there must be +"external guarantees," but stipulated that no foreign <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> armies +must be introduced into Turkey<a name="FNanchor109"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_109">[109]</a>. Here alone British Ministers were at +variance with the other Powers; and when, in the preliminary +meetings of the Conference, a proposal was made to bring Belgian +troops in order to guarantee the thorough execution of the proposed +reforms, Lord Salisbury did not oppose it. In pursuance of +instructions from London, he even warned the Porte that Britain +would not give any help in case war resulted from its refusal of +the European proposals.</p> +<p>It is well known that Lord Salisbury was far less pro-Turkish +than the Prime Minister or the members of the British embassy at +Constantinople. During a diplomatic tour that he had made to the +chief capitals he convinced himself "that no Power was disposed to +shield Turkey--not even Austria--if blood had to be shed for the +<i>status quo</i>." (The words are those used by his assistant, +Mr., afterwards Sir, William White.) He had had little or no +difficulty in coming to an understanding with the Russian +plenipotentiary, General Ignatieff, despite the intrigues of Sir +Henry Elliott and his Staff to hinder it<a name= +"FNanchor110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110">[110]</a>. Indeed, the +situation shows what might have been effected in May 1876, had not +the Turks then received the support of the British Government.</p> +<p>Now, however, there were signs that the Turks declined to take +the good advice of the Powers seriously; and on December 23, when +the "full" meetings of the Conference began, the Sultan and his +Ministers treated the plenipotentiaries to a display of injured +virtue and reforming zeal that raised the situation to the level of +the choicest comedy. In the midst of the proceedings, after the +Turkish Foreign Minister, Safvet Pacha, had explained away the +Bulgarian massacres as a myth woven by the Western imagination, +salvoes of cannon were heard, that proclaimed the birth of a new +and most democratic constitution for the whole of the Turkish +Empire. Safvet did justice to the solemnity of the occasion; the +envoys of the Powers <span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id= +"page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> suppressed their laughter; and before +long, Lord Salisbury showed his resentment at this display of +oriental irony and stubbornness by ordering the British Fleet to +withdraw from Besika Bay<a name="FNanchor111"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_111">[111]</a>.</p> +<p>But deeds and words were alike wasted on the Sultan and his +Ministers. To all the proposals and warnings of the Powers they +replied by pointing to the superior benefits about to be conferred +by the new constitution. The Conference therefore speedily came to +an end (Jan. 20). It had served its purpose. It had fooled +Europe<a name="FNanchor112"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_112">[112]</a>.</p> +<p>The responsibility for this act of cynical defiance must be +assigned to one man. The Sultan had never before manifested a +desire for any reform whatsoever; and it was not until December 19, +1876, that he named as Grand Vizier Midhat Pasha, who was known to +have long been weaving constitutional schemes. This Turkish +Siéyès was thrust to the front in time to promulgate +that fundamental reform. His tenure of power, like that of the +French constitution-monger in 1799, ended when the scheme had +served the purpose of the real controller of events. Midhat +obviously did not see whither things were tending. On January 24, +1877, he wrote to Saïd Pasha, stating that, according to the +Turkish ambassador at London (Musurus Pasha), Lord Derby +congratulated the Sublime Porte on the dissolution of the +Conference, "which he considers a success for Turkey<a name= +"FNanchor113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113">[113]</a>."</p> +<p>It therefore only remained to set the constitution in motion. +After six days, when no sign of action was forthcoming, Midhat +wrote to the Sultan in urgent terms, reminding him that their +object in promulgating the constitution "was certainly not merely +to find a solution of the so-called Eastern <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> +Question, nor to seek thereby to make a demonstration that should +conciliate the sympathies of Europe, which had been estranged from +us." This Note seems to have irritated the Sultan. Abdul Hamid, +with his small, nervous, exacting nature, has always valued +Ministers in proportion to their obedience, not to their power of +giving timely advice. In every independent suggestion he sees the +germ of opposition, and perhaps of a palace plot. He did so now. By +way of reply, he bade Midhat come to the Palace. Midhat, fearing a +trap, deferred his visit, until he received the assurance that the +order for the reforms had been issued. Then he obeyed the summons; +at once he was apprehended, and was hurried to the Sultan's yacht, +which forthwith steamed away for the Aegean (Feb. 5). The fact that +he remained above its waters, and was allowed to proceed to Italy, +may be taken as proof that his zeal for reform had been not without +its uses in the game which the Sultan had played against the +Powers. The Turkish Parliament, which assembled on March 1, acted +with the subservience that might have been expected after this +lesson. The Sultan dissolved it on the outbreak of war, and +thereafter gave up all pretence of constitutional forms. As for +Midhat, he was finally lured back to Turkey and done to death. Such +was the end of the Turkish constitution, of the Turkish Parliament, +and of their contriver<a name="FNanchor114"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_114">[114]</a>.</p> +<p>Even the dissolution of the Conference of the Powers did not +bring about war at once. It seems probable that the Czar hoped much +from the statesmanlike conduct of Lord Salisbury at Constantinople, +or perhaps he expected to secure the carrying out of the needed +reforms by means of pressure from the Three Emperors' League (see +Chapter XII.). But, unless the Russians gave up all interest in the +fate of her kinsmen and co-religionists in Turkey, war was now the +more probable outcome of events. Alexander had already applied to +Germany for help, either diplomatic or military; but these +overtures, of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id= +"page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> whatever kind, were declined by +Bismarck--so he declared in his great speech of February 6, 1888. +Accordingly, the Czar drew closer to Austria, with the result that +the Reichstadt agreement of July 8, 1876, now assumed the form of a +definitive treaty signed at Vienna between the two Powers on +January 15, 1877.</p> +<p>The full truth on this subject is not known. M. Élie de +Cyon, who claims to have seen the document, states that Austria +undertook to remain neutral during the Russo-Turkish War, that she +stipulated for a large addition of territory if the Turks were +forced to quit Europe; also that a great Bulgaria should be formed, +and that Servia and Montenegro should be extended so as to become +conterminous. To the present writer this account appears suspect. +It is inconceivable that Austria should have assented to an +expansion of these principalities which would bar her road +southward to Salonica<a name="FNanchor115"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_115">[115]</a>.</p> +<p>Another and more probable version was given by the Hungarian +Minister, M. Tisza, during the course of debates in the Hungarian +Delegations in the spring of 1887, to this effect:--(1) No Power +should claim an exclusive right of protecting the Christians of +Turkey, and the Great Powers should pronounce on the results of the +war; (2) Russia would annex no land on the right (south) bank of +the Danube, would respect the integrity of Roumania, and refrain +from touching Constantinople; (3) if Russia formed a new Slavonic +State in the Balkans, it should not be at the expense of +non-Slavonic peoples; and she would not claim special rights over +Bulgaria, which was to be governed by a prince who was neither +Russian nor Austrian; (4) Russia would not extend her military +operations to the districts west of Bulgaria. These were the terms +on which Austria agreed to remain neutral; and in certain cases she +claimed to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina<a name= +"FNanchor116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116">[116]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg +181]</span> +<p>Doubtless these, or indeed any, concessions to Austria were +repugnant to Alexander II. and Prince Gortchakoff; but her +neutrality was essential to Russia's success in case war broke out; +and the Czar's Government certainly acted with much skill in +securing the friendly neutrality of the Power which in 1854 had +exerted so paralysing a pressure on the Russian operations on the +Lower Danube.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, Alexander II. still sought to maintain the +European Concert with a view to the exerting of pacific pressure +upon Turkey. Early in March he despatched General Ignatieff on a +mission to the capitals of the Great Powers; except at Westminster, +that envoy found opinion favourable to the adoption of some form of +coercion against Turkey, in case the Sultan still hardened his +heart against good advice. Even the Beaconsfield Ministry finally +agreed to sign a Protocol, that of March 31, 1877, which recounted +the efforts of the six Great Powers for the improvement of the lot +of the Christians in Turkey, and expressed their approval of the +promises of reform made by that State on February 13, 1876. Passing +over without notice the new Turkish Constitution, the Powers +declared that they would carefully watch the carrying out of the +promised reforms, and that, if no improvement in the lot of the +Christians should take place, "they [the Powers] reserve to +themselves to consider in common as to the means which they may +deem best fitted to secure the wellbeing of the Christian +populations, and the interests of the general peace<a name= +"FNanchor117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117">[117]</a>." This final +clause contained a suggestion scarcely less threatening than that +with which the Berlin Memorandum had closed; and it is difficult to +see why the British Cabinet, which now signed the London Protocol, +should have wrecked that earlier effort of the Powers. In this as +in other matters it is clear that the Cabinet was swayed by a "dual +control."</p> +<p>But now it was all one whether the British Government signed the +Protocol or not. Turkey would have none of it. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> +Despite Lord Derby's warning that "the Sultan would be very unwise +if he would not endeavour to avail himself of the opportunity +afforded him to arrange a mutual disarmament," that potentate +refused to move a hair's-breadth from his former position. On the +12th of April the Turkish ambassador announced to Lord Derby the +final decision of his Government: "Turkey, as an independent State, +cannot submit to be placed under any surveillance, whether +collective or not. . . . No consideration can arrest the Imperial +Government in their determination to protest against the Protocol +of the 31st March, and to consider it, as regards Turkey, as devoid +of all equity, and consequently of all binding character." Lord +Derby thereupon expressed his deep regret at this decision, and +declared that he "did not see what further steps Her Majesty's +Government could take to avert a war which appeared to have become +inevitable<a name="FNanchor118"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_118">[118]</a>."</p> +<p>The Russian Government took the same view of the case, and on +April 7-19, 1877, stated in a despatch that, as a pacific solution +of the Eastern Question was now impossible, the Czar had ordered +his armies to cross the frontiers of Turkey. The official +declaration of war followed on April 12-24. From the point of view +of Lord Derby this seemed "inevitable." Nevertheless, on May 1 he +put his name to an official document which reveals the curious +dualism which then prevailed in the Beaconsfield Cabinet. This +reply to the Russian despatch contained the assertion that the last +answer of the Porte did not remove all hope of deference on its +part to the wishes and advice of Europe, and "that the decision of +the Russian Government is not one which can have their concurrence +or approval." We shall not be far wrong in assuming that, while the +hand that signed this document was the hand of Derby, the spirit +behind it was that of Beaconsfield.</p> +<p>In many quarters the action of Russia was stigmatised as the +outcome of ambition and greed, rendered all the more odious by the +cloak of philanthropy which she had hitherto <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> worn. +The time has not come when an exhaustive and decisive verdict can +be given on this charge. Few movements have been free from all +taint of meanness; but it is clearly unjust to rail against a great +Power, because, at the end of a war which entailed frightful losses +and a serious though temporary loss of prestige, it determined to +exact from the enemy the only form of indemnity which was +forthcoming, namely, a territorial indemnity. Russia's final +claims, as will be seen, were open to criticism at several points; +but the censure just referred to is puerile. It accords, however, +with most of the criticisms passed in London "club-land," which +were remarkable for their purblind cynicism.</p> +<p>No one who has studied the mass of correspondence contained in +the Blue-books relating to Turkey in 1875-77 can doubt that the +Emperor Alexander II. displayed marvellous patience in face of a +series of brutal provocations by Moslem fanatics and the clamour of +his own people for a liberating crusade. Bismarck, who did not like +the Czar, stated that he did not want war, but waged it "under +stress of Panslavist influence<a name="FNanchor119"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_119">[119]</a>." That some of his Ministers and Generals +had less lofty aims is doubtless true; but practically all +authorities are now agreed that the maintenance of the European +Concert would have been the best means of curbing those aims. Yet, +despite the irritating conduct of the Beaconsfield Cabinet, the +Emperor Alexander sought to re-unite Europe with a view to the +execution of the needed reforms in Turkey. Even after the +successive rebuffs of the rejection of the Berlin Memorandum by +Great Britain and of the suggestions of the Powers at +Constantinople by Turkey, he succeeded in restoring the semblance +of accord between the Powers, and of leaving to Turkey the +responsibility of finally and insolently defying their +recommendations. A more complete diplomatic triumph has rarely been +won. It was the reward of consistency and patience, qualities in +which the Beaconsfield Cabinet was signally lacking.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg +184]</span> +<p>We may notice one other criticism: that Russia's agreement with +Austria implied the pre-existence of aggressive designs. This is by +no means conclusive. That the Czar should have taken the precaution +of coming to the arrangement of January 1877 with Austria does not +prove that he was desirous of war. The attitude of Turkey during +the Conference at Constantinople left but the slightest hope of +peace. To prepare for war in such a case is not a proof of a desire +for war, but only of common prudence.</p> +<p>Certain writers in France and Germany have declared that +Bismarck was the real author of the Russo-Turkish War. The +dogmatism of their assertions is in signal contrast with the +thinness of their evidence<a name="FNanchor120"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_120">[120]</a>. It rests mainly on the statement that +the Three Emperors' League (see Chapter XII.) was still in force; +that Bismarck had come to some arrangement for securing gains to +Austria in the south-east as a set-off to her losses in 1859 and +1866; that Austrian agents in Dalmatia had stirred up the +Herzegovina revolt of 1875; and that Bismarck and Andrassy did +nothing to avert the war of 1877. Possibly he had a hand in these +events--he had in most events of the time; and there is a +suspicious passage in his Memoirs as to the overtures made to +Berlin in the autumn of 1876. The Czar's Ministers wished to know +whether, in the event of a war with Austria, they would have the +support of Germany. To this the Chancellor replied, that Germany +could not allow the present equilibrium of the monarchical Powers +to be disturbed: "The result . . . was that the Russian storm passed +from Eastern Galicia to the Balkans<a name= +"FNanchor121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121">[121]</a>." Thereafter +Russia came to terms with Austria as described above.</p> +<p>But the passage just cited only proves that Russia might have +gone to war with Austria over the Eastern Question. In point of +fact, she went to war with Turkey, after coming to a friendly +arrangement with Austria. Bismarck <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> therefore acted as +"honest-broker" between his two allies; and it has yet to be proved +that Bismarck did not sincerely work with the two other Empires to +make the coercion of Turkey by the civilised Powers irresistibly +strong. In his speech of December 6, 1876, to the Reichstag, the +Chancellor made a plain and straightforward declaration of his +policy, namely, that of neutrality, but inclining towards +friendship with Austria. That, surely, did not drive Russia into +war with Turkey, still less entice her into it. As for the +statement that Austrian intrigues were the sole cause of the +Bosnian revolt, it must appear childish to all who bear in mind the +exceptional hardships and grievances of the peasants of that +province. Finally, the assertion of a newspaper, the <i>Czas</i>, +that Queen Victoria wrote to Bismarck in April 1877 urging him to +protest against an attack by Russia on Turkey, may be dismissed as +an impudent fabrication<a name="FNanchor122"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_122">[122]</a>. It was altogether opposed to the habits +of her late Majesty to write letters of that kind to the Foreign +Ministers of other Powers.</p> +<p>Until documents of a contrary tenor come to light, we may say +with some approach to certainty that the responsibility for the war +of 1877-78 rests with the Sultan of Turkey and with those who +indirectly encouraged him to set at naught the counsels of the +Powers. Lord Derby and Lord Salisbury had of late plainly warned +him of the consequences of his stubbornness; but the influence of +the British embassy at Constantinople and of the Turkish ambassador +in London seems greatly to have weakened the force of those +warnings.</p> +<p>It must always be remembered that the Turk will concede +religious freedom and civic equality to the "Giaours" only under +overwhelming pressure. In such a case he mutters "Kismet" ("It is +fate"), and gives way; but the least sign of weakness or wavering +on the part of the Powers awakens his fanatical scruples. Then his +devotion to the Koran forbids any surrender. History has afforded +several proofs of this, from the time of the Battle of Navarino +(1827) to that of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id= +"page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> the intervention of the Western +Powers on behalf of the slaughtered and harried Christians of the +Lebanon (1860). Unfortunately Abdul Hamid had now come to regard +the Concert of the Powers as a "loud-sounding nothing." With the +usual bent of a mean and narrow nature he detected nothing but +hypocrisy in its lofty professions, and self-seeking in its +philanthropic aims, together with a treacherous desire among +influential persons to make the whole scheme miscarry. Accordingly +he fell back on the boundless fund of inertia, with which a devout +Moslem ruler blocks the way to western reforms. A competent +observer has finely remarked that the Turk never changes; his +neighbours, his frontiers, his statute-books may change, but his +ideas and his practice remain always the same. He will not be +interfered with; he will not improve<a name= +"FNanchor123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123">[123]</a>. To this +statement we must add that only under dire necessity will he allow +his Christian subjects to improve. The history of the Eastern +Question may be summed up in these assertions.</p> +<p>Abdul Hamid II. is the incarnation of the reactionary forces +which have brought ruin to Turkey and misery to her Christian +subjects. He owed his crown to a recrudescence of Moslem +fanaticism; and his reign has illustrated the unsuspected strength +and ferocity of his race and creed in face of the uncertain tones +in which Christendom has spoken since the spring of the year 1876. +The reasons which prompted his defiance a year later were revealed +by his former Grand Vizier, Midhat Pasha, in an article in the +<i>Nineteenth Century</i> for June 1877. The following passage is +especially illuminating:--</p> +<blockquote>Turkey was not unaware of the attitude of the English +Government towards her; the British Cabinet had declared in clear +terms that it would not interfere in our dispute. This decision of +the English Cabinet was perfectly well known to us, but we knew +still better that the general interests of Europe and the +particular <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id= +"page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> interests of England were so bound up +in our dispute with Russia that, in spite of all the Declarations +of the English Cabinet, it appeared to us to be absolutely +impossible for her to avoid interfering sooner or later in this +Eastern dispute. This profound belief, added to the reasons we have +mentioned, was one of the principal factors of our contest with +Russia<a name="FNanchor124"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_124">[124]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>It appears, then, that the action of the British Government in +the spring and summer of 1876, and the well-known desire of the +Prime Minister to intervene in favour of Turkey, must have +contributed to the Sultan's decision to court the risks of war +rather than allow any intervention of the Powers on behalf of his +Christian subjects.</p> +<p>The information that has come to light from various quarters +serves to strengthen the case against Lord Beaconsfield's policy in +the years 1875-77. The letter written by Mr. White to Sir Robert +Morier on January 16, 1877, and referred to above, shows that his +diplomatic experience had convinced him of the futility of +supporting Turkey against the Powers. In that letter he made use of +these significant words:--"You know me well enough. I did not come +here (Constantinople) to deceive Lord Salisbury or to defend an +untenable Russophobe or pro-Turkish policy. There will probably be +a difference of opinion in the Cabinet as to our future line of +policy, and I shall not wonder if Lord Salisbury should upset Dizzy +and take his place or leave the Government on this question. If he +does the latter, the coach is indeed upset." Mr. White also +referred to the <i>personnel</i> of the British Embassy at +Constantinople in terms which show how mischievous must have been +its influence on the counsels of the Porte.</p> +<p>A letter from Sir Robert Morier of about the same date proves +that that experienced diplomatist also saw the evil <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> +results certain to accrue from the Beaconsfield policy:--"I have +not ceased to din that into the ears of the F.O. (Foreign Office), +to make ourselves the <i>point d'appui</i> of the Christians in the +Turkish Empire, and thus take all the wind out of the sails of +Russia; and after the population had seen the difference between an +English and a Russian occupation [of the disturbed parts of Turkey] +it would jump to the eyes even of the blind, and we should +<i>débuter</i> into a new policy at Constantinople with an +immense advantage<a name="FNanchor125"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_125">[125]</a>." This advice was surely statesmanlike. +To support the young and growing nationalities in Turkey would +serve, not only to checkmate the supposed aggressive designs of +Russia, but also to array on the side of Britain the progressive +forces of the East. To rely on the Turk was to rely on a moribund +creature. It was even worse. It implied an indirect encouragement +to the "sick man" to enter on a strife for which he was manifestly +unequal, and in which we did not mean to help him. But these +considerations failed to move Lord Beaconsfield and the Foreign +Office from the paths of tradition and routine<a name= +"FNanchor126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126">[126]</a>.</p> +<p>Finally, in looking at the events of 1875-76 in their broad +outlines, we may note the verdict of a veteran diplomatist, whose +conduct before the Crimean War proved him to be as friendly to the +interests of Turkey as he was hostile to those of Russia, but who +now saw that the situation differed utterly from that which was +brought about by the aggressive action of Czar Nicholas I. in 1854. +In a series of letters to the <i>Times</i> he pointed out the +supreme need of joint action by all the Powers who signed the +Treaty of Paris; that that treaty by no means prohibited their +intervention in the affairs of Turkey; that wise and timely +intervention would be to the advantage of that State; that the +Turks had always yielded to coercion if it were of overwhelming +strength, but only on those terms; and that therefore the severance +of England from the European Concert <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> was greatly to be +deplored<a name="FNanchor127"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_127">[127]</a>. In private this former champion of +Turkey went even farther, and declared on Sept. 10, 1876, that the +crisis in the East would not have become acute had Great Britain +acted conjointly with the Powers<a name="FNanchor128"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_128">[128]</a>. There is every reason to believe that +posterity will endorse this judgment of Lord Stratford de +Redcliffe.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a> "Islam +continues to be, as it has been for twelve centuries, the most +inflexible adversary to the Western spirit" <i>(History of Serbia +and the Slav Provinces of Turkey,</i> by L. von Ranke, Eng. edit. +p. 296).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a> The +story that Peter the Great of Russia left a clause in his will, +bidding Russia to go on with her southern conquests until she +gained Constantinople, is an impudent fiction of French publicists +in the year 1812, when Napoleon wished to keep Russia and Turkey at +war. Of course, Peter the Great gave a mighty impulse to Russian +movements towards Constantinople.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a> For the +treaty and the firman of 1856, see <i>The European Concert in the +Eastern Question,</i> by T. E. Holland; also Débidour, +<i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe</i> (1814-1878), vol. ii. pp. +150-152; <i>The Eastern Question,</i> by the late Duke of Argyll, +vol. i. chap. i.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a> Sir +Horace Rumbold, <i>Recollections of a Diplomatist</i> (First +Series), vol. ii. p. 295.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a> As to +this, see Reports: <i>Condition of Christians in Turkey</i> (1860). +Presented to Parliament in 1861. Also Parliamentary Papers, Turkey, +No. 16 (1877).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a> Efforts +were made by the British Consul, Holmes, and other pro-Turks, to +assign this revolt to Panslavonic intrigues. That there were some +Slavonic emissaries at work is undeniable; but it is equally +certain that their efforts would have had no result but for the +existence of unbearable ills. It is time, surely, to give up the +notion that peoples rise in revolt merely owing to outside +agitators. To revolt against the warlike Turks has never been +child's play.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a> For the +full text, see Hertslet, <i>The Map of Europe by Treaty</i>, iv. +pp. 2418-2429.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a> Bryce, +<i>Studies in Contemporary Biography</i> (1904).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a> For +details of this affair, see Chapter XV. of this work.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a> See +Parliamentary Papers, Turkey, No. 5 (1877), for Consul Freeman's +report of March 17, 1877, of the outrages by the Turks in Bosnia. +The refugees declared they would "sooner drown themselves in the +Unna than again subject themselves to Turkish oppression." The +Porte denied all the outrages.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a> +Hertslet, iv. pp. 2459-2463.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a> <i>Sir +Stafford Northcote, Earl of Iddesleigh</i>, by Andrew Lang, vol. +ii. p. 181.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a> Our +ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Henry Elliott, asked (May 9) that +a squadron should be sent there to reassure the British subjects in +Turkey; but as the fleet was not ordered to proceed thither until +after a long interval, and was kept there in great strength and for +many months, it is fair to assume that the aim of our Government +was to encourage Turkey.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor99">[99]</a> +Gallenga, <i>The Eastern Question</i>, vol. ii. p. 99.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor100">[100]</a> For +the aims of the Young Turkey party, see the <i>Life of Midhat +Pasha</i>, by his son; also an article by Midhat in the +<i>Nineteenth Century</i> for June 1878.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor101">[101]</a> +Gallenga, <i>The Eastern Question</i>, vol. ii. p. 126. Murad died +in the year 1904.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor102">[102]</a> Mr. +Baring, a secretary of the British Legation at Constantinople, +after a careful examination of the evidence, gave the number of +Bulgarians slain as "not fewer than 12,000"; he opined that 163 +Mussulmans were perhaps killed early in May. He admitted the Batak +horrors. Achmet Agha, their chief perpetrator, was at first +condemned to death by a Turkish commission of inquiry, but he was +finally pardoned. Shefket Pasha, whose punishment was also +promised, was afterwards promoted to a high command. Parl. Papers, +Turkey, No. 2 (1877), pp. 248-249; <i>ibid</i>. No. 15 (1877), No. +77, p. 58. Mr. Layard, successor to Sir Henry Elliott at +Constantinople, afterwards sought to reduce the numbers slain to +3500. Turkey, No. 26 (1877), p. 54.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor103">[103]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 3 (1876), pp. 144, 173, 198-199.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor104">[104]</a> See, +<i>inter alia</i>, his letter of May 26, 1876, quoted in <i>Life +and Correspondence of William White</i> (1902), pp. 99-100.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor105">[105]</a> J. +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. ii. pp. 548-549.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor106">[106]</a> +Bismarck, <i>Reflections and Reminiscences</i> vol. ii. chap, +xxviii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor107">[107]</a> +Hertslet, iv. p. 2508.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor108">[108]</a> +Parliamentary Papers, Turkey, No. 6 (1877).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor109">[109]</a> +Parliamentary Papers, Turkey, ii. (1877), No. 1; also, in part, in +Hertslet, iv. p. 2517.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor110">[110]</a> +<i>Sir William White: Life and Correspondence</i>, p. 117.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor111">[111]</a> See +Gallenga (<i>The Eastern Question</i>, vol. ii. pp. 255-258) as to +the scepticism regarding the new constitution, felt alike by +foreigners and natives at Constantinople.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor112">[112]</a> See +Parl. Papers (1878), Turkey, No. 2, p. 114, for the constitution; +and p. 302 for Lord Salisbury's criticisms on it; also <i>ibid</i>, +pp. 344-345, for Turkey's final rejection of the proposals of the +Powers.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor113">[113]</a> +<i>Life of Midhat Pasha</i>, by Midhat Ali (1903), p. 142. Musurus +must have deliberately misrepresented Lord Derby.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor114">[114]</a> +<i>Life of Midhat Pasha</i>, chaps. v.-vii. For the Sultan's +character and habits, see an article in the <i>Contemporary +Review</i> for December 1896, by D. Kelekian.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor115">[115]</a> +Élie de Cyon, <i>Histoire de l'Entente franco-russe</i>, +chap, i.; and in <i>Nouvelle Revue</i> for June 1, 1887. His +account bears obvious signs of malice against Germany and +Austria.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor116">[116]</a> +Débidour, <i>Hist. diplomatique de l'Europe</i> (1814-1878), +vol. ii. p. 502.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor117">[117]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 9 (1877), p. 2.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor118">[118]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 15 (1877), pp. 354-355.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor119">[119]</a> +<i>Bismarck: his Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. p. 259 +(Eng. ed.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor120">[120]</a> +Élie de Cyon, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. i.; also in <i>Nouvelle +Revue</i> for 1880.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor121">[121]</a> +Bismarck, <i>Recollections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. p. 231 +(Eng. ed.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor122">[122]</a> +Busch, <i>Our Chancellor</i>, vol. ii. p. 126.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor123">[123]</a> +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by Odysseus, p. 139.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor124">[124]</a> See, +too, the official report of our pro-Turkish Ambassador at +Constantinople, Mr. Layard (May 30, 1877), as to the difficulty of +our keeping out of the war in its final stages (Parl. Papers, +Turkey, No. 26 (1877), p. 52).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor125">[125]</a> +<i>Sir William White: Life and Correspondence</i>, pp. 115-117.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor126">[126]</a> For +the power of tradition in the Foreign Office, see <i>Sir William +White: Life and Correspondence</i>, p. 119.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor127">[127]</a> +Letters of Dec. 31, 1875, May 16, 1876, and Sept. 9, 1876, +republished with others in <i>The Eastern Question</i>, by Lord +Stratford de Redcliffe (1881).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor128">[128]</a> J. +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. ii. p. 555.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg +190]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<h3>THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR</h3> +<blockquote>"Knowledge of the great operations of war can be +acquired only by experience and by the applied study of the +campaigns of all the great captains. Gustavus, Turenne, and +Frederick, as well as Alexander, Hannibal, and Cæsar, have +all acted on the same principles. To keep one's forces together, to +bear speedily on any point, to be nowhere vulnerable,--such are the +principles that assure victory."--NAPOLEON.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>Despite the menace to Russia contained in the British Note of +May 1, 1877, there was at present little risk of a collision +between the two Powers for the causes already stated. The +Government of the Czar showed that it desired to keep on friendly +terms with the Cabinet of St. James, for, in reply to a statement +of Lord Derby that the security of Constantinople, Egypt, and the +Suez Canal was a matter of vital concern for Great Britain, the +Russian Chancellor, Prince Gortchakoff, on May 30 sent the +satisfactory assurance that the two latter would remain outside the +sphere of military operations; that the acquisition of the Turkish +capital was "excluded from the views of His Majesty the Emperor," +and that its future was a question of common interest which could +be settled only by a general understanding among the Powers<a name= +"FNanchor129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129">[129]</a>. As long as +Russia adhered to these promises there could scarcely be any +question of Great Britain intervening on behalf of Turkey.</p> +<p>Thus the general situation in the spring of 1877 scarcely seemed +to warrant the hopes with which the Turks entered on <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> the +war. They stood alone confronting a Power which had vastly greater +resources in men and treasure. Seeing that the Sultan had recently +repudiated a large part of the State debt, and could borrow only at +exorbitant rates of interest, it is even now mysterious how his +Ministers managed to equip very considerable forces, and to arm +them with quick-firing rifles and excellent cannon. The Turk is a +born soldier, and will fight for nothing and live on next to +nothing when his creed is in question; but that does not solve the +problem how the Porte could buy huge stores of arms and ammunition. +It had procured 300,000 American rifles, and bought 200,000 more +early in the war. On this topic we must take refuge in the domain +of legend, and say that the life of Turkey is the life of a +phoenix: it now and again rises up fresh and defiant among the +flames.</p> +<p>As regards the Ottoman army, an English officer in its service, +Lieutenant W.V. Herbert, states that the artillery was very good, +despite the poor supply of horses; that the infantry was very good; +the regular cavalry mediocre, the irregular cavalry useless. He +estimates the total forces in Europe and Asia at 700,000; but, as +he admits that the battalions of 800 men rarely averaged more than +600, that total is clearly fallacious. An American authority +believes that Turkey had not more than 250,000 men ready in Europe +and that of these not more than 165,000 were north of the Balkans +when the Russians advanced towards the Danube<a name= +"FNanchor130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130">[130]</a>. Von Lignitz +credits the Turks with only 215,000 regular troops and 100,000 +irregulars (Bashi Bazouks and Circassians) in the whole Empire; of +these he assigns two-thirds to European Turkey<a name= +"FNanchor131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131">[131]</a>.</p> +<p>It seemed, then, that Russia had no very formidable task before +her. Early in May seven army corps began to move towards that great +river. They included 180 battalions of infantry, 200 squadrons of +cavalry, and 800 guns--in all about <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> 200,000 men. Their +cannon were inferior to those of the Turks, but this seemed a small +matter in view of the superior numbers which Russia seemed about to +place in the field. The mobilisation of her huge army, however, +went on slowly, and produced by no means the numbers that were +officially reported. Our military attaché at the Russian +headquarters, Colonel Wellesley, reported this fact to the British +Government; and, on this being found out, incurred disagreeable +slights from the Russian authorities<a name= +"FNanchor132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132">[132]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Russia had secured the co-operation of Roumania by a +convention signed on April 16, whereby the latter State granted a +free passage through that Principality, and promised friendly +treatment to the Muscovite troops. The Czar in return pledged +himself to "maintain and defend the actual integrity of +Roumania<a name="FNanchor133"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_133">[133]</a>." The sequel will show how this promise +was fulfilled. For the present it seemed that the interests of the +Principality were fully secured. Accordingly Prince Charles (elder +brother of the Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, whose candidature +for the Crown of Spain made so much stir in 1870) took the further +step of abrogating the suzerainty of the Sultan over Roumania (June +3).</p> +<p>Even before the declaration of independence Roumania had +ventured on a few acts of war against Turkey; but the co-operation +of her army, comprising 50,000 regulars and 70,000 National Guards, +with that of Russia proved to be a knotty question. The Emperor +Alexander II., on reaching the Russian headquarters at Plojeschti, +to the north of Bukharest, expressed his wish to help the Roumanian +army, but insisted that it must be placed under the +commander-in-chief of the Russian forces, the Grand Duke Nicholas. +To this Prince Charles demurred, and the Roumanian troops at first +took no active part in the campaign. Undoubtedly their non-arrival +served to mar the plans of the Russian Staff<a name= +"FNanchor134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134">[134]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg +193]</span> +<p>Delays multiplied from the outset. The Russians, not having +naval superiority in the Black Sea which helped to gain them their +speedy triumph in the campaign of 1828, could only strike through +Roumania and across the Danube and the difficult passes of the +middle Balkans. Further, as the Roumanian railways had but single +lines, the movement of men and stores to the Danube was very slow. +Numbers of the troops, after camping on its marshy banks (for the +river was then in flood), fell ill of malarial fever; above all, +the carelessness of the Russian Staff and the unblushing peculation +of its subordinates and contractors clogged the wheels of the +military machine. One result of it was seen in the bad bread +supplied to the troops. A Roumanian officer, when dining with the +Grand Duke Nicholas, ventured to compare the ration bread of the +Russians with the far better bread supplied to his own men at +cheaper rates. The Grand Duke looked at the two specimens and +then--talked of something else<a name="FNanchor135"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_135">[135]</a>. Nothing could be done until the flood +subsided and large bodies of troops were ready to threaten the +Turkish line of defence at several points<a name= +"FNanchor136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136">[136]</a>. The Ottoman +position by no means lacked elements of strength. The first of +these was the Danube itself. The task of crossing a great river in +front of an active foe is one of the most dangerous of all military +operations. Any serious miscalculation of the strength, the +position, or the mobility of the enemy's forces may lead to an +irreparable disaster; and until the bridges used for the crossing +are defended by <i>têtes de pont</i> the position of the +column that has passed over is precarious.</p> +<p>The Danube is especially hard to cross, because its northern +bank is for the most part marshy, and is dominated by the southern +bank. The German strategist, von Moltke, who knew Turkey well, and +had written the best history of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828, +maintained that the passage of <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page194" id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span> the Danube must cost the +invaders upwards of 50,000 men. Thereafter, they would be +threatened by the Quadrilateral of fortresses--Rustchuk, Shumla, +Varna, and Silistria. Three of these were connected by railway, +which enabled the Turks to send troops quickly from the port of +Varna to any position between the mountain stronghold of Shumla and +the riverine fortress, Rustchuk.</p> +<p>Even the non-military reader will see by a glance at the map +that this Quadrilateral, if strongly held, practically barred the +roads leading to the Balkans on their eastern side. It also +endangered the march of an invading army through the middle of +Bulgaria to the central passes of that chain. Moreover, there are +in that part only two or three passes that can be attempted by an +army with artillery. The fortress of Widdin, where Osman Pasha was +known to have an army of about 40,000 seasoned troops, dominated +the west of Bulgaria and the roads leading to the easier passes of +the Balkans near Sofia.</p> +<p>These being the difficulties that confronted the invaders in +Europe, it is not surprising that the first important battles took +place in Asia. On the Armenian frontier the Russians, under Loris +Melikoff, soon gained decided advantages, driving back the Turks +with considerable losses on Kars and Erzeroum. The tide of war soon +turned in that quarter, but, for the present, the Muscovite +triumphs sent a thrill of fear through Turkey, and probably +strengthened the determination of Abdul-Kerim, the Turkish +commander-in-chief in Europe, to maintain a cautious defensive.</p> +<p>Much could be said in favour of a "Fabian" policy of delay. +Large Turkish forces were in the western provinces warring against +Montenegro, or watching Austria, Servia, and Greece. It is even +said that Abdul-Kerim had not at first more than about 120,000 men +in the whole of Bulgaria, inclusive of the army at Widdin. But +obviously, if the invaders so far counted on his weakness as to +thrust their columns across the Danube in front of forces that +could be secretly and swiftly strengthened by drafts from the south +and west, they would expose themselves</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg +195]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/195.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of Bulgaria.</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>[pg +196]</span> +<p>to the gravest risks. The apologists of Abdul-Kerim claim that +such was his design, and that the signs of sluggishness which he at +first displayed formed a necessary part of a deep-laid scheme for +luring the Russians to their doom. Let the invaders enter Central +Bulgaria in force, and expose their flanks to Abdul-Kerim in the +Quadrilateral, and to Osman Pasha at Widdin; then the Turks, by +well-concerted moves against those flanks, would drive the enemy +back on the Danube, and perhaps compel a large part of his forces +to lay down their arms. Such is their explanation of the conduct of +Abdul-Kerim.</p> +<p>As the Turkish Government is wholly indifferent to the advance +of historical knowledge, it is impossible even now to say whether +this idea was definitely agreed on as the basis of the plan of +campaign. There are signs that Abdul-Kerim and Osman Pasha adopted +it, but whether it was ever approved by the War Council at +Constantinople is a different question. Such a plan obviously +implied the possession of great powers of self-control by the +Sultan and his advisers, in face of the initial success of the +Russians; and unless that self-control was proof against panic, the +design could not but break down at the crucial point. Signs are not +wanting that in the suggestions here tentatively offered, we find a +key that unlocks the riddle of the Danubian campaign of 1877.</p> +<p>At first Abdul-Kerim in the Quadrilateral, and Osman at Widdin, +maintained a strict defensive. The former posted small bodies of +troops, probably not more than 20,000 in all, at Sistova, +Nicopolis, and other neighbouring points. But, apart from a heavy +bombardment of Russian and Roumanian posts on the northern bank, +neither commander did much to mar the hostile preparations. This +want of initiative, which contrasted with the enterprise displayed +by the Turks in 1854, enabled the invaders to mature their designs +with little or no interruption.</p> +<p>The Russian plan of campaign was to destroy or cripple the four +small Turkish ironclads that patrolled the lower <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> +reaches of the river, to make feints at several points, and to +force a passage at two places--first near Ibrail into the +Dobrudscha, and thereafter, under cover of that diversion, from +Simnitza to Sistova. The latter place of crossing combined all the +possible advantages. It was far enough away from the Turkish +Quadrilateral to afford the first essentials of safety; it was +known to be but weakly held; its position on the shortest line of +road between the Danube and a practicable pass of the Balkans--the +Shipka Pass--formed a strong recommendation; while the presence of +an island helped on the first preparations.</p> +<p>The flood of the Danube having at last subsided, all was ready +by midsummer. Russian batteries and torpedo-boats had destroyed two +Turkish armoured gunboats in the lower reaches of the river, and on +June 22 a Russian force crossed in boats from a point near Galatz +to Matchin, and made good their hold on the Dobrudscha.</p> +<p>Preparations were also ripe at Simnitza. In the narrow northern +arm of the river the boats and pontoons collected by the Russians +were launched with no difficulty, the island was occupied, and on +the night of June 26-27, a Volhynian regiment, along with Cossacks, +crossed in boats over the broad arm of the river, there some 1000 +yards wide, and gained a foothold on the bank. Already their +numbers were thinned by a dropping fire from a Turkish detachment; +but the Turks made the mistake of trusting to the bullet instead of +plying the bayonet. Before dawn broke, the first-comers had been +able to ensconce themselves under a bank until other boats came up. +Then with rousing cheers they charged the Turks and pressed them +back.</p> +<p>This was the scene which greeted the eyes of General Dragomiroff +as his boat drew near to the shore at 5 A.M. Half hidden by the +morning mist, the issue seemed doubtful. But at his side stood a +general, fresh from triumphs in Turkestan, who had begged to be +allowed to come as volunteer or aide-de-camp. When Dragomiroff, in +an agony of suspense, lowered his glass, the other continued to +gaze, and at last <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id= +"page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> exclaimed: "I congratulate you on +your victory." "Where do you see that?" asked Dragomiroff "Where? +on the faces of the soldiers. Look at them. Watch them as they +charge the enemy. It is a pleasure to see them." The verdict was +true. It was the verdict of Skobeleff<a name= +"FNanchor137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137">[137]</a>.</p> +<p>Such was the first appearance in European warfare of the +greatest leader of men that Russia has produced since the days of +Suvoroff. The younger man resembled that sturdy veteran in his +passion for war, his ambition, and that frank, bluff bearing which +always wins the hearts of the soldiery. The grandson of a peasant, +whose bravery had won him promotion in the great year, 1812; the +son of a general whose prowess was renowned--Skobeleff was at once +a commander and a soldier. "Ah! he knew the soul of a soldier as if +he were himself a private." These were the words often uttered by +the Russians about Skobeleff; similar things had been said of +Suvoroff in his day. For champions such as these the emotional +Slavs will always pour out their blood like water. But, like the +captor of Warsaw, Skobeleff knew when to put aside the bayonet and +win the day by skill. Both were hard hitters, but they had a hold +on the principles of the art of war. The combination of these +qualities was formidable; and many Russians believe that, had the +younger man, with his magnificent physique and magnetic +personality, enjoyed the length of days vouchsafed to the +diminutive Suvoroff, he would have changed the face of two +continents.</p> +<p>The United States attaché to the Russian army in the +Russo-Turkish War afterwards spoke of his military genius as +"stupendous," and prophesied that, should he live twenty years +longer, and lead the Russian armies in the next Turkish war, he +would win a place side by side with "Napoleon, Wellington, Grant, +and Moltke." To equate these four names is a mark of transatlantic +enthusiasm rather than of balanced judgment; <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> but +the estimate, so far as it concerns Skobeleff, reflects the opinion +of nearly all who knew him<a name="FNanchor138"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_138">[138]</a>.</p> +<p>Encouraged by the advent of Skobeleff and Dragomiroff, the +Russians assumed the offensive with full effect, and by the +afternoon of that eventful day, had mastered the rising ground +behind Sistova. Here again the Turkish defence was tame. The town +was unfortified, but its outskirts presented facilities for +defence. Nevertheless, under the pressure of the Russian attack and +of artillery fire from the north bank, the small Turkish garrison +gave up the town and retreated towards Rustchuk. At many points on +that day the Russians treated their foes to a heavy bombardment or +feints of crossing, especially at Nicopolis and Rustchuk; and this +accounts for the failure of the defenders to help the weak garrison +on which fell the brunt of the attack. All things considered, the +crossing of the Danube must rank as a highly creditable +achievement, skilfully planned and stoutly carried out; it cost the +invaders scarcely 700 men<a name="FNanchor139"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_139">[139]</a>.</p> +<p>They now threw a pontoon-bridge across the Danube between +Simnitza and Sistova; and by July 2 had 65,000 men and 244 cannon +in and near the latter town. Meanwhile, their 14th corps held the +central position of Babadagh in the Dobrudscha, thereby preventing +any attack from the north-east side of the Quadrilateral against +their communications with the south of Russia.</p> +<p>It may be questioned, however, whether the invaders did well to +keep so large a force in the Dobrudscha, seeing that a smaller body +of light troops patrolling the left bank of the lower Danube or at +the <i>tête de pont</i> at Matchin would have answered the +same purpose. The chief use of the crossing at Matchin was to +distract the attention of the enemy, an advance through the +unhealthy district of the Dobrudscha against the Turkish +Quadrilateral being in every way risky; above all, the retention +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg +200]</span> of a whole corps on that side weakened the main line of +advance, that from Sistova; and here it was soon clear that the +Russians had too few men for the enterprise in hand. The +pontoon-bridge over the Danube was completed by July 2--a fact +which enabled those troops which were in Roumania to be hurried +forward to the front.</p> +<p>Obviously it was unsafe to march towards the Balkans until both +flanks were secured against onsets from the Quadrilateral on the +east, and from Nicopolis and Widdin on the west. At Nicopolis, +twenty-five miles away, there were about 10,000 Turks; and around +Widdin, about 100 miles farther up the stream, Osman mustered +40,000 more. To him Abdul-Kerim now sent an order to march against +the flank of the invaders.</p> +<p>Nor were the Balkan passes open to the Russians; for, after the +crossing of the Danube, Reuf Pasha had orders to collect all +available troops for their defence, from the Shipka Pass to the +Slievno Pass farther east; 7000 men now held the Shipka; about +10,000 acted as a general reserve at Slievno; 3000 were thrown +forward to Tirnova, where the mountainous country begins, and +detachments held the more difficult tracks over the mountains. An +urgent message was also sent to Suleiman Pasha to disengage the +largest possible force from the Montenegrin war; and, had he +received this message in time, or had he acted with the needful +speed and skill, events might have gone very differently.</p> +<p>For some time the Turks seemed to be paralysed at all points by +the vigour of the Muscovite movements. Two corps, the 13th and +14th, marched south-east from Sistova to the torrent of the Jantra, +or Yantra, and seized Biela, an important centre of roads in that +district. This secured them against any immediate attack from the +Quadrilateral. The Grand Duke Nicholas also ordered the 9th corps, +under the command of General Krüdener, to advance from Sistova +and attack the weakly fortified town of Nicopolis. Aided by the +Roumanian guns on the north bank of the Danube, this <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> corps +succeeded in overpowering the defence and capturing the town, along +with 7000 troops and 110 guns (July 16).</p> +<p>Thus the invaders seemed to have gained a secure base on the +Danube, from Sistova to Nicopolis, whence they could safely push +forward their vanguard to the Balkans. In point of fact their light +troops had already seized one of its more difficult passes--an +exploit that will always recall the name of that dashing leader, +General Gurko. The plan now to be described was his conception; it +was approved by the Grand Duke Nicholas. Setting out from Sistova +and drawing part of his column from the forces at Biela, Gurko +first occupied the important town of Tirnova, the small Turkish +garrison making a very poor attempt to defend the old Bulgarian +capital (July 7). The liberators there received an overwhelming +ovation, and gained many recruits for the "Bulgarian Legion." +Pushing ahead, the Cossacks and Dragoons seized large supplies of +provisions stored by the Turks, and gained valuable news respecting +the defences of the passes.</p> +<p>The Shipka Pass, due south of Tirnova, was now strongly held, +and Turkish troops were hurrying towards the two passes north of +Slievno, some fifty miles farther east. Even so they had not enough +men at hand to defend all the passes of the mountain chain that +formed their chief line of defence. They left one of them +practically undefended; this was the Khainkoi Pass, having an +elevation of 3700 feet above the sea.</p> +<p>A Russian diplomatist, Prince Tserteleff, who was charged to +collect information about the passes, found that the Khainkoi +enjoyed an evil reputation. "Ill luck awaits him who crosses the +Khainkoi Pass," so ran the local proverb. He therefore determined +to try it; by dint of questioning the friendly Bulgarian peasantry +he found one man who had been through it once, and that was two +years before with an ox-cart. Where an ox-cart could go, a light +mountain gun could go. Accordingly, the Prince and General Rauch +went with 200 Cossacks to explore the pass, set the men to work at +the worst places, and, thanks to the secrecy observed by the +peasantry, soon <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id= +"page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> made the path to the summit +practicable for cavalry and light guns. The Prince disguised +himself as a Bulgarian shepherd to examine the southern outlet; +and, on his bringing a favourable report, 11,000 men of Gurko's +command began to thread the intricacies of the defile.</p> +<p>Thanks to good food, stout hearts, jokes, and songs, they +managed to get the guns up the worst places. Then began the perils +of the descent. But the Turks knew nothing of their effort, else it +might have ended far otherwise. At the southern end 300 Turkish +regulars were peacefully smoking their pipes and cooking their food +when the Cossack and Rifles in the vanguard burst upon them, drove +them headlong, and seized the village of Khainkoi. A pass over the +Balkans had been secured at the cost of two men killed and three +wounded. Gurko was almost justified in sending to the Grand Duke +Nicholas the proud vaunt that none but Russian soldiers could have +brought field artillery over such a pass, and in the short space of +three days (July 11-14)<a name="FNanchor140"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_140">[140]</a>.</p> +<p>After bringing his column of 11,000 men through the pass, Gurko +drove off four Turkish battalions sent against him from the Shipka +Pass and Kazanlik. Next he sent out bands of Cossacks to spread +terror southwards, and delude the Turks into the belief that he +meant to strike at the important towns, Jeni Zagra and Eski Zagra, +on the road to Adrianople. Having thus caused them to loosen their +grip on Kazanlik and the Shipka, he wheeled his main force to the +westward (leaving 3500 men to hold the exit of the Khainkoi), and +drove the Turks successively from positions in front of the town, +from the town itself, and then from the village of Shipka. Above +that place towered the mighty wall of the Balkans, lessened +somewhat at the pass itself, but presenting even there a seemingly +impregnable position.</p> +<p>Gurko, however, relied on the discouragement of the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> +Turkish garrison after the defeats of their comrades, and at seeing +their positions turned on the south while they were also threatened +on the north. For another Russian column had advanced from Tirnova +up the more gradual northern slopes of the Balkans, and now began +to hammer at the defences of the pass on that side. The garrison +consisted of six and a half battalions under Khulussi Pasha, and +the wreckage of five battalions already badly beaten by Gurko's +column. These, with one battery of artillery, held the pass and the +neighbouring peaks, which they had in part fortified.</p> +<p>In pursuance of a pre-arranged plan for a joint attack on July +17 of both Russian forces, the northern body advanced up the +slopes; but, as Gurko's men were unable to make their diversion in +time, the attack failed. An isolated attempt by Gurko's force on +the next day also failed, the defenders disgracing themselves by +tricking the Russians with the white flag and firing upon them. But +the Turks were now in difficulties for want of food and water; or +possibly they were seized with panic. At any rate, while amusing +the Russians with proposals of surrender, they stole off in small +bodies, early on July 19. The truth was, ere long, found out by +outposts of the north Russian forces; Skobeleff and his men were +soon at the summit, and there Gurko's vanguard speedily joined them +with shouts of joy.</p> +<p>Thus, within twenty-three days from the crossing of the Danube +Gurko seized two passes of the Balkans, besides capturing 800 +prisoners and 13 guns. It is not surprising that a Turkish official +despatch of July 21 to Suleiman summed up the position: "The +existence of the Empire hangs on a hair." And when Gurko's light +troops proceeded to raid the valley of the Maritsa, it seemed that +the Turkish defence would collapse as helplessly as in the +memorable campaign of 1828. We must add here that the Bulgarians +now began to revenge themselves for the outrages of May 1876; and +the struggle was sullied by horrible acts on both sides.</p> +<p>The impression produced by these dramatic strokes was profound +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg +204]</span> and widespread. The British fleet was sent to Besika +Bay, a step preparatory, as it seemed, to steaming up the +Dardanelles to the Sea of Marmora. At Adrianople crowds of Moslems +fled away in wild confusion towards Constantinople. There the +frequent meetings of ministers at the Sultan's palace testified to +the extent of the alarm; and that nervous despot wavered between +the design of transferring the seat of government to Brussa in Asia +Minor, and that of unfurling the standard of the Prophet and +summoning all the faithful to rally to its defence against the +infidels. Finally he took courage from despair, and adopted the +more manly course. But first he disgraced his ministers. The War +Minister and Abdul-Kerim were summarily deposed, the latter being +sent off as prisoner to the island of Lemnos.</p> +<p>All witnesses agree that the War Minister, Redif Pasha, was +incapable and corrupt. The age and weakness of Abdul-Kerim might +have excused his comparative inaction in the Quadrilateral in the +first half of July. It is probable that his plan of campaign, +described above, was sound; but he lacked the vigour, and the +authorities at Constantinople lacked the courage, to carry it out +thoroughly and consistently.</p> +<p>Mehemet Ali Pasha, a renegade German, who had been warring with +some success in Montenegro, assumed the supreme command on July 22; +and Suleiman Pasha, who, with most of his forces had been brought +by sea from Antivari to the mouth of the River Maritsa, now +gathered together all the available troops for the defence of +Roumelia.</p> +<p>The Czar, on his side, cherished hopes of ending the war while +Fortune smiled on his standards. There are good grounds for +thinking that he had entered on it with great reluctance. In its +early stages he let the British Government know of his desire to +come to terms with Turkey; and now his War Minister, General +Milutin, hinted to Colonel F.A. Wellesley, British attaché +at headquarters, that the mediation of Great Britain would be +welcomed by Russia. That officer on July 30 had an interview with +the Emperor, who set forth the conditions on which he would be +prepared to accept peace <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" +id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> with Turkey. They were--the +recovery of the strip of Bessarabia lost in 1856, and the +acquisition of Batoum in Asia Minor. Alexander II. also stated that +he would not occupy Constantinople unless that step were +necessitated by the course of events; that the Powers would be +invited to a conference for the settlement of Turkish affairs; and +that he had no wish to interfere with the British spheres of +interest already referred to. Colonel Wellesley at once left +headquarters for London, but on the following day the aspect of the +campaign underwent a complete change, which, in the opinion of the +British Government, rendered futile all hope of a settlement on the +conditions laid down by the Czar.<a name="FNanchor141"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_141">[141]</a></p> +<p>For now, when the Turkish cause seemed irrevocably lost, the +work of a single brave man to the north of the Balkans dried up, as +if by magic, the flood of invasion, brought back victory to the +standards of Islam, and bade fair to overwhelm the presumptuous +Muscovites in the waters of the Danube. Moltke in his account of +the war of 1828, had noted a peculiarity of the Ottomans in warfare +(a characteristic which they share with the glorious defenders of +Saragossa in 1808) of beginning the real defence when others would +abandon it as hopeless. This remark, if not true of the Turkish +army as a whole, certainly applies to that part of it which was +thrilled to deeds of daring by Osman Pasha.</p> +<p>More fighting had fallen to him perhaps than to any Turk of his +time. He was now forty years of age; his frame, slight and of +middle height, gave no promise of strength or capacity; neither did +his face, until the observer noted the power of his eyes to take in +the whole situation "with one slow comprehensive look<a name= +"FNanchor142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142">[142]</a>." This gave him +a magnetic faculty, the effect of which was not wholly marred by +his disdainful manners, curt speech, and contemptuous treatment of +foreigners. Clearly here was a cold, sternly objective nature like +that of Bonaparte. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id= +"page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> He was a good representative of the +stolid Turk of the provinces, who, far from the debasing influence +of the Court, retains the fanaticism and love of war on behalf of +his creed that make his people terrible even in the days of +decline<a name="FNanchor143"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_143">[143]</a>.</p> +<p>In accordance with the original design of Abdul-Kerim, Osman had +for some time remained passive at Widdin. On receiving orders from +the commander-in-chief, he moved eastwards on July 13, with 40,000 +men, to save Nicopolis. Finding himself too late to save that place +he then laid his plans for the seizure of Plevna. The importance of +that town, as a great centre of roads, and as possessing many +advantages for defence on the hills around, had been previously +pointed out to the Russian Staff by Prince Charles of Roumania, as +indeed, earlier still, by Moltke. Accordingly, the Grand Duke +Nicholas had directed a small force of cavalry towards that town. +General Krüdener made the mistake of recalling it in order to +assist in the attack on Nicopolis on July 14-16, an unlucky move, +which enabled Osman to occupy Plevna without resistance on July +19<a name="FNanchor144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144">[144]</a>. On +the 18th the Grand Duke Nicholas ordered General Krüdener to +occupy Plevna. Knowing nothing of Osman's whereabouts, his vanguard +advanced heedlessly on the town, only to meet with a very decided +repulse, which cost the Russians 3000 men (July 20).</p> +<p>Osman now entrenched himself on the open downs that stretch +eastwards from Plevna. As will be seen by reference to the map on +<a href="#page213">page 213</a>, his position, roughly speaking, +formed an ellipse pointing towards the village of Grivitza. Above +that village his engineers threw up two great redoubts which +dominated the neighbourhood. Other redoubts and trenches screened +Plevna on the north-east and south. Finally, the crowns of three +main slopes lying to the east of Plevna bristled with defensive +works. West of the town lay the deep vale of the little River Wid, +itself the chief defence on that side. We may state here that +during the long operations against Plevna <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> the +Russians had to content themselves with watching this western road +to Orkanye and Sofia by means of cavalry; but the reinforcements +from Sofia generally made their way in. From that same quarter the +Turks were also able to despatch forces to occupy the town of +Lovtcha, between Plevna and the Shipka Pass.</p> +<p>The Russian Staff, realising its error in not securing this +important centre of roads, and dimly surmising the strength of the +entrenchments which Osman was throwing up near to the base of their +operations, determined to attack Plevna at once. Their task proved +to be one of unexpected magnitude. Already the long curve of the +outer Turkish lines spread along slopes which formed natural +glacis, while the ground farther afield was so cut up by hollows as +to render one combined assault very difficult. The strength, and +even the existence, of some of Osman's works were unknown. Finally, +the Russians are said to have had only 32,000 infantry men at hand +with two brigades of cavalry.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, Generals Krüdener and Schahofski received +orders to attack forthwith. They did so on July 31. The latter, +with 12,000 men took two of the outer redoubts on the south side, +but had to fall back before the deadly fire that poured on him from +the inner works. Krüdener operated against the still stronger +positions on the north; but, owing to difficulties that beset his +advance, he was too late to make any diversion in favour of his +colleague. In a word, the attack was ill planned and still worse +combined. Five hours of desperate fighting yielded the assailants +not a single substantial gain; their losses were stated officially +to be 7336 killed and wounded; but this is certainly below the +truth. Turkish irregulars followed the retreating columns at +nightfall, and butchered the wounded, including all whom they found +in a field-hospital.</p> +<p>This second reverse at Plevna was a disaster of the first +magnitude. The prolongation of the Russian line beyond the Balkans +had left their base and flanks too weak to stand against the +terrible blows that Osman seemed about to deal <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> from +his point of vantage. Plevna was to their right flank what Biela +was to their left. Troops could not be withdrawn from the latter +point lest the Turks from Shumla and Rustchuk should break through +and cut their way to the bridge at Sistova; and now Osman's force +threatened that spinal cord of the Russian communications. If he +struck how could the blow be warded off? For bad news poured in +from all quarters. From Armenia came the tidings that Mukhtar +Pasha, after a skilful retreat and concentration of force, had +turned on the Russians and driven them back in utter confusion.</p> +<p>From beyond the Balkans Gurko sent news that Suleiman's army was +working round by way of Adrianople, and threatened to pin him to +the mountain chain. In fact, part of Gurko's corps sustained a +serious reverse at Eski Zagra, and had to retreat in haste through +the Khainkoi Pass; while its other sections made their way back to +the Shipka Pass, leaving a rearguard to hold that important +position (July 30-August 8). Thus, on all sides, proofs accumulated +that the invaders had attempted far too much for their strength, +and that their whole plan of campaign was more brilliant than +sound. Possibly, had not the 14th corps been thrown away on the +unhealthy Dobrudscha, enough men would have been at hand to save +the situation. But now everything was at stake.</p> +<p>The whole of the month of August was a time of grave crisis for +the Russians, and it is the opinion of the best military critics +that the Turks, with a little more initiative and power of +combination, might have thrown the Russians back on the Danube in +utter disarray. From this extremity the invaders were saved by the +lack among the Turks of the above-named gifts, on which, rather +than on mere bravery, the issue of campaigns and the fate of +nations now ultimately depend. True to their old renown, the Turks +showed signal prowess on the field of battle, but they lacked the +higher intellectual qualities that garner the full harvest of +results.</p> +<p>Osman, either because he knew not that the Russians had used up +their last reserves at Plevna, or because he mistrusted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg +209]</span> the manoeuvring powers of his men, allowed +Krüdener quietly to draw off his shattered forces towards +Sistova, and made only one rather half-hearted move against that +all-important point. The new Turkish commander-in-chief, Mehemet +Ali, gathered a formidable array in front of Shumla and drove the +Russian army now led by the Cesarewich back on Biela, but failed to +pierce their lines. Finally, Suleiman Pasha, in his pride at +driving Gurko through the Khainkoi Pass, wasted time on the +southern side, first by harrying the wretched Bulgarians, and then +by hurling his brave troops repeatedly against the now almost +impregnable position on the Shipka Pass.</p> +<p>It is believed that jealousy of the neighbouring Turkish +generals kept Suleiman from adopting less wasteful and more +effective tactics. If he had made merely a feint of attacking that +post, and had hurried with his main body through the Slievno Pass +on the east to the aid of Mehemet, or through the western defiles +of the Balkans to the help of the brave Osman in his Plevna-Lovtcha +positions, probably the gain of force to one or other of them might +have led to really great results. As it was, these generals dealt +heavy losses to the invaders, but failed to drive them back on the +Danube.</p> +<p>Moreover, Russian reinforcements began to arrive by the middle +of August, the Emperor having already, on July 22, called out the +first ban of the militia and three divisions of the reserve of the +line, in all some 224,000 men<a name="FNanchor145"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_145">[145]</a>.</p> +<p>The bulk of these men did not arrive until September; and +meanwhile the strain was terrible. The war correspondence of Mr. +Archibald Forbes reveals the state of nervous anxiety in which +Alexander II. was plunged at this time. Forbes had been a witness +of the savage tenacity of the Turkish attack and the Russian +defence on the hills commanding the Shipka Pass. Finally, he had +shared in the joy of the hard-pressed defenders at the timely +advent of a rifle battalion hastily sent up on Cossack ponies, and +the decisive charge of General Radetzky at the head of two +companies of reserves at a Turkish breastwork <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> in the +very crisis of the fight (Aug. 24). Then, after riding post-haste +northwards to the Russian headquarters at Gornisstuden, he was at +once taken to the Czar's tent, and noted the look of eager suspense +on his face until he heard the reassuring news that Radetzky kept +his seat firm on the pass.</p> +<p>The worst was now over. The Russian Guards, 50,000 strong, were +near at hand, along with the other reinforcements above named. The +urgency of the crisis also led the Grand Duke Nicholas to waive his +claim that the Roumanian troops should be placed under his +immediate command. Accordingly, early in August, Prince Charles led +some 35,000 Roumanians across the Danube, and was charged with the +command of all the troops around Plevna<a name= +"FNanchor146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146">[146]</a>. The hopes of +the invaders were raised by Skobeleff's capture, on September 3, of +Lovtcha, a place half-way between Plevna and the Balkans, which had +ensured Osman's communications with Suleiman Pasha. The Turkish +losses at Lovtcha are estimated at nearly 15,000 men<a name= +"FNanchor147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147">[147]</a>.</p> +<p>This success having facilitated the attack on Plevna from the +south, a general assault was ordered for September 11. In the +meantime Osman also had received large reinforcements from Sofia, +and had greatly strengthened his defences. So skilfully had +outworks been thrown up on the north-east of Plevna that what +looked like an unimportant trench was found to be a new and +formidable redoubt, which foiled the utmost efforts of the 3rd +Roumanian division to struggle up the steep slopes on that side. To +their 4th division and to a Russian brigade fell an equally hard +task, that of advancing from the east against the two Grivitza +redoubts which had defied all assaults. The Turks showed their +usual constancy, despite the heavy and prolonged bombardment which +preluded the attack here and all along the lines. But the weight +and vigour of the onset told by degrees; and the Russian and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg +211]</span> Roumanian supports finally carried by storm the more +southerly of the two redoubts. The Turks made desperate efforts to +retrieve this loss. From the northern redoubt and the rear +entrenchments somewhat to the south there came a galling fire which +decimated the victors; for a time the Turks succeeded in recovering +the work, but at nightfall the advance of other Russian and +Roumanian troops ousted the Moslems. Thenceforth the redoubt was +held by the allies.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, to the south of the village of Grivitza the 4th and +9th Russian Corps had advanced in dense masses against the cluster +of redoubts that crowned the heights south-east of Plevna; but +their utmost efforts were futile; under the fearful fire of the +Turks the most solid lines melted away, and the corps fell back at +nightfall, with the loss of 110 officers and 5200 men.</p> +<p>Only on the south and south-west did the assailants seriously +imperil Osman's defence at a vital point; and here again Fortune +bestowed her favours on a man who knew how to wrest the utmost from +her, Michael Dimitrievitch Skobeleff. Few men or women could look +on his stalwart figure, frank, bold features, and keen, kindling +eyes without a thrill of admiration. Tales were told by the +camp-fires of the daring of his early exploits in Central Asia; +how, after the capture of Khiva in 1874, he dressed himself in +Turkoman garb, and alone explored the route from that city to Igdy, +as well as the old bed of the River Oxus; or again how, at the +capture of Khokand in the following year, his skill and daring led +to the overthrow of a superior force and the seizure of fifty-eight +guns. Thus, at thirty-two years of age he was the darling of the +troops; for his prowess in the field was not more marked than his +care and foresight in the camp. While other generals took little +heed of their men, he saw to their comforts and cheered them by his +jokes. They felt that he was the embodiment of the patriotism, love +of romantic exploit, and soaring ambition of the Great +Russians.</p> +<p>They were right. Already, as will appear in a later chapter, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg +212]</span> he was dreaming of the conquest of India; and, like +Napoleon, he could not only see visions but also master details, +from the principles of strategy to the routine of camp life, which +made those visions realisable. If ambition spurred him on towards +Delhi, hatred of things Teutonic pointed him to Berlin. Ill would +it have fared with the peace of the world had this champion of the +Slavonic race lived out his life. But his fiery nature wore out its +tenement, the baser passions, so it is said, contributing to hasten +the end of one who lived his true life only amidst the smoke of +battle. In war he was sublime. Having recently came from Central +Asia, he was at first unattached to any corps, and roved about in +search of the fiercest fighting. His insight and skill had warded +off a deadly flank attack on Schahofski's shattered corps at Plevna +on July 30, and his prowess had contributed largely to the capture +of Lovtcha on September 3. War correspondents, who knew their +craft, turned to follow Skobeleff, wherever official reports might +otherwise direct them; and the lust of fighting laid hold of the +grey columns when they saw the "white general" approach.</p> +<p>On September 11 Prince Imeritinski and Skobeleff (the order +should be inverted) commanded the extreme left of the Russian line, +attacking Plevna from the south. Having four regiments of the line +and four battalions of sharpshooters--about 12,000 men in all--he +ranged them at the foot of the hill, whose summit was crowned by an +all-important redoubt-the "Kavanlik." There were four others that +flanked the approach. When the Russian guns had thoroughly cleared +the way for an assault, he ordered the bands to play and the two +leading regiments to charge up the slope. Keeping his hand firmly +on the pulse of the battle, he saw them begin to waver under the +deadly fire of the Turks; at once he sent up a rival regiment; the +new mass carried on the charge until it too threatened to die away. +The fourth regiment struggled up into that wreath of death, and +with the like result.</p> +<p>Then Skobeleff called on his sharpshooters to drive home</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg +213]</span> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img004.jpg"><img src= +"images/img004.jpg" width="90%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>Plan of Plevna.</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg +214]</span> +<p>the onset. Riding on horseback before the invigorating lines, he +swept on the stragglers and waverers until all of them came under +the full blast of the Turkish flames vomited from the redoubt. +There his sword fell, shivered in his hand, and his horse rolled +over at the very verge of the fosse. Fierce as ever, the leader +sprang to his feet, waved the stump in air, and uttered a shout +which put fresh heart into his men. With him they swarmed into the +fosse, up the bank, and fell on the defenders. The bayonet did the +rest, taking deadly revenge for the murderous volleys.</p> +<p>But Osman's engineers had provided against such an event. The +redoubt was dominated from the left and could be swept by cross +fire from the rear and right. On the morrow the Turks drew in large +forces from the north side and pressed the victors hard. In vain +did Skobeleff send urgent messages for reinforcements to make good +the gaps in his ranks. None were sent, or indeed could be sent. +Five times his men beat off the foe. The sixth charge hurled them +first from the Kavanlik redoubt, and thereafter from the flanking +works and trenches out on to that fatal slope. A war correspondent +saw Skobeleff after this heart-breaking loss, "his face black with +powder and smoke, his eyes haggard and bloodshot, and his voice +quite gone. I never before saw such a picture of battle<a name= +"FNanchor148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148">[148]</a>."</p> +<p>Thus all the efforts of the Russians and Roumanians had failed +to wrest more than a single redoubt from the Moslems; and at that +point they were unable to make any advance against the inner works. +The fighting of September 11-12 is believed to have cost the allies +18,000 men killed and wounded out of the 75,000 infantrymen +engaged. The mistakes of July 31 had been again repeated. The +number of assailants was too small for an attack on so great an +extent of fortified positions defended with quick-firing rifles. +Had the Russians, while making feints at other points to hold the +Turks there, concentrated their efforts either on the two Grivitza +redoubts, or <span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id= +"page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> on those about the Kavanlik work, +they would almost certainly have succeeded. As it was, they hurled +troops in close order against lines, the strength of which was not +well known; and none of their commanders but Skobeleff employed +tactics that made the most of their forces<a name= +"FNanchor149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149">[149]</a>. The depression +at the Russian headquarters was now extreme<a name= +"FNanchor150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150">[150]</a>. On September +13 the Emperor held a council of war at which the Prince of +Roumania, the Grand Duke Nicholas, General Milutin (Minister of +War), and three other generals were present. The Grand Duke +declared that the only prudent course was to retire to the Danube, +construct a <i>tête de pont</i> guarding the southern end of +their bridge and, after receiving reinforcements, again begin the +conquest of Bulgaria. General Milutin, however, demurred to this, +seeing that Osman's army was not mobile enough to press them hard; +he therefore proposed to await the reinforcements in the positions +around Plevna. The Grand Duke thereupon testily exclaimed that +Milutin had better be placed in command, to which the Emperor +replied: "No; you shall retain the command; but the plan suggested +by the Minister of War shall be carried out<a name= +"FNanchor151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151">[151]</a>."</p> +<p>The Emperor's decision saved the situation. The Turks made no +combined effort to advance towards Plevna in force; and Osman felt +too little trust in the new levies that reached him from Sofia to +move into the open and attack Sistova. Indeed, Turkish strategy +over the whole field of war is open to grave censure. On their side +there was a manifest lack of combination. Mehemet Ali pounded away +for a month at the army of the Czarewitch on the River Lom, and +then drew back his forces (September 24). He allowed Suleiman Pasha +to fling his troops in vain against the natural stronghold of the +Russians at the Shipka Pass, and had made no dispositions for +succouring Lovtcha. Obviously he should have concentrated the +Turkish forces so as to deal a timely and decisive blow either on +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg +216]</span> Lom or on the Sofia-Plevna road. When he proved his +incapacity both as commander-in-chief and as commander of his own +force, Turkish jealousy against the <i>quondam</i> German flared +forth; and early in October he was replaced by Suleiman. The change +was greatly for the worse. Suleiman's pride and obstinacy closed +the door against larger ideas, and it has been confidently stated +that at the end of the campaign he was bribed by the Russians to +betray his cause. However that may be, it is certain that the +Turkish generals continued to fight, each for his own hand, and +thus lost the campaign.</p> +<p>It was now clear that Osman must be starved out from the +position which the skill of his engineers and the steadiness of his +riflemen had so speedily transformed into an impregnable +stronghold. Todleben, the Russian engineer, who had strengthened +the outworks of Sevastopol, had been called up to oppose trench to +trench, redoubt to redoubt. Yet so extensive were the Turkish +works, and so active was Shevket Pasha's force at Sofia in sending +help and provisions, that not until October 24 was the line of +investment completed, and by an army which now numbered fully +120,000 men. By December 10 Osman came to the end of his resources +and strove to break out on the west over the River Wid towards +Sofia. Masking the movement with great skill, he inflicted heavy +losses on the besiegers. Slowly, however, they closed around him, +and a last scene of slaughter ended in the surrender of the 43,000 +half-starved survivors, with the 77 guns that had wrought such +havoc among the invaders. Osman's defence is open to criticism at +some points, but it had cost Russia more than 50,000 lives, and +paralysed her efforts in Europe during five months.</p> +<p>The operations around Plevna are among the most instructive in +modern warfare, as illustrating the immense power that quick-firing +rifles confer upon the defence. Given a nucleus of well-trained +troops, with skilled engineers, any position of ordinary strength +can quickly be turned into a stronghold that will foil the efforts +of a far greater number of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" +id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> assailants. Experience at Plevna +showed that four or five times as many men were needed to attack +redoubts and trenches as in the days of muzzle-loading muskets. It +also proved that infantry fire is far more deadly in such cases +than the best served artillery. And yet a large part of Osman's +troops--perhaps the majority after August--were not regulars. +Doubtless that explains why (with the exception of an obstinate but +unskilful effort to break out on August 31) he did not attack the +Russians in the open after his great victories of July 31 and +September 11-12. On both occasions the Russians were so badly +shaken that, in the opinion of competent judges, they could easily +have been driven in on Nicopolis or Sistova, in which case the +bridges at those places might have been seized. But Osman did not +do so, doubtless because he knew that his force, weak in cavalry +and unused to manoeuvring, would be at a disadvantage in the open. +Todleben, however, was informed on good authority that, when the +Turkish commander heard of the likelihood of the investment of +Plevna, he begged the Porte to allow him to retire; but the +assurance of Shevket Pasha, the commander of the Turkish force at +Sofia, that he could keep open communications between that place +and Plevna, decided the authorities at Constantinople to order the +continuance of defensive tactics<a name="FNanchor152"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_152">[152]</a>.</p> +<p>Whatever may have been the cause of this decision it ruined the +Turkish campaign. Adherence to the defensive spells defeat now, as +it has always done. Defeat comes more slowly now that quick-firing +rifles quadruple the power of the defence; but all the same it must +come if the assailant has enough men to throw on that point and +then at other points. Or, to use technical terms, while modern +inventions alter tactics, that is, the dispositions of troops on +the field of battle--a fact which the Russians seemed to ignore at +Plevna--they do not change the fundamental principles of strategy. +These are practically <span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id= +"page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> immutable, and they doom to failure +the side that, at the critical points, persists in standing on the +defensive. A study of the events around Plevna shows clearly what a +brave but ill-trained army can do and what it cannot do under +modern conditions.</p> +<p>From the point of view of strategy--that is, the conduct of the +great operations of a campaign--Osman's defence of Plevna yields +lessons of equal interest. It affords the most brilliant example in +modern warfare of the power of a force strongly intrenched in a +favourable position to "contain," that is, to hold or hold back, a +greater force of the enemy. Other examples are the Austrian defence +of Mantua in 1796-97, which hindered the young Bonaparte's invasion +of the Hapsburg States; Bazaine's defence of Metz in 1870; and Sir +George White's defence of Ladysmith against the Boers. We have no +space in which to compare these cases, in which the conditions +varied so greatly. Suffice it to say that Mantua and Plevna were +the most effective instances, largely because those strongholds lay +near the most natural and easy line of advance for the invaders. +Metz and Ladysmith possessed fewer advantages in this respect; and, +considering the strength of the fortress and the size and quality +of his army, Bazaine's conduct at Metz must rank as the weakest on +record; for his 180,000 troops "contained" scarcely more than their +own numbers of Germans.</p> +<p>On the other hand, Osman's force brought three times its number +of Russians to a halt for five months before hastily constructed +lines. In the opinion of many authorities the Russians did wrong in +making the whole campaign depend on Plevna. When it was clear that +Osman would cling to the defensive, they might with safety have +secretly detached part of the besieging force to help the army of +the Czarewitch to drive back the Turks on Shumla. This would have +involved no great risk; for the Russians occupied the inner lines +of what was, roughly speaking, a triangle, resting on the Shipka +Pass, the River Lom, and Plevna as its extreme points. Having the +advantage of the inner position, they could quickly <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> have +moved part of their force at Plevna, battered in the Turkish +defence on the Lom, and probably captured the Slievno passes. In +that case they would have cleared a new line of advance to +Constantinople farther to the east, and made the possession of +Plevna of little worth. Its value always lay in its nearness to +their main line of advance, but they were not tied to that line. It +is safe to say that, if Moltke had directed their operations, he +would have devised some better plan than that of hammering away at +the redoubts of Plevna.</p> +<p>In fact, the Russians made three great blunders: first, in +neglecting to occupy Plevna betimes; second, in underrating Osman's +powers of defence; third, in concentrating all their might on what +was a very strong, but not an essential, point of the campaign.</p> +<p>The closing scenes of the war are of little interest except in +the domain of diplomacy. Servia having declared war against Turkey +immediately after the fall of Plevna, the Turks were now hopelessly +outnumbered. Gurko forced his way over one of the western passes of +the Balkans, seized Sofia (January 4, 1878), and advancing quickly +towards Philippopolis, utterly routed Suleiman's main force near +that town (January 17). The Turkish commander-in-chief thus paid +for his mistake in seeking to defend a mountain chain with several +passes by distributing his army among those passes. Experience has +proved that this invites disaster at the hands of an enterprising +foe, and that the true policy is to keep light troops or scouts at +all points, and the main forces at a chief central pass and at a +convenient place in the rear, whence the invaders may be readily +assailed before they complete the crossing. As it was, Suleiman saw +his main force, still nearly 50,000 strong, scatter over the +Rhodope mountains; many of them reached the Aegean Sea at Enos, +whence they were conveyed by ship to the Dardanelles. He himself +was tried by court-martial and imprisoned for fifteen years<a name= +"FNanchor153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153">[153]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>[pg +220]</span> +<p>A still worse fate befell those of his troops which hung about +Radetzky's front below the Shipka Pass. The Russians devised +skilful moves for capturing this force. On January 5-8 Prince +Mirsky threaded his way with a strong column through the deep snows +of the Travna Pass, about twenty-five miles east of the Shipka, +which he then approached; while Skobeleff struggled through a still +more difficult defile west of the central position. The total +strength of the Russians was 56,000 men. On the 8th, when their +cannon were heard thundering in the rear of the Turkish earthworks +at the foot of the Shipka Pass, Radetzky charged down on the +Turkish positions in front, while Mirsky assailed them from the +east. Skobeleff meanwhile had been detained by the difficulties of +the path and the opposition of the Turks on the west. But on the +morrow his onset on the main Turkish positions carried all before +it. On all sides the Turks were worsted and laid down their arms; +36,000 prisoners and 93 guns (so the Russians claim) were the prize +of this brilliant feat (January 9, 1878)<a name= +"FNanchor154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154">[154]</a>.</p> +<p>In Roumelia, as in Armenia, there now remained comparatively few +Turkish troops to withstand the Russian advance, and the capture of +Constantinople seemed to be a matter of a few weeks. There are +grounds for thinking that the British Ministry, or certainly its +chief, longed to send troops from Malta to help in its defence. +Colonel Wellesley, British attaché at the Russian +headquarters, returned to London at the time when the news of the +crossing of the Balkans reached the Foreign Office. At once he was +summoned to see the Prime Minister, who inquired eagerly as to the +length of time which would elapse before the Russians occupied +Adrianople. The officer thought that that event might occur within +a month--an estimate which proved to be above the mark. Lord +Beaconsfield was deeply concerned to hear this and added, "If you +can only guarantee me six weeks, I see my way." He did not further +explain his meaning; but Colonel Wellesley felt sure that he wished +to move British troops from <span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" +id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> Malta to Constantinople<a name= +"FNanchor155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155">[155]</a>. Fortunately +the Russian advance to Adrianople was so speedy--their vanguard +entered that city on January 20--as to dispose of any such project. +But it would seem that only the utter collapse of the Turkish +defence put an end to the plans of part at least of the British +Cabinet for an armed intervention on behalf of Turkey.</p> +<p>Here, then, as at so many points of their history, the Turks +lost their opportunity, and that, too, through the incapacity and +corruption of their governing class. The war of 1877 ended as so +many of their wars had ended. Thanks to the bravery of their rank +and file and the mistakes of the invaders, they gained tactical +successes at some points; but they failed to win the campaign owing +to the inability of their Government to organise soundly on a great +scale, and the intellectual mediocrity of their commanders in the +sphere of strategy. Mr. Layard, who succeeded Sir Henry Elliot at +Constantinople early in 1878, had good reason for writing, "The +utter rottenness of the present system has been fully revealed by +the present war<a name="FNanchor156"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_156">[156]</a>." Whether Suleiman was guilty of perverse +obstinacy, or, as has often been asserted, of taking bribes from +the Russians, cannot be decided. What is certain is that he was +largely responsible for the final <i>débacle</i>.</p> +<p>But in a wider and deeper sense the Turks owed their misfortunes +to themselves--to their customs and their creed. Success in war +depends ultimately on the brain-power of the chief leaders and +organisers; and that source of strength has long ago been dried up +in Turkey by adhesion to a sterilising creed and cramping +traditions. The wars of the latter half of the nineteenth century +are of unique interest, not only because they have built up the +great national fabrics of to-day, but also because they illustrate +the truth of that suggestive remark of the great Napoleon, "The +general who does great things is he who also possesses qualities +adapted for civil life."</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor129">[129]</a> +Hertslet, vol. iv. p. 2625.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor130">[130]</a> +<i>The Campaign in Bulgaria</i>, by F.V. Greene, pt. ii. ch. i.; +W.V. Herbert, <i>The Defence of Plevna</i>, chaps, i.-ii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor131">[131]</a> +<i>Aus drei Kriegen</i>, by Gen. von Lignitz, p. 99.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor132">[132]</a> +<i>With the Russians in War and Peace</i>, by Colonel F.A. +Wellesley (1905), ch. xvii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor133">[133]</a> +Hertslet, vol. iv. p. 2577.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor134">[134]</a> +<i>Reminiscences of the King of Roumania</i>, edited by S. Whitman +(1899), pp. 269, 274.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor135">[135]</a> +Farcy, <i>La Guerre sur le Danube</i>, p. 73. For other +malpractices see Colonel F.A. Wellesley's <i>With the Russians in +Peace and War</i>, chs. xi. xii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor136">[136]</a> +<i>Punch</i> hit off the situation by thus parodying the well-known +line of Horace: "Russicus expectat dum defluat amnis."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor137">[137]</a> +Quoted from a report by an eye-witness, by "O.K." (Madame +Novikoff), <i>Skobeleff and the Slavonic Cause</i>, p. 38. The +crossing was planned by the Grand Duke Nicholas; see von Lignitz, +<i>Aus drei Kriegen</i>, p. 149.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor138">[138]</a> F.V. +Green, <i>Sketches of Army Life in Russia</i>, p. 142.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor139">[139]</a> +Farcy, <i>La Guerre sur le Danube</i>, ch. viii.; <i>Daily News +Correspondence of the War of 1877-78</i>, ch. viii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor140">[140]</a> +<i>General Gurko's Advance Guard In 1877</i>, by Colonel Epauchin, +translated by H. Havelock (The Wolseley Series, 1900), ch. ii.; +<i>The Daily News War Correspondence</i> (1877), pp. 263-270.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor141">[141]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 9 (1878), Nos. 2, 3. <i>With the Russians +in Peace and War</i>, by Colonel the Hon. F.A. Wellesley, ch. +xx.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor142">[142]</a> W.W. +Herbert, <i>The Defence of Plevna</i>, p. 81.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor143">[143]</a> For +these qualities, see <i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus," p. +97.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor144">[144]</a> +Herbert, <i>The Defence of Plevna</i>, p. 129.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor145">[145]</a> F.V. +Greene, <i>The Campaign in Bulgaria</i>, p. 225.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor146">[146]</a> +<i>Reminiscences of the King of Roumania</i>, p. 275.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor147">[147]</a> F.V. +Greene, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 232.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor148">[148]</a> +<i>War Correspondence of the "Daily News,"</i> pp. 479-483. For +another character-sketch of Skobeleff see the <i>Fortnightly +Review</i> of Oct. 1882, by W.K. Rose.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor149">[149]</a> For +an account of the battle, see Greene, <i>op. cit.</i> pt. ii. chap. +v.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor150">[150]</a> Gen. +von. Lignitz, <i>Aus drei Kriegen</i>, p. 167.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor151">[151]</a> Col. +F.A. Wellesley, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 281.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor152">[152]</a> A. +Forbes, <i>Czar and Sultan</i>, p. 291. On the other hand, W.V. +Herbert (<i>op. cit.</i> p. 456) states that it was Osman's wish to +retire to Orkanye, on the road to Sofia, and that this was +forbidden. For remarks on this see Greene, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. +viii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor153">[153]</a> Sir +N. Layard attributed to him the overthrow of Turkey. See his letter +of February 1, 1878, in <i>Sir W. White: Life and +Correspondence</i>, p. 127.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor154">[154]</a> +Greene, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. xi. I have been assured by an +Englishman serving with the Turks that these numbers were greatly +exaggerated.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor155">[155]</a> +<i>With the Russians in Peace and War</i>, by Colonel F.A. +Wellesley, p. 272.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor156">[156]</a> +<i>Sir William White: Life and Correspondence</i>, p. 128.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>[pg +222]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<h3>THE BALKAN SETTLEMENT</h3> +<blockquote>New hopes should animate the world; new light<br> +Should dawn from new revealings to a race<br> +Weighed down so long, forgotten so long.<br> +<br> +ROBERT BROWNING, <i>Paracelsus</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The collapse of the Turkish defence in Roumelia inaugurated a +time of great strain and stress in Anglo-Russian relations. On +December 13, 1877, that is, three days after the fall of Plevna, +Lord Derby reminded the Russian Government of its promise of May +30, 1876, that the acquisition of Constantinople was excluded from +the wishes and intentions of the Emperor Alexander II., and +expressed the earnest hope that the Turkish capital would not be +occupied, even for military purposes. The reply of the Russian +Chancellor (December 16) was reserved. It claimed that Russia must +have full right of action, which is the right of every belligerent, +and closed with a request for a clearer definition of the British +interests which would be endangered by such a step. In his answer +of January 13, 1878, the British Foreign Minister specified the +occupation of the Dardanelles as an event that would endanger the +good relations between England and Russia; whereupon Prince +Gortchakoff, on January 16, 1878, gave the assurance that this step +would not be taken unless British forces were landed at Gallipoli, +or Turkish troops were concentrated there.</p> +<p>So far this was satisfactory; but other signs seemed to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg +223]</span> betoken a resolve on the part of Russia to gain time +while her troops pressed on towards Constantinople. The return of +the Czar to St. Petersburg after the fall of Plevna had left more +power in the hands of the Grand Duke Nicholas and of the many +generals who longed to revenge themselves for the disasters in +Bulgaria by seizing Constantinople.</p> +<p>In face of the probability of this event, public opinion in +England underwent a complete change. Russia appeared no longer as +the champion of oppressed Christians, but as an ambitious and +grasping Power. Mr. Gladstone's impassioned appeals for +non-intervention lost their effect, and a warlike feeling began to +prevail. The change of feeling was perfectly natural. Even those +who claimed that the war might have been averted by the adoption of +a different policy by the Beaconsfield Cabinet, had to face the +facts of the situation; and these were extremely grave.</p> +<p>The alarm increased when it was known that Turkey, on January 3, +1878, had appealed to the Powers for their mediation, and that +Germany had ostentatiously refused. It seemed probable that Russia, +relying on the support of Germany, would endeavour to force her own +terms on the Porte. Lord Loftus, British Ambassador at St. +Petersburg, was therefore charged to warn the Ministers of the Czar +(January 16) that any treaty made separately between Russia and +Turkey, which affected the international treaties of 1856 and 1871, +would not be valid without the consent of all the signatory Powers. +Four days later the Muscovite vanguard entered Adrianople, and it +appeared likely that peace would soon be dictated at Constantinople +without regard to the interests of Great Britain and Austria.</p> +<p>Such was the general position when Parliament met at Westminster +on January 17. The Queen's Speech contained the significant phrase +that, should hostilities be unfortunately prolonged, some +unexpected occurrence might render it incumbent to adopt measures +of precaution. Five days later it transpired that the Sultan had +sent an appeal to Queen Victoria <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page224" id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span> for her mediation with a +view to arranging an armistice and the discussion of the +preliminaries of peace. In accordance with this appeal, the Queen +telegraphed to the Emperor of Russia in these terms:--</p> +<blockquote>I have received a direct appeal from the Sultan which I +cannot<br> +leave without an answer. Knowing that you are sincerely +desirous<br> +of peace, I do not hesitate to communicate this fact to you, in +hope<br> +that you may accelerate the negotiations for the conclusion of +an<br> +armistice which may lead to an honourable peace.</blockquote> +<p>This communication was sent with the approval of the Cabinet. +The nature of the reply is not known. Probably it was not +encouraging; for on the next day (January 23) the British Admiralty +ordered Admiral Hornby with the Mediterranean fleet to steam up the +Dardanelles to Constantinople. On the following day this was +annulled, and the Admiral was directed not to proceed beyond Besika +Bay<a name="FNanchor157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157">[157]</a>. The +original order was the cause of the resignation of Lord Carnarvon. +The retirement of Lord Derby was also announced, but he afterwards +withdrew it, probably on condition that the fleet did not enter the +Sea of Marmora.</p> +<p>Light was thus thrown on the dissensions in the Cabinet, and the +vacillations in British policy. Disraeli once said in his whimsical +way that there were six parties in the Ministry. The first party +wanted immediate war with Russia; the second was for war in order +to save Constantinople; the third was for peace at any price; the +fourth would let the Russians take Constantinople and <i>then</i> +turn them out; the fifth wanted to plant the cross on the dome of +St. Sofia; "and then there are the Prime Minister and the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, who desire to see something done, but +don't know exactly what<a name="FNanchor158"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_158">[158]</a>." The coupling of himself with the +amiable Sir Stafford <span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id= +"page225"></a>[pg 225]</span> Northcote is a good instance of +Disraelian irony. It is fairly certain that he was for war with +Russia; that Lord Carnarvon constituted the third party, and Lord +Derby the fourth.</p> +<p>On the day after the resignation of Lord Carnarvon, the British +Cabinet heard for the first time what were the demands of Russia. +They included the formation of a Greater Bulgaria, "within the +limits of the Bulgarian nationality," practically independent of +the Sultan's direct control; the entire independence of Roumania, +Servia, and Montenegro; a territorial and pecuniary indemnity to +Russia for the expenses of the war; and "an ulterior understanding +for safeguarding the rights and interests of Russia in the +Straits."</p> +<p>The extension of Bulgaria to the shores of the Aegean seemed at +that time a mighty triumph for Russian influence; but it was the +last item, vaguely foreshadowing the extension of Russian influence +to the Dardanelles, that most aroused the alarm of the British +Cabinet. Russian control of those straits would certainly have +endangered Britain's connections with India by way of the Suez +Canal, seeing that we then had no foothold in Egypt. Accordingly, +on January 28, the Ministry proposed to Parliament the voting of an +additional sum of £6,000,000 towards increasing the armaments +of the country. At once there arose strong protests against this +proposal, especially from the districts then suffering from the +prolonged depression of trade. The outcry was very natural; but +none the less it can scarcely be justified in view of the magnitude +of the British interests then at stake. Granted that the views of +the Czar were pacific, those of his generals at the seat of war +were very much open to question<a name="FNanchor159"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_159">[159]</a>. The long coveted prize of +Constantinople, or the Dardanelles, was likely to tempt them to +disregard official orders from St. Petersburg, unless they knew +that any imprudent step would bring on a European <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> war. +In any case, the vote of £6,000,000 was a precautionary +measure; and it probably had the effect of giving pause to the +enthusiasts at the Russian headquarters.</p> +<p>The preliminary bases of peace between Russia and Turkey were +signed at Adrianople (Jan. 31) on the terms summarised above, +except that the Czar's Ministers now withdrew the obnoxious clause +about the Straits. A line of demarcation was also agreed on between +the hostile forces; it passed from Derkos, a lake near the Black +Sea, to the north of Constantinople, in a southerly direction by +the banks of the Karasou stream as far as the Sea of Marmora. This +gave to the Russians the lines of Tchekmedje, the chief natural +defence of Constantinople, and they occupied this position on +February 6. This fact was reported by Mr. Layard, Sir Henry +Elliot's successor at Constantinople, in alarmist terms, and it had +the effect of stilling the opposition at Westminster to the vote of +credit. Though official assurances of a reassuring kind came from +Prince Gortchakoff at St. Petersburg, the British Ministry on +February 7 ordered a part of the Mediterranean fleet to enter the +Sea of Marmora for the defence of British interests and the +protection of British subjects at Constantinople. The Czar's +Government thereupon declared that if the British fleet steamed up +the Bosporus, Russian troops would enter Constantinople for the +protection of the Christian population.</p> +<p>This rivalry in philanthropic zeal was not pushed to its logical +issue, war. The British fleet stopped short of the Bosporus, but +within sight of the Russian lines. True, these were pushed +eastwards slightly beyond the limits agreed on with the Turks; but +an arrangement was arrived at between Lord Derby and Prince +Gortchakoff (Feb. 19) that the Russians would not occupy the lines +of Bulair close to Constantinople, or the Peninsula of Gallipoli +commanding the Dardanelles, provided that British forces were not +landed in that important strait<a name="FNanchor160"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_160">[160]</a>. So matters rested, both sides regarding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg +227]</span> each other with the sullenness of impotent wrath. As +Bismarck said, a war would have been a fight between an elephant +and a whale.</p> +<p>The situation was further complicated by an invasion of Thessaly +by the Greeks (Feb. 3); but they were withdrawn at once on the +urgent remonstrance of the Powers, coupled with a promise that the +claims of Greece would be favourably considered at the general +peace<a name="FNanchor161"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_161">[161]</a>.</p> +<p>In truth, all the racial hatreds, aspirations, and ambitions +that had so long been pent up in the south-east of Europe now +seemed on the point of bursting forth and overwhelming civilisation +in a common ruin. Just as the earth's volcanic forces now and again +threaten to tear their way through the crust, so now the immemorial +feuds of Moslems and Christians, of Greeks, Servians, Bulgars, +Wallachs, and Turks, promised to desolate the slopes of the +Balkans, of Rhodope and the Pindus, and to spread the lava tide of +war over the half of the Continent. The Russians and Bulgars, +swarming over Roumelia, glutted their revenge for past defeats and +massacres by outrages well-nigh as horrible as that of Batak. At +once the fierce Moslems of the Rhodope Mountains rose in +self-defence or for vengeance. And while the Russian eagles +perforce checked their flight within sight of Stamboul, the Greeks +and Armenians of that capital--nay, the very occupants of the +foreign embassies--trembled at sight of the lust of blood that +seized on the vengeful Ottomans.</p> +<p>Nor was this all. Far away beyond the northern horizon the war +cloud hung heavily over the Carpathians. The statesmen of Vienna, +fearing that the terms of their bargain with Russia were now +forgotten in the intoxication of her triumph, determined to compel +the victors to lay their spoils before the Great Powers. In haste +the Austrian and Hungarian troops took station on the great bastion +of the Carpathians, and began to exert on the military situation +the pressure which had been so fatal to Russia in her Turkish +campaign of 1854.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg +228]</span> +<p>But though everything betokened war, there were forces that +worked slowly but surely for a pacific settlement. However +threatening was the attitude of Russia, her rulers really desired +peace. The war had shown once again the weakness of that Power for +offence. Her strength lies in her boundless plains, in the devotion +of her millions of peasants to the Czar, and in the patient, +stubborn strength which is the outcome of long centuries of +struggle with the yearly tyrant, winter. Her weakness lies in the +selfishness, frivolity, corruption, and narrowness of outlook of +her governing class--in short, in their incapacity for +organisation. Against the steady resisting power of her peasants +the great Napoleon had hurled his legions in vain. That campaign of +1812 exhibited the strength of Russia for defence. But when, in +fallacious trust in that precedent, she has undertaken great wars +far from her base, failure has nearly always been the result. The +pathetic devotion of her peasantry has not made up for the mental +and moral defects of her governing classes. This fact had fixed +itself on every competent observer in 1877. The Emperor Alexander +knew it only too well. Now, early in 1878, it was fairly certain +that his army would succumb under the frontal attacks of Turks and +British, and the onset of the Austrians on their rear.</p> +<p>Therefore when, on Feb. 4, the Hapsburg State proposed to refer +the terms of peace to a Conference of the Powers at Vienna, the +consent of Russia was almost certain, provided that the prestige of +the Czar remained unimpaired. Three days later the place of meeting +was changed to Berlin, the Conference also becoming a Congress, +that is, a meeting where the chief Ministers of the Powers, not +merely their Ambassadors, would take part. The United Kingdom, +France, and Italy at once signified their assent to this proposal. +As for Bismarck, he promised in a speech to the Reichstag (Feb. 19) +that he would act as an "honest broker" between the parties most +nearly concerned. There is little doubt that Russia took this in a +sense favourable to her claims, and she, too, consented.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, she sought to tie the hands of the Congress by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg +229]</span> binding Turkey to a preliminary treaty signed on March +3 at San Stefano, a village near to Constantinople. The terms +comprised those stated above (p. 225), but they also stipulated the +cession of frontier districts to Servia and Montenegro, while +Russia was to acquire the Roumanian districts east of the River +Pruth, Roumania receiving the Dobrudscha as an equivalent. Most +serious of all was the erection of Bulgaria into an almost +independent Principality, extending nearly as far south as Midia +(on the Black Sea), Adrianople, Salonica, and beyond Ochrida in +Albania. As will be seen by reference to the map (p. 239), this +Principality would then have comprised more than half of the Balkan +Peninsula, besides including districts on the Ægean Sea and +around the town of Monastir, for which the Greeks have never ceased +to cherish hopes. A Russian Commissioner was to supervise the +formation of the government for two years; all the fortresses on +the Danube were to be razed, and none others constructed; Turkish +forces were required entirely to evacuate the Principality, which +was to be occupied by Russian troops for a space of time not +exceeding two years.</p> +<p>On her side, Turkey undertook to grant reforms to the Armenians, +and protect them from Kurds and Circassians, Russia further claimed +1,410,000,000 roubles as war indemnity, but consented to take the +Dobrudscha district (offered to Roumania, as stated above), and in +Asia the territories of Batoum, Kars, Ardahan, and Bayazid, in lieu +of 1,100,000,000 roubles. The Porte afterwards declared that it +signed this treaty under persistent pressure from the Grand Duke +Nicholas and General Ignatieff, who again and again declared that +otherwise the Russians would advance on the capital<a name= +"FNanchor162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162">[162]</a>.</p> +<p>At once, from all parts of the Balkan Peninsula, there arose a +chorus of protests against the Treaty of San Stefano. The +Mohammedans of the proposed State of Bulgaria protested against +subjection to their former helots. The Greeks saw in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> the +treaty the death-blow to their hopes of gaining the northern coasts +of the Aegean and a large part of Central Macedonia. They +fulminated against the Bulgarians as ignorant peasants, whose cause +had been taken up recently by Russia for her own +aggrandisement<a name="FNanchor163"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_163">[163]</a>. The Servians were equally indignant. +They claimed, and with justice, that their efforts against the +Turks should be rewarded by an increase of territory which would +unite to them their kinsfolk in Macedonia and part of Bosnia, and +place them on an equality with the upstart State of Bulgaria. +Whereas the treaty assigned to these protégés of +Russia districts inhabited solely by Servians, thereby barring the +way to any extension of that Principality.</p> +<p>Still more urgent was the protest of the Roumanian Government. +In return for the priceless services rendered by his troops at +Plevna, Prince Charles and his Ministers were kept in the dark as +to the terms arranged between Russia and Turkey. The Czar sent +General Ignatieff to prepare the Prince for the news, and sought to +mollify him by the hint that he might become also Prince of +Bulgaria--a suggestion which was scornfully waved aside. The +Government at Bukharest first learnt the full truth as to the +Bessarabia-Dobrudscha exchange from the columns of the <i>Journal +du St. Pétersbourg</i>, which proved that the much-prized +Bessarabian territory was to be bargained away by the Power which +had solemnly undertaken to uphold the integrity of the +Principality. The Prince, the Cabinet, and the people unanimously +inveighed against this proposal. On Feb. 4 the Roumanian Chamber of +Deputies declared that Roumania would defend its territory to the +last, by armed force if necessary; but it soon appeared that none +of the Powers took any interest in the matter, and, thanks to the +prudence of Prince Charles, the proud little nation gradually +schooled itself to accept the inevitable<a name= +"FNanchor164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164">[164]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg +231]</span> +<p>The peace of Europe now turned on the question whether the +Treaty of San Stefano would be submitted as a whole to the Congress +of the Powers at Berlin; England claimed that it must be so +submitted. This contention, in its extreme form, found no support +from any of the Powers, not even from Austria, and it met with firm +opposition from Russia. She, however, assured the Viennese Court +that the Congress would decide which of the San Stefano terms +affected the interests of Europe and would pronounce on them. The +Beaconsfield Cabinet later on affirmed that "every article in the +treaty between Russia and Turkey will be placed before the +Congress--not necessarily for acceptance, but in order that it may +be considered what articles require acceptance or concurrence by +the several Powers and what do not<a name= +"FNanchor165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165">[165]</a>."</p> +<p>When this much was conceded, there remained no irreconcilable +difference, unless the treaty contained secret articles which +Russia claimed to keep back from the Congress. As far as we know, +there were none. But the fact is that the dispute, small as it now +appears to us, was intensified by the suspicions and resentment +prevalent on both sides. The final decision of the St. Petersburg +Government was couched in somewhat curt and threatening terms: "It +leaves to the other Powers the liberty of raising such questions at +the Congress as they may think it fit to discuss, and reserves to +itself the liberty of accepting, or not accepting, the discussion +of these questions<a name="FNanchor166"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_166">[166]</a>."</p> +<p>This haughty reply, received at Downing Street on March 27, +again brought the two States to the verge of war. Lord +Beaconsfield, and all his colleagues but one, determined to make +immediate preparations for the outbreak of hostilities; while Lord +Derby, clinging to the belief that peace would best be preserved by +ordinary negotiations, resigned the portfolio for foreign affairs +(March 28); two days later he was <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span> succeeded by the Marquis +of Salisbury<a name="FNanchor167"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_167">[167]</a>. On April 1 the Prime Minister gave +notice of motion that the reserves of the army and militia should +be called out; and on the morrow Lord Salisbury published a note +for despatch to foreign courts summarising the grounds of British +opposition to the Treaty of San Stefano, and to Russia's +contentions respecting the Congress.</p> +<p>Events took a still more threatening turn fifteen days later, +when the Government ordered eight Indian regiments, along with two +batteries of artillery, to proceed at once to Malta. The measure +aroused strong differences of opinion, some seeing in it a masterly +stroke which revealed the greatness of Britain's resources, while +the more nervous of the Liberal watch-dogs bayed forth their fears +that it was the beginning of a Strafford-like plot for undermining +the liberties of England.</p> +<p>So sharp were the differences of opinion in England, that Russia +would perhaps have disregarded the threats of the Beaconsfield +Ministry had she not been face to face with a hostile Austria. The +great aim of the Czar's government was to win over the Dual +Monarchy by offering a share of the spoils of Turkey. Accordingly, +General Ignatieff went on a mission to the continental courts, +especially to that of Vienna, and there is little doubt that he +offered Bosnia to the Hapsburg Power. That was the least which +Francis Joseph and Count Andrassy had the right to expect, for the +secret compact made before the war promised them as much. In view +of the enormous strides contemplated by Russia, they now asked for +certain rights in connection with Servia and Montenegro, and +commercial privileges that would open a way to Salonica<a name= +"FNanchor168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168">[168]</a>. But Russia's +aims, as expressed at San Stefano, clearly were to dominate the +Greater Bulgaria there foreshadowed, which would probably shut out +Austria from political and commercial influence over the regions +north of Salonica. Ignatieff's effort to gain over Austria +therefore failed; and it was doubtless <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> Lord +Beaconsfield's confidence in the certainty of Hapsburg support in +case of war that prompted his defiance alike of Russia and of the +Liberal party at home.</p> +<p>The Czar's Government also was well aware of the peril of +arousing a European war. Nihilism lifted its head threateningly at +home; and the Russian troops before Constantinople were dying like +flies in autumn. The outrages committed by them and the Bulgarians +on the Moslems of Roumelia had, as we have seen, led to a revolt in +the district of Mount Rhodope; and there was talk in some quarters +of making a desperate effort to cut off the invaders from the +Danube<a name="FNanchor169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169">[169]</a>. +The discontent of the Roumanians might have been worked upon so as +still further to endanger the Russian communications. Probably the +knowledge of these plans and of the warlike preparations of Great +Britain induced the Russian Government to moderate its tone. On +April 9 it expressed a wish that Lord Salisbury would formulate a +definite policy.</p> +<p>The new Foreign Minister speedily availed himself of this offer; +and the cause of peace was greatly furthered by secret negotiations +which he carried on with Count Shuvaloff. The Russian ambassador in +London had throughout bent his great abilities to a pacific +solution of the dispute, and, on finding out the real nature of the +British objections to the San Stefano Treaty, he proceeded to St. +Petersburg to persuade the Emperor to accept certain changes. In +this he succeeded, and on his return to London was able to come to +an agreement with Lord Salisbury (May 30), the chief terms of which +clearly foreshadowed those finally adopted at Berlin.</p> +<p>In effect they were as follows: The Beaconsfield Cabinet +strongly objected to the proposed wide extension of Bulgaria at the +expense of other nationalities, and suggested that the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span> +districts south of the Balkans, which were peopled almost wholly by +Bulgarians, should not be wholly withdrawn from Turkish control, +but "should receive a large measure of administrative +self-government . . . with a Christian governor." To these proposals +the Russian Government gave a conditional assent. Lord Salisbury +further claimed that the Sultan should have the right "to canton +troops on the frontiers of southern Bulgaria"; and that the militia +of that province should be commanded by officers appointed by the +Sultan with the consent of Europe. England also undertook to see +that the cause of the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus received the +attention of all the Powers, in place of the intervention of Russia +alone on their behalf, as specified in the San Stefano Treaty.</p> +<p>Respecting the cession of Roumanian Bessarabia to Russia, on +which the Emperor Alexander had throughout insisted (see page 205), +England expressed "profound regret" at that demand, but undertook +not to dispute it at the Congress. On his side the Emperor +Alexander consented to restore Bayazid in Asia Minor to the Turks, +but insisted on the retention of Batoum, Kars, and Ardahan. Great +Britain acceded to this, but hinted that the defence of Turkey in +Asia would thenceforth rest especially upon her--a hint to prepare +Russia for the Cyprus Convention.</p> +<p>For at this same time the Beaconsfield Cabinet had been treating +secretly with the Sublime Porte. When Lord Salisbury found out that +Russia would not abate her demands for Batoum, Ardahan, and Kars, +he sought to safeguard British interests in the Levant by acquiring +complete control over the island of Cyprus. His final instructions +to Mr. Layard to that effect were telegraphed on May 30, that is, +on the very day on which peace with Russia was practically +assured<a name="FNanchor170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170">[170]</a>. +The Porte, unaware of the fact that there was little fear of the +renewal of hostilities, agreed to the secret Cyprus Convention on +June 4; while Russia, knowing little or <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> +nothing as to Britain's arrangement with the Porte, acceded to the +final arrangements for the discussion of Turkish affairs at Berlin. +It is not surprising that this manner of doing business aroused +great irritation both at St. Petersburg and Constantinople. Count +Shuvaloff's behaviour at the Berlin Congress when the news came out +proclaimed to the world that he considered himself tricked by Lord +Beaconsfield; while that statesman disdainfully sipped nectar of +delight that rarely comes to the lips even of the gods of +diplomacy.</p> +<p>The terms of the Cyprus Convention were to the effect that, if +Russia retained the three districts in Asia Minor named above, or +any of them (as it was perfectly certain that she would); or if she +sought to take possession of any further Turkish territory in Asia +Minor, Great Britain would help the Sultan by force of arms. He, on +his side assigned to Great Britain the island of Cyprus, to be +occupied and administered by her. He further promised "to introduce +necessary reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two Powers, +into the government, and for the protection of the Christian and +other subjects of the Porte in these territories." On July I +Britain also covenanted to pay to the Porte the surplus of revenue +over expenditure in Cyprus, calculated upon the average of the last +five years, and to restore Cyprus to Turkey if Russia gave up Kars +and her other acquisitions<a name="FNanchor171"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_171">[171]</a>.</p> +<p>Fortified by the secret understanding with Russia, and by the +equally secret compact with Turkey, the British Government could +enter the Congress of the Powers at Berlin with complete +equanimity. It is true that news as to the agreement with Russia +came out in a London newspaper which at once published a general +description of the Anglo-Russian agreement of May 30; and when the +correctness of the news was stoutly denied by Ministers, the +original deed was given to the world by the same newspaper on June +14; but again vigorous disclaimers <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> and denials were given +from the ministerial bench in Parliament<a name= +"FNanchor172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172">[172]</a>. Thus, when +Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury proceeded to Berlin for the +opening of the Congress (June 13), they were believed to hold the +destinies of the British Empire in their hands, and the world +waited with bated breath for the scraps of news that came from that +centre of diplomacy.</p> +<p>On various details there arose sharp differences which the +tactful humour of the German Chancellor could scarcely set at rest. +The fate of nations seemed to waver in the balance when Prince +Gortchakoff gathered up his maps and threatened to hurry from the +room, or when Lord Beaconsfield gave pressing orders for a special +train to take him back to Calais; but there seemed good grounds for +regarding these incidents rather as illustrative of character, or +of the electioneering needs of a sensational age, than as throes in +the birth of nationalities. The "Peace with honour," which the +Prime Minister on his return announced at Charing Cross to an +admiring crowd, had virtually been secured at Downing Street before +the end of May respecting all the great points in dispute between +England and Russia.</p> +<p>We know little about the inner history of the Congress of +Berlin, which is very different from the official Protocols that +half reveal and half conceal its debates. One fact and one incident +claim attention as serving to throw curious sidelights on policy +and character respectively. The Emperor William had been shot at +and severely wounded by a socialist fanatic, Dr. Nobiling, on June +2, 1878, and during the whole time of the Congress the Crown Prince +Frederick acted as regent of the Empire. Limited as his powers were +by law, etiquette, and Bismarck, he is said to have used them on +behalf of Austria and England. The old Emperor thought so; for in a +moment of confiding indiscretion he hinted to the Princess +Radziwill (a Russian by birth) that Russian interests would have +fared <span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg +237]</span> better at Berlin had he then been steering the ship of +State<a name="FNanchor173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173">[173]</a>. +Possibly this explains why Bismarck always maintained that he had +done what he could for his Eastern neighbour, and that he really +deserved a Russian decoration for his services during the +Congress.</p> +<p>The incident, which flashes a search-light into character and +discloses the <i>recherché</i> joys of statecraft, is also +described in the sprightly Memoirs of Princess Radziwill. She was +present at a brilliant reception held on the evening of the day +when the Cyprus Convention had come to light. Diplomatists and +generals were buzzing eagerly and angrily when the Earl of +Beaconsfield appeared. A slight hush came over the wasp-like +clusters as he made his way among them, noting everything with his +restless, inscrutable eyes. At last he came near the Princess, once +a bitter enemy, but now captivated and captured by his powers of +polite irony. "What are you thinking of," she asked. "I am not +thinking at all," he replied, "I am enjoying myself<a name= +"FNanchor174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174">[174]</a>." After that +one can understand why Jew-baiting became a favourite sport in +Russia throughout the next two decades.</p> +<p>We turn now to note the terms of the Treaty of Berlin (July 13, +1878)<a name="FNanchor175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175">[175]</a>. +The importance of this compact will be seen if its provisions are +compared with those of the Treaty of San Stefano, which it +replaced. Instead of the greater Bulgaria subjected for two years +to Russian control, the Congress ordained that Bulgaria proper +should not extend beyond the main chain of the Balkans, thus +reducing its extent from 163,000 square kilometres to 64,000, and +its population from four millions to a million and a half. The +period of military occupation and supervision of the new +administration by Russia was reduced to nine months. At the end of +that time, and on <span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id= +"page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> the completion of the "organic law," +a Prince was to be elected "freely" by the population of the +Principality. The new State remained under the suzerainty of +Turkey, the Sultan confirming the election of the new Prince of +Bulgaria, "with the assent of the Powers."</p> +<p>Another important departure from the San Stefano terms was the +creation of the Province of Eastern Roumelia, with boundaries shown +in the accompanying map. While having a Christian governor, and +enjoying the rights of local self-government, it was to remain +under "the direct political and military authority of the Sultan, +under conditions of administrative autonomy." The Sultan retained +the right of keeping garrisons there, though a local militia was to +preserve internal order. As will be shown in the next chapter, this +anomalous state of things passed away in 1885, when the province +threw off Turkish control and joined Bulgaria.</p> +<p>The other Christian States of the Balkans underwent changes of +the highest importance. Montenegro lost half of her expected gains, +but secured access to the sea at Antivari. The acquisitions of +Servia were now effected at the expense of Bulgaria. These +decisions were greatly in favour of Austria. To that Power the +occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was now entrusted for an +indefinite period in the interest of the peace of Europe, and she +proceeded forthwith to drive a wedge between the Serbs of Servia +and Montenegro. It is needless to say that, in spite of the armed +opposition of the Mohammedan people of those provinces--which led +to severe fighting in July to September of that year--Austria's +occupation has been permanent, though nominally they still form +part of the Turkish Empire.</p> +<p>[Illustration: MAP OF THE TREATIES OF BERLIN AND SAN +STEFANO.]</p> +<p>Roumania and Servia gained complete independence and ceased to +pay tribute to the Sultan, but both States complained of the lack +of support accorded to them by Russia, considering the magnitude of +their efforts for the Slavonic cause. Roumania certainly fared very +badly at the hands of the Power for which it had done yeoman +service in the</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg +239]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/239.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of the Treaties of Berlin and San Stefano.</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg +240]</span> +<p>war. The pride of the Roumanian people brooked no thought of +accepting the Dobrudscha, a district in great part marshy and +thinly populated, as an exchange for a fertile district peopled by +their kith and kin. They let the world know that Russia +appropriated their Bessarabian district by force, and that they +accepted the Dobrudscha as a war indemnity. By dint of pressure +exerted at the Congress their envoys secured a southern extension +of its borders at the expense of Bulgaria, a proceeding which +aroused the resentment of Russia.</p> +<p>The conduct of the Czar's Government in this whole matter was +most impolitic. It embittered the relations between the two States +and drove the Government of Prince Charles to rely on Austria and +the Triple Alliance. That is to say, Russia herself closed the door +which had been so readily opened for her into the heart of the +Sultan's dominions in 1828, 1854, and 1877<a name= +"FNanchor176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176">[176]</a>. We may here +remark that, on the motion of the French plenipotentiaries at the +Congress, that body insisted that Jews must be admitted to the +franchise in Roumania. This behest of the Powers aroused violent +opposition in that State, but was finally, though by no means +fully, carried out.</p> +<p>Another Christian State of the Peninsula received scant +consideration at the Congress. Greece, as we have seen, had +recalled her troops from Thessaly on the understanding that her +claims should be duly considered at the general peace. She now +pressed those claims; but, apart from initial encouragement given +by Lord Salisbury, she received little or no support. On the motion +of the French plenipotentiary, M. Waddington, her desire to control +the northern shores of the Aegean and the island of Crete was +speedily set aside; but he sought to win for her practically the +whole of Thessaly and Epirus. This, however, was firmly opposed by +Lord Beaconsfield, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id= +"page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> who objected to the cession to her of +the southern and purely Greek districts of Thessaly and Epirus. He +protested against the notion that the plenipotentiaries had come to +Berlin in order to partition "a worn-out State" (Turkey). They were +there to "strengthen an ancient Empire--essential to the +maintenance of peace."</p> +<p>"As for Greece," he said, "States, like individuals, which have +a future are in a position to be able to wait." True, he ended by +expressing "the hope and even the conviction" that the Sultan would +accept an equitable solution of the question of the Thessalian +frontier; but the Congress acted on the other sage dictum and +proceeded to subject the Hellenes to the educative influences of +hope deferred. Protocol 13 had recorded the opinion of the Powers +that the northern frontier of Greece should follow the courses of +the Rivers Salammaria and Kalamas; but they finally decided to +offer their mediation to the disputants only in case no agreement +could be framed. The Sublime Porte, as we shall see, improved on +the procrastinating methods of the Nestors of European +diplomacy<a name="FNanchor177"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_177">[177]</a>.</p> +<p>As regards matters that directly concerned Turkey and Russia, we +may note that the latter finally agreed to forego the acquisition +of the Bayazid district and the lands adjoining the caravan route +from the Shah's dominions to Erzeroum. The Czar's Government also +promised that Batoum should be a free port, and left unchanged the +regulations respecting the navigation of the Dardanelles and +Bosporus. By a subsequent treaty with Turkey of February 1879 the +Porte agreed to pay to Russia a war indemnity of about +£32,000,000.</p> +<p>More important from our standpoint are the clauses relating to +the good government of the Christians of Turkey. By article 61 of +the Treaty of Berlin the Porte bound itself to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> carry +out "the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in +the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their +security against the Circassians and Kurds." It even added the +promise "periodically" to "make known the steps taken to this +effect to the Powers who will superintend their application." In +the next article Turkey promised to "maintain" the principle of +religious liberty and to give it the widest application. +Differences of religion were to be no bar to employment in any +public capacity, and all persons were to "be admitted, without +distinction of religion, to give evidence before the +tribunals."</p> +<p>Such was the Treaty of Berlin (July 13, 1878). Viewed in its +broad outlines, it aimed at piecing together again the Turkish +districts which had been severed at San Stefano; the Bulgars and +Serbs who there gained the hope of effecting a real union of those +races were now sundered once more, the former in three divisions; +while the Serbs of Servia, Bosnia, and Montenegro were wedged apart +by the intrusion of the Hapsburg Power. Yet, imperfect though it +was in several points, that treaty promised substantial gains for +the Christians of Turkey. The collapse of the Sultan's power had +been so complete, so notorious, that few persons believed he would +ever dare to disregard the mandate of the Great Powers and his own +solemn promises stated above. But no one could then foresee the +exhibition of weakness and cynicism in the policy of those Powers +towards Turkey, which disgraced the polity of Europe in the last +decades of the century. The causes that brought about that state of +mental torpor in the face of hideous massacres, and of moral +weakness displayed by sovereigns and statesmen in the midst of +their millions of armed men, will be to some extent set forth in +the following chapters.</p> +<p>As regards the welfare of the Christians in Asia Minor, the +Treaty of Berlin assigned equal responsibilities to all the +signatory Powers. But the British Government had already laid +itself under a special charge on their behalf by the terms +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg +243]</span> of the Cyprus Convention quoted above. Five days before +that treaty was signed the world heard with a gasp of surprise that +England had become practically mistress of Cyprus and assumed some +measure of responsibility for the good government of the Christians +of Asiatic Turkey. No limit of time was assigned for the duration +of the Convention, and apparently it still holds good so far as +relates to the material advantages accruing from the possession of +that island.</p> +<p>It is needless to say that the Cypriotes have benefited greatly +by the British administration; the value of the imports and exports +nearly doubled between 1878 and 1888. But this fact does not and +cannot dispose of the larger questions opened up as to the methods +of acquisition and of the moral responsibilities which it entailed. +These at once aroused sharp differences of opinion. Admiration at +the skill and daring which had gained for Britain a point of +vantage in the Levant and set back Russia's prestige in that +quarter was chequered by protests against the methods of secrecy, +sensationalism, and self-seeking that latterly had characterised +British diplomacy.</p> +<p>One more surprise was still forthcoming. Lord Derby, speaking in +the House of Lords on July 18, gave point to these protests by +divulging a State secret of no small importance, namely, that one +of the causes of his retirement at the end of March was a secret +proposal of the Ministry to send an expedition from India to seize +Cyprus and one of the Syrian ports with a view to operations +against Russia, and that, too, with <i>or without</i> the consent +of the Sultan. Whether the Cabinet arrived at anything like a +decision in this question is very doubtful. Lord Salisbury stoutly +denied the correctness of his predecessor's statement. The papers +of Sir Stafford Northcote also show that the scheme at that time +came up for discussion, but was "laid aside<a name= +"FNanchor178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178">[178]</a>." Lord Derby, +however, stated that he had kept private notes of the discussion; +and it is improbable that he would have resigned on a question that +was merely mooted and entirely dismissed. The mystery in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg +244]</span> which the deliberations of the Cabinet are involved, +and very rightly involved, broods over this as over so many topics +in which Lord Beaconsfield was concerned.</p> +<p>On another and far weightier point no difference of opinion is +possible. Viewed by the light of the Cyprus Convention, Britain's +responsibility for assuring a minimum of good government for the +Christians of Asiatic Turkey is undeniable. Unfortunately it admits +of no denial that the duties which that responsibility involves +have not been discharged. The story of the misgovernment and +massacre of the Armenian Christians is one that will ever redound +to the disgrace of all the signatories of the Treaty of Berlin; it +is doubly disgraceful to the Power which framed the Cyprus +Convention.</p> +<p>A praiseworthy effort was made by the Beaconsfield Government to +strengthen British influence and the cause of reform by sending a +considerable number of well-educated men as Consuls to Asia Minor, +under the supervision of the Consul-General, Sir Charles Wilson. In +the first two years they effected much good, securing the dismissal +of several of the worst Turkish officials, and implanting hope in +the oppressed Greeks and Armenians. Had they been well supported +from London, they might have wrought a permanent change. Such, at +least, is the belief of Professor Ramsay after several years' +experience in Asia Minor.</p> +<p>Unfortunately, the Gladstone Government, which came into power +in the spring of 1880, desired to limit its responsibilities on all +sides, especially in the Levant. The British Consuls ceased to be +supported, and after the arrival of Mr. (now Lord) Goschen at +Constantinople in May 1880, as Ambassador Extraordinary, British +influence began to suffer a decline everywhere through Turkey, +partly owing to the events soon to be described. The outbreak of +war in Egypt in 1882 was made a pretext by the British Government +for the transference of the Consuls to Egypt; and thereafter +matters in Asia Minor slid back into the old ruts. The progress of +the Greeks and Armenians, the traders of that land, suffered a +check; and the remarkable <span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" +id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> Moslem revival which the Sultan +inaugurated in that year (the year 1300 of the Mohammedan calendar) +gradually led up to the troubles and massacres which culminated in +the years 1896 and 1897. We may finally note that when the +Gladstone Ministry left the field open in Asia Minor, the German +Government promptly took possession; and since 1883 the influence +of Berlin has more and more penetrated into the Sultan's lands in +Europe and Asia<a name="FNanchor179"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_179">[179]</a>.</p> +<p>The collapse of British influence at Constantinople was hastened +on by the efforts made by the Cabinet of London, after Mr. +Gladstone's accession to office, on behalf of Greece. It soon +appeared that Abdul Hamid and his Ministers would pay no heed to +the recommendations of the Great Powers on this head, for on July +20, 1878, they informed Sir Henry Layard of their "final" decision +that no Thessalian districts would be given up to Greece. Owing to +pressure exerted by the Dufaure-Waddington Ministry in France, the +Powers decided that a European Commission should be appointed to +consider the whole question. To this the Beaconsfield Government +gave a not very willing assent.</p> +<p>The Porte bettered the example. It took care to name as the +first place of meeting of the Commissioners a village to the north +of the Gulf of Arta which was not discoverable on any map. When at +last this mistake was rectified, and the Greek envoys on two +occasions sought to steam into the gulf, they were fired on from +the Turkish forts. After these amenities, the Commission finally +met at Prevesa, only to have its report shelved by the Porte +(January-March 1879). Next, in answer to a French demand for +European intervention, the Turks opposed various devices taken from +the inexhaustible stock of oriental subterfuges. So the time wore +on until, in the spring of 1880, the fall of the Beaconsfield +Ministry brought about a new political situation.</p> +<p>The new Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, was known as the +statesman who had given the Ionian Isles to Greece, and who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg +246]</span> advocated the expulsion of the Turks, "bag and +baggage," from Europe. At once the despatches from Downing Street +took on a different complexion, and the substitution of Mr. Goschen +for Sir Henry Layard at Constantinople enabled the Porte to hear +the voice of the British people, undimmed by official checks. A +Conference of the Powers met at Berlin to discuss the carrying out +of their recommendations on the Greek Question, and of the terms of +the late treaty respecting Montenegro.</p> +<p>On this latter affair the Powers finally found it needful to +make a joint naval demonstration against the troops of the Albanian +League who sought to prevent the handing over of the seaport of +Dulcigno to Montenegro, as prescribed by the Treaty of Berlin. But, +as happened during the Concert of the Powers in the spring of 1876, +a single discordant note sufficed to impair the effect of the +collective voice. Then it was England which refused to employ any +coercive measures; now it was Austria and Germany, and finally +(after the resignation of the Waddington Ministry) France. When the +Sultan heard of this discord in the European Concert, his Moslem +scruples resumed their wonted sway, and the Albanians persisted in +defying Europe.</p> +<p>The warships of the Powers might have continued to threaten the +Albanian coast with unshotted cannon to this day, had not the +Gladstone Cabinet proposed drastic means for bringing the Sultan to +reason. The plan was that the united fleet should steam straightway +to Smyrna and land marines for the sequestration of the customs' +dues of that important trading centre. Here again the Powers were +not of one mind. The three dissentients again hung back; but they +so far concealed their refusal, or reluctance, as to leave on Abdul +Hamid's mind the impression that a united Christendom was about to +seize Smyrna<a name="FNanchor180"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_180">[180]</a>. This was enough. He could now (October +10, 1880) bow his head resignedly before superior force without +sinning against the Moslem's <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> unwritten but inviolable +creed of never giving way before Christians save under absolute +necessity. At once he ordered his troops to carry out the behests +of the Powers; and after some fighting, Dervish Pasha drove the +Albanians out of Dulcigno, and surrendered it to the Montenegrins +(Nov.-Dec. 1880). Such is the official account; but, seeing that +the Porte knows how to turn to account the fanaticism and +turbulence of the Albanians<a name="FNanchor181"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_181">[181]</a>, it may be that their resistance all +along was but a device of that resourceful Government to thwart the +will of Europe.</p> +<p>The same threat as to the seizure of the Turkish customs-house +at Smyrna sufficed to help on the solution of the Greek Question. +The delays and insults of the Turks had driven the Greeks to +desperation, and only the urgent remonstrances of the Powers +availed to hold back the Cabinet of Athens from a declaration of +war. This danger by degrees passed away; but, as usually happens +where passions are excited on both sides, every compromise pressed +on the litigants by the arbiters presented great difficulty. The +Congress of Berlin had recommended the extension of Greek rule over +the purely Hellenic districts of Thessaly, assigning as the new +boundaries the course of the Rivers Salammaria and Kalamas, the +latter of which flows into the sea opposite the Island of +Corfu.</p> +<p>Another Conference of the Powers (it was the third) met to +decide the details of that proposal; but owing to the change of +Government in France, along with other causes, the whole question +proved to be very intricate. In the end, the Powers induced the +Sultan to sign the Convention of May 24, 1881, whereby the course +of the River Arta was substituted for that of the Kalamas.</p> +<p>As a set-off to this proposal, which involved the loss of +Jannina and Prevesa for Greece, they awarded to the Hellenes some +districts north of the Salammaria which helped partially to screen +the town of Larissa from the danger of Turkish <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> +inroads<a name="FNanchor182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182">[182]</a>. +To this arrangement Moslems and Christians sullenly assented. On +the whole the Greeks gained 13,200 square kilometres in territory +and about 150,000 inhabitants, but their failure to gain several +Hellenic districts of Epirus rankled deep in the popular +consciousness and prepared the way for the events of 1885 and +1897.</p> +<p>These later developments can receive here only the briefest +reference. In the former year, when the two Bulgarias framed their +union, the Greeks threatened Turkey with war, but were speedily +brought to another frame of mind by a "pacific" blockade by the +Powers. Embittered by this treatment, the Hellenes sought to push +on their cause in Macedonia and Crete through a powerful Society, +the "Ethnike Hetairia." The chronic discontent of the Cretans at +Turkish misrule and the outrages of the Moslem troops led to grave +complications in 1897. At the beginning of that year the Powers +intervened with a proposal for the appointment of a foreign +gendarmerie (January 1897). In order to defeat this plan the Sultan +stirred up Moslem fanaticism in the island, until the resulting +atrocities brought Greece into the field both in Thessaly and +Crete. During the ensuing strifes in Crete the Powers demeaned +themselves by siding against the Christian insurgents, and some +Greek troops sent from Athens to their aid. Few events in our age +have caused a more painful sensation than the bombardment of Cretan +villages by British and French warships. The Powers also proclaimed +a "pacific" blockade of Crete (March-May 1897). The inner reasons +that prompted these actions are not fully known. It may safely be +said that they will need far fuller justification than that which +was given in the explanations of Ministers at Westminster.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the passionate resentment felt by the Greeks had +dragged the Government of King George into war with Turkey (April +18, 1897). The little kingdom was speedily overpowered by Turks and +Albanians; and despite the recall of their troops from Crete, the +Hellenes were unable to hold <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> Phersala and other +positions in the middle of Thessaly. The Powers, however, +intervened on May 12, and proceeded to pare down the exorbitant +terms of the Porte, allowing it to gain only small strips in the +north of Thessaly, as a "strategic rectification" of the frontier. +The Turkish demand of £T10,000,000 was reduced to T4,000,000 +(September 18).</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/249.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of Thessaly.</b></p> +<br> +<p>This successful war against Greece raised the prestige of Turkey +and added fuel to the flames of Mohammedan bigotry. These, as we +have seen, had been assiduously fanned by Abdul Hamid II. ever +since the year 1882, when a Pan-Islam movement began. The results +of this revival were far-reaching, being felt even among the hill +tribes on the Afghan-Punjab border (see Chapter XIV.). Throughout +the Ottoman Empire the Mohammedans began to assert their +superiority <span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id= +"page250"></a>[pg 250]</span> over Christians; and, as Professor +Ramsay has observed, "the means whereby Turkish power is restored +is always the same--massacre<a name="FNanchor183"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_183">[183]</a>."</p> +<p>It would be premature to inquire which of the European Powers +must be held chiefly responsible for the toleration of the hideous +massacres of the Armenians in 1896-97, and the atrocious +misgovernment of Macedonia, by the Turks. All the Great Powers who +signed the Berlin Treaty are guilty; and, as has been stated above, +the State which framed the Cyprus Convention is doubly guilty, so +far as concerns the events in Armenia. A grave share of +responsibility also rests with those who succeeded in handing back +a large part of Macedonia to the Turks. But the writer who in the +future undertakes to tell the story of the decline of European +morality at the close of the nineteenth century, and the growth of +cynicism and selfishness, will probably pass still severer censures +on the Emperors of Germany and Russia, who, with the unequalled +influence which they wielded over the Porte, might have intervened +with effect to screen their co-religionists from unutterable +wrongs, and yet, as far as is known, raised not a finger on their +behalf. The Treaty of Berlin, which might have inaugurated an era +of good government throughout the whole of Turkey if the Powers had +been true to their trust, will be cited as damning evidence in the +account of the greatest betrayal of a trust which Modern History +records.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>NOTE.--For the efforts made by the British Government on behalf +of the Armenians, the reader should consult the last chapter of Mr. +James Bryce's book, <i>Transcaucasia and Mount Ararat</i> (new +edition, 1896). Further information may be expected in the <i>Life +of Earl Granville</i>, soon to appear, from the pen of Lord Edmund +Fitzmaurice.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor157">[157]</a> For +the odd mistake in a telegram, which caused the original order, see +<i>Sir Stafford Northcote, Earl of Iddesleigh</i>, by Andrew Lang, +vol. ii. pp. 111-112.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor158">[158]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 105-106. For the telegrams between the First Lord +of the Admiralty, W.H. Smith, and Admiral Hornby, see <i>Life and +Times of W.H. Smith</i>, by Sir H. Maxwell, vol. i. chap. xi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor159">[159]</a> See +the compromising revelations made by an anonymous Russian writer in +the <i>Revue de Paris</i> for July 15, 1897. The authoress, "O.K.," +in her book, <i>The Friends and Foes of Russia</i> (pp. 240-241), +states that only the autocracy could have stayed the Russian +advance on Constantinople. General U.S. Grant told her that if he +had had such an order, he would have put it in his pocket and +produced it again when in Constantinople.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor160">[160]</a> +Hertslet, iv. p. 2670.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor161">[161]</a> L. +Sergeant, <i>Greece in the Nineteenth Century</i> (1897), ch. +xi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor162">[162]</a> For +the text of the treaty see Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 22 (1878); +also <i>The European Concert in the Eastern Question</i> by T.E. +Holland, pp. 335-348.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor163">[163]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 31 (1878), Nos. 6-17, and enclosures; +<i>L'Hellénisme et la Macédonie</i>, by N. Kasasis +(Paris, 1904); L. Sergeant, <i>op. cit.</i> ch. xii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor164">[164]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 30 (1878); also <i>Reminiscences of the +King of Roumania</i>, chs. x. xi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor165">[165]</a> Lord +Derby to Sir H. Elliot, March 13, 1878. Turkey, No. xxiv. (1878), +No 9, p. 5.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor166">[166]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. No. 15, p. 7.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor167">[167]</a> See +p. 243 for Lord Derby's further reason for resigning.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor168">[168]</a> +Débidour, <i>Hist. diplomatique de l'Europe</i>, vol. ii. p. +515.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor169">[169]</a> For +these outrages, see Parl. Papers, Turkey (1878), Nos. 42 and 45, +with numerous enclosures. The larger plans of the Rhodope +insurgents and their abettors at Constantinople are not fully +known. An Englishman, Sinclair, and some other free-lances were +concerned in the affair. The Rhodope district long retained a kind +of independence, see <i>Les Événements politiques en +Bulgarie</i>, by A.G. Drandar, Appendix.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor170">[170]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 36 (1878). See, too, <i>ibid</i>. No. +43.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor171">[171]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 36 (1878); Hertslet, vol. iv. pp. +2722-2725; Holland, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 354-356.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor172">[172]</a> Mr. +Charles Marvin, a clerk in the Foreign Office, was charged with +this offence, but the prosecution failed (July 16) owing to lack of +sufficient evidence.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor173">[173]</a> +Princess Radziwill, <i>My Recollections</i> (Eng. ed. 1900), p. +91.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor174">[174]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 149.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor175">[175]</a> For +the Protocols, see Parl. Papers, Turkey (1878), No. 39. For the +Treaty see <i>ibid</i>. No. 44; also <i>The European Concert in the +Eastern Question</i>, by T. E. Holland, pp. 277-307.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor176">[176]</a> +Frederick, Crown Prince of Germany, expressed the general opinion +in a letter written to Prince Charles after the Berlin Congress: +"Russia's conduct, after the manful service you did for that +colossal Empire, meets with censure on all sides." +(<i>Reminiscences of the King of Roumania</i>, p. 325).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor177">[177]</a> See +Mr. L. Sergeant's <i>Greece in the Nineteenth Century</i> (1897), +ch. xii., for the speeches of the Greek envoys at the Congress; +also that of Sir Charles Dilke in the House of Commons in the +debate of July 29-August 2, 1878, as to England's desertion of the +Greek cause after the ninth session (June 29) of the Berlin +Congress.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor178">[178]</a> +<i>Sir Stafford Northcote</i>, vol. ii. p. 108.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor179">[179]</a> See +<i>Impressions of Turkey</i>, by Professor W.M. Ramsay (1897), +chap. vi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor180">[180]</a> +<i>Life of Gladstone</i>, by J. Morley, vol. iii. p. 9.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor181">[181]</a> See +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus," p. 434.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor182">[182]</a> +<i>The European Concert in the Eastern Question</i>, by T.E. +Holland, pp. 60-69.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor183">[183]</a> +<i>Impressions of Turkey</i>, by W.M. Ramsay, p. 139.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg +251]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<h3>THE MAKING OF BULGARIA</h3> +<blockquote>"If you can help to build up these peoples into a +bulwark of independent States and thus screen the 'sick man' from +the fury of the northern blast, for God's sake do it."--SIR R. +MORIER to SIR W. WHITE, <i>December 27, 1885</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The failure which attended the forward Hellenic movement during +the years 1896-97 stands in sharp relief with the fortunes of the +Bulgarians. To the rise of this youngest, and not the least +promising, of European States, we must devote a whole chapter; for +during a decade the future of the Balkan Peninsula and the policy +of the Great Powers turned very largely on the emancipation of this +interesting race from the effective control of the Sultan and the +Czar.</p> +<p>The rise of this enigmatical people affords a striking example +of the power of national feeling to uplift the downtrodden. Until +the year 1876, the very name Bulgarian was scarcely known except as +a geographical term. Kinglake, in his charming work, <i>Eothen</i>, +does not mention the Bulgarians, though he travelled on horseback +from Belgrade to Sofia and thence to Adrianople. And yet in 1828, +the conquering march of the Russians to Adrianople had awakened +that people to a passing thrill of national consciousness. Other +travellers,--for instance, Cyprien Robert in the "thirties,"--noted +their sturdy patience in toil, their slowness to act, but their +great perseverance and will-power, when the resolve was formed.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg +252]</span> +<p>These qualities may perhaps be ascribed to their Tatar (Tartar) +origin. Ethnically, they are closely akin to the Magyars and Turks, +but, having been long settled on the banks of the Volga (hence +their name, Bulgarian = Volgarian), they adopted the speech and +religion of the Slavs. They have lived this new life for about a +thousand years<a name="FNanchor184"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_184">[184]</a>; and in this time have been completely +changed. Though their flat lips and noses bespeak an Asiatic +origin, they are practically Slavs, save that their temperament is +less nervous, and their persistence greater than that of their +co-religionists<a name="FNanchor185"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_185">[185]</a>. Their determined adhesion to Slav ideals +and rejection of Turkish ways should serve as a reminder to +anthropologists that peoples are not mainly to be judged and +divided off by craniological peculiarities. Measurement of skulls +may tell us something concerning the basal characteristics of +tribes: it leaves untouched the boundless fund of beliefs, +thoughts, aspirations, and customs which mould the lives of +nations. The peoples of to-day are what their creeds, customs, and +hopes have made them; as regards their political life, they have +little more likeness to their tribal forefathers than the average +man has to the chimpanzee.</p> +<p>The first outstanding event in the recent rise of the Bulgarian +race was the acquisition of spiritual independence in 1869-70. +Hitherto they, in common with nearly all the Slavs, had belonged to +the Greek Church, and had recognised the supremacy of its Patriarch +at Constantinople, but, as the national idea progressed, the +Bulgarians sought to have their own Church. It was in vain that the +Greeks protested against this schismatic attempt. The Western +Powers and Russia favoured it; the Porte also was not loth to see +the Christians further divided. Early in the year 1870, the +Bulgarian Church came into existence, with an Exarch of its own at +Constantinople who has survived the numerous attempts of the Greeks +to ban him as a schismatic from the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> "Universal Church." The +Bulgarians therefore took rank with the other peoples of the +Peninsula as a religious entity., the Roumanian and Servian +Churches having been constituted early in the century. In fact, the +Porte recognises the Bulgarians, even in Macedonia, as an +independent religious community, a right which it does not accord +to the Servians; the latter, in Macedonia, are counted only as +"Greeks<a name="FNanchor186"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_186">[186]</a>."</p> +<p>The Treaty of San Stefano promised to make the Bulgarians the +predominant race of the Balkan Peninsula for the benefit of Russia; +but, as we have seen, the efforts of Great Britain and Austria, +backed by the jealousies of Greeks and Servians, led to a radical +change in those arrangements. The Treaty of Berlin divided that +people into three unequal parts. The larger mass, dwelling in +Bulgaria Proper, gained entire independence of the Sultan, save in +the matter of suzerainty; the Bulgarians on the southern slopes of +the Balkans acquired autonomy only in local affairs, and remained +under the control of the Porte in military affairs and in matters +of high policy; while the Bulgarians who dwelt in Macedonia, about +1,120,000 in number, were led to hope something from articles 61 +and 62 of the Treaty of Berlin, but remained otherwise at the mercy +of the Sultan<a name="FNanchor187"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_187">[187]</a>.</p> +<p>This unsatisfactory state of things promised to range the +Principality of Bulgaria entirely on the side of Russia, and at the +outset the hope of all Bulgarians was for a close friendship with +the great Power that had effected their liberation. These +sentiments, however, speedily cooled. The officers appointed by the +Czar to organise the Principality carried out their task in a +high-handed way that soon irritated the newly enfranchised people. +Gratitude is a feeling that soon vanishes, especially in political +life. There, far more than in private life, it is a great mistake +for the party that has conferred a boon <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span> to +remind the recipient of what he owes, especially if that recipient +be young and aspiring. Yet that was the mistake committed +everywhere throughout Bulgaria. The army, the public +service--everything--was modelled on Russian lines during the time +of the occupation, until the overbearing ways of the officials +succeeded in dulling the memory of the services rendered in the +war. The fact of the liberation was forgotten amidst the irritation +aroused by the constant reminders of it.</p> +<p>The Russians succeeded in alienating even the young German +prince who came, with the full favour of the Czar Alexander II., to +take up the reins of Government. A scion of the House of Hesse +Darmstadt by a morganatic marriage, Prince Alexander of Battenberg +had been sounded by the Russian authorities, with a view to his +acceptance of the Bulgarian crown. By the vote of the Bulgarian +Chamber, it was offered to him on April 29, 1879. He accepted it, +knowing full well that it would be a thorny honour for a youth of +twenty-two years of age. His tall commanding frame, handsome +features, ability and prowess as a soldier, and, above all, his +winsome address, seemed to mark him out as a natural leader of men; +and he received a warm welcome from the Bulgarians in the month of +July.</p> +<p>His difficulties began at once. The chief Russian administrator, +Dondukoff Korsakoff, had thrust his countrymen into all the +important and lucrative posts, thereby leaving out in the cold the +many Bulgarians, who, after working hard for the liberation of +their land, now saw it transferred from the slovenly overlordship +of the Turk to the masterful grip of the Muscovite. The +Principality heaved with discontent, and these feelings finally +communicated themselves to the sympathetic nature of the Prince. +But duty and policy alike forbade him casting off the Russian +influence. No position could be more trying for a young man of +chivalrous and ambitious nature, endowed with a strain of +sensitiveness which he probably derived from his Polish mother. He +early set <span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id= +"page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> forth his feelings in a private +letter to Prince Charles of Roumania:--</p> +<p>Devoted with my whole heart to the Czar Alexander, I am anxious +to do nothing that can be called anti-Russian. Unfortunately the +Russian officials have acted with the utmost want of tact; +confusion prevails in every office, and peculation, thanks to +Dondukoff's decrees, is all but sanctioned. I am daily confronted +with the painful alternative of having to decide either to assent +to the Russian demands or to be accused in Russia of ingratitude +and of "injuring the most sacred feelings of the Bulgarians." My +position is truly terrible.</p> +<p>The friction with Russia increased with time. Early in the year +1880, Prince Alexander determined to go to St. Petersburg to appeal +to the Czar in the hope of allaying the violence of the Panslavonic +intriguers. Matters improved for a time, but only because the +Prince accepted the guidance of the Czar. Thereafter he retained +most of his pro-Russian Ministers, even though the second +Legislative Assembly, elected in the spring of that year, was +strongly Liberal and anti-Russian. In April 1881 he acted on the +advice of one of his Ministers, a Russian general named Ehrenroth, +and carried matters with a high hand: he dissolved the Assembly, +suspended the constitution, encouraged his officials to browbeat +the voters, and thereby gained a docile Chamber, which carried out +his behests by decreeing a Septennate, or autocratic rule for seven +years. In order to prop up his miniature czardom, he now asked the +new Emperor, Alexander III., to send him two Russian Generals. His +request was granted in the persons of Generals Soboleff and +Kaulbars, who became Ministers of the Interior and for War; a +third, General Tioharoff, being also added as Minister of +Justice.</p> +<p>The triumph of Muscovite influence now seemed to be complete, +until the trio just named usurped the functions of the Bulgarian +Ministers and informed the Prince that they took their orders from +the Czar, not from him. Chafing <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span> at these self-imposed +Russian bonds, the Prince now leant more on the moderate Liberals, +headed by Karaveloff; and on the Muscovites intriguing in the same +quarter, and with the troops, with a view to his deposition, they +met with a complete repulse. An able and vigorous young Bulgarian, +Stambuloff, was now fast rising in importance among the more +resolute nationalists. The son of an innkeeper of Tirnova, he was +sent away to be educated at Odessa; there he early became imbued +with Nihilist ideas, and on returning to the Danubian lands, framed +many plots for the expulsion of the Turks from Bulgaria. His +thick-set frame, his force of will, his eloquent, passionate +speech, and, above all, his burning patriotism, soon brought him to +the front as the leader of the national party; and he now strove +with all his might to prevent his land falling to the position of a +mere satrapy of the liberators. Better the puny autocracy of Prince +Alexander than the very real despotism of the nominees of the +Emperor Alexander III.</p> +<p>The character of the new Czar will engage our attention in the +following chapter; here we need only say that the more his narrow, +hard, and overbearing nature asserted itself, the greater appeared +the danger to the liberties of the Principality. At last, when the +situation became unbearable, the Prince resolved to restore the +Bulgarian constitution; and he took this momentous step, on +September 18, 1883, without consulting the three Russian Ministers, +who thereupon resigned<a name="FNanchor188"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_188">[188]</a>.</p> +<p>At once the Prince summoned Karaveloff, and said to him: "My +dear Karaveloff--For the second time I swear to thee that I will be +entirely submissive to the will of the people, and that I will +govern in full accordance with the constitution of Tirnova. Let us +forget what passed during the <i>coup d'état</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg +257]</span> [of 1881], and work together for the prosperity of the +country." He embraced him; and that embrace was the pledge of a +close union of hearts between him and his people<a name= +"FNanchor189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189">[189]</a>.</p> +<p>The Czar forthwith showed his anger at this act of independence, +and, counting it a sign of defiance, allowed or encouraged his +agents in Bulgaria to undermine the power of the Prince, and +procure his deposition. For two years they struggled in vain. An +attempt by the Russian Generals Soboleff and Kaulbars to kidnap the +Prince by night failed, owing to the loyalty of Lieutenant +Martinoff, then on duty at his palace; the two ministerial plotters +forthwith left Bulgaria<a name="FNanchor190"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_190">[190]</a>.</p> +<p>Even now the scales did not fall from the eyes of the Emperor +Alexander III. Bismarck was once questioned by the faithful Busch +as to the character of that potentate. The German Boswell remarked +that he had heard Alexander III. described as "stupid, exceedingly +stupid"; whereupon the Chancellor replied: "In a general way that +is saying too much<a name="FNanchor191"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_191">[191]</a>." Leaving to posterity the task of +deciding that question, we may here point out that Muscovite policy +in the years 1878-85 achieved a truly remarkable feat in uniting +all the liberated races of the Balkan Peninsula against their +liberators. By the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, Russia had +alienated the Roumanians, Servians, and Greeks; so that when the +Princes of those two Slav Principalities decided to take the kingly +title (as they did in the spring of 1881 and 1882 respectively), it +was after visits to Berlin and Vienna, whereby they tacitly +signified their friendliness to the Central Powers.</p> +<p>In the case of Servia this went to the length of alliance. On +June 25, 1881, the Foreign Minister, M. Mijatovich, concluded with +Austria-Hungary a secret convention, whereby <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span> Servia +agreed to discourage any movement among the Slavs of Bosnia, while +the Dual Monarchy promised to refrain from any action detrimental +to Servian hopes for what is known as old Servia. The agreement was +for eight years; but it was not renewed in 1889<a name= +"FNanchor192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192">[192]</a>. The fact, +however, that such a compact could be framed within three years of +the Berlin Congress, shows how keen was the resentment of the +Servian Government at the neglect of its interests by Russia, both +there and at San Stefano.</p> +<p>The gulf between Bulgaria and Russia widened more slowly, but +with the striking sequel that will be seen. The Dondukoffs, +Soboleffs, and Kaulbars first awakened and then estranged the +formerly passive and docile race for whose aggrandisement Russia +had incurred the resentment of the neighbouring peoples. Under +Muscovite tutelage the "ignorant Bulgarian peasants" were +developing a strong civic and political instinct. Further, the +Czar's attacks, now on the Prince, and then on the popular party, +served to bind these formerly discordant elements into an alliance. +Stambuloff, the very embodiment of young Bulgaria in tenacity of +purpose and love of freedom, was now the President of the Sobranje, +or National Assembly, and he warmly supported Prince Alexander so +long as he withstood Russian pretensions. At the outset the strifes +at Sofia had resembled a triangular duel, and the Russian agents +could readily have disposed of the third combatant had they sided +either with the Prince or with the Liberals. By browbeating both +they simplified the situation to the benefit both of the Prince and +of the nascent liberties of Bulgaria.</p> +<p>Alexander III. and his Chancellor, de Giers, had also tied their +hands in Balkan affairs by a treaty which they framed with Austria +and Germany, and signed and ratified at the meeting of the three +Emperors at Skiernewice (September 1884--see Chapter XII.). The +most important of its provisions from our present standpoint was +that by which, in the event of two of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> the +three Empires disagreeing on Balkan questions, the casting vote +rested with the third Power. This gave to Bismarck the same role of +arbiter which he had played at the Berlin Congress.</p> +<p>But in the years 1885 and 1886, the Czar and his agents +committed a series of blunders, by the side of which their earlier +actions seemed statesmanlike. The welfare of the Bulgarian people +demanded an early reversal of the policy decided on at the Congress +of Berlin (1878), whereby the southern Bulgarians were divided from +their northern brethren in order that the Sultan might have the +right to hold the Balkan passes in time of war. That is to say, the +Powers, especially Great Britain and Austria, set aside the claims +of a strong racial instinct for purely military reasons. The +breakdown of this artificial arrangement was confidently predicted +at the time; and Russian agents at first took the lead in preparing +for the future union. Skobeleff, Katkoff, and the Panslavonic +societies of Russia encouraged the formation of "gymnastic +societies" in Eastern Roumelia, and the youth of that province +enrolled themselves with such ardour that by the year 1885 more +than 40,000 were trained to the use of arms. As for the protests of +the Sultan and those of his delegates at Philippopolis, they were +stilled by hints from St. Petersburg, or by demands for the prompt +payment of Turkey's war debt to Russia. All the world knew that, +thanks to Russian patronage, Eastern Roumelia had slipped entirely +from the control of Abdul Hamid.</p> +<p>By the summer of 1885, the unionist movement had acquired great +strength. But now, at the critical time, when Russia should have +led that movement, she let it drift, or even, we may say, cast off +the tow-rope. Probably the Czar and his Ministers looked on the +Bulgarians as too weak or too stupid to act for themselves. It was +a complete miscalculation; for now Stambuloff and Karaveloff had +made that aim their own, and brought to its accomplishment all the +skill and zeal which they had learned in a long career of +resistance to Turkish and Russian masters. There is reason to think +that <span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg +260]</span> they and their coadjutors at Philippopolis pressed on +events in the month of September 1885, because the Czar was then +known to disapprove any immediate action.</p> +<p>In order to understand the reason for this strange reversal of +Russia's policy, we must scrutinise events more closely. The secret +workings of that policy have been laid bare in a series of State +documents, the genuineness of which is not altogether established. +They are said to have been betrayed to the Bulgarian patriots by a +Russian agent, and they certainly bear signs of authenticity. If we +accept them (and up to the present they have been accepted by +well-informed men) the truth is as follows:--</p> +<p>Russia would have worked hard for the union of Eastern Roumelia +to Bulgaria, provided that the Prince abdicated and his people +submitted completely to Russian control. Quite early in his reign +Alexander III. discovered in them an independence which his +masterful nature ill brooked. He therefore postponed that scheme +until the Prince should abdicate or be driven out. As one of the +Muscovite agents phrased it in the spring of 1881, the union must +not be brought about until a Russian protectorate should be founded +in the Principality; for if they made Bulgaria too strong, it would +become "a second Roumania," that is, as "ungrateful" to Russia as +Roumania had shown herself after the seizure of her Bessarabian +lands. In fact, the Bulgarians could gain the wish of their hearts +only on one condition--that of proclaiming the Emperor Alexander +Grand Duke of the greater State of the future<a name= +"FNanchor193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193">[193]</a>.</p> +<p>The chief obstacles in the way of Russia's aggrandisement were +the susceptibilities of "the Battenberger," as her agents +impertinently named him, and the will of Stambuloff. When +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg +261]</span> the Czar, by his malevolent obstinacy, finally brought +these two men to accord, it was deemed needful to adopt various +devices in order to shatter the forces which Russian diplomacy had +succeeded in piling up in its own path. But here again we are +reminded of the Horatian precept--</p> +<blockquote>Vis consili expers mole ruit sua.</blockquote> +<p>To the hectorings of Russian agents the "peasant State" offered +an ever firmer resistance, and by the summer of 1885 it was clear +that bribery and bullying were equally futile.</p> +<p>Of course the Emperor of all the Russias had it in his power to +harry the Prince in many ways. Thus in the summer of 1885, when a +marriage was being arranged between him and the Princess Victoria, +daughter of the Crown Princess of Germany, the Czar's influence at +Berlin availed to veto an engagement which is believed to have been +the heartfelt wish of both the persons most nearly concerned. In +this matter Bismarck, true to his policy of softening the Czar's +annoyance at the Austro-German alliance by complaisance in all +other matters, made himself Russia's henchman, and urged his +press-trumpet, Busch, to write newspaper articles abusing Queen +Victoria as having instigated this match solely with a view to the +substitution of British for Russian influence in Bulgaria<a name= +"FNanchor194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194">[194]</a>. The more +servile part of the German Press improved on these suggestions, and +stigmatised the Bulgarian Revolution of the ensuing autumn as an +affair trumped up at London. So far is it possible for minds of a +certain type to read their own pettiness into events.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, if we may credit the despatches above referred to, +the Russian Government was seeking to drag Bulgaria into +fratricidal strife with Roumania over some trifling disputes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg +262]</span> about the new border near Silistria. That quarrel, if +well managed, promised to be materially advantageous to Russia and +mentally soothing to her ruler. It would weaken the Danubian States +and help to bring them back to the heel of their former protector. +Further, seeing that the behaviour of King Charles to his Russian +benefactors was no less "ungrateful" than that of Prince Alexander, +it would be a fit Nemesis for these <i>ingrats</i> to be set by the +ears. Accordingly, in the month of August 1885, orders were issued +to Russian agents to fan the border dispute; and on August 12/30 +the Director of the Asiatic Department at St. Petersburg wrote the +following instructions to the Russian Consul-General at +Rustchuk:--</p> +<blockquote>You remember that the union [of the two Bulgarias] must +not take place until after the abdication of Prince Alexander. +However, the ill-advised and hostile attitude of King Charles of +Roumania [to Russia] obliges the imperial government to postpone +for some time the projected union of Eastern Roumelia to the +Principality, as well as the abdication and expulsion of the Prince +of Bulgaria. In the session of the Council of [Russian] Ministers +held yesterday it was decided to beg the Emperor to call Prince +Alexander to Copenhagen or to St. Petersburg in order to inform him +that, according to the will of His Majesty, Bulgaria must defend by +armed force her rights over the points hereinbefore +mentioned<a name="FNanchor195"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_195">[195]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>The despatch then states that Russia will keep Turkey quiet and +will eventually make war on Roumania; also, that if Bulgaria +triumphs over Roumania, the latter will pay her in territory or +money, or in both. Possibly, however, the whole scheme may have +been devised to serve as a decoy to bring Prince Alexander within +the power of his imperial patrons, who, in that case, would +probably have detained and dethroned him.</p> +<p>Further light was thrown on the tortuous course of Russian +diplomacy by a speech of Count Eugen Zichy to the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> +Hungarian Delegations about a year later. He made the startling +declaration that in the summer of 1885 Russia concluded a treaty +with Montenegro with the aim of dethroning King Milan and Prince +Alexander, and the division of the Balkan States between Prince +Nicholas of Montenegro and the Karageorgevich Pretender who has +since made his way to the throne at Belgrade. The details of these +schemes are not known, but the searchlight thrown upon them from +Buda-Pesth revealed the shifts of the policy of those "friends of +peace," the Czar Alexander III. and his Chancellor, de Giers.</p> +<p>Prince Alexander may not have been aware of these schemes in +their full extent, but he and his friends certainly felt the meshes +closing around them. There were only two courses open, either +completely to submit to the Czar (which, for the Prince, implied +abdication) or to rely on the Bulgarian people. The Prince took the +course which would have been taken by every man worthy of the name. +It is, however, almost certain that he did not foresee the events +at Philippopolis. He gave his word to a German officer, Major von +Huhn, that he had not in the least degree expected the unionist +movement to take so speedy and decisive a step forward as it did in +the middle of September. The Prince, in fact, had been on a tour +throughout Europe, and expressed the same opinion to the Russian +Chancellor, de Giers, at Franzensbad.</p> +<p>But by this time everything was ready at Philippopolis. As the +men of Eastern Roumelia were all of one mind in this matter, it was +the easiest of tasks to surprise the Sultan's representative, +Gavril Pasha, to surround his office with soldiers, and to request +him to leave the province (September 18). A carriage was ready to +conduct him towards Sofia. In it sat a gaily dressed peasant girl +holding a drawn sword. Gavril turned red with rage at this insult, +but he mounted the vehicle, and was driven through the town and +thence towards the Balkans.</p> +<p>Such was the departure of the last official of the Sultan from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg +264]</span> the land which the Turks had often drenched with blood; +such was the revenge of the southern Bulgarians for the atrocities +of 1876. Not a drop of blood was shed; and Major von Huhn, who soon +arrived at Philippopolis, found Greeks and Turks living contentedly +under the new government. The word "revolution" is in such cases a +misnomer. South Bulgaria merely returned to its natural +state<a name="FNanchor196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196">[196]</a>. +But nothing will convince diplomatists that events can happen +without the pulling of wires by themselves or their rivals. In this +instance they found that Prince Alexander had made the +revolution.</p> +<p>At first, however, the Prince doubted whether he should accept +the crown of a Greater Bulgaria which the men of Philippopolis now +enthusiastically offered to him. Stambuloff strongly urged him to +accept, even if he thereby still further enraged the Czar: "Sire," +he said, "two roads lie before you: the one to Philippopolis and as +far beyond as God may lead; the other to Sistova and Darmstadt. I +counsel you to take the crown the nation offers you." On the 20th +the Prince announced his acceptance of the crown of a united +Bulgaria. As he said to the British Consul at Philippopolis, he +would have been a "sharper" (<i>filou</i>) not to side with his +people<a name="FNanchor197"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_197">[197]</a>.</p> +<p>Few persons were prepared for the outburst of wrath of the Czar +at hearing this news. Early in his reign he had concentrated into a +single phrase--"silly Pole"--the spleen of an essentially narrow +nature at seeing a kinsman and a dependant dare to think and act +for himself<a name="FNanchor198"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_198">[198]</a>. But on this occasion, as we can now see, +the Prince had marred Russia's plans in the most serious way. +Stambuloff and he had deprived her of her unionist trump card. The +Czar found his project of becoming Grand Duke of a Greater Bulgaria +blocked by the action of this same hated kinsman. Is it surprising +that his usual stolidity gave way to one of those fits of bull-like +fury which <span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id= +"page265"></a>[pg 265]</span> aroused the fear of all who beheld +them? Thenceforth between the Emperor Alexander and Prince +Alexander the relations might be characterised by the curt phrase +which Palafox hurled at the French from the weak walls of +Saragossa--"War to the knife." Like Palafox, the Prince now had no +hope but in the bravery of his people.</p> +<p>In the ciphered telegrams of September 19 and 20, which the +Director of the Asiatic Department at St. Petersburg sent to the +Russian Consul-General at Rustchuk, the note of resentment and +revenge was clearly sounded. The events in Eastern Roumelia had +changed "all our intentions." The agent was therefore directed to +summon the chief Russian officers in Bulgaria and ask them whether +the "young" Bulgarian officers could really command brigades and +regiments, and organise the artillery; also whether that army could +alone meet the army of "a neighbouring State." The replies of the +officers being decidedly in the negative, they were ordered to +leave Bulgaria<a name="FNanchor199"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_199">[199]</a>. Nelidoff, the Russian ambassador at +Constantinople, also worked furiously to spur on the Sultan to +revenge the insult inflicted on him by Prince Alexander.</p> +<p>Sir William White believed that the <i>volte face</i> in Russian +policy was due solely to Nelidoff's desire to thwart the peaceful +policy of the Russian Chancellor, de Giers, who at that time +chanced to be absent in Tyrol, while the Czar also was away at +Copenhagen<a name="FNanchor200"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_200">[200]</a>. But it now appears that the Russian +Foreign Office took Nelidoff's view, and bade him press Turkey to +restore the "legal order" of things in Eastern Roumelia. Further, +the Ministers of the Czar found that Servia, Greece, and perhaps +also Roumania, intended to oppose the aggrandisement of Bulgaria; +and it therefore seemed easy to chastise "the Battenberger" for his +wanton disturbance of the peace of Europe.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg +266]</span> +<p>Possibly Russia would herself have struck at Bulgaria but for +the difficulties of the general situation. How great these were +will be realised by a perusal of the following chapters, which deal +with the spread of Nihilism in Russia, the formation of the +Austro-German alliance, and the favour soon shown to it by Italy, +the estrangement of England and the Porte owing to the action taken +by the former in Egypt, and the sharp collision of interests +between Russia and England at Panjdeh on the Afghan frontier. When +it is further remembered that France fretted at the untoward +results of M. Ferry's forward policy in Tonquin; that Germany was +deeply engaged in colonial efforts; and that the United Kingdom was +distracted by those efforts, by the failure of the expedition to +Khartum, and by the Parnellite agitation in Ireland--the complexity +of the European situation will be sufficiently evident. Assuredly +the events of the year 1885 were among the most distracting ever +recorded in the history of Europe.</p> +<p>This clash of interests among nations wearied by war, and +alarmed at the apparition of the red spectre of revolution in their +midst, told by no means unfavourably on the fortunes of the Balkan +States. The dominant facts of the situation were, firstly, that +Russia no longer had a free hand in the Balkan Peninsula in face of +the compact between the three Emperors ratified at Skiernewice in +the previous autumn (see Chapter XII.); and, secondly, that the +traditional friendship between England and the Porte had been +replaced by something like hostility. Seeing that the Sultan had +estranged the British Government by his very suspicious action +during the revolts of Arabi Pasha and of the Mahdi, even those who +had loudly proclaimed the need of propping up his authority as +essential to the stability of our Eastern Empire now began to +revise their prejudices.</p> +<p>Thus, when Lord Salisbury came to office, if not precisely to +power, in June 1885, he found affairs in the East rapidly ripening +for a change of British policy--a change which is known to have +corresponded with his own convictions. Finally, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> the +marriage of Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, on +July 23, 1885, added that touch of personal interest which enabled +Court circles to break with the traditions of the past and to face +the new situation with equanimity. Accordingly the power of +Britain, which in 1876-78 had been used to thwart the growth of +freedom in the Balkan Peninsula, was now put forth to safeguard the +union of Bulgaria. During these critical months Sir William White +acted as ambassador at Constantinople, and used his great knowledge +of the Balkan peoples with telling effect for this salutary +purpose.</p> +<p>Lord Salisbury advised the Sultan not to send troops into +Southern Bulgaria; and the warning chimed in with the note of +timorous cunning which formed the undertone of that monarch's +thought and policy. Distracted by the news of the warlike +preparations of Servia and Greece, Abdul Hamid looked on Russia's +advice in a contrary sense as a piece of Muscovite treachery. About +the same time, too, there were rumours of palace plots at +Constantinople; and the capricious recluse of Yildiz finally +decided to keep his best troops near at hand. It appears, then, +that Nihilism in Russia and the spectre of conspiracy always +haunting the brain of Abdul Hamid played their part in assuring the +liberties of Bulgaria.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Powers directed their ambassadors at +Constantinople to hold a preliminary Conference at which Turkey +would be represented. The result was a declaration expressing +formal disapproval of the violation of the Treaty of Berlin, and a +hope that all parties concerned would keep the peace. This mild +protest very inadequately reflected the character of the +discussions which had been going on between the several Courts. +Russia, it is known, wished to fasten the blame for the revolution +on Prince Alexander; but all public censure was vetoed by +England.</p> +<p>Probably her action was as effective in still weightier matters. +A formal Conference of the ambassadors of the Powers met at +Constantinople on November 5; and there again Sir William White, +acting on instructions from Lord Salisbury, defended <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> the +Bulgarian cause, and sought to bring about a friendly understanding +between the Porte and "a people occupying so important a position +in the Sultan's dominions." Lord Salisbury also warned the Turkish +ambassador in London that if Turkey sought to expel Prince +Alexander from Eastern Roumelia, she would "be making herself the +instrument of those who desired the fall of the Ottoman +Empire<a name="FNanchor201"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_201">[201]</a>."</p> +<p>This reference to the insidious means used by Russia for +bringing the Turks to a state of tutelage, as a preliminary to +partition, was an effective reminder of the humiliations which they +had undergone at the hands of Russia by the Treaty of Unkiar +Skelessi (1833). France also showed no disposition to join the +Russian and Austrian demand that the Sultan should at once +re-establish the <i>status quo</i>; and by degrees the more +intelligent Turks came to see that a strong Bulgaria, independent +of Russian control, might be an additional safeguard against the +Colossus of the North. Russia's insistence on the exact fulfilment +of the Treaty of Berlin helped to open their eyes, and lent force +to Sir William White's arguments as to the need of strengthening +that treaty by "introducing into it a timely improvement<a name= +"FNanchor202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202">[202]</a>."</p> +<p>Owing to the opposition offered by Great Britain, and to some +extent by France, to the proposed restoration of the old order of +things in Eastern Roumelia, the Conference came to an end at the +close of November, the three Imperial Powers blaming Sir William +White for his obstructive tactics. The charges will not bear +examination, but they show the irritation of those Governments at +England's championship of the Bulgarian cause<a name= +"FNanchor203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203">[203]</a>. The Bulgarians +always remember the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id= +"page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> names of Lord Salisbury and Sir +William White as those of friends in need.</p> +<p>In the main, however, the consolidation of Bulgaria was achieved +by her own stalwart sons. While the Imperial Powers were proposing +to put back the hands of the clock, an alarum sounded forth, +proclaiming the advent of a new era in the history of the Balkan +peoples. The action which brought about this change was startling +alike in its inception, in the accompanying incidents, and still +more in its results.</p> +<p>Where Abdul Hamid forebore to enter, even as the mandatory of +the Continental Courts, there Milan of Servia rushed in. As an +excuse for his aggression, the Kinglet of Belgrade alleged the harm +done to Servian trade by a recent revision of the Bulgarian tariff. +But the Powers assessed this complaint and others at their due +value, and saw in his action merely the desire to seize a part of +Western Bulgaria as a set-off to the recent growth of that +Principality. On all sides his action in declaring war against +Prince Alexander (November 14) met with reprobation, even on the +part of his guide and friend, Austria. A recent report of the +Hungarian Committee on Foreign Affairs contained a recommendation +which implied that he ought to receive compensation; and this +seemed to show the wish of the more active part of the Dual +Monarchy peacefully but effectively to champion his cause<a name= +"FNanchor204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204">[204]</a>.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, the King decided to carve out his fortunes by his +own sword. He had some grounds for confidence. If a Bulgarian +<i>fait accompli</i> could win tacit recognition from the Powers, +why should not a Servian triumph over Bulgaria force their hands +once more? Prince Alexander was unsafe on his throne; thanks to the +action of Russia his troops had very few experienced officers; and +in view of the Sultan's resentment his southern border could not be +denuded of troops. Never did a case seem more desperate than that +of the "Peasant State," deserted and flouted by Russia, disliked by +the Sultan, on bad terms with Roumania, and publicly lectured by +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg +270]</span> Continental Powers for her irregular conduct. Servia's +triumph seemed assured.</p> +<p>But now there came forth one more proof of the vitalising force +of the national principle. In seven years the downtrodden peasants +of Bulgaria had become men, and now astonished the world by their +prowess. The withdrawal of the Russian officers left half of the +captaincies vacant; but they were promptly filled up by +enthusiastic young lieutenants. Owing to the blowing up of the line +from Philippopolis to Adrianople, only five locomotives were +available for carrying back northwards the troops which had +hitherto been massed on the southern border; and these five were +already overstrained. Yet the engineers now worked them still +harder and they did not break down<a name= +"FNanchor205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205">[205]</a>. The hardy +peasants tramped impossibly long distances in their longing to meet +the Servians. The arrangements were carried through with a success +which seems miraculous in an inexperienced race. The explanation +was afterwards rightly discerned by an English visitor to Bulgaria. +"This is the secret of Bulgarian independence--everybody is in grim +earnest. The Bulgarians do not care about amusements<a name= +"FNanchor206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206">[206]</a>." In that +remark there is food for thought. Inefficiency has no place among a +people that looks to the welfare of the State as all in all. +Breakdowns occur when men think more about "sport" and pleasure +than about doing their utmost for their country.</p> +<p>The results of this grim earnestness were to astonish the world. +The Servians at first gained some successes in front of Widdin and +Slivnitza; but the defenders of the latter place (an all-important +position north-west of Sofia) hurried up all possible forces. Two +Bulgarian regiments are said to have marched 123 kilometres in +thirty hours in order to defend that military outwork of their +capital; while others, worn out with marching, rode forward on +horseback, two men to each horse, and then threw themselves into +the fight. The Bulgarian <span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" +id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> artillery was well served, and +proved to be very superior to that of the Servians.</p> +<p>Thus, on the first two days of conflict at Slivnitza, the +defenders beat back the Servians with some loss. On the third day +(November 19), after receiving reinforcements, they took the +offensive, with surprising vigour. A talented young officer, +Bendereff, led their right wing, with bands playing and colours +flying, to storm the hillsides that dominated the Servian position. +The hardy peasants scaled the hills and delivered the final bayonet +charge so furiously that there and on all sides the invaders fled +in wild panic, and scarcely halted until they reached their own +frontier.</p> +<p>Thenceforth King Milan had hard work to keep his men together. +Many of them were raw troops; their ammunition was nearly +exhausted; and their <i>morale</i> had vanished utterly. Prince +Alexander had little difficulty in thrusting them forth from Pirot, +and seemed to have before him a clear road to Belgrade, when +suddenly he was brought to a halt by a menace from the +north<a name="FNanchor207"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_207">[207]</a>.</p> +<p>A special envoy sent by the Hapsburgs, Count Khevenhüller, +came in haste to the headquarters of the Prince on November 28, and +in imperious terms bade him grant an armistice to Servia, otherwise +Austrian troops would forthwith cross the frontier to her +assistance. Before this threat Alexander gave way, and was blamed +by some of his people for this act of complaisance. But assuredly +he could not well have acted otherwise. The three Emperors, of late +acting in accord in Balkan questions, had it in their power to +crush him by launching the Turks against Philippopolis, or their +own troops against Sofia. He had satisfied the claims of honour; he +had punished Servia for her peevish and unsisterly jealousy. Under +his lead the Bulgarians had covered themselves with glory, and had +leaped at a bound from political youth to manhood. Why should he +risk their new-found unity merely <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page272" id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> in order to abase +Servia? The Prince never acted more prudently than when he decided +not to bring into the field the Power which, as he believed, had +pushed on Servia to war<a name="FNanchor208"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_208">[208]</a>.</p> +<p>Had he known that the Russian Chancellor, de Giers, on hearing +of Austria's threat to Bulgaria, informed the Court of Vienna of +the Czar's condign displeasure if that threat were carried into +effect, perhaps he would have played a grand game, advancing on +Belgrade, dethroning the already unpopular King Milan, and offering +to the Czar the headship of a united Servo-Bulgarian State. He +might thus have appeased that sovereign, but at the cost of a +European war. Whether from lack of information, or from a sense of +prudence and humanity, the Prince held back and decided for peace +with Servia. Despite many difficulties thrown in the way by King +Milan, this was the upshot of the ensuing negotiations. The two +States finally came to terms by the Treaty of Bukharest, where, +thanks to the good sense of the negotiators and the efforts of +Turkey to compose these strifes, peace was assured on the basis of +the <i>status quo ante bellum</i> (March 3, 1886).</p> +<p>Already the Porte had manifested its good-will towards Bulgaria +in the most signal manner. This complete reversal of policy may be +assigned to several causes. Firstly, Prince Alexander, on marching +against the Servians, had very tactfully proclaimed that he did so +on behalf of the existing order of things, which they were bent on +overthrowing. His actions having corresponded to his words, the +Porte gradually came to see in him a potent defender against +Russia. This change in the attitude of the Sultan was undoubtedly +helped on by the arguments of Lord Salisbury to the Turkish +ambassador at London. He summarised the whole case for a +recognition of the union of the two Bulgarias in the following +remarks (December 23, 1885):--</p> +<blockquote>Every week's experience showed that the Porte had +little to<br> +dread from the subserviency of Bulgaria to foreign influence, +if<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg +273]</span> only Bulgaria were allowed enjoyment of her unanimous +desires, and the Porte did not gratuitously place itself in +opposition to the<br> +general feeling of the people. A Bulgaria, friendly to the +Porte,<br> +and jealous of foreign influence, would be a far surer bulwark<br> +against foreign aggression than two Bulgarias, severed in +administration,<br> +but united in considering the Porte as the only obstacle to<br> +their national development<a name="FNanchor209"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_209">[209]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>Events served to reveal the soundness of this statesmanlike +pronouncement. At the close of the year Prince Alexander returned +from the front to Sofia and received an overwhelming ovation as the +champion of Bulgarian liberties. Further, he now found no +difficulty in coming to an understanding with the Turkish +Commissioners sent to investigate the state of opinion in Southern +Bulgaria. Most significant of all was the wrath of the Czar at the +sight of his popularity, and the utter collapse of the Russian +party at Sofia.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Powers found themselves obliged little by little +to abandon their pedantic resolve to restore the Treaty of Berlin. +Sir Robert Morier, British ambassador at St. Petersburg, in a +letter of December 27, 1885, to Sir William White, thus commented +on the causes that assured success to the Bulgarian cause:</p> +<blockquote>The very great prudence shown by Lord Salisbury, and +the consummate<br> +ability with which you played your part, have made it a<br> +successful game; but the one crowning good fortune, which we<br> +mainly owe to the incalculable folly of the Servian attack, has +been<br> +that Prince Alexander's generalship and the fighting capacities +of<br> +his soldiers have placed our rival action [his own and that of +Sir<br> +W. White] in perfect harmony with the crushing logic of fact.<br> +The rivalry is thus completely swamped in the bit of cosmic +work<br> +so successfully accomplished. A State has been evolved out of +the<br> +protoplasm of Balkan chaos.</blockquote> +<p>Sir Robert Morier finally stated that if Sir William White +succeeded in building up an independent Bulgaria friendly to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg +274]</span> Roumania, he would have achieved the greatest feat of +diplomacy since Sir James Hudson's statesmanlike moves at Turin in +the critical months of 1859-60 gained for England a more +influential position in Italy than France had secured by her aid in +the campaign of Solferino. The praise is overstrained, inasmuch as +it leaves out of count the statecraft of Bismarck in the years +1863-64 and 1869-70; but certainly among the <i>peaceful</i> +triumphs of recent years that of Sir William White must rank very +high.</p> +<p>If, however, we examine the inner cause of the success of the +diplomacy of Hudson and White we must assign it in part to the +mistakes of the liberating Powers, France and Russia. Napoleon +III., by requiring the cession of Savoy and Nice, and by revealing +his design to Gallicise the Italian Peninsula, speedily succeeded +in alienating the Italians. The action of Russia, in compelling +Bulgaria to give up the Dobrudscha as an equivalent to the part of +Bessarabia which she took from Roumania, also strained the sense of +gratitude of those peoples; and the conduct of Muscovite agents in +Bulgaria provoked in that Principality feelings bitterer than those +which the Italians felt at the loss of Savoy and Nice. So true is +it that in public as in private life the manner in which a wrong is +inflicted counts for more than the wrong itself. It was on this +sense of resentment (misnamed "ingratitude" by the "liberators") +that British diplomacy worked with telling effect in both cases. It +conferred on the "liberated" substantial benefits; but their worth +was doubled by the contrast which they offered to the losses or the +irritation consequent on the actions of Napoleon III. and of +Alexander III.</p> +<p>To the present writer it seems that the great achievements of +Sir William White were, first, that he kept the Sultan quiet (a +course, be it remarked, from which that nervous recluse was never +averse) when Nelidoff sought to hound him on against Bulgaria; and, +still more, that he helped to bring about a good understanding +between Constantinople and Sofia. In view of the hatred which Abdul +Hamid bore to England <span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id= +"page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> after her intervention in Egypt in +1882, this was certainly a great diplomatic achievement; but +possibly Abdul Hamid hoped to reap advantages on the Nile from his +complaisance to British policy in the Balkans.</p> +<p>The outcome of it all was the framing of a Turco-Bulgarian +Convention (February 1, 1886) whereby the Porte recognised Prince +Alexander as Governor of Eastern Roumelia for a term of five years; +a few border districts in Rhodope, inhabited by Moslems, were ceded +to the Sultan, and (wonder of wonders!) Turkey and Bulgaria +concluded an offensive and defensive alliance. In case of foreign +aggression on Bulgaria, Turkish troops would be sent thither to be +commanded by the Prince; if Turkey were invaded, Bulgarian troops +would form part of the Sultan's army repelling the invader. In +other respects the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin remained in +force for Southern Bulgaria<a name="FNanchor210"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_210">[210]</a>.</p> +<p>On that same day, as it chanced, the Salisbury Cabinet resigned +office, and Mr. Gladstone became Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery +taking the portfolio for Foreign Affairs. This event produced +little variation in Britain's Eastern policy, and that statement +will serve to emphasise the importance of the change of attitude of +the Conservative party towards those affairs in the years +1878-85--a change undoubtedly due in the main to the Marquis of +Salisbury.</p> +<p>In the official notes of the Earl of Rosebery there is manifest +somewhat more complaisance to Russia, as when on February 12 he +instructed Sir William White to advise the Porte to modify its +convention with Bulgaria by abandoning the stipulation as to mutual +military aid. Doubtless this advice was sound. It coincided with +the known opinions of the Court of Vienna; and at the same time +Russia formally declared that she could never accept that +condition<a name="FNanchor211"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_211">[211]</a>. As Germany took the same view the Porte +agreed to expunge the obnoxious clause. The Government of the Czar +also objected to the naming of Prince Alexander in the Convention. +This <span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>[pg +276]</span> unlooked-for slight naturally aroused the indignation +of the Prince; but as the British Government deferred to Russian +views on this matter, the Convention was finally signed at +Constantinople on April 5, 1886. The Powers, including Turkey, +thereby recognised "the Prince of Bulgaria" (not named) as Governor +of Eastern Roumelia for a term of five years, and referred the +"Organic Statute" of that province to revision by a joint +Conference.</p> +<p>The Prince submitted to this arrangement, provisional and +humiliating though it was. But the insults inflicted by Russia +bound him the more closely to his people; and at the united +Parliament, where 182 members out of the total 300 supported his +Ministers, he advocated measures that would cement the union. +Bulgarian soon became the official language throughout South +Bulgaria, to the annoyance of the Greek and Turkish minorities. But +the chief cause of unrest continued to be the intrigues of Russian +agents.</p> +<p>The anger of the Czar at the success of his hated kinsman showed +itself in various ways. Not content with inflicting every possible +slight and disturbing the peace of Bulgaria through his agents, he +even menaced Europe with war over that question. At Sevastopol on +May 19, he declared that circumstances might compel him "to defend +by force of arms the dignity of the Empire"--a threat probably +aimed at Bulgaria and Turkey. On his return to Moscow he received +an enthusiastic welcome from the fervid Slavophils of the old +Russian capital, the Mayor expressing in his address the hope that +"the cross of Christ will soon shine on St. Sofia" at +Constantinople. At the end of June the Russian Government +repudiated the clause of the Treaty of Berlin constituting Batoum a +free port<a name="FNanchor212"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_212">[212]</a>. Despite a vigorous protest by Lord +Rosebery against this infraction of treaty engagements, the Czar +and M. de Giers held to their resolve, evidently by way of retort +to the help given from London to the union of the two +Bulgarias.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg +277]</span> +<p>The Dual Monarchy, especially Hungary, also felt the weight of +Russia's displeasure in return for the sympathy manifested for the +Prince at Pesth and Vienna; and but for the strength which the +friendship of Germany afforded, that Power would almost certainly +have encountered war from the irate potentate of the North.</p> +<p>Turkey, having no champion, was in still greater danger; her +conduct in condoning the irregularities of Prince Alexander was as +odious to Alexander III. as the atrocities of her Bashi-bazouks ten +years before had been to his more chivalrous sire. It is an open +secret that during the summer of 1886 the Czar was preparing to +deal a heavy blow. The Sultan evaded it by adroitly shifting his +ground and posing as a well-wisher of the Czar, whereupon M. +Nelidoff, the Russian ambassador at Constantinople, proposed an +offensive and defensive alliance, and went to the length of +suggesting that they should wage war against Austria and England in +order to restore the Sultan's authority over Bosnia and Egypt at +the expense of those intrusive Powers. How far negotiations went on +this matter and why they failed is not known. The ordinary +explanation, that the Czar forbore to draw the sword because of his +love of peace, hardly tallies with what is now known of his +character and his diplomacy. It is more likely that he was appeased +by the events now to be described, and thereafter attached less +importance to a direct intervention in Balkan affairs.</p> +<p>No greater surprise has happened in this generation than the +kidnapping of Prince Alexander by officers of the army which he had +lately led to victory. Yet the affair admits of explanation. +Certain of their number nourished resentment against him for his +imperfect recognition of their services during the Servian War, and +for the introduction of German military instructors at its close. +Among the malcontents was Bendereff, the hero of Slivnitza, who, +having been guilty of discourtesy to the Prince, was left +unrewarded. On this discontented <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page278" id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span> knot of men Russian +intriguers fastened themselves profitably, with the result that one +regiment at least began to waver in its allegiance.</p> +<p>A military plot was held in reserve as a last resort. In the +first place, a Russian subject, Captain Nabokoff, sought to +simplify the situation by hiring some Montenegrin desperadoes, and +by seeking to murder or carry off the Prince as he drew near to +Bourgas during a tour in Eastern Bulgaria. This plan came to light +through the fidelity of a Bulgarian peasant, whereupon Nabokoff and +a Montenegrin priest were arrested (May 18). At once the Russian +Consul at that seaport appeared, demanded the release of the +conspirators, and, when this was refused, threatened the Bulgarian +authorities if justice took its course. It is not without +significance that the Czar's warlike speech at Sevastopol startled +the world on the day after the arrest of the conspirators at +Bourgas. Apparently the arrest of Nabokoff impelled the Czar of all +the Russias to uphold the dignity of his Empire by hurling threats +against a State which protected itself from conspiracy. The +champion of order in Russia thereby figured as the abettor of +plotters in the Balkans.</p> +<p>The menaces of the Northern Power availed to defer the trial of +the conspirators, and the affair was still undecided when the +conspirators at Sofia played their last card. Bendereff was at that +time acting as Minister of War, and found means to spread broadcast +a rumour that Servia was arming as if for war. Sending northwards +some faithful troops to guard against this baseless danger, he left +the capital at the mercy of the real enemy.</p> +<p>On August 21, when all was ready, the Struma Regiment hastily +marched back by night to Sofia, disarmed the few faithful troops +there in garrison, surrounded the palace of the Prince, while the +ringleaders burst into his bedchamber. He succeeded in fleeing +through a corridor which led to the garden, only to be met with +levelled bayonets and cries of hatred. The leaders thrust him into +a corner, tore a sheet out of the visitors' book which lay on a +table close by, and on it hastily scrawled words <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span> +implying abdication; the Prince added his signature, along with the +prayer, "God save Bulgaria." At dawn the mutineers forced him into +a carriage, Bendereff and his accomplices crowding round to dismiss +him with jeers and screen him from the sight of the public. Thence +he was driven at the utmost speed through byways towards the +Danube. There the conspirators had in readiness his own yacht, +which they had seized, and carried him down the stream towards +Russian territory.</p> +<p>The outburst of indignation with which the civilised world heard +of this foul deed had its counterpart in Bulgaria. So general and +so keen was the reprobation (save in the Russian and Bismarckian +Press) that the Russian Government took some steps to dissociate +itself from the plot, while profiting by its results. On August 24, +when the Prince was put on shore at Reni, the Russian authorities +kept him under guard, and that, too, despite an order of the Czar +empowering him to "continue his journey exactly as he might +please." Far from this, he was detained for some little time, and +then was suffered to depart by train only in a northerly direction. +He ultimately entered Austrian territory by way of Lemberg in +Galicia, on August 27. The aim of the St. Petersburg Government +evidently was to give full time for the conspirators at Sofia to +consolidate their power<a name="FNanchor213"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_213">[213]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, by military display, the distribution of money, and a +<i>Te Deum</i> at the Cathedral for "liberation from Prince +Battenberg," the mutineers sought to persuade the men of Sofia that +peace and prosperity would infallibly result from the returning +favour of the Czar. The populace accepted the first tokens of his +good-will and awaited developments. These were not promising for +the mutineers. The British Consul at Philippopolis, Captain Jones, +on hearing of the affair, hurried to the commander of the garrison, +General Mutkuroff, and besought him to crush the plotters<a name= +"FNanchor214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214">[214]</a>. The General +speedily enlisted his own troops and those in garrison elsewhere on +the side of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id= +"page280"></a>[pg 280]</span> Prince, with the result that a large +part of the army refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new +Russophil Ministry, composed of trimmers like Bishop Clement and +Zankoff. Karaveloff also cast in his influence against them.</p> +<p>Above all, Stambuloff worked furiously for the Prince; and when +a mitred Vicar of Bray held the seals of office and enjoyed the +official counsels of traitors and place-hunters, not all the +prayers of the Greek Church and the gold of Russian agents could +long avail to support the Government against the attacks of that +strong-willed, clean-handed patriot. Shame at the disgrace thus +brought on his people doubled his powers; and, with the aid of all +that was best in the public life of Bulgaria, he succeeded in +sweeping Clement and his Comus rout back to their mummeries and +their underground plots. So speedy was the reverse of fortune that +the new Provisional Government succeeded in thwarting the despatch +of a Russian special Commissioner, General Dolgorukoff, through +whom Alexander III. sought to bestow the promised blessings on that +"much-tried" Principality.</p> +<p>The voice of Bulgaria now made itself heard. There was but one +cry--for the return of Prince Alexander. At once he consented to +fulfil his people's desire; and, travelling by railway through +Bukharest, he reached the banks of the Danube and set foot on his +yacht, not now a prisoner, but the hero of the German, Magyar, and +Balkan peoples. At Rustchuk officers and deputies bore him ashore +shoulder-high to the enthusiastic people. He received a welcome +even from the Consul-General for Russia--a fact which led him to +take a false step. Later in the day, when Stambuloff was not +present, he had an interview with this agent, and then sent a +telegram to the Czar, announcing his return, his thanks for his +friendly reception by Russia's chief agent, and his readiness to +accept the advice of General Dolgorukoff. The telegram ended +thus:--</p> +<blockquote>I should be happy to be able to give to Your Majesty +the definitive<br> +proof of the devotion with which I am animated towards Your<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg +281]</span> august person. The monarchical principle forces me to +re-establish<br> +the reign of law (<i>la légalité</i>) in Bulgaria and +Roumelia. Russia<br> +having given me my crown, I am ready to give it back into the<br> +hands of its Sovereign.</blockquote> +<p>To this the Czar sent the following telegraphic reply, and +allowed it to appear at once in the official paper at St. +Petersburg:--</p> +<blockquote>I have received Your Highness's telegram. I cannot +approve your return to Bulgaria, as I foresee the sinister +consequences that it may bring on Bulgaria, already so much tried. +The mission of General Dolgorukoff is now inopportune. I shall +abstain from it in the sad state of things to which Bulgaria is +reduced so long as you remain there. Your Highness will understand +what you have to do. I reserve my judgment as to what is commanded +me by the venerated memory of my father, the interests of Russia, +and the peace of the Orient<a name="FNanchor215"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_215">[215]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>What led the Prince to use the extraordinary words contained in +the last sentence of his telegram can only be conjectured. The +substance of his conversation with the Russian Consul-General is +not known; and until the words of that official are fully explained +he must be held open to the suspicion of having played on the +Prince a diplomatic version of the confidence trick. Another +version, that of M. Élie de Cyon, is that he acted on +instructions from the Russian Chancellor, de Giers, who believed +that the Czar would relent. On the contrary, he broke loose, and +sent the answer given above<a name="FNanchor216"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_216">[216]</a>.</p> +<p>It is not surprising that, after receiving the Czar's retort, +the Prince seemed gloomy and depressed where all around him were +full of joy. At Tirnova and Philippopolis he had the same +reception; but an attempt to derail his train on the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> +journey to Sofia showed that the malice of his foes was still +unsated. The absence of the Russian and German Consuls from the +State reception accorded to the Prince at the capital on September +3 showed that he had to reckon with the hostility or disapprobation +of those Governments; and there was the ominous fact that the +Russian agent at Sofia had recently intervened to prevent the +punishment of the mutineers and Bishop Clement. Few, however, were +prepared for what followed. On entering his palace, the Prince +called his officers about him and announced that, despairing of +overcoming the antipathy of the Czar to him, he must abdicate. Many +of them burst into tears, and one of them cried, "Without your +Highness there is no Bulgaria."</p> +<p>This action, when the Prince seemed at the height of popularity, +caused intense astonishment. The following are the reasons that +probably dictated it. Firstly, he may have felt impelled to redeem +the pledges which he too trustfully made to the Czar in his +Rustchuk telegram, and of which that potentate took so unchivalrous +an advantage. Secondly, the intervention of Russia to protect the +mutineers from their just punishment betokened her intention to +foment further plots. In this intervention, strange to say, she had +the support of the German Government, Bismarck using his influence +at Berlin persistently against the Prince, in order to avert the +danger of war, which once or twice seemed to be imminent between +Russia and Germany.</p> +<p>Further, we may note that Austria and the other States had no +desire to court an attack from the Eastern Power, on account of a +personal affair between the two Alexanders. Great Britain also was +at that time too hampered by domestic and colonial difficulties to +be able to do more than offer good wishes.</p> +<p>Thus the weakness or the weariness of the States friendly to +Bulgaria left the Czar a free hand in the personal feud on which he +set such store. Accordingly, on September 7, the Prince left +Bulgaria amidst the lamentations of that usually stolid people and +the sympathy of manly hearts throughout the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> world. +At Buda-Pesth and London there were ominous signs that the Czar +must not push his triumph further. Herr Tisza at the end of the +month assured the Hungarian deputies that, if the Sultan did not +choose to restore the old order of things in Southern Bulgaria, no +other Power had the right to intervene there by force of arms. Lord +Salisbury, also, at the Lord Mayor's banquet, on November 9, +inveighed with startling frankness against the "officers debauched +by foreign gold," who had betrayed their Prince. He further stated +that all interest in foreign affairs centred in Bulgaria, and +expressed the belief that the freedom of that State would be +assured.</p> +<p>These speeches were certainly intended as a warning to Russia +and a protest against her action in Bulgaria. After the departure +of Prince Alexander, the Czar hit upon the device of restoring +order to that "much-tried" country through the instrumentality of +General Kaulbars, a brother of the General who had sought to kidnap +Prince Alexander three years before. It is known that the despatch +of the younger Kaulbars was distasteful to the more pacific and +Germanophil chancellor, de Giers, who is said to have worked +against the success of his mission. Such at least is the version +given by his private enemies, Katkoff and de Cyon<a name= +"FNanchor217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217">[217]</a>. Kaulbars soon +succeeded in adding to the reputation of his family. On reaching +Sofia, on September 25, he ordered the liberation of the military +plotters still under arrest, and the adjournment of the forthcoming +elections for the Sobranje; otherwise Russia would not regard them +as legal. The Bulgarian Regents, Stambuloff at their head, stoutly +opposed these demands and fixed the elections for October the 10th; +whereupon Kaulbars treated the men of Sofia, and thereafter of all +the chief towns, to displays of bullying rhetoric, which succeeded +in blotting out all memories of Russian exploits of nine years +before<a name="FNanchor218"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_218">[218]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg +284]</span> +<p>Despite his menace, that 100,000 Russian troops were ready to +occupy Bulgaria, despite the murder of four patriots by his bravos +at Dubnitza, Bulgaria flung back the threats by electing 470 +supporters of independence and unity, as against 30 Russophils and +20 deputies of doubtful views. The Sobranje met at Tirnova, and, +disregarding his protest, proceeded to elect Prince Waldemar of +Denmark; it then confirmed Stambuloff in his almost dictatorial +powers. The Czar's influence over the Danish Royal House led to the +Prince promptly refusing that dangerous honour, which it is +believed that Russia then designed for the Prince of Mingrelia, a +dignitary of Russian Caucasia.</p> +<p>The aim of the Czar and of Kaulbars now was to render all +government impossible; but they had to deal with a man far more +resolute and astute than Prince Alexander. Stambuloff and his +countrymen fairly wearied out Kaulbars, until that imperial agent +was suddenly recalled (November 19). He also ordered the Russian +Consuls to withdraw.</p> +<p>It is believed that the Czar recalled him partly because of the +obvious failure of a hectoring policy, but also owing to the +growing restlessness of Austria-Hungary, England, and Italy at +Russia's treatment of Bulgaria. For several months European +diplomacy turned on the question of Bulgaria's independence; and +here Russia could not yet count on a French alliance. As has been +noted above, Alexander III. and de Giers had tied their hands by +the alliance contracted at Skiernewice in 1884; and the Czar had +reason to expect that the Austro-German compact would hold good +against him if he forced on his solution of the Balkan +Question.</p> +<p>Probably it was this consideration which led him to trust to +underground means for assuring the dependence of Bulgaria. If so, +he was again disappointed. Stambuloff met his agents everywhere, +above ground and below ground. That son of an innkeeper at Tirnova +now showed a power of inspiring men and controlling events equal to +that of the innkeeper of the Pusterthal, Andreas Hofer. The +discouraged Bulgarians <span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id= +"page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> everywhere responded to his call; at +Rustchuk they crushed a rising of Russophil officers, and +Stambuloff had nine of the rebels shot (March 7, 1887). Thereafter +he acted as dictator and imprisoned numbers of suspects. His +countrymen put up with the loss of civic freedom in order to secure +the higher boon of national independence.</p> +<p>In the main, however, the freedom of Bulgaria from Russian +control was due to events transpiring in Central Europe. As will +appear in Chapter XII. of this work, the Czar and de Giers became +convinced, early in the year 1887, that Bismarck was preparing for +war against France, and they determined to hold aloof from other +questions, in order to be free to checkmate the designs of the war +party at Berlin. The organ usually inspired by de Giers, the +<i>Nord</i>, uttered an unmistakable warning on February 20, 1887, +and even stated that, with this aim in view, Russia would let +matters take their course in Bulgaria.</p> +<p>Thus, once again, the complexities of the general situation +promoted the cause of freedom in the Balkans; and the way was +cleared for a resolute man to mount the throne at Sofia. In the +course of a tour to the European capitals, a Bulgarian delegation +found that man. The envoys were informed that Prince Ferdinand of +Saxe-Coburg, a grandson of Louis Philippe on the spindle-side, +would welcome the dangerous honour. He was young, ambitious, and, +as events were to prove, equally tactful and forceful according to +circumstances. In vain did Russia seek to prevent his election by +pushing on the Sultan to intervene. Abdul Hamid was not the man to +let himself long be the catspaw of Russia, and now invited the +Powers to name one or two candidates for the throne of Bulgaria. +Stambuloff worked hard for the election of Prince Ferdinand; and on +July 7, 1887, he was unanimously elected by the Sobranje. Alone +among the Great Powers, Russia protested against his election and +threw many difficulties in his path. In order to please the Czar, +the Sultan added his protest; but this <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span> act +was soon seen to be merely a move in the diplomatic game.</p> +<p>Limits of space, however, preclude the possibility of noting +later events in the history of Bulgaria, such as the coolness that +clouded the relations of the Prince to Stambuloff, the murder of +the latter, and the final recognition of the Prince by the Russian +Government after the "conversion" of his little son, Boris, to the +Greek Church (Feb. 1896). In this curious way was fulfilled the +prophetic advice given by Bismarck to the Prince not long after his +acceptance of the crown of Bulgaria: "Play the dead (<i>faire +mort</i>). . . . Let yourself be driven gently by the stream, and keep +yourself, as hitherto, above water. Your greatest ally is +time--force of habit. Avoid everything that might irritate your +enemies. Unless you give them provocation, they cannot do you much +harm, and in course of time the world will become accustomed to see +you on the throne of Bulgaria<a name="FNanchor219"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_219">[219]</a>."</p> +<p>Time has worked on behalf of Bulgaria, and has helped to +strengthen this Benjamin of the European family. Among the events +which have made the chief States of to-day, none are more +remarkable than those which endowed a population of downtrodden +peasants with a passionate desire for national existence. Thanks to +the liberating armies of Russia, to the prowess of Bulgarians +themselves, to the inspiring personality of Prince Alexander and +the stubborn tenacity of Stambuloff, the young State gained a firm +grip on life. But other and stranger influences were at work +compelling that people to act for itself; these are to be found in +the perverse conduct of Alexander III. and of his agents. The +policy of Russia towards Bulgaria may be characterised by a remark +made by Sir Robert Morier to Sir M. Grant Duff in 1888: "Russia is +a great bicephalic creature, having one head European, and the +other Asiatic, but with the persistent habit of turning its +European face to the East, and its Asiatic face to the West<a name= +"FNanchor220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220">[220]</a>." <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> +Asiatic methods, put in force against Slavised Tartars, have +certainly played no small part in the upbuilding of this youngest +of the European States.</p> +<p>In taking leave of the Balkan peoples, we may note the strange +tendency of events towards equipoise in the Europe of the present +age. Thirty years ago the Turkish Empire seemed at the point of +dissolution. To-day it is stronger than ever; and this cause is to +be found, not so much in the watchful cunning of Abdul Hamid, as in +the vivifying principle of nationality, which has made of Bulgaria +and Roumania two strong barriers against Russian aggression in that +quarter. The feuds of those States have been replaced by something +like friendship, which in its turn will probably ripen into +alliance. Together they could put 250,000 good troops in the +field--that is, a larger force than that which the Turks had in +Europe during the war with Russia. Turkey is therefore fully as +safe as she was under Abdul Aziz.</p> +<p>An enlightened ruler could consolidate her position still +further. Just as Austria has gained in strength by having Venetia +as a friendly and allied land, rather than a subject province +heaving with discontent, so, too, it is open to the Porte to secure +the alliance of the Balkan States by treating them in an honourable +way, and by according good government to Macedonia.</p> +<p>Possibly the future may see the formation of a federation of all +the States of European Turkey. If so, Russia will lose all foothold +in a quarter where she formerly had the active support of +three-fourths of the population. However that may be, it is certain +that her mistakes in and after the year 1878 have profoundly +modified the Eastern Question. They have served to cancel those +which, as it seems to the present writer, Lord Beaconsfield +committed in the years 1876-77; and the skilful diplomacy of Lord +Salisbury and Sir William White has regained for England the +prestige which she then lost among the rising peoples of the +Peninsula.</p> +<p>The final solution of the tangled racial problems of Mace +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg +288]</span> donia cannot be long deferred, in spite of the timorous +selfishness of the Powers who incurred treaty obligations for the +welfare of that land; and, when that question can be no longer +postponed or explained away, it is to be hoped that the British +people, taking heed of the lessons of the past, will insist on a +solution that will conform to the claims of humanity, which have +been proved to be those of enlightened statesmanship<a name= +"FNanchor221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221">[221]</a>.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor184">[184]</a> +<i>The Peasant State: Bulgaria in 1894</i>, by E. Dicey, C.B. +(1904), p. 11.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor185">[185]</a> +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus," pp. 28, 356, 367.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor186">[186]</a> +<i>Turkey in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus," pp. 280-283, 297; <i>The +Peasant State</i>, by E. Dicey, pp. 75-77.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor187">[187]</a> +Récius, Kiepert, Ritter, and other geographers and +ethnologists, admit that the majority in Macedonia is +Bulgarian.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor188">[188]</a> For +the scenes which then occurred, see <i>Le Prince Alexandre de +Battenberg en Bulgarie</i>, by A.G. Drandar, pp. 169 <i>et +seq</i>.; also A. Koch, <i>Fürst Alexander von Bulgarien</i>, +pp. 144-147.<br> +<br> +For the secret aims of Russia, see <i>Documents secrets de la +Politique russe en Orient</i>, by R. Leonoff (Berlin, 1893), pp. +49-65. General Soboleff, <i>Der erste Fürst von Bulgarian</i> +(Leipzig, 1896), has given a highly coloured Russian account of all +these incidents.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor189">[189]</a> See +Laveleye's <i>The Balkan Peninsula</i>, pp. 259-262, for an account +of Karaveloff.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor190">[190]</a> +J.G.C. Minchin, <i>The Growth of Freedom in the Balkan +Peninsula</i> (1886) p. 237. The author, Consul-General for Servia +in London, had earlier contributed many articles to the +<i>Times</i> and <i>Morning Advertiser</i> on Balkan affairs.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor191">[191]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, by Dr. M. Busch +(Note of January 5, 1886), vol. iii. p. 150 (English edition).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor192">[192]</a> The +treaty has not been published; for this general description of it I +am indebted to the kindness of M. Mijatovich himself.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor193">[193]</a> +<i>Documents secrets de la Politique russe en Orient,</i> ed. by R. +Leonoff (Berlin, 1893), pp. 8, 48. This work is named by M. Malet +in his <i>Bibliographie</i> on the Eastern Question on p. 448, vol. +ix., of the <i>Histoire Générale of</i> MM. Lavisse +and Rambaud. I have been assured of its genuineness by a gentleman +well versed in the politics of the Balkan States.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor194">[194]</a> For +Bismarck's action and that of the Emperor William I. in 1885, see +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, by M. Busch, +vol. iii. pp. 171, 180, 292, also p. 335. Russian agents came to +Stambuloff in the summer of 1885 to say that "Prince Alexander must +be got rid of before he can ally himself with the German family +regnant." Stambuloff informed the Prince of this. See +<i>Stambuloff</i>, by A.H. Beaman, p. 52.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor195">[195]</a> R. +Leonoff, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 81-84.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor196">[196]</a> +<i>The Struggle of the Bulgarians for National Independence</i>, by +Major A. von Huhn, chap. ii. See, too, Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 +(1886), p. 83.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor197">[197]</a> +<i>Stambuloff</i>, by A.H. Beaman, chap. iii.; Parl. Papers, +<i>ibid</i>. p. 81.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor198">[198]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. p. 116 +(Eng. ed.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor199">[199]</a> R. +Leonoff, <i>op. cit.</i> Nos. 75, 77.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor200">[200]</a> +<i>Sir William White: Memoirs and Correspondence</i>, by H. +Sutherland Edwards, pp. 231-232.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor201">[201]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886), pp. 214-215. See, too, +<i>ibid</i>. pp. 197 <i>et seq</i>. for Lord Salisbury's +instructions to Sir William White for the Conference. In view of +them it is needless to waste space in refuting the arguments of the +Russophil A.G. Drandar, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 147, that England sought +to make war between the Balkan States.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor202">[202]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 273-274, 288, for Russia's policy; p. 284 for Sir +W. White's argument.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor203">[203]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 370-372.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor204">[204]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886), p. 250.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor205">[205]</a> A. +von Huhn, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 105.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor206">[206]</a> +E.A.B. Hodgetts, <i>Round about Armenia</i>, p. 7.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor207">[207]</a> +Drandar, <i>Événements politiques en Bulgarie</i>, +pp. 89-116; von Huhn, <i>op. cit.</i> chaps. x. xi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor208">[208]</a> +Drandar, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. iii.; Kuhn, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. +xviii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor209">[209]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 1 (1886), p. 424.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor210">[210]</a> +Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 2 (1886).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor211">[211]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 96-98.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor212">[212]</a> +Parl. Papers, Russia (1886), p. 828.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor213">[213]</a> A. +von Huhn, <i>op. cit.</i> chap. iv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor214">[214]</a> See +Mr. Minchin's account in the <i>Morning Advertiser</i> for +September 23, 1886.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor215">[215]</a> A. +von Huhn, <i>The Kidnapping of Prince Alexander</i>, chap. xi. +(London, 1887). Article III. of the Treaty of Berlin ran thus: "The +Prince of Bulgaria shall be freely elected by the population and +confirmed by the Sublime Porte, with the assent of the Powers." +Russia had no right to <i>choose</i> the Prince, and her +<i>assent</i> to his election was only that of <i>one</i> among the +six Great Powers. The mistake of Prince Alexander is therefore +inexplicable.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor216">[216]</a> +<i>Histoire de l'Entente franco-russe</i>, by Élie de Cyon, +p. 158.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor217">[217]</a> +Élie de Cyon, <i>Histoire de l'Entente franco-russe</i>, pp. +177-178.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor218">[218]</a> The +Russophil Drandar (<i>op. cit.</i> p. 214) calls these demands +"remarqueblement modérées et sages"! For further +details of Kaulbars' electioneering devices see Minchin, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 327-330.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor219">[219]</a> +<i>Personal Reminiscences of Prince Bismarck</i>, by S. Whitman, p. +179.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor220">[220]</a> Sir +M. Grant Duff, <i>Notes from a Diary (1886-88)</i>, vol. ii. p. +139.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor221">[221]</a> For +the recent developments of the Macedonian Question, see <i>Turkey +in Europe</i>, by "Odysseus" (1900); <i>the Middle Eastern +Question</i>, by V. Chirol, 18s. net (Murray); <i>A Tour in +Macedonia</i>, by G.F. Abbot (1903); <i>The Burden of the +Balkans</i>, by Miss Edith Durham (1904); <i>The Balkans from +Within</i>, by R. Wyon (1904); <i>The Balkan Question</i>, edited +by L. Villari (1904); <i>Critical Times in Turkey</i>, by G. +King-Lewis (1904); <i>Pro Macedonia</i>, by V. Bérard +(Paris, 1904); <i>La Péninsule balkanique</i>, by Capitaine +Lamouche (Paris, 1899).</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg +289]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<h3>NIHILISM AND ABSOLUTISM IN RUSSIA</h3> +<br> +<center>THE HOUSE OF ROMANOFF</center> +<br> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/289.png" width="80%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>The Whig statesman, Charles James Fox, once made the profound +though seemingly paradoxical assertion that the most dangerous part +of a Revolution was the Restoration that ended it. In a similar way +we may hazard the statement that the greatest danger brought about +by war lies in the period of peace immediately following. Just as +the strain involved by any physical effort is most felt when the +muscles and nerves resume their normal action, so, too, the body +politic is liable to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id= +"page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> depression when once the time of +excitement is over and the artificial activities of war give place +to the tiresome work of paying the bill. England after Waterloo, +France and Germany after the war of 1870, afford examples of this +truth; but never perhaps has it been more signally illustrated than +in the Russia of 1878-82.</p> +<p>There were several reasons why the reaction should be especially +sharp in Russia. The Slav peoples that form the great bulk of her +population are notoriously sensitive. Shut up for nearly half the +year by the rigours of winter, they naturally develop habits of +brooding introspection or coarse animalism--witness the plaintive +strains of their folk-songs, the pessimism that haunts their +literature, and the dram-drinking habits of the peasantry. The +Muscovite temperament and the Muscovite climate naturally lead to +idealist strivings against the hardships of life or a dull +grovelling amongst them. Melancholy or vodka is the outcome of it +all.</p> +<p>The giant of the East was first aroused to a consciousness of +his strength by the invasion of Napoleon the Great. The comparative +ease with which the Grand Army was engulfed left on the national +mind of Russia a consciousness of pride never to be lost even +amidst the cruel disappointments of the Crimean War. Holy Russia +had once beaten back the forces of Europe marshalled by the +greatest captain of all time. She was therefore a match for the +rest of the Continent. Such was the belief of every patriotic +Muscovite. As for the Turks, they were not worthy of entering the +lists against the soldiers of the Czar. Did not every decade bring +further proofs of the decline of the Ottomans in governing capacity +and military prowess? They might harry Bulgarian peasants and win +laurels over the Servian militia. But how could that bankrupt State +and its undisciplined hordes hold up against the might of Russia +and the fervour of her liberating legions?</p> +<p>After the indulgence of these day dreams the disillusionment +caused by the events at Plevna came the more cruelly. One general +after another became the scapegoat for the popular <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> +indignation. Then the General Staff was freely censured, and +whispers went round that the Grand Duke Nicholas, brother of the +Czar, was not only incompetent to conduct a great war, but guilty +of underhand dealings with the contractors who defrauded the troops +and battened on the public funds. Letters from the rank and file +showed that the bread was bad, the shoes were rotten, the rifles +outclassed by those of the Turks, and that trenching-tools were +lacking for many precious weeks<a name="FNanchor222"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_222">[222]</a>. Then, too, the Bulgarian peasants were +found to be in a state of comfort superior to that of the bulk of +their liberators--a discovery which aroused in the Russian soldiery +feelings like those of the troops of the old French monarchy when +they fought side by side with the soldiers of Washington for the +triumph of democracy in the New World. In both cases the lessons +were stored up, to be used when the champions of liberty returned +home and found the old order of things clanking on as slowly and +rustily as ever.</p> +<p>Finally, there came the crushing blow of the Treaty of Berlin. +The Russian people had fought for an ideal: they longed to see the +cross take the place of the crescent which for five centuries had +flashed defiance to Christendom from the summit of St. Sofia at +Constantinople. But Britain's ironclads, Austria's legions, and +German diplomacy barred the way in the very hour of triumph; and +Russia drew back. To the Slav enthusiasts of Moscow even the Treaty +of San Stefano had seemed a dereliction of a sacred duty; that of +Berlin seemed the most cowardly of betrayals. As the Princess +Radziwill confesses in her <i>Recollections</i>--that event made +Nihilism possible.</p> +<p>As usual, the populace, whether reactionary Slavophils or +Liberals of the type of Western Europe, vented its spleen on the +Government. For a time the strongest bureaucracy in Europe was +driven to act on the defensive. The Czar <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span> +returned stricken with asthma and prematurely aged by the +privations and cares of the campaign. The Grand Duke Nicholas was +recalled from his command, and, after bearing the signs of studied +hostility of the Czarevitch, was exiled to his estates in February +1879. The Government inspired contempt rather than fear; and a new +spirit of independence pervaded all classes. This was seen even as +far back as February 1878, in the acquittal of Vera Zazulich, a +lady who had shot the Chief of the Police at St. Petersburg, by a +jury consisting of nobles and high officials; and the verdict, +given in the face of damning evidence, was generally approved. +Similar crimes occurred nearly every week<a name= +"FNanchor223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223">[223]</a>. Everything +therefore, favoured the designs of those who sought to overthrow +all government. In a word, the outcome of the war was Nihilism.</p> +<p>The father of this sombre creed was a wealthy Russian landlord +named Bakunin; or rather, he shares this doubtful honour with the +Frenchman Prudhon. Bakunin, who was born in 1814, entered on active +life in the time of soulless repression inaugurated by the Czar +Nicholas I. (1825-1855). Disgusted by Russian bureaucracy, the +youth eagerly drank in the philosophy of Western Europe, especially +that of Hegel. During a residence at Paris, he embraced and +developed Prudhon's creed that "property is theft," and sought to +prepare the way for a crusade against all Governments by forming +the Alliance of Social Democracy (1869), which speedily became +merged in the famous "Internationale." Driven successively from +France and Central Europe, he was finally handed over to the +Russians and sent to Siberia; thence he escaped to Japan and came +to England, finally settling in Switzerland. His writings and +speeches did much to rouse the Slavs of Austria, Poland, and Russia +to a sense of their national importance, and of the duty of +overthrowing the Governments that cramped their energies.</p> +<p>As in the case of Prudhon his zeal for the non-existent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg +293]</span> and hatred of the actual bordered on madness, as when +he included most of the results of art, literature, and science in +his comprehensive anathemas. Nevertheless his crusade for +destruction appealed to no small part of the sensitive peoples of +the Slavonic race, who, differing in many details, yet all have a +dislike of repression and a longing to have their "fling<a name= +"FNanchor224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224">[224]</a>." A union in a +Panslavonic League for the overthrow of the Houses of Romanoff, +Hapsburg, and Hohenzollern promised to satisfy the vague longings +of that much-baffled race, whose name, denoting "glorious," had +become the synonym for servitude of the lowest type. Such was the +creed that disturbed Eastern and Central Europe throughout the +period 1847-78, now and again developing a kind of iconoclastic +frenzy among its votaries.</p> +<p>This revolutionary creed absorbed another of a different kind. +The second creed was scientific and self-centred; it had its origin +in the Liberal movement of the sixties, when reforms set in, even +in governmental circles. The Czar, Alexander II., in 1861 freed the +serfs from the control of their lords, and allotted to them part of +the plots which they had hitherto worked on a servile tenure. For +various reasons, which we cannot here detail, the peasants were far +from satisfied with this change, weighted, as it was, by somewhat +onerous terms, irksome restrictions, and warped sometimes by +dishonest or hostile officials. Limited powers of local government +were also granted in 1864 to the local Zemstvos or +land-organisations; but these again failed to satisfy the new +cravings for a real system of self-government; and the Czar, seeing +that his work produced more ferment than gratitude, began at the +close of the sixties to fall back into the old absolutist +ways<a name="FNanchor225"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_225">[225]</a>.</p> +<p>At that time, too, a band of writers, of whom the novelist +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg +294]</span> Turgenieff is the best known, were extolling the +triumphs of scientific research and the benefits of Western +democracy. He it was who adapted to scientific or ethical use the +word "Nihilism" (already in use in France to designate Prudhon's +theories), so as to represent the revolt of the individual against +the religious creed and patriarchal customs of old Russia. "The +fundamental principle of Nihilism," says "Stepniak," "was absolute +individualism. It was the negation, in the name of individual +liberty, of all the obligations imposed upon the individual by +society, by family life, and by religion<a name= +"FNanchor226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226">[226]</a>."</p> +<p>For a time these disciples of Darwin and Herbert Spencer were +satisfied with academic protests against autocracy; but the +uselessness of such methods soon became manifest; the influence of +professors and philosophic Epicureans could never permeate the +masses of Russia and stir them to their dull depths. What "the +intellectuals" needed was a creed which would appeal to the +many.</p> +<p>This they gained mainly from Bakunin. He had pointed the way to +what seemed a practical policy, the ownership of the soil of Russia +by the Mirs, the communes of her myriad villages. As to methods, he +advocated a propaganda of violence. "Go among the people," he said, +and convert them to your aims. The example of the Paris Communists +in 1871 enforced his pleas; and in the subsequent years thousands +of students, many of them of the highest families, quietly left +their homes, donned the peasants' garb, smirched their faces, +tarred their hands, and went into the villages or the factories in +the hope of stirring up the thick sedimentary deposit of the +Russian system<a name="FNanchor227"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_227">[227]</a>. In many cases their utmost efforts ended +in failure, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id= +"page295"></a>[pg 295]</span> the tragi-comedy of which is finely +set forth in Turgenieff's <i>Virgin Soil</i>. Still more frequently +their goal proved to be--Siberia. But these young men and women did +not toil for nought. Their efforts hastened the absorption of +philosophic Nihilism in the creed of Prudhon and Bakunin. The +Nihilist of Turgenieff's day had been a hedonist of the clubs, or a +harmless weaver of scientific Utopias; the Nihilist of the new age +was that most dangerous of men, a desperado girt with a fighting +creed.</p> +<p>The fusing of these two diverse elements was powerfully helped +on by the white heat of indignation that glowed throughout Russia +when details of the official peculation and mismanagement of the +war with Turkey became known. Everything combined to discredit the +Government; and enthusiasts of all kinds felt that the days for +scientific propaganda and stealthy agitation were past. Voltaire +must give way to Marat. It was time for the bomb and the dagger to +do their work.</p> +<p>The new Nihilists organised an executive committee for the +removal of the most obnoxious officials. Its success was startling. +To name only a few of their chief deeds: on August 15, 1878, a +Chief of the Police was slain near one of the Imperial Palaces at +the capital; and, in February 1879, the Governor of Kharkov was +shot, the Nihilists succeeding in announcing his condemnation by +placards mysteriously posted up in every large town. In vain did +the Government intervene and substitute a military Commission in +place of trial by jury. Exile and hanging only made the Nihilists +more daring, and on more than one occasion the Czar nearly fell a +victim to their desperadoes.</p> +<p>The most astounding of these attempts was the explosion of a +mine under the banqueting-hall of the Winter Palace at St. +Petersburg on the evening of February 17, 1880, when the Imperial +family escaped owing to a delay in the arrival of the Grand Duke of +Hesse. Ten soldiers were killed and forty-eight wounded in and near +the guard-room.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg +296]</span> +<p>The Czar answered outrage by terrorism. A week after this +outrage he issued a ukase suspending the few remaining rights of +local self-government hitherto spared by the reaction, and vesting +practically all executive powers in a special Commission, presided +over by General Loris Melikoff. This man was an Armenian by +descent, and had distinguished himself as commander in the recent +war in Asia, the capture of Kars being largely due to his +dispositions. To these warlike gifts, uncommon in the Armenians of +to-day, he added administrative abilities of a high order. Enjoying +in a peculiar degree the confidence of Alexander II., he was +charged with the supervision of all political trials and a virtual +control of all the Governors-General of the Empire. Thereupon the +central committee of the Nihilists proclaimed war <i>à +outrance</i> until the Czar conceded to a popularly elected +National Assembly the right to reform the life of Russia.</p> +<p>Here was the strength of the Nihilist party. By violent means it +sought to extort what a large proportion of the townsfolk wished +for and found no means of demanding in a lawful manner. Loris +Melikoff, gifted with the shrewdness of his race, saw that the +Government would effect little by terrorism alone. Wholesale +arrests, banishment, and hangings only added to the number of the +disaffected, especially as the condemned went to their doom with a +calm heroism that inspired the desire of imitation or revenge. +Repression must clearly be accompanied by reforms that would bridge +over the gulf ever widening between the Government and the thinking +classes of the people. He began by persuading the Emperor to +release several hundreds of suspects and to relax the severe +measures adopted against the students of the Universities. Lastly, +he sought to induce the Czar to establish representative +institutions, for which even the nobles were beginning to petition. +Little by little he familiarised him with the plan of extending the +system of the Zemstvos, so that there should be elective councils +for towns and provinces, as well as delegations from the provincial +<i>noblesse</i>. He did not propose to democratise the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> +central Government. In his scheme the deputies of nobles and +representatives of provinces and towns were to send delegates to +the Council of State, a purely consultative body which Alexander I. +had founded in 1802.</p> +<p>Despite the tentative nature of these proposals, and the +favourable reception accorded to them by the Council of State, the +Czar for several days withheld his assent. On March 9 he signed the +ukase, only to postpone its publication until March 12. Not until +the morning of March 13 did he give the final order for its +publication in the <i>Messager Officiel</i>. It was his last act as +lawgiver. On that day (March 1, and Sunday, in the Russian +calendar) he went to the usual military parade, despite the earnest +warnings of the Czarevitch and Loris Melikoff as to a rumoured +Nihilist plot. To their pleadings he returned the answer, "Only +Providence can protect me, and when it ceases to do so, these +Cossacks cannot possibly help." On his return, alongside of the +Catharine Canal, a bomb was thrown under his carriage; the +explosion tore the back off the carriage, injuring some of his +Cossack escort, but leaving the Emperor unhurt. True to his usual +feelings of compassion, he at once alighted to inquire after the +wounded. This act cost him his life. Another Nihilist quickly +approached and flung a bomb right at his feet. As soon as the smoke +cleared away, Alexander was seen to be frightfully mangled and +lying in his blood. He could only murmur, "Quick, home; carry to +the Palace; there die." There, surrounded by his dearest ones, +Alexander II. breathed his last.</p> +<p>In striking down the liberator of the serfs when on the point of +recurring to earlier and better methods of rule, the Nihilists had +dealt the death-blow to their own cause. As soon as the details of +the outrage were known, the old love for the Czar welled forth: his +imperfections in public and private life, the seeming weakness of +his foreign policy, and his recent use of terrorism against the +party of progress were forgotten; and to the sensitive Russian +nature, ever prone to extremes, his <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> figure stood forth as +the friend of peace, and the would-be reformer, hindered in his +efforts by unwise advisers and an untoward destiny.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>His successor was a man cast in a different mould. It is one of +the peculiarities of the recent history of Russia that her rulers +have broken away from the policy of their immediate predecessors, +to recur to that which they had discarded. The vague and generous +Liberalism of Alexander I. gave way in 1825 to the stern autocracy +of his brother, Nicholas I. This being shattered by the Crimean +War, Alexander II. harked back to the ideals of his uncle, and +that, too, in the wavering and unsatisfactory way which had brought +woe to that ruler and unrest to the people. Alexander III., raised +to the throne by the bombs of the revolutionaries, determined to +mould his policy on the principles of autocracy and orthodoxy. To +pose as a reformer would have betokened fear of the Nihilists; and +the new ruler, gifted with a magnificent physique, a narrow mind, +and a stern will, ever based his conduct on elementary notions that +appealed to the peasant and the common soldier. In 1825 Nicholas I. +had cowed the would-be rebels at his capital by a display of +defiant animal courage. Alexander III. resolved to do the like. He +had always been noted for a quiet persistence on which arguments +fell in vain. The nickname, "bullock," which his father early gave +him (shortened by his future subjects to "bull"), sufficiently +summed up the supremacy of the material over the mental that +characterised the new ruler. Bismarck, who knew him, had a poor +idea of his abilities, and summed up his character by saying that +he looked at things from the point of view of a Russian +peasant<a name="FNanchor228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228">[228]</a>. +That remark supplies a key to Russian politics during the years +1881-94.</p> +<p>At first, when informed by Melikoff that the late Czar was on +the point of making the constitutional experiment described +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg +299]</span> above, Alexander III. exclaimed, "Change nothing in the +orders of my father. This shall count as his will and testament." +If he had held to this generous resolve the world's history would +perhaps have been very different. Had he published his father's +last orders; had he appealed to the people, like another Antony +over the corpse of Cæsar, the enthusiastic Slav temperament +would have eagerly responded to this mark of Imperial confidence. +Loyalty to the throne and fury against the Nihilists would have +been the dominant feelings of the age, impelling all men to make +the wisest use of the thenceforth sacred bequest of constitutional +freedom.</p> +<p>The man who is believed to have blighted these hopes was +Pobyedonosteff, the Procureur of the highest Ecclesiastical Court +of the Empire. To him had been confided the education of the +present Czar; and the fervour of his orthodoxy, as well as the +clear-cut simplicity of his belief in old Muscovite customs, had +gained complete ascendancy over the mind of his pupil. Different +estimates have been formed as to the character of Pobyedonosteff. +In the eyes of some he is a conscientious zealot who believes in +the mission of Holy Russia to vivify an age corrupted by democracy +and unbelief; others regard him as the Russian Macchiavelli, +straining his beliefs to an extent which his reason rejects, in +order to gain power through the mechanism of the autocracy and the +Greek Church. The thin face, passionless gaze, and coldly logical +utterance bespeak the politician rather than the zealot; yet there +seems to be good reason for believing that he is a "fanatic by +reflection," not by temperament<a name="FNanchor229"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_229">[229]</a>. A volume of <i>Reflections</i> which he +has given to the world contains some entertaining judgments on the +civilisation of the West. It may be worth while to select a few, as +showing the views of the man who, through his pupil, influenced the +fate of Russia and of the world.</p> +<blockquote>Parliament is an institution serving for the +satisfaction of the<br> +personal ambition, vanity, and self-interest of its members. +The<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg +300]</span> institution of Parliament is indeed one of the greatest +illustrations<br> +of human delusion. . . . On the pediment of this edifice is +inscribed,<br> +"All for the public good." This is no more than a lying<br> +formula: Parliamentarism is the triumph of egoism--its highest<br> +expression. . . .<br> +<br> +From the day that man first fell, falsehood has ruled the +world--ruled<br> +it in human speech, in the practical business of life, in all<br> +its relations and institutions. But never did the Father of +Lies<br> +spin such webs of falsehood of every kind as in this restless +age. . . .<br> +The press is one of the falsest institutions of our +time.</blockquote> +<p>In the chapter "Power and Authority" the author holds up to the +gaze of a weary world a refreshing vision of a benevolent despotism +which will save men in spite of themselves.</p> +<blockquote>Power is the depository of truth, and needs, above all +things,<br> +men of truth, of clear intellects, of strong understandings, and +of<br> +sincere speech, who know the limits of "yes" and "no," and +never<br> +transcend them, etc<a name="FNanchor230"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_230">[230]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>To this Muscovite Laud was now entrusted the task of drafting a +manifesto in the interests of "power" and "truth."</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Nihilists themselves had helped on the cause of +reaction. Even before the funeral of Alexander II. their executive +committee had forwarded to his successor a document beseeching him +to give up arbitrary power and to take the people into his +confidence. While purporting to impose no conditions, the Nihilist +chiefs urged him to remember that two measures were needful +preliminaries to any general pacification, namely, a general +amnesty of all political offenders, as being merely "executors of a +hard civic duty"; and "the convocation of representatives of all +the Russian people for a revision and reform of all the private +laws of the State, according to the will of the nation." In order +that the election of this Assembly might be a reality, the Czar was +pressed to grant freedom of speech and of public meetings<a name= +"FNanchor231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231">[231]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg +301]</span> +<p>It is difficult to say whether the Nihilists meant this document +as an appeal, or whether the addition of the demand of a general +amnesty was intended to anger the Czar and drive him into the arms +of the reactionaries. In either case, to press for the immediate +pardon of his father's murderers appeared to Alexander III. an +unpardonable insult. Thenceforth between him and the +revolutionaries there could be no truce. As a sop to quiet the more +moderate reformers, he ordered the appointment of a Commission, +including a few members of Zemstvos, and even one peasant, to +inquire into the condition of public-houses and the excessive +consumption of vodka. Beyond this humdrum though useful question +the imperial reformer did not deign to move.</p> +<p>After a short truce, the revolutionaries speedily renewed their +efforts against the chief officials who were told off to crush +them; but it soon became clear that they had lost the good-will of +the middle class. The Liberals looked on them, not merely as the +murderers of the liberating Czar, but as the destroyers of the +nascent constitution; and the masses looked on unmoved while five +of the accomplices in the outrage of March 13 were slowly done to +death. In the next year twenty-two more suspects were arrested on +the same count; ten were hanged and the rest exiled to Siberia. +Despite these inroads into the little band of desperadoes, the +survivors compassed the murder of the Public Prosecutor as he sat +in a café at Odessa (March 30, 1882). On the other hand, the +official police were helped for a time by zealous loyalists, who +formed a "Holy Band" for secretly countermining the Nihilist +organisation. These amateur detectives, however, did little except +appropriate large donations, arrest a few harmless travellers and +no small number of the secret police force. The professionals +thereupon complained to the Czar, who suppressed the "Holy +Band."</p> +<p>The events of the years 1883 and 1884 showed that even the army, +on which the Czar was bestowing every care, was permeated with +Nihilism, women having by their arts won over many officers to the +revolutionary cause. Poland, also, <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> writhing with discontent +under the Czar's stern despotism, was worked on with success by +their emissaries; and the ardour of the Poles made the recruits +especially dangerous to the authorities, ever fearful of another +revolt in that unhappy land. Finally, the Czar was fain to shut +himself up in nearly complete seclusion in his palace at Gatchina, +near St. Petersburg, or in his winter retreat at Livadia, on the +southern shores of the Crimea.</p> +<p>These facts are of more than personal and local importance. They +powerfully affected the European polity. These were the years which +saw the Bulgarian Question come to a climax; and the impotence of +Russia enabled that people and their later champions to press on to +a solution which would have been impossible had the Czar been free +to strike as he undoubtedly willed. For the present he favoured the +cause of peace upheld by his chancellor, de Giers; and in the +autumn of the year 1884, as will be shown in the following chapter, +he entered into a compact at Skiernewice, which virtually allotted +to Bismarck the arbitration on all urgent questions in the Balkans. +As late as November 1885, we find Sir Robert Morier, British +ambassador at the Russian Court, writing privately and in very +homely phrase to his colleague at Constantinople, Sir William +White: "I am convinced Russia does not want a general war in Europe +about Turkey now, and that she is really suffering from a gigantic +<i>Katzenjammer</i> (surfeit) caused by the last war<a name= +"FNanchor232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232">[232]</a>." It is safe to +say that Bulgaria largely owes her freedom from Russian control to +the Nihilists.</p> +<p>For the Czar the strain of prolonged warfare against unseen and +desperate foes was terrible. Surrounded by sentries, shadowed by +secret police, the lonely man yet persisted in governing with the +assiduity and thoroughness of the great Napoleon. He tried to pry +into all the affairs of his vast empire; and, as he held aloof even +from his chief Ministers, he insisted that they should send to him +detailed reports on all the affairs of State, foreign <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span> and +domestic, military and naval, religious and agrarian. What wonder +that the Nihilists persisted in their efforts, in the hope that +even his giant strength must break down under the crushing burdens +of toil and isolation. That he held up so long shows him to have +been one of the strongest men and most persistent workers known to +history. He had but one source of inspiration, religious zeal, and +but one form of relaxation, the love of his devoted Empress.</p> +<p>It is needless to refer to the later phases of the revolutionary +movement. Despite their well-laid plans, the revolutionaries +gradually lost ground; and in 1892 even Stepniak confessed that +they alone could not hope to overthrow the autocracy. About that +time, too, their party began to split in twain, a younger group +claiming that the old terrorist methods must be replaced by +economic propaganda of an advanced socialistic type among the +workers of the towns. For this new departure and its results we +must refer our readers to the new materials brought to light by Sir +D. Mackenzie Wallace in the new edition of his work <i>Russia</i> +(1905).</p> +<p>Here we can point out only a few of the more general causes that +contributed to the triumph of the Czar. In the first place, the +difficulties in the way of common action among the proletariat of +Russia are very great. Millions of peasants, scattered over vast +plains, where the great struggle is ever against the forces of +nature, cannot effectively combine. Students of history will +observe that even where the grievances are mainly agrarian, as in +the France of 1789, the first definite outbreak is wont to occur in +great towns. Russia has no Paris, eager to voice the needs of the +many.</p> +<p>Then again, the Russian peasants are rooted in customs and +superstitions which cling about the Czar with strange tenacity and +are proof against the reasoning of strangers. Their rising could, +therefore, be very partial; besides which, the land is for the most +part unsuited to the guerilla tactics that so often have favoured +the cause of liberty in mountainous lands. The Czar and his +officials know that the strength of their system <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304"></a>[pg 304]</span> lies +in the ignorance of the peasants, in the soldierly instincts of +their immense army, and in the spread of railways and telegraphs, +which enables the central power to crush the beginnings of revolt. +Thus the Czar's authority, resting incongruously on a faith dumb +and grovelling as that of the Dark Ages, and on the latest +developments of mechanical science, has been able to defy the +tendencies of the age and the strivings of Russian reformers.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The aim of this work prescribes a survey of those events alone +which have made modern States what they are to-day; but the victory +of absolutism in Russia has had so enormous an influence on the +modern world--not least in the warping of democracy in France--that +it will be well to examine the operation of other forces which +contributed to the set back of reform in that Empire, especially as +they involved a change in the relations of the central power to +alien races in general, and to the Grand Duchy of Finland in +particular.</p> +<p>These forces, or ideals, may be summed up in the old Slavophil +motto, "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality." These old Muscovite +ideals had lent strength to Nicholas I. in his day; and his +grandson now determined to appeal to the feeling of Nationality in +its narrowest and strongest form. That instinct, which Mazzini +looked on as the means of raising in turn all the peoples of the +world to the loftier plane of Humanity, was now to be the chief +motive in the propulsion of the Juggernaut car of the Russian +autocracy.</p> +<p>The first to feel the weight of the governmental machine were +the Jews. Rightly or wrongly, they were thought to be concerned in +the peculations that disgraced the campaign of 1877 and in the plot +for the murder of Alexander II. In quick succession the officials +and the populace found out that outrages on the Jews would not be +displeasing at headquarters. The secret once known, the rabble of +several towns took the law into their own hands. In scores of +places throughout the years 1881 and 1882, the mob plundered and +fired their shops <span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id= +"page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> and houses, beat the wretched +inmates, and in some cases killed them outright. At Elisabetgrad +and Kiev the Jewish quarters were systematically pillaged and then +given over to the flames. The fury reached its climax at the small +town of Balta; the rabble pillaged 976 Jewish houses, and, not +content with seizing all the wealth that came to hand, killed eight +of the traders, besides wounding 211 others.</p> +<p>Doubtless these outrages were largely due to race-hatred as well +as to spite on the part of the heedless, slovenly natives against +the keen and grasping Hebrews. The same feelings have at times +swept over Roumania, Austria, Germany, and France. Jew-baiting has +appealed even to nominally enlightened peoples as a novel and +profitable kind of sport; and few of its votaries have had the +hypocritical effrontery to cloak their conduct under the plea of +religious zeal. The movement has at bottom everywhere been a hunt +after Jewish treasure, embittered by the hatred of the clown for +the successful trader, of the individualist native for an alien, +clannish, and successful community. In Russia religious motives may +possibly have weighed with the Czar and the more ignorant and +bigoted of the peasantry; but levelling and communistic ideas +certainly accounted for the widespread plundering--witness the +words often on the lips of the rioters: "We are breakfasting on the +Jews; we shall dine on the landlords, and sup on the priests." In +1890 there appeared a ukase ordering the return of the Jews to +those provinces and districts where they had been formerly allowed +to settle--that is, chiefly in the South and West; and all foreign +Jews were expelled from the Empire. It is believed that as many as +225,000 Jewish families left Russia in the sixteen months +following<a name="FNanchor233"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_233">[233]</a>.</p> +<p>The next onslaught was made against a body of Christian +dissenters, the humble community known as Stundists. These +God-fearing peasants had taken a German name because the founder of +their sect had been converted at the <i>Stunden</i>, or hour-long +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg +306]</span> services, of German Lutherans long settled in the south +of Russia; they held a simple evangelical faith; their conduct was +admittedly far better than that of the peasants, who held to the +mass of customs and superstitions dignified by the name of the +orthodox Greek creed; and their piety and zeal served to spread the +evangelical faith, especially among the more emotional people of +South Russia, known as Little Russians.</p> +<p>Up to the year 1878, Alexander II. refrained from persecuting +them, possibly because he felt some sympathy with men who were fast +raising themselves and their fellows above the old level of brutish +ignorance. But in that year the Greek Church pressed him to take +action. If he chastised them with whips, his son lashed them with +scorpions. He saw that they were sapping the base of one of the +three pillars that supported the imperial fabric--Orthodoxy, in the +Russian sense. Orders went forth to stamp out the heretic pest. At +once all the strength of the governmental machine was brought to +bear on these non-resisting peasants. Imprisonment, exile, +execution--such was their lot. Their communities, perhaps the +happiest then to be found in rural Russia, were broken up, to be +flung into remote corners of Transcaucasia or Siberia, and there +doomed to the régime of the knout or the darkness of the +mines<a name="FNanchor234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234">[234]</a>. +According to present appearances the persecutors have succeeded. +The evangelical faith seems to have been almost stamped out even in +South Russia; and the Greek Church has regained its hold on the +allegiance, if not on the beliefs and affections, of the +masses.</p> +<p>To account for this fact, we must remember the immense force of +tradition and custom among a simple rural folk, also that very many +Russians sincerely believe that their institutions and their +national creed were destined to regenerate Europe. See, they said +in effect, Western Europe oscillates between papal control and free +thought; its industries, with their <i>laissez faire</i> methods, +raise the few to enormous wealth and crush the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> many +into a new serfdom worse than the old. For all these evils Russia +has a cure; her autocracy saves her from the profitless wrangling +of Parliaments; her national Church sums up the beliefs and +traditions of nobles and peasants; and at the base of her social +system she possesses in the "Mir" a patriarchal communism against +which the forces of the West will beat in vain. Looking on the +Greek Church as a necessary part of the national life, they sought +to wield its powers for nationalising all the races of that motley +Empire. "Russia for the Russians," cried the Slavophils. "Let us be +one people, with one creed. Let us reverence the Czar as head of +the Church and of the State. In this unity lies our strength." +However defective the argument logically, yet in the realm of +sentiment, in which the Slavs live, move, and have their being, the +plea passed muster. National pride was pressed into the service of +the persecutors; and all dissenters, whether Roman Catholics of +Poland, Lutherans of the Baltic Provinces, or Stundists of the +Ukraine, felt the remorseless grinding of the State machine, while +the Greek Church exalted its horn as it had not done for a century +past.</p> +<p>Other sides of this narrowly nationalising policy were seen in +the determined repression of Polish feelings, of the Germans in the +Baltic provinces, and of the Armenians of Transcaucasia. Finally, +remorseless pressure was brought to bear on that interesting +people, the Finns. We can here refer only to the last of these +topics. The Germans in the Provinces of Livonia, Courland, and +Esthonia formed the majority only among the land-holding and +merchant classes; and the curbing of their semi-feudal privileges +wore the look of a democratic reform.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The case was far different with the Finns. They are a non-Aryan +people, and therefore differ widely from the Swedes and Russians. +For centuries they formed part of the Swedish monarchy, deriving +thence in large measure their literature, civilisation, and +institutions. To this day the Swedish tongue is used by about +one-half of their gentry and burghers. On <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> the +annexation of Finland by Alexander I., in consequence of the +Franco-Russian compact framed at Tilsit in 1807, he made to their +Estates a solemn promise to respect their constitution and laws. +Similar engagements have been made by his successors. Despite some +attempts by Nicholas I. to shelve the constitution of the Grand +Duchy, local liberties remained almost intact up to a comparatively +recent time. In the year 1869 the Finns gained further guarantees +of their rights. Alexander II. then ratified the laws of Finland, +and caused a statement of the relations between Finland and Russia +to be drawn up.</p> +<p>In view of the recent struggle between the Czar and the Finnish +people, it may be well to give a sketch of their constitution. The +sovereign governs, not as Emperor of Russia, but as Grand Duke of +Finland. He delegates his administrative powers to a Senate, which +is presided over by a Governor-General. This important official, as +a matter of fact, has always been a Russian; his powers are, or +rather were<a name="FNanchor235"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_235">[235]</a>, shared by two sections of the Finnish +Senate, each composed of ten members nominated by the Grand Duke. +The Senate prepares laws and ordinances which the Grand Duke then +submits to the Diet. This body consists of four Orders--nobles, +clergy, burghers, and peasants. Since 1886 it has enjoyed to a +limited extent the right of initiating laws. The Orders sit and +vote separately. In most cases a resolution that is passed by three +of them becomes law, when it has received the assent of the Grand +Duke. But the assent of a majority in each of the four Orders is +needed in the case of a proposal that affects the constitution of +the Grand Duchy and the privileges of the Orders. In case a Bill is +accepted by two Orders and is rejected by the other two, a deadlock +is averted by each of the Orders appointing fifteen delegates; +these sixty delegates, meeting without discussion, vote by ballot, +and a bare majority carries the day. Measures are then referred to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg +309]</span> the Grand Duke, who, after consulting the Senate, gives +or witholds his assent<a name="FNanchor236"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_236">[236]</a>.</p> +<p>A very important clause of the law of 1869 declares that +"Fundamental laws can be made, altered, explained, or repealed, +only on the representation of the Emperor and Grand Duke, and with +the consent of all the Estates." This clause sharply marked off +Finland from Russia, where the power of the Czar is theoretically +unlimited. New taxes may not be imposed nor old taxes altered +without the consent of the Finnish Diet; but, strange to say, the +customs dues are fixed by the Government (that is, by the Grand +Duke and the Senate) without the co-operation of the Diet. Despite +the archaic form of its representation, the Finnish constitution +(an offshoot of that of Sweden) has worked extremely well; and in +regard to civil freedom and religious toleration, the Finns take +their place among the most progressive communities of the world. +Moreover, the constitution is no recent and artificial creation; it +represents customs and beliefs that are deeply ingrained in a +people who, like their Magyar kinsmen, cling firmly to the old, +even while they hopefully confront the facts of the present. There +was every ground for hope. Between the years 1812 and 1886 the +population grew from 900,000 to 2,300,000, and the revenue from +less than 7,000,000 marks (a Finnish mark = about ten pence) to +40,000,000 marks.</p> +<p>Possibly this prosperity prompted in the Russian bureaucracy the +desire to bring the Grand Duchy closely into line with the rest of +the Empire. On grounds other than constitutional, the bureaucrats +had a case. They argued that while the revenue of Finland was +increasing faster than that of Russia Proper, yet the Grand Duchy +bore no share of the added military burdens. It voted only 17 per +cent of its <span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id= +"page310"></a>[pg 310]</span> revenue for military defence as +against 28 per cent set apart in the Russian Budget. The fact that +the Swedish and Finnish languages, as well as Finnish money, were +alone used on the railways of the Grand Duchy, even within a few +miles of St. Petersburg, also formed a cause of complaint. When, +therefore, the Slavophils began to raise a hue and cry against +everything that marred the symmetry of the Empire, an anti-Finnish +campaign lay in the nature of things. Historical students +discovered that the constitution was the gift of the Czars, and +that their goodwill had been grossly misused by the Finns. Others, +who could not deny the validity of the Finnish constitution, +claimed that even constitutions and laws must change with changing +circumstances; that a narrow particularism was out of place in an +age of railways and telegraphs; and that Finland must take its fair +share in the work of national defence<a name= +"FNanchor237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237">[237]</a>.</p> +<p>Little by little Alexander III. put in force this Slavophil +creed against Finland. His position as Grand Duke gave him the +right of initiating laws; but he overstepped his constitutional +powers by imposing various changes. In January 1890 he appointed +three committees, sitting at St. Petersburg, to bring the coinage, +the customs system, and the postal service of Finland into harmony +with those of Russia. In June there appeared an imperial ukase +assimilating the postal service of Finland to that of Russia--an +illegal act which led to the resignation of the Finnish Ministers. +In May 1891 the "Committee for Finnish Affairs," sitting at St. +Petersburg, was abolished; and that year saw other efforts curbing +the liberty of the Press, and extending the use of the Russian +language in the government of the Grand Duchy.</p> +<p>The trenches having now been pushed forward against the outworks +of Finnish freedom, an assault was prepared against <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span> the +ramparts--the constitution itself. The assailants discovered in it +a weak point, a lack of clearness in the clauses specifying the +procedure to be followed in matters where common action had to be +taken in Finland and in Russia. They saw here a chance of setting +up an independent authority, which, under the guise of +<i>interpreting</i> the constitution, could be used for its +suspension and overthrow. A committee, consisting of six Russians +and four Finns, was appointed at the close of the year 1892 to +codify laws and take the necessary action. It sat at St. +Petersburg; but the opposition of the Finnish members, backed up by +the public opinion of the whole Duchy, sufficed to postpone any +definite decision. Probably this time of respite was due to the +reluctance felt by Alexander III. in his closing days to push +matters to an extreme.</p> +<p>The alternating tendencies so well marked in the generations of +the Romanoff rulers made themselves felt at the accession of +Nicholas II. (Nov. 1, 1894). Lacking the almost animal force which +carried Alexander III. so far in certain grooves, he resembles the +earlier sovereigns of that name in the generous cosmopolitanism and +dreamy good nature which shed an autumnal haze over their careers. +Unfortunately the reforming Czars have been without the grit of the +crowned Boyars, who trusted in Cossack, priest, and knout; and too +often they have bent before the reactionary influences always +strong at the Russian Court. To this peculiarity in the nature of +Nicholas II. we may probably refer the oscillations in his Finnish +policy. In the first years of his reign he gradually abated the +rigour of his father's regime, and allowed greater liberty of the +Press in Finland. The number of articles suppressed sank from 216 +in the year 1893 to 40 in 1897<a name="FNanchor238"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_238">[238]</a>.</p> +<p>The hopes aroused by this display of moderation soon vanished. +Early in 1898 the appointment of General Kuropatkin to the Ministry +for War for Russia foreboded evil to the Grand Duchy. The new +Minister speedily counselled the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span> exploitation of the +resources of Finland for the benefit of the Empire. Already the +Russian General Staff had made efforts in this direction; and now +Kuropatkin, supported by the whole weight of the Slavophil party, +sought to convince the Czar of the danger of leaving the Finns with +a separate military organisation. A military committee, in which +there was only one Finn, the Minister Procope, had for some time +been sitting at St. Petersburg, and finally gained over Nicholas +II. to its views. He is said to have formed his final decision +during his winter stay at Livadia in the Crimea, owing to the +personal intervention of Kuropatkin, and that too in face of a +protest from the Finnish Minister, Procope, against the suspension +by imperial ukase of a fundamental law of the Grand Duchy. The Czar +must have known of the unlawfulness of the present procedure, for +on November 6/18, 1894, shortly after his accession, he signed the +following declaration:--</p> +<blockquote>. . . We have hereby desired to confirm and ratify the +religion,<br> +the fundamental laws, the rights and privileges of every class in +the<br> +said Grand Duchy, in particular, and all its inhabitants high +and<br> +low in general, which they, according to the constitution of +this<br> +country, had enjoyed, promising to preserve the same steadfastly +and<br> +in full force<a name="FNanchor239"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_239">[239]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>The military system of Finland having been definitely organised +by the Finnish law of 1878, that statute clearly came within the +scope of those "fundamental laws" which Nicholas II. had promised +to uphold in full force. We can imagine, then, the astonishment +which fell on the Finnish Diet and people on the presentation of +the famous Imperial Manifesto of February 3/15, 1899. While +expressing a desire to leave purely Finnish affairs to the +consideration of the Government and Diet of the Grand Duchy, the +Czar warned his Finnish subjects that there were others that could +not be so treated, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id= +"page313"></a>[pg 313]</span> seeing that they were "closely bound +up with the needs of the whole Empire." As the Finnish constitution +pointed out no way of treating such subjects, it was needful now to +complete the existing institutions of the Duchy. The Manifesto +proceded as follows:--</p> +<blockquote>Whilst maintaining in full force the now prevailing +statutes<br> +which concern the promulgation of local laws touching +exclusively<br> +the internal affairs of Finland, We have found it necessary to<br> +reserve to Ourselves the ultimate decision as to which laws +come<br> +within the scope of the general legislation of the Empire. With<br> +this in view, We have with Our Royal Hand established and +confirmed<br> +the fundamental statutes for the working out, revision, and<br> +promulgation of laws issued for the Empire, including the Grand<br> +Duchy of Finland, which are proclaimed simultaneously +herewith<a name="FNanchor240"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_240">[240]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>The accompanying enactments made it clear that the Finnish Diet +would thenceforth have only consultative duties in respect to any +measure which seemed to the Czar to involve the interests of Russia +as well as of Finland. In fact, the proposals of February 15 struck +at the root of the constitution, subjecting it in all important +matters to the will of the autocrat at St. Petersburg. At once the +Finns saw the full extent of the calamity. They observed the +following Sunday as a day of mourning; the people of Helsingfors, +the capital, gathered around the statue of Alexander II., the +organiser of their liberties, as a mute appeal to the generous +instincts of his grandson. Everywhere, even in remote villages, +solemn meetings of protest were held; but no violent act marred the +impressiveness of these demonstrations attesting the surprise and +grief of a loyal people.</p> +<p>By an almost spontaneous impulse a petition was set on foot +begging the Czar to reconsider his decision. If ever a petition +deserved the name "national," it was that of Finland. Towns and +villages signed almost <i>en masse</i>. Ski-runners braved the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg +314]</span> hardships of a severe winter in the effort to reach +remote villages within the Arctic Circle; and within five days +(March 10-14) 529,931 names were signed, the marks of illiterates +being rejected. All was in vain. The Czar refused to receive the +petition, and ordered the bearers of it to return home<a name= +"FNanchor241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241">[241]</a>.</p> +<p>The Russian Governor-General of Finland then began a brisk +campaign against the Finnish newspapers. Four were promptly +suppressed, while there were forty-three cases of "suspension" in +the year 1899 alone. The public administration also underwent a +drastic process of russification, Finnish officials and policemen +being in very many cases ousted by Muscovites. Early in the year +1901 local postage stamps gave place to those of the Empire. Above +all, General Kuropatkin was able almost completely to carry out his +designs against the Finnish army, the law of 1901 practically +abolishing the old constitutional force and compelling Finns to +serve in any part of the Empire--in defiance of the old statutes +which limited their services to the Grand Duchy itself.</p> +<p>The later developments of this interesting question fall without +the scope of this volume. We can therefore only state that the +steadfast opposition of the Finns to these illegal proceedings led +to still harsher treatment, and that the few concessions granted +since the outbreak of the Japanese War have apparently failed to +soothe the resentment aroused by the former unprovoked attacks upon +the liberties of Finland.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>One fact, which cannot fail to elicit the attention of +thoughtful students of contemporary history, is the absence of able +leaders in the popular struggles of the age. Whether we look at the +orderly resistance of the Finns, the efforts of the Russian +revolutionaries, or the fitful efforts now and again put forth by +the Poles, the same discouraging symptom is everywhere apparent. +More than once the hour seemed to have struck for the overthrow of +the old order, but no man appeared. Other instances might of course +be cited to show that the adage <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span> about the hour and the +man is more picturesque than true. The democratic movements of +1848-49 went to pieces largely owing to the coyness of the +requisite hero. Or rather, perhaps, we ought to say that the heroes +were there, in the persons of Cavour and Garibaldi, Bismarck and +Moltke; but no one was at hand to set them in the places which they +filled so ably in 1858-70. Will the future see the hapless, +unguided efforts of to-day championed in an equally masterful way? +If so, the next generation may see strange things happen in Russia, +as also elsewhere.</p> +<p>Two suggestions may be advanced, with all diffidence, as to the +reasons for the absence of great leaders in the movements of +to-day. As we noted in the chapter dealing with the suppression of +the Paris Commune of 1871, the centralised Governments now have a +great material advantage in dealing with local disaffection owing +to their control of telegraphs, railways, and machine-guns. This +fact tells with crushing force, not only at the time of popular +rising, but also on the men who work to that end. Little assurance +was needed in the old days to compass the overthrow of Italian +Dukes and German Translucencies. To-day he would be a man of +boundlessly inspiring power who could hopefully challenge Czar or +Kaiser to a conflict. The other advantage which Governments possess +is in the intellectual sphere. There can be no doubt that the mere +size of the States and Governments of the present age exercises a +deadening effect on the minds of individuals. As the vastness of +London produces inertia in civic affairs, so, too, the great +Empires tend to deaden the initiative and boldness of their +subjects. Those priceless qualities are always seen to greatest +advantage in small States like the Athens of Pericles, the England +of Elizabeth, or the Geneva of Rousseau; they are stifled under the +pyramidal mass of the Empire of the Czars; and as a result there is +seen a respectable mediocrity, equal only to the task of organising +street demonstrations and abortive mutinies. It may be that in the +future some commanding genius will arise, able to free himself from +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg +316]</span> paralysing incubus, to fire the dull masses with hope, +and to turn the very vastness of the governmental machine into a +means of destruction. But, for that achievement, he will need the +magnetism of a Mirabeau, the savagery of a Marat, and the +organising powers of a Bonaparte.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor222">[222]</a> +<i>Russia Before and After the War</i>, translated by E.F. Taylor +(London, 1880), chap. xvi.: "We have been cheated by blockheads, +robbed by people whose incapacity was even greater than their +villainy."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor223">[223]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. chap. xvii. The Government thereafter dispensed with +the ordinary forms of justice for political crimes and judged them +by special Commissions.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor224">[224]</a> For +this peculiarity and a consequent tendency to extremes, see Prof. +G. Brandes <i>Impressions of Russia</i>, p. 22.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor225">[225]</a> See +Wallace's <i>Russia</i>, 2 vols.; <i>Russia under the Tzars</i>, by +"Stepniak," vol. ii. chap. xxix.; also two lectures on Russian +affairs by Prof. Vinogradoff, in <i>Lectures on the History of the +Nineteenth Century</i> (Camb. 1902).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor226">[226]</a> +<i>Underground Russia</i>, by "Stepniak," Introduction, p. 4. Or, +as Turgenieff phrased it in one of his novels: "a Nihilist is a man +who submits to no authority, who accepts not a single principle +upon faith merely, however high such a principle may stand in the +eyes of men." In short, a Nihilist was an extreme individualist and +rationalist.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor227">[227]</a> +<i>Russia in Revolution</i>, by G.H. Perriss, pp. 204-206, 210-214; +Arnaudo, <i>I Nihilismo</i> (Turin, 1879). See, too, the chapters +added by Sir D.M. Wallace to the new edition of his work +<i>Russia</i> (1905).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor228">[228]</a> +<i>Reminiscences of Bismarck</i>, by S. Whitman, p. 114; +<i>Bismarck: some Secret Pages of his History</i>, by M. Busch, +vol. iii. p. 150.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor229">[229]</a> +<i>Russia under Alexander III.</i>, by H. von Samson-Himmelstierna, +Eng. ed. ch. vii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor230">[230]</a> +<i>Pobyedonosteff; his Reflections</i>, Eng. ed.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor231">[231]</a> The +whole document is printed in the Appendix to "Stepniak's" +<i>Underground Russia</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor232">[232]</a> +<i>Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir William White</i>, edited by +H.S. Edwards, ch. xviii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor233">[233]</a> +Rambaud, <i>Histoire de la Russie</i>, ch. xxxviii.; Lowe, +<i>Alexander III. of Russia</i>, ch. viii.; H. Frederic, <i>The New +Exodus</i>; Professor Errera, <i>The Russian Jews</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor234">[234]</a> See +an article by Count Leo Tolstoy in the <i>Contemporary Review</i> +for November 1895; also a pamphlet on "The Stundists," with Preface +by Rev. J. Brown, D.D.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor235">[235]</a> A +law of the autumn of 1902 altered this. It delegated the +administration to the Governor-General, <i>assisted by</i> the +Senate.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor236">[236]</a> For +the constitution of Finland and its relation to Russia, see <i>A +Précis of the Public Law of Finland</i>, by L. Mechelin, +translated by C.J. Cooke (1889); <i>Pour la Finlande</i>, par Jean +Deck; <i>Pour la Finlande, La Constitution du Grand Duché de +Finlande</i> (Paris, 1900). J.R. Danielsson, <i>Finland's Union +with the Russian Empire</i> (Borga, 1891).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor237">[237]</a> See +for the Russian case d'Elenew, <i>Les Prétentions des +Séparatistes finlandais</i> (1895); also <i>La +Conquête de la Finlande</i>, by K. Ordine (1889)--answered by +J.R. Danielsson, <i>op. cit.</i>; also <i>Russland und Finland vom +russischen Standpunkte aus betrachtet</i>, by "Sarmatus" +(1903).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor238">[238]</a> +<i>Pour la Finlande</i>, par Jean Deck, p. 36.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor239">[239]</a> +<i>The Rights of Finland</i>, p. 4 (Stockholm 1899). See too for +the whole question <i>Finland and the Tsars, 1809-1899</i>, by J.R. +Fisher (London, 2nd Edit. 1900).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor240">[240]</a> +<i>The Rights of Finland</i>, pp. 6-7 also in <i>Pour la +Finlande</i>, par J. Deck, p. 43.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor241">[241]</a> +<i>The Rights of Finland</i>, pp. 23-30.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg +317]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<h3>THE TRIPLE AND DUAL ALLIANCES</h3> +<blockquote>"International policy is a fluid element which, under +certain conditions, will solidify, but, on a change of atmosphere, +reverts to its original condition."--Bismarck's <i>Reflections and +Reminiscences.</i></blockquote> +<br> +<p>It is one thing to build up a system of States: it is quite +another thing to guarantee their existence. As in the life of +individuals, so in that of nations, longevity is generally the +result of a sound constitution, a healthy environment, and prudent +conduct. That the new States of Europe possessed the first two of +these requisites will be obvious to all who remember that they are +co-extensive with those great limbs of Humanity, nations. Yet even +so they needed protection from the intrigues of jealous dynasties +and of dispossessed princes or priests, which have so often doomed +promising experiments to failure. It is therefore essential to our +present study to observe the means which endowed the European +system with stability.</p> +<p>Here again the master-builder was Bismarck. As he had +concentrated all the powers of his mind on the completion of German +unity (with its natural counterpart in Italy), so, too, he kept +them on the stretch for its preservation. For two decades his +policy bestrode the continent like a Colossus. It rested on two +supporting ideas. The one was the maintenance of alliance with +Russia, which had brought the events of the years 1863-70 within +the bounds of possibility; the other <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> aim was the isolation of +France. Subsidiary notions now and again influenced him, as in 1884 +when he sought to make bad blood between Russia and England in +Central Asian affairs (see Chapter XIV.), or to busy all the Powers +in colonial undertakings: but these considerations were secondary +to the two main motives, which at one point converged and begot a +haunting fear (the realisation of which overclouded his last years) +that Russia and France would unite against Germany.</p> +<p>In order, as he thought, to obviate for ever a renewal of the +"policy of Tilsit" of the year 1807, he sought to favour the +establishment of the Republic in France. In his eyes, the more +Radical it was the better: and when Count von Arnim, the German +ambassador at Paris, ventured to contravene his instructions in +this matter, he subjected him to severe reproof and finally to +disgrace. However harsh in his methods, Bismarck was undoubtedly +right in substance. The main consideration was that which he set +forth in his letter of December 20, 1872, to the Count:--"We want +France to leave us in peace, and we have to prevent France finding +an ally if she does not keep the peace. As long as France has no +allies she is not dangerous to Germany." A monarchical reaction, he +thought, might lead France to accord with Russia or Austria. A +Republic of the type sought for by Gambetta could never achieve +that task. Better, then, the red flag waving at Paris than the +<i>fleur-de-lys.</i></p> +<p>Still more important was it to bring about complete accord +between the three empires. Here again the red spectre proved to be +useful. Various signs seemed to point to socialism as the common +enemy of them all. The doctrines of Bakunin, Herzen, and Lassalle +had already begun to work threateningly in their midst, and +Bismarck discreetly used this community of interest in one +particular to bring about an agreement on matters purely political. +In the month of September 1872 he realised one of his dearest +hopes. The Czar, Alexander II., and the Austrian Emperor, Francis +Joseph, visited Berlin, where they were most cordially received. At +that city the chancellors <span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" +id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span> of the three empires exchanged +official memoranda--there seems to have been no formal +treaty<a name="FNanchor242"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_242">[242]</a>--whereby they agreed to work together for +the following purposes: the maintenance of the boundaries recently +laid down, the settlement of problems arising from the Eastern +Question, and the repression of revolutionary movements in +Europe.</p> +<p>Such was the purport of the Three Emperors' League of 1872. +There is little doubt that Bismarck had worked on the Czar, always +nervous as to the growth of the Nihilist movement in Russia, in +order to secure his adhesion to the first two provisions of the new +compact, which certainly did not benefit Russia. The German +Chancellor has since told us that, as early as the month of +September 1870, he sought to form such a league, with the addition +of the newly-united Italian realm, in order to safeguard the +interests of monarchy against republicans and +revolutionaries<a name="FNanchor243"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_243">[243]</a>. After the lapse of two years his wish +took effect, though Italy as yet did not join the cause of order. +The new league stood forth as the embodiment of autocracy and a +terror to the dissatisfied, whether revengeful Gauls, Danes, or +Poles, intriguing cardinals--it was the time of the "May Laws"--or +excited men who waved the red flag. It was a new version of the +Holy Alliance formed after Waterloo by the monarchs of the very +same Powers, which, under the plea of watching against French +enterprises, succeeded in bolstering up despotism on the Continent +for a whole generation.</p> +<p>Fortunately for the cause of liberty, the new league had little +of the solidity of its predecessor. Either because the dangers +against which it guarded were less serious, or owing to the +jealousies which strained its structure from within, signs of +weakness soon appeared, and the imposing fabric was disfigured +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg +320]</span> by cracks which all the plastering of diplomatists +failed to conceal. An eminent Russian historian, M. Tatischeff, has +recently discovered the hidden divulsive agency. It seems that, not +long after the formation of the Three Emperors' League, Germany and +Austria secretly formed a separate compact, whereby the former +agreed eventually to secure to the latter due compensation in the +Balkan Peninsula for her losses in the wars of 1859 and 1866 +(Lombardy, Venetia, and the control of the German Confederation, +along with Holstein)<a name="FNanchor244"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_244">[244]</a>.</p> +<p>That is, the two Central Powers in 1872 secretly agreed to take +action in the way in which Austria advanced in 1877-78, when she +secured Herzegovina. When and to what extent Russian diplomatists +became aware of this separate agreement is not known, but their +suspicion or their resentment appears to have prompted them to the +unfriendly action towards Germany which they took in the year 1875. +According to the Bismarck <i>Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, the +Russian Chancellor, Prince Gortchakoff, felt so keenly jealous of +the rapid rise of the German Chancellor to fame and pre-eminence as +to spread "the lie" that Germany was about to fall upon France. +Even the uninitiated reader might feel some surprise that the +Russian Chancellor should have endangered the peace of Europe and +his own credit as a statesman for so slight a motive; but it now +seems that Bismarck's assertion must be looked on as a +"reflection," not as a "reminiscence."</p> +<p>The same remark may perhaps apply to his treatment of the +"affair of 1875," which largely determined the future groupings of +the Powers. At that time the recovery of France from the wounds of +1870 was well nigh complete; her military and constitutional +systems were taking concrete form; and in the early part of the +year 1875 the Chambers decreed a large increase to the armed forces +in the form of "the fourth battalions." At once the military party +at Berlin took alarm, and through their chief, Moltke, pressed on +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg +321]</span> Emperor William the need of striking promptly at +France. The Republic, so they argued, could not endure the strain +which it now voluntarily underwent; the outcome must be war; and +war at once would be the most statesmanlike and merciful course. +Whether the Emperor in any way acceded to these views is not known. +He is said to have more than once expressed a keen desire to end +his reign in peace.</p> +<p>The part which Bismarck played at this crisis is also somewhat +obscure. If the German Government wished to attack France, the +natural plan would have been to keep that design secret until the +time for action arrived. But it did not do so. Early in the month +of April, von Radowitz, a man of high standing at the Court of +Berlin, took occasion to speak to the French ambassador, de +Gontaut-Biron, at a ball, and warned him in the most significant +manner of the danger of war owing to the increase of French +armaments. According to de Blowitz, the Paris correspondent of the +<i>Times</i> (who had his information direct from the French +Premier, the Duc Decazes), Germany intended to "bleed France white" +by compelling her finally to pay ten milliards of francs in twenty +instalments, and by keeping an army of occupation in her Eastern +Departments until the last half-milliard was paid. The French +ambassador also states in his account of these stirring weeks that +Bismarck had mentioned to the Belgian envoy the impossibility of +France keeping up armaments, the outcome of which must be +war<a name="FNanchor245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245">[245]</a>.</p> +<p>As Radowitz continued in favour with Bismarck, his disclosure of +German intentions seems to have been made with the Chancellor's +approval; and we may explain his action as either a threat to +compel France to reduce her army, a provocation to lead her to +commit some indiscretion, or a means of undermining the plans of +the German military party. Leaving these questions on one side, we +may note that Gontaut-Biron's <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page322" id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span> report to the Duc +Decazes produced the utmost anxiety in official circles at Paris. +The Duke took the unusual step of confiding the secret to Blowitz, +showed him the document, along with other proofs of German +preparations for war, and requested him to publish the chief facts +in the <i>Times</i>. Delane, the editor of the <i>Times</i>, having +investigated the affair, published the information on May 4. It +produced an immense sensation. The Continental Press denounced it +as an impudent fabrication designed to bring on war. We now know +that it was substantially correct. Meanwhile Marshal MacMahon and +the Duc Decazes had taken steps to solicit the help of the Czar if +need arose. They despatched to St. Petersburg General Leflô, +armed with proofs of the hostile designs of the German military +chiefs. A perusal of them convinced Alexander II. of the +seriousness of the situation; and he assured Leflô of his +resolve to prevent an unprovoked attack on France. He was then +about to visit his uncle, the German Emperor; and there is little +doubt that his influence at Berlin helped to end the crisis.</p> +<p>Other influences were also at work, emanating from Queen +Victoria and the British Government. It is well known that Her late +Majesty wrote to the Emperor William stating that it would be "easy +to prove that her fears [of a Franco-German war] were not +exaggerated<a name="FNanchor246"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_246">[246]</a>." The source of her information is now +known to have been unexceptionable. It reached our Foreign Office +through the medium of German ambassadors. Such is the story +imparted by Lord Odo Russell, our Ambassador at Berlin, to his +brother, and by him communicated to Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff. It +concerns an interview between Gortchakoff and Bismarck in which the +German Chancellor inveighed against the Russian Prince for blurting +out, at a State banquet held the day before, the news that he had +received a letter from Queen Victoria, begging him to work in the +interests of peace. Bismarck thereafter sharply upbraided +Gortchakoff for this amazing indiscretion. Lord Odo Russell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323"></a>[pg +323]</span> was present at their interview in order to support the +Russian Chancellor, who parried Bismarck's attack by affecting a +paternal interest in his health:--</p> +<blockquote>"Come, come, my dear Bismarck, be calm. You know that I +am<br> +very fond of you. I have known you since your childhood. But<br> +I do not like you when you are hysterical. Come, you are going<br> +to be hysterical. Pray be calm: come, come, my dear fellow."<br> +A short time after this interview Bismarck complained to Odo of<br> +"the preposterous folly and ignorance of the English and all +other<br> +Cabinets, who had mistaken stories got up for speculations on +the<br> +Bourse for the true policy of the German Government." "Then<br> +will you," asked Odo, "censure your four ambassadors who have<br> +misled us and the other Powers?" Bismarck made no reply<a name= +"FNanchor247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247">[247]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>It seems, then, that the German Chancellor had no ground for +suspicion against the Crown Princess as having informed Queen +Victoria of the suggested attack on France; but thenceforth he had +an intense dislike of these august ladies, and lost no opportunity +of maligning them in diplomatic circles and through the medium of +the Press. Yet, while nursing resentful thoughts against Queen +Victoria, her daughter, and the British Ministry, the German +Chancellor reserved his wrath mainly for his personal rival at St. +Petersburg. The publication of Gortchakoff's circular despatch of +May 10, 1875, beginning with the words, "Maintenant la paix est +assurée," was in his eyes the crowning offence.</p> +<p>The result was the beginning of a good understanding between +Russia and France, and the weakening of the Three Emperors' +League<a name="FNanchor248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248">[248]</a>. +That league went to pieces for a time amidst the disputes at the +Berlin Congress on the Eastern Question, where Germany's support of +Austria's resolve to limit the sphere of Muscovite influence robbed +the Czar of prospective spoils and placed a rival Power as +"sentinel on the Balkans." <span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" +id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span> Further, when Germany favoured +Austrian interests in the many matters of detail that came up for +settlement in those States, the rage in Russian official circles +knew no bounds. Newspapers like the <i>Journal de St. +Pétersbourg</i>, the <i>Russki Mir</i>, and the +<i>Golos</i>, daily poured out the vials of their wrath against +everything German; and that prince of publicists, Katkoff, with his +coadjutor, Élie de Cyon, moved heaven and earth in the +endeavour to prove that Bismarck alone had pushed Russia on to war +with Turkey, and then had intervened to rob her of the fruits of +victory. Amidst these clouds of invective, friendly hands were +thrust forth from Paris and Moscow, and the effusive salutations of +would-be statesmen marked the first beginnings of the present +alliance. A Russian General--Obretchoff--went to Paris and "sounded +the leading personages in Paris respecting a Franco-Russian +alliance<a name="FNanchor249"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_249">[249]</a>."</p> +<p>Clearly, it was high time for the two Central Powers to draw +together. There was little to hinder their <i>rapprochement</i>. +Bismarck's clemency to the Hapsburg Power in the hour of Prussia's +triumph in 1866 now bore fruit; for when Russia sent a specific +demand that the Court of Berlin must cease to support Austrian +interests or forfeit the friendship of Russia, the German +Chancellor speedily came to an understanding with Count Andrassy in +an interview at Gastein on August 27-28, 1879. At first it had +reference only to a defensive alliance against an attack by Russia, +Count Andrassy, then about to retire from his arduous duties, +declining to extend the arrangement to an attack by another +Power--obviously France. The plan of the Austro-German alliance was +secretly submitted by Bismarck to the King of Bavaria, who +signified his complete approval<a name="FNanchor250"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_250">[250]</a>. It received a warm welcome from the +Hapsburg Court; and, when the secret leaked out, Bismarck had +enthusiastic greetings on his journey to Vienna and thence +northwards to Berlin. The reason is obvious. For the first time in +modern history the centre of Europe seemed about to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> form a +lasting compact, strong enough to impose respect on the restless +extremities. That of 1813 and 1814 had aimed only at the driving of +Napoleon I. from Germany. The present alliance had its roots in +more abiding needs.</p> +<p>Strange to say, the chief obstacle was Kaiser Wilhelm himself. +The old sovereign had very many claims on the gratitude of the +German race, for his staunchness of character, singleness of aim, +and homely good sense had made the triumphs of his reign possible. +But the newer light of to-day reveals the limitations of his +character. He never saw far ahead, and even in his survey of the +present situation Prussian interests and family considerations held +far too large a space. It was so now. Against the wishes of his +Chancellor, he went to meet the Czar at Alexandrovo; and while the +Austro-German compact took form at Gastein and Vienna, Czar and +Kaiser were assuring each other of their unchanging friendship. +Doubtless Alexander II. was sincere in these professions of +affection for his august uncle; but Bismarck paid more heed to the +fact that Russia had recently made large additions to her army, +while dense clouds of her horsemen hung about the Polish border, +ready to flood the Prussian plains. He saw safety only by opposing +force to force. As he said to his secretary, Busch: "When we +[Germany and Austria] are united, with our two million soldiers +back to back, they [the Russians], with their Nihilism, will +doubtless think twice before disturbing the peace." Finally the +Emperor William agreed to the Austro-German compact, provided that +the Czar should be informed that if he attacked Austria he would be +opposed by both Powers<a name="FNanchor251"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_251">[251]</a>.</p> +<p>It was not until November 5, 1887, that the terms of the treaty +were made known, and then through the medium of the <i>Times</i>. +The official publication did not take place until February 3, 1888, +at Berlin, Vienna, and Buda-Pesth. The compact provides that if +either Germany or Austria shall be <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page326" id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span> attacked by Russia, each +Power must assist its neighbour with all its forces. If, however, +the attack shall come from any other Power, the ally is pledged +merely to observe neutrality; and not until Russia enters the field +is the ally bound to set its armies in motion. Obviously the second +case implies an attack by France on Germany; in that case Austria +would remain neutral, carefully watching the conduct of Russia. As +far as is known, the treaty does not provide for joint action, or +mutual support, in regard to the Eastern Question, still less in +matters further afield.</p> +<p>In order to give pause to Russia, Bismarck even indulged in a +passing flirtation with England. At the close of 1879, Lord +Dufferin, then British ambassador at St. Petersburg, was passing +through Berlin, and the Chancellor invited him to his estate at +Varzin, and informed him that Russian overtures had been made to +France through General Obretcheff, "but Chanzy [French ambassador +at St. Petersburg], having reported that Russia was not ready, the +French Government became less disposed than ever to embark on an +adventurous policy<a name="FNanchor252"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_252">[252]</a>."</p> +<p>To the end of his days Bismarck maintained that the +Austro-German alliance did not imply the lapse of the Three +Emperors' League, but that the new compact, by making a Russian +attack on Austria highly dangerous, if not impossible, helped to +prolong the life of the old alliance. Obviously, however, the +League was a mere "loud-sounding nothing" (to use a phrase of +Metternich's) when two of its members had to unite to guard the +weakest of the trio against the most aggressive. In the spirit of +that statesmanlike utterance of Prince Bismarck, quoted as motto at +the head of this chapter, we may say that the old Triple Alliance +slowly dissolved under the influence of new atmospheric conditions. +The three Emperors met for friendly intercourse in 1881, 1884, and +1885; and at or after the meeting of 1884, a Russo-German agreement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg +327]</span> was formed, by which the two Powers promised to observe +a friendly neutrality in case either was attacked by a third Power. +Probably the Afghan question, or Nihilism, brought Russia to accept +Bismarck's advances; but when the fear of an Anglo-Russian war +passed away, and the revolutionists were curbed, this agreement +fell to the ground; and after the fall of Bismarck the compact was +not renewed<a name="FNanchor253"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_253">[253]</a>.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It will be well now to turn to the events which brought Italy +into line with the Central Powers and thus laid the foundation of +the Triple Alliance of to-day.</p> +<p>The complex and uninteresting annals of Italy after the +completion of her unity do not concern us here. The men whose +achievements had ennobled the struggle for independence passed away +in quick succession after the capture of Rome for the national +cause. Mazzini died in March 1872 at Pisa, mourning that united +Italy was so largely the outcome of foreign help and monarchical +bargainings. Garibaldi spent his last years in fulminating against +the Government of Victor Emmanuel. The soldier-king himself passed +away in January 1878, and his relentless opponent, Pius IX., +expired a month later. The accession of Umberto I. and the election +of Leo XIII. promised at first to assuage the feud between the +Vatican and the Quirinal, but neither the tact of the new sovereign +nor the personal suavity of the Pope brought about any real change. +Italy remained a prey to the schism between Church and State. A +further cause of weakness was the unfitness of many parts of the +Peninsula for constitutional rule. Naples and the South were a +century behind the North in all that made for civic efficiency, the +taint of favouritism and corruption having spread from the +governing circles to all classes of society. Clearly the time of +wooing had been too short and feverish to lead up to a placid +married life.</p> +<p>During this period of debt and disenchantment came news +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg +328]</span> of a slight inflicted by the Latin sister of the North. +France had seized Tunis, a land on which Italian patriots looked as +theirs by reversion, whereas the exigencies of statecraft assigned +it to the French. It seems that during the Congress of Berlin +(June-July 1878) Bismarck and Lord Salisbury unofficially dropped +suggestions that their Governments would raise no objections to the +occupation of Tunis by France. According to de Blowitz, Bismarck +there took an early opportunity of seeing Lord Beaconsfield and of +pointing out the folly of England quarrelling with Russia, when she +might arrange matters more peaceably and profitably with her. +England, said he, should let Russia have Constantinople and take +Egypt in exchange; "France would not prove inexorable--besides, one +might give her Tunis or Syria<a name="FNanchor254"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_254">[254]</a>." Another Congress story is to the effect +that Lord Salisbury, on hearing of the annoyance felt in France at +England's control over Cyprus, said to M. Waddington at Berlin: "Do +what you like with Tunis; England will raise no objections." A +little later, the two Governments came to a written understanding +that France might occupy Tunis at a convenient opportunity.</p> +<p>The seizure of Tunis by France aroused all the more annoyance in +Italy owing to the manner of its accomplishment. On May 11, 1881, +when a large expedition was being prepared in her southern ports, +M. Barthélémy de St. Hilaire disclaimed all idea of +annexation, and asserted that the sole aim of France was the +chastisement of a troublesome border tribe, the Kroumirs; but on +the entry of the "red breeches" into Kairwan and the collapse of +the Moslem resistance, the official assurance proved to be as +unsubstantial as the inroads of the Kroumirs. Despite the protests +that came from Rome and Constantinople, France virtually annexed +that land, though the Sultan's representative, the Bey, still +retains the shadow of authority<a name="FNanchor255"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_255">[255]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329"></a>[pg +329]</span> +<p>In vain did King Umberto's ministers appeal to Berlin for help +against France. They received the reply that the affair had been +virtually settled at the time of the Berlin Congress<a name= +"FNanchor256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256">[256]</a>. The resentment +produced by these events in Italy led to the fall of the Cairoli +Ministry, which had been too credulous of French assurances; and +Depretis took the helm of State. Seeing that Bismarck had confessed +his share in encouraging France to take Tunis, Italy's +<i>rapprochement</i> to Germany might seem to be unnatural. It was +so. In truth, her alliance with the Central Powers was based, not +on good-will to them, but on resentment against France. The Italian +Nationalists saw in Austria the former oppressor, and still raised +the cry of <i>Italia irredenta</i> for the recovery of the Italian +districts of Tyrol, Istria, and Dalmatia. In January 1880, we find +Bismarck writing: "Italy must not be numbered to-day among the +peace-loving and conservative Powers, who must reckon with this +fact. . . . We have much more ground to fear that Italy will join our +adversaries than to hope that she will unite with us, seeing that +we have no more inducements to offer her<a name= +"FNanchor257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257">[257]</a>."</p> +<p>This frame of mind changed after the French acquisition of +Tunis.</p> +<blockquote>Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes</blockquote> +<p>should have been the feeling of MM. Waddington and Ferry when +Bismarck encouraged them to undertake that easiest but most +expensive of conquests. The nineteenth century offers, perhaps, no +more successful example of Macchiavellian statecraft. The +estrangement of France and Italy postponed at any rate for a whole +generation, possibly for the present age, that war of revenge in +which up to the spring of 1881 the French might easily have gained +the help of Italy. Thenceforth they <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page330" id="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> had to reckon on her +hostility. The irony of the situation was enhanced by the fact that +the Tunis affair, with the recriminations to which it led, served +to bring to power at Paris the very man who could best have +marshalled the French people against Germany.</p> +<p>Gambetta was the incarnation of the spirit of revenge. On more +than one occasion he had abstained from taking high office in the +shifting Ministries of the seventies; and it seems likely that by +this calculating coyness he sought to keep his influence intact, +not for the petty personal ends which have often been alleged, but +rather with a view to the more effective embattling of all the +national energies against Germany. Good-will to England and to the +Latin peoples, hostility to the Power which had torn +Elsass-Lothringen from France--such was the policy of Gambetta. He +had therefore protested, though in vain, against the expedition to +Tunis; and now, on his accession to power (November 9, 1881), he +found Italy sullenly defiant, while he and his Radical friends +could expect no help from the new autocrat of all the Russias. All +hope of a war of revenge proved to be futile; and he himself fell +from power on January 26, 1882<a name="FNanchor258"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_258">[258]</a>. The year to which he looked forward with +high hopes proved to be singularly fatal to the foes of Germany. +The armed intervention of Britain in Egypt turned the thoughts of +Frenchmen from the Rhine to the Nile. Skobeleff, the arch enemy of +all things Teutonic, passed away in the autumn; and its closing +days witnessed the death of Gambetta at the hands of his +mistress.</p> +<p>The resignation of Gambetta having slackened the tension between +Germany and France, Bismarck displayed less desire for the alliance +of Italy. Latterly, as a move in the German parliamentary game, he +had coquetted with the Vatican; and as a result of this off-hand +behaviour, Italy was slow in coming to accord with the Central +Powers. Nevertheless, her resentment respecting Tunis overcame her +annoyance at Bismarck's procedure; and on May 20, 1882, treaties +were signed which <span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id= +"page331"></a>[pg 331]</span> bound Italy to the Central Powers for +a term of five years. Their conditions have not been published, but +there are good grounds for thinking that the three allies +reciprocally guaranteed the possession of their present +territories, agreed to resist attack on the lands of any one of +them, and stipulated the amount of aid to be rendered by each in +case of hostilities with France or Russia, or both Powers combined. +Subsequent events would seem to show that the Roman Government +gained from its northern allies no guarantee whatever for its +colonial policy, or for the maintenance of the balance of power in +the Mediterranean<a name="FNanchor259"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_259">[259]</a>.</p> +<p>Very many Italians have sharply questioned the value of the +Triple Alliance to their country. Probably, when the truth comes +fully to light, it will be found that the King and his Ministers +needed some solid guarantee against the schemes of the Vatican to +drive the monarchy from Rome. The relations between the Vatican and +the Quirinal were very strained in the year 1882; and the alliance +of Italy with Austria removed all fear of the Hapsburgs acting on +behalf of the Jesuits and other clerical intriguers. The annoyance +with which the clerical party in Italy received the news of the +alliance shows that it must have interfered with their schemes. +Another explanation is that Italy actually feared an attack from +France in 1882 and sought protection from the Central Powers. We +may add that on the renewal of the Triple Alliance in 1891, Italy +pledged herself to send two corps through Tyrol to fight the French +on their eastern frontier if they attacked Germany. But it is said +that that clause was omitted from the treaty on its last renewal, +in 1902.</p> +<p>The accession of Italy to the Austro-German Alliance gave pause +to Russia. The troubles with the Nihilists also indisposed +Alexander III. from attempting any rash adventures, especially in +concert with a democratic Republic which changed <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span> its +Ministers every few months. His hatred of the Republic as the +symbol of democracy equalled his distrust of it as a political +kaleidoscope; and more than once he rejected the idea of a +<i>rapprochement</i> to the western Proteus because of "the absence +of any personage authorised to assume the responsibility for a +treaty of alliance<a name="FNanchor260"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_260">[260]</a>." These were the considerations, +doubtless, which led him to dismiss the warlike Ignatieff, and to +entrust the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a hard-headed +diplomatist, de Giers (June 12, 1882). His policy was peaceful and +decidedly opposed to the Slavophil propaganda of Katkoff, who now +for a time lost favour.</p> +<p>For the present, then, Germany was safe. Russia turned her +energies against England and achieved the easy and profitable +triumphs in Central Asia which nearly brought her to war with the +British Government (see <a href="#page394">Chapter xiv.</a>).</p> +<p>In the year 1884 Bismarck gained another success in bringing +about the signature of a treaty of alliance between the three +Empires. It was signed on March 24, 1884, at Berlin, but was not +ratified until September, during a meeting of the three Emperors at +Skiernewice. M. Élie de Cyon gives its terms as follows:</p> +<p>(1) If one of the three contracting parties makes war on a +fourth Power, the other two will maintain a benevolent neutrality. +(To this Bismarck sought to add a corollary, that if two of them +made war on a fourth Power, the third would equally remain neutral; +but the Czar is said to have rejected this, in the interests of +France.) (2) In case of a conflict in the Balkan Peninsula, the +three Powers shall consult their own interests; and in the case of +disagreement the third Power shall give a casting vote. (A protocol +added here that Austria might annex Bosnia and Herzegovina, and +occupy Novi-Bazar.) (3) The former special treaties between Russia +and Germany, or Russia and Austria, are annulled. (4) The three +Powers will supervise the execution of the terms of the Treaty of +Berlin respecting Turkey; and if the Porte allows a fourth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page333" id="page333"></a>[pg +333]</span> Power (evidently England) to enter the Dardanelles, it +will incur the hostility of one of the three Powers (Russia). (5) +They will not oppose the union of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia "if +it comes about by the force of circumstances"; and will not allow +Turkey to fortify the Balkan Passes. Finally, by Article 6, they +forbid any one of the contracting Powers to occupy the Balkan +Principalities. The compact held good only for three years.</p> +<p>If these terms are correctly stated, the treaty was a great +triumph for Austria and Germany at the expense of Russia. It is not +surprising that the Czar finally broke away from the constraint +imposed by the Skiernewice compact. As we have seen, his conduct +towards Bulgaria in 1885-86 brought him very near to a conflict +with the Central Powers. The mystery is why he ever joined them on +terms so disadvantageous. The explanation would seem to be that, +like the King of Italy, he felt an alliance with the "conservative" +Powers of Central Europe to be some safeguard against the +revolutionary elements then so strong in Russia.</p> +<p>In the years 1886-87 that danger became less acute, and the +dictates of self-interest in foreign affairs resumed their normal +sway. At the beginning of the year 1887 Katkoff regained his +influence over the mind of the Czar by convincing him that the +troubles in the Balkan Peninsula were fomented by the statesmen of +Berlin and Vienna in order to distract his attention from +Franco-German affairs. Let Russia and France join hands, said +Katkoff in effect, and then Russia would have a free hand in Balkan +politics and could lay down the law in European matters +generally.</p> +<p>In France the advantage of a Russian alliance was being loudly +asserted by General Boulanger--then nearing the zenith of his +popularity--as also by that brilliant leader of society, Mme. Adam, +and a cluster of satellites in the Press. Even de Giers bowed +before the idea of the hour, and allowed the newspaper which he +inspired, <i>Le Nord</i>, to use these remarkable words (February +20, 1887):</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page334" id="page334"></a>[pg +334]</span> +<blockquote>Henceforth Russia will watch the events on the Rhine, +and<br> +relegates the Eastern Question to the second place. The interests +of<br> +Russia forbid her, in case of another Franco-German war, +observing<br> +the same benevolent neutrality which she previously observed.<br> +The Cabinet of St. Petersburg will in no case permit a further<br> +weakening of France. In order to keep her freedom of action for<br> +this case, Russia will avoid all conflict with Austria and +England,<br> +and will allow events to take their course in +Bulgaria.</blockquote> +<p>Thus, early in the year 1887, the tendency towards that +equilibrium of the Powers, which is the great fact of recent +European history, began to exercise a sedative effect on Russian +policy in Bulgaria and in Central Asia. That year saw the +delimitation of the Russo-Afghan border, and the adjustment in +Central Asian affairs of a balance corresponding to the equilibrium +soon to be reached in European politics. That, too, was the time +when Bulgaria began firmly and successfully to assert her +independence and to crush every attempt at a rising on the part of +her Russophil officers. This was seen after an attempt which they +made at Rustchuk, when Stambuloff condemned nine of them to death. +The Russian Government having recalled all its agents from +Bulgaria, the task of saving these rebels devolved on the German +Consuls, who were then doing duty for Russia. Their efforts were +futile, and Katkoff used their failure as a means of poisoning the +Czar's mind not only against Germany, but also against de Giers, +who had suggested the supervision of Russian interests by German +Consuls<a name="FNanchor261"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_261">[261]</a>.</p> +<p>Another incident of the spring-tide of 1887 kindled the Czar's +anger against the Teutons more fiercely and with more reason. On +April 20, a French police commissioner, Schnaebele, was arrested by +two German agents or spies on the Alsacian border in a suspiciously +brutal manner, and thrown into prison. Far from soothing the +profound irritation which this affair produced in France, Bismarck +poured oil upon the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page335" id= +"page335"></a>[pg 335]</span> flames a few days later by a speech +which seemed designed to extort from France a declaration of war. +That, at least, was the impression produced on the mind of +Alexander III., who took the unusual step of sending an autograph +letter to the Emperor William I. He, in his turn, without referring +the matter to Bismarck, gave orders for the instant release of +Schnaebele<a name="FNanchor262"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_262">[262]</a>. Thus the incident closed; but the +disagreeable impression which it created ended all chance of +renewing the Three Emperors' League. The Skiernewice compact, which +had been formed for three years, therefore came to an end.</p> +<p>Already, if we may trust the imperfect information yet +available, France and Russia had sought to break up the Triple +Alliance. In the closing weeks of 1886 de Giers sought to entice +Italy into a compact with Russia with a view to an attack on the +Central States (her treaty with them expired in the month of May +following), and pointed to Trieste and the Italian districts of +Istria as a reward for this treachery. The French Government is +also believed to have made similar overtures, holding out the +Trentino (the southern part of Tyrol) as the bait. Signor Depretis, +true to the policy of the Triple Alliance, repelled these +offers--an act of constancy all the more creditable seeing that +Bismarck had on more than one occasion shown scant regard for the +interests of Italy.</p> +<p>Even now he did little to encourage the King's Government to +renew the alliance framed in 1882. Events, however, again brought +the Roman Cabinet to seek for support. The Italian enterprise in +Abyssinia had long been a drain on the treasury, and the +annihilation of a force by those warlike mountaineers on January +26, 1887, sent a thrill of horror through the Peninsula. The +internal situation was also far from promising. The breakdown of +attempts at a compromise between the monarchy and Pope Leo XIII. +revealed the adamantine hostility of the Vatican to the King's +Government in Rome. A prey to these discouragements, King Umberto +and his advisers were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page336" id= +"page336"></a>[pg 336]</span> willing to renew the Triple Alliance +(March 1887), though on terms no more advantageous than before. +Signor Depretis, the chief champion of the alliance, died in July; +but Signor Crispi, who thereafter held office, proved to be no less +firm in its support. After a visit to Prince Bismarck at his abode +of Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg, the Italian Prime Minister came +back a convinced Teutophil, and announced that Italy adhered to the +Central Powers in order to assure peace to Europe.</p> +<p>Crispi also hinted that the naval support of England might be +forthcoming if Italy were seriously threatened; and when the naval +preparations at Toulon seemed to portend a raid on the +ill-protected dockyard of Spezzia, British warships took up +positions at Genoa in order to render help if it were needed. This +incident led to a discussion in the <i>Neue Freie Presse</i> of +Vienna, owing to a speech made by Signor Chiala at Rome. Mr. +Labouchere also, on February 10, 1888, sharply questioned Sir James +Fergusson in the House of Commons on the alleged understanding +between England and Italy. All information, however, was +refused<a name="FNanchor263"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_263">[263]</a>.</p> +<p>Next to nothing, then, is known on the interesting question how +far the British Government went in framing an agreement with Italy, +and through her, with the Triple Alliance. We can only conjecture +the motives which induced the Salisbury Cabinet to make a strategic +turn towards that "conservative" alliance, and yet not definitely +join it. The isolation of England proved, in the sequel, to be not +only a source of annoyance to the Continental Powers but of +weakness to herself, because her statesmen failed to use to the +full the potential advantages of their position at the middle of +the see-saw. Bismarck's dislike of England was not incurable; he +was never a thorough-going "colonial"; and it is probable that the +adhesion of England to his league would have inaugurated a period +of mutual good-will in politics, colonial policy, and commerce. The +abstention of England has in the sequel led German statesmen to +show all <span class="pagenum"><a name="page337" id= +"page337"></a>[pg 337]</span> possible deference to Russia, +generally at the expense of British interests.</p> +<p>The importance of this consideration becomes obvious when the +dangers of the year 1887 are remembered. The excitement caused in +Russia and France by the Rustchuk and Schnaebele affairs, the +tension in Germany produced by the drastic proposals of a new Army +Bill, and, above all, the prospect of the triumph of Boulangist +militarism in France, kept the Continent in a state of tension for +many months. In May, Katkoff nearly succeeded in persuading the +Czar to dismiss de Giers and adopt a warlike policy, in the belief +that a strong Cabinet was about to be formed at Paris with +Boulanger as the real motive power. After a long ministerial crisis +the proposed ministerial combination broke down; Boulanger was +shelved, and the Czar is believed to have sharply rebuked Katkoff +for his presumption<a name="FNanchor264"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_264">[264]</a>. This disappointment of his dearest hopes +preyed on the health of that brilliant publicist and hastened his +end, which occurred on August 1, 1887.</p> +<p>The seed which Katkoff had sown was, however, to bring forth +fruit. Despite the temporary discomfiture of the Slavophils, events +tended to draw France and Russia more closely together. The formal +statement of Signor Crispi that the Triple Alliance was a great and +solid fact would alone have led to some counter move; and all the +proofs of the instability of French politics furnished by the +Grévy-Wilson scandals could not blind Russian statesmen to +the need of some understanding with a great Power<a name= +"FNanchor265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265">[265]</a>.</p> +<p>Bismarck sought to give the needed hand-grip. In November 1887, +during an interview with the Czar at Berlin, he succeeded in +exposing the forgery of some documents concerning Bulgaria which +had prejudiced Alexander against him. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page338" id="page338"></a>[pg 338]</span> He +followed up this advantage by secretly offering the Cabinet of St. +Petersburg a guarantee of German support in case of an attack from +Austria; but it does not appear that the Czar placed much trust in +the assurance, especially when Bismarck made his rhetorical fanfare +of February 6, 1888, in order to ensure the raising of a loan of +28,000,000 marks for buying munitions of war.</p> +<p>That speech stands forth as a landmark in European politics. In +a simple, unadorned style the German Chancellor set forth the +salient facts of the recent history of his land, showing how often +its peace had been disturbed, and deducing the need for constant +preparation in a State bordered, as Germany was, by powerful +neighbours:--"The pike in the European pool prevent us from +becoming carp; but we must fulfil the designs of Providence by +making ourselves so strong that the pike can do no more than amuse +us." He also traced the course of events which led to the treaties +with Austria and Italy, and asserted that by their formation and by +the recent publication of the treaty of 1882 with Austria the +German Government had not sought in any way to threaten Russia. The +present misunderstandings with that Power would doubtless pass +away; but seeing that the Russian Press had "shown the door to an +old, powerful, and effective friend, which we were, we shall not +knock at it again."</p> +<p>Bismarck's closing words--"We Germans fear God and nothing else +in the world; and it is the fear of God which makes us seek peace +and ensue it"--carried the Reichstag with him, with the result that +the proposals of the Government were adopted almost unanimously, +and Bismarck received an overwhelming ovation from the crowd +outside. These days marked the climax of the Chancellor's career +and the triumph of the policy which led to the Triple Alliance.</p> +<p>The question, which of the two great hostile groups was the more +sincere in its championship of peace principles, must remain one of +the riddles of the age. Bismarck had certainly given much +provocation to France in the Schnaebele affair; <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page339" id="page339"></a>[pg 339]</span> but in +the year 1888 the chief danger to the cause of peace came from +Boulanger and the Slavophils of Russia. The Chancellor, having +carried through his army proposals, posed as a peacemaker; and +Germany for some weeks bent all her thoughts on the struggle +between life and death which made up the ninety days' reign of the +Emperor Frederick III. Cyon and other French writers have laboured +to prove that Bismarck's efforts to prevent his accession to the +throne, on the ground that he was the victim of an incurable +disease, betokened a desire for immediate war with France.</p> +<p>It appears, however, that the contention of the Chancellor was +strictly in accord with one of the fundamental laws of the Empire. +His attitude towards France throughout the later phases of the +Boulanger affair was coldly "correct," while he manifested the +greatest deference towards the private prejudices of the Czar when +the Empress Frederick allowed the proposals of marriage between her +daughter and Prince Alexander of Battenberg to be renewed. Knowing +the unchangeable hatred of the Czar for the ex-Prince of Bulgaria, +Bismarck used all his influence to thwart the proposal, which was +defeated by the personal intervention of the present Kaiser<a name= +"FNanchor266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266">[266]</a>. According to +our present information, then, German policy was sincerely +peaceful, alike in aim and in tone, during the first six months of +the year; and the piling up of armaments which then went on from +the Urals to the Pyrenees may be regarded as an unconsciously +ironical tribute paid by the Continental Powers to the cause of +peace.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A change came over the scene when William II. ascended the +throne of Germany (June 15, 1888). At once he signalised the event +by issuing a proclamation to the army, in which occurred the words: +"I swear ever to remember that the eyes of my ancestors look down +upon me from the other world, and that I shall one day have to +render account to them of the glory and honour of the army." The +navy received his salutation <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page340" id="page340"></a>[pg 340]</span> on that same day; and +not until three days later did a proclamation go forth to his +people. Men everywhere remembered that "Frederick the Noble" had +first addressed his people, and then his army and navy. The +inference was unavoidable that the young Kaiser meant to be a +Frederick the Great rather than a "citizen Emperor," as his father +had longed to be known. The world has now learnt to discount the +utterances of the most impulsive of Hohenzollern rulers; but in +those days, when it knew not his complex character, such an army +order seemed to portend the advent of another Napoleon.</p> +<p>Not only France but Russia felt some alarm. True, the young +Kaiser speedily paid a visit to his relative at St. Petersburg; but +it soon appeared that the stolid and very reserved Alexander III. +knew not what to make of the versatile personality that now +controlled the policy of Central Europe. It was therefore natural +that France and Russia should take precautionary measures; and we +now know that these were begun in the autumn of that year.</p> +<p>In the first instance, they took the form of loans. A Parisian +financier, M. Hoskier, Danish by descent, but French by +naturalisation and sympathy, had long desired to use the resources +of Paris as a means of cementing friendship, and, if possible, +alliance with Russia. For some time he made financial overtures at +St. Petersburg, only to find all doors closed against him by German +capitalists. But in the spring of the year 1888 the Berlin Bourse +had been seized by a panic at the excessive amount of Russian +securities held by German houses; large sales took place, and +thenceforth it seemed impossible for Russia to raise money at +Berlin or Frankfurt except on very hard terms.</p> +<p>Now was the opportunity for which the French houses had been +waiting and working. In October 1888, Hoskier received an +invitation to repair to St. Petersburg secretly, in order to +consider the taking up of a loan of 500,000,000 francs at 4 per +cent, to replace war loans contracted in 1877 at 5 per cent. At +once he assured the Russian authorities that his <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page341" id="page341"></a>[pg 341]</span> +syndicate would accept the offer, and though the German financiers +raged and plotted against him, the loan went to Paris. This was the +beginning of a series of loans launched by Russia at Paris, and so +successfully that by the year 1894 as much as four milliards of +francs (£160,000,000) is said to have been subscribed in that +way<a name="FNanchor267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267">[267]</a>. +Thus the wealth of France enabled Russia to consolidate her debt on +easier terms, to undertake strategic railways, to build a new navy, +and arm her immense forces with new and improved weapons. It is +well known that Russia could not otherwise have ventured on these +and other costly enterprises; and one cannot but admire the skill +which she showed in making so timely a use of Gallic enthusiasm, as +well as the statesmanlike foresight of the French in piling up +these armaments on the weakest flank of Germany.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Boulangist bubble had burst. After his removal +from the army on the score of insubordination, "le brav' +général" entered into politics, and, to the surprise +of all, gained an enormous majority in the election for a district +of Paris (January 1889). It is believed that, had he rallied his +supporters and marched against the Elysée, he might have +overthrown the parliamentary Republic. But, like Robespierre at the +crisis of his career, he did not strike--he discoursed of reason +and moderation. For once the authorities took the initiative; and +when the new Premier, Tirard, took action against him for treason, +he fled to Brussels on the appropriate date of the 1st of April. +Thenceforth, the Royalist-Bonapartist-Radical hybrid, known as +Boulangism, ceased to scare the world; and its challenging snorts +died away in sounds which were finally recognised as convulsive +brayings. How far the Slavophils of Russia had a hand in goading on +the creature is not known. Élie de Cyon, writing at a later +date, declared that he all along saw through and distrusted +Boulanger. Disclaimers of this kind were plentiful in the following +years<a name="FNanchor268"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_268">[268]</a>.</p> +<p>After the exposure of that hero of the Boulevards, it was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page342" id="page342"></a>[pg +342]</span> natural that the Czar should decline to make a binding +compact with France; and he signalised the isolation of Russia by +proposing a toast to the Prince of Montenegro as "the only sincere +and faithful friend of Russia." Nevertheless, the dismissal of +Bismarck by William II., in March 1890, brought about a time of +strain and friction between Russia and Germany which furthered the +prospects of a Franco-Russian <i>entente</i>. Thenceforth peace +depended on the will of a young autocrat who now and again gave the +impression that he was about to draw the sword for the satisfaction +of his ancestral <i>manes</i>. A sharp and long-continued tariff +war between Germany and Russia also embittered the relations +between the two Powers.</p> +<p>Rumours of war were widespread in the year 1891. Wild tales were +told as to a secret treaty between Germany and Belgium for +procuring a passage to the Teutonic hosts through that neutralised +kingdom, and thus turning the new eastern fortresses which France +had constructed at enormous cost<a name="FNanchor269"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_269">[269]</a>. Parts of Northern France were to be the +reward of King Leopold's complaisance, and the help of England and +Turkey was to be secured by substantial bribes<a name= +"FNanchor270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270">[270]</a>. The whole +scheme wears a look of amateurish grandiosity; but, on the +principle that there is no smoke without fire (which does not +always hold good for diplomatic smoke), much alarm was felt at +Paris. The renewal of the Triple Alliance in June 1891, for a term +of six years, was followed up a month later by a visit of the +Emperor William to England, during which he took occasion at the +Guildhall to state his desire "to maintain the historical +friendship between these our two nations" (July 10). Balanced +though this assertion was by an expression of a hope in the +peaceful progress of all peoples, the words sent an imaginative +thrill to the banks of the Seine and the Neva.</p> +<p>The outcome of it all was the visit of the French Channel Fleet +to Cronstadt at the close of July; and the French statesman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page343" id="page343"></a>[pg +343]</span> M. Flourens asserts that the Czar himself took the +initiative in this matter<a name="FNanchor271"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_271">[271]</a>. The fleet received an effusive welcome, +and, to the surprise of all Europe, the Emperor visited the +flagship of Admiral Gervais and remained uncovered while the band +played the national airs of the two nations. Few persons ever +expected the autocrat of the East to pay that tribute to the +<i>Marseillaise</i>. But, in truth, French democracy was then +entering on a new phase at home. Politicians of many shades of +opinion had begun to cloak themselves with "opportunism"--a +conveniently vague term, first employed by Gambetta, but finally +used to designate any serviceable compromise between parliamentary +rule, autocracy, and flamboyant militarism. The Cronstadt +<i>fêtes</i> helped on the warping process.</p> +<p>Whether any definite compact was there signed is open to doubt. +The <i>Times</i> correspondent, writing on July 31 from St. +Petersburg, stated that Admiral Gervais had brought with him from +Paris a draft of a convention, which was to be considered and +thereafter signed by the Russian Ministers for Foreign Affairs, +War, and the Navy, but not by the Czar himself until the need for +it arose. Probably, then, no alliance was formed, but military and +naval conventions were drawn up to serve as bases for common action +if an emergency should arise. These agreements were elaborated in +conferences held by the Russian generals, Vanoffski and Obrucheff, +with the French generals, Saussier, Miribel, and Boisdeffre. A +Russian loan was soon afterwards floated at Paris amidst great +enthusiasm.</p> +<p>For the present the French had to be satisfied with this +exchange of secret assurances and hard cash. The Czar refused to +move further, mainly because the scandals connected with the Panama +affair once more aroused his fears and disgust. De Cyon states that +the degrading revelations which came to light, at the close of 1891 +and early in 1892, did more than <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page344" id="page344"></a>[pg 344]</span> anything to delay the +advent of a definite alliance. The return visit of a Russian +squadron to French waters was therefore postponed to the month of +October 1893, when there were wild rejoicings at Toulon. The Czar +and President exchanged telegrams, the former referring to "the +bonds which unite the two countries."</p> +<p>It appeared for a time that Russia meant to keep her squadron in +the Mediterranean; and representations on this subject are known to +have been made by England and Italy, which once again drew close +together. A British squadron visited Italian ports--an event which +seemed to foreshadow the entrance of the Island Power to the Triple +Alliance. The Russian fleet, however, left the Mediterranean, and +the diplomatic situation remained unchanged. Despite all the +passionate wooing of the Gallic race, no contract of marriage took +place during the life of Alexander III. He died on November 1, +1894, and his memory was extolled in many quarters as that of the +great peacemaker of the age.</p> +<p>How far he deserved this praise, to which every statesman of the +first rank laid claim, is matter for doubt. It is certain that he +disliked war on account of the evil results accruing from the +Russo-Turkish conflict; but whether his love of peace rested on +grounds other than prudential will be questioned by those who +remember his savage repression of non-Russian peoples in his +Empire, his brutal treatment of the Bulgarians and of their Prince, +his underhand intrigues against Servia and Roumania, and the favour +which he showed to the commander who violated international law at +Panjdeh. That the French should enshrine his memory in phrases to +which their literary skill gives a world-wide vogue is natural, +seeing that he ended their days of isolation and saved them from +the consequences of Boulangism; but it still has to be proved that, +apart from the Schnaebele affair, Germany ever sought a quarrel +with France during the reign of Alexander III.; and it may finally +appear that the Triple Alliance was the genuinely conservative +league which saved Europe from the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page345" id="page345"></a>[pg 345]</span> designs of the restless +Republic and the exacting egotism of Alexander III.</p> +<p>Another explanation of the Franco-Russian <i>entente</i> is +fully as tenable as the theory that the Czar based his policy on +the seventh beatitude. A careful survey of the whole of that policy +in Asia, as well as in Europe, seems to show that he drew near to +the Republic in order to bring about an equilibrium in Europe which +would enable him to throw his whole weight into the affairs of the +Far East. Russian policy has oscillated now towards the West, now +towards the East; but old-fashioned Russians have always deplored +entanglement in European affairs, and have pointed to the more +hopeful Orient. Even during the pursuit of Napoleon's shattered +forces in their retreat from Moscow in 1812, the Russian Commander, +Kutusoff, told Sir Robert Wilson that Napoleon's overthrow would +benefit, not the world at large, but only England<a name= +"FNanchor272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272">[272]</a>. He failed to +do his utmost, largely because he looked forward to peace with +France and a renewal of the Russian advance on India.</p> +<p>The belief that England was the enemy came to be increasingly +held by leading Russians, especially, of course, after the Crimean +War and the Berlin Congress. Russia's true mission, they said, lay +in Asia. There, among those ill-compacted races, she could easily +build up an Empire that never could be firmly founded on tough, +recalcitrant Bulgars or warlike Turks. The Triple Alliance having +closed the door to Russia on the West, there was the greater +temptation to take the other alternative course--that line of least +resistance which led towards Afghanistan and Manchuria. The value +of an understanding with France was now clear to all. As we have +seen, it guarded Russia's exposed frontier in Poland, and poured +into the exchequer treasures which speedily took visible form in +the Siberian railway, as well as the extensions of the lines +leading to Merv and Tashkend.</p> +<p>But this eastern trend of Russian policy can scarcely be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page346" id="page346"></a>[pg +346]</span> called peaceful. The Panjdeh incident (March 29, 1885) +would have led any other Government than that of Mr. Gladstone to +declare war on the aggressor. Events soon turned the gaze of the +Russians towards Manchuria, and the Franco-Russian agreement +enabled them to throw their undivided energies in that direction +(see Chapter XX.). It was French money which enabled Russia to +dominate Manchuria, and, for the time, to overawe Japan. In short, +the Dual Alliance peacefully conducted the Muscovites to Port +Arthur.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The death of Alexander III. in November 1894 brought to power a +very different personality, kindlier and more generous, but lacking +the strength and prudence of the deceased ruler. Nicholas II. had +none of that dislike of Western institutions which haunted his +father. The way was therefore open for a more binding compact with +France, the need for which was emphasised by the events of the +years 1894-95 in the Far East. But the manner in which it came +about is still but dimly known. Members of the House of Orleans are +said to have taken part in the overtures, perhaps with the view of +helping on the hypnotising influence which alliance with the +autocracy of the East exerts on the democracy of the West.</p> +<p>The Franco-Russian <i>entente</i> ripened into an alliance in +the year 1895. So, at least, we may judge from the reference to +Russia as "notre allié" by the Prime Minister, M. Ribot, in +the debate of June 10, 1895. Nicholas II., at the time of his visit +to Paris in 1896, proclaimed his close friendship with the +Republic; and during the return visit of President Faure to +Cronstadt and St. Petersburg he gave an even more significant sign +that the two nations were united by something more than sentiment +and what Carlyle would have called the cash-nexus. On board the +French warship <i>Pothuau</i> he referred in his farewell speech to +the "nations amies et alliées" (August 26, 1897).</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page347" id="page347"></a>[pg +347]</span> +<p>The treaty has never been made public, but a version of it +appeared in the <i>Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung</i> of September 21, +1901, and in the Paris paper, <i>La Liberté</i> five days +later. Mr. Henry Norman gives the following summary of the +information there unofficially communicated. After stating that the +treaty contains no direct reference to Germany, he proceeds: "It +declares that if either nation is attacked, the other will come to +its assistance with the whole of its military and naval forces, and +that peace shall only be concluded in concert and by agreement +between the two. No other <i>casus belli</i> is mentioned, no term +is fixed to the duration of the treaty, and the whole instrument +consists of only a few clauses<a name="FNanchor273"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_273">[273]</a>."</p> +<p>Obviously France and Russia cannot help one another with all +their forces unless the common foe were Germany, or the Triple +Alliance as a whole. In that case alone would such a clause be +operative. The pressure of France and Russia on the flanks of the +German Empire would be terrible; and it is inconceivable that +Germany would attack France, knowing that such action would bring +the weight of Russia upon her weakest frontier. It is, however, +conceivable that the three central allies might deem the strain of +an armed peace to be unendurable and attack France or Russia. To +such an attack the Dual Alliance would oppose about equal forces, +though now hampered by the weakening of the Empire in the Far +East.</p> +<p>Another account, also unofficial and discreetly vague, was given +to the world by a diplomatist at the time when the Armenian +outrages had for a time quickened the dull conscience of +Christendom<a name="FNanchor274"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_274">[274]</a>. Assuming that the Sick Man of the East +was at the point of death, the anonymous writer hinted at the +profitable results obtainable by the Continental States if, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page348" id="page348"></a>[pg +348]</span> leaving England out of count, they arranged the Eastern +Question <i>à l'aimable</i> among themselves. The Dual +Alliance, he averred, would not meet the needs of the situation; +for it did not contemplate the partition of Turkey or a general war +in the East.</p> +<blockquote>Both parties [France and Russia] have examined the +course to<br> +be taken in the case of aggression by one or more members of +the<br> +Triple Alliance; an understanding has been arrived at on the +great<br> +lines of general policy; but of necessity they did not go +further.<br> +If the Russian Government could not undertake to place its +sword<br> +at the service of France with a view to a revision of the Treaty +of<br> +Frankfurt--a demand, moreover, which France did not make--it<br> +cannot claim that France should mobilise her forces to permit it +to<br> +extend its territory in Europe or in Asia. They know that very<br> +well on the banks of the Neva.</blockquote> +<p>To this interesting statement we may add that France and Russia +have been at variance on the Eastern Question. Thus, when, in order +to press her rightful claims on the Sultan, France determined to +coerce him by the seizure of Mitylene, if need be, the Czar's +Government is known to have discountenanced this drastic +proceeding. Speaking generally, it is open to conjecture whether +the Dual Alliance refers to other than European questions. This may +be inferred from the following fact. On the announcement of the +Anglo-Japanese compact early in 1902, by which England agreed to +intervene in the Far Eastern Question if another Power helped +Russia against Japan, the Governments of St. Petersburg and Paris +framed a somewhat similar convention whereby France definitely +agreed to take action if Russia were confronted by Japan and a +European or American Power in these quarters. No such compact would +have been needed if the Franco-Russian alliance had referred to the +problems of the Far East.</p> +<p>Another "disclosure" of the early part of 1904 is also +noteworthy. The Paris <i>Figaro</i> published official documents +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page349" id="page349"></a>[pg +349]</span> purporting to prove that the Czar Nicholas II., on +being sounded by the French Government at the time of the Fashoda +incident, declared his readiness to abide by his engagements in +case France took action against Great Britain. The <i>Figaro</i> +used this as an argument in favour of France actively supporting +Russia against Japan, if an appeal came from St. Petersburg. This +contention would now meet with little support in France. The events +of the Russo-Japanese War and the massacre of workmen in St. +Petersburg on January 22, 1905, have visibly strained +Franco-Russian relations. This is seen in the following speech of +M. Anatole France on February 1, 1905, with respect to his +interview with the Premier, M. Combes:--</p> +<blockquote>At the beginning of this war I had heard it said very +vaguely<br> +that there existed between France and Russia firm and fast +engagements,<br> +and that, if Russia came to blows with a second Power,<br> +France would have to intervene. I asked M. Combes, then Prime<br> +Minister, whether anything of the kind existed. M. Combes<br> +thought it due to his position not to give a precise answer; but +he<br> +declared to me in the clearest way that so long as he was +Minister<br> +we need not fear that our sailors and our soldiers would be sent +to<br> +Japan. My own opinion is that this folly is not to be +apprehended<br> +under any Ministry. (<i>The Times</i>. February 3.)</blockquote> +<p>At present, then, everything tends to show that the +Franco-Russian alliance refers solely to European questions and is +merely a defensive agreement in view of a possible attack from one +or more members of the Triple Alliance. Seeing that the purely +defensive character of the latter has always been emphasised, +doubts are very naturally expressed in many quarters as to the use +of these alliances. The only tangible advantage gained by any one +of the five Powers is that Russia has had greater facilities for +raising loans in France and in securing her hold on Manchuria. On +the other hand, Frenchmen complain that the alliance has entailed +an immense financial responsibility, which is dearly bought by the +cessation of those irritating frontier incidents of the Schnaebele +type which they <span class="pagenum"><a name="page350" id= +"page350"></a>[pg 350]</span> had to put up with from Bismarck in +the days of their isolation<a name="FNanchor275"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_275">[275]</a>.</p> +<p>Italy also questions the wisdom of her alliance with the Central +Powers which brings no obvious return except in the form of +slightly enhanced consideration from her Latin sister. In cultured +circles on both sides of the Maritime Alps there is a strong +feeling that the present international situation violates racial +instincts and tradition; and, as we have already seen, Italy's +attitude towards France is far different now from what it was in +1882. It is now practically certain that Italians would not allow +the King's Government to fight France in the interests of the +Central Powers. Their feelings are quite natural. What have +Italians in common with Austrians and Prussians? Little more, we +may reply, than French republicans with the subjects of the Czar. +In truth both of these alliances rest, not on whole-hearted regard +or affection, but on fear and on the compulsion which it +exerts.</p> +<p>To this fact we may, perhaps, largely attribute the +<i>malaise</i> of Europe. The Greek philosopher Empedocles looked +on the world as the product of two all-pervading forces, love and +hate, acting on blind matter: love brought cognate particles +together and held them in union; hate or repulsion kept asunder the +unlike or hostile elements. We may use the terms of this old +cosmogony in reference to existing political conditions, and assert +that these two elemental principles have drawn Europe apart into +two hostile masses; with this difference, that the allies for the +most part are held together, not so much by mutual regard as by +hatred of their opposites. From this somewhat sweeping statement we +must mark off one exception. There were two allies who came +together with the ease which betokens a certain amount of affinity. +Thanks to the statesmanlike moderation of Bismarck after +Königgrätz, Austria willingly entered into a close +compact with her former rival. At least that was the feeling among +the Germans and Magyars of the Dual Monarchy. The <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page351" id="page351"></a>[pg 351]</span> +Austro-German alliance, it may be predicted, will hold good while +the Dual Monarchy exists in its present form; but even in that case +fear of Russia is the one great binding force where so much else is +centrifugal. If ever the Empire of the Czar should lose its +prestige, possibly the two Central Powers would drift apart.</p> +<p>Although there are signs of weakness in both alliances, they +will doubtless remain standing as long as the need which called +them into being remains. Despite all the efforts made on both +sides, the military and naval resources of the two great leagues +are approximately equal. In one respect, and in one alone, Europe +has benefited from these well-matched efforts. The uneasy truce +that has been dignified by the name of peace since the year 1878 +results ultimately from the fact that war will involve the conflict +of enormous citizen armies of nearly equal strength.</p> +<p>So it has come to this, that in an age when the very conception +of Christendom has vanished, and ideal principles have been +well-nigh crushed out of life by the pressure of material needs, +peace again depends on the once-derided principle of the balance of +power. That it should be so is distressing to all who looked to see +mankind win its way to a higher level of thought on international +affairs. The level of thought in these matters could scarcely be +lower than it has been since the Armenian massacres. The collective +conscience of Europe is as torpid as it was in the eighteenth +century, when weak States were crushed or partitioned, and armed +strength came to be the only guarantee of safety.</p> +<p>At the close of this volume we shall glance at some of the +influences which the Tantalus toil of the European nations has +exerted on the life of our age. It is not for nothing that hundreds +of millions of men are ever striving to provide the sinews of war, +and that rulers keep those sinews in a state of tension. The result +is felt in all the other organs of the body politic. Certainly the +governing classes of the Continent must be suffering from atrophy +of the humorous instinct if <span class="pagenum"><a name="page352" +id="page352"></a>[pg 352]</span> they fail to note the practical +nullity of the efforts which they and their subjects have long put +forth. Perhaps some statistical satirist of the twentieth century +will assess the economy of the process which requires nearly twelve +millions of soldiers for the maintenance of peace in the most +enlightened quarter of the globe.</p> +<br> +<p>NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>In the <i>Echo de Paris</i> of July 3, 1905, the Comte de Nion +published documents which further prove the importance of the +services rendered by Great Britain to France at the time of the war +scare of May 1875. They confirm the account as given in this +chapter, but add a few more details. See, too, corroborative +evidence in the <i>Times</i> for July 4, 1905.</p> +<br> +<p>NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION</p> +<p>It has been stated, apparently on good authority, that the +informal conversations which went on during the Congress of Berlin +between the plenipotentiaries of the Powers (see <i>ante</i>, p. +328) furnished Italy with an assurance that, in the event of France +expanding in North Africa, Italy should find "compensation" in +Tripoli. Apparently this explains her recent action there (October +1911).</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor242">[242]</a> In +his speech of February 19, 1878, Bismarck said, "The <i>liaison</i> +of the three Emperors, which is habitually designated an alliance, +rests on no written agreement and does not compel any one of the +three Emperors to submit to the decisions of the two others."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor243">[243]</a> +Débidour, <i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Europe</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 458-59; Bismarck, <i>Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. +ii. ch. xxix.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor244">[244]</a> +<i>The Emperor Alexander II.: His Life and Reign</i>, by S.S. +Tatischeff (St. Petersburg, 1903), Appendix to vol. ii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor245">[245]</a> De +Blowitz, <i>Memoirs</i>, ch. v.; <i>An Ambassador of the +Vanquished</i> (ed. by the Duc de Broglie), pp. 180 <i>et seq</i>. +Probably the article "Krieg in Sicht," published in the <i>Berlin +Post</i> of April 15, 1875, was "inspired."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor246">[246]</a> +<i>Bismarck: his Reflections</i>, etc., vol. ii. pp. 191-193, +249-153 (Eng. ed.); the <i>Bismarck Jahrbuch</i>, vol. iv. p. +35.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor247">[247]</a> Sir +M. Grant Duff, <i>Notes from a Diary, 1886-88</i>, vol. i. p. 129. +See, too, other proofs of the probability of an attack by Germany +on France in Professor Geffcken's <i>Frankreich, Russland, und der +Dreibund</i>, pp. 90 <i>et seq.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor248">[248]</a> +<i>Histoire de l'Entente franco-russe</i>, by Élie de Cyon, +ch. i. (1895).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor249">[249]</a> +<i>Our Chancellor</i>, by M. Busch, vol. ii. pp. 137-138.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor250">[250]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, vol. ii. pp. +251-289.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor251">[251]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, by M. Busch, +vol. ii. p. 404; <i>Bismarck: Reflections and Reminiscences</i>, +vol. ii. p. 268.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor252">[252]</a> +<i>The Life of the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava</i>, by Sir A. Lyall +(1905), vol. i. p. 304.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor253">[253]</a> On +October 24, 1896, the <i>Hamburger Nachrichten</i>, a paper often +inspired by Bismarck, gave some information (all that is known) +about this shadowy agreement.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor254">[254]</a> De +Blowitz, <i>Memoirs</i>, ch. vi., also Busch, <i>Our +Chancellor</i>, vol. ii. pp. 92-93.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor255">[255]</a> It +transpired later on that Barthélémy de St. Hilaire +did not know of the extent of the aims of the French military +party, and that these subsequently gained the day; but this does +not absolve the Cabinet and him of bad faith. Later on France +fortified Bizerta, in contravention (so it is said) of an +understanding with the British Government that no part of that +coast should be fortified.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor256">[256]</a> +<i>Politische Geschichte der Gegenwart</i>, for 1881, p. 176; +quoted by Lowe, <i>Life of Bismarck</i>, vol. ii. p. 133.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor257">[257]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages</i>, etc., vol. iii. p. 291.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor258">[258]</a> +Seignobos, <i>A Political History of Contemporary Europe</i>, vol. +i. p. 210 (Eng. Ed.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor259">[259]</a> For +the Triple Alliance see the <i>Rev. des deux Mondes</i>, May 1, +1883; also Chiala, <i>Storia contemporanea--La Triplice e la +Duplice Alleanza</i> (1898).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor260">[260]</a> +Élie de Cyon, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 38.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor261">[261]</a> +Élie de Cyon, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 274.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor262">[262]</a> See +the <i>Nouvelle Revue</i> for April 15, 1890, for Cyon's version of +the whole affair, which is treated with prudent brevity by Oncken, +Blum, and Delbrück.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor263">[263]</a> +Hansard, vol. cccxii. pp. 1180 <i>et seq.</i>; Chiala, <i>La +Triplice e la Duplice Alleanza</i>, app. ii.; Mr. Stillman, +<i>Francesco Crispi</i> (p. 177), believes in the danger to +Spezzia.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor264">[264]</a> This +version (the usual one) is contested by Cyon, who says that +Katkoff's influence over the Czar was undermined by a mean German +intrigue.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor265">[265]</a> See +the Chauvinist pamphlets, <i>Échec et Mat à la +Politique de l'Ennemi de la France</i>, by "un Russe" (Paris, +1887); and <i>Nécessité de l'Alliance +franco-russe</i>, by P. Pader (Toulouse, 1888).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor266">[266]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages, etc.</i> vol. iii. p. 335.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor267">[267]</a> E. +Daudet, <i>Histoire diplomatique de l'Alliance franco-russe</i>, +pp. 270-279.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor268">[268]</a> De +Cyon, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 394 <i>et seq.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor269">[269]</a> In +the French Chamber of Deputies it was officially stated in 1893, +that in two decades France had spent the sum of £614,000,000 +on her army and the new fortresses, apart from that on strategic +railways and the fleet.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor270">[270]</a> +Notovich, <i>L'Empereur Alexandre III.</i> ch. viii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor271">[271]</a> L.E. +Flourens, <i>Alexandre III.: sa Vie, son Oeuvre</i>, p. 319.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor272">[272]</a> +<i>The French Invasion of Russia</i>, by Sir R. Wilson, p. 234.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor273">[273]</a> H. +Norman, M.P., <i>All the Russias</i>, p. 390 (Heinemann, 1902). See +the articles on the alliance as it affects Anglo-French relations +by M. de Pressensé in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> for +February and November 1896; also Mr. Spenser Wilkinson's <i>The +Nation's Awakening</i>, ch. v.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor274">[274]</a> +<i>L'Alliance Franco-russe devant la Crise Orientale</i>, par un +Diplomate étranger. (Paris, Plon. 1897).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor275">[275]</a> See +an article by Jules Simon in the <i>Contemporary Review</i>, May +1894.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page353" id="page353"></a>[pg +353]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<h3>THE CENTRAL ASIAN QUESTION</h3> +<blockquote>"The Germans have reached their day, the English their +mid-day, the French their afternoon, the Italians their evening, +the Spanish their night; but the Slavs stand on the threshold of +the morning."--MADAME NOVIKOFF ("O.K.")--<i>The Friends and Foes of +Russia</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The years 1879-85 which witnessed the conclusion of the various +questions opened up by the Treaty of Berlin and the formation of +the Triple Alliance mark the end of a momentous period in European +history. The quarter of a century which followed the +Franco-Austrian War of 1859 in Northern Italy will always stand out +as one of the most momentous epochs in State-building that the +world has ever seen. Italy, Denmark, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and +Turkey, assumed their present form. The Christians of the Balkan +Peninsula made greater strides towards liberty than they had taken +in the previous century. Finally, the new diplomatic grouping of +the Powers helped to endow these changes with a permanence which +was altogether wanting to the fitful efforts of the period 1815-59. +That earlier period was one of feverish impulse and picturesque +failure; the two later decades were characterised by stern +organisation and prosaic success.</p> +<p>It generally happens to nations as to individuals that a period +devoted to recovery from internal disorders is followed by a time +of great productive and expansive power. The introspective epoch +gives place to one of practical achievement. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page354" id="page354"></a>[pg 354]</span> Faust +gives up his barren speculations and feels his way from thought to +action. From "In the beginning was the Word" he wins his way onward +through "the Thought" and "the Might," until he rewrites the dictum +"In the beginning was the Deed." That is the change which came over +Germany and Europe in the years 1850-80. The age of the theorisers +of the <i>Vor-Parlament</i> at Frankfurt gave place to the age of +Bismarck. The ideals of Mazzini paled in the garish noonday of the +monarchical triumph at Rome.</p> +<p>Alas! too, the age of great achievement, that of the years +1859-85, makes way for a period characterised by satiety, torpor, +and an indefinable <i>malaise</i>. Europe rests from the generous +struggles of the past, and settles down uneasily into a time of +veiled hostility and armed peace. Having framed their State systems +and covering alliances, the nations no longer give heed to +constitutions, rights of man, or duties of man; they plunge into +commercialism, and search for new markets. Their attitude now is +that of Ancient Pistol when he exclaims</p> +<blockquote> + "The +world's mine oyster,<br> +Which I with sword will open."</blockquote> +<p>In Europe itself there is little to chronicle in the years +1885-1900, which are singularly dull in regard to political +achievement. No popular movement (not even those of the distressed +Cretans and Armenians) has aroused enough sympathy to bring it to +the goal. The reason for this fact seems to be that the human race, +like the individual, is subject to certain alternating moods which +may be termed the enthusiastic and the practical; and that, during +the latter phase, the material needs of life are so far exalted at +the expense of the higher impulses that small struggling +communities receive not a tithe of the sympathy which they would +have aroused in more generous times.</p> +<p>The fact need not beget despair. On the contrary, it should +inspire the belief that, when the fit passes away, the healthier, +nobler mood will once more come; and then the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page355" id="page355"></a>[pg 355]</span> world +will pulsate with new life, making wholesome use of the wealth +previously stored up but not assimilated. It is significant that +Gervinus, writing in 1853, spoke of that epoch as showing signs of +disenchantment and exhaustion in the political sphere. In reality +he was but six years removed from the beginning of an age of +constructive activity the like of which has never been seen.</p> +<p>Further, we may point out that the ebb in the tide of human +affairs which set in about the year 1885 was due to specific causes +operating with varied force on different peoples. First in point of +time, at the close of the year 1879, came the decision of Bismarck +and of the German Reichstag to abandon the cause of Free Trade in +favour of a narrow commercial nationalism. Next came the murder of +the Czar Alexander II. (March 1881), and the grinding down of the +reformers and of all alien elements by his stern successor. Thus, +the national impulse, which had helped on that of democracy in the +previous generation, now lent its strength to the cause of +economic, religious, and political reaction in the two greatest of +European States.</p> +<p>In other lands that vital force frittered itself away in the +frothy rhetoric of Déroulède and the futile prancings +of Boulanger, in the gibberings of <i>Italia Irredenta</i>, or in +the noisy obstruction of Czechs and Parnellites in the Parliaments +of Vienna and London. Everything proclaimed that the national +principle had spent its force and could now merely turn and wobble +until it came to rest.</p> +<p>A curious series of events also served to discredit the party of +progress in the constitutional States. Italian politics during the +ascendancy of Depretis, Mancini, and Crispi became on the one side +a mere scramble for power, on the other a nervous edging away from +the gulf of bankruptcy ever yawning in front. France, too, was slow +to habituate herself to parliamentary institutions, and her history +in the years 1887 to 1893 is largely that of a succession of +political scandals and screechy recriminations, from the time of +the Grévy-Wilson affair to the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page356" id="page356"></a>[pg 356]</span> +loathsome end of the Panama Company. In the United Kingdom the +wheels of progress lurched along heavily after the year 1886, when +Gladstone made his sudden strategic turn towards the following of +Parnell. Thus it came about that the parties of progress found +themselves almost helpless or even discredited; and the young giant +of Democracy suddenly stooped and shrivelled as if with premature +decay.</p> +<p>The causes of this seeming paralysis were not merely political +and dynamic: they were also ethical. The fervour of religious faith +was waning under the breath of a remorseless criticism and dogmatic +materialism. Already, under their influence, the teachers of the +earlier age, Carlyle, Tennyson, and Browning, had lost their +joyousness and spontaneity; and the characteristic thinkers of the +new age were chiefly remarkable for the arid formalism with which +they preached the gospel of salvation for the strong and damnation +to the weak. The results of the new creed were not long in showing +themselves in the political sphere. If the survival of the fittest +were the last word of philosophy, where was the need to struggle on +behalf of the weak and oppressed? In that case, it might be better +to leave them to the following clutch of the new scientific devil; +while those who had charged through to the head of the rout enjoyed +themselves with utmost abandon. Such was, and is, the deduction +from the new gospel (crude enough, doubtless, in many respects), +which has finally petrified in the lordly egotism of Nietzche and +in the unlovely outlines of one or two up-to-date Utopias.</p> +<p>These fashions will have their day. Meanwhile it is the duty of +the historian to note that self-sacrifice and heroism have a hard +struggle for life in an age which for a time exalted Herbert +Spencer to the highest pinnacle of greatness, which still riots in +the calculating selfishness of Nietzsche and raves about Omar +Khayyám.</p> +<p>Seeing, then, that the last fifteen years of the nineteenth +century in Europe were almost barren of great formative movements +such as had ennobled the previous decades, we may well <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page357" id="page357"></a>[pg 357]</span> leave +that over-governed, over-drilled continent weltering in its riches +and discontent, its militarism and moral weakness, in order to +survey events further afield which carried on the State-building +process to lands as yet chaotic or ill-organised. There, at least, +we may chronicle some advance, hampered though it has been by the +moral languor or laxity that has warped the action of Europeans in +their new spheres.</p> +<p>The transference of human interest from European history to that +of Asia and Africa is certainly one of the distinguishing features +of the years in question. The scene of great events shifts from the +Rhine and the Danube to the Oxus and the Nile. The affairs of Rome, +Alsace, and Bulgaria being settled for the present, the passions of +great nations centre on Herat and Candahar, Alexandria and Khartum, +the Cameroons, Zanzibar, and Johannesburg, Port Arthur and Korea. +The United States, after recovering from the Civil War and +completing their work of internal development, enter the lists as a +colonising Power, and drive forth Spain from two of her historic +possessions. Strife becomes keen over the islands of the Pacific. +Australia seeks to lay hands on New Guinea, and the European Powers +enter into hot discussions over Madagascar, the Carolines, Samoa, +and many other isles.</p> +<p>In short, these years saw a repetition of the colonial strifes +that marked the latter half of the eighteenth century. Just as +Europe, after solving the questions arising out of the religious +wars, betook itself to marketing in the waste lands over the seas, +so too, when the impulses arising from the incoming of the +principles of democracy and nationality had worn themselves out, +the commercial and colonial motive again came uppermost. And, as in +the eighteenth century, so too after 1880 there was at hand an +economic incentive spurring on the Powers to annexation of new +lands. France had recurred to protective tariffs in 1870. Germany, +under Bismarck, followed suit ten years later; and all the +continental Powers in turn, oppressed by armaments and girt around +with hostile tariffs, turned instinctively to the unclaimed +territories oversea as <span class="pagenum"><a name="page358" id= +"page358"></a>[pg 358]</span> life-saving annexes for their own +overstocked industrial centres.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It will be convenient to begin the recital of extra-European +events by considering the expansion of Russia and Great Britain in +Central Asia. There, it is true, the commercial motive is less +prominent than that of political rivalry; and the foregoing remarks +apply rather to the recent history of Africa than to that of +Central Asia. But, as the plan of this work is to some extent +chronological, it seems better to deal first with events which had +their beginning further back than those which relate to the +partition of Africa.</p> +<p>The two great colonising and conquering movements of recent +times are those which have proceeded from London and Moscow as +starting-points. In comparison with them the story of the +enterprise of the Portuguese and Dutch has little more than the +interest that clings around an almost vanished past. The halo of +romance that hovers over the exploits of Spaniards in the New World +has all but faded away. Even the more solid achievements of the +gallant sons of France in a later age are of small account when +compared with the five mighty commonwealths that bear witness to +the strength of the English stock and the adaptability of its +institutions, or with the portentous growth of the Russian Empire +in Asia.</p> +<p>The methods of expansion of these two great colonial Empires are +curiously different; and students of Ancient History will recall a +similar contrast in the story of the expansion of the Greek and +Latin races. The colonial Empire of England has been sown broadcast +over the seas by adventurous sailors, the freshness and spontaneity +of whose actions recall corresponding traits in the maritime life +of Athens. Nursed by the sea, and filled with the love of +enterprise and freedom which that element inspires, both peoples +sought wider spheres for their commerce, and homes more spacious +and wealthy than their narrow cradles offered; <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page359" id="page359"></a>[pg 359]</span> but, +above all, they longed to found a microcosm of Athens or England, +with as little control from the mother-land as might be.</p> +<p>The Russian Empire, on the other hand, somewhat resembles that +of Rome in its steady, persistent extension of land boundaries by +military and governmental methods. The Czars, like the Consuls and +Emperors of Rome, set to work with a definite purpose, and brought +to bear on the shifting, restless tribes beyond their borders the +pressure of an unchanging policy and of a well-organised +administration. Both States relied on discipline and civilisation +to overcome animal strength and barbarism; and what they won by the +sword, they kept by means of a good system of roads and by military +colonies. In brief, while Ancient Greece and Modern England worked +through sailors and traders, Rome and Russia worked through +soldiers, road-makers, and proconsuls. The Sea Powers trusted +mainly to individual initiative and civic freedom; the Land Powers +founded their empires on organisation and order. The dominion of +the former was sporadic and easily dissolvable; that of the latter +was solid, and liable to be destroyed only by some mighty +cataclysm. The contrast between them is as old and ineffaceable as +that which subsists between the restless sea and the unchanging +plain.</p> +<p>While the comparison between England and Athens is incomplete, +and at some points fallacious, that between the Czars and the +Cæsars is in many ways curiously close and suggestive. As +soon as the Roman eagles soared beyond the mighty ring of the Alps +and perched securely on the slopes of Gaul and Rhætia, the +great Republic had the military advantage of holding the central +position as against the mutually hostile tribes of Western, +Central, and Eastern Europe. Thanks to that advantage, to her +organisation, and to her military colonies, she pushed forward an +ever-widening girdle of empire, finally conferring the blessings of +the <i>pax Romana</i> on districts as far remote as the Tyne, the +Lower Rhine and Danube, the Caucasus, and the Pillars of +Hercules.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page360" id="page360"></a>[pg +360]</span> +<p>Russia also has used to the full the advantages conferred by a +central position, an inflexible policy, and a military-agrarian +system well adapted to the needs of the nomadic peoples on her +borders. In the fifteenth century, her polity emerged victorious +from the long struggle with the Golden Horde of Tartars [I keep the +usual spelling, though "Tatars" is the correct form]; and, as the +barbarous Mongolians lost their hold on the districts of the middle +Volga, the power of the Czars began its forward march, pressing +back Asiatics on the East and Poles on the West. In 1556, Ivan the +Terrible seized Astrakan at the mouth of the Volga, and +victoriously held Russia's natural frontiers on the East, the Ural +Mountains, and the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. We shall deal +in a later chapter with her conquest of Siberia, and need only note +here that Muscovite pioneers reached the shores of the Northern +Pacific as early as the year 1636.</p> +<p>Russia's conquests at the expense of Turks, Circassians, and +Persians is a subject alien to this narrative; and the tragic story +of the overthrow of Poland at the hand of the three partitioning +Powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, does not concern us here.</p> +<p>It is, however, needful to observe the means by which she was +able to survive the dire perils of her early youth and to develop +the colonising and conquering agencies of her maturer years. They +may be summed up in the single word, "Cossacks."</p> +<p>The Cossacks are often spoken of as though they were a race. +They are not; they are bands or communities, partly military, +partly nomadic or agricultural, as the case may be. They can be +traced back to bands of outlaws who in the time of Russia's +weakness roamed about on the verge of her settlements, plundering +indifferently their Slavonic kinsmen, or the Tartars and Turks +farther south. They were the "men of the plain," who had fled from +the villages of the Slavs, or (in fewer cases) from the caravans of +the Tartars, owing to private feuds, or from love of a freer and +more <span class="pagenum"><a name="page361" id="page361"></a>[pg +361]</span> lucrative life than that of the village or the +encampment. In this debatable land their numbers increased until, +Slavs though they mainly were, they became a menace to the growing +power of the Czars. Ivan the Terrible sent expeditions against +them, transplanted many of their number, and compelled those who +remained in the space between the rivers Don and Ural to submit to +his authority, and to give military service in time of war in +return for rights of pasturage and tillage in the districts +thenceforth recognised as their own. Some of them transferred their +energies to Asia; and it was a Cossack outlaw, Jermak, who +conquered a great part of Siberia. The Russian pioneers, who early +penetrated into Siberia or Turkestan, found it possible at a later +time to use these children of the plain as a kind of protective +belt against the warlike natives. The same use was made of them in +the South against Turks. Catharine II. broke the power of the +"Zaporoghians" (Cossacks of the Dnieper), and settled large numbers +of them on the River Kuban to fight the Circassians.</p> +<p>In short, out of the driftwood and wreckage of their primitive +social system the Russians framed a bulwark against the swirling +currents of the nomad world outside. In some respects the Cossacks +resemble the roving bands of Saxons and Franks who pushed forward +roughly but ceaselessly the boundaries of the Teutonic race<a name= +"FNanchor276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276">[276]</a>. But, whereas +those offshoots soon came to have a life of their own, apart from +the parent stems, Russia, on the other hand, has known how to keep +a hold on her boisterous youth, turning their predatory instincts +against her worst neighbours, and using them as hardy irregulars in +her wars.</p> +<p>Considering the number of times that the Russian Government +crushed the Cossack revolts, broke up their self-made organisation, +and transplanted unruly bands to distant parts, their almost +invariable loyalty to the central authority is very remarkable. It +may be ascribed either to the veneration <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page362" id="page362"></a>[pg 362]</span> which +they felt for the Czar, to the racial sentiment which dwells within +the breast of nearly every Slav, or to their proximity to alien +peoples whom they hated as Mohammedans or despised as godless +pagans. In any case, the Russian autocracy gained untold advantages +from the Cossack fringe on the confines of the Empire.</p> +<p>Some faint conception of the magnitude of that gain may be +formed, if, by way of contrast, we try to picture the Teutonic +peoples always acting together, even through their distant +offshoots; or, again, if by a flight of fancy we can imagine the +British Government making a wise use of its old soldiers and the +flotsam and jetsam of our cities for the formation of semi-military +colonies on the most exposed frontiers of the Empire. That which +our senators have done only in the case of the Grahamstown +experiment of 1819, Russia has done persistently and successfully +with materials far less promising--a triumph of organisation for +which she has received scant credit.</p> +<p>The roving Cossacks have become practically a mounted militia, +highly mobile in peace and in war. Free from taxes, and enjoying +certain agrarian or pastoral rights in the district which they +protect, their position in the State is fully assured. At times the +ordinary Russian settlers are turned into Cossacks. Either by that +means, or by migration from Russia, or by a process of accretion +from among the conquered nomads, their ranks are easily recruited; +and the readiness with which Tartars and Turkomans are absorbed +into this cheap and effective militia has helped to strengthen +Russia alike in peace and war. The source of strength open to her +on this side of her social system did not escape the notice of +Napoleon--witness his famous remark that within fifty years Europe +would be either Republican or Cossack<a name= +"FNanchor277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277">[277]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page363" id="page363"></a>[pg +363]</span> +<p>The firm organisation which Central Europe gained under the +French Emperor's hammer-like blows served to falsify the prophecy; +and the stream of Russian conquest, dammed up on the west by the +newly-consolidated strength of Prussia and Austria, set strongly +towards Asia. Pride at her overthrow of the great conqueror in 1812 +had quickened the national consciousness of Russia; and besides +this praiseworthy motive there was another perhaps equally potent, +namely, the covetousness of her ruling class. The Memoirs written +by her bureaucrats and generals reveal the extravagance, +dissipation, and luxury of the Court circles. Fashionable society +had as its main characteristic a barbaric and ostentatious +extravagance, alike in gambling and feasting, in the festivals of +the Court or in the scarcely veiled debauchery of its devotees. +Baron Löwenstern, who moved in its higher ranks, tells of +cases of a license almost incredible to those who have not pried +among the garbage of the Court of Catharine II. This recklessness, +resulting from the tendency of the Muscovite nature, as of the +Muscovite climate, to indulge in extremes, begot an imperious need +of large supplies of money; and, ground down as were the serfs on +the broad domains of the nobles, the resulting revenues were all +too scanty to fill up the financial void created by the urgent +needs of St. Petersburg, Gatchina, or Monte Carlo. Larger domains +had to be won in order to outvie rivals or stave off bankruptcy; +and these new domains could most easily come by foreign +conquest.</p> +<p>For an analogous reason, the State itself suffered from land +hunger. Its public service was no less corrupt than inefficient. +Large sums frequently vanished, no one knew whither; but one +infallible cure for bankruptcy was always at hand, namely, +conquests over Poles, Turks, Circassians, or Tartars. To this +Catharine II. had looked when she instituted the vicious practice +of paying the nobles for their services at Court; and during her +long career of conquest she greatly developed the old Muscovite +system of meeting the costs of war out of the domains of the +vanquished, besides richly dowering the Crown, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page364" id="page364"></a>[pg 364]</span> and +her generals and favoured courtiers. One of the Russian Ministers, +referring to the notorious fact that his Government made war for +the sake of booty as well as glory, said to a Frenchman, "We have +remained somewhat Asiatic in that respect<a name= +"FNanchor278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278">[278]</a>." It is not +always that a Minister reveals so frankly the motives that help to +mould the policy of a great State.</p> +<p>The predatory instinct, once acquired, does not readily pass +away. Alexander I. gratified it by forays in Circassia, even at the +time when he was face to face with the might of the great Napoleon; +and after the fall of the latter, Russia pushed on her confines in +Georgia until they touched those of Persia. Under Nicholas I. +little territory was added except the Kuban coast on the Black Sea, +Erivan to the south of Georgia, and part of the Kirghiz lands in +Turkestan.</p> +<p>The reason for this quiescence was that almost up to the verge +of the Crimean War Nicholas hoped to come to an understanding with +England respecting an eventual partition of the Turkish Empire, +Austria also gaining a share of the spoils. With the aim of baiting +these proposals, he offered, during his visit to London in 1844, to +refrain from any movement against the Khanates of Central Asia, +concerning which British susceptibilities were becoming keen. His +Chancellor, Count Nesselrode, embodied these proposals in an +important Memorandum, containing a promise that Russia would leave +the Khanates of Turkestan as a neutral zone in order to keep the +Russian and British possessions in Asia "from dangerous +contact<a name="FNanchor279"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_279">[279]</a>."</p> +<p>For reasons which we need not detail, British Ministers rejected +these overtures, and by degrees England entered upon the task of +defending the Sultan's dominions, largely on the assumption that +they formed a necessary bulwark of her Indian Empire. It is not our +purpose to criticise British policy at <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page365" id="page365"></a>[pg 365]</span> that +time. We merely call attention to the fact that there seemed to be +a prospect of a friendly understanding with Russia respecting +Turkey, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Central Asia; and that the British +Government decided to maintain the integrity of Turkey by attacking +the Power which seemed about to impugn it. As a result, Turkey +secured a new lease of life by the Crimean War, while Alexander II. +deemed himself entirely free to press on Asiatic conquests from +which his father had refrained. Thus, the two great expanding +Powers entered anew on that course of rivalry in Asia which has +never ceased, and which forms to-day the sole barrier to a good +understanding between them.</p> +<p>After the Crimean War circumstances favoured the advance of the +Russian arms. England, busied with the Sepoy Mutiny in India, cared +little what became of the rival Khans of Turkestan; and Lord +Lawrence, Governor-General of India in 1863-69, enunciated the +soothing doctrine that "Russia might prove a safer neighbour than +the wild tribes of Central Asia." The Czar's emissaries therefore +had easy work in fomenting the strifes that constantly arose in +Bokhara, Khiva, and Tashkend, with the result that in 1864 the +last-named was easily acquired by Russia. We may add here that +Tashkend is now an important railway centre in the Russian Central +Asian line, and that large stores of food and material are there +accumulated, which may be utilised in case Russia makes a move +against Afghanistan or Northern India.</p> +<p>In 1868 an outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism in Bokhara brought +the Ameer of that town into collision with the Russians, who +thereupon succeeded in taking Samarcand. The capital of the empire +of Tamerlane, "the scourge of Asia," now sank to the level of an +outpost of Russian power, and ultimately to that of a mart for +cotton. The Khan of Bokhara fell into a position of complete +subservience, and ceded to the conquerors the whole of his province +of Samarcand<a name="FNanchor280"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_280">[280]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page366" id="page366"></a>[pg +366]</span> +<p>It is believed that the annexation of Samarcand was contrary to +the intentions of the Czar. Alexander II. was a friend of peace; +and he had no desire to push forward his frontiers to the verge of +Afghanistan, where friction would probably ensue with the British +Government. Already he had sought to allay the irritation prevalent +in Russophobe circles in England. In November 1864, his Chancellor, +Prince Gortchakoff, issued a circular setting forth the causes that +impelled the Russians on their forward march. It was impossible, he +said, to keep peace with uncivilised and predatory tribes on their +frontiers. Russia must press on until she came into touch with a +State whose authority would guarantee order on the boundaries. The +argument was a strong one; and it may readily be granted that good +government, civilisation, and commerce have benefited by the +extension of the <i>pax Russica</i> over the slave-hunting +Turkomans and the inert tribes of Siberia.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, as Gortchakoff's circular expressed the intention +of refraining from conquest for the sake of conquest, the +irritation in England became very great when the conquest of +Tashkend, and thereafter of Samarcand, was ascribed, apparently on +good grounds, to the ambition of the Russian commanders, +Tchernaieff and Kaufmann respectively. On the news of the capture +of Samarcand reaching London, the Russian ambassador hastened to +assure the British Cabinet that his master did not intend to retain +his conquest. Nevertheless, it was retained. The doctrine of +political necessity proved to be as expansive as Russia's +boundaries; and, after the rapid growth of the Indian Empire under +Lord Dalhousie, the British Government could not deny the force of +the plea.</p> +<p>This mighty stride forward brought Russia to the northern bounds +of Afghanistan, a land which was thenceforth to be the central knot +of diplomatic problems of vast magnitude. It will therefore be +well, in beginning our survey of a question which was to test the +efficacy of autocracy and democracy in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page367" id="page367"></a>[pg 367]</span> +international affairs, to gain some notion of the physical and +political conditions of the life of that people.</p> +<p>As generally happens in a mountainous region in the midst of a +great continent, their country exhibits various strata of conquest +and settlement. The northern district, sloping towards Turkestan, +is inhabited mainly by Turkomans who have not yet given up their +roving habits. The rugged hill country bordering on the Punjab is +held by Pathans and Ghilzais, who are said by some to be of the +same stock as the Afghans. On the other hand, a well-marked local +legend identifies the Afghans proper with the lost ten tribes of +Israel; and those who love to speculate on that elusive and +delusive subject may long use their ingenuity in speculating +whether the oft-quoted text as to the chosen people possessing the +gates of their enemies is more applicable to the sea-faring and +sea-holding Anglo-Saxons or to the pass-holding Afghans.</p> +<p>That elevated plateau, ridged with lofty mountains and furrowed +with long clefts, has seen Turkomans, Persians, and many other +races sweep over it; and the mixture of these and other races, +perhaps including errant Hebrews, has there acquired the +sturdiness, tenacity, and clannishness that mark the fragments of +three nations clustering together in the Alpine valleys; while it +retains the turbulence and fierceness of a full-blooded Asiatic +stock. The Afghan problem is complicated by these local differences +and rivalries; the north cohering with the Turkomans, Herat and the +west having many affinities and interests in common with Persia, +Candahar being influenced by Baluchistan, while the hill tribes of +the north-east bristle with local peculiarities and aboriginal +savagery. These districts can be welded together only by the will +of a great ruler or in the white heat of religious fanaticism; and +while Moslem fury sometimes unites all the Afghan clans, the Moslem +marriage customs result fully as often in a superfluity of royal +heirs, which gives rein to all the forces that make for disruption. +Afghanistan is a hornet's nest; and yet, as we shall see presently, +owing to geographical and strategical <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page368" id="page368"></a>[pg 368]</span> +reasons, it cannot be left severely alone. The people are to the +last degree clannish; and nothing but the grinding pressure of two +mighty Empires has endowed them with political solidarity.</p> +<p>It is not surprising that British statesmen long sought to avoid +all responsibility for the internal affairs of such a land. As we +have seen, the theory which found favour with Lord Lawrence was +that of intervening as little as possible in the affairs of States +bordering on India, a policy which was termed "masterly inactivity" +by the late Mr. J.W.S. Wyllie. It was the outcome of the experience +gained in the years 1839-42, when, after alienating Dost Mohammed, +the Ameer of Afghanistan, by its coolness, the Indian Government +rushed to the other extreme and invaded the country in order to +tear him from the arms of the more effusive Russians.</p> +<p>The results are well known. Overweening confidence and military +incapacity finally led to the worst disaster that befell a British +army during the nineteenth century, only one officer escaping from +among the 4500 troops and 12,000 camp followers who sought to cut +their way back through the Khyber Pass<a name= +"FNanchor281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281">[281]</a>. A policy of +non-intervention in the affairs of so fickle and savage a people +naturally ensued, and was stoutly maintained by Lords Canning, +Elgin, and Lawrence, who held sway during and after the great storm +of the Indian Mutiny. The worth of that theory of conduct came to +be tested in 1863, on the occasion of the death of Dost Mohammed, +who had latterly recovered Herat from Persia, and brought nearly +the whole of the Afghan clans under his sway. He had been our +friend during the Mutiny, when his hostility might readily have +turned the wavering scales of war; and he looked for some tangible +return for his loyal behaviour in preventing the attempt of some of +his restless tribesmen to recover the once Afghan city of +Peshawur.</p> +<p>To his surprise and disgust he met with no return whatever, even +in a matter which most nearly concerned his dynasty and the future +of Afghanistan. As generally happens with Moslem <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page369" id="page369"></a>[pg 369]</span> +rulers, the aged Ameer occupied his declining days with seeking to +provide against the troubles that naturally resulted from the +oriental profusion of his marriages. Dost Mohammed's quiver was +blessed with the patriarchal equipment of sixteen sons--most of +them stalwart, warlike, and ambitious. Eleven of them limited their +desires to parts of Afghanistan, but five of them aspired to rule +over all the tribes that go to make up that seething medley. Of +these, Shere Ali was the third in age but the first in capacity, if +not in prowess. Moreover, he was the favourite son of Dost +Mohammed; but where rival mothers and rival tribes were concerned, +none could foresee the issue of the pending conflict<a name= +"FNanchor282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282">[282]</a>.</p> +<p>Dost Mohammed sought to avert it by gaining the effective +support of the Indian Government for his Benjamin. He pleaded in +vain. Lord Canning, Governor-General of India at the time of the +Mutiny, recognised Shere Ali as heir-apparent, but declined to give +any promise of support either in arms or money. Even after the +Mutiny was crushed, Lord Canning and his successor, Lord Elgin, +adhered to the former decision, refusing even a grant of money and +rifles for which father and son pleaded.</p> +<p>As we have said, Dost Mohammed died in 1863; but even when Shere +Ali was face to face with formidable family schisms and a +widespread revolt, Lord Lawrence clung to the policy of recognising +only "<i>de facto</i> Powers," that is, Powers which actually +existed and could assert their authority. All that he offered was +to receive Shere Ali in conference, and give him good advice; but +he would only recognise him as Ameer of Afghanistan if he could +prevail over his brothers and their tribesmen. He summed it up in +this official letter of April 17, 1866, sent to the Governor of the +Punjab:--</p> +<p>It should be our policy to show clearly that we will not +interfere in the struggle, that we will not aid either party, that +we will leave the Afghans to settle their own quarrels, and that we +are willing to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page370" id= +"page370"></a>[pg 370]</span> be on terms of amity and good-will +with the nation and with their rulers <i>de facto</i>. Suitable +opportunities can be taken to declare that these are the principles +which will guide our policy; and it is the belief of the +Governor-General that such a policy will in the end be +appreciated<a name="FNanchor283"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_283">[283]</a>.</p> +<p>The Afghans did not appreciate it. Shere All protested that it +placed a premium on revolt; he also complained that the Viceroy not +only gave him no help, but even recognised his rival, Ufzul, when +the latter captured Cabul. After the death of Ufzul and the +assumption of authority at Cabul by a third brother, Azam, Shere +Ali by a sudden and desperate attempt drove his rival from Cabul +(September 8, 1868) and practically ended the schisms and strifes +which for five years had rent Afghanistan in twain. Then, but then +only, did Lord Lawrence consent to recognise him as Ameer of the +whole land, and furnish him with £60,000 and a supply of +arms. An act which, five years before, would probably have ensured +the speedy triumph of Shere Ali and his lasting gratitude to Great +Britain, now laid him under no sense of obligation<a name= +"FNanchor284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284">[284]</a>. He might have +replied to Lord Lawrence with the ironical question with which Dr. +Johnson declined Lord Chesterfield's belated offer of patronage: +"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man +struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, +encumbers him with help?"</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page371" id="page371"></a>[pg +371]</span> +<p>Moreover, there is every reason to think that Shere Ali, with +the proneness of orientals to refer all actions to the most +elemental motives, attributed the change of front at Calcutta +solely to fear. That was the time when the Russian capture of +Samarcand cowed the Khan of Bokhara and sent a thrill through +Central Asia. In the political psychology of the Afghans, the tardy +arrival at Cabul of presents from India argued little friendship +for Shere Ali, but great dread of the conquering Muscovites.</p> +<p>Such, then, was the policy of "masterly inactivity" in 1863-68, +cheap for India, but excessively costly for Afghanistan. Lord +Lawrence rendered incalculable services to India before and during +the course of the Mutiny, but his conduct towards Shere Ali is +certainly open to criticism. The late Duke of Argyll, Secretary of +State for India in the Gladstone Ministry (1868-74), supported it +in his work, <i>The Eastern Question,</i> on the ground that the +Anglo-Afghan treaty of 1855 pledged the British not to interfere in +the affairs of Afghanistan<a name="FNanchor285"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_285">[285]</a>. But uncalled for interference is one +thing; to refuse even a slight measure of help to an ally, who begs +it as a return for most valuable services, is quite another +thing.</p> +<p>Moreover, the Viceroy himself was brought by the stern logic of +events implicitly to give up his policy. In one of his last +official despatches, written on January 4, 1869, he recognised the +gain to Russia that must accrue from our adherence to a merely +passive policy in Central Asian affairs. He suggested that we +should come to a "clear understanding with the Court of St. +Petersburg as to its projects and designs in Central Asia, and that +it might be given to understand in firm but courteous language, +that it cannot be permitted to interfere in the affairs of +Afghanistan, or in those of any State which lies contiguous to our +frontier."</p> +<p>This sentence tacitly implied a change of front; for any +prohibition to Russia to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page372" id="page372"></a>[pg +372]</span> virtually involved Britain's claim to exercise some +degree of suzerainty in that land. The way therefore seemed open +for a new departure, especially as the new Governor-General, Lord +Mayo, was thought to favour the more vigorous ideas latterly +prevalent at Westminster. But when Shere Ali met the new Viceroy in +a splendid Durbar at Umballa (March 1869) and formulated his +requests for effective British support, in case of need, they were, +in the main, refused<a name="FNanchor286"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_286">[286]</a>.</p> +<p>We may here use the words in which the late Duke of Argyll +summed up the wishes of the Ameer and the replies of Lord +Mayo:--</p> +<p>He (the Ameer) wanted to have an unconditional treaty, offensive +and defensive. He wanted to have a fixed subsidy. He wanted to have +a dynastic guarantee. He would have liked sometimes to get the loan +of English officers to drill his troops, or to construct his +forts--provided they retired the moment they had done this work for +him. On the other hand, officers "resident" in his country as +political agents of the British Government were his abhorrence.</p> +<p>Lord Mayo's replies, or pledges, were virtually as +follows:--</p> +<p>The first pledge (says the Duke of Argyll) was that of +non-interference in his (the Ameer's) affairs. The second pledge +was that "we would support his independence." The third pledge was +"that we would not force European officers, or residents, upon him +against his wish<a name="FNanchor287"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_287">[287]</a>."</p> +<p>There seems to have been no hopeless contrariety between the +views of the Ameer and the Viceroy save in one matter that will be +noted presently. It is also of interest to learn from the Duke's +narrative, which claims to be official in substance, however +partisan it may be in form, that there was no difference of opinion +on this important subject between Lord Mayo and the Gladstone +Ministry, which came to power shortly <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page373" id="page373"></a>[pg 373]</span> after +his departure for India. The new Viceroy summed up his views in the +following sentence, written to the Duke of Argyll: "The safe course +lies in watchfulness, and friendly intercourse with neighbouring +tribes."</p> +<p>Apparently, then, there was a fair chance of arriving at an +agreement with the Ameer. But the understanding broke down on the +question of the amount of support to be accorded to Shere Ali's +dynasty. That ruler wished for an important modification of the +Anglo-Afghan treaty of 1855, which had bound his father to close +friendship with the old Company without binding the Company to +intervene in his favour. That, said Shere Ali, was a "dry +friendship." He wanted a friendship more fruitful than that of the +years 1863-67, and a direct support to his dynasty whenever he +claimed it. The utmost concession that Lord Mayo would grant was +that the British Government would "view with severe displeasure any +attempt to disturb your position as Ruler of Cabul, and rekindle +civil war<a name="FNanchor288"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_288">[288]</a>."</p> +<p>It seems that Shere Ali thought lightly of Britain's +"displeasure," for he departed ill at ease. Not even the occasional +presents of money and weapons that found their way from Calcutta to +Cabul could thenceforth keep his thoughts from turning northwards +towards Russia. At Umballa he had said little about that Power; and +the Viceroy had very wisely repressed any feelings of anxiety that +he may have had on that score. Possibly the strength and cheeriness +of Lord Mayo's personality would have helped to assuage the Ameer's +wounded feelings; but that genial Irishman fell under the dagger of +a fanatic during a tour in the Andaman Islands (February 1872). His +death was a serious event. Shere Ali cherished towards him feelings +which he did not extend to his successor, Lord Northbrook +(1872-76).</p> +<p>Yet, during that vice-royalty, the diplomatic action of Great +Britain secured for the Ameer the recognition of his claims over +the northern part of Afghanistan, as far as the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page374" id="page374"></a>[pg 374]</span> banks +of the Upper Oxus. In the years 1870-72 Russia stoutly contested +those claims, but finally withdrew them, the Emperor declaring at +the close of the latter year "that such a question should not be a +cause of difference between the two countries, and he was +determined it should not be so." It is further noteworthy that +Russian official communications more than once referred to the +Ameer of Afghanistan as being "under the protection of the Indian +Government<a name="FNanchor289"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_289">[289]</a>".</p> +<p>These signal services of British diplomacy counted for little at +Cabul in comparison with the question of the dynastic guarantee +which we persistently withheld. In the spring of 1873, when matters +relating to the Afghan-Persian frontier had to be adjusted, the +Ameer sent his Prime Minister to Simla with the intention of using +every diplomatic means for the extortion of that long-delayed +boon.</p> +<p>The time seemed to favour his design. Apart from the Persian +boundary questions (which were settled in a manner displeasing to +the Ameer), trouble loomed ahead in Central Asia. The Russians were +advancing on Khiva; and the Afghan statesman, during his stay at +Simla, sought to intimidate Lord Northbrook by parading this fact. +He pointed out that Russia would easily conquer Khiva and then +would capture Merv, near the western frontier of Afghanistan, +"either in the current year or the next." Equally obvious was his +aim in insisting that "the interests of the Afghan and English +Governments are identical," and that "the border of Afghanistan is +in truth the border of India." These were ingenious ways of working +his intrenchments up to the hitherto inaccessible citadel of Indian +border policy. The news of the Russian advance on Khiva lent +strength to his argument.</p> +<p>[Illustration: AFGHANISTAN]</p> +<p>Yet, when he came to the question of the guarantee of Shere +Ali's dynasty, he again met with a rebuff. In truth, Lord +Northbrook and his advisers saw that the Ameer was seeking to</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page375" id="page375"></a>[pg +375]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/375.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of Afghanistan.</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page376" id="page376"></a>[pg +376]</span> +<p>frighten them about Russia in order to improve his own family +prospects in Afghanistan; and, paying too much attention, perhaps, +to the oriental artfulness of the method of request, and too little +to the importance of the questions then at stake, he decided to +meet the Ameer in regard to non-essentials, though he failed to +satisfy him on the one thing held to be needful at the palace of +Cabul.</p> +<p>Anxious, however, to consult the Home Government on a matter of +such importance, now that the Russians were known to be at Khiva, +Lord Northbrook telegraphed to the Duke of Argyll on July 24, +1873:--</p> +<p>Ameer of Cabul alarmed at Russian progress, dissatisfied with +general assurance, and anxious to know how far he may rely on our +help if invaded. I propose assuring him that if he unreservedly +accepts and acts on our advice in all external relations, we will +help him with money, arms, and troops, if necessary, to expel +unprovoked aggression. We to be the judge of the necessity. Answer +by telegraph quickly.</p> +<p>The Gladstone Ministry was here at the parting of the ways. The +Ameer asked them to form an alliance on equal terms. They refused, +believing, as it seems, that they could keep to the old one-sided +arrangement of 1855, whereby the Ameer promised effective help to +the Indian Government, if need be, and gained only friendly +assurance in return. The Duke of Argyll telegraphed in reply on +July 26:--</p> +<p>Cabinet thinks you should inform Ameer that we do not at all +share his alarm, and consider there is no cause for it; but you may +assure him we shall maintain our settled policy in favour of +Afghanistan if he abides by our advice in external affairs<a name= +"FNanchor290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290">[290]</a>.</p> +<p>This answer, together with a present of £100,000 and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page377" id="page377"></a>[pg +377]</span> 20,000 rifles, was all that the Ameer gained; his own +shrewd sense had shown him long before that Britain must in any +case defend Afghanistan against Russia. What he wanted was an +official recognition of his own personal position as ruler, while +he acted, so to speak, as the "Count of the Marches" of India. The +Gladstone Government held out no hopes of assuring the future of +their <i>Mark-graf</i> or of his children after him. The +remembrance of the disaster in the Khyber Pass in 1841 haunted +them, as it had done their predecessors, like a ghost, and scared +them from the course of action which might probably have led to the +conclusion of a close offensive and defensive alliance between +India and Afghanistan.</p> +<p>Such a consummation was devoutly to be hoped for in view of +events which had transpired in Central Asia. Khiva had been +captured by the Russians. This Khanate intervened between Bokhara +and the Caspian Sea, which the Russians used as their base of +operations on the west. The plea of necessity was again put +forward, and it might have been urged as forcibly on geographical +and strategic grounds as on the causes that were alleged for the +rupture. They consisted mainly of the frontier incidents that are +wont to occur with restless, uncivilised neighbours. The Czar's +Government also accused the Khivans of holding some Russian +subjects in captivity, and of breaking their treaty of 1842 with +Russia by helping the Khirgiz Horde in a recent revolt against +their new masters.</p> +<p>Russia soon had ready three columns, which were to converge on +Khiva: one was stationed on the River Ural, a second at the rising +port of Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea, and a third, under General +Kaufmann, at Tashkend. So well were their operations timed that, +though the distances to be traversed varied from 480 to 840 miles, +in parts over a waterless desert, yet the three chief forces +arrived almost simultaneously at Khiva and met with the merest show +of resistance (June 1873). Setting the young Khan on the throne of +his father, they took from him his ancestral lands of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page378" id="page378"></a>[pg 378]</span> the +right bank of the Amu Daria (Oxus) and imposed on him a crushing +war indemnity of 2,200,000 roubles, which assured his entire +dependence on his new creditors. They further secured their hold on +these diminished territories by erecting two forts on the +river<a name="FNanchor291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291">[291]</a>. +The Czar's Government was content with assuring its hold upon +Khiva, without annexing the Khanate outright, seeing that it had +disclaimed any such intention<a name="FNanchor292"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_292">[292]</a>. All the same, Russia was now mistress of +nearly the whole of Central Asia; and the advance of roads and +railways portended further conquests at the expense of Persia and +the few remaining Turkoman tribes.</p> +<p>In order to estimate the importance of these facts, it must be +remembered that the teachings of Geography and History concur in +showing the practicability of an invasion of India from Central +Asia. Touching first the geographical facts, we may point out that +India and Afghanistan stand in somewhat the same relation to the +Asiatic continent that Italy and Switzerland hold to that of +Europe. The rich lands and soft climate of both Peninsulas have +always been an irresistible attraction to the dwellers among the +more barren mountains and plains of the North; and the lie of the +land on the borders of both of these seeming Eldorados favours the +advance of more virile peoples in their search for more genial +conditions of life. Nature, which enervates the defenders in their +sultry plains, by her rigorous training imparts a touch of the wolf +to the mountaineers or plain-dwellers of the North; and her guides +(rivers and streams) conduct the hardy seekers for the sun by easy +routes up to the final mountain barriers. Finally, those barriers, +the Alps and the Hindu Koosh, are notched by passes that are +practicable for large armies, as has been seen now and again from +the times of Alexander the Great and Hannibal to those of Nadir +Shah and Napoleon.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page379" id="page379"></a>[pg +379]</span> +<p>In these conditions, physical and climatic, is to be found the +reason for the success that has so often attended the invasions of +Italy and India. Only when the Romans organised all the forces of +their Peninsula and the fresh young life beyond, were the defensive +powers of Italy equal to her fatally attractive powers. Only when +Britain undertook the defence of India, could her peoples feel sure +of holding the North-West against the restless Pathans and Afghans; +and the situation was wholly changed when a great military Empire +pushed its power to the river-gates of Afghanistan.</p> +<p>The friendship of the Ameer was now a matter of vital concern; +and yet, as we have seen, Lord Northbrook alienated him, firstly by +giving an unfavourable verdict in regard to the Persian boundary in +the district of Seistan, and still more so by refusing to grant the +long-wished-for guarantee of his dynasty.</p> +<p>The year 1873 marks a fatal turning-point in Anglo-Afghan +relations. Yakub Khan told Lord Roberts at Cabul in 1879 that his +father, Shere Ali, had been thoroughly disgusted with Lord +Northbrook in 1873, "and at once made overtures to the Russians, +with whom constant intercourse had since been kept up<a name= +"FNanchor293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293">[293]</a>."</p> +<p>In fact, all who are familiar with the events preceding the +first Afghan War (1839-42) can now see that events were fast +drifting into a position dangerously like that which led Dost +Mohammed to throw himself into the arms of Russia. At that time +also the Afghan ruler had sought to gain the best possible terms +for himself and his dynasty from the two rivals; and, finding that +the Russian promises were far more alluring than those emanating +from Calcutta, he went over to the Muscovites. At bottom that had +been the determining cause of the first Afghan War; and affairs +were once more beginning to revolve in the same vicious circle. +Looking back on the events leading up to the second Afghan War, we +can now see that a frank compliance with the demands of Shere Ali +would <span class="pagenum"><a name="page380" id="page380"></a>[pg +380]</span> have been far less costly than the non-committal policy +which in 1873 alienated him. Outwardly he posed as the aggrieved +but still faithful friend. In reality he was looking northwards for +the personal guarantee which never came from Calcutta.</p> +<p>It should, however, be stated that up to the time of the fall of +the Gladstone Ministry (February 1874), Russia seemed to have no +desire to meddle in Afghan affairs. The Russian Note of January 21, +1874, stated that the Imperial Government "continued to consider +Afghanistan as entirely beyond its sphere of action<a name= +"FNanchor294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294">[294]</a>." Nevertheless, +that declaration inspired little confidence. The Russophobes, +headed by Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir Bartle Frere, could reply +that they distrusted Russian disclaimers concerning Afghanistan, +when the plea of necessity had so frequently and so speedily +relegated to oblivion the earlier "assurances of intention."</p> +<p>Such was the state of affairs when, in February 1874, Disraeli +came to power at Westminster with Lord Salisbury as Secretary of +State for India. The new Ministry soon showed the desire to adopt a +more spirited foreign policy than their predecessors, who had +fretted public opinion by their numerous acts of complaisance or +surrender. Russia soon gave cause for complaint. In June 1874 the +Governor of the trans-Caspian province issued a circular, warning +the nomad Turkomans of the Persian border-lands against raiding; it +applied to tribes inhabiting districts within what were considered +to be the northern boundaries of Persia. This seemed to contravene +the assurances previously given by Russia that she would not extend +her possessions in the southern part of Central Asia<a name= +"FNanchor295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295">[295]</a>. It also +foreshadowed another stride forward at the expense of the Turkoman +districts both of Persia and Afghanistan.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page381" id="page381"></a>[pg +381]</span> +<p>As no sufficient disclaimer appeared, the London partisans of +the Indian "forward policy" sought to induce Lord Derby and Lord +Salisbury to take precautionary measures. Their advice was summed +up in the Note of January 11, 1875, written by that charming man +and able administrator, Sir Bartle Frere. Its chief practical +recommendation was, firstly, the despatch of British officers to +act as political agents at Cabul, Candahar, and Herat; and, +secondly, the occupation of the commanding position of Quetta, in +Baluchistan, as an outpost commanding the chief line of advance +from Central Asia into India<a name="FNanchor296"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_296">[296]</a>.</p> +<p>This Note soon gained the ear of the Cabinet; and on January 22, +1875, Lord Salisbury urged Lord Northbrook to take measures to +procure the assent of the Ameer to the establishment of British +officers at Candahar and Herat (not at Cabul)<a name= +"FNanchor297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297">[297]</a>. The request +placed Lord Northbrook in an embarrassing position, seeing that he +knew full well the great reluctance of the Ameer at all times to +receive any British Mission. On examining the evidence as to the +Ameer's objection to receive British Residents, the viceroy found +it to be very strong, while there is ground for thinking that +Ministers and officials in London either ignored it or sought to +minimise its importance. The pressure which they brought to bear on +Lord Northbrook was one of the causes that led to his resignation +(February 1876). He believed that he was in honour bound by the +promise, given to the Ameer at the Umballa Conference, not to +impose a British Resident on him against his will.</p> +<p>He was succeeded by a man of marked personality, Lord Lytton. +The only son of the celebrated novelist, he inherited decided +literary gifts, especially an unusual facility of expression both +in speech and writing, in prose and verse. Any tendency to +redundance in speech is generally counted unfavourable to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page382" id="page382"></a>[pg +382]</span> advancement in diplomatic circles, where Talleyrand's +<i>mot</i> as to language being a means of <i>concealing</i> +thought still finds favour. Owing, however, to the influence of his +uncle, then British Ambassador at Washington, but far more to his +own talents, Lytton rose rapidly in the diplomatic service, holding +office in the chief embassies, until Disraeli discerned in the +brilliant speaker and writer the gifts that would grace the new +imperial policy in the East.</p> +<p>In ordinary times the new Viceroy would probably have crowned +the new programme with success. His charm and vivacity of manner +appealed to orientals all the more by contrast with the cold and +repellent behaviour that too often characterises Anglo-Indian +officials in their dealings with natives. Lytton's mind was tinged +with the eastern glow that lit up alike the stories, the speeches, +and the policy of his chief. It is true, the imperialist programme +was as grandiosely vague as the meaning of <i>Tancred</i> itself; +but in a land where forms and words count for much the lack of +backbone in the new policy was less observed and commented on than +by the matter-of-fact islanders whom it was designed to +glorify.</p> +<p>The apotheosis of the new policy was the proclamation of Queen +Victoria as Empress of India (July 1, 1877), an event which was +signalised by a splendid Durbar at Delhi on January 1, 1878. The +new title warned the world that, however far Russia advanced in +Central Asia, England nailed the flag of India to her masthead. It +was also a useful reminder to the small but not uninfluential +Positivist school in England that their "disapproval" of the +existence of a British Empire in India was wholly Platonic. Seeing +also that the name "Queen" in Hindu (<i>Malika</i>) was one of +merely respectable mediocrity in that land of splendour, the new +title, "Kaisar-i-Hind," helped to emphasise the supremacy of the +British Raj over the Nizam and Gaekwar. In fact, it is difficult +now to take seriously the impassioned protests with which a number +of insulars greeted the proposal.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, in one sense the change of title came about +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page383" id="page383"></a>[pg +383]</span> most inopportunely. Fate willed that over against the +Durbar at Delhi there stood forth the spectral form of Famine, +bestriding the dusty plains of the Carnatic. By the glint of her +eyes the splendours of Delhi shone pale, and the viceregal +eloquence was hushed in the distant hum of her multitudinous +wailing. The contrast shocked all beholders, and unfitted them for +a proper appreciation of the new foreign policy.</p> +<p>That policy may also be arraigned on less sentimental grounds. +The year 1876 witnessed the re-opening of the Eastern Question in a +most threatening manner, the Disraeli Ministry taking up what may +be termed the Palmerstonian view that the maintenance of Turkey was +essential to the stability of the Indian Empire. As happened in and +after 1854, Russia, when thwarted in Europe, sought for her revenge +in the lands bordering on India. No district was so favourable to +Muscovite schemes as the Afghan frontier, then, as now, the weakest +point in Great Britain's imperial armour. Thenceforth the Afghan +Question became a pendant of the Eastern Question.</p> +<p>Russia found ready to hand the means of impressing the Ameer +with a sense of her irresistible power. The Czar's officials had +little difficulty in picking a quarrel with the Khanate of Khokand. +Under the pretext of suppressing a revolt (which Vambéry and +others consider to have been prepared through Muscovite agencies) +they sent troops, ostensibly with the view of favouring the Khan. +The expedition gained a complete success, alike over the rebels and +the Khan himself, who thenceforth sank to the level of pensioner of +his liberators (1876). It is significant that General Kaufmann at +once sent to the Ameer at Cabul a glowing account of the Russian +success<a name="FNanchor298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298">[298]</a>; +and the news of this communication increased the desire of the +British Government to come to a clear understanding with the +Ameer.</p> +<p>Unfortunately our authorities set to work in a way that +increased his irritation. Lord Salisbury on February 28, 1876, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page384" id="page384"></a>[pg +384]</span> instructed Lord Lytton to offer slightly larger +concessions to Shere Ali; but he refused to go further than to +allow "a frank recognition (not a guarantee) of a <i>de facto</i> +order in the succession" to the throne of Afghanistan, and +undertook to defend his dominions against external attack "only in +some clear case of unprovoked aggression." On the other hand, the +British Government stated that "they must have, for their own +agents, undisputed access to [the] frontier positions [of +Afghanistan]<a name="FNanchor299"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_299">[299]</a>." Thus, while granting very little more +than before, the new Ministry claimed for British agents and +officers a right of entry which wounded the pride of a suspicious +ruler and a fanatical people.</p> +<p>To sum up, we gave Shere Ali no help while he was struggling for +power with his rivals; and after he had won the day, we pinned him +to the terms of a one-sided alliance. In the matter of the Seistan +frontier dispute with Persia, British arbitration was insolently +defied by the latter Power, yet we urged the Ameer to accept the +Shah's terms. According to Lord Napier of Magdala, he felt the loss +of the once Afghan district of Seistan more keenly than anything +else, and thenceforth regarded us as weak and untrustworthy<a name= +"FNanchor300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300">[300]</a>.</p> +<p>The Ameer's irritation increased at the close of the year when +the Viceroy concluded an important treaty with the Khan of Khelat +in Baluchistan. It would take us too far from our main path to turn +aside into the jungle of Baluchee politics. Suffice it to say that +the long series of civil strifes in that land had come to an end +largely owing to the influence of Major (afterwards Sir Robert) +Sandeman. His fine presence, masterful personality, frank, +straightforward, and kindly demeanour early impressed the Khan and +his turbulent Sirdars. In two Missions which he undertook to Khelat +in the years 1875 and 1876, he succeeded in stilling their internal +feuds and in clearing away the misunderstandings which had arisen +with the Indian Government. But he saw still further ahead. +Detecting <span class="pagenum"><a name="page385" id= +"page385"></a>[pg 385]</span> signs of foreign intrigue in that +land, he urged that British mediation should, if possible, become +permanent. His arguments before long convinced the new Viceroy, +Lord Lytton, who had at first doubted the advisability of the +second Mission; and in the course of a tour along the north-west +frontier, he held at Jacobabad a grand Durbar, which was attended +by the Khan of Khelat and his once rebellious Sirdars. There on +December 8, 1876, he signed a treaty with the Khan, whereby the +British Government became the final arbiter in all disputes between +him and his Sirdars, obtained the right of stationing British +troops in certain parts of Baluchistan, and of constructing +railways and telegraphs. Three lakhs of rupees were given to the +Khan, and his yearly subsidy of Rs. 50,000 was doubled<a name= +"FNanchor301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301">[301]</a>.</p> +<p>The Treaty of Jacobabad is one of the most satisfactory +diplomatic triumphs of the present age. It came, not as the sequel +to a sanguinary war, but as a sign of the confidence inspired in +turbulent and sometimes treacherous chiefs by the sterling +qualities of those able frontier statesmen, the Napiers, the +Lawrences, General Jacob, and Major Sandeman. It spread the <i>pax +Britannica</i> over a land as large as Great Britain, and quietly +brought a warlike people within the sphere of influence of India. +It may be compared with Bonaparte's Act of Mediation in Switzerland +(1803), as marking the triumph of a strong organising intelligence +over factious groups, to which it imparted peace and order under +the shelter of a generally beneficent suzerainty. Before long a +strong garrison was posted at Quetta, and we gained the right to +enlist Baluchee troops of excellent fighting powers. The Quetta +position is a mountain bastion which strengthens the outer defences +of India, just as the Alps and Juras, when under Napoleon's +control, menaced any invaders of France.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page386" id="page386"></a>[pg +386]</span> +<p>This great advantage was weighted by one considerable drawback. +The victory of British influence in Baluchistan aroused the utmost +resentment of Shere Ali, who now saw his southern frontier +outflanked by Britain. Efforts were made in January-February 1877 +to come to an understanding; but, as Lord Lytton insisted on the +admission of British Residents to Afghanistan, a long succession of +interviews at Peshawur, between the Ameer's chief adviser and Sir +Lewis Pelly, led to no other result than an increase of suspicion +on both sides. The Viceroy thereupon warned the Ameer that all +supplies and subsidies would be stopped until he became amenable to +advice and ceased to maltreat subjects known to be favourable to +the British alliance. As a retort the Ameer sought to call the +border tribes to a <i>Jehad</i>, or holy war, against the British, +but with little success. He had no hold over the tribes between +Chitral and the Khyber Pass; and the incident served only to +strengthen the Viceroy's aim of subjecting them to Britain. In the +case of the Jowakis we succeeded, though only after a campaign +which proved to be costly in men and money.</p> +<p>In fact, Lord Lytton was now convinced of the need of a radical +change of frontier policy. He summed up his contentions in the +following phrases in his despatches of the early summer of +1877:--"Shere Ali has irrevocably slipped out of our hands; . . . I +conceive that it is rather the disintegration and weakening, than +the consolidation and establishment, of the Afghan power at which +we must now begin to aim." As for the mountain barrier, in which +men of the Lawrence school had been wont to trust, he termed it "a +military mouse-trap," and he stated that Napoleon I. had once for +all shown the futility of relying on a mountain range that had +several passes<a name="FNanchor302"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_302">[302]</a>. These assertions show what perhaps were +the weak points of Lord Lytton in practical politics--an eager and +impetuous disposition, too prone to be dazzled by the very +brilliance of the phrases which he coined.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page387" id="page387"></a>[pg +387]</span> +<p>At the close of his despatch of April 8, 1878, to Lord Cranbrook +(Lord Salisbury's successor at the India Office) he sketched out, +as "the best arrangement," a scheme for breaking up the Cabul power +and bringing about "the creation of a West Afghan Khanate, +including Merv, Maimena, Balkh, Candahar, and Herat, under some +prince of our own selection, who would be dependent on our support. +With Western Afghanistan thus disposed of, and a small station our +own, close to our frontier in the Kurram valley, the destinies of +Cabul itself would be to us a matter of no importance<a name= +"FNanchor303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303">[303]</a>."</p> +<p>This, then, was the new policy in its widest scope. Naturally it +met with sharp opposition from Lord Lawrence and others in the +India Council at Whitehall. Besides involving a complete change of +front, it would naturally lead to war with the Ameer, and (if the +intentions about Merv were persisted in) with Russia as well. And +for what purpose? In order that we might gain an advanced frontier +and break in pieces the one important State which remained as a +buffer between India and Russian Asia. In the eyes of all but the +military men this policy stood self-condemned. Its opponents +pointed out that doubtless Russian intrigues were going on at +Cabul; but they were the result of the marked hostility between +England and Russia in Europe, and a natural retort to the sending +of Indian troops to Malta. Besides, was it true that British +influence at Cabul was permanently lost? Might it not be restored +by money and diplomacy? Or if these means failed, could not affairs +be so worked at Cabul as to bring about the deposition of the Ameer +in favour of some claimant who would support England? In any case, +the extension of our responsibilities to centres so remote as Balkh +and Herat would overstrain the already burdened finances of India, +and impair her power of defence at vital points.</p> +<p>These objections seem to have had some weight at Whitehall, for +by the month of August the Viceroy somewhat lowered his tone; he +gave up all hope of influencing Merv, and <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page388" id="page388"></a>[pg 388]</span> +consented to make another effort to win back the Ameer, or to seek +to replace him by a more tractable prince. But, failing this, he +advised, though with reluctance on political grounds, the conquest +and occupation of so much of Afghan territory as would "be +absolutely requisite for the permanent maintenance of our +North-West frontier<a name="FNanchor304"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_304">[304]</a>."</p> +<p>But by this time all hope of peace had become precarious. On +June 13, the day of opening of the Congress of Berlin, a Russian +Mission, under General Stolieteff, left Samarcand for Cabul. The +Ameer is said to have heard this news with deep concern, and to +have sought to prevent it crossing the frontier. The Russians, +however, refused to turn back, and entered Cabul on July 22<a name= +"FNanchor305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305">[305]</a>. As will be +seen by reference to Skobeleff's "Plan for the Invasion of India" +(Appendix II.), the Mission was to be backed up by columns of +troops; and, with the aim of redoubling the pressure of Russian +diplomacy in Europe, the Minister for War at St. Petersburg had +issued orders on April 25, 1878, for the despatch of three columns +of troops which were to make a demonstration against India. The +chief force, 12,000 strong, with 44 guns and a rocket battery, was +to march from Samarcand and Tashkend on Cabul; the second, +consisting of only 1700 men, was to stir up the mountain tribes of +the Chitral district to raid the north of the Punjab; while the +third, of the same strength, moved from the middle part of the Amu +Daria (Oxus) towards Merv and Herat. The main force set out from +Tashkend on June 13, and after a most trying march reached the +Russo-Bokharan border, only to find that its toils were fruitless +owing to the signature of the Treaty of Berlin (July 13). The same +disappointing news dispelled the dreams of conquest which had +nerved the other columns in their burning march.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page389" id="page389"></a>[pg +389]</span> +<p>Thus ended the scheme of invasion of India to which Skobeleff +had lately given shape and body. In January 1877, while in his +Central Asian command, he had drawn up a detailed plan, the +important parts of which will be found in the Appendices of this +volume. During the early spring of 1878, when the Russian army lay +at San Stefano, near Constantinople, he drew up another plan of the +same tenour. It seems certain that the general outline of these +projects haunted the minds of officers and men in the expeditions +just referred to; for the columns withdrew northwards most slowly +and reluctantly<a name="FNanchor306"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_306">[306]</a>.</p> +<p>A perusal of Skobeleff's plan will show that he relied also on a +diplomatic Mission to Cabul and on the despatch of the Afghan +pretender, Abdur Rahman, from Samarcand to the Afghan frontier. +Both of these expedients were adopted in turn; the former achieved +a startling but temporary success.</p> +<p>As has been stated above, General Stolieteff's Mission entered +Cabul on July 22. The chief himself returned on August 24; but +other members of his Mission remained several weeks longer. There +seem to be good grounds for believing that the Ameer, Shere Ali, +signed a treaty with Stolieteff; but as to its purport we have no +other clue than the draft which purports to be written out from +memory by a secret agent of the Indian Government. Other Russian +documents, some of which Lord Granville afterwards described as +containing "some very disagreeable passages . . . written +subsequently to the Treaty of Berlin," were found by Lord Roberts; +and the Russian Government found it difficult to give a +satisfactory explanation of them<a name="FNanchor307"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_307">[307]</a>.</p> +<p>In any case the Government of India could not stand by and +witness the intrusion of Muscovite influence into <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page390" id="page390"></a>[pg 390]</span> +Afghanistan. Action, however, was very difficult owing to the +alienation of the Ameer. His resentment had now settled into +lasting hatred. As a test question Lord Lytton sought to impose on +him the reception of a British Mission. On August 8 he received +telegraphic permission from London to make this demand. The Ameer, +however, refused to allow a single British officer to enter the +country; and the death of his son and heir on August 17 enabled him +to decline to attend to affairs of State for a whole month.</p> +<p>His conduct in this matter was condoned by the champions of +"masterly inactivity" in this country, who proceeded to accuse the +Viceroy of haste in sending forward the British Mission to the +frontier before the full time of mourning was over<a name= +"FNanchor308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308">[308]</a>. We now know, +however, that this sympathy was misplaced. Shere Ali's grief did +not prevent him seeing officers of the Russian Mission after his +bereavement, and (as it seems) signing an alliance with the +emissaries of the Czar. Lord Lytton was better informed as to the +state of things at Cabul than were his very numerous critics, one +of whom, under the shield of anonymity, confidently stated that the +Russian Mission to Cabul was either an affair of etiquette or a +means of warding off a prospective attack from India on Russian +Turkestan; that the Ameer signed no treaty with the Mission, and +was deeply embarrassed by its presence; while Lord Lytton's +treatment of the Ameer was discourteous<a name= +"FNanchor309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309">[309]</a>.</p> +<p>In the light of facts as now known, these charges are seen to be +the outcome of a vivid imagination or of partisan malice. There can +be no doubt that Shere Ali had played us false. Apart from his +intrigues with Russia, he had condoned the murder of a British +officer by keeping the murderer in office, and had sought to push +on the frontier tribes into a holy war. Finally, he sent orders to +stop the British Mission at Ali Musjid, the fort commanding the +entrance to the Khyber Pass. This action, which occurred on +September 22, must be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page391" id= +"page391"></a>[pg 391]</span> pronounced a deliberate insult, +seeing that the progress of that Mission had been so timed as that +it should reach Cabul after the days of mourning were over. In the +Viceroy's view, the proper retort would have been a declaration of +war; but again the Home Government imposed caution, urging the +despatch of an ultimatum so as to give time for repentance at +Cabul. It was sent on November 2, with the intimation that if no +answer reached the frontier by November 20, hostilities would +begin. No answer came until a later date, and then it proved to be +of an evasive character.</p> +<p>Such, in brief outline, were the causes of the second Afghan +War. In the fuller light of to-day it is difficult to account for +the passion which the discussion of them aroused at the time. But +the critics of the Government held strong ground at two points. +They could show, first, that the war resulted in the main from Lord +Beaconsfield's persistent opposition to Russia in the Eastern +Question, also that the Muscovite intrigues at Cabul were a natural +and very effective retort to the showy and ineffective expedient of +bringing Indian troops to Malta; in short, that the Afghan War was +due largely to Russia's desire for revenge.</p> +<p>Secondly, they fastened on what was undoubtedly a weak point in +the Ministerial case, namely, that Lord Beaconsfield's speech at +the Lord Mayor's Banquet, on November 9, 1878, laid stress almost +solely on the need for acquiring a scientific frontier on the +north-west of India. In the parliamentary debate of December 9 he +sought to rectify this mistake by stating that he had never +asserted that a new frontier was the object of the war, but rather +a possible consequence. His critics refused to accept the +correction. They pinned him to his first words. If this were so, +they said, what need of recounting our complaints against Shere +Ali? These were merely the pretexts, not the causes, of a war which +was to be waged solely in the cold-blooded quest for a scientific +frontier. Perish India, they cried, if her fancied interests +required the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page392" id= +"page392"></a>[pg 392]</span> sacrifice of thousands of lives of +brave hillmen on the altar of the new Imperialism.</p> +<p>These accusations were logically justifiable against Ministers +who dwelt largely on that frigid abstraction, the "scientific +frontier," and laid less stress on the danger of leaving an ally of +Russia on the throne of Afghanistan. The strong point of Lord +Lytton's case lay in the fact that the policy of the Gladstone +Ministry had led Shere Ali to side with Russia; but this fact was +inadequately explained, or, at least, not in such a way as to +influence public opinion. The popular fancy caught at the phrase +"scientific frontier"; and for once Lord Beaconsfield's cleverness +in phrase-making conspired to bring about his overthrow.</p> +<p>But the logic of words does not correspond to the logic of +facts. Words are for the most part simple, downright, and absolute. +The facts of history are very rarely so. Their importance is very +often relative, and is conditioned by changing circumstances. It +was so with the events that led up to the second Afghan War. They +were very complex, and could not be summed up, or disposed of, by +reference to a single formula. Undoubtedly the question of the +frontier was important; but it did not become of supreme importance +until, firstly, Shere Ali became our enemy, and, secondly, showed +unmistakable signs of having a close understanding with Russia. +Thenceforth it became a matter of vital import for India to have a +frontier readibly defensible against so strong a combination as +that of Russia and Afghanistan.</p> +<p>It would be interesting to know what Mr. Gladstone and his +supporters would have done if they had come into power in the +summer of 1878. That they blamed their opponents on many points of +detail does not prove that they would not have taken drastic means +to get rid of Shere Ali. In the unfortunate state into which +affairs had drifted in 1878, how was that to be effected without +war? The situation then existing may perhaps best be summed up in +the words which General Roberts penned at Cabul on November 22, +1879, after <span class="pagenum"><a name="page393" id= +"page393"></a>[pg 393]</span> a long and illuminating conversation +with the new Ameer concerning his father's leanings towards Russia: +"Our recent rupture with Shere Ali has, in fact, been the means of +unmasking and checking a very serious conspiracy against the peace +and security of our Indian Empire<a name="FNanchor310"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_310">[310]</a>."</p> +<p>Given the situation actually existing in 1878, the action of the +British Government is justifiable as regards details. The weak +point of the Beaconsfield policy was this: that the situation need +not have existed. As far as can be judged from the evidence +hitherto published (if we except some wild talk on the part of +Muscovite Chauvinists), Russia would not have interfered in +Afghanistan except in order to paralyse England's action in Turkish +affairs. As has been pointed out above, the Afghan trouble was a +natural sequel to the opposition offered by Disraeli to Russia from +the time of the re-opening of the Balkan problem in 1875-76; and +the consideration of the events to be described in the following +chapter will add one more to the many proofs already existing as to +the fatefulness of the blunder committed by him when he wrecked the +Berlin Memorandum, dissolved the Concert of the Powers, and +rendered hopeless a peaceful solution of the Eastern Question.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor276">[276]</a> See +Cæsar, <i>Gallic War</i>, bk. vi., for an account of the +formation, at the tribal meeting, of a roving band.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor277">[277]</a> For +the Cossacks, see D. M. Wallace's <i>Russia</i>, vol. ii. pp. +80-95; and Vladimir's <i>Russia on the Pacific</i>, pp. 46-49. The +former points out that their once democratic organisation has +vanished under the autocracy; and that their officers, appointed by +the Czar, own most of the land, formerly held in common.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor278">[278]</a> +Quoted by Vandal, <i>Napoléon I. et Alexandre,</i> vol. i. +p. 136.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor279">[279]</a> +Quoted on p. 14 of <i>A Diplomatic Study on the Crimean War,</i> +issued by the Russian Foreign Office, and attributed to Baron +Jomini (Russian edition, 1879; English edition, 1882).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor280">[280]</a> For +an account of Samarcand and Bokhara, see <i>Russia in Central +Asia,</i> by Hon. G. (Lord) Curzon (1889); A. Vambéry's +<i>Travels in Central Asia</i> (1867-68); Rev. H. Lansdell, +<i>Russian Central Asia,</i> 2 vols. (1885); E. Schuyler, +<i>Journey in Russian Turkestan,</i> etc., 2 vols. (1876); E. +O'Donovan, <i>The Merv Oasis,</i> 2 vols. (1883).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor281">[281]</a> Sir +J.W. Kaye, <i>History of the War in Afghanistan</i>, 5 vols. +(1851-78).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor282">[282]</a> G.B. +Malleson, <i>History of Afghanistan</i>, p. 421.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor283">[283]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), p. 10. For a defence of +this policy of "masterly inactivity," see Mr. Bosworth Smith's +<i>Life of Lord Lawrence</i>, vol. ii. pp. 570-590; also Mr. J.W.S. +Wyllie's <i>Essays on the External Policy of India</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor284">[284]</a> The +late Duke of Argyll in his <i>Eastern Question</i> (vol. ii. p. 42) +cited the fact of this offer of money and arms as a proof that Lord +Lawrence was not wedded to the theory of "masterly inactivity," and +stated that the gift helped Shere Ali to complete his success. It +is clear, however, that Lord Lawrence waited to see whether that +success was well assured before the offer was made.<br> +<br> +The Duke of Argyll proves one thing, that the action of Lord +Lawrence in September 1868 was not due to Sir Henry Rawlinson's +despatch from London (dated July 20, 1868) in favour of more +vigorous action. It was due to Lawrence's perception of the change +brought about by Russian action in the Khanate of Bokhara, near the +Afghan border.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor285">[285]</a> The +Duke of Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. p. 226 (London, 1879). For +the treaty, see Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), p. 1.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor286">[286]</a> Sir +W.W. Hunter, <i>The Earl of Mayo</i>, p. 125 (Oxford, 1891); the +Duke of Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii, p. 252.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor287">[287]</a> +Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. i. Preface, pp. xxiii.-xxvi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor288">[288]</a> +Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. p. 263.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor289">[289]</a> +Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 289, 292. For the Czar's +assurance that "extension of territory" was "extension of +weakness," see Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), p. 101.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor290">[290]</a> +Argyll, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. 331. The Gladstone Cabinet clearly +weakened Lord Northbrook's original proposal, and must therefore +bear a large share of responsibility for the alienation of the +Ameer which soon ensued. The Duke succeeded in showing up many +inaccuracies in the versions of these events afterwards given by +Lord Lytton and Lord Cranbrook; but he was seemingly quite +unconscious of the consequences resulting from adherence to an +outworn theory.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor291">[291]</a> J. +Popowski, <i>The Rival Powers in Central Asia</i>, p. 47 (Eng. +edit).; A. Vambéry, <i>The Coming Struggle for India</i>, p. +21; A.R. Colquhoun, <i>Russia against India</i>, pp. 24-26; Lavisse +and Rambaud, <i>Histoire Générale</i>, vol. xii. pp. +793-794.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor292">[292]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), p. 101.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor293">[293]</a> Lord +Roberts, <i>Forty-one Years in India</i>, vol. ii. p. 247; also +<i>Life of Abdur Rahman</i>, by Mohammed Khan, 2 vols. (1900), vol. +i. p. 149.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor294">[294]</a> +Argyll, <i>Eastern Question</i>, vol. ii. p. 347. See, however, the +letters that passed between General Kaufmann, Governor of +Turkestan, and Cabul in 1870-74, in Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. +1 (1881), pp. 2-10.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor295">[295]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), p. 107.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor296">[296]</a> +General Jacob had long before advocated the occupation of this +strong flanking position. It was supported by Sir C. Dilke in his +<i>Greater Britain</i> (1867).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor297">[297]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), pp. 128-129.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor298">[298]</a> +Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1881), pp. 12-14; Shere Ali's +letters to him (some of them suspicious) and the replies are also +printed.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor299">[299]</a> +Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1881), pp. 156-159.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor300">[300]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 225-226.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor301">[301]</a> +<i>Sir Robert Sandeman</i>, by T.H. Thornton, chaps, ix.-x.; Parl. +Papers relating to the Treaty . . . of 8th Dec. 1876; <i>The Forward +Policy and its Results</i>, by R.I. Bruce; <i>Lord Lytton's Indian +Administration,</i> by Lady Betty Balfour, chap. iii.<br> +<br> +The Indian rupee is worth sixteen pence.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor302">[302]</a> Lady +B. Balfour, <i>op. cit.</i> pp.166-185, 247-148.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor303">[303]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 246-247.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor304">[304]</a> Lady +B. Balfour, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 255. For a defence of this on +military grounds see Lord Roberts' <i>Forty-One Years in India</i>, +vol. ii, p. 187; and Thorburn's <i>Asiatic Neighbours</i>, chap. +xiv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor305">[305]</a> Parl +Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1878), pp.242-243; <i>ibid.</i> Central +Asia, No. 1, pp.165 <i>et seq.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor306">[306]</a> For +details see <i>Russia's Advance towards India</i>, by "an Indian +Officer," vol. ii. pp.109 <i>et seq.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor307">[307]</a> The +alleged treaty is printed, along with the other documents, in Parl. +Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1881), pp. 17-30. See also Lord +Roberts' <i>Forty-one Years in India</i>, vol. ii. p.477.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor308">[308]</a> Duke +of Argyll, <i>The Eastern Question,</i> vol. ii. pp. 504-507.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor309">[309]</a> +<i>The Causes of the Afghan War,</i> pp. 305 <i>et seq.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor310">[310]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1880), p. 171.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page394" id="page394"></a>[pg +394]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<h3>THE AFGHAN AND TURKOMAN CAMPAIGNS</h3> +<blockquote>"The Forward Policy--in other words, the policy of +endeavouring to extend our influence over, and establish law and +order on, that part of the [Indian] Border, where anarchy, murder, +and robbery up to the present time have reigned supreme, a policy +which has been attended with the happiest results in Baluchistan +and on the Gilgit frontier--is necessitated by the incontrovertible +fact that a great Military Power is now within striking distance of +our Indian possessions, and in immediate contact with a State for +the integrity of which we have made ourselves responsible."--LORD +ROBERTS: Speech in the House of Lords, March 7, 1898.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The operations at the outset of the Afghan War ended with so +easy a triumph for the British arms that it is needless to describe +them in much detail. They were planned to proceed at three points +on the irregular arc of the south-eastern border of Afghanistan. +The most northerly column, that of General Sir Samuel Browne, had +Peshawur as its base of supplies. Some 16,000 strong, it easily +captured the fort of Ali Musjid at the mouth of the Khyber Pass, +then threaded that defile with little or no opposition, and pushed +on to Jelalabad. Around that town (rendered famous by General +Sale's defence in 1841-2) it dealt out punishment to the raiding +clans of Afridis.</p> +<p>The column of the centre, acting from Kohat as a base against +the Kurram Valley, was commanded by a general destined to win +renown in the later phases of the war. Major-General Roberts +represented all that was noblest and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page395" id="page395"></a>[pg 395]</span> most chivalrous in the +annals of the British Army in India. The second son of General Sir +Abraham Roberts, G.C.B., and born at Cawnpore in 1832, he inherited +the traditions of the service which he was to render still more +illustrious. His frame, short and slight, seemed scarcely to fit +him for warlike pursuits; and in ages when great stature and sturdy +sinews were alone held in repute, he might have been relegated to +civil life; but the careers of William III., Luxemburg, Nelson, and +Roberts show that wiriness is more essential to a commander than +animal strength, and that mind rather than muscle determines the +course of campaigns. That the young aspirant for fame was not +deficient in personal prowess appeared at Khudaganj, one of the +battles of the Mutiny, when he captured a standard from two sepoys, +and, later on the same day, cut down a third sepoy. But it was his +clear insight into men and affairs, his hold on the principles of +war, his alertness of mind, and his organising power, that raised +him above the crowd of meritorious officers who saved India for +Britain in those stormy days.</p> +<p>His achievements as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General at +Delhi and elsewhere at that time need not be referred to here; for +he himself has related them in clear, life-like, homely terms which +reveal one of the sources of his personal influence. Englishmen +admire a man who is active without being fussy, who combines +greatness with simplicity, whose kindliness is as devoid of +ostentation as his religion is of mawkishness, and with whom +ambition is ever the handmaid of patriotism. The character of a +commander perhaps counts for more with British troops than with any +others, except the French; and the men who marched with Roberts +from Cabul to Candahar, and from Paardeberg to Bloemfontein, could +scarcely have carried out those feats of endurance for a general +who did not possess both their trust and their love.</p> +<p>The devotion of the Kurram column to its chief was soon put to +the test. After advancing up that valley, girt on both sides with +lofty mountains and scored with numerous gulleys, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page396" id="page396"></a>[pg 396]</span> the +force descried the Peiwar Kotal Pass at its head--a precipitous +slope furrowed only in one place where a narrow zigzag path ran +upwards through pines and giant boulders. A reconnaissance proved +that the Afghans held the upper part in force; and for some time +Roberts felt the gravest misgivings. Hiding these feelings, +especially from his native troops, he spent a few days in +reconnoitring this formidable position. These efforts resulted in +the discovery by Major Collett of another practicable gorge further +to the north leading up to a neighbouring height, the Peiwar +Spingawi, whence the head of the Kotal might possibly be +turned.</p> +<p>To divide a column, comprising only 889 British and 2415 native +troops, and that too in face of the superior numbers of the enemy, +was a risky enterprise, but General Roberts determined to try the +effect of a night march up to the Spingawi. He hoped by an attack +at dawn on the Afghan detachment posted there, to turn the main +position on the Kotal, and bring about its evacuation. This plan +had often succeeded against Afghans. Their characteristics both in +peace and war are distinctly feline. Prone to ease and enjoyment at +ordinary times, yet, when stirred by lust of blood or booty, they +are capable of great feats of swift fierce onset; but, like all men +and animals dominated by sudden impulses, their bravery is fitful, +and is apt to give way under persistent attack, or when their rear +is threatened. The cat-like, stalking instinct has something of +strategic caution, even in its wildest moods; it likes to be sure +of the line of retreat<a name="FNanchor311"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_311">[311]</a>.</p> +<p>The British commander counted on exploiting these peculiarities +to the full by stalking the enemy on their left flank, while he +left about 1000 men to attack them once more in front. Setting out +at nightfall of December 1, he led the remainder northwards through +a side valley, and then up a gully <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page397" id="page397"></a>[pg 397]</span> on the side of the +Spingawi. The ascent through pine woods and rocks, in the teeth of +an icy wind, was most trying; and the movement came near to failure +owing to the treachery of two Pathan soldiers in the ranks, who +fired off their rifles in the hope of warning the Afghans above +them. The reports, it afterwards transpired, were heard by a +sentry, who reported the matter to the commander of the Afghan +detachment; he, for his part, did nothing. Much alarm was felt in +the British column when the shots rang out in the darkness; a +native officer hard by came up at once, and, by smelling the rifles +of all his men, found out the offenders; but as they were +Mohammedans, he said nothing, in the hope of screening his +co-religionists. Later on, these facts transpired at a +court-martial, whereupon the elder of the two offenders, who was +also the first to fire, was condemned to death, and the younger to +a long term of imprisonment. The defaulting officer likewise +received due punishment<a name="FNanchor312"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_312">[312]</a>.</p> +<p>After this alarming incident, the 72nd Highlanders were sent +forward to take the place of the native regiment previously +leading; and once more the little column struggled on through the +darkness up the rocky path. Their staunchness met its reward. At +dawn the Highlanders and 5th Gurkhas charged the Afghan detachment +in its entrenchments and breastworks of trees, and were soon +masters of the Spingawi position. A long and anxious time of +waiting now ensued, caused by the failure of the first frontal +attack on the Kotal; but Roberts' pressure on the flank of the main +Afghan position and another frontal attack sent the enemy flying in +utter rout, leaving behind guns and waggons. The Kurram column had +driven eight Afghan regiments and numbers of hillmen from a +seemingly impregnable position, and now held the second of the +outer passes leading towards Cabul (December 2, 1878). The Afghans +offered but slight resistance at the Shutargardan Pass <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page398" id="page398"></a>[pg 398]</span> +further on, and from that point the invaders looked down on valleys +that conducted them easily to the Ameer's capital<a name= +"FNanchor313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313">[313]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile equal success was attending the 3rd British column, +that of General Biddulph, which operated from Quetta. It occupied +Sibi and the Khojak Pass; and on January 8, 1879, General Stewart +and the vanguard reached Candahar, which they entered in triumph. +The people seemed to regard their entry with indifference. This was +but natural. Shere Ali had ruined his own cause. Hearing of the +first defeats he fled from Cabul in company with the remaining +members of the Russian Mission still at that city (December 13), +and made for Afghan Turkestan in the hope of inducing his northern +allies to give active aid.</p> +<p>He now discovered his error. The Czar's Government had been most +active in making mischief between England and the Ameer, especially +while the diplomatic struggle was going on at Berlin; but after the +signature of the Treaty of Berlin (July 13, 1878), the natural +leaning of Alexander II. towards peace and quietness began by +degrees to assert itself. The warlike designs of Kaufmann and his +officials in Turkestan received a check, though not so promptly as +was consistent with strict neutrality.</p> +<p>Gradually the veil fell from the ex-Ameer's eyes. On the day of +his flight (December 13), he wrote to the "Officers of the British +Government," stating that he was about to proceed to St. +Petersburg, "where, before a Congress, the whole history of the +transactions between myself and yourselves will be submitted to all +the Powers<a name="FNanchor314"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_314">[314]</a>." But nine days later he published a +firman containing a very remarkable letter purporting to come from +General Stolieteff at Livadia in the Crimea, where <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page399" id="page399"></a>[pg 399]</span> he was +staying with the Czar. After telling him that the British desired +to come to terms with him (the Ameer) through the intervention of +the Sultan, the letter proceeded as follows:--</p> +<blockquote>But the Emperor's desire is that you should not admit +the English into your country, and like last year, you are to treat +them with deceit and deception until the present cold season passes +away. Then the Almighty's will will be made manifest to you, that +is to say, the [Russian] Government having repeated the Bismillah, +the Bismillah will come to your assistance. In short you are to +rest assured that matters will end well. If God permits, we will +convene a Government meeting at St. Petersburg, that is to say, a +Congress, which means an assemblage of Powers. We will then open an +official discussion with the English Government, and either by +force of words and diplomatic action we will entirely cut off all +English communications and interference with Afghanistan, or else +events will end in a mighty and important war. By the help of God, +by spring not a symptom or a vestige of trouble and dissatisfaction +will remain in Afghanistan.</blockquote> +<p>It is impossible to think that the Czar had any knowledge of +this treacherous epistle, which, it is to be hoped, originated with +the lowest of Russian agents, or emanated from some Afghan chief in +their pay. Nevertheless the fact that Shere Ali published it shows +that he hoped for Russian help, even when the British held the keys +of his country in their hands. But one hope after another faded +away, and in his last days he must have come to see that he had +been merely the catspaw of the Russian bear. He died on February +21, 1879, hard by the city of Bactra, the modern Balkh.</p> +<p>That "mother of cities" has seen strange vicissitudes. It +nourished the Zoroastrian and Buddhist creeds in their youth; from +its crowded monasteries there shone forth light to the teeming +millions of Asia, until culture was stamped out under the heel of +Genghis Khan, and later, of Timur. In a still later day it saw the +dawning greatness of that most brilliant but ill-starred of the +Mogul Emperors, Aurungzebe. Its fallen <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page400" id="page400"></a>[pg 400]</span> +temples and convents, stretching over many a mile, proclaim it to +be the city of buried hopes. There was, then, something fitting in +the place of Shere Ali's death. He might so readily have built up a +powerful Afghan State in friendly union with the British Raj; he +chose otherwise, and ended his life amidst the wreckage of his +plans and the ruin of his kingdom. This result of the trust which +he had reposed in Muscovite promises was not lost on the Afghan +people and their rulers.</p> +<p>There is no need to detail the events of the first half of the +year 1879 in Afghanistan. On the assembly of Parliament in +February, Lord Beaconsfield declared that our objects had been +attained in that land now that the three chief mountain highways +between Afghanistan and India were completely in our power. It +remained to find a responsible ruler with whom a lasting peace +could be signed. Many difficulties were in the way owing to the +clannish feuds of the Afghans and the number of possible claimants +for the crown. Two men stood forth as the most likely rulers, Shere +Ali's rebellious son, Yakub Khan, who had lately been released from +his long confinement, and Abdur Rahman, son of Ufzal Khan, who was +still kept by the Russians in Turkestan under some measure of +constraint, doubtless in the hope that he would be a serviceable +trump card in the intricate play of rival interests certain to +ensue at Cabul.</p> +<p>About February 20, Yakub sent overtures for peace to the British +Government; and, as the death of his father at that time greatly +strengthened his claim, it was favourably considered at London and +Calcutta. Despite one act at least of flagrant treachery, he was +recognised as Ameer. On May 8 he entered the British camp at +Gandarnak, near Jelalabad; and after negotiations, a treaty was +signed there, May 26. It provided for an amnesty, the control of +the Ameer's foreign policy by the British Government, the +establishment of a British Resident at Cabul, the construction of a +telegraph line to that city, the grant of commercial facilities, +and the cession to India of the frontier districts of Kurram, +Pishin, and Sibi (the latter two are <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page401" id="page401"></a>[pg 401]</span> near Quetta). The +British Government retained control over the Khyber and Michnee +Passes and over the neighbouring tribes (which had never definitely +acknowledged Afghan rule). It further agreed to pay to the Ameer +and his successors a yearly subsidy of six lakhs of rupees (nearly +£50,000)<a name="FNanchor315"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_315">[315]</a>.</p> +<p>General Roberts and many others feared that the treaty had been +signed too hastily, and that the Afghans, "an essentially arrogant +and conceited people," needed a severer lesson before they +acquiesced in British suzerainty. But no sense of foreboding +depressed Major Sir Louis Cavagnari, the gallant and able officer +who had carried out so much of the work on the frontier, when he +proceeded to take up his abode at Cabul as British Resident (July +24). The chief danger lay in the Afghan troops, particularly the +regiments previously garrisoned at Herat, who knew little or +nothing of British prowess, and whose fanaticism was inflamed by +arrears of pay. Cavagnari's Journal kept at Cabul ended on August +19 with the statement that thirty-three Russians were coming up the +Oxus to the Afghan frontier. But the real disturbing cause seems to +have been the hatred of the Afghan troops to foreigners.</p> +<p>Failure to pay was so usual a circumstance in Afghanistan as +scarcely to account for the events that ensued. Yet it furnished +the excuse for an outbreak. Early on September 3, when assembled +for what proved to be the farce of payment at Bala Hissar (the +citadel), three regiments mutinied, stoned their officers, and then +rushed towards the British Embassy. These regiments took part in +the first onset against an unfortified building held by the Mission +and a small escort. A steady musketry fire from the defenders long +held them at bay; but, when joined by townsfolk and other troops, +the mutineers set fire to the gates, and then, bursting in, +overpowered the gallant garrison. The Ameer made only slight +efforts to quell this treacherous outbreak, and, while defending +his own palaces by faithful troops, sent none to help the envoy. +These facts, as reported by trustworthy witnesses, did not +correspond to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page402" id= +"page402"></a>[pg 402]</span> magniloquent assurances of fidelity +that came from Yakub himself<a name="FNanchor316"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_316">[316]</a>.</p> +<p>Arrangements were at once made to retrieve this disaster, but +staff and transport arrangements caused serious delay. At length +General Roberts was able to advance up the Kurram Valley and carry +the Shutargardan Pass by storm, an exploit fully equal to his +former capture of the Peiwar Kotal in the same mountain range. +Somewhat further on he met the Ameer, and was unfavourably +impressed with him: "An insignificant-looking man, . . . with a +receding forehead, a conical-shaped head, and no chin to speak of, +. . . possessed moreover of a very shifty eye." Yakub justified this +opinion by seeking on various pretexts to delay the British +advance, and by sending to Cabul news as to the numbers of the +British force.</p> +<p>All told it numbered only 4000 fighting men with 18 cannon. +Nevertheless, on nearing Cabul, it assailed a strong position at +Charasia, held by 13 regular regiments of the enemy and some 10,000 +irregulars. The charges of Highlanders (the 72nd and 92nd), +Gurkhas, and Punjabis proved to be irresistible, and drove the +Afghans from two ridges in succession. This feat of arms, which +bordered on the miraculous, served to reveal the feelings of the +Ameer in a manner equally ludicrous and sinister. Sitting in the +British camp, he watched the fight with great eagerness, then with +growing concern, until he finally needed all his oriental composure +for the final compliment which he bestowed on the victor. Later on +it transpired that he and his adherents had laid careful plans for +profiting by the defeat of the venturesome little force, so as to +ensure its annihilation<a name="FNanchor317"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_317">[317]</a>.</p> +<p>The brilliant affair at Charasia served to bring out the +conspicuous gallantry of two men, who were later on to win +distinction in wider fields, Major White and Colour-Sergeant Hector +Macdonald. White carried a ridge at the head of a <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page403" id="page403"></a>[pg 403]</span> body +of 50 Highlanders. When the enemy fled to a second ridge, he +resolved to spare the lives of his men by taking a rifle and +stalking the enemy alone, until he suddenly appeared on their +flank. Believing that his men were at his back, the Afghans turned +and fled.</p> +<p>On October 9 Roberts occupied the Siah Sang ridge, overlooking +Cabul, and on the next day entered the citadel, Bala Hissar, to +inspect the charred and blood-stained ruins of the British Embassy. +In the embers of a fire he and his staff found numbers of human +bones. On October 12 Yakub came to the General to announce his +intention of resigning the Ameership, as "he would rather be a +grass-cutter in the English camp than ruler of Afghanistan." On the +next day the British force entered the city itself in triumph, and +Roberts put the Ameer's Ministers under arrest. The citizens were +silent but respectful, and manifested their satisfaction when he +proclaimed that only those guilty of the treacherous attack on the +Residency would be punished. Cabul itself was much more Russian +than English. The Afghan officers wore Russian uniforms, Russian +goods were sold in the bazaars, and Russian money was found in the +Treasury. It is evident that the Czar's officials had long been +pushing on their designs, and that further persistency on the part +of England in the antiquated policy of "masterly inactivity" would +have led to Afghanistan becoming a Muscovite satrapy.</p> +<p>The pendulum now swung sharply in favour of India. To that land +Roberts despatched the ex-Ameer on December 1, on the finding of +the Commission that he had been guilty of criminal negligence (if +not worse) at the time of the massacre of Cavagnari and his escort. +Two Afghan Sirdars, whose guilt respecting that tragedy had been +clearly proven, were also deported and imprisoned. This caused much +commotion, and towards the close of the year the preaching of a +fanatic, whose name denoted "fragrance of the universe," stirred up +hatred to the conquerors.</p> +<p>Bands of tribesmen began to cluster around Cabul, and an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page404" id="page404"></a>[pg +404]</span> endeavour to disperse them led to a temporary British +reverse not far from the Sherpur cantonments where Roberts held his +troops. The situation was serious. As generally happens with +Asiatics, the hillmen rose by thousands at the news, and beset the +line of communications with India. Sir Frederick Roberts, however, +staunchly held his ground at the Sherpur camp, beating off one very +serious attack of the tribesmen on December 20-23. On the next day +General Gough succeeded in breaking through from Gandamak to his +relief. Other troops were hurried up from India, and this news +ended the anxiety which had throbbed through the Empire at the news +of Roberts being surrounded near Cabul.</p> +<p>Now that the league of hillmen had been for the time broken up, +it became more than ever necessary to find a ruler for Afghanistan, +and settle affairs with all speed. This was also desirable in view +of the probability of a general election in the United Kingdom in +the early part of the year 1880, the Ministry wishing to have ready +an Afghan settlement to act as a soporific drug on the ravening +Cerberus of democracy at home. Unhappily, the outbreak of the Zulu +War on January 11, 1880, speedily followed by the disaster of +Isandlana, redoubled the complaints in the United Kingdom, with the +result that matters were more than ever pressed on in +Afghanistan.</p> +<p>Some of the tribes clamoured for the return of Yakub, only to be +informed by General Roberts that such a step would never be +allowed. In the midst of this uncertainty, when the hour for the +advent of a strong man seemed to have struck, he opportunely +appeared. Strange to say, he came from Russian Turkestan.</p> +<p>As has been stated above, Abdur Rahman, son of Ufzal Khan, had +long lived there as a pensioner of the Czar; his bravery and skill +in intrigue had been well known. The Russian writer, Petrovsky, +described him as longing, above all things, to get square with the +English and Shere Ali. It was doubtless with this belief in the +exile's aims that the Russians gave him £2500 and 200 rifles. +His advent in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page405" id= +"page405"></a>[pg 405]</span> Afghanistan seemed well calculated to +add to the confusion there and to the difficulties of England. With +only 100 followers he forded the Oxus and, early in 1880, began to +gather around him a band in Afghan Turkestan. His success was +startlingly rapid, and by the end of March he was master of all +that district<a name="FNanchor318"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_318">[318]</a>.</p> +<p>But the political results of this first success were still more +surprising. Lord Lytton, Sir Frederick Roberts, and Mr. Lepel +Griffin (political commissioner in Afghanistan) soon saw the +advantage of treating with him for his succession to the throne of +Cabul. The Viceroy, however, true to his earlier resolve to break +up Afghanistan, added the unpleasant condition that the districts +of Candahar and Herat must now be severed from the north of +Afghanistan. Abdur Rahman's first request that the whole land +should form a neutral State under the joint protection of Great +Britain and Russia was decisively negatived on the ground that the +former Power stood pledged by the Treaty of Gandamak not to allow +the intervention of any foreign State in Afghan affairs. A strong +man like Abdur Rahman appreciated the decisiveness of this +statement; and, while holding back his hand with the caution and +suspicion natural to Afghans, he thenceforth leant more to the +British side, despite the fact that Lord Lytton had recognised a +second Shere Ali as "Wali," or Governor of Candahar and its +district<a name="FNanchor319"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_319">[319]</a>. On April 19, Sir Donald Stewart routed a +large Afghan force near Ghaznee, and thereafter occupied that town. +He reached Cabul on May 5. It appeared that the resistance of the +natives was broken.</p> +<p>Such was the state of affairs when the General Election of April +1880 installed Mr. Gladstone in power in place of Lord +Beaconsfield. As has been hinted above, Afghan affairs had helped +to bring about this change; and the world now waited to see what +would be the action of the party which had <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page406" id="page406"></a>[pg 406]</span> +fulminated against the "forward policy" in India. As is usually the +case after ministerial changes, the new Prime Minister disappointed +the hopes of his most ardent friends and the fears of his bitterest +opponents. The policy of "scuttle" was, of course, never thought +of; but, as the new Government stood pledged to limit its +responsibilities in India as far as possible, one great change took +place. Lord Lytton laid down his Viceroyalty when the full results +of the General Election manifested themselves; and the world saw +the strange sight of a brilliant and powerful ruler, who took +precedence of ancient dynasties in India, retiring into private +life at the bidding of votes silently cast in ballot-boxes far away +in islands of the north.</p> +<p>No more startling result of the working of the democratic system +has ever been seen in Imperial affairs; and it may lead the student +of Roman History to speculate what might have been the results in +that ancient Empire if the populace of Italy could honestly have +discharged the like duties with regard to the action of their +proconsuls. Roman policy might have lacked some of its stateliness +and solidity, but assuredly the government of the provinces would +have improved. Whatever may be said as to the evils of change +brought about by popular caprice, they are less serious than those +which grow up under the shadow of an uncriticised and irresponsible +bureaucracy.</p> +<p>Some time elapsed before the new Viceroy, Lord Ripon, could take +up the reins of power. In that interval difficulties had arisen +with Abdur Rahman, but on July 20 the British authorities at Cabul +publicly recognised him as Ameer of Northern Afghanistan. The +question as to the severance of Candahar from Cabul, and the amount +of the subsidy to be paid to the new ruler, were left open and +caused some difference of opinion; but a friendly arrangement was +practically assured a few days later.</p> +<p>For many reasons this was desirable. As far back as April 11, +1880, Mr. (now Sir) Lepel Griffin had announced in a Durbar at +Cabul that the British forces would withdraw <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page407" id="page407"></a>[pg 407]</span> from +Afghanistan when the Government considered that a satisfactory +settlement had been made; that it was the friend, not the enemy, of +Islam, and would keep the sword for its enemies. The time had now +come to make good these statements. In the closing days of July +Abdur Rahman was duly installed in power at Cabul, and received +19-1/2 lakhs of rupees (£190,500)<a name= +"FNanchor320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320">[320]</a>. Meanwhile his +champions prepared to evacuate that city and to avenge a disaster +which had overtaken their arms in the Province of Candahar. On July +29 news arrived that a British brigade had been cut to pieces at +Maiwand.</p> +<p>The fact that we supported the Sirdar named Shere Ali at +Candahar seemed to blight his authority over the tribesmen in that +quarter. All hope of maintaining his rule vanished when tidings +arrived that Ayub Khan, a younger brother of the deported Yakub, +was marching from the side of Herat to claim the crown. Already the +new pretender had gained the support of several Afghan chiefs +around Herat, and now proclaimed a <i>jehad</i>, or holy war, +against the infidels holding Cabul. With a force of 7500 men and 10 +guns he left Herat on June 15, and moved towards the River Helmand, +gathering around him numbers of tribesmen and ghazis<a name= +"FNanchor321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321">[321]</a>.</p> +<p>In order to break this gathering cloud of war betimes, the +Indian Government ordered General Primrose, who commanded the +British garrison at Candahar, to despatch a brigade to the Helmand. +Accordingly, Brigadier-General Burrows, with 2300 British and +Indian troops, marched out from Candahar on July 11. On the other +side of the Helmand lay an Afghan force, acting in the British +interest, sent thither by the Sirdar, Shere Ali. Two days later the +whole native force mutinied and marched off towards Ayub Khan. +Burrows <span class="pagenum"><a name="page408" id= +"page408"></a>[pg 408]</span> promptly pursued them, captured their +six guns, and scattered the mutineers with loss.</p> +<p>Even so his position was most serious. In front of him, at no +great distance, was a far superior force flushed with fanaticism +and the hope of easy triumph; the River Helmand offered little, if +any, protection, for at that season it was everywhere fordable; +behind him stretched twenty-five miles of burning desert. By a +speedy retreat across this arid zone to Khushk-i-Nakhud, Burrows +averted the disaster then imminent, but his anxiety to carry out +the telegraphic orders of the Commander-in-chief, and to prevent +Ayub's force from reaching Ghaznee, led him into an enterprise +which proved to be far beyond his strength.</p> +<p>Hearing that 2000 of the enemy's horsemen and a large number of +ghazis had hurried forward in advance of the main body to Maiwand, +he determined to attack them there. At 6.30 A.M. on July 27 he +struck camp and moved forwards with his little force of 2599 +fighting men. Daring has wrought wonders in Indian warfare, but +rarely has any British commander undertaken so dangerous a task as +that to which Burrows set his hand on that morning.</p> +<p>During his march he heard news from a spy that the Afghan main +body was about to join their vanguard; but, either because he +distrusted the news, or hoped even at the last to "pluck the +flower, safety, out of the nettle, danger," he pushed on and sought +to cut through the line of the enemy's advance as it made for +Maiwand. About 10 A.M. his column passed the village of Khig and, +crossing a dried watercourse, entered a parched plain whereon the +fringe of the enemy's force could dimly be seen through the thick +and sultry air. Believing that he had to deal with no large body of +men, Burrows pushed on, and two of Lieutenant Maclaine's guns began +to shell their scattered groups. Like wasps roused to fury, the +ghazis rushed together as if for a charge, and lines of Afghan +regulars came into view. The deceitful haze yielded up its secret. +Burrows' brigade stood face to face with 15,000 Afghans. +Moreover</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page409" id="page409"></a>[pg +409]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/409.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Battle of Maiwand.</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page410" id="page410"></a>[pg +410]</span> +<p>some influence, baleful to England, kept back those Asiatics +from their usually heedless rush. Their guns came up and opened +fire on Burrows' line. Even the white quivering groups of their +ghazis forebore to charge with their whetted knives, but clung to a +gully which afforded good cover 500 yards away from the British +front and right flank; there the Afghan regulars galled the exposed +khaki line, while their cannon, now numbering thirty pieces, kept +up a fire to which Maclaine's twelve guns could give no adequate +reply.</p> +<p>[Illustration: Battle of Maiwand]</p> +<p>It has been stated by military critics that Burrows erred in +letting the fight at the outset become an affair of artillery, in +which he was plainly the weaker. Some of his guns were put out of +action; and in that open plain there was no cover for the fighting +line, the reserves, or the supporting horse. All of them sustained +heavy losses from the unusually accurate aim of the Afghan gunners. +But the enemy had also suffered under our cannonade and musketry; +and it is consonant with the traditions of Indian warfare to +suppose that a charge firmly pushed home at the first signs of +wavering in the hostile mass would have retrieved the day. Plassey +and Assaye were won by sheer boldness. Such a chance is said to +have occurred about noon at Maiwand. However that may be, Burrows +decided to remain on the defensive, perhaps because the hostile +masses were too dense and too full of fight to warrant the adoption +of dashing tactics.</p> +<p>After the sun passed his zenith the enemy began to press on the +front and flanks. Burrows swung round his wings to meet these +threatening moves; but, as the feline and predatory instincts of +the Afghans kindled more and more at the sight of the weak, bent, +and stationary line, so too the <i>morale</i> of the defenders +fell. The British and Indian troops alike were exhausted by the +long march and by the torments of thirst in the sultry heat. Under +the fire of the Afghan cannon and the frontal and flank advance of +the enemy, the line began to waver about 2 P.M., and two of the +foremost guns were lost. A native regiment in the centre, Jacob's +Rifles, fled in utter <span class="pagenum"><a name="page411" id= +"page411"></a>[pg 411]</span> confusion and spread disorder on the +flanks, where the 1st Bombay Grenadiers and the 66th line regiment +had long maintained a desperate fight. General Nuttall now ordered +several squadrons of the 3rd Light Cavalry and 3rd Sind Horse to +recover the guns and stay the onrushing tide, but their numbers +were too small for the task, and the charge was not pressed home. +Finally the whole mass of pursued and pursuers rolled towards the +village of Khig and its outlying enclosures.</p> +<p>There a final stand was made. Colonel Galbraith and about one +hundred officers and men of the 66th threw themselves into a garden +enclosure, plied the enemy fiercely with bullets, and time after +time beat back every rush of the ghazis, now rioting in that +carnival of death. Surrounded by the flood of the Afghan advance, +the little band fought on, hopeless of life, but determined to +uphold to the last the honour of their flag and country. At last +only eleven were left. These heroes determined to die in the open; +charging out on the masses around, they formed square, and back to +back stood firing on the foe. Not until the last of them fell under +the Afghan rifles did the ghazis venture to close in with their +knives, so dauntless had been the bearing of this band<a name= +"FNanchor322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322">[322]</a>.</p> +<p>They had not fought in vain. Their stubborn stand held back the +Afghan pursuit and gave time for the fugitives to come together on +the way back to Candahar. Had the pursuit been pushed on with +vigour few, if any, could have survived. Even so, Maiwand was one +of the gravest disasters ever sustained by our Indian army. It cost +Burrows' force nearly half its numbers; 934 officers and men were +killed and 175 wounded. The strange disproportion between these +totals may serve as a measure of the ferocity of Afghans in the +hour of victory. Of the non-combatants 790 fell under the knives of +the ghazis. The remnant struggled towards Candahar, whence, on the +28th, General Primrose despatched a column to the aid of the +exhausted survivors. In the citadel of that fortress there +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page412" id="page412"></a>[pg +412]</span> mustered as many as 4360 effectives as night fell. But +what were these in face of Ayub's victorious army, now joined by +tribesmen eager for revenge and plunder<a name= +"FNanchor323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323">[323]</a>?</p> +<p>In face of this disaster, the British generals in Northern +Afghanistan formed a decision commendable alike for its boldness +and its sagacity. They decided to despatch at once all available +troops from Cabul to the relief of the beleaguered garrison at +Candahar. General Sir Frederick Roberts had handed over the command +at Cabul to Sir Donald Stewart, and was about to operate among the +tribes on the Afghan frontier when the news of the disaster sent +him hurrying back to confer with the new commander-in-chief. +Together they recommended the plan named above.</p> +<p>It involved grave dangers: for affairs in the north of +Afghanistan were unsettled; and to withdraw the rest of our force +from Cabul to the Khyber would give the rein to local disaffection. +The Indian authorities at Simla inclined to the despatch of the +force at Quetta, comprising seven regiments of native troops, from +Bombay. The route was certainly far easier; for, thanks to the toil +of engineers, the railway from the Indus Valley towards Quetta had +been completed up to a point in advance of Sibi; and the labours of +Major Sandeman, Bruce, and others, had kept that district fairly +quiet<a name="FNanchor324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324">[324]</a>. +But the troops at Quetta and Pishin were held to be incapable of +facing a superior force of victorious Afghans. At Cabul there were +nine regiments of infantry, three of cavalry, and three +mountain-batteries, all of them British or picked Indian troops. On +August 3, Lord Ripon telegraphed his permission for the despatch of +the Cabul field-force to Candahar. It amounted to 2835 British (the +72nd and 92nd Highlanders and 2nd battalion <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page413" id="page413"></a>[pg 413]</span> of the +60th Rifles, and 9th Lancers), 7151 Indian troops, together with 18 +guns. On August 9 it struck camp and set out on a march which was +destined to be famous.</p> +<p>Fortunately before it left the Cabul camp on August 9, matters +were skilfully arranged by Mr. Griffin with Abdur Rahman, on terms +which will be noticed presently. In spite of one or two suspicious +incidents, his loyalty to the British cause now seemed to be +assured, and that, too, in spite of the remonstrances of many of +his supporters. He therefore sent forward messengers to prepare the +way for Roberts' force. They did so by telling the tribesmen that +the new Ameer was sending the foreign army out of the land by way +of Candahar! This pleasing fiction in some measure helped on the +progress of the force, and the issue of events proved it to be no +very great travesty of the truth.</p> +<p>Every possible device was needed to ensure triumph over physical +obstacles. In order to expedite the march through the difficult +country between Cabul and Candahar, no wheeled guns or waggons went +with the force. As many as 8000 native bearers or drivers set out +with the force, but very many of them deserted, and the 8255 +horses, mules and donkeys were thenceforth driven by men told off +from the regiments. The line of march led at first through the +fertile valley of the River Logar, where the troops and followers +were able to reap the ripening crops and subsist in comfort. Money +was paid for the crops thus appropriated. After leaving this +fertile district for the barren uplands, the question of food and +fuel became very serious; but it was overcome by ingenuity and +patience, though occasional times of privation had to be faced, as, +for instance, when only very small roots were found for the cooking +of corn and meat. A lofty range, the Zamburak Kotal, was crossed +with great toil and amidst biting cold at night-time; but the +ability of the commander, the forethought and organising power of +his Staff, and the hardihood of the men overcame all trials and +obstacles.</p> +<p>The army then reached the more fertile districts around +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page414" id="page414"></a>[pg +414]</span> Ghazni, and on August 15 gained an entry without +resistance to that once formidable stronghold. Steady marching +brought the force eight days later to the hill fort of +Kelat-i-Ghilzai, where it received a hearty welcome from the +British garrison of 900 men. Sir Frederick Roberts determined to +take on these troops with him, as he needed all his strength to +cope with the growing power of Yakub. After a day's rest (well +earned, seeing that the force had traversed 225 miles in 14 days), +the column set forth on its last stages, cheered by the thought of +rescuing their comrades at Candahar, but more and more oppressed by +the heat, which, in the lower districts of South Afghanistan, is as +fierce as anywhere in the world. Mr. Hensman, the war correspondent +of the <i>Daily News,</i> summed up in one telling phrase the chief +difficulties of the troops. "The sun laughed to scorn 100° F. +in the shade." On the 27th the commander fell with a sharp attack +of fever.</p> +<p>Nevertheless he instructed the Indian cavalry to push on to +Robat and open up heliographic communication with Candahar. It then +transpired that the approach of the column had already changed the +situation. Already, on August 23, Ayub had raised the siege and +retired to the hills north of the city. That relief came none too +soon appeared on the morning of the 31st, when the thin and feeble +cheering that greeted the rescuers on their entrance to the long +beleaguered town told its sad tale of want, disease, and depression +of heart. The men who had marched 313 miles in 22 days--an average +of 14-1/4 miles a day--felt a thrill of sympathy, not unmixed with +disgust in some cases, at the want of spirit too plainly +discernible among the defenders. The Union Jack was not hoisted on +the citadel until the rescuers were near at hand<a name= +"FNanchor325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325">[325]</a>. General +Roberts might have applied to them Hecuba's words to Priam:--</p> +<blockquote>Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis<br> +Tempus eget.</blockquote> +<p>As for the <i>morale</i> of the relieving force, it now stood at +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page415" id="page415"></a>[pg +415]</span> zenith, as was seen on the following day. Framing his +measures so as to encourage Ayub to stand his ground, Roberts +planned his attack in the way that had already led to success, +namely, a frontal attack more imposing than serious, while the +enemy's flank was turned and his communications threatened. These +moves were carried out by Generals Ross and Baker with great skill. +Under the persistent pressure of the British onset the Afghans fell +back from position to position, north-west of Candahar; until +finally Major White with the 92nd, supported by Gurkhas and the +23rd Pioneers, drove them back to their last ridge, the Baba Wali +Kotal, swarmed up its western flank, and threw the whole of the +hostile mass in utter confusion into the plain beyond. Owing to the +very broken nature of the ground, few British and Indian horsemen +were at hand to reap the full fruits of victory; but many of Ayub's +regulars and ghazis fell under their avenging sabres. The beaten +force deserved no mercy. When the British triumph was assured, the +Afghan chief ordered his prisoner, Lieutenant Maclaine, to be +butchered; whereupon he himself and his suite took to flight. The +whole of his artillery, twenty-seven pieces, including the two +British guns lost at Maiwand, fell into the victor's hands. In +fact, Ayub's force ceased to exist; many of his troops at once +assumed the garb of peaceful cultivators, and the Pretender himself +fled to Herat<a name="FNanchor326"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_326">[326]</a>.</p> +<p>Thus ended an enterprise which, but for the exercise of the +highest qualities on the part of General Roberts, his Staff, the +officers, and rank and file, might easily have ended in +irretrievable disaster. This will appear from the following +considerations. The question of food and water during a prolonged +march in that parched season of the year might have caused the +gravest difficulties; but they were solved by a wise choice of +route along or near water-courses where water could generally be +procured. The few days when little or no water could be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page416" id="page416"></a>[pg +416]</span> had showed what might have happened. Further, the help +assured by the action of the Ameer's emissaries among the tribesmen +was of little avail after the valley of the Logar was left behind. +Many of the tribes were actively hostile, and cut off stragglers +and baggage-animals.</p> +<p>Above and beyond these daily difficulties, there was the problem +as to the line of retreat to be taken in case of a reverse +inflicted by the tribes <i>en route.</i> The army had given up its +base of operations; for at the same time the remaining British and +Indian regiments at Cabul were withdrawn to the Khyber Pass. True, +there was General Phayre's force holding Quetta, and endeavouring +to stretch out a hand towards Candahar; but the natural obstacles +and lack of transport prevented the arrival of help from that +quarter. It is, however, scarcely correct to say that Roberts had +no line of retreat assured in case of defeat<a name= +"FNanchor327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327">[327]</a>. No serious +fighting was to be expected before Candahar; for the Afghan +plundering instinct was likely to keep Ayub near to that city, +where the garrison was hard pressed. After leaving Ghazni, the +Quetta route became the natural way of retirement.</p> +<p>As it happened, the difficulties were mainly those inflicted by +the stern hand of Nature herself; and their severity may be gauged +by the fact that out of a well-seasoned force of less than 10,000 +fighting men as many as 940 sick had at once to go into hospital at +Candahar. The burning days and frosty nights of the Afghan uplands +were more fatal than the rifles of Ayub and the knives of the +ghazis. As Lord Roberts has modestly admitted, the long march +gained in dramatic effect because for three weeks he and his army +were lost to the world, and, suddenly emerging from the unknown, +gained a decisive triumph. But, allowing for this element of +picturesqueness, so unusual in an age when the daily din of +telegrams dulls the perception of readers, we may still maintain +that the march from Cabul to Candahar will bear comparison with any +similar achievement in modern history.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page417" id="page417"></a>[pg +417]</span> +<p>The story of British relations with Afghanistan is one which +illustrates the infinite capacity of our race to "muddle through" +to some more or less satisfactory settlement. This was especially +the case in the spring and summer of 1880, when the accession of +Mr. Gladstone to power and the disaster of Maiwand changed the +diplomatic and military situation. In one sense, and that not a +cryptic one, these events served to supplement one another. They +rendered inevitable the entire evacuation of Afghanistan. That, it +need hardly be said, was the policy of Mr. Gladstone, of the +Secretary for India, Lord Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire), and +of Lord Ripon.</p> +<p>On one point both parties were agreed. Events had shown how +undesirable it was to hold Cabul and Central Afghanistan. The +evacuation of all these districts was specified in Lord Lytton's +last official Memorandum, that which he signed on June 7, 1880, as +certain to take place as soon as the political arrangements at +Cabul were duly settled. The retiring Viceroy, however, declared +that in his judgment the whole Province of Candahar must be severed +from the Cabul Power, whether Abdur Rahman assented to it or +not<a name="FNanchor328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328">[328]</a>. +Obviously this implied the subjection of Candahar to British rule +in some form. General Roberts himself argued stoutly for the +retention of that city and district; and so did most of the +military men. Lord Wolseley, on the other hand, urged that it would +place an undesirable strain upon the resources of India, and that +the city could readily be occupied from the Quetta position, if +ever the Russians advanced to Herat. The Cabinet strongly held this +opinion. The exponents of Whig ideas, Lord Hartington and the Duke +of Argyll, herein agreeing with the exponents of a peaceful +un-Imperial commercialism, Mr. Bright and Mr. Chamberlain. +Consequently the last of the British troops were withdrawn from +Candahar on April 15, 1881.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page418" id="page418"></a>[pg +418]</span> +<p>The retirement was more serious in appearance than in reality. +The war had brought some substantial gains. The new frontier +acquired by the Treaty of Gandamak--and the terms of that compact +were practically void until Roberts' victory at Candahar gave them +body and life--provided ample means for sending troops easily to +the neighbourhood of Cabul, Ghazni, and Candahar; and experience +showed that troops kept in the hill stations on the frontier +preserved their mettle far better than those cantoned in or near +the unhealthy cities just named. The Afghans had also learnt a +sharp lesson of the danger and futility of leaning on Russia; and +to this fact must be attributed the steady adherence of the new +Ameer to the British side.</p> +<p>Moreover, the success of his rule depended largely on our +evacuation of his land. Experience has shown that a practically +independent and united Afghanistan forms a better barrier to a +Russian advance than an Afghanistan rent by the fanatical feuds +that spring up during a foreign occupation. Finally, the great need +of India after the long famine was economy. A prosperous and +contented India might be trusted to beat off any army that Russia +could send; a bankrupt India would be the breeding-ground of strife +and mutiny; and on these fell powers Skobeleff counted as his most +formidable allies<a name="FNanchor329"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_329">[329]</a>.</p> +<p>It remained to be seen whether Abdur Rahman could win Candahar +and Herat, and, having won them, keep them. At first Fortune smiled +on his rival, Ayub. That pretender sent a force from Herat +southwards against the Ameer's troops, defeated them, and took +Candahar (July 1881). But Abdur Rahman had learnt to scorn the +shifts of the fickle goddess. With a large force he marched to that +city, bought over a part of Ayub's following, and then utterly +defeated the remainder. This defeat was the end of Ayub's career. +Flying back to Herat, he found it in the hands of the Ameer's +supporters, and was fain to seek refuge in Persia. Both of these +successes <span class="pagenum"><a name="page419" id= +"page419"></a>[pg 419]</span> seem to have been due to the +subsidies which the new Ameer drew from India<a name= +"FNanchor330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330">[330]</a>.</p> +<p>We may here refer to the last scene in which Ayub played a part +before Englishmen. Foiled of his hopes in Persia, he finally +retired to India. At a later day he appeared as a pensioner on the +bounty of that Government at a review held at Rawal Pindi in the +Punjab in honour of the visit of H.R.H. Prince Victor. The Prince, +on being informed of his presence, rode up to his carriage and +saluted the fallen Sirdar. The incident profoundly touched the +Afghans who were present. One of them said: "It was a noble act. It +shows that you English are worthy to be the rulers of this +land<a name="FNanchor331"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_331">[331]</a>."</p> +<p>The Afghans were accustomed to see the conquered crushed and +scorned by the conqueror. Hence they did not resent the truculent +methods resorted to by Abdur Rahman in the consolidation of his +power. In his relentless grip the Afghan tribes soon acquired +something of stability. Certainly Lord Lytton never made a wiser +choice than that of Abdur Rahman for the Ameership; and, strange to +say, that choice obviated the evils which the Viceroy predicted as +certain to accrue from the British withdrawal from Candahar<a name= +"FNanchor332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332">[332]</a>. Contrasting +the action of Great Britain towards himself with that of Russia +towards Shere Ali in his closing days, the new Ameer could scarcely +waver in his choice of an alliance. And while he held the Indian +Government away at arm's length, he never wavered at heart.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>For in the meantime Russia had resumed her southward march, +setting to work with the doggedness that she usually displays in +the task of avenging slights and overbearing opposition. The penury +of the exchequer, the plots of the Nihilists, and the discontent of +the whole people after the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page420" +id="page420"></a>[pg 420]</span> inglorious struggle with Turkey, +would have imposed on any other Government a policy of rest and +economy. To the stiff bureaucracy of St. Petersburg these were so +many motives for adopting a forward policy in Asia. Conquests of +Turkoman territory would bring wealth, at least to the bureaucrats +and generals; and military triumphs might be counted on to raise +the spirit of the troops, silence the talk about official +peculations during the Turkish campaign, and act in the manner so +sagaciously pointed out by Henry IV. to Prince Hal:--</p> +<blockquote> + Therefore, +my Harry,<br> +Be it thy course to busy giddy minds<br> +With foreign quarrels, that action, hence borne out,<br> +May waste the memory of the former days.</blockquote> +<p>In the autumn of 1878 General Lomakin had waged an unsuccessful +campaign against the Tekke Turkomans, and finally fell back with +heavy losses on Krasnovodsk, his base of operations on the Caspian +Sea. In the summer of 1879 another expedition set out from that +port to avenge the defeat. Owing to the death of the chief, Lomakin +again rose to the command. His bad dispositions at the climax of +the campaign led him to a more serious disaster. On coming up to +the fortress of Denghil Tepe, near the town of Geok Tepe, he led +only 1400 men, or less than half of his force, to bombard and storm +a stronghold held by some 15,000 Turkomans, and fortified on the +plan suggested by a British officer, Lieutenant Butler<a name= +"FNanchor333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333">[333]</a>. Preluding his +attack by a murderous cannonade, he sent round his cavalry to check +the flight of the faint-hearted among the garrison; and, before his +guns had fully done their work, he ordered the whole line to +advance and carry the walls by storm. At once the Turkoman fire +redoubled in strength, tore away the front of every attacking +party, and finally drove <span class="pagenum"><a name="page421" +id="page421"></a>[pg 421]</span> back the assailants everywhere +with heavy loss (Sept. 9, 1879). On the morrow the invaders fell +back on the River Atrek and thence made their way back to the +Caspian in sore straits<a name="FNanchor334"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_334">[334]</a>.</p> +<p>The next year witnessed the advent of a great soldier on the +scene. Skobeleff, the stormy petrel of Russian life, the man whose +giant frame was animated by a hero's soul, who, when pitched from +his horse in the rush on one of the death-dealing redoubts at +Plevna, rose undaunted to his feet, brandished his broken sword in +the air and yelled at the enemy a defiance which thrilled his +broken lines to a final mad charge over the rampart--Skobeleff was +at hand. He had culled his first laurels at Khiva and Khokand, and +now came to the shores of the Caspian to carry forward the +standards which he hoped one day to plant on the walls of Delhi. +That he cherished this hope is proved by the Memorandum which will +be found in the Appendix of this volume. His disclaimer of any such +intention to Mr. Charles Marvin (which will also be found there) +shows that under his frank exterior there lay hidden the strain of +Oriental duplicity so often found among his countrymen in political +life.</p> +<p>At once the operations felt the influence of his active, cheery, +and commanding personality. The materials for a railway which had +been lying unused at Bender were now brought up; and Russia found +the money to set about the construction of a railway from +Michaelovsk to the Tekke Turkoman country--an undertaking which was +destined wholly to change the conditions of warfare in South +Turkestan and on the Afghan border. By the close of the year more +than forty miles were roughly laid down, and Skobeleff was ready +for his final advance from Kizil Arvat towards Denghil Tepe.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Tekkes had gained reinforcements from their +kinsmen in the Merv oasis, and had massed nearly 40,000 men--so +rumour ran--at their stronghold. Nevertheless, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page422" id="page422"></a>[pg 422]</span> they +offered no serious resistance to the Russian advance, doubtless +because they hoped to increase the difficulties of his retreat +after the repulse which they determined to inflict at their hill +fortress. But Skobeleff excelled Lomakin in skill no less than in +prowess and magnetic influence. He proceeded to push his trenches +towards the stronghold, so that on January 23, 1881, his men +succeeded in placing 2600 pounds of gunpowder under the +south-eastern corner of the rampart. Early on the following day the +Russians began the assault; and while cannon and rockets wrought +death and dismay among the ill-armed defenders, the mighty shock of +the explosion tore away fifty yards of their rampart.</p> +<p>At once the Russian lines moved forward to end the work begun by +gunpowder. With the blare of martial music and with ringing cheers, +they charged at the still formidable walls. A young officer, +Colonel Kuropatkin, who has since won notoriety in other lands, was +ready with twelve companies to rush into the breach. Their leading +files swarmed up it before the Tekkes fully recovered from the blow +dealt by the hand of western science; but then the brave nomads +closed in on foes with whom they could fight, and brought the +storming party to a standstill. Skobeleff was ready for the +emergency. True to his Plevna tactics of ever feeding an attack at +the crisis with new troops, he hurled forward two battalions of the +line and companies of dismounted Cossacks. These pushed on the +onset, hewed their way through all obstacles, and soon met the +smaller storming parties which had penetrated at other points. By 1 +p.m. the Russian standard waved in triumph from the central hill of +the fortress, and thenceforth bands of Tekkes began to stream forth +into the desert on the further side.</p> +<p>Now Skobeleff gave to his foes a sharp lesson, which, he +claimed, was the most merciful in the end. He ordered his men, +horse and foot alike, to pursue the fugitives and spare no one. +Ruthlessly the order was obeyed. First, the flight of grape shot +from the light guns, then the bayonet, and lastly <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page423" id="page423"></a>[pg 423]</span> the +Cossack lance, strewed the plain with corpses of men, women, and +children; darkness alone put an end to the butchery, and then the +desert for eleven miles eastwards of Denghil Tepe bore witness to +the thoroughness of Muscovite methods of warfare. All the men +within the fortress were put to the sword. Skobeleff himself +estimated the number of the slain at 20,000<a name= +"FNanchor335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335">[335]</a>. Booty to the +value of £600,000 fell to the lot of the victors. Since that +awful day the once predatory tribes of Tekkes have given little +trouble. Skobeleff sent his righthand man, Kuropatkin, to occupy +Askabad, and reconnoitre towards Merv. But these moves were checked +by order of the Czar.</p> +<p>A curious incident, told to Lord Curzon, illustrates the dread +in which Russian troops have since been held. At the opening of the +railway to Askabad, five years later, the Russian military bands +began to play. At once the women and children there present raised +cries and shrieks of dread, while the men threw themselves on the +ground. They imagined that the music was a signal for another +onslaught like that which preluded the capture of their former +stronghold<a name="FNanchor336"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_336">[336]</a>.</p> +<p>This victory proved to be the last of Skobeleff's career. The +Government having used their knight-errant, now put him on one side +as too insubordinate and ambitious for his post. To his great +disgust, he was recalled. He did not long survive. Owing to causes +that are little known, among which a round of fast-living is said +to have played its part, he died suddenly from failure of the heart +at his residence near Moscow (July 7 1882). Some there were who +whispered dark things as to his militant notions being out of +favour with the new Czar, Alexander III.; others pointed +significantly to Bismarck. Others again prattled of Destiny; but +the best comment on the death of Skobeleff would seem to be that +illuminating saying of Novalis--"Character is Destiny." Love of +fame prompted in him the desire one day to measure swords with Lord +Roberts <span class="pagenum"><a name="page424" id= +"page424"></a>[pg 424]</span> in the Punjab; but the coarser strain +in his nature dragged him to earth at the age of thirty-nine.</p> +<p>The accession of Alexander III., after the murder of his father +on March 13, 1881, promised for a short time to usher in a more +peaceful policy; but, in truth, the last important diplomatic +assurance of the reign of Alexander II. was that given by the +Minister M. de Giers, to Lord Dufferin, as to Russia's resolve not +to occupy Merv. "Not only do we not want to go there, but, happily, +there is nothing which can require us to go there."</p> +<p>In spite of a similar assurance given on April 5 to the Russian +ambassador in London, both the need and the desire soon sprang into +existence. Muscovite agents made their way to the fruitful oasis of +Merv; and a daring soldier, Alikhanoff, in the guise of a +merchant's clerk, proceeded thither early in 1882, skilfully +distributed money to work up a Russian party, and secretly sketched +a plan of the fortress. Many chiefs and traders opposed Russia +bitterly, for our brilliant and adventurous countryman, O'Donovan, +while captive there, sought to open their eyes to the coming +danger. But England's influence had fallen to zero since +Skobeleff's victory and her own withdrawal from Candahar<a name= +"FNanchor337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337">[337]</a>.</p> +<p>In 1882 a Russian Engineer officer, Lessar, in the guise of a +scientific explorer, surveyed the route between Merv and Herat, and +found that it presented far fewer difficulties than had been +formerly reported to exist<a name="FNanchor338"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_338">[338]</a>. Finally, in 1884, the Czar's Government +sought to revenge itself for Britain's continued occupation of +Egypt by fomenting trouble near the Afghan border. Alikhanoff then +reappeared, not in disguise, browbeat the hostile chieftains at +Merv by threats of a Russian invasion, and finally induced them to +take an oath of allegiance to Alexander III. (Feb. 12, +1884)<a name="FNanchor339"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_339">[339]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page425" id="page425"></a>[pg +425]</span> +<p>There was, however, some reason for Russia's violation of her +repeated promises respecting Merv. In practical politics the theory +of compensation has long gained an assured footing; and, seeing +that Britain had occupied Egypt partly as the mandatory of Europe, +and now refused to evacuate that land, the Russian Government had a +good excuse for retaliation. As has happened at every time of +tension between the two Empires since 1855, the Czar chose to +embarrass the Island Power by pushing on towards India. As a matter +of fact, the greater the pressure that Russia brought to bear on +the Afghan frontier, the greater became the determination of +England not to withdraw from Egypt. Hence, in the years 1882-4, +both Powers plunged more deeply into that "vicious circle" in which +the policy of the Crimean War had enclosed them, and from which +they have never freed themselves.</p> +<p>The fact is deplorable. It has produced endless friction and has +strained the resources of two great Empires; but the allegation of +Russian perfidy in the Merv affair may be left to those who look at +facts solely from the insular standpoint. In the eyes of patriotic +Russians England was the offender, first by opposing Muscovite +policy tooth and nail in the Balkans, secondly by seizing Egypt, +and thirdly by refusing to withdraw from that commanding position. +The important fact to notice is that after each of these +provocations Russia sought her revenge on that flank of the British +Empire to which she was guided by her own sure instincts and by the +shrieks of insular Cassandras. By moving a few sotnias of Cossacks +towards Herat she compelled her rival to spend a hundredfold as +much in military preparations in India.</p> +<p>It is undeniable that Russia's persistent breach of her promises +in Asiatic affairs exasperated public opinion, and brought the two +Empires to the verge of war. Conduct of that description baffles +the resources of diplomacy, which are designed to arrange disputes. +Unfortunately, British foreign affairs were in the hands of Lord +Granville, whose gentle reproaches only awakened contempt at St. +Petersburg. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page426" id= +"page426"></a>[pg 426]</span> recent withdrawal of Lord Dufferin +from St. Petersburg to Constantinople, on the plea of ill-health, +was also a misfortune; but his appointment to the Viceroyalty of +India (September 1884) placed at Calcutta a Governor-General +superior to Lord Ripon in diplomatic experience.</p> +<p>There was every need for the exercise of ability and firmness +both at Westminster and Calcutta. The climax in Russia's policy of +lance-pricks was reached in the following year; and it has been +assumed, apparently on good authority, that the understanding +arrived at by the three Emperors in their meeting at Skiernewice +(September 1884) implied a tacit encouragement of Russia's designs +in Central Asia, however much they were curbed in the Balkan +Peninsula. This was certainly the aim of Bismarck, and that he knew +a good deal about Russian movements is clear from his words to +Busch on November 24, 1884: "Just keep a sharp look-out on the news +from Afghanistan. Something will happen there soon<a name= +"FNanchor340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340">[340]</a>."</p> +<p>This was clearly more than a surmise. At that time an +Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission was appointed to settle the many +vexed questions concerning the delimitation of the Russo-Afghan +boundary. General Sir Peter Lumsden proceeded to Sarrakhs, +expecting there to meet the Russian Commissioners by appointment in +the middle of October 1884. On various pretexts the work of the +Commission was postponed in accordance with advices sent from St. +Petersburg. The aim of this dilatory policy soon became evident. +That was the time when (as will appear in Chapter XVI.) the British +expedition was slowly working its way towards Khartum in the effort +to unravel the web of fate then closing in on the gallant Gordon. +The news of his doom reached England on February 5, 1885. Then it +was that Russia unmasked her designs. They included the +appropriation of the town and district of Panjdeh, which she +herself had previously acknowledged to be in Afghan territory. In +vain did Lord Granville protest; in vain did he put forward +proposals which conceded <span class="pagenum"><a name="page427" +id="page427"></a>[pg 427]</span> very much to the Czar, but less +than his Ministers determined to have. All that he could obtain was +a promise that the Russians would not advance further during the +negotiations.</p> +<p>On March 13, Mr. Gladstone officially announced that an +agreement to this effect had been arrived at with Russia. The +Foreign Minister at St. Petersburg, M. de Giers, on March 16 +assured our ambassador, Sir Edward Thornton, that that statement +was correct. On March 26, however, the light troops of General +Komaroff advanced beyond the line of demarcation previously agreed +on, and on the following day pushed past the Afghan force holding +positions in front of Panjdeh. The Afghans refused to be drawn into +a fight, but held their ground; thereupon, on March 29, Komaroff +sent them an ultimatum ordering them to withdraw beyond Panjdeh. A +British staff-officer requested him to reconsider and recall this +demand, but he himself was waived aside. Finally, on March 30, +Komaroff attacked the Afghan position, and drove out the defenders +with the loss of 900 men. The survivors fell back on Herat, General +Lumsden and his escort retired in the same direction, and Russia +took possession of the coveted prize<a name= +"FNanchor341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341">[341]</a>.</p> +<p>The news of this outrage reached England on April 7, and sent a +thrill of indignation through the breasts of the most peaceful. +Twenty days later Mr. Gladstone proposed to Parliament to vote the +sum of £11,000,000 for war preparations. Of this sum all but +£4,500,000 (needed for the Sudan) was devoted to military and +naval preparations against Russia; and we have the authority of Mr. +John Morley for saying that this vote was supported by Liberals +"with much more than a mechanical loyalty<a name= +"FNanchor342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342">[342]</a>." Russia had +achieved the impossible; she had united Liberals of all shades of +thought against her, and the joke about "Mervousness" was heard no +more.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page428" id="page428"></a>[pg +428]</span> +<p>Nevertheless the firmness of the Government resembled that of +Bob Acres: it soon oozed away. Ministers deferred to the Czar's +angry declaration that he would allow no inquiry into the action of +General Komaroff. This alone was a most mischievous precedent, as +it tended to inflate Russian officers with the belief that they +could safely set at defiance the rules of international law. Still +worse were the signs of favour showered on the violator of a truce +by the sovereign who gained the reputation of being the upholder of +peace. From all that is known semi-officially with respect to the +acute crisis of the spring of 1885, it would appear that peace was +due solely to the tact of Sir Robert Morier, our ambassador at St. +Petersburg, and to the complaisance of the Gladstone Cabinet.</p> +<p>Certainly this quality carried Ministers very far on the path of +concession. When negotiations were resumed, the British Government +belied its former promises of firmness in a matter that closely +concerned our ally, and surrendered Panjdeh to Russia, but on the +understanding that the Zulfikar Pass should be retained by the +Afghans. It should be stated, however, that Abdur Rahman had +already assured Lord Dufferin, during interviews which they had at +Rawal Pindi early in April, of his readiness to give up Panjdeh if +he could retain that pass and its approaches. The Russian +Government conceded this point; but their negotiators then set to +work to secure possession of heights dominating the pass. It seemed +that Lord Granville was open to conviction even on this point.</p> +<p>Such was the state of affairs when, on June 9, 1885, Mr. +Gladstone's Ministry resigned owing to a defeat on a budget +question. The accession of Lord Salisbury to power after a brief +interval helped to clear up these disputes. The crisis in Bulgaria +of September 1885 (see Chapter X.) also served to distract the +Russian Government, the Czar's chief pre-occupation now being to +have his revenge on Prince Alexander of Battenberg. Consequently +the two Powers came to a compromise about the Zulfikar Pass<a name= +"FNanchor343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343">[343]</a>. There still +remained several <span class="pagenum"><a name="page429" id= +"page429"></a>[pg 429]</span> questions outstanding, and only after +long and arduous surveys, not unmixed with disputes, was the +present boundary agreed on in a Protocol signed on July 22, 1887. +We may here refer to a prophecy made by one of Bismarck's +<i>confidantes</i>, Bucher, at the close of May 1885: "I believe +the [Afghan] matter will come up again in about five years, when +the [Russian] railways are finished<a name= +"FNanchor344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344">[344]</a>."</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Thus it was that Russia secured her hold on districts +dangerously near to Herat. Her methods at Panjdeh can only be +described as a deliberate outrage on international law. It is clear +that Alexander III. and his officials cared nothing for the public +opinion of Europe, and that they pushed on their claims by means +which appealed with overpowering force to the dominant motive of +orientals--fear. But their action was based on another +consideration. Relying on Mr. Gladstone's well-known love of peace, +they sought to degrade the British Government in the eyes of the +Asiatic peoples. In some measure they succeeded. The prestige of +Britain thenceforth paled before that of the Czar; and the ease and +decisiveness of the Russian conquests, contrasting with the fitful +advances and speedy withdrawals of British troops, spread the +feeling in Central Asia that the future belonged to Russia.</p> +<p>Fortunately, this was not the light in which Abdur Rahman viewed +the incident. He was not the man to yield to intimidation. That +"strange, strong creature," as Lord Dufferin called him, "showed +less emotion than might have been expected," but his resentment +against Russia was none the less keen<a name= +"FNanchor345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345">[345]</a>. Her pressure +only served to drive him to closer union with Great Britain. +Clearly the Russians misunderstood Abdur Rahman. Their +miscalculation was equally great as regards the character of the +Afghans and the conditions of life among those mountain clans. +Russian officers and administrators, after pushing their way easily +through the loose rubble <span class="pagenum"><a name="page430" +id="page430"></a>[pg 430]</span> of tribes that make up Turkestan, +did not realise that they had to deal with very different men in +Afghanistan. To ride roughshod over tribes who live in the desert +and have no natural rallying-point may be very effective; but that +policy is risky when applied to tribes who cling to their +mountains.</p> +<p>The analogy of Afghanistan to Switzerland may again serve to +illustrate the difference between mountaineers and plain-dwellers. +It was only when the Hapsburgs or the French threatened the Swiss +that they formed any effective union for the defence of the +Fatherland. Always at variance in time of peace, the cantons never +united save under the stress of a common danger. The greater the +pressure from without, the closer was the union. That truth has +been illustrated several times from the age of the legendary Tell +down to the glorious efforts of 1798. In a word, the selfsame +mountaineers who live disunited in time of peace, come together and +act closely together in war, or under threat of war.</p> +<p>Accordingly, the action of England in retiring from Candahar, +contrasting as it did with Russia's action at Panjdeh, marked out +the line of true policy for Abdur Rahman. Thenceforth he and his +tribesmen saw more clearly than ever that Russia was the foe; and +it is noteworthy that under the shadow of the northern peril there +has grown up among those turbulent clans a sense of unity never +known before. Unconsciously Russia has been playing the part of a +Napoleon I.; she has ground together some at least of the peoples +of Central Asia with a thoroughness which may lead to unexpected +results if ever events favour a general rising against the +conqueror.</p> +<p>Amidst all his seeming vacillations of policy, Abdur Rahman was +governed by the thought of keeping England, and still more Russia, +from his land. He absolutely refused to allow railways and +telegraphs to enter his territories; for, as he said: "Where +Europeans build railways, their armies quickly follow. My +neighbours have all been swallowed up in this manner. I have no +wish to suffer their fate."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page431" id="page431"></a>[pg +431]</span> +<p>His judgment was sound. Skobeleff conquered the Tekkes by his +railway; and the acquisition of Merv and Panjdeh was really the +outcome of the new trans-Caspian line, which, as Lord Curzon has +pointed out, completely changed the problem of the defence of +India. Formerly the natural line of advance for Russia was from +Orenburg to Tashkend and the upper Oxus; and even now that railway +would enable her to make a powerful diversion against Northern +Afghanistan<a name="FNanchor346"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_346">[346]</a>. But the route from Krasnovodsk on the +Caspian to Merv and Kushk presents a shorter and far easier route, +leading, moreover, to the open side of Afghanistan, Herat, and +Candahar. Recent experiments have shown that a division of troops +can be sent in eight days from Moscow to Kushk within a short +distance of the Afghan frontier. In a word, Russia can operate +against Afghanistan by a line (or rather by two lines) far shorter +and easier than any which Great Britain can use for its +defence<a name="FNanchor347"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_347">[347]</a>.</p> +<p>It is therefore of the utmost importance to prevent her pushing +on her railways into that country. This is the consideration which +inspired Mr. Balfour's noteworthy declaration of May 11, 1905, in +the House of Commons:--</p> +<blockquote>As transport is the great difficulty of an invading +army, we must not allow anything to be done which would facilitate +transport. It ought in my opinion to be considered as an act of +direct aggression upon this country that any attempt should be made +to build a railway, in connection with the Russian strategic +railways, within the territory of Afghanistan.</blockquote> +<p>It is fairly certain that the present Ameer, Habibulla, who +succeeded his father in 1901, holds those views. This doubtless was +the reason why, early in 1905, he took the unprecedented step of +<i>inviting</i> the Indian Government to send a Mission to Cabul. +In view of the increase of Russia's <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page432" id="page432"></a>[pg 432]</span> railways in Central Asia +there was more need than ever of coming to a secret understanding +with a view to defence against that Power.</p> +<p>Finally, we may note that Great Britain has done very much to +make up for her natural defects of position. The Panjdeh affair +having relegated the policy of "masterly inactivity" to the limbo +of benevolent futilities, the materials for the Quetta railway, +which had been in large part sent back to Bombay in the year 1881, +were now brought back again; and an alternative route was made to +Quetta. The urgent need of checkmating French intrigues in Burmah +led to the annexation of that land (November 1885); and the Kurram +Valley, commanding Cabul, which the Gladstone Government had +abandoned, was reoccupied. The Quetta district was annexed to India +in 1887 under the title of British Baluchistan. The year 1891 saw +an important work undertaken in advance of Quetta, the Khojak +tunnel being then driven through a range close by the Afghan +frontier, while an entrenched camp was constructed near by for the +storage of arms and supplies. These positions, and the general hold +which Britain keeps over the Baluchee clans, enable the defenders +of India to threaten on the flank any advance by the otherwise +practicable route from Candahar to the Indus.</p> +<p>Certainly there is every need for careful preparations against +any such enterprise. Lord Curzon, writing before Russia's strategic +railways were complete, thought it feasible for Russia speedily to +throw 150,000 men into Afghanistan, feed them there, and send on +90,000 of them against the Indus<a name="FNanchor348"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_348">[348]</a>. After the optimistic account of the +problem of Indian defence given by Mr. Balfour in the speech above +referred to, it is well to remember that, though Russia cannot +invade India until she has conquered Afghanistan, yet for that +preliminary undertaking she has the advantages of time and position +nearly entirely on her side. Further, the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page433" id="page433"></a>[pg 433]</span> +completion of her railways almost up to the Afghan frontier (the +Tashkend railway is about to be pushed on to the north bank of the +Oxus, near Balkh) minimises the difficulties of food supply and +transport in Afghanistan, on which the Prime Minister laid so much +stress.</p> +<p>It is, however, indisputable that the security of India has been +greatly enhanced by the steady pushing on of that "Forward Policy," +which all friends of peace used to decry. The Ameer, Abdur Rahman, +irritated by the making of the Khojak tunnel, was soothed by Sir +Mortimer Durand's Mission in 1893; and in return for an increase of +subsidy and other advantages, he agreed that the tribes of the +debatable borderland--the Waziris, Afridis, and those of the Swat +and Chitral valleys--should be under the control of the Viceroy. +Russia showed her annoyance at this Mission by seeking to seize an +Afghan town, Murghab; but the Ameer's troops beat them off<a name= +"FNanchor349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349">[349]</a>. Lord Lansdowne +claimed that this right of permanently controlling very troublesome +tribes would end the days of futile "punitive expeditions." In the +main he was right. The peace and security of the frontier depend on +the tact with which some few scores of officers carry on difficult +work of which no one ever hears<a name="FNanchor350"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_350">[350]</a>.</p> +<p>In nearly all cases they have succeeded in their heroic toil. +But the work of pacification was disturbed in the year 1895 by a +rising in the Chitral Valley, which cut off in Chitral Fort a small +force of Sikhs and loyal Kashmir troops with their British +officers. Relieving columns from the Swat Valley and Gilgit cut +their way through swarms of hillmen and relieved the little +garrison after a harassing leaguer of forty-five days<a name= +"FNanchor351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351">[351]</a>. The annoyance +evinced by Russian officers at the success of the expedition and +the retention of the whole of the Chitral district (as large as +Wales) prompts the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page434" id= +"page434"></a>[pg 434]</span> conjecture that they had not been +strangers to the original outbreak. In this year Russia and England +delimited their boundaries in the Pamirs.</p> +<p>The year 1897 saw all the hill tribes west and south of Peshawur +rise against the British Raj. Moslem fanaticism, kindled by the +Sultan's victories over the Greeks, is said to have brought about +the explosion, though critics of the Calcutta Government ascribe it +to official folly<a name="FNanchor352"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_352">[352]</a>. With truly Roman solidity the British +Government quelled the risings, the capture of the heights of +Dargai by the "gay Gordons" showing the sturdy hillmen that they +were no match for our best troops. Since then the "Forward Policy" +has amply justified itself, thousands of fine troops being +recruited from tribes which were recently daring marauders, ready +for a dash into the plains of the Punjab at the bidding of any +would-be disturber of the peace of India. In this case, then, +Britain has transformed a troublesome border fringe into a +protective girdle.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Whether the Russian Government intends in the future to invade +India is a question which time alone can answer. Viewing her +Central Asian policy from the time of the Crimean War, the student +must admit that it bears distinct traces of such a design. Her +advance has always been most conspicuous in the years succeeding +any rebuff dealt by Great Britain, as happened after that war, and +still more, after the Berlin Congress. At first, the theory that a +civilised Power must swallow up restless raiding neighbours could +be cited in explanation of such progress; but such a defence +utterly fails to account for the cynical aggression at Panjdeh and +the favour shown by the Czar to the general who violated a truce. +Equally does it fail to explain the pushing on of strategic +railways since the time of the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese +Treaty of 1902. Possibly Russia intends only to exert upon that +Achilles heel of the British Empire the terrible but nominally +pacific pressure which she brings to bear on the open frontiers of +Germany and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page435" id= +"page435"></a>[pg 435]</span> Austria; and the constant discussion +by her officers of plans of invasion of India may be wholly +unofficial. At the same time we must remember that the idea has +long been a favourite one with the Russian bureaucracy; and the +example of the years 1877-81 shows that that class is ready and +eager to wipe out by a campaign in Central Asia the memory of a war +barren of fame and booty. But that again depends on more general +questions, especially those of finance (now a very serious question +for Russia, seeing that she has drained Paris and Berlin of all +possible loans) and of alliance with some Great Power, or Powers, +anxious to effect the overthrow of Great Britain.</p> +<p>If Great Britain be not enervated by luxury; if she be not led +astray from the paths of true policy by windy talk about "splendid +isolation"; if also she can retain the loyal support of the various +peoples of India,--she may face the contingency of such an invasion +with firmness and equanimity. That it will come is the opinion of +very many authorities of high standing. A native gentleman of high +official rank, who brings forward new evidence on the subject, has +recently declared it to be "inevitable<a name= +"FNanchor353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353">[353]</a>." Such, too, is +the belief of the greatest authority on Indian warfare. Lord +Roberts closes his Autobiography by affirming that an invasion is +"inevitable in the end. We have done much, and may do still more to +delay it; but when that struggle comes, it will be incumbent upon +us, both for political and military reasons, to make use of all the +troops and war material that the Native States can place at our +disposal."</p> +<br> +<p>POSTSCRIPT</p> +<p>On May 22, 1905, the <i>Times</i> published particulars +concerning the Anglo-Afghan Treaty recently signed at Cabul. It +renewed the compact made with the late Ameer, whereby he agreed to +have no relations with any foreign Power except Great Britain, the +latter agreeing to defend him against foreign aggression. The +subsidy of £120,000 a year is to be continued, but the +present Ameer, Habibulla, henceforth receives a title equivalent to +"King" and is styled "His Majesty."</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor311">[311]</a> +General [Sir] J.L. Vaughan, in a Lecture on "Afghanistan and the +Military Operations therein" (December 6, 1878), said of the +Afghans: "When resolutely attacked they rarely hold their ground +with any tenacity, and are always anxious about their rear."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor312">[312]</a> Lord +Roberts, <i>Forty-One Years in India</i>, vol. ii. p. 130 <i>et +seq</i>.; Major J.A.S. Colquhoun, <i>With the Kurram Field Force, +1878-79</i>, pp. 101-102.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor313">[313]</a> Lord +Roberts, <i>op. cit.</i>, vol. ii. pp. 135-149; S.H. Shadbolt, +<i>The Afghan Campaigns of 1878-80</i>, vol. i. pp. 21-25 (with +plan).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor314">[314]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 7, (1879), p. 9. He also states on +p. 172 that the advice of the Afghan officials who accompanied +Shere Ali in his flight was (even in April-May 1879) favourable to +a Russian alliance, and that they advised Yakub in this sense. See +Kaufmann's letters to Yakub, in Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 9 +(1879).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor315">[315]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 7 (1879), p. 23; Roberts, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 170-173.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor316">[316]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 1 (1880), pp. 32-42, 89-96.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor317">[317]</a> +Roberts, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 213-224; Hensman, <i>The +Afghan War of 1878-1880</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor318">[318]</a> See +his adventures in <i>The Life of Abdur Rahman,</i> by Sultan +Mohammed Khan, vol. ii, chaps, v., vi. He gave out that he came to +expel the English (pp. 173-175).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor319">[319]</a> +Roberts, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 315-323.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor320">[320]</a> +<i>The Life of Abdur Rahman</i>, vol. ii. pp. 197-98. For these +negotiations and the final recognition, see Parl. Papers, +Afghanistan, No. 1 (1881), pp. 16-51.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor321">[321]</a> "A +ghazi is a man who, purely for the sake of his religion, kills an +unbeliever, Kaffir, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian, in the +belief that in so doing he gains a sure title to Paradise" (R.I. +Bruce, <i>The Forward Policy</i>, p. 245).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor322">[322]</a> +Report of General Primrose in Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 3 +(1880), p. 156.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor323">[323]</a> S.H. +Shadbolt, <i>The Afghan Campaigns of</i> 1878-80, pp. 96-100. Parl. +Papers, Afghanistan, No. 2 (1880), p. 21; No. 3, pp. 103-5; Lord +Roberts, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 333-5; Hensman, <i>op. +cit.</i> pp. 553-4.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor324">[324]</a> +<i>Colonel Sandeman: His Life and Work on our Indian Frontier,</i> +by T.H. Thornton; R.I. Bruce, <i>The Forward Policy and its +Results</i> (1900), chaps. iv. v.; <i>Candahar in 1879; being the +Diary of Major Le Mesurier, R.E.</i> (1880). The last had reported +in 1879 that the fortifications of Candahar were weak and the +citadel in bad repair.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor325">[325]</a> +Roberts, <i>op. cit.</i> vol. ii. p. 357.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor326">[326]</a> +Parl. Papers, Afghanistan, No. 3 (1880), p. 82. Hensman, <i>The +Afghan War;</i> Shadbolt, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 108-110. The last +reckons Ayub's force at 12,800, of whom 1200 were slain.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor327">[327]</a> +Shadbolt, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 107.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor328">[328]</a> Lady +B. Balfour, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 430, 445. On June 8 Lord Ripon +arrived at Simla and took over the Viceroyalty from Lord Lytton; +the latter was raised to an earldom.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor329">[329]</a> See +Appendix; also Lord Hartington's speeches in the House of Commons, +March 25-6, 1881</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor330">[330]</a> +Abdur Rahman's own account (<i>op. cit.</i> ch. ix.) ascribes his +triumph to his own skill and to Ayub's cowardice.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor331">[331]</a> +<i>Eighteen Years in the Khyber Pass (1879-1898)</i>, by Colonel +Sir R. Warburton, p. 213. The author's father had married a niece +of the Ameer Dost Mohammed.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor332">[332]</a> Lord +Lytton's speech in the House of Lords, Jan. 1881.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor333">[333]</a> This +officer wrote to the <i>Globe</i> on January 25, 1881, stating that +he had fortified two other posts east of Denghil Tepe. This led +Skobeleff to push on to Askabad after the capture of that place; +but he found no strongholds. See Marvin's <i>Russian Advance +towards India</i>, p. 85.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor334">[334]</a> +Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1880), pp. 167-173, 182.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor335">[335]</a> +<i>Siege and Assault of Denghil Tepe</i>. By General Skobeleff +(translated). London, 1881.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor336">[336]</a> +<i>Russia in Central Asia in 1889</i>. By the Hon. G.N. Curzon +(1889), p. 83.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor337">[337]</a> C. +Marvin, <i>Merv, the Queen of the World</i> (1881); E. O'Donovan, +<i>The Merv Oasis</i>, 2 vols. (1882-83), and <i>Merv</i> +(1883).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor338">[338]</a> See +his reports in Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1884), pp. 26, +36, 39, 63, 96, 106.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor339">[339]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 119.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor340">[340]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. pp. +124, 133 (Eng. ed.).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor341">[341]</a> See +Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 1 (1885), for General Lumsden's +refutation of Komaroff's misstatements; also for the general +accounts, <i>ibid</i>. No. 5 (1885), pp. 1-7.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor342">[342]</a> J. +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 184.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor343">[343]</a> +Parl. Papers, Central Asia, No. 4 (1885), pp. 41-72.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor344">[344]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages,</i> etc., vol. iii. p. 135.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor345">[345]</a> In +his <i>Life</i> (vol. i, pp. 244-246) he also greatly blames +British policy.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor346">[346]</a> See +Col. A. Durand's <i>The Making of a Frontier</i> (1899), pp. +41-43.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor347">[347]</a> +Colquhoun, <i>Russia against India</i>, p. 170. Lord Curzon in 1894 +went over much of the ground between Sarrakhs and Candahar and +found it quite easy for an army (except in food supply).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor348">[348]</a> +<i>Op. cit.</i> p. 307. Other authorities differ as to the +practicability of feeding so large a force even in the +comparatively fertile districts of Herat and Candahar.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor349">[349]</a> +<i>Life of Abdur Rahman,</i> vol. i. p. 287.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor350">[350]</a> For +this work see <i>The Life of Sir R. Sandeman</i>; Sir R. Warburton, +<i>Eighteen Years in the Khyber</i>; Durand, <i>op. cit.</i>; +Bruce, <i>The Forward Policy and its Results</i>; Sir James +Willcock's <i>From Cabul to Kumassi</i>; S.S. Thorburn, <i>The +Punjab in Peace and War</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor351">[351]</a> +<i>The Relief of Chitral</i>, by Captains G.J. and F.E. +Younghusband (1895).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor352">[352]</a> See +<i>The Punjab in Peace and War</i>, by S.S. Thorburn, <i>ad +fin.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor353">[353]</a> See +<i>The Nineteenth Century and After</i> for May 1905.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page436" id="page436"></a>[pg +436]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<h3>BRITAIN IN EGYPT</h3> +<br> +<p>It will be well to begin the story of the expansion of the +nations of Europe in Africa by a brief statement of the events +which brought Britain to her present position in Egypt. As we have +seen, the French conquest of Tunis, occurring a year earlier, +formed the first of the many expeditions which inaugurated "the +partition of Africa"--a topic which, as regards the west, centre, +and south of that continent, will engage our attention +subsequently. In this chapter and the following it will be +convenient to bring together the facts concerning the valley of the +Nile, a district which up to a recent time has had only a slight +connection with the other parts of that mighty continent. In his +quaint account of that mysterious land, Herodotus always spoke of +it as distinct from Libya; and this aloofness has characterised +Lower Egypt almost down to the present age, when the events which +we are about to consider brought it into close touch with the +equatorial regions.</p> +<p>The story of the infiltration of British influence into Egypt is +one of the most curious in all history. To this day, despite the +recent agreement with France (1904), the position of England in the +valley of the Lower Nile is irregular, in view of the undeniable +fact that the Sultan is still the suzerain of that land. What is +even stranger, it results from the gradual control which the +purse-holder has imposed on the borrower. The power that holds the +purse-strings counts for much in the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page437" id="page437"></a>[pg 437]</span> political world, as also +elsewhere. Both in national and domestic affairs it ensures, in the +last instance, the control of the earning department over the +spending department. It is the <i>ultima ratio</i> of Parliaments +and husbands.</p> +<p>In order fully to understand the relations of Egypt to Turkey +and to the purse-holders of the West, we must glance back at the +salient events in her history for the past century. The first event +that brought the land of the Pharaohs into the arena of European +politics was the conquest by Bonaparte in 1798. He meant to make +Egypt a flourishing colony, to have the Suez Canal cut, and to use +Alexandria and Suez as bases of action against the British +possessions in India. This daring design was foiled by Nelson's +victory at the Nile, and by the Abercromby-Hutchinson expedition of +1801, which compelled the surrender of the French army left by +Bonaparte in Egypt. The three years of French occupation had no +great political results except the awakening of British +statesmanship to a sense of the value of Egypt for the safeguarding +of India. They also served to weaken the power of the Mamelukes, a +Circassian military caste which had reduced the Sultan's authority +over Egypt to a mere shadow. The ruin of this warlike cavalry was +gradually completed by an Albanian soldier of fortune named +Mohammed Ali, who, first in the name of the Sultan, and later in +defiance of his power, gradually won the allegiance of the +different races of Egypt and made himself virtually ruler of the +land. This powerful Pasha conquered the northern part of the Sudan, +and founded Khartum as the southern bulwark of his realm (1823). He +seems to have grasped the important fact that, as Egypt depends +absolutely on the waters poured down by the Nile in its periodic +floods, her rulers must control that river in its upper reaches--an +idea also held by the ablest of the Pharaohs. To secure this +control, what place could be so suitable as Khartum, at the +junction of the White and Blue Niles?</p> +<p>Mohammed Ali was able to build up an army and navy, which in +1841 was on the point of overthrowing Turkish <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page438" id="page438"></a>[pg 438]</span> power +in Syria, when Great Britain intervened, and by the capture of Acre +compelled the ambitious Pasha to abandon his northern schemes and +own once more the suzerainty of the Porte. The Sultan, however, +acknowledged that the Pashalic of Egypt should be hereditary in his +family. We may remark here that England and France had nearly come +to blows over the Syrian question of that year; but, thanks to the +firm demeanour of Lord Palmerston, their rivalry ended, as in 1801, +in the triumph of British influence and the assertion of the +nominal ascendancy of the Sultan in Egypt. Mohammed was to pay his +lord £363,000 a year. He died in 1849.</p> +<p>No great event took place during the rule of the next Pashas, or +Khedives as they were now termed, Abbas I. (1849-54), and Said +(1854-63), except that M. de Lesseps, a French engineer, gained the +consent of Said in 1856 to the cutting of a ship canal, the +northern entrance to which bears the name of that Khedive. Owing to +the rivalry of Britain and France over the canal it was not +finished until 1869, during the rule of Ismail (1863-79). We may +note here that, as the concession was granted to the Suez Canal +Company only for ninety-nine years, the canal will become the +property of the Egyptian Government in the year 1968.</p> +<p>The opening of the canal placed Egypt once more on one of the +greatest highways of the world's commerce, and promised to bring +endless wealth to her ports. That hope has not been fulfilled. The +profits have gone almost entirely to the foreign investors, and a +certain amount of trade has been withdrawn from the Egyptian +railways. Sir John Stokes, speaking in 1887, said he found in Egypt +a prevalent impression that the country had been injured by the +canal<a name="FNanchor354"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_354">[354]</a>.</p> +<p>Certainly Egypt was less prosperous after its opening, but +probably owing to another and mightier event which occurred at the +beginning of Ismail's rule. This was the American Civil War. The +blockade of the Southern States by the federal cruisers cut off +from Lancashire and Northern France the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page439" id="page439"></a>[pg 439]</span> +supplies of raw cotton which are the life-blood of their +industries. Cotton went up in price until even the conservative +fellahin of Egypt saw the desirability of growing that strange new +shrub--the first instance on record of a change in their tillage +that came about without compulsion. So great were the profits +reaped by intelligent growers that many fellahin bought Circassian +and Abyssinian wives, and established harems in which jewels, +perfumes, silks, and mirrors were to be found. In a word, Egypt +rioted in its new-found wealth. This may be imagined from the +totals of exports, which in three years rose from £4,500,000 +to considerably more than £13,000,000<a name= +"FNanchor355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355">[355]</a>.</p> +<p>But then came the end of the American Civil War. Cotton fell to +its normal price, and ruin stared Egypt in the face. For not only +merchants and fellahin, but also their ruler, had plunged into +expenditure, and on the most lavish scale. Nay! Believing that the +Suez Canal would bring boundless wealth to his land, Ismail +persisted in his palace-building and other forms of oriental +extravagance, with the result that in the first twelve years of his +reign, that is, by the year 1875, he had spent more than +£100,000,000 of public money, of which scarcely one-tenth had +been applied to useful ends. The most noteworthy of these last were +the Barrage of the Nile in the upper part of the Delta, an +irrigation canal in Upper Egypt, the Ibrahimiyeh Canal, and the +commencement of the Wady Haifa-Khartum railway. The grandeur of his +views may be realised when it is remembered that he ordered this +railway to be made of the same gauge as those of South Africa, +because "it would save trouble in the end."</p> +<p>As to the sudden fall in the price of cotton, his only expedient +for making good the loss was to grow sugar on a great scale, but +this was done so unwisely as to increase the deficits. As a natural +consequence, the Egyptian debt, which at his accession stood at +£3,000,000, reached the extraordinary sum of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page440" id="page440"></a>[pg 440]</span> +£89,000,000 in the year 1876, and that, too, despite the +increase of the land tax by one-half. All the means which oriental +ingenuity has devised for the systematic plunder of a people were +now put in force; so that Sir Alfred Milner (now Lord Milner), +after unequalled opportunities of studying the Egyptian Question, +declared: "There is nothing in the financial history of any +country, from the remotest ages to the present time, to equal this +carnival of extravagance and oppression<a name= +"FNanchor356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356">[356]</a>."</p> +<p>The Khedive himself had to make some sacrifices of a private +nature, and one of these led to an event of international +importance. Towards the close of the year 1875 he decided to sell +the 177,000 shares which he held in the Suez Canal Company. In the +first place he offered them secretly to the French Government for +100,000,000 francs; and the Foreign Minister, the Duc Decazes, it +seems, wished to buy them; but the Premier, M. Buffet, and other +Ministers hesitated, perhaps in view of the threats of war from +Germany, which had alarmed all responsible men. In any case, France +lost her chance<a name="FNanchor357"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_357">[357]</a>. Fortunately for Great Britain, news of +the affair was sent to one of her ablest journalists, Mr. Frederick +Greenwood, who at once begged Lord Derby, then Minister for Foreign +Affairs, to grant him an interview. The result was an urgent +message from Lord Derby to Colonel Staunton, the British envoy in +Egypt, to find out the truth from the Khedive himself. The tidings +proved to be correct, and the Beaconsfield Cabinet at once +sanctioned the purchase of the shares for the sum of close on +£4,000,000.</p> +<p>It is said that the French envoy to Egypt was playing billiards +when he heard of the purchase, and in his rage he broke his cue in +half. His anger was natural, quite apart from financial +considerations. In that respect the purchase has been a brilliant +success; for the shares are now worth more than £30,000,000, +and yield an annual return of about a million <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page441" id="page441"></a>[pg 441]</span> +sterling; but this monetary gain is as nothing when compared with +the influence which the United Kingdom has gained in the affairs of +a great undertaking whereby M. de Lesseps hoped to assure the +ascendancy of France in Egypt.</p> +<p>The facts of history, it should be noted, lent support to this +contention of "the great Frenchman." The idea of the canal had +originated with Napoleon I., and it was revived with much energy by +the followers of the French philosopher, St. Simon, in the years +1833-37<a name="FNanchor358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358">[358]</a>. +The project, however, then encountered the opposition of British +statesmen, as it did from the days of Pitt to those of Palmerston. +This was not unnatural; for it promised to bring back to the ports +of the Mediterranean the preponderant share in the eastern trade +which they had enjoyed before the discovery of the route by the +Cape of Good Hope. The political and commercial interests of +England were bound up with the sea route, especially after the Cape +was definitively assigned to her by the Peace of Paris of 1814; but +she could not see with indifference the control by France of a +canal which would divert trade once more to the old overland route. +That danger was now averted by the financial <i>coup</i> just +noticed--an affair which may prove to have been scarcely less +important in a political sense than Nelson's victory at the +Nile.</p> +<p>In truth, the Sea Power has made up for her defects of position +as regards Egypt by four great strokes--the triumph of her great +admiral, the purchase of Ismail's canal shares, the repression of +Arabi's revolt, and Lord Kitchener's victory at Omdurman. The +present writer has not refrained from sharp criticism on British +policy in the period 1870-1900; and the Egyptian policy of the +Cabinets of Queen Victoria has been at times open to grave censure; +but, on the whole, it has come out well, thanks to the ability of +individuals to supply the qualities of foresight, initiative, and +unswerving persistence, in which Ministers since the time of +Chatham have rarely excelled.</p> +<p>The sale of Ismail's canal shares only served to stave off the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page442" id="page442"></a>[pg +442]</span> impending crash which would have formed the natural +sequel to this new "South Sea Bubble." All who took part in this +carnival of folly ought to have suffered alike, Ismail and his beys +along with the stock-jobbers and dividend-hunters of London and +Paris. In an ordinary case these last would have lost their money; +but in this instance the borrower was weak and dependent, while the +lenders were in a position to stir up two powerful Governments to +action. Nearly the whole of the Egyptian loans was held in England +and France; and in 1876, when Ismail was floating swiftly down +stream to the abyss of bankruptcy, the British and French +bondholders cast about them for means to secure their own safety. +They organised themselves for the protection of their interests. +The Khedive consented to hear the advice of their representatives, +Messrs. Goschen and Joubert; but it was soon clear that he desired +merely a comfortable liquidation and the continuance of his present +expenditure.</p> +<p>That year saw the institution of the "Caisse de la Dette," with +power to receive the revenue set aside for the service of the debt, +and to sanction or forbid new loans; and in the month of November +1876 the commission of bondholders took the form of the "Dual +Control." In 1878 a Commission was appointed with power to examine +the whole of the Egyptian administration. It met with the strongest +opposition from the Khedive, until in the next year means were +found to bring about his abdication by the act of the Sultan (June +26, 1879). His successor was his son Tewfik (1879-92).</p> +<p>On their side the bondholders had to submit to a reduction of +rates of interest to a uniform rate of 4 per cent on the Unified +Debt. Even so, it was found in the year 1881--a prosperous +year--that about half of the Egyptian revenue, then +£9,229,000, had to be diverted to the payment of that +interest<a name="FNanchor359"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_359">[359]</a>. Again, one must remark that such a +situation in an overtaxed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page443" +id="page443"></a>[pg 443]</span> country would naturally end in +bankruptcy; but this was prevented by foreign control, which sought +to cut down expenditure in all directions. As a natural result, +many industries suffered from the lack of due support; for even in +the silt-beds formed by the Nile (and they are the real Egypt) +there is need of capital to bring about due results. In brief, the +popular discontent gave strength to a movement which aimed at +ousting foreign influences of every kind, not only the usurers and +stock-jobbers that sucked the life-blood of the land, but even the +engineers and bankers who quickened its sluggish circulation. This +movement was styled a national movement; and its abettors raised +that cry of "Egypt for Egyptians," which has had its counterpart +wherever selfish patriots seek to keep all the good things of the +land to themselves. The Egyptian troubles of the year 1882 +originated partly in feelings of this narrow kind, and partly in +the jealousies and strifes of military cliques.</p> +<p>Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace, after carefully investigating the +origin of the "Arabi movement," came to the conclusion that it was +to be found in the determination of the native Egyptian officers to +force their way to the higher grades of that army, hitherto +reserved for Turks or Circassians. Said and Ismail had favoured the +rise of the best soldiers of the fellahin class (that is, natives), +and several of them, on becoming colonels, aimed at yet higher +posts. This aroused bitter resentment in the dominant Turkish +caste, which looked on the fellahin as born to pay taxes and bear +burdens. Under the masterful Ismail these jealousies were hidden; +but the young and inexperienced Tewfik, the nominee of the rival +Western Powers, was unable to bridle the restless spirits of the +army, who looked around them for means to strengthen their position +at the expense of their rivals. These jealousies were inflamed by +the youthful caprice of Tewfik. At first he extended great favour +to Ali Fehmi, an officer of fellah descent, only to withdraw it +owing to the intrigues of a Circassian rival. Ali Fehmi sought for +revenge by forming a cabal with other <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page444" id="page444"></a>[pg 444]</span> fellah +colonels, among whom a popular leader soon came to the front. This +was Arabi Bey.</p> +<p>Arabi's frame embodied the fine animal qualities of the better +class of fellahin, but to these he added mental gifts of no mean +order. After imbibing the rather narrow education of a devout +Moslem, he formed some acquaintance with western thought, and from +it his facile mind selected a stock of ideas which found ready +expression in conversation. His soft dreamy eyes and fluent speech +rarely failed to captivate men of all classes<a name= +"FNanchor360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360">[360]</a>. His popularity +endowed the discontented camarilla with new vigour, enabling it to +focus all the discontented elements, and to become a movement of +almost national import. Yet Arabi was its spokesman, or +figure-head, rather than the actual propelling power. He seems to +have been to a large extent the dupe of schemers who pushed him on +for their own advantage. At any rate it is significant that after +his fall he declared that British supremacy was the one thing +needful for Egypt; and during his old age, passed in Ceylon, he +often made similar statements<a name="FNanchor361"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_361">[361]</a>.</p> +<p>The Khedive's Ministers, hearing of the intrigues of the +discontented officers, resolved to arrest their chiefs; but on the +secret leaking out, the offenders turned the tables on the +authorities, and with soldiers at their back demanded the dismissal +of the Minister of War and the redress of their chief +grievance--the undue promotion of Turks and Circassians.</p> +<p>The Khedive felt constrained to yield, and agreed to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page445" id="page445"></a>[pg +445]</span> appointment of a Minister of War who was a secret +friend of the plotters. They next ventured on a military +demonstration in front of the Khedive's palace, with a view to +extorting the dismissal of the able and energetic Prime Minister, +Riaz Pasha. Again Tewfik yielded, and consented to the appointment +of the weak and indolent Sherif Pasha. To consolidate their triumph +the mutineers now proposed measures which would please the +populace. Chief among them was a plan for instituting a +consultative National Assembly. This would serve as a check on the +Dual Control and on the young Khedive, whom it had placed in his +present ambiguous position.</p> +<p>A Chamber of Notables met in the closing days of 1881, and +awakened great hopes, not only in Egypt, but among all who saw hope +in the feeling of nationality and in a genuine wish for reform +among a Moslem people. What would have happened had the Notables +been free to work out the future of Egypt, it is impossible to say. +The fate of the Young Turkish party and of Midhat's constitution of +December 1877 formed by no means a hopeful augury. In the abstract +there is much to be said for the two chief demands of the +Notables--that the Khedive's Ministers should be responsible to the +people's representatives, and that the Dual Control of Great +Britain and France should be limited to the control of the revenues +set apart for the purposes of the Egyptian public debt. The +petitioners, however, ignored the fact that democracy could +scarcely be expected to work successfully in a land where not one +man in a hundred had the least notion what it meant, and, further, +that the Western Powers would not give up their coign of vantage at +the bidding of Notables who really represented little more than the +dominant military party. Besides, the acts of this party stamped it +as oriental even while it masqueraded in the garb of western +democracy. Having grasped the reins of government, the fellahin +colonels proceeded to relegate their Turkish and Circassian rivals +to service at Khartum--an ingenious form of banishment. Against +this and other despotic acts the representatives of Great Britain +and France <span class="pagenum"><a name="page446" id= +"page446"></a>[pg 446]</span> energetically protested, and, seeing +that the Khedive was helpless, they brought up ships of war to make +a demonstration against the <i>de facto</i> governors of Egypt.</p> +<p>It should be noted that these steps were taken by the Gladstone +and Gambetta Cabinets, which were not likely to intervene against a +genuinely democratic movement merely in the interests of British +and French bondholders. On January 7, 1882, the two Cabinets sent a +Joint Note to the Khedive assuring him of their support and of +their desire to remove all grievances, external and internal alike, +that threatened the existing order<a name= +"FNanchor362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362">[362]</a>.</p> +<p>While, however, the Western Powers sided with the Khedive, the +other European States, including Turkey, began to show signs of +impatience and annoyance at any intervention on their part. Russia +saw the chance of revenge on England for the events of 1878, and +Bismarck sought to gain the favour of the Sultan. As for that +potentate, his conduct was as tortuous as usual. From the outset he +gave secret support to Arabi's party, probably with the view of +undermining the Dual Control and the Khedive's dynasty alike. He +doubtless saw that Turkish interests might ultimately be furthered +even by the men who had imprisoned or disgraced Turkish officers +and Ministers.</p> +<p>Possibly the whole question might have been peaceably solved had +Gambetta remained in power; for he was strongly in favour of a +joint Anglo-French intervention in case the disorders continued. +The Gladstone Government at that time demurred to such +intervention, and claimed that it would come more legally from +Turkey, or, if this were undesirable, from all the Powers; but this +divergence of view did not prevent the two Governments from acting +together on several matters. Gambetta, however, fell from power at +the end of January 1882, and his far weaker successor, de +Freycinet, having to face a most complex parliamentary situation in +France and the possible hostility of the other Powers, drew back +from the leading <span class="pagenum"><a name="page447" id= +"page447"></a>[pg 447]</span> position which Gambetta's bolder +policy had accorded to France. The vacillations at Paris tended +alike to weaken Anglo-French action and to encourage the Arabi +party and the Sultan. As matters went from bad to worse in Egypt, +the British Foreign Minister, Lord Granville, proposed on May 24 +that the Powers should sanction an occupation of Egypt by Turkish +troops. To this M. de Freycinet demurred, and, while declaring that +France would not send an expedition, proposed that a European +Conference should be held on the Egyptian Question.</p> +<p>The Gladstone Cabinet at once agreed to this, and the Conference +met for a short time at the close of June, but without the +participation of Turkey<a name="FNanchor363"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_363">[363]</a>. For the Sultan, hoping that the +divisions of the Powers would enable him to restore Turkish +influence in Egypt, now set his emissaries to work to arouse there +the Moslem fanaticism which he has so profitably exploited in all +parts of his Empire. A Turkish Commission had been sent to inquire +into matters--with the sole result of enriching the chief +commissioner. In brief, thanks to the perplexities and hesitations +of the Western Powers and the ill-humour manifested by Germany and +Russia, Europe was helpless, and the Arabi party felt that they had +the game in their own hands. Bismarck said to his secretary, Busch, +on June 8: "They [the British] set about the affair in an awkward +way, and have got on a wrong track by sending their ironclads to +Alexandria, and now, finding that there is nothing to be done, they +want the rest of Europe to help them out of their difficulty by +means of a Conference<a name="FNanchor364"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_364">[364]</a>."</p> +<p>Already, on May 27, the Egyptian malcontents had ventured on a +great military demonstration against the Khedive, which led to +Arabi being appointed Minister of War. His followers also sought to +inflame the hatred to foreigners for which the greed of Greek and +Jewish usurers was so largely responsible. The results perhaps +surpassed the hopes of the Egyptian <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page448" id="page448"></a>[pg 448]</span> nationalists. Moslem +fanaticism suddenly flashed into flame. On the 11th of June a street +brawl between a Moslem and a Maltese led to a fierce rising. The +"true believers" attacked the houses of the Europeans, secured a +great quantity of loot, and killed about fifty of them, including +men from the British squadron. The English party that always calls +out for non-intervention made vigorous efforts at that time, and +subsequently, to represent this riot and massacre as a mere passing +event which did not seriously compromise the welfare of Egypt; but +Sir Alfred Milner in his calm and judicial survey of the whole +question states that the fears then entertained by Europeans in +Egypt "so far from being exaggerated, . . . perhaps even fell short +of the danger which was actually impending<a name= +"FNanchor365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365">[365]</a>."</p> +<p>The events at Alexandria and Tantah made armed intervention +inevitable. Nothing could be hoped for from Turkey. The Sultan's +special envoy, Dervish Pasha, had arrived in Egypt only a few days +before the outbreak; and after that occurrence Abdul Hamid thought +fit to send a decoration to Arabi. Encouraged by the support of +Turkey and by the well-known jealousies of the Powers, the military +party now openly prepared to defy Europe. They had some grounds for +hope. Every one knew that France was in a very cautious mood, +having enough on her hands in Tunis and Algeria, while her +relations to England had rapidly cooled<a name= +"FNanchor366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366">[366]</a>. Germany, +Russia, and Austria seemed to be acting together according to an +understanding arrived at by the three Emperors after their meeting +at Danzig in 1881; and Germany had begun that work of favouring the +Sultan which enabled her to supplant British influence at +Constantinople. Accordingly, few persons, least of all Arabi, +believed that the Gladstone Cabinet would dare to act alone and +strike a decisive blow. But they counted wrongly. Gladstone's +toleration in regard to foreign affairs <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page449" id="page449"></a>[pg 449]</span> was +large-hearted, but it had its limits. He now declared in Parliament +that Arabi had thrown off the mask and was evidently working to +depose the Khedive and oust all Europeans from Egypt; England would +intervene to prevent this--if possible with the authority of +Europe, with the support of France, and the co-operation of Turkey; +but, if necessary, alone<a name="FNanchor367"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_367">[367]</a>.</p> +<p>Even this clear warning was lost on Arabi and his following. +Believing that Britain was too weak, and her Ministry too +vacillating, to make good these threats, they proceeded to arm the +populace and strengthen the forts of Alexandria. Sir Beauchamp +Seymour, now at the head of a strong squadron, reported to London +that these works were going on in a threatening manner, and on July +6 sent a demand to Arabi that the operations should cease at once. +To this Arabi at once acceded. Nevertheless, the searchlight, when +suddenly turned on, showed that work was going on at night. A +report of an Egyptian officer was afterwards found in one of the +forts, in which he complained of the use of the electric light by +the English as distinctly discourteous. It may here be noted that +M. de Freycinet, in his jaundiced survey of British action at this +time, seeks to throw doubt on the resumption of work by Arabi's +men. But Admiral Seymour's reports leave no loophole for doubt. +Finally, on July 10, the admiral demanded, not only the cessation +of hostile preparations, but the surrender of some of the forts +into British hands. The French fleet now left the harbour and +steamed for Port Said. Most of the Europeans of Alexandria had +withdrawn to ships provided for them; and on the morrow, when the +last of the twenty-four hours of grace brought no submission, the +British fleet opened fire at 7 A.M.</p> +<p>The ensuing action is of great interest as being one of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page450" id="page450"></a>[pg +450]</span> very few cases in modern warfare where ships have +successfully encountered modern forts. The seeming helplessness of +the British unarmoured ships before Cronstadt during the Crimean +War, their failure before the forts of Sevastopol, and the +uselessness of the French navy during the war of 1870, had spread +the notion that warships could not overpower modern fortifications. +Probably this impression lay at the root of Arabi's defiance. He +had some grounds for confidence. The British fleet consisted of +eight battleships (of which only the <i>Inflexible</i> and +<i>Alexandra</i> were of great fighting power), along with five +unarmoured vessels. The forts mounted 33 rifled muzzle-loading +guns, 3 rifled breech-loaders, and 120 old smooth-bores. The +advantage in gun-power lay with the ships, especially as the +sailors were by far the better marksmen. Yet so great is the +superiority of forts over ships that the engagement lasted five +hours or more (7 A.M. till noon) before most of the forts were +silenced more or less completely. Fort Pharos continued to fire +till 4 P.M. On the whole, the Egyptian gunners stood manfully to +their guns. Considering the weight of metal thrown against the +forts, namely, 1741 heavy projectiles and 1457 light, the damage +done to them was not great, only 27 cannon being silenced +completely, and 5 temporarily. On the other hand, the ships were +hit only 75 times and lost only 6 killed and 27 wounded. The +results show that the comparatively distant cannonades of to-day, +even with great guns, are far less deadly than the old sea-fights +when ships were locked yard-arm to yard-arm.</p> +<p>[Illustration: BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA (BOMBARDMENT OF, 1882).]</p> +<p>Had Admiral Seymour at once landed a force of marines and +bluejackets, all the forts would probably have been surrendered at +once. For some reason not fully known, this was not done. Spasmodic +firing began again in the morning, but a truce was before long +arranged, which proved to be only a device for enabling Arabi and +his troops to escape. The city, meanwhile, was the scene of a +furious outbreak against Europeans, in which some 400 or 500 +persons perished. Damage, afterwards assessed at £7,000,000, +was done by fire</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page451" id="page451"></a>[pg +451]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/451.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Battle of Alexandria (Bombardment of, 1882)</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page452" id="page452"></a>[pg +452]</span> +<p>and pillage. It was not till the 14th that the admiral, after +receiving reinforcements, felt able to send troops into the city, +when a few severe examples cowed the plunderers and restored order. +The Khedive, who had shut himself up in his palace at Ramleh, now +came back to the seaport under the escort of a British force, and +thenceforth remained virtually, though not in name, under British +protection.</p> +<p>The bombardment of Alexandria brought about the resignation of +that sturdy Quaker, and friend of peace, Mr. John Bright from the +Gladstone Ministry; but everything tends to show (as even M. de +Freycinet admits) that the crisis took Ministers by surprise. +Nothing was ready at home for an important campaign; and it would +seem that hostilities resulted, firstly, from the violence of +Arabi's supporters in Alexandria, and, secondly, from their +persistence in warlike preparations which might have endangered the +safety of Admiral Seymour's fleet. The situation was becoming like +that of 1807 at the Dardanelles, when the Turks gave smooth +promises to Admiral Duckworth, all the time strengthening their +forts, with very disagreeable results. Probably the analogy of +1807, together with the proven perfidy of Arabi's men, brought on +hostilities, which the British Ministers up to the end were anxious +to avoid.</p> +<p>In any case, the die was now cast, and England entered +questioningly on a task, the magnitude and difficulty of which no +one could then foresee. She entered on it alone, and that, too, +though the Gladstone Ministry had made pressing overtures for the +help of France, at any rate as regarded the protection of the Suez +Canal. To this extent, de Freycinet and his colleagues were +prepared to lend their assistance; but, despite Gambetta's urgent +appeal for common action with England at that point, the Chamber of +Deputies still remained in a cautiously negative mood, and to that +frame of mind M. Clémenceau added strength by a speech +ending with a glorification of prudence. "Europe," he said, "is +covered with soldiers; every one is in a state of expectation; all +the Power <span class="pagenum"><a name="page453" id= +"page453"></a>[pg 453]</span> are reserving their future liberty of +action; do you reserve the liberty of action of France." The +restricted co-operation with England which the Cabinet recommended +found favour with only seventy-five deputies; and, when face to +face with a large hostile majority, de Freycinet and his colleagues +resigned (July 29, 1882)<a name="FNanchor368"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_368">[368]</a>. Prudence, fear of the newly-formed +Triple Alliance, or jealousy of England, drew France aside from the +path to which her greatest captains, thinkers, and engineers had +beckoned her in time past. Whatever the predominant motive may have +been, it altered the course of history in the valley of the +Nile.</p> +<p>After the refusal of France to co-operate with England even to +the smallest extent, the Conference of the Powers became a nullity, +and its sessions ceased despite the lack of any formal +adjournment<a name="FNanchor369"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_369">[369]</a>. Here, as on so many other occasions, the +Concert of the Powers displayed its weakness; and there can be no +doubt that the Sultan and Arabi counted on that weakness in playing +the dangerous game which brought matters to the test of the sword. +The jealousies of the Powers now stood fully revealed. Russia +entered a vigorous protest against England's action at Alexandria; +Italy evinced great annoyance, and at once repelled a British +proposal for her co-operation; Germany also showed much resentment, +and turned the situation to profitable account by substituting her +influence for that of Britain in the counsels of the Porte. The +Sultan, thwarted in the midst of his tortuous intrigues for a great +Moslem revival, showed his spleen and his diplomatic skill by +loftily protesting against Britain's violation of international +law, and thereafter by refusing (August 1) to proclaim Arabi a +rebel against the Khedive's authority. The essential timidity of +Abdul Hamid's nature in presence of superior force was shown by a +subsequent change of front. On hearing of British successes, he +placed Arabi under the ban (September 8).</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the British expedition of some 10,000 men, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page454" id="page454"></a>[pg +454]</span> despatched to Egypt under the command of Sir Garnet +Wolseley made as though it would attack Arabi from Alexandria as a +base. But on nearing that port at nightfall it steered about and +occupied Port Said (August 15). Kantara and Ismailia, on the canal, +were speedily seized; and the Seaforth Highlanders by a rapid march +occupied Chalouf and prevented the cutting of the freshwater canal +by the rebels. Thenceforth the little army had the advantage of +marching near fresh water, and by a route on which Arabi was not at +first expecting them. Sir Garnet Wolseley's movements were of that +quick and decisive order which counts for so much against +orientals. A sharp action at Tel-el-Mahuta obliged Arabi's forces, +some 10,000 strong, to abandon entrenchments thrown up at that +point (August 24).</p> +<p>Four days later there was desperate fighting at Kassassin Lock +on the freshwater canal. There the Egyptians flung themselves in +large numbers against a small force sent forward under General +Graham to guard that important point. The assailants fought with +the recklessness begotten by the proclamation of a holy war against +infidels, and for some time the issue remained in doubt. At length, +about sundown, three squadrons of the Household Cavalry, and the +7th Dragoon Guards, together with four light guns, were hastily +sent forward from the main body in the rear to clinch the affair. +General Drury Lowe wheeled this little force round the left flank +of the enemy, and, coming up unperceived in the gathering darkness, +charged with such fury as to scatter the hostile array in instant +rout<a name="FNanchor370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370">[370]</a>. +The enemy fell back on the entrenchments at Tel-el-Kebir, while the +whole British force (including a division from India) concentrated +at Kassassin, 17,400 strong, with 61 guns and 6 Gatlings.</p> +<p>The final action took place on September 13, at Tel-el-Kebir. +There Arabi had thrown up a double line of earthworks of some +strength, covering about four miles, and lay with a force that has +been estimated at 20,000 to 25,000 regulars and 7000 <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page455" id="page455"></a>[pg 455]</span> +irregulars. Had the assailants marched across the desert and +attacked these works by day, they must have sustained heavy losses. +Sir Garnet therefore determined to try the effect of a surprise at +dawn, and moved his men forward after sunset of the 12th until they +came within striking distance of the works. After a short rest they +resumed their advance shortly before the time when the first +streaks of dawn would appear on the eastern sky. At about 500 yards +from the works, the advance was dimly silhouetted against the +paling orient. Shortly before five o'clock, an Egyptian rifle rang +out a sharp warning, and forthwith the entrenchments spurted forth +smoke and flame. At once the British answered by a cheer and a rush +over the intervening ground, each regiment eager to be the first to +ply the bayonet. The Highlanders, under the command of General +Graham, were leading on the left, and therefore won in this race +for glory; but on all sides the invaders poured almost +simultaneously over the works. For several minutes there was sharp +fighting on the parapet; but the British were not to be denied, and +drove before them the defenders as a kind of living screen against +the fire that came from the second entrenchments; these they +carried also, and thrust the whole mass out into the desert<a name= +"FNanchor371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371">[371]</a>. There hundreds +of them fell under the sabres of the British cavalry which swept +down from the northern end of the lines; but the pursuit was +neither prolonged nor sanguinary. Sir Garnet Wolseley was satisfied +with the feat of dissolving Arabi's army into an armed or unarmed +rabble by a single sharp blow, and now kept horses and men for +further eventualities.</p> +<p>By one of those flashes of intuition that mark the born leader +of men, the British commander perceived that the whole war might be +ended if a force of cavalry pushed on to Cairo and demanded the +surrender of its citadel at the moment when the news of the +disaster at Tel-el-Kebir unmanned its defenders. The conception +must rank as one of the most daring recorded <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page456" id="page456"></a>[pg 456]</span> in the +annals of war. In the ancient capital of Egypt there were more than +300,000 Moslems, lately aroused to dangerous heights of fanaticism +by the proclamation of a "holy war" against infidels. Its great +citadel, towering some 250 feet above the city, might seem to bid +defiance to all the horsemen of the British army. Finally, Arabi +had repaired thither in order to inspire vigour into a garrison +numbering some 10,000 men. Nevertheless, Wolseley counted on the +moral effect of his victory to level the ramparts of the citadel +and to abase the mushroom growth of Arabi's pride.</p> +<p>His surmise was more than justified by events. While his Indian +contingent pushed on to occupy Zagazig, Sir Drury Lowe, with a +force mustering fewer than 500 sabres, pressed towards Cairo by a +desert road in order to summon it on the morrow. After halting at +Belbeïs the troopers gave rein to their steeds; and a ride of +nearly 40 miles brought them to the city about sundown. Rumour +magnified their numbers; while the fatalism that used to nerve the +Moslem in his great days now predisposed him to bow the knee and +mutter <i>Kismet</i> at the advent of the seemingly predestined +masters of Egypt. To this small, wearied, but lordly band Cairo +surrendered, and Arabi himself handed over his sword. On the +following day the infantry came up and made good this precarious +conquest.</p> +<p>In presence of this startling triumph the Press of the Continent +sought to find grounds for the belief that Arabi, and Cairo as +well, had been secretly bought over by British gold. It is somewhat +surprising to find M. de Freycinet<a name= +"FNanchor372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372">[372]</a> repeating +to-day this piece of spiteful silliness, which might with as much +reason be used to explain away the victories of Clive and Coote, +Outram and Havelock. The slanders of continental writers themselves +stand in need of explanation. It is to be found in their annoyance +at discovering that England had an army which could carry through a +difficult campaign to a speedy and triumphant conclusion. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page457" id="page457"></a>[pg +457]</span> typical attitude had been that of Bismarck, namely, of +exultation at her difficulties and of hope of her discomfiture. Now +their tone changed to one of righteous indignation at the +irregularity of her conduct in acting on behalf of Europe without +any mandate from the Powers, and in using the Suez Canal as a base +of operations.</p> +<p>In this latter respect Britain's conduct was certainly open to +criticism<a name="FNanchor373"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_373">[373]</a>. On the other hand, it is doubtful +whether Arabi would have provoked her to action had he not been +tacitly encouraged by the other Powers, which, while professing +their wish to see order restored in Egypt, in most cases secretly +sought to increase her difficulties in undertaking that task. As +for the Sultan, he had now trimmed his sails by declaring Arabi a +rebel to the Khedive's authority; and in due course that officer +was tried, found guilty, and exiled to Ceylon early in 1883. The +conduct of France, Germany, and Russia, if we may judge by the tone +of their officially inspired Press, was scarcely more +straightforward, and was certainly less discreet. On all sides +there were diatribes against Britain's high-handed and lawless +behaviour, and some German papers affected to believe that Hamburg +might next be chosen for bombardment by the British fleet. These +outbursts, in the case of Germany, may have been due to Bismarck's +desire to please Russia, and secondarily France, in all possible +ways. It is doubtful whether he gained this end. Certainly he and +his underlings in the Press widened the gulf that now separated the +two great Teutonic peoples.</p> +<p>The annoyance of France was more natural. She had made the Suez +Canal, and had participated in the Dual Control; but her mistake in +not sharing in the work of restoring order was irreparable. Every +one in Egypt saw that the control of that country must rest with +the Power which had swept away Arabi's Government and +re-established the fallen <span class="pagenum"><a name="page458" +id="page458"></a>[pg 458]</span> authority of the Khedive. A few +persons in England, even including one member of the Gladstone +Administration, Mr. Courtney, urged a speedy withdrawal; but the +Cabinet, which had been unwillingly but irresistibly drawn thus far +by the force of circumstances, could not leave Egypt a prey to +anarchy; and, clearly, the hand that repressed anarchy ruled the +country for the time being. It is significant that on April 4, +1883, more than 2600 Europeans in Egypt presented a petition +begging that the British occupation might be permanent<a name= +"FNanchor374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374">[374]</a>.</p> +<p>Mr. Gladstone, however, and others of his Cabinet, had declared +that it would be only temporary, and would, in fact, last only so +long as to enable order and prosperity to grow up under the shadow +of new and better institutions. These pledges were given with all +sincerity, and the Prime Minister and his colleagues evidently +wished to be relieved from what was to them a disagreeable burden. +The French in Egypt, of course, fastened on these promises, and one +of their newspapers, the <i>Journal Egyptien</i>, printed them +every day at the head of its front columns<a name= +"FNanchor375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375">[375]</a>. Mr. Gladstone, +who sought above all things for a friendly understanding with +France, keenly felt, even to the end of his career, that the +continued occupation of Egypt hindered that most desirable +consummation. He was undoubtedly right. The irregularity of +England's action in Egypt hampered her international relations at +many points; and it may be assigned as one of the causes that +brought France into alliance with Russia.</p> +<p>What, then, hindered the fulfilment of Mr. Gladstone's pledges? +In the first place, the dog-in-the-manger policy of French +officials and publicists increased the difficulties of the British +administrators who now, in the character of advisers of the +Khedive, really guided him and controlled his Ministers. The scheme +of administration adopted was in the main that advised by Lord +Dufferin in his capacity of Special Envoy. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page459" id="page459"></a>[pg 459]</span> The +details, however, are too wide and complex to be set forth here. So +also are those of the disputes between our officials and those of +France. Suffice it to say that by shutting up the funds of the +"Caisse de la Dette," the French administrators of that great +reserve fund hoped to make Britain's position untenable and hasten +her evacuation. In point of fact, these and countless other +pin-pricks delayed Egypt's recovery and furnished a good reason why +Britain should not withdraw<a name="FNanchor376"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_376">[376]</a>.</p> +<p>But above and beyond these administrative details, there was one +all-compelling cause, the war-cloud that now threatened the land of +the Pharaohs from that home of savagery and fanaticism, the +Sudan.</p> +<br> +<p>NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>For new light on the nationalist movement in Egypt and the part +which Arabi played in it, the reader should consult <i>How we +defended Arabi</i>, by A.M. Broadley (London, 1884). The same +writer in his <i>Tunis, Past and Present</i> (2 vols. 1882) has +thrown much light on the Tunis Question and on the Pan-Islamic +movement in North Africa.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor354">[354]</a> +Quoted by D.A. Cameron, <i>Egypt in the Nineteenth Century</i>, p. +242.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor355">[355]</a> +<i>Egypt and the Egyptian Question</i>, by Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace +(1883), pp. 318-320.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor356">[356]</a> +<i>England in Egypt</i>, by Sir Alfred Milner (Lord Milner), 1892, +pp. 216-219. (The Egyptian £ is equal to £1:0:6.) I +give the figures as pounds sterling.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor357">[357]</a> +<i>La Question d'Égypte</i>, by C. de Freycinet (1905), p. +151.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor358">[358]</a> +<i>La Question d'Égypte</i>, by C. de Freycinet, p. 106.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor359">[359]</a> +<i>England in Egypt</i>, etc. p. 222. See there for details as to +the Dual Control; also de Freycinet, <i>op. cit</i>. chap. ii., and +<i>The Expansion of Egypt</i>, by A. Silva White, chap. vi.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor360">[360]</a> Sir +D.M. Wallace, <i>Egypt and the Egyptian Question</i>, p. 67.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor361">[361]</a> Mr. +Morley says (<i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 73) that +Arabi's movement "was in truth national as well as military; it was +anti-European, and above all, it was in its objects anti-Turk."--In +view of the evidence collected by Sir D.M. Wallace, and by Lord +Milner (<i>England in Egypt</i>), I venture to question these +statements. The movement clearly was military and anti-Turk in its +beginning. Later on it sought support in the people, and became +anti-European and to some extent national; but to that extent it +ceased to be anti-Turk. Besides, why should the Sultan have +encouraged it? How far it genuinely relied on the populace must for +the present remain in doubt; but the evidence collected by Mr. +Broadley, <i>How We Defended Arabi</i> (1884), seems to show that +Arabi and his supporters were inspired by thoroughly patriotic and +enlightened motives.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor362">[362]</a> For +Gambetta's despatches see de Freycinet, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 209 +<i>et seq</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor363">[363]</a> +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, iii. p. 79.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor364">[364]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. p. +51.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor365">[365]</a> +<i>England in Egypt</i>, p. 16. For details of the massacre and its +preconcerted character, sec Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 4 (1884).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor366">[366]</a> For +the reasons of de Freycinet's caution, see his work, ch. iii., +especially pp. 236 <i>et seq</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor367">[367]</a> See, +too, Gladstone's speech of July 25, 1882, in which he asserted that +there was not a shred of evidence to support Arabi's claim to be +the leader of a national party; also, his letter of July 14 to John +Bright, quoted by Mr. Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. +pp. 84-85. Probably Gladstone was misinformed.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor368">[368]</a> De +Freycinet, <i>op, cit.</i> pp. 311-312.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor369">[369]</a> For +its proceedings, see Parl. Papers, Egypt, 1882 (Conference on +Egyptian Affairs).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor370">[370]</a> +<i>History of the Campaign in Egypt</i> (War Office), by Col. J.F. +Maurice, pp. 62-65.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor371">[371]</a> +<i>Life, Letters, and Diaries of General Sir Gerald Graham</i> +(1901). J.F. Maurice, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 84-95.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor372">[372]</a> +<i>Op. cit.</i> p. 316.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor373">[373]</a> It +is said, however, that Arabi had warned M. de Lesseps that "the +defence of Egypt requires the temporary destruction of the Canal" +(Traill, <i>England, Egypt, and the Sudan</i>, p. 57). The status +of the Canal was defined in 1885. <i>Ibid</i>. p. 59.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor374">[374]</a> Sir +A. Milner, <i>England in Egypt</i>, p. 31.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor375">[375]</a> H.F. +Wood, <i>Egypt under the British</i>, p. 59 (1896).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor376">[376]</a> The +reader should consult for full details Sir A. Milner, <i>England in +Egypt</i> (1892); Sir D.M. Wallace, <i>The Egyptian Question</i> +(1883), especially chaps, xi.-xiii.; and A. Silva White, <i>The +Expansion of Egypt</i> (1899), the best account of the +Anglo-Egyptian administration, with valuable Appendices on the +"Caisse," etc.<br> +<br> +A far more favourable light is thrown on the conduct of Arabi and +his partisans by Mr. A.M. Broadley in his work <i>How We Defended +Arabi</i> (1884).</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page460" id="page460"></a>[pg +460]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<h3>GORDON AND THE SUDAN</h3> +<blockquote>What were my ideas in coming out? They were these: +<i>Agreed abandonment of Sudan, but extricate the garrisons</i>; +and these were the instructions of the Government (Gordon's +<i>Journal</i>, October 8, 1885).</blockquote> +<br> +<p>It is one of the peculiarities of the Moslem faith that any time +of revival is apt to be accompanied by warlike fervour somewhat +like that which enabled its early votaries to sweep over half of +the known world in a single generation. This militant creed becomes +dangerous when it personifies itself in a holy man who can make +good his claim to be received as a successor of the Prophet. Such a +man had recently appeared in the Sudan. It is doubtful whether +Mohammed Ahmed was a genuine believer in his own extravagant +claims, or whether he adopted them in order to wreak revenge on +Rauf Pasha, the Egyptian Governor of the Sudan, for an insult +inflicted by one of his underlings. In May 1881, while living near +the island of Abba in the Nile, he put forward his claim to be the +Messiah or Prophet, foretold by the founder of that creed. Retiring +with some disciples to that island, he gained fame by his fervour +and asceticism. His followers named him "El <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page461" id="page461"></a>[pg 461]</span> +Mahdi," the leader, but his claims were scouted by the Ulemas of +Khartum, Cairo, and Constantinople, on the ground that the Messiah +of the Moslems was to arise in the East. Nevertheless, while the +British were crushing Arabi's movement, the Mahdi stirred the Sudan +to its depths, and speedily shook the Egyptian rule to its +base<a name="FNanchor377"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_377">[377]</a>.</p> +<p>There was every reason to fear a speedy collapse. In the years +1874-76 the Province of the White Nile had known the benefits of +just and tactful rule under that born leader of men, Colonel +Gordon; and in the three following years, as Governor-General of +the Sudan, he gained greater powers, which he felt to be needful +for the suppression of the slave-trade and other evils. Ill-health +and underhand opposition of various kinds caused him to resign his +post in 1879. Then, to the disgust of all, the Khedive named as his +successor Rauf Pasha, whom Gordon had recently dismissed for +maladministration of the Province of Harrar, on the borders of +Abyssinia<a name="FNanchor378"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_378">[378]</a>. Thus the Sudan, after experiencing the +benefits of a just and able government, reeled back into the bad +old condition, at the time when the Mahdi was becoming a power in +the land. No help was forthcoming from Egypt in the summer of 1882, +and the Mahdi's revolt rapidly made headway even despite several +checks from the Egyptian troops.</p> +<p>Possibly, if Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues had decided to +crush it in that autumn, the task might have been easy. But, far +from doing so, they sought to dissuade the Khedive from attempting +to hold the most disturbed districts, those of Kordofan and Darfur, +beyond Khartum. This might have been the best course, if the +evacuation could have been followed at once and without risk of +disaster at the hands of the fanatics. But Tewfik willed otherwise. +Against the advice of Lord Dufferin, he sought to reconquer the +Sudan, and that, too, by wholly insufficient forces. The result was +a series of disasters, culminating in the extermination of Hicks +Pasha's Egyptian force by the Mahdi's followers near El Obeid, the +capital of Kordofan (November 5, 1883).</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page462" id="page462"></a>[pg +462]</span> +<p>The details of the disaster are not fully known. Hicks Pasha was +appointed, on August 20, 1883, by the Khedive to command the +expedition into that province. He set out from Omdurman on +September 9, with 10,000 men, 4 Krupp guns and 16 light guns, 500 +horses and 5500 camels. His last despatch, dated October 3, showed +that the force had been greatly weakened by want of water and +provisions, and most of all by the spell cast on the troops by the +Mahdi's claim to invincibility. Nevertheless, Hicks checked the +rebels in two or three encounters, but, according to the tale of +one of the few survivors, a camel-driver, the force finally +succumbed to a fierce charge on the Egyptian square at the close of +an exhausting march, prolonged by the treachery of native guides. +Nearly the whole force was put to the sword. Hicks Pasha perished, +along with five British and four German officers, and many +Egyptians of note. The adventurous newspaper correspondents, +O'Donovan and Vizetelly, also met their doom (November 5, +1883)<a name="FNanchor379"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_379">[379]</a>.</p> +<p>This catastrophe decided the history of the Sudan for many +years. The British Government was in no respect responsible for the +appointment of General Hicks to the Kordofan command. Lord Dufferin +and Sir E. Malet had strongly urged the Khedive to abandon Kordofan +and Darfur; but it would seem that the desire of the governing +class at Cairo to have a hand in the Sudan administration overbore +these wise remonstrances, and hence the disaster near El Obeid with +its long train of evil consequences<a name= +"FNanchor380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380">[380]</a>. It was +speedily followed by another reverse at Tokar not far from Suakim, +where the slave-raiders and tribesmen of the Red Sea coast +exterminated another force under the command of Captain +Moncrieff.</p> +<p>The Gladstone Ministry and the British advisers of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page463" id="page463"></a>[pg +463]</span> Khedive, among whom was Sir Evelyn Baring (the present +Lord Cromer), again urged the entire evacuation of the Sudan, and +the limitation of Egyptian authority to the strong position of the +First Cataract at Assuan. This policy then received the entire +approval of the man who was to be alike the hero and the martyr of +that enterprise<a name="FNanchor381"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_381">[381]</a>. But how were the Egyptian garrisons to +be withdrawn? It was a point of honour not to let them be +slaughtered or enslaved by the cruel fanatics of the Mahdi. Yet +under the lead of Egyptian officers they would almost certainly +suffer one of these fates. A way of escape was suggested--by a +London evening newspaper in the first instance. The name of Gordon +was renowned for justice and hardihood all through the Sudan. Let +this knight-errant be sent--so said this Mentor of the Press--and +his strange power over men would accomplish the impossible. The +proposal carried conviction everywhere, and Lord Granville, who +generally followed any strong lead, sent for the General.</p> +<p>Charles George Gordon, born at Woolwich in 1833, was the scion +of a staunch race of Scottish fighters. His great-grandfather +served under Cope at Prestonpans; his grandfather fought in +Boscawen's expedition at Louisburg and under Wolfe at Quebec. His +father attained the rank of Lieutenant-General. From his mother, +too, he derived qualities of self-reliance and endurance of no mean +order. Despite the fact that she had eleven children, and that +three of her sons were out at the Crimea, she is said never to have +quailed during that dark time. Of these sons, Charles George was +serving in the Engineers; he showed at his first contact with war +an aptitude and resource which won the admiration of all. "We used +always to send him out to find what new move the Russians were +making"--such was the testimony of one of his superior officers. Of +his subsequent duties in delimiting the new Bessarabian frontier +and his miraculous career in China we cannot speak in detail. By +the consent of all, it was his <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page464" id="page464"></a>[pg 464]</span> soldierly spirit that +helped to save that Empire from anarchy at the hands of the Taeping +rebels, whose movement presented a strange medley of perverted +Christianity, communism, and freebooting. There it was that his +magnetic influence over men first had free play. Though he was only +thirty years of age, his fine physique, dauntless daring, and the +spirit of unquestionable authority that looked out from his kindly +eyes, gained speedy control over the motley set of officers and the +Chinese rank and file--half of them ex-rebels--that formed the +nucleus of the "ever victorious army." What wonder that he was +thenceforth known as "Chinese Gordon"?</p> +<p>In the years 1865-71, which he spent at Gravesend in supervising +the construction of the new forts at the mouth of the river, the +religious and philanthropic side of his character found free play. +His biographer, Mr. Hake, tells of his interest in the poor and +suffering, and, above all, in friendless boys, who came to idolise +his manly yet sympathetic nature. Called thereafter by the Khedive +to succeed Sir Samuel Baker in the Governorship of the Sudan, he +grappled earnestly with the fearful difficulties that beset all who +have attempted to put down the slave-trade in its chief seat of +activity. Later on he expressed the belief that "the Sudan is a +useless possession, ever was so, ever will be so." These words, and +certain episodes in his official career in India and in Cape +Colony, revealed the weak side of a singularly noble nature. +Occasionally he was hasty and impulsive in his decisions, and the +pride of his race would then flash forth. During his cadetship at +Woolwich he was rebuked for incompetence, and told that he would +never make an officer. At once he tore the epaulets from his +shoulders and flung them at his superior's feet. A certain +impatience of control characterised him throughout life. No man was +ever more chivalrous, more conscientious, more devoted, or abler in +the management of inferiors; but his abilities lay rather in the +direction of swift intuitions and prompt achievement than in sound +judgment and plodding toil. In short, his qualities were those of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page465" id="page465"></a>[pg +465]</span> knight-errant, not those of a statesman. The imperious +calls of conscience and of instinct endowed him with powers +uniquely fitted to attract and enthral simple straightforward +natures, and to sway orientals at his will. But the empire of +conscience, instinct, and will-power consorts but ill with those +diplomatic gifts of effecting a timely compromise which go far to +make for success in life. This was at once the strength and the +weakness of Gordon's being. In the midst of a <i>blasé</i>, +sceptical age, his personality stood forth, God-fearing as that of +a Covenanter, romantic as that of a Coeur de Lion, tender as that +of a Florence Nightingale. In truth, it appealed to all that is +most elemental in man.</p> +<p>At that time Gordon was charged by the King of the Belgians to +proceed to the Congo River to put down the slave-trade. Imagination +will persist in wondering what might have been the result if he had +carried out this much-needed duty. Possibly he might have acquired +such an influence as to direct the "Congo Free State" to courses +far other than those to which it has come. He himself discerned the +greatness of the opportunity. In his letter of January 6, 1884, to +H.M. Stanley, he stated that "no such efficacious means of cutting +at root of slave-trade ever was presented as that which God has +opened out to us through the kind disinterestedness of His +Majesty."</p> +<p>The die was now cast against the Congo and for the Nile. Gordon +had a brief interview with four members of the Cabinet--Lords +Granville, Hartington, Northbrooke, and Sir Charles Dilke,--Mr. +Gladstone was absent at Hawarden; and they forthwith decided that +he should go to the Upper Nile. What transpired in that most +important meeting is known only from Gordon's account of it in a +private letter:--</p> +<blockquote>At noon he, Wolseley, came to me and took me to the +Ministers.<br> +He went in and talked to the Ministers, and came back and<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page466" id="page466"></a>[pg +466]</span> said, "Her Majesty's Government want you to undertake +this.<br> +Government are determined to evacuate the Sudan, for they will<br> +not guarantee future government. Will you go and do it?" I<br> +said, "Yes." He said, "Go in." I went in and saw them. They<br> +said, "Did Wolseley tell you our orders?" I said, "Yes." I +said,<br> +"You will not guarantee future government of the Sudan, and you<br> +wish me to go up to evacuate now?" They said, "Yes," and it<br> +was over, and I left at 8 P.M. for Calais.</blockquote> +<p>Before seeing the Ministers, Gordon had a long interview with +Lord Wolseley, who in the previous autumn had been named Baron +Wolseley of Cairo. That conversation is also unknown to us, but +obviously it must have influenced Gordon's impressions as to the +scope of the duties sketched for him by the Cabinet. We turn, then, +to the "Instructions to General Gordon," drawn up by the Ministry +on Jan. 18, 1884. They directed him to "proceed at once to Egypt, +to report to them on the military situation in the Sudan, and on +the measures which it may be advisable to take for the security of +the Egyptian garrisons still holding positions in that country and +for the safety of the European population in Khartum." He was also +to report on the best mode of effecting the evacuation of the +interior of the Sudan and on measures that might be taken to +counteract the consequent spread of the slave-trade. He was to be +under the instructions of H.M.'s Consul-General at Cairo (Sir +Evelyn Baring). There followed this sentence: "You will consider +yourself authorised and instructed to perform such other duties as +the Egyptian Government may desire to entrust to you, and as may be +communicated to you by Sir Evelyn Baring<a name= +"FNanchor382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382">[382]</a>."</p> +<p>After receiving these instructions, Gordon started at once for +Egypt, accompanied by Colonel Stewart. At Cairo he had an interview +with Sir Evelyn Baring, and was appointed by the Khedive +Governor-General of the Sudan. The firman of Jan. 26 contained +these words: "We trust that you will carry out our good intentions +for the establishment of justice and order, and that you will +assure the peace and prosperity of the people of the Sudan by +maintaining the security of the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page467" id="page467"></a>[pg 467]</span> roads," etc. It +contained not a word about the evacuation of the Sudan, nor did the +Khedive's proclamation of the same date to the Sudanese. The only +reference to evacuation was in his letter of the same date to +Gordon, beginning thus: "You are aware that the object of your +arrival here and of your mission to the Sudan is to carry into +execution the evacuation of those territories and to withdraw our +troops, civil officials, and such of the inhabitants, together with +their belongings, as may wish to leave for Egypt. . . ." After +completing this task he was to "take the necessary steps for +establishing an organised Government in the different provinces of +the Sudan for the maintenance of order and the cessation of all +disasters and incitement to revolt<a name= +"FNanchor383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383">[383]</a>." How Gordon, +after sending away all the troops, was to pacify that enormous +territory His Highness did not explain.</p> +<p>There is almost as much ambiguity in the "further instructions" +which Sir Evelyn Baring drew up on January 25 at Cairo. After +stating that the British and Egyptian Governments had agreed on the +necessity of "evacuating" the Sudan, he noted the fact that Gordon +approved of it and thought it should on no account be changed; the +despatch proceeds:--</p> +<blockquote>You consider that it may take a few months to carry it +out with<br> +safety. You are further of opinion that "the restoration of the<br> +country should be made to the different petty Sultans who +existed<br> +at the time of Mohammed Ali's conquest, and whose families +still<br> +exist"; and that an endeavour should be made to form a +confederation<br> +of those Sultans. In this view the Egyptian Government<br> +entirely concur. It will of course be fully understood that the<br> +Egyptian troops are not to be kept in the Sudan merely with a<br> +view to consolidating the powers of the new rulers of the +country.<br> +But the Egyptian Government has the fullest confidence in your<br> +judgment, your knowledge of the country, and your comprehension<br> +of the general line of policy to be pursued. You are<br> +therefore given full discretionary power to retain the troops +for<br> +such reasonable period as you may think necessary, in order +that<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page468" id="page468"></a>[pg +468]</span> the abandonment of the country may be accomplished with +the<br> +least possible risk to life and property. A credit of +£100,000 has<br> +been opened for you at the Finance Department<a name= +"FNanchor384"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_384">[384]</a>. . . .</blockquote> +<p>In themselves these instructions were not wholly clear. An +officer who is allowed to use troops for the settlement or +pacification of a vast tract of country can hardly be the agent of +a policy of mere "abandonment." Neither Gordon nor Baring seems at +that time to have felt the incongruity of the two sets of duties, +but before long it flashed across Gordon's mind. At Abu Hammed, +when nearing Khartum, he telegraphed to Baring: "I would most +earnestly beg that evacuation but not abandonment be the programme +to be followed." Or, as he phrased it, he wanted Egypt to recognise +her "moral control and suzerainty" over the Sudan<a name= +"FNanchor385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385">[385]</a>. This, of +course, was an extension of the programme to which he gave his +assent at Cairo; it differed <i>toto caelo</i> from the policy of +abandonment laid down at London.</p> +<p>Even now it is impossible to see why Ministers did not at once +simplify the situation by a clear statement of their orders to +Gordon, not of course as Governor-General of the Sudan, but as a +British officer charged by them with a definite duty. At a later +date they sought to limit him to the restricted sphere sketched out +at London; but then it was too late to bend to their will a nature +which, firm at all times, was hard as adamant when the voice of +conscience spoke within. Already it had spoken, and against +"abandonment."</p> +<p>There were other confusing elements in the situation. Gordon +believed that the "full discretionary power" granted to him by Sir +E. Baring was a promise binding on the British Government; and, +seeing that he was authorised to perform such other duties as Sir +Evelyn Baring would communicate to him, he was right. But Ministers +do not seem to have understood that this implied an immense +widening of the original <span class="pagenum"><a name="page469" +id="page469"></a>[pg 469]</span> programme. Further, Sir Evelyn +Baring used the terms "evacuation" and "abandonment" as if they +were synonymous; while in Gordon's view they were very different. +As we shall see, his nature, at once conscientious, vehement, and +pertinacious, came to reject the idea of abandonment as cowardly +and therefore impossible.</p> +<p>Lastly, we may note that Gordon was left free to announce the +forthcoming evacuation of the Sudan, or not, as he judged +best<a name="FNanchor386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386">[386]</a>. He +decided to keep it secret. Had he kept it entirely so for the +present, he would have done well; but he is said to have divulged +it to one or two officials at Berber; if so, it was a very +regrettable imprudence, which compromised the defence of that town. +But surely no man was ever charged with duties so complex and +contradictory. The qualities of Nestor, Ulysses, and Achilles +combined in one mortal could scarcely have availed to untie or +sever that knot.</p> +<p>The first sharp collision between Gordon and the Home Government +resulted from his urgent request for the employment of Zebehr Pasha +as the future ruler of the Sudan. A native of the Sudan, this man +had risen to great wealth and power by his energy and ambition, and +figured as a kind of king among the slave-raiders of the Upper +Nile, until, for some offence against the Egyptian Government, he +was interned at Cairo. At that city Gordon had a conference with +Zebehr in the presence of Sir E. Baring, Nubar Pasha, and others. +It was long and stormy, and gave the impression of undying hatred +felt by the slaver for the slave-liberator. This alone seemed to +justify the Gladstone Ministry in refusing Gordon's request<a name= +"FNanchor387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387">[387]</a>. Had Zebehr +gone with Gordon, he would certainly have betrayed him--so thought +Sir Evelyn Baring.</p> +<p>Setting out from Cairo and travelling quickly up the Nile, +Gordon reached Khartum on February 18, and received an enthusiastic +welcome from the discouraged populace. At once he publicly burned +all instruments of torture and records of old debts; so that his +popularity overshadowed that of the Mahdi. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page470" id="page470"></a>[pg 470]</span> Again +he urged the despatch of Zebehr as his "successor," after the +withdrawal of troops and civilians from the Sudan. But, as Sir +Evelyn Baring said in forwarding Gordon's request to Downing +Street, it would be most dangerous to place them together at +Khartum. It should further be noted that Gordon's telegrams showed +his belief that the Mahdi's power was overrated, and that his +advance in person on Khartum was most unlikely<a name= +"FNanchor388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388">[388]</a>. It is not +surprising, then, that Lord Granville telegraphed to Sir E. Baring +on February 22 that the public opinion of England "would not +tolerate the appointment of Zebehr Pasha<a name= +"FNanchor389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389">[389]</a>." Already it +had been offended by Gordon's proclamation at Khartum that the +Government would not interfere with the buying and selling of +slaves, though, as Sir Evelyn Baring pointed out, the +re-establishment of slavery resulted quite naturally from the +policy of evacuation; and he now strongly urged that Gordon should +have "full liberty of action to complete the execution of his +general plans<a name="FNanchor390"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_390">[390]</a>."</p> +<p>Here it is desirable to remember that the Mahdist movement was +then confined almost entirely to three chief districts--Kordofan, +parts of the lands adjoining the Blue Nile, and the tribes dwelling +west and south-west of Suakim. For the present these last were the +most dangerous. Already they had overpowered and slaughtered two +Egyptian forces; and on February 22 news reached Cairo of the fall +of Tokar before the valiant swordsmen of Osman Digna. But this was +far away from the Nile and did not endanger Gordon. British troops +were landed at Suakim for the protection of that port, but this +step implied no change of policy respecting the Sudan. The slight +impression which two brilliant but costly victories, those of El +Teb and Tamai, made on the warlike tribes at the back of Suakim +certainly showed the need of caution in pushing a force into the +Sudan when the fierce heats of summer were coming on<a name= +"FNanchor391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391">[391]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page471" id="page471"></a>[pg +471]</span> +<p>The first hint of any change of policy was made by Gordon in his +despatch of Feb. 26, to Sir E. Baring. After stating his regret at +the refusal of the British Government to allow the despatch of +Zebehr as his successor, he used these remarkable words:--</p> +<p>You must remember that when evacuation is carried out, Mahdi +will come down here, and, by agents, will not let Egypt be quiet. +Of course my duty is evacuation, and the best I can for +establishing a quiet government. The first I hope to accomplish. +The second is a more difficult task, and concerns Egypt more than +me. If Egypt is to be quiet, Mahdi must be smashed up. Mahdi is +most unpopular, and with care and time could be smashed. Remember +that once Khartum belongs to Mahdi, the task will be far more +difficult; yet you will, for safety of Egypt, execute it. If you +decide on smashing Mahdi, then send up another £100,000 and +send up 200 Indian troops to Wady Haifa, and send officer up to +Dongola under pretence to look out quarters for troops. Leave +Suakim and Massowah alone. I repeat that evacuation is possible, +but you will feel effect in Egypt, and will be forced to enter into +a far more serious affair in order to guard Egypt. At present, it +would be comparatively easy to destroy Mahdi<a name= +"FNanchor392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392">[392]</a>.</p> +<p>This statement arouses different opinions according to the point +of view from which we regard it. As a declaration of general policy +it is no less sound than prophetic; as a despatch from the +Governor-General of the Sudan to the Egyptian Government, it +claimed serious attention; as a recommendation sent by a British +officer to the Home Government, it was altogether beyond his +powers. Gordon was sent out for a distinct aim; he now proposed to +subordinate that aim to another far vaster aim which lay beyond his +province. Nevertheless, Sir E. Baring on February 28, and on March +4, urged the Gladstone Ministry even now to accede to Gordon's +request for Zebehr Pasha as his successor, on the ground that some +Government must be left in the Sudan, and Zebehr was deemed at +Cairo to be the only possible governor. Again the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page472" id="page472"></a>[pg 472]</span> Home +Government refused, and thereby laid themselves under the moral +obligation of suggesting an alternate course. The only course +suggested was to allow the despatch of a British force up the Nile, +if occasion seemed to demand it<a name="FNanchor393"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_393">[393]</a>.</p> +<p>In this connection it is well to remember that the question of +Egypt and the Sudan was only one of many that distracted the +attention of Ministers. The events outside Suakim alone might give +them pause before they plunged into the Sudan; for that was the +time when Russia was moving on towards Afghanistan; and the +agreement between the three Emperors imposed the need of caution on +a State as isolated and unpopular as England then was. In view of +the designs of the German colonial party (see Chapter XVII.) and +the pressure of the Irish problem, the Gladstone Cabinet was surely +justified in refusing to undertake any new responsibilities, except +on the most urgent need. Vital interests were at stake in too many +places to warrant a policy of Quixotic adventure up the Nile.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, it is regrettable that Ministers took up on the +Sudan problem a position that was logically sound but futile in the +sphere of action. Gordon's mission, according to Earl Granville, +was a peaceful one, and he inquired anxiously what progress had +been made in the withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons and +civilians. This question he put, even in the teeth of Gordon's +positive statement in a telegram of March 8:--</p> +<p>If you do not send Zebehr, you have no chance of getting the +garrisons away; . . . Zebehr here would be far more powerful than the +Mahdi, and he would make short work of the Mahdi<a name= +"FNanchor394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394">[394]</a>.</p> +<p>A week earlier Gordon had closed a telegram with the despairing +words:--</p> +<p>I will do my best to carry out my instructions, but I feel +conviction I shall be caught in Khartum<a name= +"FNanchor395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395">[395]</a>.</p> +<p>It is not surprising that Ministers were perplexed by Gordon's +despatches, or that Baring telegraphed to Khartum <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page473" id="page473"></a>[pg 473]</span> that +he found it very difficult to understand what the General wanted. +All who now peruse his despatches must have the same feeling, mixed +with one of regret that he ever weakened his case by the proposal +to "smash the Mahdi." Thenceforth the British Government obviously +felt some distrust of their envoy; and in this disturbing factor, +and the duality of Gordon's duties, we may discern one cause at +least of the final disaster.</p> +<p>On March 11, the British Government refused either to allow the +appointment of Zebehr, or to send British or Indian troops from +Suakim to Berber. Without wishing to force Gordon's hand +prematurely, Earl Granville urged the need of evacuation at as +early a date as might be practicable. On March 16, after hearing +ominous news as to the spread of the Mahdi's power near to Khartum +and Berber, he advised the evacuation of the former city at the +earliest possible date<a name="FNanchor396"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_396">[396]</a>. We may here note that the rebels began +to close round it on March 18.</p> +<p>Earl Granville's advice directly conflicted with Gordon's sense +of honour. As he stated, on or about March 20, the fidelity of the +people of Khartum, while treachery was rife all around, bound him +not to leave them until he could do so "under a Government which +would give them some hope of peace." Here again his duty as +Governor of the Sudan, or his extreme conscientiousness as a man, +held him to his post despite the express recommendations of the +British Government. His decision is ever to be regretted; but it +redounds to his honour as a Christian and a soldier. At bottom, the +misunderstanding between him and the Cabinet rested on a divergent +view of duty. Gordon summed up his scruples in his telegram to +Baring:--</p> +<p>You must see that you could not recall me, nor could I possibly +obey, until the Cairo <i>employés</i> get out from all the +places. I have named men to different places, thus involving them +with the Mahdi. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page474" id= +"page474"></a>[pg 474]</span> How could I look the world in the +face if I abandoned them and fled? As a gentleman, could you advise +this course?</p> +<p>Earl Granville summed up his statement of the case in the +words:--</p> +<p>The Mission of General Gordon, as originally designed and +decided upon, was of a pacific nature and in no way involved any +movement of British forces. . . . He was, in addition, authorised and +instructed to perform such other duties as the Egyptian Government +might desire to entrust to him and as might be communicated by you +to him. . . . Her Majesty's Government, bearing in mind the exigencies +of the occasion, concurred in these instructions [those of the +Egyptian Government], which virtually altered General Gordon's +Mission from one of advice to that of executing, or at least +directing, the evacuation not only of Khartum but of the whole +Sudan, and they were willing that General Gordon should receive the +very extended powers conferred upon him by the Khedive to enable +him to effect his difficult task. But they have throughout joined +in your anxiety that he should not expose himself to unnecessary +personal risk, or place himself in a position from which retreat +would be difficult<a name="FNanchor397"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_397">[397]</a>.</p> +<p>He then states that it is clear that Khartum can hold out for at +least six months, if it is attacked, and, seeing that the British +occupation of Egypt was only "for a special and temporary purpose," +any expedition into the Sudan would be highly undesirable on +general as well as diplomatic grounds.</p> +<p>Both of these views of duty are intelligible as well as +creditable to those who held them. But the former view is that of a +high-souled officer; the latter, that of a responsible and +much-tried Minister and diplomatist. They were wholly divergent, +and divergence there spelt disaster.</p> +<p>On hearing of the siege of Khartum, General Stephenson, then +commanding the British forces in Egypt, advised the immediate +despatch of a brigade to Dongola--a step which would probably have +produced the best results; but that advice <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page475" id="page475"></a>[pg 475]</span> was +overruled at London for the reasons stated above. Ministers seem to +have feared that Gordon might use the force for offensive purposes. +An Egyptian battalion was sent up the Nile to Korosko in the middle +of May; but the "moral effect" hoped for from that daring step +vanished in face of a serious reverse. On May 19, the important +city of Berber was taken by the Mahdists<a name= +"FNanchor398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398">[398]</a>.</p> +<p>Difficult as the removal of about 10,000 to 15,000<a name= +"FNanchor399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399">[399]</a> Egyptians from +Khartum had always been--and there were fifteen other garrisons to +be rescued--it was now next to impossible, unless some blow were +dealt at the rebels in that neighbourhood. The only effective blow +would be that dealt by British or Indian troops, and this the +Government refused, though Gordon again and again pointed out that +a small well-equipped force would do far more than a large force. +"A heavy, lumbering column, however strong, is nowhere in this land +(so he wrote in his <i>Journals</i> on September 24). . . . It is the +country of the irregular, not of the regular." A month after the +capture of Berber a small British force left Siut, on the Nile, for +Assuan; but this move, which would have sent a thrill through the +Sudan in March, had little effect at midsummer. Even so, a prompt +advance on Dongola and thence on Berber would probably have saved +the situation at the eleventh hour.</p> +<p>But first the battle of the routes had to be fought out by the +military authorities. As early as April 25, the Government ordered +General Stephenson to report on the best means of relieving Gordon; +after due consideration of this difficult problem he advised the +despatch of 10,000 men to Berber from Suakim in the month of +September. Preparations were actually begun at Suakim; but in July +experts began to favour the Nile route. In that month Lord Wolseley +urged the immediate despatch of a force up that river, and he +promised that it <span class="pagenum"><a name="page476" id= +"page476"></a>[pg 476]</span> should be at Dongola by the middle of +October. Even so, official hesitations hampered the enterprise, and +it was not until July 29 that the decision seems to have been +definitely formed in favour of the Nile route. Even on August 8, +Lord Hartington, then War Minister, stated that help would be sent +to Gordon, <i>if it proved to be necessary</i><a name= +"FNanchor400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400">[400]</a>. On August 26, +Lord Wolseley was appointed to the command of the relief expedition +gathering on the Nile, but not until October 5 did he reach Wady +Haifa, below the Second Cataract.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the web of fate was closing in on Khartum. In vain did +Gordon seek to keep communications open. All that he could do was +to hold stoutly to that last bulwark of civilisation. There were +still some grounds for hope. The Mahdi remained in Kordofan, want +of food preventing his march northwards in force. Against his +half-armed fanatics the city opposed a strong barrier. "Crows' +feet" scattered on the ground ended their mad rushes, and mines +blew them into the air by hundreds. Khartum seemed to defy those +sons of the desert. The fire of the steamers drove them from the +banks and pulverised their forts<a name="FNanchor401"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_401">[401]</a>. The arsenal could turn out 50,000 +Remington cartridges a week. There was every reason, then, for +holding the city; for, as Gordon jotted down in his <i>Journal</i> +on September 17, if the Mahdi took Khartum, it would need a great +force to stay his propaganda. Here and there in those pathetic +records of a life and death struggle we catch a glimpse of Gordon's +hope of saving Khartum for civilisation. More than once he noted +the ease of holding the Sudan from the Nile as base. With forts at +the cataracts and armed steamers patrolling the clear reaches of +the river, the defence of the Sudan, he believed, was by no means +impossible<a name="FNanchor402"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_402">[402]</a>.</p> +<p>On September 10 he succeeded in sending away down stream by +steamer Colonel Stewart and Messrs. Power and Herbin; but +unfortunately they were wrecked and murdered</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page477" id="page477"></a>[pg +477]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/477.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of the Nile</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page478" id="page478"></a>[pg +478]</span> +<p>by Arabs near Korti. The advice and help of that gallant officer +would have been of priceless service to the relieving force. On +September 10, when the <i>Journals</i> begin, Gordon was still +hopeful of success, though food was scarce.</p> +<p>At this time the rescue expedition was mustering at Wady Haifa, +a point which the narrowing gorge of the Nile marks out as one of +the natural defences of its lower valley. There the British and +Egyptian Governments were collecting a force that soon amounted to +2570 British troops and some Egyptians, who were to be used solely +for transport and portage duties. A striking tribute to the +solidarity of the Empire was the presence of 350 Canadians, mostly +French, whose skill in working boats up rapids won admiration on +all sides. The difficulties of the Nile route were soon found to be +far greater than had been imagined. Indeed many persons still +believe that the Suakim-Berber route would have been far +preferable. The Nile was unfortunately lower than usual, and many +rapids, up which small steamers had been hauled when the waters ran +deep and full, were impassable even for the whale-boats on which +the expedition depended for its progress as far as Korti. Many a +time all the boats had to be hauled up the banks and carried by +Canadians or Egyptians to the next clear reaches. The letters +written by Gordon in 1877 in a more favourable season were now +found to be misleading, and in part led to the miscalculation of +time which was to prove so disastrous.</p> +<p>Another untoward fact was the refusal of the authorities to push +on the construction of the railway above Sarras. It had been +completed from Wady Haifa up to that point, and much work had been +done on it for about fifteen miles further. But, either from lack +of the necessary funds, or because the line could not be completed +in time, the construction was stopped by Lord Wolseley's orders +early in October. Consequently much time was lost in dragging the +boats and their stores up or around the difficult rapids above +Semneh<a name="FNanchor403"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_403">[403]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page479" id="page479"></a>[pg +479]</span> +<p>Meanwhile a large quantity of stores had been collected at +Dongola and Debbeh; numbers of boats were also there, so that a +swift advance of a vanguard thence by the calmer reaches farther up +the Nile seemed to offer many chances of success. It was in accord +with Gordon's advice to act swiftly with small columns; but, for +some reason, the plan was not acted on, though Colonel Kitchener, +who had collected those stores, recommended it. Another argument +for speedy action was the arrival on November 14, of a letter from +Gordon, dated ten days before, in which he stated that he could +hold out for forty days, but would find it hard to do so any +longer.</p> +<p>The advance of the main body to Dongola was very slow, despite +the heroic toil of all concerned. We now know that up to the middle +of September the Gladstone Ministry cherished the belief that the +force need not advance beyond Dongola. Their optimism was once +again at fault. The Mahdists were pressing on the siege of Khartum, +and had overpowered and slaughtered faithful tribes farther down +the river. Such was the news sent by Gordon and received by Lord +Wolseley on December 31 at Korti. The "secret and confidential" +part of Gordon's message was to the effect that food was running +short, and the rescuers must come quickly; they should come by +Metammeh or Berber, and inform Gordon by the messenger when they +had taken Berber.</p> +<p>The last entries in Gordon's <i>Journals</i> or in that part +which has survived, contain the following statements:--</p> +<p>December 13. ". . . All that is absolutely necessary is for fifty +of the expeditionary force to get on board a steamer and come up to +Halfeyeh, and thus let their presence be felt; this is not asking +much, but it must happen at once; or it will (as usual) be too +late."</p> +<p>December 14. [After stating that he would send down a steamer +with the "Journal" towards the expeditionary force]. . . . "Now mark +this, if the expeditionary force, and I ask for no more than two +hundred men, does not come in ten days <i>the town may fall</i>; +and I have done my best for the honour of our country. Good +bye."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page480" id="page480"></a>[pg +480]</span> +<p>Owing to lack of transport and other difficulties, the vanguard +of the relieving force could not begin its march from the new Nile +base, near Korti, until December 30. Thence the gallant Sir Herbert +Stewart led a picked column of men with 1800 camels across the +desert towards Metammeh. Lord Wolseley remained behind to guard the +new base of operations. At Abu Klea wells, when nearing the Nile, +the column was assailed by a great mass of Arabs. They advanced in +five columns, each having a wedge-shaped head designed to pierce +the British square. With a low murmuring cry or chant they rushed +on in admirable order, disregarding the heavy losses caused by the +steady fire of three faces of the square. Their leaders soon saw +the weak place in the defence, namely, at one of the rear corners, +where belated skirmishers were still running in for shelter, where +also one of the guns jammed at the critical moment. One of their +Emirs, calmly reciting his prayers, rode in through the gap thus +formed, and for ten minutes bayonet and spear plied their deadly +thrusts at close quarters. Thanks to the firmness of the British +infantry, every Arab that forced his way in perished; but in this +<i>mêlée</i> there perished a stalwart soldier whom +England could ill spare, Colonel Burnaby, hero of the ride to +Khiva. Lord Charles Beresford, of the Naval Brigade, had a narrow +escape while striving to set right the defective cannon. In all we +lost 65 killed and 60 wounded, a proportion which tells its own +tale as to the fighting<a name="FNanchor404"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_404">[404]</a>.</p> +<p>Two days later, while the force was beating off an attack of the +Arabs near Metammeh, General Stewart received a wound which proved +to be mortal. The command now devolved on Sir Charles Wilson of the +Royal Engineers. After repelling the attacks of other Mahdists and +making good his position on the Nile, the new commander came into +touch with Gordon's steamers, which arrived there on the 21st, with +190 Sudanese. Again, however, the advance of other Arabs from +Omdurman <span class="pagenum"><a name="page481" id= +"page481"></a>[pg 481]</span> caused a delay until a fortified camp +or zariba could be formed. Wilson now had but 1322 unwounded men; +and he saw that the Mahdists were in far greater force than Lord +Wolseley or General Gordon had expected. Not until January 24 could +the commander steam away southwards with 20 men of the Sussex +regiment and the 190 Sudanese soldiers on the two largest of +Gordon's boats--his "penny steamers" as he whimsically termed +them.</p> +<p>The sequel is well known. After overcoming many difficulties +caused by rocks and sandbanks, after running the gauntlet of the +Mahdist fire, this forlorn hope neared Khartum on the 28th, only to +find that the place had fallen. There was nothing for it but to put +about and escape while it was possible. Sir Charles Wilson has +described the scene: "The masses of the enemy with their fluttering +banners near Khartum, the long rows of riflemen in the +shelter-trenches at Omdurman, the numerous groups of men on Tuti +[Island], the bursting of shells, and the water torn up by hundreds +of bullets, and occasionally heavier shot, made an impression never +to be forgotten. Looking out over the stormy scene, it seemed +almost impossible that we should escape<a name= +"FNanchor405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405">[405]</a>."</p> +<p>Weighed down by grief at the sad failure of all their strivings, +the little band yet succeeded in escaping to Metammeh. They +afterwards found out that they were two days too late. The final +cause of the fall of Khartum is not fully known. The notion first +current, that it was due to treachery, has been discredited. +Certainly the defenders were weakened by privation and cowed by the +Mahdist successes. The final attack was also given at a weak place +in the long line of defence; but whether the defenders all did +their best, or were anxious to make terms with the Mahdi, will +probably never be known. The conduct of the assailants in at once +firing on the relieving force forbids the notion that they all +along intended to get into Khartum by treachery just before the +approach of the steamers. Had that been their aim, they would +surely have added one <span class="pagenum"><a name="page482" id= +"page482"></a>[pg 482]</span> crowning touch of guile, that of +remaining quiet until Wilson and his men landed at Khartum. The +capture of the town would therefore seem to be due to force, not to +treachery.</p> +<p>All these speculations are dwarfed by the overwhelming fact that +Gordon perished. Various versions have been given of the manner of +his death. One that rests on good authority is that he died +fighting. Another account, which seems more consistent with his +character, is that, on hearing of the enemy's rush into the town, +he calmly remarked: "It is all finished; to-day Gordon will be +killed." In a short time a chief of the Baggara Arabs with a few +others burst in and ordered him to come to the Mahdi. Gordon +refused. Thrice the Sheikh repeated the command. Thrice Gordon +calmly repeated his refusal. The sheikh then drew his sword and +slashed at his shoulder. Gordon still looked him steadily in the +face. Thereupon the miscreant struck at his neck, cut off his head, +and carried it to the Mahdi<a name="FNanchor406"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_406">[406]</a>.</p> +<p>Whatever may be the truth as to details, it is certain that no +man ever looked death in the face so long and so serenely as +Gordon. For him life was but duty--duty to God and duty to man. We +may fitly apply to him the noble lines which Tennyson offered to +the memory of another steadfast soul--</p> +<blockquote>He, that ever following her commands,<br> +On with toil of heart and knees and hands,<br> +Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won<br> +His path upward, and prevail'd,<br> +Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled<br> +Are close upon the shining table-lands<br> +To which our God Himself is moon and sun.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION</p> +<p>Shortly before the publication of this work, Lord Edmund +Fitzmaurice published his <i>Life of Earl Granville</i>, some of +the details of which tend somewhat to modify the account of the +relations subsisting between the Earl and General Gordon. See too +the issue of the <i>Times</i> of December 10, 1905 (Weekly +Edition), for a correction of some of the statements, made in the +<i>Life of Earl Granville</i>, by Lord Cromer (Sir Evelyn +Baring).]</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor377">[377]</a> See +the Report of the Intelligence Department of the War Office, +printed in <i>The Journals of Major-General C.G. Gordon at +Khartum</i>, Appendix to Bk. iv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor378">[378]</a> See +Gordon's letter of April 1880, quoted in the Introduction to <i>The +Journals of Major-General C.G. Gordon at Khartum</i> (1885), p. +xvii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor379">[379]</a> +Gordon's <i>Journals</i>, pp. 347-351; also Parl. Papers, Egypt, +No. 12 (1884), pp. 85 and 127-131 for another account. See, too, +Sir F.R. Wingate's <i>Mahdism</i>, chaps. i.-iii., for the rise of +the Mahdi and his triumph over Hicks.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor380">[380]</a> J. +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 146; Sir A. Lyall, +<i>Life of Lord Dufferin</i>, vol. ii. chap. ii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor381">[381]</a> +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 147.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor382">[382]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1884), p. 3.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor383">[383]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 12 (1884), pp. 27, 28.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor384">[384]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 6 (1884), p. 3.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor385">[385]</a> +Egypt, No. 12 (1884), p. 133.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor386">[386]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 27.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor387">[387]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 38-41.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor388">[388]</a> +Egypt, No. 12 (1884), pp. 74, 82, 88.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor389">[389]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 95.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor390">[390]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 94.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor391">[391]</a> For +details of these battles, see Sir F. Wingate's <i>Mahdism</i>, +chap, iii., and <i>Life of Sir Gerald Graham</i> (1901).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor392">[392]</a> +Egypt, No. 12 (1884), p. 115.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor393">[393]</a> +Egypt, No. 12 (1884) p. 119.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor394">[394]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 145.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor395">[395]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 152.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor396">[396]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 158, 162, 166.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor397">[397]</a> +Egypt, No. 13 (1884), pp. 5, 6. Earl Granville made the same +statement in his despatch of April 23. See, too, <i>The Life of +Lord Granville</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor398">[398]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 25 (1884), pp. 129-131.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor399">[399]</a> This +is the number as estimated by Gordon in his <i>Journals</i> (Sept. +10, 1884), p. 6.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor400">[400]</a> +Morley, <i>Life of Gladstone</i>, vol. iii. p. 164.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor401">[401]</a> For +details, see <i>Letters from Khartum</i>, by Frank Power.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor402">[402]</a> +<i>Journal</i>, p. 35, etc.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor403">[403]</a> See +Gordon's letters of the year 1877, quoted in the Appendix of A. +Macdonald's <i>Too Late for Gordon and Khartum</i> (1887); also +chap. vi. of that book.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor404">[404]</a> Sir +C.W. Wilson, <i>From Korti to Khartum</i>, pp. 28-35; also see Hon. +R. Talbot's article on "Abu Klea," in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> +for January 1886.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor405">[405]</a> Sir +C.W. Wilson, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 176-177.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor406">[406]</a> A +third account given by Bordeini Bey, a merchant of Khartum, differs +in many details. It is printed by Sir F.R. Wingate in his +<i>Mahdism</i>, p. 171.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page483" id="page483"></a>[pg +483]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<h3>THE CONQUEST OF THE SUDAN</h3> +<blockquote>"The Sudan, if once proper communication was +established, would not be difficult to govern. The only mode of +improving the access to the Sudan, seeing the impoverished state of +Egyptian finances, and the mode to do so without an outlay of more +than £10,000, is by the Nile."--<i>Gordon's Journals</i> +(Sept. 19, 1884).</blockquote> +<br> +<p>It may seem that an account of the fall of Khartum is out of +place in a volume which deals only with formative events. But this +is not so. The example of Gordon's heroism was of itself a great +incentive to action for the cause of settled government in that +land. For that cause he had given his life, and few Britons were +altogether deaf to the mute appeal of that lonely struggle. Then +again, the immense increase to the Mahdi's power resulting from the +capture of the arsenal of Khartum constituted (as Gordon had +prophesied) a serious danger to Egypt. The continued presence of +British troops at Wady Haifa, and that alone, saved the valley of +the Lower Nile from a desolating flood of savagery. This was a fact +recognised by every one at Cairo, even by the ultra-Gallic party. +Egypt alone has rarely been able to hold at bay any great downward +movement of the tribes of Ethiopia and Nubia; and the danger was +never so great as in and after 1885. The Mahdi's proclamations to +the faithful now swelled with inconceivable pride. To a wavering +sheikh he sent the warning: "If you live long enough you will see +the troops of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page484" id= +"page484"></a>[pg 484]</span> the Mahdi spreading over Europe, +Rome, and Constantinople, after which there will be nothing left +for you but hell and damnation." The mistiness of the geography was +hidden by the vigour of the theology, and all the sceptics of Nubia +hastened to accept the new prophet.</p> +<p>But his time of tyranny soon drew to a close. A woman of +Khartum, who had been outraged by him or his followers, determined +to wreak her vengeance. On June 14, 1885, she succeeded in giving +him slow poison, which led him to his death amidst long-drawn +agonies eight days later. This ought to have been the death of +Mahdism as well, but superstitions die hard in that land of +fanatics. The Mahdi's factotum, an able intriguer named Abdullah +Taashi, had previously gained from his master a written declaration +that he was to be Khalifa after him; he now produced this document, +and fortified its influence by describing in great detail a vision +in which the ghost of the Mahdi handed him a sacred hair of +inestimable worth, and an oblong-shaped light which had come direct +from the hands of the true Prophet, who had received it from the +hands of the angel Gabriel, to whom it had been entrusted by the +Almighty.</p> +<p>This silly story was eagerly believed by the many, the +questioning few also finding it well to still their doubts in +presence of death or torture. Piety and politics quickly worked +hand in hand to found the impostor's authority. A mosque began to +rise over the tomb of the Mahdi in his chosen capital, Omdurman; +and his successor gained the support and the offerings of the +thousands of pilgrims who came to visit that wonder-working shrine. +Such was the basis of the new rule, which spread over the valley of +the Upper and Middle Nile, and carried terror nearly to the borders +of Egypt<a name="FNanchor407"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_407">[407]</a>.</p> +<p>There law and order slowly took root under the shadow of the +British administration, but Egypt ceased to control the lands south +of Wady Halfa. Mr. Gladstone announced that decision in the House +of Commons on May 11, 1885; and those <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page485" id="page485"></a>[pg 485]</span> who +discover traces of the perfidy of Albion even in the vacillations +of her policy, maintain that that declaration was made with a view +to an eventual annexation of the Sudan by England. Their contention +would be still more forcible if they would prove that the Gladstone +Ministry deliberately sacrificed Gordon at Khartum in order to +increase the Mahdi's power and leave Egypt open to his blows, +thereby gaining one more excuse for delaying the long-promised +evacuation of the Nile delta by the redcoats. This was the +<i>outcome</i> of events; and those who argue backwards should have +the courage of their convictions and throw all the facts of the +case into their syllogisms.</p> +<p>All who have any knowledge of the trend of British statesmanship +in the eighties know perfectly well that the occupation of Egypt +was looked on as a serious incubus. The Salisbury Cabinet sought to +give effect to the promises of evacuation, and with that aim in +view sent Sir Henry Drummond Wolff to Constantinople in the year +1887 for the settlement of details. The year 1890 was ultimately +fixed, provided that no danger should accrue to Egypt from such +action, and that Great Britain should "retain a treaty-right of +intervention if at any time either the internal peace or external +security [of Egypt] should be seriously threatened." To this last +stipulation the Sultan seemed prepared to agree. Austria, Germany, +and Italy notified their complete agreement with it; but France and +Russia refused to accept the British offer with this proviso added, +and even influenced the Sultan so that he too finally opposed it. +Their unfriendly action can only be attributed to a desire of +humiliating Great Britain, and of depriving her of any effective +influence in the land which, at such loss of blood and treasure to +herself, she had saved from anarchy. Their opposition wrecked the +proposal, and the whole position therefore remained unchanged. +British officials continued to administer Egypt in spite of +opposition from the French in all possible details connected with +the vital question of finance<a name="FNanchor408"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_408">[408]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page486" id="page486"></a>[pg +486]</span> +<p>Other incidents that occurred during the years intervening +between the fall of Gordon and the despatch of Sir Herbert +Kitchener's expedition need not detain us here<a name= +"FNanchor409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409">[409]</a>. The causes +which led to this new departure will be more fitly considered when +we come to notice the Fashoda incident; but we may here remark that +they probably arose out of the French and Belgian schemes for the +partition of Central Africa. A desire to rescue the Sudan from a +cruel and degrading tyranny and to offer a tardy reparation to the +memory of Gordon doubtless had some weight with Ministers, as it +undoubtedly had with the public. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the +<i>vox populi</i> would have allowed the expedition but for these +more sentimental considerations. But, in the view of the present +writer, the Sudan expedition presents the best instance of +foresight, resolve, and able execution that is to be found in the +recent annals of Britain.</p> +<p>With the hour had come the man. During the dreary years of the +"mark time" policy Colonel Kitchener had gained renown as a +determined fighter and able organiser. For some time he acted as +governor of Suakim, and showed his powers of command by gaining +over some of the neighbouring tribes and planning an attack on +Osman Digna which came very near to success. Under him and many +other British officers the Egyptians and Sudanese gradually learnt +confidence, and broke the spell of invincibility that so long had +rested with the Dervish hordes. On all sides the power of the +Khalifa was manifestly waning. The powerful Hadendowa tribe, near +Suakim, which had given so much trouble in 1883-84, became neutral. +On the Nile also the Dervishes lost ground. The Anglo-Egyptian +troops wrested from them the post of Sarras, some thirty miles +south of Wady Halfa; and the efforts of the fanatics to capture the +wells along desert routes far to the east of the river were +bloodily repulsed. As long as Sarras, Wady Halfa, and those wells +were firmly held, Egypt was safe.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page487" id="page487"></a>[pg +487]</span> +<p>At Gedaref, not very far from Omdurman, the Khalifa sustained a +severe check from the Italians (December 1893), who thereupon +occupied the town of Kassala. It was not to be for any length of +time. In all their enterprises against the warlike Abyssinians they +completely failed; and, after sustaining the disastrous defeat of +Adowa (March 1, 1896), the whole nation despaired of reaping any +benefit from the Hinterland of their colony around Massowah. The +new Cabinet at Rome resolved to withdraw from the districts around +Kassala. On this news being communicated to the British Ministers, +they sent a request to Rome that the evacuation of Kassala might be +delayed until Anglo-Egyptian troops could be despatched to occupy +that important station. In this way the intended withdrawal of the +Italians served to strengthen the resolve of the British Government +to help the Khedive in effecting the recovery of the Sudan<a name= +"FNanchor410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410">[410]</a>.</p> +<p>Preparations for the advance southwards went forward slowly and +methodically through the summer and autumn of 1896. For the present +the operations were limited to the recapture of Dongola. Sir +Herbert Kitchener, then the Sirdar of the Egyptian army, was placed +in command. Under him were men who had proved their worth in years +of desultory fighting against the Khalifa--Broadwood, Hunter, +Lewis, Macdonald, Maxwell, and many others. The training had been +so long and severe as to weed out all weaklings; and the Sirdar +himself was the very incarnation of that stern but salutary law of +Nature which ordains the survival of the fittest. Scores of +officers who failed to come up to his requirements were quietly +removed; and the result was seen in a finely seasoned body of men, +apt at all tasks, from staff duties to railway control. A +comparison of the Egyptian army that fought at Omdurman with that +which thirteen years before ran away <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page488" id="page488"></a>[pg 488]</span> screaming from a tenth +of its number of Dervishes affords the most impressive lesson of +modern times of the triumph of mind over matter, of western +fortitude over the weaker side of eastern fatalism.</p> +<p>Such a building up of character as this implies could not take +place in a month or two, for the mind of Egyptians and Sudanese was +at first an utter blank as to the need of prompt obedience and +still prompter action. An amusing case of their incredible +slackness has been recorded. On the first parade of a new camel +transport corps before Lord Kitchener, the leading driver stopped +his animal, and therefore all that followed, immediately in front +of the Sirdar, in order to light a cigarette. It is needless to +say, the cigarette was not lighted, but the would-be smoker had his +first lesson as to the superiority of the claims of collectivism +over the whims of the individual<a name="FNanchor411"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_411">[411]</a>.</p> +<p>As will be seen by reference to the map on page 477, the +decision to limit the campaign to Dongola involved the choice of +the Nile route. If the blow had been aimed straight at Khartum, the +Suakim-Berber route, or even that by way of Kassala, would have had +many advantages. Above all, the river route held out the prospect +of effective help from gunboats in the final attacks on Berber, +Omdurman, and Khartum. Seeing, however, that the greater part of +the river's course between Sarras and Dongola was broken up by +rapids, the railway and the camel had at first to perform nearly +the whole of the transport duties for which the Nile was there +unsuited. The work of repairing the railway from Wady Haifa to +Sarras, and thenceforth of constructing it through rocky wastes, +amidst constant risk of Dervish raids, called into play every +faculty of ingenuity, patience, and hardihood. But little by little +the line crept on; the locomotives carried the piles of food, +stores, and ammunition further and further south, until on June 6, +1897, the first blow was dealt by the surprise and destruction of +the Dervish force at Ferket.</p> +<p>There a halt was called; for news came in that an unprecedented +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page489" id="page489"></a>[pg +489]</span> rain-storm further north had washed away the railway +embankments from some of the gulleys. To make good the damage would +take thirty days, it was said. The Sirdar declared that the line +must be ready in twelve days; he went back to push on the work; in +twelve days the line was ready. As an example of the varied +difficulties that were met and overcome, we may mention one. The +work of putting together a steamer, which had been brought up in +sections, was stopped because an all-important nut had been lost in +transit. At once the Sirdar ordered horsemen to patrol the railway +line--and the nut was found. At last the vessel was ready; but on +her trial trip she burst a cylinder and had to be left +behind<a name="FNanchor412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412">[412]</a>. +Three small steamers and four gunboats were, however, available for +service in the middle of September, when the expedition moved +on.</p> +<p>By this time the effective force numbered about 12,000 men. The +Dervishes had little heart for fighting to the north of Dongola; +and even at that town the Dervishes made but a poor stand, cowed as +they were by the shells of the steamers and perplexed by the +enveloping moves which the Sirdar ordered; 700 were taken in +Dongola, and the best 300 of these were incorporated in the +Sirdar's Sudanese regiments (Sept. 23, 1896).</p> +<p>Thus ended the first part of the expedition. Events had +justified Gordon's statement that a small well-equipped expedition +could speedily overthrow the Mahdi--that is, in the days of his +comparative weakness before the capture of Khartum. The ease with +which Dongola had been taken and the comparative cheapness of the +expedition predisposed the Egyptian Government and the English +public to view its extension southwards with less of disfavour.</p> +<p>Again the new stride forward had to be prepared for by careful +preparations at the base. The question of route also caused delay. +It proved to be desirable to begin a new railway from Wady Haifa +across the desert to Abu Hamed at the northern tip of the deep bend +which the Nile makes below <span class="pagenum"><a name="page490" +id="page490"></a>[pg 490]</span> Berber. To drive a line into a +desert in order to attack an enemy holding a good position beyond +seemed a piece of fool-hardiness. Nevertheless it was done, and at +the average rate of about 1 1/4 miles a day. In due course General +Hunter pushed on and captured Abu Hamed, the inhabitants of which +showed little fight, being thoroughly weary of Dervish tyranny +(August 6, 1897).</p> +<p>The arrival of gunboats after a long struggle with the rapids +below Abu Hamed gave Hunter's little force a much-needed support; +and before he could advance further, news reached him that the +Dervishes had abandoned Berber. This step caused general surprise, +and it has never been fully explained. Some have averred that a +panic seized the wives of the Dervish garrison at Berber, and that +when they rushed out of the town southwards their husbands followed +them<a name="FNanchor413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413">[413]</a>. +Certain it is that family feelings, which the Dervishes so readily +outraged in others, played a leading part in many of their +movements. Whatever the cause may have been, the abandonment of +Berber greatly facilitated the work of Sir Herbert Kitchener. A +strong force soon mustered at that town, and the route to the Red +Sea was reopened by a friendly arrangement with the local +sheikhs.</p> +<p>The next important barrier to the advance was the river Atbara. +Here the Dervishes had a force some 18,000 strong; but before long +the Sirdar received timely reinforcement of a British brigade, +consisting of the Cameron and Seaforth Highlanders and the +Lincolnshire and Warwickshire regiments, under General Gatacre. +Various considerations led the Sirdar to wait until he could strike +a telling blow. What was most to be dreaded was the adoption of +Parthian tactics by the enemy. Fortunately they had constructed a +zariba (a camp surrounded by thorn-bushes) on the north bank of the +Atbara at a point twenty miles above its confluence with the Nile. +At last, on April 7, 1898, after trying to tempt the enemy to a +battle in the open, the Sirdar moved forward his 14,000 men in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page491" id="page491"></a>[pg +491]</span> the hope of rushing the position soon after dawn of the +following day, Good Friday.</p> +<p>Before the first streaks of sunrise tinged the east, the +assailants moved forward to a ridge overlooking the Dervish +position; but very few heads were seen above the thorny rampart in +the hollow opposite. It was judged to be too risky at once to +charge a superior force that clung to so strong a shelter; and for +an hour and a half the British and Egyptian guns plied the zariba +in the hope of bringing the fanatics out to fight. Still they kept +quiet; and their fortitude during this time of carnage bore witness +to their bravery and discipline<a name="FNanchor414"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_414">[414]</a>.</p> +<p>At 7.45 the Sirdar ordered the advance. The British brigade held +the left wing, the Camerons leading in line formation, while behind +them in columns were ranged the Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns, +to add weight to the onset. Macdonald's and Maxwell's Egyptian and +Sudanese Brigades, drawn up in lines, formed the centre and right. +Squadrons of Egyptian horse and a battery of Maxims confronted the +Dervish horsemen ranged along; the front of a dense scrub to the +left of the zariba. As the converging lines advanced, they were met +by a terrific discharge; fortunately it was aimed too high, or the +loss would have been fearful. Then the Highlanders and Sudanese +rushed in, tore apart the thorn bushes and began a fierce fight at +close quarters. From their shelter trenches, pits, and huts the +Dervishes poured in spasmodic volleys, or rushed at their +assailants with spear or bayonet. Even at this the fanatics of the +desert were no match for the seasoned troops of the Sirdar; and +soon the beaten remnant streamed out through the scrub or over the +dry bed of the Atbara. About 2500 were killed, and 2000, including +Mahmud, the commander, were taken prisoners. Those who attempted to +reach the fertile country round Kassala were there hunted down or +captured by the Egyptian garrison that lately had arrived +there.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page492" id="page492"></a>[pg +492]</span> +<p>As on previous occasions, the Sirdar now waited some time until +the railway could be brought up to the points lately conquered. +More gunboats were also constructed for the final stage of the +expedition. The dash at Omdurman and Khartum promised to tax to the +uttermost the strength of the army; but another brigade of British +troops, commanded by Colonel Lyttelton, soon joined the expedition, +bringing its effective strength up to 23,000 men. General Gatacre +received the command of the British division. Ten gunboats, five +transport steamers, and eight barges promised to secure complete +command of the river banks and to provide means for transporting +the army and all needful stores to the western bank of the Nile +whenever the Sirdar judged it to be advisable. The midsummer rains +in the equatorial districts now made their influence felt, and in +the middle of August the Nile covered the sandbanks and rocks that +made navigation dangerous at the time of "low Nile." In the last +week of that month all was ready for the long and carefully +prepared advance. The infantry travelled in steamers or barges as +far as the foot of the Shabluka, or Sixth Cataract, and this method +of advance left the Dervishes in some doubt by which bank the final +advance would be made.</p> +<p>By an unexpected piece of good fortune the Dervishes had +evacuated the rocky heights of the Shabluka gorge. This was matter +for rejoicing. There the Nile, which above and below is a mile +wide, narrows to a channel of little more than a hundred yards in +width. It is the natural defence of Khartum on the north. The +strategy of the Khalifa was here again inexplicable, as also was +his abandonment of the ridge at Kerreri, some seven miles north of +Omdurman. Mr. Bennett Burleigh in his account of the campaign +states that the Khalifa had repaired thither once a year to give +thanks for the triumph about to be gained there.</p> +<p>At last on September 1, on topping the Kerreri ridge, the +invaders caught their first glimpse of Omdurman. Already the +gunboats were steaming up to the Mahdist capital to throw in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page493" id="page493"></a>[pg +493]</span> their first shells. They speedily dismounted several +guns, and one of the shells tore away a large portion of the gaudy +cupola that covered the Mahdi's tomb. Apart from this portent, +nothing of moment was done on that day; but it seems probable that +the bombardment led the Khalifa to hazard an attack on the invaders +in the desert on the side away from the Nile. Nearer to the +Sirdar's main force the skirmishing of the 21st Lancers, new to war +but eager to "win their spurs," was answered by angry but impotent +charges of the Khalifa's horse and foot, until at sunset both sides +retired for the night's rest.</p> +<p>The Anglo-Egyptian force made a zariba around the village of +el-Gennuaia on the river bank; and there, in full expectation of a +night attack, they sought what slumber was to be had. What with a +panic rush of Sudanese servants and the stampede of an angry camel, +the night wore away uneasily; but there was no charge of Dervishes +such as might have carried death to the heart of that small zariba. +It is said that the Sirdar had passed the hint to some trusty spies +to pretend to be deserters and warn the enemy that <i>he</i> was +going to attack them by night. If this be so, spies have never done +better service.</p> +<p>When the first glimmer of dawn came on September 2, every man +felt instinctively that the Khalifa had thrown away his last +chance. Yet few were prepared for the crowning act of madness. +Every one feared that he would hold fast to Omdurman and fight the +new crusaders from house to house. Possibly the seeming weakness of +the zariba tempted him to a concentric attack from the Kerreri +Hills and the ridge which stretches on both sides of the steep +slopes of the hill, Gebel Surgham. A glance at the accompanying +plan will show that the position was such as to tempt a confident +enemy. The Sirdar also manoeuvred so as to bring on an attack. He +sent out the Egyptian cavalry and camel corps soon after dawn to +the plain lying between Gebel Surgham and Omdurman to lure on the +Khalifa's men.</p> +<p>The device was completely successful. Believing that they could +catch the horsemen in the rocky ridge alongside of Gebel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page494" id="page494"></a>[pg +494]</span> Surgham, the Dervishes came forth from their capital in +swarms, pressed them hard, and inflicted some losses. Retiring in +good order, the cavalry drew on the eager hordes, until about 6.30 +A.M. the white glint of their gibbehs, or tunics, showed thickly +above the tawny slopes on either side of Gebel Surgham. On they +came in unnumbered throngs, until, pressing northwards along the +sky-line, their lines also topped the Kerreri Hills to the north of +the zariba. Their aim was obvious: they intended to surround the +invaders, pen them up in their zariba, and slaughter them there. To +all who did not know the value of the central position in war and +the power of modern weapons, the attack seemed to promise complete +success. The invaders were 1300 miles away from Cairo and defeat +would mean destruction.</p> +<p>Religious zeal lent strength to the onset. From the converging +crescent of the Mahdists a sound as of a dim murmur was wafted to +the zariba. Little by little it deepened to a hoarse roar, as the +host surged on, chanting the pious invocations that so often had +struck terror into the Egyptians. Now they heard the threatening +din with hearts unmoved; nay, with spirits longing for revenge for +untold wrongs and insults. Thus for some minutes in that vast +amphitheatre the discipline and calm confidence of the West stood +quietly facing the fanatic fury of the East. Two worlds were there +embattled: the world of Mohammedanism and the world of Christian +civilisation; the empire of untutored force and the empire of +mind.</p> +<p>At last, after some minutes of tense expectancy, the cannon +opened fire, and speedily gaps were seen in the white masses. Yet +the crescent never slackened its advance, except when groups halted +to fire their muskets at impossible ranges. Waving their flags and +intoning their prayers, the Dervishes charged on in utter scorn of +death; but when their ranks came within range of the musketry fire, +they went down like swathes of grass under the scythe. Then was +seen a marvellous sight. When the dead were falling their fastest, +a band of about 150</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page495" id="page495"></a>[pg +495]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/495.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>The Battle of Omdurman</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page496" id="page496"></a>[pg +496]</span> +<p>Dervish horsemen formed near the Khalifa's dark-green standard +in the centre and rushed across the fire zone, determined to snatch +at triumph or gain the sensuous joys of the Moslem paradise. None +of them rode far.</p> +<p>Only on the north, where the camel-corps fell into an awkward +plight among the rocks of the Kerreri slope, had the attack any +chance of success; and there the shells of one of the six +protecting gunboats helped to check the assailants. On this side, +too, Colonel Broadwood and his Egyptian cavalry did excellent +service by leading no small part of the Dervish left away from the +attack on the zariba. At the middle of the fiery crescent the +assailants did some execution by firing from a dip in the ground +some 400 yards away; but their attempts to rush the intervening +space all ended in mere slaughter. Not long after eight o'clock the +Khalifa, seeing the hopelessness of attempting to cross the zone of +fire around el-Gennuaia, now thickly strewn with his dead, drew off +the survivors beyond the ridge of Gebel Surgham; and those who had +followed Broadwood's horse also gave up their futile pursuit, and +began to muster on the Kerreri ridge.</p> +<p>The Sirdar now sought to force on a fight in the open; and with +this aim in view commanded a general advance on Omdurman. In order, +as it would seem, to keep a fighting formation that would impose +respect on the bands of Dervishes on the Kerreri Hills, he adopted +the formation known as echelon of brigades from the left. +Macdonald's Sudanese brigade, which held the northern face of the +zariba, was therefore compelled to swing round and march diagonally +towards Gebel Surgham; and, having a longer space to cover than the +other brigades, it soon fell behind them.</p> +<p>For the present, however, the brunt of the danger fell, not on +Macdonald, but on the vanguard. The 21st Lancers had been sent +forward over the ridge between Gebel Surgham and the Nile with +orders to reconnoitre, and, if possible, to head the Dervishes away +from their city. Throwing out scouts, they <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page497" id="page497"></a>[pg 497]</span> rode +over the ridge, but soon afterwards came upon a steep and therefore +concealed khor or gulley whence a large body of concealed Dervishes +poured a sharp fire<a name="FNanchor415"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_415">[415]</a>. At once Colonel Martin ordered his men +to dash at the enemy. Eagerly the troopers obeyed the order and +jumped their horses down the slope into the mass of furious +fanatics below; these slashed to pieces every one that fell, and +viciously sought to hamstring the horses from behind. Pushing +through the mass, the lancers scrambled up the further bank, +re-formed, and rushed at the groups beyond; after thrusting these +aside, they betook themselves to less dramatic but more effective +methods. Dismounting, they opened a rapid and very effective fire +from their carbines on the throngs that still clustered in or near +the gulley. The charge, though a fine display of British pluck, +cost the horsemen dear: out of a total of 320 men 60 were killed +and wounded; 119 horses were killed or made useless<a name= +"FNanchor416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416">[416]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Macdonald's brigade, consisting of one Egyptian and +three Sudanese battalions, stood on the brink of disaster. The +bands from the Kerreri Hills were secretly preparing to charge its +rear, while masses of the Khalifa's main following turned back, +rounded the western spurs of Gebel Surgham, and threatened to +envelop its right flank. The Sirdar, on seeing the danger, ordered +Wauchope's brigade to turn back to the help of Macdonald, while +Maxwell's Sudanese, swarming up the eastern slopes of Gebel +Surgham, poured deadly volleys on the Khalifa's following. +Collinson's division and the camel corps were ordered to advance +from the neighbourhood of the zariba and support Macdonald on that +side. Before these dispositions were complete, that sturdy Scotsman +and his Sudanese felt the full weight of the Khalifa's onset. +Excited beyond measure, Macdonald's men broke into spasmodic firing +as the enemy <span class="pagenum"><a name="page498" id= +"page498"></a>[pg 498]</span> came on; the deployment into line was +thereby disordered, and it needed all Macdonald's power of command +to make good the line. His steadiness stiffened the defence, and +before the potent charm of western discipline the Khalifa's onset +died away.</p> +<p>But now the storm cloud gathering in the rear burst with +unexpected fury. Masses of men led by the Khalifa's son, the Sheikh +ed Din, rushed down the Kerreri slopes and threatened to overwhelm +the brigade. Again there was seen a proof of the ascendancy of mind +over brute force. At once Macdonald ordered the left part of his +line to wheel round, keeping the right as pivot, so that the whole +speedily formed two fronts resembling a capital letter V, pointing +outwards to the two hostile forces. Those who saw the movement +wondered alike at the masterly resolve, the steadiness of +execution, and the fanatical bravery which threatened to make it +all of no avail. On came the white swarms of Arabs from the north, +until the Sudanese firing once more became wild and ineffective; +but, as the ammunition of the blacks ran low and they prepared to +trust to the bayonet, the nearest unit of the British division, the +Lincolns, doubled up, prolonged Macdonald's line to the right, and +poured volley upon volley obliquely into the surging flood. It +slackened, stood still, and then slowly ebbed. Macdonald's coolness +and the timely arrival of the Lincolns undoubtedly averted a +serious disaster<a name="FNanchor417"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_417">[417]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the Khalifa's main force had been held in check and +decimated by the artillery now planted on Gebel Surgham and by the +fire of the brigades on or near its slopes; so that about eleven +o'clock the Sirdar's lines could everywhere advance. After beating +off a desperate charge of Baggara horsemen from the west, Macdonald +unbent his brigade and drove back the sullen hordes of ed Din to +the western spurs of the Kerreri Hills, where they were harassed by +Broadwood's horse. All was now ended, except at the centre of the +Khalifa's force,</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page499" id="page499"></a>[pg +499]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/499.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Plan of Khartum</b></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page500" id="page500"></a>[pg +500]</span> +<p>where a faithful band clustered about the dark-green standard of +their leader and chanted defiance to the infidels till one by one +they fell. The chief himself, unworthy object of this devotion, +fled away on a swift dromedary some time before the last group of +stalwarts bit the sand.</p> +<p>Despite the terrible heat and the thirst of his men, the Sirdar +allowed only a brief rest before he resumed the march on Omdurman. +Leaving no time for the bulk of the Dervish survivors to reach +their capital, he pushed on at the head of Maxwell's brigade, while +once more the shells of the gunboats spread terror in the city. The +news brought by a few runaways and the sight of the Khalifa's +standard carried behind the Egyptian ensign dispelled all hopes of +resisting the disciplined Sudanese battalions; and, in order to +clinch matters, the Sirdar with splendid courage rode at the head +of the brigade to summon the city to surrender. Through the +clusters of hovels on the outskirts he rode on despite the protests +of his staff against any needless exposure of his life. He rightly +counted on the effect which such boldness on the part of the chief +must have on an undecided populace. Fanatics here and there fired +on the conquerors, but the news of the Khalifa's cowardly flight +from the city soon decided the wavering mass to bow before the +inscrutable decrees of fate, and ask for backsheesh from the +victors.</p> +<p>Thus was Omdurman taken. Neufeld, an Austrian trader, and some +Greeks and nuns who had been in captivity for several years, were +at once set free. It was afterwards estimated that about 10,000 +Dervishes perished in the battle; very many died of their wounds +upon the field or were bayoneted owing to their persistence in +firing on the victors. This episode formed the darkest side of the +triumph; but it was malignantly magnified by some Continental +journals into a wholesale slaughter. This is false. Omdurman will +bear comparison with Skobeleff's victory at Denghil Tepé at +all points.</p> +<p>Two days after his triumph the Sirdar ordered a parade +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page501" id="page501"></a>[pg +501]</span> opposite the ruins of the palace in Khartum where +Gordon had met his doom. The funeral service held there in memory +of the dead hero was, perhaps, the most affecting scene that this +generation has witnessed. Detachments of most of the regiments of +the rescue force formed a semicircle round the Sirdar; and by his +side stood a group of war-worn officers, who with him had toiled +for years in order to see this day. The funeral service was +intoned; the solemn assembly sang Gordon's favourite hymn, "Abide +with me," and the Scottish pipes wailed their lament for the lost +chieftain. Few eyes were undimmed by tears at the close of this +service, a slight but affecting reparation for the delays and +blunders of fourteen years before. Then the Union Jack and the +Egyptian Crescent flag were hoisted and received a salute of 21 +guns.</p> +<p>The recovery of the Sudan by Egypt and Great Britain was not to +pass unchallenged. All along France had viewed the reconquest of +the valley of the upper Nile with ill-concealed jealousy, and some +persons have maintained that the French Government was not a +stranger to designs hatched in France for helping the +Khalifa<a name="FNanchor418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418">[418]</a>. +Now that these questions have been happily buried by the +Anglo-French agreement of the year 1904, it would be foolish to +recount all that was said amidst the excitements of the year 1898. +Some reference must, however, be made to the Fashoda incident, +which for a short space threatened to bring Great Britain and +France to an open rupture.</p> +<p>On September 5, a steamer, flying the white flag, reached +Omdurman. The ex-Dervish captain brought the news that at Fashoda +he had been fired upon by white men bearing a strange flag. The +Sirdar divined the truth, namely, that a French expedition under +Major (now Colonel) Marchand must have made its way from the Congo +to the White Nile at Fashoda with the aim of annexing that district +for France.</p> +<p>Now that the dust of controversy has cleared away, we can see +facts in their true proportions, especially as the work +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page502" id="page502"></a>[pg +502]</span> recently published by M. de Freycinet and the +revelations of Colonel Marchand have thrown more light on the +affair. Briefly stated, the French case is as follows. Mr. +Gladstone on May 11, 1885, declared officially that Egypt limited +her sway to a line drawn through Wady Haifa. The authority of the +Khedive over the Sudan therefore ceased, though this did not imply +the cessation of the Sultan's suzerainty in those regions. Further, +England had acted as if the Sudan were no man's land by +appropriating the southernmost part in accordance with the +Anglo-German agreement of July I, 1890; and Uganda became a British +Protectorate in August 1894. The French protested against this +extension of British influence over the Upper Nile; and we must +admit that, in regard to international law, they were right. The +power to will away that district lay with the Sultan, the Khedive's +claims having practically lapsed. Germany, it is true, agreed not +to contest the annexation of Uganda, but France did contest it.</p> +<p>The Republic also entered a protest against the Anglo-Congolese +Convention of May 12, 1894, whereby, in return for the acquisition +of the right bank of the Upper Nile, England ceded to the Congo +Free State the left bank<a name="FNanchor419"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_419">[419]</a>. That compact was accordingly withdrawn, +and on August 14, 1894, France secured from the Free State the +recognition of her claims to the left bank of the Nile with the +exception of the Lado district below the Albert Nyanza. This action +on the part of France implied a desire on her part to appropriate +these lands, and to contest the British claim to the right bank. In +regard to law, she was justified in so doing; and had she, acting +as the mandatory of the Sultan, sent an expedition from the Congo +to the Upper Nile, her conduct in proclaiming a Turco-Frankish +condominium would have been unexceptionable. That of Britain was +open to question, seeing that we practically ignored the +Sultan<a name="FNanchor420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420">[420]</a> +and acted (so far as is known) <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page503" id="page503"></a>[pg 503]</span> on our own initiative in +reversing the policy of abandonment officially announced in May +1885. From the standpoint of equity, however, the Khedive had the +first claim to the territories then given up under stress of +circumstances; and the Power that helped him to regain the heritage +of his sires obviously had a strong claim to consideration so long +as it acted with the full consent of that potentate.</p> +<p>The British Cabinet, that of Lord Rosebery, frankly proclaimed +its determination to champion the claims of the Khedive against all +comers, Sir Edward Grey declaring officially in the debate of March +28, 1895, that the despatch of a French expedition to the Upper +Nile would be "an unfriendly act<a name="FNanchor421"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_421">[421]</a>." We know now, through the revelations +made by Colonel Marchand in the <i>Matin</i> of June 20, 1905, that +in June 1895 he had pressed the French Government to intervene in +that quarter; but it did little, relying (so M. de Freycinet +states) on the compact of August 14, 1894, and not, apparently, on +any mandate from the Sultan. If so, it had less right to intervene +than the British Government had in virtue of its close connection +with the Khedive. As a matter of fact, both Powers lacked an +authoritative mandate and acted in accordance with their own +interests. It is therefore futile to appeal to law, as M. de +Freycinet has done.</p> +<p>It remained to see which of the two would act the more +efficiently. M. Marchand states that his plan of action was +approved by the French Minister for the Colonies, M. Berthelot, on +November 16, 1895; but little came of it until the news of the +preparations for the Anglo-Egyptian Expedition reached Paris. It +would be interesting to hear what Lord Rosebery and Sir Edward Grey +would say to this. For the present we may affirm with some +confidence that the tidings of the Franco-Congolese compact of +August 1894 and of expeditions sent under Monteil and Liotard +towards the Nile basin must have furnished the real motive for the +despatch of the Sirdar's army on the expedition to Dongola. That +event in its turn aroused <span class="pagenum"><a name="page504" +id="page504"></a>[pg 504]</span> angry feelings at Paris, and M. +Berthelot went so far as to inform Lord Salisbury that he would not +hold himself responsible for events that might occur if the +expedition up the Nile were persisted in. After giving this brusque +but useful warning of the importance which France attached to the +Upper Nile, M. Berthelot quitted office, and M. Bourgeois, the +Prime Minister, took the portfolio for foreign affairs. He pushed +on the Marchand expedition; so also did his successor, M. Hanotaux, +in the Méline Cabinet which speedily supervened.</p> +<p>Marchand left Marseilles on June 25, 1896, to join his +expeditionary force, then being prepared in the French Congo. It is +needless to detail the struggles of the gallant band. After +battling for two years with the rapids, swamps, forests, and +mountains of Eastern Congoland and the Bahr-el-Ghazal, he brought +his flotilla down to the White Nile, thence up its course to +Fashoda, where he hoisted the tricolour (July 12, 1898). His men +strengthened the old Egyptian fort, and beat off an attack of the +Dervishes.</p> +<p>Nevertheless they had only half succeeded, for they relied on +the approach of a French Mission from the east by way of Abyssinia. +A Prince of the House of Orleans had been working hard to this end, +but owing to the hostility of the natives of Southern Abyssinia +that expedition had to fall back on Kukong. A Russian officer, +Colonel Artomoroff, had struggled on down the River Sobat, but he +and his band also had to retire<a name="FNanchor422"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_422">[422]</a>. The purport of these Franco-Russian +designs is not yet known; but even so, we can see that the +situation was one of great peril. Had the French and Russian +officers from Abyssinia joined hands with Marchand at Fashoda, +their Governments might have made it a point of honour to remain, +and to claim for France a belt of territory extending from the +confines of the French Congo eastwards to Obock on the Red Sea.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page505" id="page505"></a>[pg +505]</span> +<p>As it was, Marchand and his heroic little band were in much +danger from the Dervishes when the Sirdar and his force steamed up +to Fashoda. The interview between the two chiefs at that place was +of historic interest. Sir Herbert Kitchener congratulated the Major +on his triumph of exploration, but claimed that he must plant the +flag of the Khedive at Fashoda. M. Marchand declared that he would +hoist it himself over the village. "Over the fort, Major," replied +the Sirdar. "I cannot permit it," exclaimed the Major, "as the +French flag is there." A reference by the Sirdar to his superiority +of force produced no effect, the French commander stating that if +it were used he and his men would die at their posts. He, however, +requested the Sirdar to let the matter be referred to the +Government at Paris, to which Sir Herbert assented. After +exchanging courteous gifts they parted, the Sirdar leaving an +Egyptian force in the village, and lodging a written protest +against the presence of the French force<a name= +"FNanchor423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423">[423]</a>. He then +proceeded up stream to the Sobat tributary, on the banks of which +at Nassar he left half of a Sudanese battalion to bar the road on +that side to geographical explorers provided with flags. He then +returned to Khartum.</p> +<p>The sequel is well known. Lord Salisbury's Government behaved +with unexpected firmness, asserting that the overthrow of the Mahdi +brought again under the Egyptian flag all the lands which that +leader had for a time occupied. The claim was not wholly convincing +in the sphere of logic; but the victory of Omdurman gave it force. +Clearly, then, whether Major Marchand was an emissary of +civilisation or a pioneer of French rule, he had no <i>locus +standi</i> on the Nile. The French Government before long gave way +and recalled Major Marchand, who returned to France by way of +Cairo. This tame end to what was a heroic struggle to extend French +influence greatly incensed the major; and at Cairo he made a +speech, declaring that for the present France was worsted in the +valley of the Nile, but the day might come when she would be +supreme.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page506" id="page506"></a>[pg +506]</span> +<p>It is generally believed that France gave way at this juncture +partly because her navy was known to be unequal to a conflict with +that of Great Britain, but also because Franco-German relations +were none of the best. Or, in the language of the Parisian +boulevards: "How do we know that while we are fighting the British +for the Nile valley, Germany will not invade Lorraine?" As to the +influences emanating from St. Petersburg contradictory statements +have been made. Rumour asserted that the Czar sought to moderate +the irritation in France and to bring about a peaceful settlement +of the dispute; and this story won general acceptance. The +astonishment was therefore great when, in the early part of the +Russo-Japanese war, the Paris <i>Figaro</i> published documents +which seemed to prove that he had assured the French Government of +his determination to fulfil the terms of the alliance if matters +came to the sword.</p> +<p>There we must leave the affair, merely noting that the +Anglo-French agreement of March 1899 peaceably ended the dispute +and placed the whole of the Egyptian Sudan, together with the +Bahr-el-Ghazal district and the greater part of the Libyan Desert, +west of Egypt, under the Anglo-Egyptian sphere of influence. (See +map at the end of this volume.)</p> +<p>The battle of Omdurman therefore ranks with the most decisive in +modern history, not only in a military sense, but also because it +extended British influence up the Nile valley as far as Uganda. Had +French statesmen and M. Marchand achieved their aims, there is +little doubt that a solid wedge would have been driven through +north-central Africa from west to east, from the Ubangi Province of +French Congoland to the mouth of the Red Sea. The Sirdar's triumph +came just in time to thwart this design and to place in the hands +that administered Egypt the control of the waters whence that land +draws its life. Without crediting the stories that were put forth +in the French Press as to the possibility of France damming up the +Nile at Fashoda and diverting its floods into the Bahr-el-Ghazal +district, we may recognise that the control <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page507" id="page507"></a>[pg 507]</span> of +that river by Egypt is a vital necessity, and that the nation which +helped the Khedive to regain that control thereby established one +more claim to a close partnership in the administration at Cairo. +The reasonableness of that claim was finally admitted by France in +the Anglo-French agreement of the year 1904.</p> +<p>That treaty set the seal, apparently, on a series of efforts of +a strangely mixed character. The control of bondholders, the +ill-advised strivings of Arabi, the armed intervention undertaken +by Sir Beauchamp Seymour and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the forlorn hope +of Gordon's Mission to Khartum, the fanaticism of the Mahdists, the +diplomatic skill of Lord Cromer, the covert opposition of France +and the Sultan, and the organising genius of Lord Kitchener--such +is the medley of influences, ranging from the basest up to the +noblest of which human nature is capable, that served to draw the +Government of Great Britain deeper and deeper into the meshes of +the Egyptian Question, until the heroism, skill, and stubbornness +of a few of her sons brought about results which would now astonish +those who early in the eighties tardily put forth the first timid +efforts at intervention.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor407">[407]</a> +Wingate, <i>Mahdism</i>, pp. 228-233.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor408">[408]</a> +<i>England in Egypt</i>, by Sir Alfred Milner, pp. 145-153.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor409">[409]</a> For +the Sudan in this period see Wingate's <i>Mahdism</i>; Slatin's +<i>Fire and Sword in the Sudan</i>; C. Neufeld's <i>A Prisoner of +the Khalifa</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor410">[410]</a> See +<i>articles</i> by Dr. E. J. Dillon and by Jules Simon in the +<i>Contemporary Review</i> for April and May 1896. Kassala was +handed over to an Egyptian force under Colonel Parsons in December +1897. <i>The Egyptian Sudan</i>, by H. S. L. Alford and W. D. Sword +(1898).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor411">[411]</a> +<i>Sudan Campaign</i>, 1896-97, by "An Officer," p. 20.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor412">[412]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>, p. 54.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor413">[413]</a> +<i>The Downfall of the Dervishes</i>, by E. N. Bennett, M.A., p. +23.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor414">[414]</a> +<i>The Egyptian Sudan: its Loss and Recovery,</i> by H. S. L. +Alford and W. D. Sword, ch. iv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor415">[415]</a> Some +accounts state that the Lancers had no scouts, but "an officer" +denies this (<i>Sudan Campaign</i>, 1896-99, p. 198).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor416">[416]</a> The +general opinion of the army was that the charge of the Lancers "was +magnificent, but was not war." See G.W. Steevens' <i>With Kitchener +to Khartum</i>, ch. xxxii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor417">[417]</a> See +Mr. Winston Churchill's <i>The River War</i>, vol. ii. pp. 160-163, +for the help given by the Lincolns.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor418">[418]</a> See +an unsigned article in the <i>Contemporary Review</i> for Dec. +1897.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor419">[419]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), pp. 13-14.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor420">[420]</a> The +Earl of Kimberley's reply of Aug. 14, 1894, to M. Hanotaux, is very +weak on this topic. Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), pp. +14-15.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor421">[421]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 18.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor422">[422]</a> +<i>Marchand l'Africain</i>, by C. Castellani, pp. 279-280. The +author reveals his malice by the statement (p. 293) that the +Sirdar, after the battle of Omdurman, ordered 14,000 Dervish +wounded to be <i>éventrés.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor423">[423]</a> +Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), p. 9; No. 3 (1898), pp. 3-4.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page508" id="page508"></a>[pg +508]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<h3>THE PARTITION OF AFRICA</h3> +<br> +<p>In the opening up of new lands by European peoples the order of +events is generally somewhat as follows:--First come explorers, +pioneers, or missionaries. These having thrown some light on the +character of a land or of its people, traders follow in their wake; +and in due course factories are formed and settlements arise. The +ideas of the new-comers as to the rights of property and +landholding differ so widely from those of the natives, that +quarrels and strifes frequently ensue. Warships and soldiers then +appear on the scene; and the end of the old order of things is +marked by the hoisting of the Union Jack, or the French or German +tricolour. In the case of the expansion of Russia as we have seen, +the procedure is far otherwise. But Africa has been for the most +part explored, exploited, and annexed by agencies working from the +sea and proceeding in the way just outlined.</p> +<p>The period since the year 1870 has for the most part witnessed +the operation of the last and the least romantic of these so-called +civilising efforts. The great age of African exploration was then +drawing to a close. In the year 1870 that devoted missionary +explorer, David Livingstone, was lost to sight for many months +owing to his earnest longing peacefully to solve the great problem +of the waterways of Central Africa, and thus open up an easy path +for the suppression of the slave-trade. But when, in 1871, Mr. H. +M. Stanley, the enterprising <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page509" id="page509"></a>[pg 509]</span> correspondent of the +<i>New York Herald</i>, at the head of a rescue expedition, met the +grizzled, fever-stricken veteran near Ujiji and greeted him with +the words--"Mr. Livingstone, I presume," the age of mystery and +picturesqueness vanished away.</p> +<p>A change in the spirit and methods of exploration naturally +comes about when the efforts of single individuals give place to +collective enterprise<a name="FNanchor424"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_424">[424]</a>, and that change was now rapidly to come +over the whole field of African exploration. The day of the Mungo +Parks and Livingstones was passing away, and the day of +associations and companies was at hand. In 1876, Leopold II., King +of the Belgians, summoned to Brussels several of the leading +explorers and geographers in order to confer on the best methods of +opening up Africa. The specific results of this important +Conference will be considered in the next chapter; but we may here +note that, under the auspices of the "International Association for +the Exploration and Civilisation of Africa" then founded, much +pioneer work was carried out in districts remote from the River +Congo. The vast continent also yielded up its secrets to travellers +working their way in from the south and the north, so that in the +late seventies the white races opened up to view vast and populous +districts which imaginative chartographers in other ages had +diversified with the Mountains of the Moon or with signs of the +Zodiac and monstrosities of the animal creation.</p> +<p>The last epoch-marking work carried through by an individual was +accomplished by a Scottish explorer, whose achievements almost +rivalled those of Livingstone. Joseph Thomson, a native of +Dumfriesshire, succeeded in 1879 to the command of an exploring +party which sought to open up the country around the lakes of +Nyassa and Tanganyika. Four years later, on behalf of the Royal +Geographical Society, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page510" id= +"page510"></a>[pg 510]</span> he undertook to examine the country +behind Mombasa which was little better known than when Vasco da +Gama first touched there. In this journey Thomson discovered two +snow-capped mountains, Kilimanjaro and Kenia, and made known the +resources of the country as far inland as the Victoria Nyanza. +Considering the small resources he had at hand, and the cruel and +warlike character of the Masai people through whom he journeyed, +this journey was by far the most remarkable and important in the +annals of exploration during the eighties. Thomson afterwards +undertook to open a way from the Benuë, the great eastern +affluent of the Niger, to Lake Chad and the White Nile. Here again +he succeeded beyond all expectation, while his tactful management +of the natives led to political results of the highest importance, +as will shortly appear.</p> +<p>These explorations and those of French, German, and Portuguese +travellers served to bring nearly the whole of Africa within the +ken of the civilised world, and revealed the fact that nearly all +parts of tropical Africa had a distinct commercial value.</p> +<p>This discovery, we may point out, is the necessary preliminary +to any great and sustained work of colonisation and annexation. +Three conditions may be looked on as essential to such an effort. +First, that new lands should be known to be worth the labour of +exploitation or settlement; second, that the older nations should +possess enough vitality to pour settlers and treasure into them; +and thirdly, that mechanical appliances should be available for the +overcoming of natural obstacles.</p> +<p>Now, a brief glance at the great eras of exploring and +colonising activity will show that in all these three directions +the last thirty years have presented advantages which are unique in +the history of the world. A few words will suffice to make good +this assertion. The wars which constantly devastated the ancient +world, and the feeble resources in regard to navigation wielded by +adventurous captains, such as Hanno the Carthaginian, grievously +hampered all the efforts of explorers by sea, while <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page511" id="page511"></a>[pg 511]</span> +mechanical appliances were so weak as to cripple man's efforts at +penetrating the interior. The same is true of the mediaeval +voyagers and travellers. Only the very princes among men, Columbus, +Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Cabot, Cabral, Gilbert, and Raleigh, could +have done what they did with ships that were mere playthings. +Science had to do her work of long and patient research before man +could hopefully face the mighty forces and malignant influences of +the tropics. Nor was the advance of knowledge and invention +sufficient by itself to equip man for successful war against the +ocean, the desert, the forest, and the swamp. The political and +social development of the older countries was equally necessary. In +order that thousands of settlers should be able and ready to press +in where the one great leader had shown the way, Europe had to gain +something like peace and stability. Only thus, when the natural +surplus of the white races could devote itself to the task of +peacefully subduing the earth rather than to the hideous work of +mutual slaughter, could the life-blood of Europe be poured forth in +fertilising streams into the waste places of the other +continents.</p> +<p>The latter half of the eighteenth century promised for a brief +space to inaugurate such a period of expansive life. The close of +the Seven Years' War seemed to be the starting point for a peaceful +campaign against the unknown; but the efforts of Cook, +d'Entrecasteaux, and others then had little practical result, owing +to the American War of Independence, and the great cycle of the +Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These in their turn left Europe +too exhausted to accomplish much in the way of colonial expansion +until the middle of the nineteenth century. Even then, when the +steamship and the locomotive were at hand to multiply man's powers, +there was, as yet, no general wish, except on the part of the more +fortunate English-speaking peoples, to enter into man's new +heritage. The problems of Europe had to be settled before the age +of expansive activity could dawn in its full radiance. As has been +previously shown, Europe was in an introspective mood up to the +years 1870-1878.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page512" id="page512"></a>[pg +512]</span> +<p>Our foregoing studies have shown that the years following the +Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, brought about a state of political +equilibrium which made for peace and stagnation in Europe; and the +natural forces of the Continent, cramped by the opposition of equal +and powerful forces, took the line of least resistance--away from +Europe. For Russia, the line of least resistance was in Central +Asia. For all other European States it was the sea, and the new +lands beyond.</p> +<p>Furthermore, in that momentous decade the steamship and +locomotive were constantly gaining in efficiency; electricity was +entering the arena as a new and mighty force; by this time medical +science had so far advanced as to screen man from many of the ills +of which the tropics are profuse; and the repeating rifle +multiplied the power of the white man in his conflicts with savage +peoples. When all the advantages of the present generation are +weighed in the balance against the meagre equipment of the earlier +discoverers, the nineteenth century has scant claim for boasting +over the fifteenth. In truth, its great achievements in this sphere +have been practical and political. It has only fulfilled the rich +promise of the age of the great navigators. Where they could but +wonderingly skirt the fringes of a new world, the moderns have won +their way to the heart of things and found many an Eldorado +potentially richer than that which tempted the cupidity of Cortes +and Pizarro.</p> +<p>In one respect the European statesmen of the recent past tower +above their predecessors of the centuries before. In the eighteenth +century the "mercantilist" craze for seizing new markets and +shutting out all possible rivals brought about most of the wars +that desolated Europe. In the years 1880-1890 the great Powers put +forth sustained and successful efforts to avert the like calamity, +and to cloak with the mantle of diplomacy the eager scrambles for +the unclaimed lands of the world.</p> +<p>For various reasons the attention of statesmen turned almost +solely on Africa. Central and South America were <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page513" id="page513"></a>[pg 513]</span> +divided among States that were nominally civilised and enjoyed the +protection of the Monroe Doctrine put forward by the United States. +Australia was wholly British. In Asia the weakness of China was but +dimly surmised; and Siam and Cochin China alone offered any field +for settlement or conquest by European peoples from the sea. In +Polynesia several groups of islands were still unclaimed; but these +could not appease the land-hunger of Europe. Africa alone provided +void spaces proportionate to the needs and ambitions of the white +man. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 served to bring the east +coast of that continent within easy reach of Europe; and the +discoveries on the Upper Nile, Congo, and Niger opened a way into +other large parts. Thus, by the year 1880, everything favoured the +"partition of Africa."</p> +<p>Rumour, in the guise of hints given by communicative young +attaches or "well-informed" correspondents, ascribes the first +beginnings of the plans for the partition of Africa to the informal +conversations of statesmen at the time of the Congress of Berlin +(1878). Just as an architect safeguards his creation by providing a +lightning-conductor, so the builder of the German Empire sought to +divert from that fabric the revengeful storms that might be +expected from the south-west. Other statesmen were no less anxious +than Bismarck to draw away the attention of rivals from their own +political preserves by pointing the way to more desirable waste +domains. In short, the statesmen of Europe sought to plant in +Africa the lightning-conductors that would safeguard the new +arrangements in Europe, including that of Cyprus. The German and +British Governments are known then to have passed on hints to that +of France as to the desirability of her appropriating Tunis. The +Republic entered into the schemes, with results which have already +been considered (Chapter XII.); and, as a sequel to the occupation +of Tunis, plans were set on foot for the eventual conquest of the +whole of the North-West of Africa (except Morocco and a few +British, Spanish, and Portuguese settlements) from Cape Bon to Cape +Verde, and thence nearly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page514" +id="page514"></a>[pg 514]</span> to the mouth of the River Niger. +We may also note that in and after 1883 France matured her schemes +for the conquest of part, and ultimately the whole, of Madagascar, +a project which reached completion in the year 1885<a name= +"FNanchor425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425">[425]</a>.</p> +<p>The military occupation of Egypt by Great Britain in 1882 also +served to quicken the interest of European Powers in Africa. It has +been surmised that British acquiescence in French supremacy in +Tunis, West Africa, and Madagascar had some connection with the +events that transpired in Egypt, and that the perpetuation of +British supremacy in the valley of the Nile was virtually bought by +the surrender of most of our political and trading interests in +these lands, the lapse of which under the French "protective" +regime caused much heart-burning in commercial circles.</p> +<p>Last among the special causes that concentrated attention on +Africa was the activity of King Leopold's Association at Brussels +in opening up the Congo district in the years 1879-1882. Everything +therefore tended to make the ownership of tropical Africa the most +complex question of the early part of the eighties.</p> +<p>For various reasons Germany was a little later than France and +England in entering the field. The hostility of France on the west, +and, after 1878, that of Russia on the east, made it inadvisable +for the new Empire to give hostages to Fortune, in the shape of +colonies, until by alliances it secured its position at home and +possessed a fleet strong enough to defend distant possessions. In +some measure the German Government had to curb the eagerness of its +"colonial party." The present writer was in Germany in the year +1879, when the colonial propaganda was being pushed forward, and +noted the eagerness in some quarters, and the distrust in others, +with which pamphlets like that of Herr Fabri, <i>Bedarf Deutschland +Colonien?</i> were received. Bismarck himself at first checked the +"colonials," until he felt sure of the European situation. That, +however, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page515" id= +"page515"></a>[pg 515]</span> was cleared up to some extent by the +inclusion of Italy in the compact which thus became the Triple +Alliance (May 1882), and by the advent to office of the pacific +Chancellor, de Giers, at St. Petersburg a little later. There was +therefore the less need officially to curb the colonising instinct +of the Teutonic people. The formation of the German Colonial +Society at Frankfurt in December 1882, and the immense success +attending its propaganda, spurred on the statesmen of Berlin to +take action. They looked longingly (as they still do) towards +Brazil, in whose southern districts their people had settled in +large numbers; but over all that land the Monroe Doctrine spread +its sheltering wings. A war with the United States would have been +madness, and Germany therefore turned to Polynesia and Africa. We +may note here that in 1885 she endeavoured to secure the Caroline +Islands from Spain, whose title to them seemed to have lapsed; but +Spanish pride flared up at the insult, and after a short space +Bismarck soothed ruffled feelings at Madrid by accepting the +mediation of the Pope, who awarded them to Spain--Germany, however, +gaining the right to occupy an islet of the group as a coaling +station.</p> +<p>Africa, however, absorbed nearly all the energy of the German +colonial party. The forward wing of that party early in the year +1884 inaugurated an anti-British campaign in the press, which +probably had the support of the Government. As has been stated in +chapter XII., that was the time when the Three Emperors' League +showed signs of renewed vitality; and Bismarck, after signing the +secret treaty of March 24, 1884 (later on ratified at Skiernevice), +felt safe in pressing on colonial designs against England in +Africa, especially as Russia was known to be planning equally +threatening moves against the Queen's Empire in Asia. We do not +know enough of what then went on between the German and Russian +Chancellors to assert that they formed a definite agreement to +harry British interests in those continents; but, judging from the +general drift of Bismarck's diplomacy and from the "nagging" to +which England was thenceforth subjected for <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page516" id="page516"></a>[pg 516]</span> two +years, it seems highly probable that the policy ratified at +Skiernevice aimed at marking time in European affairs and striding +onwards in other continents at the expense of the Island Power.</p> +<p>The Anglophobes of the German press at once fell foul of +everything British; and that well-known paper the <i>Kölnische +Zeitung</i> in an article of April 22, 1884, used the following +words:--"Africa is a large pudding which the English have prepared +for themselves at other people's expense, and the crust of which is +already fit for eating. Let us hope that our sailors will put a few +pepper-corns into it on the Guinea coast, so that our friends on +the Thames may not digest it too rapidly." The sequel will show +whether the simile correctly describes either the state of John +Bull's appetite or the easy aloofness of the Teutonic onlooker.</p> +<p>It will be convenient to treat this great and complex subject on +a topographical basis, and to begin with a survey of the affairs of +East Africa, especially the districts on the mainland north and +south of the island of Zanzibar. At that important trade centre, +the natural starting point then for the vast district of the Great +Lakes, the influence of British and Indian traders had been +paramount; and for many years the Sultan of Zanzibar had been +"under the direct influence of the United Kingdom and of the +Government of India<a name="FNanchor426"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_426">[426]</a>." Nevertheless, in and after 1880 German +merchants, especially those of Hamburg, pressed in with great +energy and formed plans for annexing the neighbouring territories +on the mainland.</p> +<p>Their energy was in strange contrast to the lethargy shown by +the British Government in the protection of Anglo-Indian trade +interests. In the year 1878 the Sultan of Zanzibar, who held a +large territory on the mainland, had offered the control of all the +commerce of his dominions to Sir W. Mackinnon, Chairman of the +British-India Steam Navigation Company; but, for some unexplained +reason, the Beaconsfield <span class="pagenum"><a name="page517" +id="page517"></a>[pg 517]</span> Cabinet declined to be a party to +this arrangement, which, therefore, fell through<a name= +"FNanchor427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427">[427]</a>. Despite the +fact that England and France had in 1862 agreed to recognise the +independence of the Sultan of Zanzibar, the Germans deemed the +field to be clear, and early in November 1884, Dr. Karl Peters and +two other enthusiasts of the colonial party landed at Zanzibar, +disguised as mechanics, with the aim of winning new lands for their +Fatherland. They had with them several blank treaty forms, the +hidden potency of which was soon to be felt by dusky potentates on +the mainland. Before long they succeeded in persuading some of +these novices in diplomacy to set their marks to these documents, +an act which converted them into subjects of the Kaiser, and +speedily secured 60,000 square miles for the German tricolour. It +is said that the Government of Berlin either had no knowledge of, +or disapproved of, these proceedings; and, when Earl Granville +ventured on some representations respecting them, he received the +reply, dated November 28, 1884, that the Imperial Government had no +design of obtaining a protectorate over Zanzibar<a name= +"FNanchor428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428">[428]</a>. It is +difficult to reconcile these statements with the undoubted fact +that on February 17, 1885, the German Emperor gave his sanction to +the proceedings of Dr. Peters by extending his suzerainty over the +signatory chiefs<a name="FNanchor429"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_429">[429]</a>. This event caused soreness among British +explorers and Indian traders who had been the first to open up the +country to civilisation. Nevertheless, the Gladstone Ministry took +no effective steps to safeguard their interests.</p> +<p>In defence of their academic treatment of this matter some +considerations of a general nature may be urged.</p> +<p>The need of colonies felt by Germany was so natural, so +imperious, that it could not be met by the high and dry legal +argument as to the priority of Great Britain's commercial +interests. Such an attitude would have involved war with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page518" id="page518"></a>[pg +518]</span> Germany about East Africa and war with France about +West Africa, at the very time when we were on the brink of +hostilities with Russia about Merv, and were actually fighting the +Mahdists behind Suakim. The "weary Titan"--to use Matthew Arnold's +picturesque phrase--was then overburdened. The motto, "Live and let +live," was for the time the most reasonable, provided that it was +not interpreted in a weak and maudlin way on essential points.</p> +<p>Many critics, however, maintain that Mr. Gladstone's and Lord +Granville's diplomatic dealings with Germany in the years 1884 and +1885 displayed most lamentable weakness, even when Dr. Peters and +others were known to be working hard at the back of Zanzibar, with +the results that have been noted. In April 1885 the Cabinet ordered +Sir John Kirk, British representative at Zanzibar, and founder of +the hitherto unchallenged supremacy of his nation along that coast, +forthwith to undo the work of a lifetime by "maintaining friendly +relations" with the German authorities at that port. This, of +course, implied a tacit acknowledgment by Britain of what amounted +to a German protectorate over the mainland possessions of the +Sultan. It is not often that a Government, in its zeal for "live +and let live," imposes so humiliating a task on a British +representative. The Sultan did not take the serene and philosophic +view of the situation that was held at Downing Street, and the +advent of a German squadron was necessary in order to procure his +consent to these arrangements (August-December 1885.)<a name= +"FNanchor430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430">[430]</a></p> +<p>The Blue Book dealing with Zanzibar (Africa, No. 1, 1886) by no +means solves the riddle of the negotiations which went on between +London and Berlin early in the year 1885. From other sources we +know that the most ardent of the German colonials were far from +satisfied with their triumph. Curious details have appeared showing +that their schemes included the laying of a trap for the Sultan of +Zanzibar, which failed owing to clumsy baiting and the loquacity of +the would-be <span class="pagenum"><a name="page519" id= +"page519"></a>[pg 519]</span> captor. Lord Rosebery also managed, +according to German accounts, to get the better of Count Herbert +Bismarck in respect of St. Lucia Bay (see page 528) and districts +on the Benuë River; so that this may perhaps be placed over +against the losses sustained by Britain on the coast opposite +Zanzibar. Even there, as we have seen, results did not fully +correspond to the high hopes entertained by the German +Chauvinists<a name="FNanchor431"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_431">[431]</a>.</p> +<p>In the meantime (June 1885) the Salisbury Cabinet came into +office for a short time, but the evil effects of the slackness of +British diplomacy were not yet at an end. At this time British +merchants, especially those of Manchester, were endeavouring to +develop the mountainous country around the giant cone of Mt. +Kilimanjaro, where Mr. (now Sir) Harry Johnston had, in September +1884, secured some trading and other rights with certain chiefs. A +company had been formed in order to further British interests, and +this soon became the Imperial British East Africa Company, which +aspired to territorial control in the parts north of those claimed +by Dr. Peters' Company. A struggle took place between the two +companies, the German East Africa Company laying claim to the +Kilimanjaro district. Again it proved that the Germans had the more +effective backing, and, despite objections urged by our Foreign +Minister, Lord Rosebery, against the proceedings of German agents +in that tract, the question of ownership was referred to the +decision of an Anglo-German boundary commission.</p> +<p>Lord Iddesleigh assumed control of the Foreign Office in August, +but the advent of the Conservatives to power in no way helped on +the British case. By an agreement between the two Powers, dated +November 1, 1886, the Kilimanjaro district was assigned to Germany. +From the northern spurs of that mountain the dividing line ran in a +north-westerly direction towards the Victoria Nyanza. The same +agreement recognised <span class="pagenum"><a name="page520" id= +"page520"></a>[pg 520]</span> the authority of the Sultan of +Zanzibar as extending over the island of that name, those of Pemba +and Mafia, and over a strip of coastline ten nautical miles in +width; but the ownership of the district of Vitu north of Mombasa +was left open<a name="FNanchor432"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_432">[432]</a>. (See map at the close of this +volume.)</p> +<p>On the whole, the skill which dispossessed a sovereign of most +of his rights, under a plea of diplomatic rearrangements and the +advancement of civilisation, must be pronounced unrivalled; and +Britain cut a sorry figure as the weak and unwilling accessory to +this act. The only satisfactory feature in the whole proceeding was +Britain's success in leasing from the Sultan of Zanzibar +administrative rights over the coast region around Mombasa. The +gain of that part secured unimpeded access from the coast to the +northern half of Lake Victoria Nyanza. The German Company secured +similar rights over the coastline of their district, and in 1890 +bought it outright. By an agreement of December 1896, the River +Rovuma was recognised by Germany and Portugal as the boundary of +their East African possessions.</p> +<p>The lofty hopes once entertained by the Germans as to the +productiveness of their part of East Africa have been but partially +realised<a name="FNanchor433"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_433">[433]</a>. Harsh treatment of the natives brought +about a formidable revolt in 1888-89. The need of British +co-operation in the crushing of this revolt served to bring Germany +to a more friendly attitude towards this country. Probably the +resignation, or rather the dismissal, of Bismarck by the present +Emperor, in March 1890, also tended to lessen the friction between +England and Germany. The Prince while in retirement expressed +strong disapproval of the East African policy of his successor, +Count Caprivi.</p> +<p>Its more conciliatory spirit found expression in the +Anglo-German agreement of July 1, 1890, which delimited the +districts claimed by the two nations around the Victoria +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page521" id="page521"></a>[pg +521]</span> Nyanza in a sense favourable to Great Britain and +disappointing to that indefatigable treaty-maker, Dr. Peters. It +acknowledged British claims to the northern half of the shores and +waters of that great lake and to the valley of the Upper Nile, as +also to the coast of the Indian Ocean about Vitu and thence +northwards to Kismayu.</p> +<p>On the other hand, Germany acquired the land north of Lake +Nyassa, where British interests had been paramount. The same +agreement applied both to the British and German lands in question +the principle of free or unrestricted transit of goods, as also +between the great lakes. Germany further recognised a British +Protectorate over the islands held by the Sultan of Zanzibar, +reserving certain rights for German commerce in the case of the +Island of Mafia. Finally, Great Britain ceded to Germany the Island +of Heligoland in the North Sea. On both sides of the North Sea the +compact aroused a storm of hostile comment, which perhaps served to +emphasise its fairness<a name="FNanchor434"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_434">[434]</a>. Bismarck's opinion deserves +quotation:--</p> +<blockquote>Zanzibar ought not to have been left to the English. It +would have been better to maintain the old arrangement. We could +then have had it at some later time when England required our good +offices against France or Russia. In the meantime our merchants, +who are cleverer, and, like the Jews, are satisfied with smaller +profits, would have kept the upper hand in business. To regard +Heligoland as an equivalent shows more imagination than sound +calculation. In the event of war it would be better for us that it +should be in the hands of a neutral Power. It is difficult and most +expensive to fortify<a name="FNanchor435"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_435">[435]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>The passage is instructive as showing the aim of Bismarck's +colonial policy, namely, to wait until England's difficulties were +acute (or perhaps to augment those difficulties, as he certainly +did by furthering Russian schemes against Afghanistan <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page522" id="page522"></a>[pg 522]</span> in +1884-85<a name="FNanchor436"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_436">[436]</a>), and then to apply remorseless pressure +at all points where the colonial or commercial interests of the two +countries clashed.</p> +<p>The more his policy is known, the more dangerous to England it +is seen to have been, especially in the years 1884-86. In fact, +those persons who declaim against German colonial ambitions of +to-day may be asked to remember that the extra-European questions +recently at issue between Great Britain and Germany are trivial +when compared with the momentous problems that were peacefully +solved by the agreement of the year 1890. Of what importance are +Samoa, Kiao-chow, and the problem of Morocco, compared with the +questions of access to the great lakes of Africa and the control of +the Lower Niger? It would be unfair to Wilhelm II., as also to the +Salisbury Cabinet, not to recognise the statesmanlike qualities +which led to the agreement of July 1, 1890--one of the most solid +gains peacefully achieved for the cause of civilisation throughout +the nineteenth century.</p> +<p>Among its many benefits may be reckoned the virtual settlement +of long and tangled disputes for supremacy in Uganda. We have no +space in which to detail the rivalries of French and British +missionaries and agents at the Court of King M'tesa and his +successor M'wanga, or the futile attempt of Dr. Peters to thrust in +German influence. Even the Anglo-German agreement of 1890 did not +end the perplexities of the situation; for though the British East +Africa Company (to which a charter had been granted in 1888) +thenceforth had the chief influence on the northern shores of +Victoria Nyanza, the British Government declined to assume any +direct responsibility for so inaccessible a district. Thanks, +however, to the activity and tact of Captain Lugard, difficulties +were cleared away, with the result that the large and fertile +territory of Uganda (formerly included in the Khedive's dominions) +became a British Protectorate in August 1894 (see Chapter +XVII).</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page523" id="page523"></a>[pg +523]</span> +<p>The significance of the events just described will be apparent +when it is remembered that British East Africa, inclusive of Uganda +and the Upper Nile basin, comprises altogether 670,000 square +miles, to a large extent fertile, and capable of settlement by +white men in the more elevated tracts of the interior. German East +Africa contains 385,000 square miles, and is also destined to have +a future that will dwarf that of many of the secondary States of +to-day.</p> +<p>The prosperity of British East Africa was greatly enhanced by +the opening of a railway, 580 miles long, from Mombasa to Victoria +Nyanza in 1902. Among other benefits, it has cut the ground from +under the slave-trade, which used to depend on the human beast of +burden for the carriage of all heavy loads<a name= +"FNanchor437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437">[437]</a>.</p> +<p>The Anglo-German agreement of 1890 also cleared up certain +questions between Britain and Germany relating to South-West Africa +which had made bad blood between the two countries. In and after +the year 1882 the attention of the colonial party in Germany was +turned to the district north of the Orange River, and in the spring +of the year 1883 Herr Lüderitz founded a factory and hoisted +the German flag at Angra Pequeña. There are grounds for +thinking that that district was coveted, not so much for its +intrinsic value, which is slight, as because it promised to open up +communications with the Boer Republics. Lord Granville ventured to +express his doubts on that subject to Count Herbert Bismarck, whom +the Chancellor had sent to London in the summer of 1884 in order to +take matters out of the hands of the too Anglophil ambassador, +Count Münster. Anxious to show his mettle, young Bismarck +fired up, and informed Lord Granville that his question was one of +mere curiosity; later on he informed him that it was a matter which +did not concern him<a name="FNanchor438"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_438">[438]</a>.</p> +<p>It must be admitted, however, that the British Government +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page524" id="page524"></a>[pg +524]</span> had acted in a dilatory and ineffective manner. Sir +Donald Currie had introduced a deputation to Lord Derby, Colonial +Minister in the Gladstone Cabinet, which warned him seriously as to +German aims on the coast of Damaraland; in reply to which that +phlegmatic Minister stated that Germany was not a colonising Power, +and that the annexation of those districts would be resented by +Great Britain as an "unfriendly act<a name= +"FNanchor439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439">[439]</a>." In November +1883 the German ambassador inquired whether British protection +would be accorded to a few German settlers on the coast of +Damaraland. No decisive answer was given, though the existence of +British interests there was affirmed. Then, when Germany claimed +the right to annex it, a counter-claim was urged from Whitehall +(probably at the instigation of the Cape Government) that the land +in question was a subject of close interest to us, as it might be +annexed in the future. It was against this belated and illogical +plea that Count Bismarck was sent to lodge a protest; and in August +1884 Germany clinched the matter by declaring Angra Pequeña +and surrounding districts to be German territory. (See note at the +end of the chapter.)</p> +<p>In this connection we may remark that Angra Pequeña had +recently figured as a British settlement on German maps, including +that of Stieler of the year 1882. Walfisch Bay, farther to the +north, was left to the Union Jack, that flag having been hoisted +there by official sanction in 1878 owing to the urgent +representations of Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor of Cape Colony. +The rest of the coast was left to Germany; the Gladstone Government +informed that of Berlin that no objection would be taken to her +occupation of that territory. Great annoyance was felt at the Cape +at what was looked on as an uncalled for surrender of British +claims, especially when the Home Government failed to secure just +treatment for the British settlers. Sir Charles Dilke states in his +<i>Problems of Greater Britain</i> that only the constant protests +of the Cape <span class="pagenum"><a name="page525" id= +"page525"></a>[pg 525]</span> Ministry prevented the authorities at +Whitehall from complying with German unceasing requests for the +cession of Walfisch Bay, doubtless as an item for exchange during +the negotiations of 1889-90<a name="FNanchor440"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_440">[440]</a>.</p> +<p>We may add here that in 1886 Germany defined the northern limits +of "South-West Africa"--such was the name of the new colony--by an +agreement with Portugal; and in 1890 an article of the Anglo-German +agreement above referred to gave an eastward extension of that +northern border which brought it to the banks of the River +Zambesi.</p> +<p>The British Government took a firmer stand in a matter that +closely concerned the welfare of Natal and the relations of the +Transvaal Republic to Germany. In 1884 some German prospectors +sought to gain a footing in St. Lucia Bay in Zululand and to hoist +the German flag. The full truth on this interesting matter is not +yet known; it formed a pendant to the larger question of Delagoa +Bay, which must be briefly noticed here.</p> +<p>Friction had arisen between Great Britain and Portugal over +conflicting claims respecting Delagoa Bay and its adjoining lands; +and in this connection it may be of interest to note that the +Disraeli Ministry had earlier missed an opportunity of buying out +Portuguese claims. The late Lord Carnarvon stated that, when he +took the portfolio for colonial affairs in that Ministry, he +believed the purchase might have been effected for a comparatively +small sum. Probably the authorities at Lisbon were aroused to a +sense of the potential value of their Laurenço Marquez +domain by the scramble for Africa which began early in the +eighties; and it must be regretted that the British Government, +with the lack of foresight which has so often characterised it, let +slip the opportunity of securing Delagoa Bay until its value was +greatly enhanced. It then agreed to refer the questions in dispute +to the arbitration of General MacMahon, President of the French +Republic (1875). As has generally happened when foreign +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page526" id="page526"></a>[pg +526]</span> potentates have adjudicated on British interests, his +verdict was wholly hostile to us. It even assigned to Portugal a +large district to the south of Delagoa Bay which the Portuguese had +never thought of claiming from its native inhabitants, the +Tongas<a name="FNanchor441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441">[441]</a>. +In fact, a narrative of all the gains which have accrued to +Portugal in Delagoa Bay, and thereafter to the people who +controlled its railway to Pretoria, would throw a sinister light on +the connection that has too often subsisted between the noble +theory of arbitration and the profitable practice of peacefully +willing away, or appropriating, the rights and possessions of +others. Portugal soon proved to be unable to avail herself of the +opportunities opened up by the gift unexpectedly awarded her by +MacMahon. She was unable to control either the Tongas or the +Boers.</p> +<p>England having been ruled out, there was the chance for some +other Power to step in and acquire St. Lucia Bay, one of the +natural outlets of the southern part of the Transvaal Republic. It +is an open secret that the forerunners of the "colonial party" in +Germany had already sought to open up closer relations with the +Boer Republics. In 1876 the President of the Transvaal, accompanied +by a Dutch member of the Cape Parliament, visited Berlin, probably +with the view of reciprocating those advances. They had an +interview with Bismarck, the details of which are not fully known. +Nothing, however, came of it at the time, owing to Bismarck's +preoccupation in European affairs. Early in the "eighties," the +German colonial party, then beginning its campaign, called +attention repeatedly to the advantages of gaining a foothold in or +near Delagoa Bay; but the rise of colonial feeling in Germany led +to a similar development in the public sentiment of Portugal, and +indeed of all lands; so that, by the time that Bismarck was won +over to the cause of Teutonic Expansion, the Portuguese refused to +barter away any of their ancient possessions. This probably +accounts for the concentration of German energies on other parts of +the South African coast, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page527" +id="page527"></a>[pg 527]</span> which, though less valuable in +themselves, might serve as <i>points d'appui</i> for German +political agents and merchants in their future dealings with the +Boers, who were then striving to gain control over Bechuanaland. +The points selected by the Germans for their action were on the +coast of Damaraland, as already stated, and St. Lucia Bay in +Zululand, a position which President Burgers had striven to secure +for the Transvaal in 1878.</p> +<p>In reference to St. Lucia Bay our narrative must be shadowy in +outline owing to the almost complete secrecy with which the German +Government wisely shrouds a failure. The officials and newspaper +writers of Germany have not yet contracted the English habit of +proclaiming their intentions beforehand and of parading before the +world their recriminations in case of a fiasco. All that can be +said, then, with certainty is that in the autumn of 1884 a German +trader named Einwold attempted to gain a footing in St. Lucia Bay +and to prepare the way for the recognition of German claims if all +went well. In fact, he could either be greeted as a <i>Mehrer des +Reichs</i>, or be disowned as an unauthorised busybody.</p> +<p>We may here cite passages from the Diary of Dr. Busch, +Bismarck's secretary, which prove that the State took a lively +interest in Einwold's adventure. On February 25, 1885, Busch had a +conversation with Herr Andrae, in the course of which they +"rejoiced at England's difficulties in the Sudan, and I expressed +the hope that Wolseley's head would soon arrive in Cairo, nicely +pickled and packed." Busch then referred to British friction with +Russia in Afghanistan and with France in Burmah, and then put the +question to Andrae, "'Have we given up South Africa; or is the +Lucia Bay affair still open?' He said that the matter was still +under consideration<a name="FNanchor442"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_442">[442]</a>."</p> +<p>It has since transpired that the British Government might have +yielded to pressure from Berlin, had not greater pressure been +exercised from Natal and from British merchants and <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page528" id="page528"></a>[pg 528]</span> +shipowners interested in the South African trade. Sir Donald +Currie, in the paper already referred to, stated that he could +easily have given particulars of the means which had to be used in +order to spur on the British Government to decisive action. +Unfortunately he was discreetly reticent, and merely stated that +not only St. Lucia Bay, but the whole of the coast between Natal +and the Delagoa Bay district was then in question, and that the +Gladstone Ministry was finally induced to telegraph instructions to +Cape Town for the despatch of a cruiser to assert British claims to +St. Lucia Bay. H.M.S. <i>Goshawk</i> at once steamed thither, and +hoisted the British flag, by virtue of a treaty made with a Zulu +chief in 1842. Then ensued the usual interchange of angry notes +between Berlin and London; Bismarck and Count Herbert sought to win +over, or browbeat, Lord Rosebery, then Colonial Minister. In this, +however, he failed; and the explanation of the failure given to +Busch was that Lord Rosebery was too clever for him and "quite +mesmerised him." On May 7, 1885, Germany gave up her claims to that +important position, in consideration of gaining at the expense of +England in the Cameroons<a name="FNanchor443"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_443">[443]</a>. Here again a passage from Busch's record +deserves quotation. In a conversation which he had with Bismarck on +January 5, 1886, he put the question:--</p> +<blockquote>"Why have we not been able to secure the Santa Lucia +Bay?" I asked. "Ah!" he replied, "it is not so valuable as it +seemed to be at first. People who were pursuing their own interests +on the spot represented it to be of greater importance than it +really was. And then the Boers were not disposed to take any proper +action in the matter. The bay would have been valuable to us if the +distance from the Transvaal were not so great. And the English +attached so much importance to it that they declared it was +impossible for them to give it up, and they ultimately conceded a +great deal to us in New Guinea and Zanzibar. In colonial matters we +must not take too much in hand at a time, and we already have +enough for a beginning. We must now hold rather with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page529" id="page529"></a>[pg +529]</span> English, while, as you know, we were formerly more on +the French side<a name="FNanchor444"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_444">[444]</a>. But, as the last elections in France +show, every one of any importance there had to make a show of +hostility to us."</blockquote> +<p>This passage explains, in part at least, why Bismarck gave up +the nagging tactics latterly employed towards Great Britain. +Evidently he had hoped to turn the current of thought in France +from the Alsace-Lorraine question to the lands over the seas, and +his henchmen in the Press did all in their power to persuade +people, both in Germany and France, that England was the enemy. The +Anglophobe agitation was fierce while it lasted; but its +artificiality is revealed by the passage just quoted.</p> +<p>We may go further, and say that the more recent outbreak of +Anglophobia in Germany may probably be ascribed to the same +official stimulus; and it too may be expected to cease when the +politicians of Berlin see that it no longer pays to twist the +British lion's tail. That sport ceased in and after 1886, because +France was found still to be the enemy. Frenchmen did not speak +much about Alsace-Lorraine. They followed Gambetta's advice: "Never +speak about it, but always think of it." The recent French +elections revealed that fact to Bismarck; and, lo! the campaign of +calumny against England at once slackened.</p> +<p>We may add that two German traders settled on the coast of +Pondoland, south of Natal; and in August 1885 the statesmen of +Berlin put forth feelers to Whitehall with a view to a German +Protectorate of that coast. They met with a decisive +repulse<a name="FNanchor445"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_445">[445]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the dead-set made by Germany, France, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page530" id="page530"></a>[pg +530]</span> Russia against British interests in the years 1883-85 +had borne fruit in a way little expected by those Powers, but fully +consonant with previous experience. It awakened British statesmen +from their apathy, and led them to adopt measures of unwonted +vigour. The year 1885 saw French plans in Indo-China checked by the +annexation of Burmah. German designs in South Africa undoubtedly +quickened the resolve of the Gladstone Ministry to save +Bechuanaland for the British Empire.</p> +<p>It is impossible here to launch upon the troublous sea of Boer +politics, especially as the conflict naturally resulting from two +irreconcilable sets of ideas outlasted the century with which this +work is concerned. We can therefore only state that filibustering +bands of Boers had raided parts of Bechuanaland, and seemed about +to close the trade-route northwards to the Zambesi. This alone +would have been a serious bar to the prosperity of Cape Colony; but +the loyalists had lost their confidence in the British Government +since the events of 1880, while a large party in the Cape Ministry, +including at that time Mr. Cecil Rhodes, seemed willing to abet the +Boers in all their proceedings. A Boer deputation went to England +in the autumn of 1883, and succeeded in cajoling Lord Derby into a +very remarkable surrender. Among other things, he conceded to them +an important strip of land west of the River Harts<a name= +"FNanchor446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446">[446]</a>.</p> +<p>Far from satisfying them, this act encouraged some of their more +restless spirits to set up two republics named Stellaland and +Goshen. There, however, they met a tough antagonist, John +Mackenzie. That devoted missionary, after long acquaintance with +Boers and Bechuanas, saw how serious would be the loss to the +native tribes and to the cause of civilisation if the raiders were +allowed to hold the routes to the interior. By degrees he aroused +the sympathy of leading men in the Press, who thereupon began to +whip up the laggards of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page531" id= +"page531"></a>[pg 531]</span> Whitehall and Downing Street. +Consequently, Mackenzie, on his return to South Africa, was +commissioned to act as British Resident in Bechuanaland, and in +that capacity he declared that country to be under British +protection (May 1884). At once the Dutch throughout South Africa +raised a hue and cry against him, in which Mr. Rhodes joined, with +the result that he was recalled on July 30.</p> +<p>His place was taken by a statesman whose exploits raised him to +a high place among builders of the Empire. However much Cecil +Rhodes differed from Mackenzie on the native question and other +affairs, he came to see the urgent need of saving for the Empire +the central districts which, as an old Boer said, formed "the key +of Africa." Never were the loyalists more dispirited at the lack of +energy shown by the Home Government; and never was there greater +need of firmness. In a sense, however, the action of the Germans on +the coast of Damaraland (August-October 1884) helped to save the +situation. The imperious need of keeping open the route to the +interior, which would be closed to trade if ever the Boers and +Germans joined hands, spurred on the Gladstone Ministry to support +the measures proposed by Mr. Rhodes and the loyalists of Cape +Colony. When the whole truth on that period comes to be known, it +will probably be found that British rule was in very grave danger +in the latter half of the year 1884.</p> +<p>Certainly no small expedition ever accomplished so much for the +Empire, at so trifling a cost and without the effusion of blood, as +that which was now sent out. It was entrusted to Sir Charles +Warren. He recruited his force mainly from the loyalists of South +Africa, though a body named Methuen's Horse went out from these +islands. In all it numbered nearly 5000 men. Moving quickly from +the Orange River through Griqualand West, he reached the banks of +the Vaal at Barkly Camp by January 22, 1885, that is, only six +weeks after his arrival at Cape Town. At the same time 3000 troops +took their station in the north of Natal in readiness to attack the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page532" id="page532"></a>[pg +532]</span> Transvaal Boers, should they fall upon Warren, It soon +transpired, however, that the more respectable Boers had little +sympathy with the raiders into Bechuanaland. These again were so +far taken aback by the speed of his movements and the thoroughness +of his organisation as to manifest little desire to attack a force +which seemed ever ready at all points and spied on them from +balloons. The behaviour of the commander was as tactful as his +dispositions were effective; and, as a result of these favouring +circumstances (which the superficial may ascribe to luck), he was +able speedily to clear Bechuanaland of those intruders<a name= +"FNanchor447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447">[447]</a>.</p> +<p>On September 30 it became what it has since remained--a British +possession, safeguarding the route into the interior and holding +apart the Transvaal Boers from the contact with the Germans of +Damaraland which could hardly fail to produce an explosion. The +importance of the latter fact has already been made clear. The +significance of the former will be apparent when we remember that +Mr. Rhodes, in his later and better-known character of +Empire-builder, was able from Bechuanaland as a base to extend the +domain of his Chartered Company up to the southern end of Lake +Tanganyika in the year 1889.</p> +<p>It is well known that Rhodes hoped to extend the domain of his +company as far north as the southern limit of the British East +Africa Company. Here, however, the Germans forestalled him by their +energy in Central Africa. Finally, the Anglo-German agreement of +1890 assigned to Germany all the <i>hinterland</i> of Zanzibar as +far west as the frontier of the Congo Free State, thus sterilising +the idea of an all-British route from the Cape to Cairo, which +possessed for some minds an alliterative and all-compelling +charm.</p> +<p>As for the future of the vast territory which came to be known +popularly as Rhodesia, we may note that the part <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page533" id="page533"></a>[pg 533]</span> +bordering on Lake Nyassa was severed from the South Africa Company +in 1894, and was styled the British Central Africa Protectorate. In +1895 the south of Bechuanaland was annexed to Cape Colony, a step +greatly regretted by many well-wishers of the natives. The +intelligent chief, Khama, visited England in that year, mainly in +order to protest against the annexation of his lands by Cape Colony +and by the South Africa Company. In this he was successful; he and +other chiefs are directly under the protection of the Crown, but +parts of the north and east of Bechuanaland are administered by the +British South Africa Company. The tracts between the Rivers Limpopo +and Zambesi, and thence north to the Tanganyika, form a territory +vaster and more populous than any which has in recent years been +administered by a company; and its rule leaves much to be +desired.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It is time now to turn to the expansion of German and British +spheres of influence in the Bight of Guinea and along the course of +the Rivers Niger and Benuë. In the innermost part of the Bight +of Guinea, British commercial interests had been paramount up to +about 1880; but about that time German factories were founded in +increasing numbers, and, owing to the dilatory action of British +firms, gained increasing hold on the trade of several districts. +The respect felt by native chiefs for British law was evinced by a +request of five of the "Kings" of the Cameroons that they might +have it introduced into their lands (1879). Authorities at Downing +Street and Whitehall were deaf to the request. In striking contrast +to this was the action of the German Government, which early in the +year 1884 sent Dr. Nachtigall to explore those districts. The +German ambassador in London informed Earl Granville on April 19, +1884, that the object of his mission was "to complete the +information now in possession of the Foreign Office at Berlin on +the state of German commerce on that coast." He therefore requested +that the British authorities there should be furnished with +suitable recommendations for <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page534" id="page534"></a>[pg 534]</span> his reception<a name= +"FNanchor448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448">[448]</a>. This was +accordingly done, and, after receiving hospitality at various +consulates, he made treaties with native chiefs, and hoisted the +German flag at several points previously considered to be under +British influence. This was especially the case on the coast to the +east of the River Niger.</p> +<p>The British Government was incensed at this procedure, and all +the more so as plans were then on foot for consolidating British +influence in the Cameroons. On that river there were six British, +and two German firms, and the natives had petitioned for the +protection of England; but H.M.S. <i>Flint</i>, on steaming into +that river on July 20, found that the German flag had been hoisted +by the officers of the German warship <i>Möwe</i>. Nachtigall +had signed a treaty with "King Bell" on July 12, whereby native +habits were to remain unchanged and no customs dues levied, but the +whole district was placed under German suzerainty<a name= +"FNanchor449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449">[449]</a>. The same had +happened at neighbouring districts. Thereupon Consul Hewitt, in +accordance with instructions from London, established British +supremacy at the Oil Rivers, Old and New Calabar, and several other +points adjoining the Niger delta as far west as Lagos.</p> +<p>For some time there was much friction between London and Berlin +on these questions, but on May 7, 1885, an agreement was finally +arrived at, a line drawn between the Rio del Rey and the Old +Calabar River being fixed on as the boundary of the spheres of +influence of the two Powers, while Germany further recognised the +sovereignty of Britain over St. Lucia Bay in Zululand, and promised +not to annex any land between Natal and Delagoa Bay<a name= +"FNanchor450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450">[450]</a>. Many censures +were lavished on this agreement, which certainly sacrificed +important British interests in the Cameroons in consideration of +the abandonment of German claims on the Zulu coast which were +legally untenable. Thus, by pressing on various points formerly +regarded as under British influence, Bismarck secured at least one +considerable district--one moreover that is the healthiest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page535" id="page535"></a>[pg +535]</span> on the West African coast. Subsequent expansion made of +the Cameroons a colony containing some 140,000 square miles with +more than 1,100,000 inhabitants.</p> +<p>It is an open secret that Germany was working hard in 1884-85 to +get a foothold on the Lower Niger and its great affluent, the +Benuë. Two important colonial societies combined to send out +Herr Flegel in the spring of 1885 to secure possession of districts +on those rivers where British interests had hitherto been +paramount. Fortunately for the cause of Free Trade (which Germany +had definitely abandoned in 1880) private individuals had had +enough foresight and determination to step in with effect, and to +repair the harm which otherwise must have come from the absorption +of Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues in home affairs.</p> +<p>In the present case, British merchants were able to save the +situation, because in the year 1879 the firms having important +business dealings with the River Niger combined to form the +National African Company in order to withstand the threatening +pressure of the French advance soon to be described. In 1882 the +Company's powers were extended, largely owing to Sir George Taubman +Goldie, and it took the name of the National African Company. +Extending its operations up the River Niger, it gradually cut the +ground from under the French companies which had been formed for +the exploitation and ultimate acquisition of those districts, so +that after a time the French shareholders agreed to merge +themselves in the British enterprise.</p> +<p>This important step was taken just in time to forestall German +action from the side of the Cameroons, which threatened to shut out +British trade from the banks of the River Benuë and the shores +of Lake Chad. Forewarned of this danger, Sir George Goldie and his +directors urged that bold and successful explorer, Mr. Joseph +Thomson, to safeguard the nation's interests along the Benuë +and north thereof. Thomson had scarcely recovered from the +hardships of his epoch-marking journey through Masailand; but he +now threw <span class="pagenum"><a name="page536" id= +"page536"></a>[pg 536]</span> himself into the breach, quickly +travelled from England to the Niger, and by his unrivalled +experience alike of the means of travel and of native ways, managed +to frame treaties with the Sultans of Sokoto and Gando, before the +German envoy reached his destination (1885). The energy of the +National African Company and the promptitude and tact of Mr. +Thomson secured for his countrymen undisputed access to Lake Chad +and the great country peopled by the warlike Haussas<a name= +"FNanchor451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451">[451]</a>.</p> +<p>Seeing that both France and Germany seek to restrict foreign +trade in their colonies, while Great Britain gives free access to +all merchants on equal terms, we may regard this brilliant success +as a gain, not only for the United Kingdom, but for the commerce of +the world. The annoyance expressed in influential circles in +Germany at the failure of the plans for capturing the trade of the +Benuë district served to show the magnitude of the interests +which had there been looked upon as prospectively and exclusively +German. The delimitation of the new British territory with the +Cameroon territory and its north-eastern extension to Lake Chad was +effected by an Anglo-German agreement of 1886, Germany gaining part +of the upper Benuë and the southern shore of Lake Chad. In +all, the territories controlled by the British Company comprised +about 500,000 square miles (more than four times the size of the +United Kingdom).</p> +<p>It is somewhat characteristic of British colonial procedure in +that period that many difficulties were raised as to the grant of a +charter to the company which had carried through this work of +national importance; but on July 10, 1886, it gained that charter +with the title of the Royal Niger Company. The chief difficulties +since that date have arisen from French aggressions on the west, +which will be noticed presently.</p> +<p>In 1897 the Royal Niger Company overthrew the power of the +turbulent and slave-raiding Sultan of Nupe, near the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page537" id="page537"></a>[pg 537]</span> Niger, +but, as has so often happened, the very success of the company +doomed it to absorption by the nation. On January 1, 1900, its +governing powers were handed over to the Crown; the Union Jack +replaced the private flag; and Sir Frederick Lugard added to the +services which he had rendered to the Empire in Uganda by +undertaking the organisation of this great and fertile colony. In +an interesting paper, read before the Royal Geographical Society in +November 1903, he thus characterised his administrative methods: +"To rule through the native chiefs, and, while checking the +extortionate levies of the past, fairly to assess and enforce the +ancient tribute. By this means a fair revenue will be assured to +the emirs, in lieu of their former source of wealth, which +consisted in slaves and slave-raiding, and in extortionate taxes on +trade. . . . Organised slave-raiding has become a thing of the past in +the country where it lately existed in its worst form." He further +stated that the new colony has made satisfactory progress; but +light railways were much needed to connect Lake Chad with the Upper +Nile and with the Gulf of Guinea. The area of Nigeria (apart from +the Niger Coast Protectorate) is about 500,000 square miles<a name= +"FNanchor452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452">[452]</a>.</p> +<p>The result, then, of the activity of French and Germans in West +Africa has, on the whole, not been adverse to British interests. +The efforts leading to these noteworthy results above would +scarcely have been made but for some external stimulus. As happened +in the days of Dupleix and Montcalm, and again at the time of the +little-known efforts of Napoleon I. to appropriate the middle of +Australia, the spur of foreign competition furthered not only the +cause of exploration but also the expansion of the British +Empire.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The expansion of French influence in Africa has been far greater +than that of Germany; and, while arousing less attention on +political grounds, it has probably achieved more solid results--a +fact all the more remarkable when we bear <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page538" id="page538"></a>[pg 538]</span> in +mind the exhaustion of France in 1871, and the very slow growth of +her population at home. From 1872 to 1901 the number of her +inhabitants rose from 36,103,000 to 38,962,000; while in the same +time the figures for the German Empire showed an increase from +41,230,000 to 56,862,000. To some extent, then, the colonial growth +of France is artificial; at least, it is not based on the imperious +need which drives forth the surplus population of Great Britain and +Germany. Nevertheless, so far as governmental energy and organising +skill can make colonies successful, the French possessions in West +Africa, Indo-China, Madagascar, and the Pacific, have certainly +justified their existence<a name="FNanchor453"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_453">[453]</a>. No longer do we hear the old joke that a +French colonial settlement consists of a dozen officials, a +<i>restaurateur</i>, and a hair-dresser.</p> +<p>In the seventies the French Republic took up once more the work +of colonial expansion in West Africa, in which the Emperor Napoleon +III. had taken great interest. The Governor of Senegal, M. +Faidherbe, pushed on expeditions from that colony to the head +waters of the Niger in the years 1879-81. There the French came +into collision with a powerful slave-raiding chief, Samory, whom +they worsted in a series of campaigns in the five years following. +Events therefore promised to fulfil the desires of Gambetta, who, +during his brief term of office in 1881, initiated plans for the +construction of a trans-Saharan railway (never completed) and the +establishment of two powerful French companies on the Upper Niger. +French energy secured for the Republic the very lands which the +great traveller Mungo Park first revealed to the gaze of civilised +peoples. It is worthy of note that in the year 1865 the House of +Commons, when urged to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page539" id= +"page539"></a>[pg 539]</span> promote British trade and influence +on that mighty river, passed a resolution declaring that any +extension of our rule in that quarter was inexpedient. So rapid, +however, was the progress of the French arms on the Niger, and in +the country behind our Gold Coast settlements, that private +individuals in London and Liverpool began to take action. Already +in 1878 the British firms trading with the Lower Niger had formed +the United African Company, with the results noted above. A British +Protectorate was also established in the year 1884 over the coast +districts around Lagos, "with the view of guarding their interests +against the advance of the French and Germans<a name= +"FNanchor454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454">[454]</a>."</p> +<p>Meanwhile the French were making rapid progress under the lead +of Gallieni and Archinard. In 1890 the latter conquered +Segu-Sikoro, and a year later Bissandugu. A far greater prize fell +to the tricolour at the close of 1893. Boiteux and Bonnier +succeeded in leading a flotilla and a column to the mysterious city +of Timbuctu; but a little later a French force sustained a serious +check from the neighbouring tribes. The affair only spurred on the +Republic to still greater efforts, which led finally to the rout of +Samory's forces and his capture in the year 1898. That redoubtable +chief, who had defied France for fifteen years, was sent as a +prisoner to Gaboon.</p> +<p>These campaigns and other more peaceful "missions" added to the +French possessions a vast territory of some 800,000 square +kilometres in the basin of the Niger. Meanwhile disputes had +occurred with the King of Dahomey, which led to the utter overthrow +of his power by Colonel Dodds in a brilliant little campaign in +1892. The crowned slave-raider was captured and sent to +Martinique.</p> +<p>These rapid conquests, especially those on the Niger, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page540" id="page540"></a>[pg +540]</span> brought France and England more than once to the verge +of war. In the autumn of the year 1897, the aggressions of the +French at and near Bussa, on the right bank of the Lower Niger, led +to a most serious situation. Despite its inclusion in the domains +of the Royal Niger Company, that town was occupied by French +troops. At the Guildhall banquet (November 9), Lord Salisbury made +the firm but really prudent declaration that the Government would +brook no interference with the treaty rights of a British company. +The pronouncement was timely; for French action at Bussa, taken in +conjunction with the Marchand expedition from the Niger basin to +the Upper Nile at Fashoda (see Chapter XVII.), seemed to betoken a +deliberate defiance of the United Kingdom. Ultimately, however, the +tricolour flag was withdrawn from situations that were legally +untenable. These questions were settled by the Anglo-French +agreement of 1898, which, we may add, cleared the ground for the +still more important compact of 1904.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The limits of this chapter having already been passed, it is +impossible to advert to the parts played by Italy and Portugal in +the partition of Africa. At best they have been subsidiary; the +colonial efforts of Italy in the Red Sea and in Somaliland have as +yet produced little else than disaster and disappointment. But for +the part played by Serpa Pinto in the Zambesi basin, the rôle +of Portugal has been one of quiescence. Some authorities, as will +appear in the following chapter, would describe it by a less +euphonious term; it is now known that slave-hunting goes on in the +upper part of the Zambesi basin owned by them. The French +settlement at Obock, opposite Perim, and the partition of +Somaliland between England and Italy, can also only be named.</p> +<p>The general results of the partition of Africa may best be +realised by studying the map at the close of this volume, and by +the following statistics as presented by Mr. Scott Keltie in the +<i>Encyclopoedia Britannica</i>:--</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page541" id="page541"></a>[pg +541]</span> +<blockquote> +<table summary=""> +<tr> +<th> </th> +<th>Square Miles.</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>French territories in Africa (inclusive of the Sahara)</td> +<td>3,804,974</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>British (inclusive of the Transvaal and</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Orange River Colonies, but exclusive</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan--610,000</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>square miles)</td> +<td>2,713,910</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>German</td> +<td> 933,380</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Congo Free State</td> +<td> 900,000</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Portuguese</td> +<td> 790,124</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Italian</td> +<td> 188,500</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> +<p>These results correspond in the main to the foresight and energy +displayed by the several States, and to the initial advantages +which they enjoyed on the coast of Africa. The methods employed by +France and Germany present a happy union of individual initiative +with intelligent and persistent direction by the State; for it must +be remembered that up to the year 1880 the former possessed few +good bases of operation, and the latter none whatever. The natural +portals of Africa were in the hands of Great Britain and Portugal. +It is difficult to say what would have been the present state of +Africa if everything had depended on the officials at Downing +Street and Whitehall. Certainly the expansion of British influence +in that continent (apart from the Nile valley) would have been +insignificant but for the exertions of private individuals. Among +them the names of Joseph Thomson, Sir William Mackinnon, Sir John +Kirk, Sir Harry Johnston, Sir George Goldie, Sir Frederick Lugard, +John Mackenzie, and Cecil Rhodes, will be remembered as those of +veritable Empire-builders.</p> +<p>Viewing the matter from the European standpoint, the partition +of Africa may be regarded as a triumph for the cause of peace. In +the years 1880-1900, France, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal, +Italy, and Belgium came into possession of new lands far larger +than those for which French and British fleets and armies had +fought so desperately in the eighteenth <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page542" id="page542"></a>[pg 542]</span> +century. If we go further back and think of the wars waged for the +possession of the barrier towns of Flanders, the contrast between +the fruitless strifes of that age and the peaceful settlement of +the affairs of a mighty continent will appear still more striking. +It is true, of course, that the cutting up of the lands of natives +by white men is as indefensible morally as it is inevitable in the +eager expansiveness of the present age. Further, it may be admitted +that the methods adopted towards the aborigines have sometimes been +disgraceful. But even so, the events of the years 1880-1900, black +as some of them are, compare favourably with those of the long ages +when the term "African trade" was merely a euphemism for +slave-hunting.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>NOTE.--The Parliamentary Papers on Angra Pequeña (1884) +show that the dispute with Germany was largely due to the desire of +Lord Derby to see whether the Government of Cape Colony would bear +the cost of administration of that whole coast if it were annexed. +Owing to a change of Ministry at Cape Town early in 1884, the +affirmative reply was very long in coming; and meantime Germany +took decisive action, as described on p. 524.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor424">[424]</a> In +saying this I do not underrate the achievements of explorers like +Stanley, Thomson, Cameron, Schweinfurth, Pogge, Nachtigall, Pinto, +de Brazza, Johnston, Wissmann, Holub, Lugard, and others; but apart +from the first two, none of them made discoveries that can be +called epoch-marking.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor425">[425]</a> For +the French treaty of December 17, 1885, with Madagascar see Parl. +Papers, Africa, No. 2 (1886).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor426">[426]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1886), p. 2.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor427">[427]</a> +<i>The Partition of Africa</i>, by J. Scott Keltie (1893), pp. 157, +225.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor428">[428]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1886), p. 1.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor429">[429]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 12-20.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor430">[430]</a> J. +Scott Keltie, <i>The Partition of Africa</i>, ch. xv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor431">[431]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. pp. +135, 144-45. Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1886), pp. 39-45, 61 +<i>et seq</i>.; also No. 3 (1886), pp. 4, 15.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor432">[432]</a> +Banning, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 45-50; Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 3 +(1887), pp. 46, 59.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor433">[433]</a> See +the Report on German East Africa for 1900, in our <i>Diplomatic and +Consular Reports</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor434">[434]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 6 (1890).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor435">[435]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. p. +353. See, too, S. Whitman, <i>Personal Reminiscences of Prince +Bismarck</i>, p. 122.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor436">[436]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. pp. +124, 133: also see p. 426 of this work.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor437">[437]</a> For +the progress and prospects of this important colony, see Sir G. +Portal, <i>The British Mission to Uganda in 1893</i>; Sir Charles +Elliot, <i>British East Africa</i> (1905); also Lugard, <i>Our East +African Empire</i>; Sir H. Johnston, <i>The Uganda +Protectorate</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor438">[438]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. p. +120.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor439">[439]</a> See +Sir D. Currie's paper on South Africa to the members of the Royal +Colonial Institute, April 10, 1888 (<i>Proceedings</i>, vol. xix. +p. 240).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor440">[440]</a> +<i>Op. cit.</i> vol. i. p. 502.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor441">[441]</a> Sir +C. Dilke, <i>Problems of Greater Britain</i>, vol. i. pp. +553-556.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor442">[442]</a> +<i>Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History</i>, vol. iii. p. +132.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor443">[443]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 6 (1885), p. 2.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor444">[444]</a> He +here referred to the Franco-German agreement of Dec. 24, 1885, +whereby the two Powers amicably settled the boundaries of their +West African lands, and Germany agreed not to thwart French designs +on Tahiti, the Society Isles, the New Hebrides, etc. See Banning, +<i>Le Partage politique de l'Afrique</i>, pp. 22-26.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor445">[445]</a> Cape +Colony, Papers on Pondoland, 1887, pp. 1, 41. For the progress of +German South-West Africa and East Africa, see Parl. Papers, +Germany, Nos. 474, 528, 2790.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor446">[446]</a> For +the negotiations and the Convention of February 27, 1884, see +Papers relating to the South African Republic, 1887.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor447">[447]</a> See +Sir Charles Warren's short account of the expedition, in the +<i>Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute for</i> 1885-86, pp. +5-45; also Mackenzie's <i>Austral Africa</i>, vol. ii. <i>ad +init</i>., and <i>John Mackenzie</i>, by W.D. Mackenzie (1902).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor448">[448]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1885), p. 14.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor449">[449]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 24.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor450">[450]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 6 (1885), p. 2.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor451">[451]</a> This +greatest among recent explorers of Africa died in 1895. He never +received any appropriate reward from the Court for his great +services to science and to the nation at large.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor452">[452]</a> +<i>The Geographical Journal</i>, January 1, 1904, pp. 5, 18, +27.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor453">[453]</a> See +<i>La Colonisation chez les Peuples modernes</i>, by Paul +Leroy-Beaulieu; <i>Discours et Opinions</i>, by Jules Ferry; <i>La +France coloniale</i> (6th edit. 1893), by Alfred Rambaud; <i>La +Colonisation de l'Indo-Chine</i> (1902), by Chailley-Bert; +<i>L'Indo-Chine française</i> (1905), by Paul Doumer +(describing its progress under his administration); <i>Notre +Epopée coloniale</i> (1901), by P. Legendre; <i>La Mise en +Valeur de notre Domaine coloniale</i> (1903), by C. Guy; <i>Un +Siècle d'Expansion coloniale</i> (1900), by M. Dubois and A. +Terrier; <i>Le Partage de l'Afrique</i> (1898), by V. Deville.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor454">[454]</a> For +its progress see Colonial Reports, Niger Coast Protectorate, for +1898-99. For the Franco-German agreement of December 24, 1885, +delimiting their West African lands, see Banning, <i>Le Partage +politique de l'Afrique</i>, pp. 22-26. For the Anglo-French +agreement of August 10, 1889, see Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 3 +(1890).</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page543" id="page543"></a>[pg +543]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<h3>THE CONGO FREE STATE</h3> +<blockquote>"The object which unites us here to-day is one of those +which deserve in the highest degree to occupy the friends of +humanity. To open to civilisation the only part of our globe where +it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness which envelops +entire populations, is, I venture to say, a crusade worthy of this +century of progress."--KING LEOPOLD II., <i>Speech to the +Geographical Congress of 1876 at Brussels</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The Congo Free State owes its origin, firstly, to the +self-denying pioneer-work of Livingstone; secondly, to the energy +of the late Sir H.M. Stanley in clearing up the problems of African +exploration which that devoted missionary had not fully solved, and +thirdly, to the interest which His Majesty, Leopold II., King of +the Belgians, has always taken in the opening up of that continent. +It will be well briefly to note the chief facts which helped to +fasten the gaze of Europe on the Congo basin; for these events had +a practical issue; they served to bring King Leopold and Mr. +Stanley into close touch with a view to the establishment of a +settled government in the heart of Africa.</p> +<p>In 1874 Mr. H.M. Stanley (he was not knighted until the year +1899) received a commission from the proprietors of the <i>Daily +Telegraph</i> to proceed to Central Africa in order to complete the +geographical discoveries which had been cut short by the lamented +death of Livingstone near Lake Bangweolo. That prince of explorers +had not fully solved the riddle of the waterways of Central Africa. +He had found what were really <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page544" id="page544"></a>[pg 544]</span> the head waters of the +Congo at and near Lake Moero; and had even struck the mighty river +itself as far down as Nyangwe; but he could not prove that these +great streams formed the upper waters of the Congo.</p> +<p>Stanley's journey in 1874-1877 led to many important +discoveries. He first made clear the shape and extent of Victoria +Nyanza; he tracked the chief feeder of that vast reservoir; and he +proved that Lake Tanganyika drained into the River Congo. Voyaging +down its course to the mouth, he found great and fertile +territories, thus proving what Livingstone could only surmise, that +here was the natural waterway into the heart of "the Dark +Continent."</p> +<p>Up to the year 1877 nearly all the pioneer work in the interior +of the Congo basin was the outcome of Anglo-American enterprise. +Therefore, so far as priority of discovery confers a claim to +possession, that claim belonged to the English-speaking peoples. +King Leopold recognised the fact and allowed a certain space of +time for British merchants to enter on the possession of what was +potentially their natural "sphere of influence." Stanley, however, +failed to convince his countrymen of the feasibility of opening up +that vast district to peaceful commerce. At that time they were +suffering from severe depression in trade and agriculture, and from +the disputes resulting from the Eastern Question both in the Near +East and in Afghanistan. For the time "the weary Titan" was +preoccupied and could not turn his thoughts to commercial +expansion, which would speedily have cured his evils. Consequently, +in November 1878, Stanley proceeded to Brussels in order to present +to King Leopold the opportunity which England let slip.</p> +<p>Already the King of the Belgians had succeeded in arousing +widespread interest in the exploration of Africa. In the autumn of +1876 he convened a meeting of leading explorers and geographers of +the six Great Powers and of Belgium for the discussion of questions +connected with the opening up of that continent; but at that time, +and until the results of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page545" +id="page545"></a>[pg 545]</span> Stanley's journey were made known, +the King and his coadjutors turned their gaze almost exclusively on +East Africa. It is therefore scarcely appropriate for one of the +Belgian panegyrists of the King to proclaim that when Central +Africa celebrates its Day of Thanksgiving for the countless +blessings of civilisation conferred by that monarch, it will look +back on the day of meeting of that Conference (Sept. 12, 1876) as +the dawn of the new era of goodwill and prosperity<a name= +"FNanchor455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455">[455]</a>. King Leopold, +in opening the Conference, made use of the inspiring words quoted +at the head of this chapter, and asked the delegates to discuss the +means to be adopted for "planting definitely the standard of +civilisation on the soil of Central Africa."</p> +<p>As a result of the Conference, "The International Association +for the Exploration and Civilisation of Africa" was founded. It had +committees in most of the capitals of Europe, but the energy of +King Leopold, and the sums which he and his people advanced for the +pioneer work of the Association, early gave to that of Brussels a +priority of which good use was made in the sequel<a name= +"FNanchor456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456">[456]</a>. The Great +Powers were at this time distracted by the Russo-Turkish war and by +the acute international crisis that supervened. Thus the jealousies +and weakness of the Great Powers left the field free for Belgian +activities, which, owing to the energy of a British explorer, were +definitely concentrated upon the exploitation of the Congo.</p> +<p>On November 25, 1878, a separate committee of the International +Association was formed at Brussels with the name of "Comité +d'Études du Haut Congo." In the year 1879 it took the title +of the "International Association of the Congo," and for all +practical purposes superseded its progenitor. Outwardly, however, +the Association was still international. Stanley became its chief +agent on the River Congo, and in the years 1879-1880 made numerous +treaties with local chiefs. In <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page546" id="page546"></a>[pg 546]</span> February 1880 he founded +the first station of the Association at Vivi, and within four years +established twenty-four stations on the main river and its chief +tributaries. The cost of these explorations was largely borne by +King Leopold.</p> +<p>The King also commissioned Lieutenant von Wissmann to complete +his former work of discovery in the great district watered by the +River Kasai and its affluents; and in and after 1886 he and his +coadjutor, Dr. Wolf, greatly extended the knowledge of the southern +and central parts of the Congo basin<a name= +"FNanchor457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457">[457]</a>. In the +meantime the British missionaries, Rev. W.H. Bentley and Rev. G. +Grenfell, carried on explorations, especially on the River Ubangi, +and in the lands between it and the Congo. The part which +missionaries have taken in the work of discovery and pacification +entitles them to a high place in the records of equatorial +exploration; and their influence has often been exerted +beneficially on behalf of the natives. We may add here that M. de +Brazza did good work for the French tricolour in exploring the land +north of the Congo and Ubangi rivers; he founded several stations, +which were to develop into the great French Congo colony.</p> +<p>Meanwhile events had transpired in Europe which served to give +stability to these undertakings. The energy thrown into the +exploration of the Congo basin soon awakened the jealousy of the +Power which had long ago discovered the mouth of the great river +and its adjacent coasts. In the years 1883, 1884, Portugal put +forward a claim to the overlordship of those districts on the +ground of priority of discovery and settlement. On all sides that +claim was felt to be unreasonable. The occupation of that territory +by the Portuguese had been short-lived, and nearly all traces of it +had disappeared, except at Kabinda and one or two points on the +coast. The fact that Diogo Cam and others had discovered the mouth +of the Congo in the fifteenth century was a poor argument for +closing to other peoples, three centuries later, the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page547" id="page547"></a>[pg 547]</span> whole +of the vast territory between that river and the mouth of the +Zambesi. These claims raised the problem of the Hinterland, that +is, the ownership of the whole range of territory behind a coast +line. Furthermore, the Portuguese officials were notoriously +inefficient and generally corrupt; while the customs system of that +State was such as to fetter the activities of trade with shackles +of a truly mediaeval type.</p> +<p>Over against these musty claims of Portugal there stood the +offers of "The International Association of the Congo" to bring the +blessings of free trade and civilisation to downtrodden millions of +negroes, if only access were granted from the sea. The contrast +between the dull obscurantism of Lisbon and the benevolent +intentions of Brussels struck the popular imagination. At that time +the eye of faith discerned in the King of the Belgians the ideal +godfather of a noble undertaking, and great was the indignation +when Portugal interfered with freedom of access to the sea at the +mouth of the Congo. Various matters were also in dispute between +Portugal and Great Britain respecting trading rights at that +important outlet; and they were by no means settled by an +Anglo-Portuguese Convention of February 26 (1884), in which Lord +Granville, Foreign Minister in the Gladstone Cabinet, was thought +to display too much deference to questionable claims. Protests were +urged against this Convention, by the United States, France, and +Germany, with the result that the Lisbon Government proposed to +refer all these matters to a Conference of the Powers; and +arrangements were soon made for the summoning of their +representatives to Berlin, under the presidency of Prince +Bismarck.</p> +<p>Before the Conference met, the United States took the decisive +step of recognising the rights of the Association to the government +of that river-basin (April 10, 1884)--a proceeding which ought to +have secured to the United States an abiding influence on the +affairs of the State which they did so much to create. The example +set by the United States was soon followed by the other Powers. In +that same month <span class="pagenum"><a name="page548" id= +"page548"></a>[pg 548]</span> France withdrew the objections which +she had raised to the work of the Association, and came to terms +with it in a treaty whereby she gained priority in the right of +purchase of its claims and possessions. The way having been thus +cleared, the Berlin Conference met on November 15, 1884. Prince +Bismarck suggested that the three chief topics for consideration +were (1) the freedom of navigation and of trade in the Congo area; +(2) freedom of navigation on the River Niger; (3) the formalities +to be thenceforth observed in lawful and valid annexations of +territories in Africa. The British plenipotentiary, Sir Edward +Malet, however, pointed out that, while his Government wished to +preserve freedom of navigation and of trade upon the Niger, it +would object to the formation of any international commission for +those purposes, seeing that Great Britain was the sole proprietory +Power on the Lower Niger (see Chapter XVIII.)<a name= +"FNanchor458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458">[458]</a>. This firm +declaration possibly prevented the intrusion of claims which might +have led to the whittling down of British rights on that great +river. An Anglo-French Commission was afterwards appointed to +supervise the navigation of the Niger.</p> +<p>The main question being thus concentrated on the Congo, Portugal +was obliged to defer to the practically unanimous refusal of the +Powers to recognise her claims over the lower parts of that river; +and on November 19 she conceded the principle of freedom of trade +on those waters. Next, it was decided that the Congo Association +should acquire and hold governing rights over nearly the whole of +the vast expanse drained by the Congo, with some reservations in +favour of France on the north and Portugal on the south. The +extension of the principle of freedom of trade nearly to the Indian +Ocean was likewise affirmed; and the establishment of monopolies or +privileges "of any kind" was distinctly forbidden within the Congo +area.</p> +<p>An effort strictly to control the sale of intoxicating liquors +to natives lapsed owing to the strong opposition of Germany +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page549" id="page549"></a>[pg +549]</span> and Holland, though a weaker motion on the same +all-important matter found acceptance (December 22). On January 7, +1885, the Conference passed a stringent declaration against the +slave-trade:--". . . these regions shall not be used as markets or +routes of transit for the trade in slaves, no matter of what race. +Each of these Powers binds itself to use all the means at its +disposal to put an end to this trade, and to punish those engaged +in it."</p> +<p>The month of February saw the settlement of the boundary claims +with France and Portugal, on bases nearly the same as those still +existing. The Congo Association gained the northern bank of the +river at its mouth, but ceded to Portugal a small strip of coast +line a little further north around Kabinda. These arrangements +were, on the whole, satisfactory to the three parties. France now +definitively gained by treaty right her vast Congo territory of +some 257,000 square miles in area, while Portugal retained on the +south of the river a coast nearly 1000 miles in length and a +dominion estimated at 351,000 square miles. The Association, though +handing over to these Powers respectively 60,000 and 45,000 square +miles of land which its pioneers hoped to obtain, nevertheless +secured for itself an immense territory of some 870,000 square +miles.</p> +<p>The General Act of the Berlin Conference was signed on February +26, 1885. Its terms and those of the Protocols prove conclusively +that the governing powers assigned to the Congo Association were +assigned to a neutral and international State, responsible to the +Powers which gave it its existence. In particular, Articles IV. and +V. of the General Act ran as follows:--</p> +<blockquote>Merchandise imported into these regions shall remain +free from import and transit dues. The Powers reserve to themselves +to determine, after the lapse of twenty years, whether this freedom +of import shall be retained or not.<br> +<br> +No Power which exercises, or shall exercise, sovereign rights in +the above mentioned regions shall be allowed to grant therein a +monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade. Foreigners, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page550" id="page550"></a>[pg +550]</span> without distinction, shall enjoy protection of their +persons and property, as well as the right of acquiring and +transferring movable and immovable possessions, and national rights +and treatment in the exercise of their professions.</blockquote> +<p>Before describing the growth of the Congo State, it is needful +to refer to two preliminary considerations. Firstly, it should be +noted that the Berlin Conference committed the mistake of failing +to devise any means for securing the observance of the principles +there laid down. Its work, considered in the abstract, was +excellent. The mere fact that representatives of the Powers could +meet amicably to discuss and settle the administration of a great +territory which in other ages would have provoked them to deadly +strifes, was in itself a most hopeful augury, and possibly the +success of the Conference inspired a too confident belief in the +effective watchfulness of the Powers over the welfare of the young +State to which they then stood as godfathers. In any case it must +be confessed that they have since interpreted their duties in the +easy way to which godfathers are all too prone. As in the case of +the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, so in that of the Conference of +Berlin of 1885, the fault lay not in the promise but in the failure +of the executors to carry out the terms of the promise.</p> +<p>Another matter remains to be noted. It resulted from the demands +urged by Portugal in 1883-84. By way of retort, the +plenipotentiaries now declared any occupation of territory to be +valid only when it had effectively taken place and had been +notified to all the Powers represented at the Conference. It also +defined a "sphere of influence" as the area within which one Power +is recognised as possessing priority of claims over other States. +The doctrine was to prove convenient for expansive States in the +future.</p> +<p>The first important event in the life of the new State was the +assumption by King Leopold II. of sovereign powers. All nations, +and Belgium not the least, were startled by his announcement to his +Ministers, on April 16, 1885, that he <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page551" id="page551"></a>[pg 551]</span> +desired the assent of the Belgian Parliament to this proceeding. He +stated that the union between Belgium and the Congo State would be +merely personal, and that the latter would enjoy, like the former, +the benefits of neutrality. The Parliament on April 28 gave its +assent, with but one dissentient voice, on the understanding stated +above. The Powers also signified their approval. On August 1, King +Leopold informed them of the facts just stated, and announced that +the new State took the title of the Congo Free State +(<i>L'État indépendant du Congo</i>)<a name= +"FNanchor459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459">[459]</a>.</p> +<p>Questions soon arose concerning the delimitation of the boundary +with the French Congo territory; and these led to the signing of a +protocol at Brussels on April 29, 1887, whereby the Congo Free +State gave up certain of its claims in the northern part of the +Congo region (the right bank of the River Ubangi), but exacted in +return the addition of a statement "that the right of pre-emption +accorded to France could not be claimed as against Belgium, of +which King Leopold is sovereign<a name="FNanchor460"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_460">[460]</a>."</p> +<p>There seems, however, to be some question whether this clause is +likely to have any practical effect. The clause is obviously +inoperative if Belgium ultimately declines to take over the Congo +territory, and there is at least the chance that this will happen. +If it does happen, King Leopold and the Belgian Parliament +recognise the prior claim of France to all the Congolese territory. +The King and the Congo Ministers seem to have made use of this +circumstance so as to strengthen the financial relations of France +to their new State in several ways, notably in the formation of +monopolist groups for the exploitation of Congoland. For the +present we may remark that by a clause of the Franco-Belgian Treaty +of Feb. 5, 1895, the Government of Brussels declared that it +"recognises the right of preference possessed by France over its +Congolese <span class="pagenum"><a name="page552" id= +"page552"></a>[pg 552]</span> possessions, in case of their +compulsory alienation, in whole or in part<a name= +"FNanchor461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461">[461]</a>."</p> +<p>Meanwhile King Leopold proceeded as if he were the absolute +ruler of the new State. He bestowed on it a constitution on the +most autocratic basis. M. Cattier, in his account of that +constitution sums it up by stating that</p> +<blockquote>The sovereign is the direct source of legislative, +executive, and judiciary powers. He can, if he chooses, delegate +their exercise to certain functionaries, but this delegation has no +other source than his will. . . . He can issue rules, on which, so +long as they last, is based the validity of certain acts by himself +or by his delegates. But he can cancel these rules whenever they +appear to him troublesome, useless, or dangerous. The organisation +of justice, the composition of the army, financial systems, and +industrial and commercial institutions--all are established solely +by him in accordance with his just or faulty conceptions as to +their usefulness or efficiency<a name="FNanchor462"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_462">[462]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>A natural outcome of such a line of policy was the gradual +elimination of non-Belgian officials. In July 1886 Sir Francis de +Winton, Stanley's successor in the administration of the Congo +area, gave place to a Belgian "Governor-General," M. Janssen; and +similar changes were made in all grades of the service.</p> +<p>Meanwhile other events were occurring which enabled the +officials of the Congo State greatly to modify the provisions laid +down at the Berlin Conference. These events were as follows. For +many years the Arab slave-traders had been extending their raids in +easterly and south-easterly directions, until they began to +desolate the parts of the Congo State nearest to the great lakes +and the Bahr-el-Ghazal.</p> +<p>Their activity may be ascribed to the following causes. The +slave-trade has for generations been pursued in Africa. The negro +tribes themselves have long practised it; and the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page553" id="page553"></a>[pg 553]</span> Arabs, +in their gradual conquest of many districts of Central Africa, +found it to be by far the most profitable of all pursuits. The +market was almost boundless; for since the Congress of Vienna +(1815) and the Congress of Verona (1822) the Christian Powers had +forbidden their subjects any longer to pursue that nefarious +calling. It is true that kidnapping of negroes went on secretly, +despite all the efforts of British cruisers to capture the slavers. +It is said that the last seizure of a Portuguese schooner illicitly +trading in human flesh was made off the Congo coast as late as the +year 1868<a name="FNanchor463"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_463">[463]</a>. But the cessation of the trans-Atlantic +slave-trade only served to stimulate the Arab man-hunters of +Eastern Africa to greater efforts; and the rise of Mahdism +quickened the demand for slaves in an unprecedented manner. Thus, +the hateful trade went on apace, threatening to devastate the +Continent which explorers, missionaries, and traders were opening +up.</p> +<p>The civilising and the devastating processes were certain soon +to clash; and, as Stanley had foreseen, the conflict broke out on +the Upper Congo. There the slave-raiders, subsidised or led by +Arabs of Zanzibar, were specially active. Working from Ujiji and +other bases, they attacked some of the expeditions sent by the +Congo Free State. Chief among the raiders was a half-caste Arab +negro nick-named Tipu Tib ("The gatherer of wealth"), who by his +energy and cunning had become practically the master of a great +district between the Congo and Lake Tanganyika. At first +(1887-1888) the Congo Free State adopted Stanley's suggestion of +appointing Tipu Tib to be its governor of the Stanley Falls +district, at a salary of £30 a month<a name= +"FNanchor464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464">[464]</a>. So artificial +an arrangement soon broke down, and war broke out early in 1892. +The forces of the Congo Free State, led by Commandants Dhanis and +Lothaire, and by Captain S.L. Hinde, finally worsted the Arabs +after two long and wearisome campaigns waged on the Upper Congo. +Into the details of the war it is impossible to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page554" id="page554"></a>[pg 554]</span> enter. +The accounts of all the operations, including that of Captain +Hinde<a name="FNanchor465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465">[465]</a>, +are written with a certain reserve; and the impression that the +writers were working on behalf of civilisation and humanity is +somewhat blurred by the startling admissions made by Captain Hinde +in a paper read by him before the Royal Geographical Society in +London, on March 11, 1895. He there stated that the Arabs, "despite +their slave-raiding propensities," had "converted the Manyema and +Malela country into one of the most prosperous in Central Africa." +He also confessed that during the fighting the two flourishing +towns, Nyangwe and Kasongo, had been wholly swept away. In view of +these statements the results of the campaign cannot be regarded +with unmixed satisfaction.</p> +<p>Such, however, was not the view taken at the time. Not long +before, the Continent had rung with the sermons and speeches of +Cardinal Lavigerie, Bishop of Algiers, who, like a second Peter the +Hermit, called all Christians to unite in a great crusade for the +extirpation of slavery. The outcome of it all was the meeting of an +Anti-Slavery Conference at Brussels, at the close of 1889, in which +the Powers that had framed the Berlin Act again took part. The +second article passed at Brussels asserted among other things the +duties of the Powers "in giving aid to commercial enterprises to +watch over their legality, controlling especially the contracts for +service entered into with natives." The abuses in the trade in +firearms were to be carefully checked and controlled.</p> +<p>Towards the close of the Conference a proposal was brought +forward (May 10, 1890) to the effect that, as the suppression of +the slave-trade and the work of upraising the natives would entail +great expense, it was desirable to annul the clause in the Berlin +Act prohibiting the imposition of import duties for, at least, +twenty years from that date (that is, up to the year 1905). The +proposal seemed so plausible as to disarm the opposition of all the +Powers, except Holland, which strongly protested against the +change. Lord Salisbury's Government neglected to safeguard +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page555" id="page555"></a>[pg +555]</span> British interests in this matter; and, despite the +unremitting opposition of the Dutch Government, the obnoxious +change was finally registered on January 2, 1892, it being +understood that the duties were not to exceed 10 per cent <i>ad +valorem</i> except in the case of spirituous liquors, and that no +differential treatment would be accorded to the imports of any +nation or nations.</p> +<p>Thus the European Powers, yielding to the specious plea that +they must grant the Congo Free State the power of levying customs +dues in order to further its philanthropic aims, gave up one of the +fundamentals agreed on at the Berlin Conference. The <i>raison +d'être</i> of the Congo Free State was, that it stood for +freedom of trade in that great area; and to sign away one of the +birthrights of modern civilisation, owing to the plea of a +temporary want of cash in Congoland, can only be described as the +act of a political Esau. The General Act of the Brussels Conference +received a provisional sanction (the clause respecting customs dues +not yet being definitively settled) on July 2, 1890<a name= +"FNanchor466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466">[466]</a>.</p> +<p>On the next day the Congo Free State entered into a financial +arrangement with the Belgian Government which marked one more step +in the reversal of the policy agreed on at Berlin five years +previously. In this connection we must note that King Leopold by +his will, dated August 2, 1889, bequeathed to Belgium after his +death all his sovereign rights over that State, "together with all +the benefits, rights and advantages appertaining to that +sovereignty." Apparently, the occasion that called forth the will +was the urgent need of a loan of 10,000,000 francs which the Congo +State pressed the Belgian Government to make on behalf of the Congo +railway. Thus, on the very eve of the summoning of the European +Conference at Brussels, the Congo Government <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page556" id="page556"></a>[pg 556]</span> (that +is, King Leopold) had appealed, not to the Great Powers, but to the +Belgian Government, and had sought to facilitate the grant of the +desired loan by the prospect of the ultimate transfer of his +sovereign rights to Belgium.</p> +<p>Unquestionably the King had acted very generously in the past +toward the Congo Association and State. It has even been affirmed +that his loans often amounted to the sum of 40,000,000 francs a +year; but, even so, that did not confer the right to will away to +any one State the results of an international enterprise. As a +matter of fact, however, the Congo State was at that time nearly +bankrupt; and in this circumstance, doubtless, may be found an +explanation of the apathy of the Powers in presence of an +infraction of the terms of the Berlin Act of 1885.</p> +<p>We are now in a position to understand more clearly the meaning +of the Convention of July 3, 1890, between the Congo Free State and +the Belgian Government. By its terms the latter pledged itself to +advance a loan of 25,000,000 francs to the Congo State in the +course of ten years, without interest, on condition that at the +close of six months after the expiration of that time Belgium +should have the right of annexing the Free State with all its +possessions and liabilities.</p> +<p>Into the heated discussions which took place in the Belgian +Parliament in the spring and summer of 1901 respecting the +Convention of July 3, 1890, we cannot enter. The King interfered so +as to prevent the acceptance of a reasonable compromise proposed by +the Belgian Prime Minister, M. Beernaert; and ultimately matters +were arranged by a decree of August 7, 1901, which will probably +lead to the transference of King Leopold's sovereign rights to +Belgium at his death. In the meantime, the entire executive and +legislative control is vested in him, and in a Colonial Minister +and Council of four members, who are responsible solely to him, +though the Minister has a seat in the Belgian Parliament<a name= +"FNanchor467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467">[467]</a>. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page557" id="page557"></a>[pg 557]</span> To +King Leopold, therefore, belongs the ultimate responsibility for +all that is done in the Congo Free State. As M. Cattier phrased it +in the year 1898: "Belgium has no more right to intervene in the +internal affairs of the Congo than the Congo State has to intervene +in Belgian affairs. As regards the Congo Government, Belgium has no +right either of intervention, direction, or control<a name= +"FNanchor468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468">[468]</a>."</p> +<p>Very many Belgians object strongly to the building up of an +<i>imperium in imperio</i> in their land; and the wealth which the +ivory and rubber of the Congo brings into their midst (not to speak +of the stock-jobbing and company-promoting which go on at Brussels +and Antwerp), does not blind them to the moral responsibility which +the Belgian people has indirectly incurred. It is true that Belgium +has no legal responsibility, but the State which has lent a large +sum to the Congo Government, besides providing the great majority +of the officials and exploiters of that territory, cannot escape +some amount of responsibility. M. Vandervelde, leader of the Labour +Party in Belgium, has boldly and persistently asserted the right of +the Belgian people to a share in the control of its eventual +inheritance, but hitherto all the efforts of his colleagues have +failed before the groups of capitalists who have acquired great +monopolist rights in Congoland.</p> +<p>Having now traced the steps by which the Congolese Government +reached its present anomalous position, we will proceed to give a +short account of its material progress and administration.</p> +<p>No one can deny that much has been done in the way of +engineering. A light railway has been constructed from near Vivi on +the Lower Congo to Stanley Pool, another from Boma into the +districts north of that important river port. Others have been +planned, or are already being constructed, between Stanley Falls +and the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, with a branch to the +Albert Nyanza. Another line <span class="pagenum"><a name="page558" +id="page558"></a>[pg 558]</span> will connect the upper part of the +River Congo with the westernmost affluent of the River Kasai, thus +taking the base of the arc instead of the immense curve of the main +stream. By the year 1903, 480 kilometres of railway were open for +traffic, while 1600 more were in course of construction or were +being planned. It seems that the first 400 kilometres, in the hilly +region near the seaboard, cost 75,000,000 francs in place of the +25,000,000 francs first estimated<a name="FNanchor469"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_469">[469]</a>. Road-making has also been pushed on in +many directions. A flotilla of steamers plies on the great river +and its chief affluents. In 1885 there were but five; the number +now exceeds a hundred. As many as 1532 kilometres of telegraphs are +now open. The exports advanced from 1,980,441 francs in 1885-86 to +50,488,394 francs in 1901-02, mainly owing to the immense trade in +rubber, of which more anon; the imports from 9,175,103 francs in +1893 to 23,102,064 in 19O1-O2<a name="FNanchor470"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_470">[470]</a>.</p> +<p>Far more important is the moral gain which has resulted from the +suppression of the slave-trade over a large part of the State. On +this point we may quote the testimony of Mr. Roger Casement, +British Consul at Boma, in an official report founded on +observations taken during a long tour up the Congo. He writes: "The +open selling of slaves and the canoe convoys which once navigated +the Upper Congo have everywhere disappeared. No act of the Congo +State Government has perhaps produced more laudable results than +the vigorous suppression of this widespread evil<a name= +"FNanchor471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471">[471]</a>."</p> +<p>King Leopold has also striven hard to extend the bounds of the +Congo State. Not satisfied with his compact with France of April +1887, which fixed the River Ubangi and its tributaries as the +boundary of their possessions, he pushed ahead to the north-east of +those confines, and early in the nineties established posts at Lado +on the White Nile and in the Bahr-el-Ghazal <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page559" id="page559"></a>[pg 559]</span> basin. +Clearly his aim was to conquer the districts which Egypt for the +time had given up to the Mahdi. These efforts brought about sharp +friction between the Congolese authorities and France and Great +Britain. After long discussions the Cabinet of London agreed to the +convention of May 12, 1894, whereby the Congo State gained the +Bahr-el-Ghazal basin and the left bank of the Upper Nile, together +with a port on the Albert Nyanza. On his side, King Leopold +recognised the claims of England to the right bank of the Nile and +to a strip of land between the Albert Nyanza and Lake Tanganyika. +Owing to the strong protests of France and Germany this agreement +was rescinded, and the Cabinet of Paris finally compelled King +Leopold to give up all claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal, though he +acquired the right to lease the Lado district below the Albert +Nyanza. The importance of these questions in the development of +British policy in the Nile basin has been pointed out in Chapter +XVII.</p> +<p>The ostensible aim, however, of the founders of the Congo Free +State was, not the exploitation of the Upper Nile district, the +making of railways and the exportation of great quantities of ivory +and rubber from Congoland, but the civilising and uplifting of +Central Africa. The General Act of the Berlin Conference begins +with an invocation to Almighty God; and the Brussels Conference +imitated its predecessor in this particular. It is, therefore, as a +civilising and moralising agency that the Congo Government will +always be judged at the bar of posterity.</p> +<p>The first essential of success in dealing with backward races is +sympathy with their most cherished notions. Yet from the very +outset one of these was violated. On July 1, 1885, a decree of the +Congo Free State asserted that all vacant lands were the property +of the Government, that is, virtually of the King himself. Further, +on June 30, 1887, an ordinance was decreed, claiming the right to +let or sell domains, and to grant mining or wood-cutting rights on +any land, "the ownership of which is not recognised as appertaining +to any one." These <span class="pagenum"><a name="page560" id= +"page560"></a>[pg 560]</span> decrees, we may remark, were for some +time kept secret, until their effects became obvious.</p> +<p>All who know anything of the land systems of primitive peoples +will see that they contravened the customs which the savage holds +dear. The plots actually held and tilled by the natives are +infinitesimally small when compared with the vast tracts over which +their tribes claim hunting, pasturage, and other rights. The land +system of the savage is everywhere communal. Individual ownership +in the European sense is a comparatively late development. The +Congolese authorities must have known this; for nearly all troubles +with native races have arisen from the profound differences in the +ideas of the European and the savage on the subject of +land-holding.</p> +<p>Yet, in face of the experience of former times, the Congo State +put forward a claim which has led, or will lead, to the +confiscation of all tribal or communal land-rights in that huge +area. Such confiscation may, perhaps, be defended in the case of +the United States, where the new-comers enormously outnumbered the +Red Indians, and tilled land that previously lay waste. It is +indefensible in the tropics, where the white settlers will always +remain the units as compared with the millions whom they elevate or +exploit<a name="FNanchor472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472">[472]</a>. +The savage holds strongly to certain rudimentary ideas of justice, +especially to the right, which he and his tribe have always claimed +and exercised, of <i>using</i> the tribal land for the primary +needs of life. When he is denied the right of hunting, cutting +timber, or pasturage, he feels "cribbed, cabined, and confined." +This, doubtless, is the chief source of the quarrels between the +new State and its <i>protégés</i>, also of the +depression of spirits which Mr. Casement found so prevalent. The +best French authorities on colonial development now admit that it +is madness to interfere with the native land tenures in tropical +Africa.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page561" id="page561"></a>[pg +561]</span> +<p>The method used in the enlisting of men for public works and for +the army has also caused many troubles. This question is admittedly +one of great difficulty. Hard work must be done, and, in the +tropics, the white man can only direct it. Besides, where life is +fairly easy, men will not readily come forward to labour. Either +the inducement offered must be adequate, or some form of compulsory +enlistment must be adopted. The Belgian officials, in the plentiful +lack of funds that has always clogged their State, have tried +compulsion, generally through the native chiefs. These are induced, +by the offer of cotton cloth or bright-coloured handkerchiefs, to +supply men from the tribe. If the labourers are not forthcoming, +the chief is punished, his village being sometimes burned. By +means, then, of gaudy handkerchiefs, or firebrands, the labourers +are obtained. They figure as "apprentices," under the law of +November 8, 1888, which accorded "special protection to the +blacks."</p> +<p>The British Consul, Mr. Casement, in his report on the +administration of the Congo, stated that the majority of the +government workmen at Léopoldville were under some form of +compulsion, but were, on the whole, well cared for<a name= +"FNanchor473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473">[473]</a>.</p> +<p>According to a German resident in Congoland, the lot of the +apprentices differs little from that of slaves. Their position, as +contrasted with that of their former relation to the chief, is +humorously defined by the term <i>libérés</i><a name= +"FNanchor474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474">[474]</a> The hardships +of the labourers on the State railways were such that the British +Government refused to allow them to be recruited from Sierra Leone +or other British possessions.</p> +<p>However, now that a British Cabinet has allowed a great colony +to make use of indentured yellow labour in its mines, Great Britain +cannot, without glaring inconsistency, lodge any protest against +the infringement, in Congoland, of the Act of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page562" id="page562"></a>[pg 562]</span> the +Berlin Conference in the matter of the treatment of hired +labourers. If the lot of the Congolese apprentices is to be +bettered, the initiative must be taken at some capital other than +London.</p> +<p>Another subject which nearly concerns the welfare of the Congo +State is the recruiting and use of native troops. These are often +raised from the most barbarous tribes of the far interior; their +pay is very small; and too often the main inducement to serve under +the blue banner with the golden star, is the facility for feasting +and plunder at the expense of other natives who have not satisfied +the authorities. As one of them naïvely said to Mr. Casement, +<i>he preferred to be with the hunters rather than with the +hunted.</i></p> +<p>It seems that grave abuses first crept in during the course of +the campaign for the extirpation of slavery and slave-raiding in +the Stanley Falls region. The Arab slave-raiders were rich, not +only in slaves, but in ivory--prizes which tempted the cupidity of +the native troops, and even, it is said, of their European +officers. In any case, it is certain that the liberating forces, +hastily raised and imperfectly controlled, perpetrated shocking +outrages on the tribes for whose sake they were waging war. The +late Mr. Glave, in the article in the <i>Century Magazine</i> above +referred to, found reason for doubting whether the crusade did not +work almost as much harm as the evils it was sent to cure. His +words were these: "The black soldiers are bent on fighting and +raiding; they want no peaceful settlement. They have good rifles +and ammunition, realise their superiority over the natives with +their bows and arrows, and they want to shoot and kill and rob. +Black delights to kill black, whether the victim be man, woman, or +child, and no matter how defenceless." This deep-seated habit of +mind is hard to eradicate; and among certain of the less reputable +of the Belgian officers it has occasionally been used, in order to +terrorise into obedience tribes that kicked against the decrees of +the Congo State.</p> +<p>Undoubtedly there is great difficulty in avoiding friction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page563" id="page563"></a>[pg +563]</span> with native tribes. All Governments have at certain +times and places behaved more or less culpably towards them. +British annals have been fouled by many a misdeed on the part of +harsh officials and grasping pioneers, while recent revelations as +to the treatment of natives in Western Australia show the need of +close supervision of officials even in a popularly governed colony. +The record of German East Africa and the French Congo is also very +far from clean. Still, in the opinion of all who have watched over +the welfare of the aborigines--among whom we may name Sir Charles +Dilke and Mr. Fox Bourne--the treatment of the natives in a large +part of the Congo Free State has been worse than in the districts +named above<a name="FNanchor475"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_475">[475]</a>. There is also the further damning fact +that the very State which claimed to be a great philanthropic +agency has, until very recently, refused to institute any full +inquiry into the alleged defects of its administration.</p> +<p>Some of these defects may be traced to the bad system of payment +of officials. Not only are they underpaid, but they have no +pension, such as is given by the British, French, and Dutch +Governments to their employees. The result is that the Congolese +officer looks on his term of service in that unhealthy climate as a +time when he must enrich himself for life. Students of Roman +History know that, when this feeling becomes a tradition, it is apt +to lead to grave abuses, the recital of which adds an undying +interest to the speech of Cicero against Verres. In the case of the +Congolese administrators the State provided (doubtless unwittingly) +an incentive to harshness. It frequently supplemented its +inadequate stipends by "gratifications," which are thus described +and criticised by M. Cattier: "The custom was introduced of paying +to officials prizes proportioned to the amount of produce of the +'private domain' of the State, and of the taxes paid by the +natives. That amounted to the inciting, by the spur of personal +interest, of officials to severity and to rigour <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page564" id="page564"></a>[pg 564]</span> in the +application of laws and regulations." Truly, a more pernicious +application of the plan of "payment by results" cannot be +conceived; and M. Cattier affirms that, though nominally abolished, +it existed in reality down to the year 1898.</p> +<p>Added to this are defects arising from the uncertainty of +employment. An official may be discharged at once by the +Governor-General on the ground of unfitness for service in Africa; +and the man, when discharged, has no means of gaining redress. The +natural result is the growth of a habit of almost slavish obedience +to the authorities, not only in regard to the written law, but also +to private and semi-official intimations<a name= +"FNanchor476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476">[476]</a>.</p> +<p>Another blot on the record of the Congo Free State is the +exclusive character of the trading corporation to which it has +granted concessions. Despite the promises made to private firms +that early sought to open up business in its land, the Government +itself has become a great trading corporation, with monopolist +rights which close great regions to private traders and subject the +natives to vexatious burdens. This system took definite form in +September 1891, when the Government claimed exclusive rights in +trade in the extreme north and north-east. At the close of that +year Captain Baert, the administrator of these districts, also +enjoined the collection of rubber and other products by the natives +for the benefit of the State.</p> +<p>The next step was to forbid to private traders in that quarter +the right of buying these products from natives. In May 1892 the +State monopoly in rubber, etc., was extended to the "Equator" +district, natives not being allowed to sell them to any one but a +State official. Many of the merchants protested, but in vain. The +chief result of their protest was the establishment of privileged +companies, the "Société Anversoise" and the +"Anglo-Belgian," and the reservation to the State of large areas +under the title of <i>Domaines privés</i> (Oct. +1892)<a name="FNanchor477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477">[477]</a>. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page565" id="page565"></a>[pg +565]</span> The apologetic skill of the partisans of the Congo +State is very great; but it will hardly be equal to the task of +proving that this new departure is not a direct violation of +Article V. of the General Act of the Berlin Conference of 1885, +quoted above.</p> +<p>A strange commentary on the latter part of that article, +according full protection to all foreigners, was furnished by the +execution of the ex-missionary, Stokes, at the hands of Belgian +officials in 1895--a matter for which the Congo Government finally +made grudging and incomplete reparation<a name= +"FNanchor478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478">[478]</a>. Another case +was as bad. In 1901 an Austrian trader, Rabinek, was arrested and +imprisoned for "illegal" trading in rubber in the "Katanga Trust" +country. Treated unfeelingly during his removal down the country, +he succumbed to fever. His effects were seized and have not been +restored to his heirs<a name="FNanchor479"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_479">[479]</a>.</p> +<p>When such treatment is meted out to white men who pursued their +trade in reliance on the original constitution of the State, the +natives may be expected to fare badly. Their misfortunes thickened +when the Government, on the plea that natives must contribute +towards the expenses of the State, began to require them to collect +and hand in a certain amount of rubber. The evidence of Mr. +Casement clearly shows that the natives could not understand why +this should suddenly be imposed on them; that the amount claimed +was often excessive; and that the punishment meted out for failure +to comply with the official demands led to many barbarous actions +on the part of officials and their native troops. Thus, at Bolobo, +he found large numbers of industrious workers in iron who had fled +from the "Domaine de la Couronne" (King Leopold's private domain) +because "they had endured such ill-treatment at the hands of the +Government officials and Government soldiers in their own country +that life had become intolerable, that nothing had remained for +them at home but to be killed for failure to bring in a certain +amount of rubber, or to die of <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page566" id="page566"></a>[pg 566]</span> starvation or exposure +in their attempts to satisfy the demands made upon them<a name= +"FNanchor480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480">[480]</a>."</p> +<p>On the north side of Lake Mantumba Mr. Casement found that the +population had diminished by 60 or 70 per cent since the imposition +of the rubber tax in 1893--a fact, however, which may be partly +assigned to the sleeping sickness. The tax led to constant +fighting, until at last the officials gave up the effort and +imposed a requisition of food or gum-copal; the change seems to +have been satisfactory there and in other parts where it has been +tried. In the former time the native soldiers punished delinquents +with mutilation: proofs on this subject here and in several other +places were indisputable. On the River Lulongo, Mr. Casement found +that the amount of rubber collected from the natives generally +proved to be in proportion to the number of guns used by the +collecting force<a name="FNanchor481"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_481">[481]</a>. In some few cases natives were shot, +even by white officers, on account of their failure to bring in the +due amount of rubber<a name="FNanchor482"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_482">[482]</a>. A comparatively venial form of +punishment was the capture and detention of wives until their +husbands made up the tale. Is it surprising that thousands of the +natives of the north have <span class="pagenum"><a name="page567" +id="page567"></a>[pg 567]</span> fled into French Congoland, itself +by no means free from the grip of monopolist companies, but not +terrorised as are most of the tribes of the "Free State"?</p> +<p>Livingstone, in his day, regarded ivory as the chief cause of +the slave-trade in Central and Eastern Africa; but it is +questionable whether even ivory (now a vanishing product) brought +more woe to millions of negroes than the viscous fluid which +enables the pleasure-seekers of Paris, London, and New York to rush +luxuriously through space. The swift Juggernaut of the present age +is accountable for as much misery as ever sugar or ivory was in the +old slave days. But it seems that, so long as the motor-car +industry prospers, the dumb woes of the millions of Africa will +count for little in the Courts of Europe. During the session of +1904 Lord Lansdowne made praiseworthy efforts to call their +attention to the misgovernment of the Congo State; but he met with +no response except from the United States, Italy, and Turkey(!) A +more signal proof of the weakness and cynical selfishness now +prevalent in high quarters has never been given than in this +abandonment of a plain and bounden duty.</p> +<p>A slight amount of public spirit on the part of the signatories +of the Berlin Act would have sufficed to prevent Congolese affairs +drifting into the present highly anomalous situation. That land is +not Belgian, and it is not international--except in a strictly +legal sense. It is difficult to say what it is if it be not the +private domain of King Leopold and of several +monopolist-controlling trusts. Probably the only way out of the +present slough of despond is the definite assumption of sole +responsibility by the Belgian people; for it should be remembered +that a very large number of patriotic Belgians urgently long to +redress evils for which they feel themselves to be indirectly, and +to a limited extent, chargeable. At present, those who carefully +study the evidence relating to the Berlin Conference of 1885, and +the facts, so far as they are ascertainable to-day, must pronounce +the Congo experiment to be a terrible failure.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor455">[455]</a> +<i>L'Afrique nouvelle</i>. Par. E. Descamps, Brussels, Paris, 1903, +p. 8.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor456">[456]</a> For +details see J. de C. Macdonell, <i>King Leopold II</i>., p. +113.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor457">[457]</a> H. +von Wissmann, <i>My Second Journey through Equatorial Africa</i>, +1891. Rev. W.H. Bentley, <i>Pioneering on the Congo</i>, 2 +vols.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor458">[458]</a> See +Protocols, <i>Parl. Papers</i>, Africa, No. 4 (1885), pp. 119 <i>et +seq</i>.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor459">[459]</a> +<i>The Story of the Congo Free State</i>, by H.W. Wack (New York, +1905), p. 101; Wauters, <i>L'État indépendant du +Congo</i>, pp. 36-37.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor460">[460]</a> +<i>The Congo State</i>, by D.C. Boulger (London, 1896), p. 62.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor461">[461]</a> +Cattier, <i>Droit et Administration de l'État +indépendent du Congo</i>, p. 82.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor462">[462]</a> +Cattier, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 134-135.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor463">[463]</a> A.J. +Wauters, <i>L'État indépendent du Congo</i>, p. +52.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor464">[464]</a> +Stanley, <i>In Darkest Africa</i>, vol. i. pp. 60-70.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor465">[465]</a> +<i>The Fall of the Congo Arabs</i>, by Capt. S.L. Hinde (London, +1897).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor466">[466]</a> On +August 1, 1890, the Sultan of Zanzibar declared that no sale of +slaves should thenceforth take place in his dominions. He also +granted to slaves the right of appeal to him in case they were +cruelly treated. See Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1890-91).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor467">[467]</a> H.R. +Fox-Bourne, <i>Civilisation in Congoland</i> p. 277.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor468">[468]</a> M. +Cattier, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 88.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor469">[469]</a> +<i>L'Afrique nouvelle,</i> by E. Descamps (1903), chap. xv. Much of +the credit of the early railway-making was due to Colonel Thys.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor470">[470]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 589-590.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor471">[471]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. I (1904), p. 26.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor472">[472]</a> The +number of whites in Congoland is about 1700, of whom 1060 are +Belgians; the blacks number about 29,000,000, according to Stanley; +the Belgian Governor-General, Wahis, thinks this below the truth. +See Wauters, <i>L'État indépendant du Congo,</i> pp. +261, 432.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor473">[473]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1904), p. 27.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor474">[474]</a> A. +Boshart, <i>Zehn Jahre Afrikanischen Lebens</i> (1898), quoted by +Fox Bourne, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 77. For further details see the +article by Mr. Glave, once an official of the Congo Free State, in +the <i>Century Magazine</i>, vol. liii.; also his work, <i>Six +Years in the Congo</i> (1892).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor475">[475]</a> Sir +Charles Dilke stated this very forcibly in a speech delivered at +the Holborn Town Hall on June 7, 1905.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor476">[476]</a> +Cattier, <i>Droit et Administration . . . du Congo,</i> pp. +243-245.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor477">[477]</a> For +a map of the domains now appropriated by these and other privileged +"Trusts," see Morel, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 466.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor478">[478]</a> See +the evidence in Parl. Papers, Africa. No. 8 (1896).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor479">[479]</a> +Morel, <i>op. cit.</i> chaps. xxiii.-xxv.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor480">[480]</a> +Parl. Papers, Africa, No. I (1904), pp. 29, 60. A missionary, Rev. +J. Whitehead, wrote in July 1903: "During the past seven years +this 'domaine privé' of King Leopold has been a veritable +'hell on earth.'" (<i>Ibid</i>. p. 64).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor481">[481]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. pp. 34, 43, 44, 49, 76, etc.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor482">[482]</a> +<i>Ibid</i>. p. 70. The effort made by the Chevalier De Cuvelier to +rebut Mr. Casement's charges consists mainly of an ineffective +<i>tu quoque</i>. To compare the rubber-tax of the Congo State with +the hut-tax of Sierra Leone begs the whole question. Mr. Casement +proves (p. 27) that the natives do not object to reasonable +taxation which comes regularly. They do object to demands for +rubber which are excessive and often involve great privations. +Above all, the punishments utterly cow them and cause them to flee +to the forests.<br> +<br> +The efforts of Mr. Macdonnell in <i>King Leopold II</i>. (London, +1905) to refute Mr. Casement also seem to me weak and inconclusive. +The reply of the Congo Free State is printed by Mr. H.W. Wack in +the Appendix of his <i>Story of the Congo Free State</i> (New York, +1905). It convicts Mr. Casement of inaccuracy on a few details. +Despite all that has been written by various apologists, it may be +affirmed that the Congo Free State has yet made no adequate +defence. Possibly it will appear in the report which, it is hoped, +will be published in full by the official commission of inquiry now +sitting.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page568" id="page568"></a>[pg +568]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<h3>RUSSIA IN THE FAR EAST</h3> +<blockquote>"This war, waged . . . for the command of the waters of +the Pacific Ocean, so urgently necessary for the peaceful +prosperity, not only of our own, but of other nations."--<i>The +Czar's Proclamation of March 3, 1905</i>.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>Of all the collisions of racial interests that have made recent +history, none has turned the thoughts of the world to regions so +remote, and events so dramatic in their intensity and momentous in +their results, as that which has come about in Manchuria. The Far +Eastern Question is the outcome of the expansion of two vigorous +races, that of Russia and Japan, at the expense of the almost +torpid polity of China. The struggle has taken place in the +debatable lands north and west of Korea, where Tartars and Chinese +formerly warred for supremacy, and where geographical and +commercial considerations enhance the value of the most northerly +of the ice-free ports of the Continent of Asia.</p> +<p>In order to understand the significance of this great struggle, +we must look back to the earlier stages of the extension of Russian +influence. Up to a very recent period the eastern growth of Russia +affords an instance of swift and natural expansion. Picture on the +one side a young and vigorous community, dowered with patriotic +pride by the long and eventually triumphant conflict with the +Tartar hordes, and dwelling in dreary plains where Nature now and +again drives men forth on the quest for a sufficiency of food. On +the other <span class="pagenum"><a name="page569" id= +"page569"></a>[pg 569]</span> hand, behold a vast territory, +well-watered, with no natural barrier between the Urals and the +Pacific, sparsely inhabited by tribes of nomads having little in +common. The one active community will absorb the ill-organised +units as inevitably as the rising tide overflows the neighbouring +mud-flats when once the intervening barrier is overtopped. In the +case of Russia and Siberia the only barrier is that of the Ural +Mountains; and their gradual slopes form a slighter barrier than is +anywhere else figured on the map of the world in so conspicuous a +chain. The Urals once crossed, the slopes and waterways invite the +traveller eastwards.</p> +<p>The French revolutionists of 1793 used to say, "With bread and +iron one can get to China." Russian pioneers had made good that +boast nearly two centuries before it was uttered in Paris. The +impelling force which set in motion the Muscovite tide originated +with a man whose name is rarely heard outside Russia. Yet, if the +fame of men were proportionate to the effect of their exploits, few +names would be more widely known than that of Jermak. This man had +been a hauler of boats up the banks of the Volga, until his +strength, hardihood, and love of adventure impelled him to a +freebooting life, wherein his powers of command and the fierce +thoroughness of his methods speedily earned him the name of Jermak, +"the millstone." In the year 1580, the wealthy family of the +Stroganoffs, tempted by stories of the wealth to be gained from the +fur-bearing animals of Siberia, turned their thoughts to Jermak and +his robber band as the readiest tools for the conquest of those +plains. The enterprise appealed to Jermak and the hardy Cossacks +with whom he had to do. He and his men were no less skilled in +river craft than in fighting; and the roving Cossack spirit kindled +at the thought of new lands to harry. Proceeding by boat from Perm, +they worked their way into the spurs of the Urals, and then by no +very long <i>portage</i> crossed one of its lower passes and found +themselves on one of the tributaries of the Obi.</p> +<p>Thenceforth their course was easy. Jermak and his small +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page570" id="page570"></a>[pg +570]</span> band of picked fighters were more than a match for the +wretchedly armed and craven-spirited Tartars, who fled at the sound +of firearms. In 1581 the settlement, called Sibir, fell to the +invaders; and, though they soon abandoned this rude encampment for +a new foundation, the town of Tobolsk, yet the name Siberia recalls +their pride at the conquest of the enemy's capital. The traditional +skill of the Cossacks in the handling of boats greatly aided their +advance, and despite the death of Jermak in battle, his men pressed +on and conquered nearly the half of Siberia within a decade. What +Drake and the sea-dogs of Devon were then doing for England on the +western main, was being accomplished for Russia by the ex-pirate +and his band from the Volga. The two expansive movements were +destined finally to meet on the shores of the Pacific in the +northern creeks of what is now British Columbia.</p> +<p>The later stages in Russian expansion need not detain us here. +The excellence of the Cossack methods in foraying, pioneer-work, +and the forming of military settlements, consolidated the Muscovite +conquests. The Tartars were fain to submit to the Czar, or to flee +to the nomad tribes of Central Asia or Northern China. The invaders +reached the River Lena in the year 1630; and some of their +adventurers voyaged down the Amur, and breasted the waves of the +Pacific in 1636. Cossack bands conquered Kamchatka in +1699-1700<a name="FNanchor483"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_483">[483]</a>.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the first collision between the white and the yellow +races took place on the River Amur, which the Chinese claimed as +their own. At first the Russians easily prevailed; but in the year +1689 they suffered a check. New vigour was then manifested in the +councils of Pekin, and the young Czar, Peter the Great, in his +longing for triumphs over Swedes and Turks, thought lightly of +gains at the expense of the "celestials." He therefore gave to +Russian energies that trend westwards and southwards, which after +him marked the reigns of Catharine II., Alexander I., and, in part, +of Nicholas I. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="page571" id= +"page571"></a>[pg 571]</span> surrender of the Amur valley to China +in 1689 ended all efforts of Russia in that direction for a century +and a half. Many Russians believe that the earlier impulse was +sounder and more fruitful in results for Russia than her meddling +in the wars of the French Revolution and Empire.</p> +<p>Not till 1846 did Russia resume her march down the valley of the +Amur; and then the new movement was partly due to British action. +At that time the hostility of Russia and Britain was becoming acute +on Asiatic and Turkish questions. Further, the first Anglo-Chinese +War (1840-42) led to the cession of Hong-Kong to the distant +islanders, who also had five Chinese ports opened to their trade. +This enabled Russia to pose as the protector of China, and to claim +points of vantage whence her covering wings might be extended over +that Empire. The statesmen of Pekin had little belief in the +genuineness of these offers, especially in view of the thorough +exploration of the Amur region and the Gulf of Okhotsk which +speedily ensued.</p> +<p>The Czar, in fact, now inaugurated a forward Asiatic policy, and +confided it to an able governor, Muravieff (1847). The new +departure was marked by the issue of an imperial ukase (1851) +ordering the Russian settlers beyond Lake Baikal to conform to the +Cossack system; that is, to become liable to military duties in +return for the holding of land in the more exposed positions. Three +years later Muravieff ordered 6000 Cossacks to migrate from these +trans-Baikal settlements to the land newly acquired from China on +the borders of Manchuria<a name="FNanchor484"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_484">[484]</a>. In the same year the Russians +established a station at the mouth of the Amur, and in 1853 gained +control over part of the Island of Saghalien.</p> +<p>For the present, then, everything seemed to favour Russia's +forward policy. The tribes on the Amur were passive; an attack of +an Anglo-French squadron on Petropaulovsk, a port in Kamchatka, +failed (Aug. 1854); and the Russians hoped to be able to harry +British commerce from this and other naval <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page572" id="page572"></a>[pg 572]</span> bases +in the Pacific. Finally, the rupture with England and France, and +the beginning of the Taeping rebellion in China, induced the Court +of Pekin to agree to Russia's demands for the Amur boundary, and +for a subsequent arrangement respecting the ownership of the +districts between the mouth of that river and the bay on which now +stands the port of Vladivostok (May 15, 1858). The latter +concession left the door open for Muravieff to push on Russia's +claims to this important wedge of territory. His action was +characteristic. He settled Cossacks along the River Ussuri, a +southern tributary of the Amur, and, by pressing ceaselessly on the +celestials (then distracted by a war with England and France), he +finally brought them to agree to the cession of the district around +the new settlement, which was soon to receive the name of +Vladivostok ("Lord of the East"). He also acquired for the Czar the +Manchurian coast down to the bounds of Korea (November 2, 1860). +Russia thus threw her arms around the great province which had +provided China with her dynasty and her warrior caste, and was +still one of the wealthiest and most cherished lands of that +Empire. Having secured these points of vantage in Northern China, +the Muscovites could await with confidence further developments in +the decay of that once formidable organism.</p> +<p>Such, in brief, is the story of Russian expansion from the Urals +to the Sea of Japan. Probably no conquest of such magnitude was +ever made with so little expenditure of blood and money. In one +sense this is its justification, that is, if we view the course of +events, not by the limelight of abstract right, but by the ordinary +daylight of expediency. Conquests which strain the resources of the +victors and leave the vanquished longing for revenge, carry their +own condemnation. On the other hand, the triumph of Russia over the +ill-organised tribes of Siberia and northern Manchuria reminds one +of the easy and unalterable methods of Nature, which compels a +lower type of life to yield up its puny force for the benefit of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page573" id="page573"></a>[pg +573]</span> higher. It resembles the victory of man over +quadrupeds, of order over disorder, of well-regulated strength over +weakness and stupidity.</p> +<p>Muravieff deserves to rank among the makers of modern Russia. He +waited his time, used his Cossack pawns as an effective screen to +each new opening of the game, and pushed his foes hardest when they +were at their weakest. Moreover, like Bismarck, he knew when to +stop. He saw the limit that separated the practicable from the +impracticable. He brought the Russian coast near to the latitudes +where harbours are free from ice; but he forbore to encroach on +Korea--a step which would have brought Japan on to the field of +action. The Muscovite race, it was clear, had swallowed enough to +busy its digestive powers for many a year; and it was partly on his +advice that Russian North America was sold to the United +States.</p> +<p>Still, Russia's advance southwards towards ice-free ports was +only checked, not stopped. In 1861 a Russian man-of-war took +possession of the Tshushima Isles between Korea and Japan, but +withdrew on the protest of the British admiral. Six years later the +Muscovites strengthened their grip on Saghalien, and thereafter +exercised with Japan joint sovereignty over that island. The +natural result followed. In 1875 Russia found means to eject her +partner, the Japanese receiving as compensation undisputed claim to +the barren Kuriles, which they already possessed<a name= +"FNanchor485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485">[485]</a>.</p> +<p>Even before this further proof of Russia's expansiveness, Japan +had seen the need of adapting herself to the new conditions +consequent on the advent of the Great Powers in the Far East. This +is not the place for a description of the remarkable Revolution of +the years 1867-71. Suffice it to say that the events recounted +above undoubtedly helped on the centralising of the powers in the +hands of the Mikado, and the Europeanising of the institutions and +armed forces of Japan. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page574" id= +"page574"></a>[pg 574]</span> In face of aggressions by Russia and +quarrels with the maritime Powers, a vigorous seafaring people felt +the need of systems of organisation and self-defence other than +those provided by the rule of feudal lords, and levies drilled with +bows and arrows. The subsequent history of the Far East may be +summed up in the statement that Japan faced the new situation with +the brisk adaptability of a maritime people, while China plodded +along on her old tracks with a patience and stubbornness eminently +bovine.</p> +<p>The events which finally brought Russia and Japan into collision +arose out of the obvious need for the construction of a railway +from St. Petersburg to the Pacific having its terminus on an +ice-free port. Only so could Russia develop the resources of +Siberia and the Amur Province. In the sixties and seventies +trans-continental railways were being planned and successfully laid +in North America. But there is this difference: in the New World +the iron horse has been the friend of peace; in the Far East of +Asia it has hurried on the advent of war; and for this reason, that +Russia, having no ice-free harbour at the end of her great Siberian +line, was tempted to grasp at one which the yellow races looked on +as altogether theirs.</p> +<p>The miscalculation was natural. The rapid extension of trade in +the Pacific Ocean seemed to invite Russia to claim her full share +in a development that had already enriched England, the United +States, and, later, Germany and France; and events placed within +the Muscovite grasp positions which fulfilled all the conditions +requisite for commercial prosperity and military and naval +domination.</p> +<p>For many years past vague projects of a trans-Siberian railway +had been in the air. In 1857 an English engineer offered to +construct a horse tramway from Perm, across the Urals, and to the +Pacific. An American also proposed to make a railway for +locomotives from Irkutsk to the head waters of the Amur. In 1875 +the Russian Government decided to construct a line from Perm as far +as a western <span class="pagenum"><a name="page575" id= +"page575"></a>[pg 575]</span> affluent of the River Obi; but owing +to want of funds the line was carried no farther than Tiumen on the +River Tobol (1880).</p> +<p>The financial difficulty was finally overcome by the generosity +of the French, who, as we have already seen (Chapter XII.), late in +the eighties began to subscribe to all the Russian loans placed on +the Paris Bourse. The scheme now became practicable, and in March +1891 an imperial ukase appeared sanctioning the mighty undertaking. +It was made known at Vladivostok by the Czarevitch (now Nicholas +II.) in the course of a lengthy tour in the Far East; and he is +known then to have gained that deep interest in those regions which +has moulded Russian policy throughout his reign. Quiet, +unostentatious, and even apathetic on most subjects, he then, as we +may judge from subsequent events, determined to give to Russian +energies a decided trend towards the Pacific. As Czar, he has +placed that aim in the forefront of his policy. With him the Near +East has always been second to the Far East; and in the critical +years 1896-97, when the sufferings of Christians in Turkey became +acute, he turned a deaf ear to the cries of myriads who had rarely +sent their prayers northwards in vain. The most reasonable +explanation of this callousness is that Nicholas II. at that time +had no ears save for the call of the Pacific Ocean. This was +certainly the policy of his Ministers, Prince Lobánoff, +Count Muravieff, and Count Lamsdorff. It was oceanic.</p> +<p>The necessary prelude to Russia's new policy was the completion +of the trans-Siberian railway, certainly one of the greatest +engineering feats ever attempted by man. While a large part of the +route offers no more difficulty than the conquest of limitless +levels, there are portions that have taxed to the utmost the skill +and patience of the engineer. The deep trough of Lake Baikal has +now (June 1905) been circumvented by the construction of a railway +(here laid with double tracks) which follows the rocky southern +shore. This part of the line, 244 versts (162 miles) long, has +involved enormous <span class="pagenum"><a name="page576" id= +"page576"></a>[pg 576]</span> expense. In fifty-six miles there are +thirty-nine tunnels, and thirteen galleries for protection against +rock-slides. This short section is said to have cost +£1,170,000. The energy with which the Government pushed on +this stupendous work during the Russo-Japanese war yields one more +proof of their determination to secure at all costs the aims which +they set in view in and after the year 1891<a name= +"FNanchor486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486">[486]</a>.</p> +<p>Other parts of the track have also presented great difficulties. +East of Lake Baikal the line gradually winds its way up to a +plateau some 3000 feet higher than the lake, and then descends to +treacherous marsh lands. The district of the Amur bristles with +obstacles, not the least being the terrible floods that now and +again (as in 1897) turn the whole valley into a trough of swirling +waters<a name="FNanchor487"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_487">[487]</a>.</p> +<p>All these difficulties have been overcome in course of time; but +there remained the question of the terminus. Up to the year 1894 +the objective had been Vladivostok; but the outbreak of the +Chino-Japanese War at that time opened up vast possibilities. +Russia could either side with the islanders and share with them the +spoils of Northern China, or, posing as the patron of the +celestials, claim some profitable <i>douceurs</i> as her +reward.</p> +<p>She chose the latter alternative, and, in the opinion of some of +her own writers, wrongly. The war proved the daring, the +patriotism, and the organising skill of the Japanese to be as +signal as the sloth and corruptibility of their foes. Then, for the +first time, the world saw the utter weakness of China--a fact which +several observers (including Lord Curzon) had vainly striven to +make clear. Even so, when Chinese generals and armies took to their +heels at the slightest provocation; when their battleships were +worsted by Japanese armoured cruisers; when their great stronghold, +Port Arthur, was stormed with a loss of about 400 killed, the moral +of it all <span class="pagenum"><a name="page577" id= +"page577"></a>[pg 577]</span> was hidden from the wise men of the +West. Patronising things were said of the Japanese as +conquerors--of the Chinese; but few persons realised that a new +Power had arisen. It seemed the easiest of undertakings to despoil +the "venomous dwarfs" of the fruits of their triumph over +China<a name="FNanchor488"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_488">[488]</a>.</p> +<p>The chief conditions of the Chino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki +(April 17, 1895) were the handing over to Japan the island of +Formosa and the Liaotung Peninsula. The latter was very valuable, +inasmuch as it contained good ice-free harbours which dominated the +Yellow Sea and the Gulf of Pechili; and herein must be sought the +reason for the action of Russia at this crisis. Li Hung Chang, the +Chinese negotiator, had already been bought over by Russia in an +important matter<a name="FNanchor489"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_489">[489]</a>, and he early disclosed the secret of the +terms of peace with Japan. Russia was thus forewarned; and, before +the treaty was ratified at Pekin, her Government, acting in concert +with those of France and Germany, intervened with a menacing +declaration that the cession of the Liaotung Peninsula would give +to Japan a dangerous predominance in the affairs of China and +disturb the whole balance of power in the Far East. The Russian +Note addressed to Japan further stated that such a step would "be a +perpetual obstacle to the permanent peace of the Far East." Had +Russia alone been concerned, possibly the Japanese would have +referred matters to the sword; but, when face to face with a +combination of three Powers, they decided on May 4 to give way, and +to restore the Liaotung Peninsula to China<a name= +"FNanchor490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490">[490]</a>.</p> +<p>The reasons for the conduct of France and Germany in this matter +are not fully known. We may safely conjecture that the Republic +acted conjointly with the Czar in order to clinch the new +Franco-Russian alliance, not from any special regard for China, a +Power with which she had frequently come into <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page578" id="page578"></a>[pg 578]</span> +collision respecting Tonquin. As for Germany, she was then entering +on new colonial undertakings; and she doubtless saw in the joint +intervention of 1895 a means of sterilising the Franco-Russian +alliance, so far as she herself was concerned, and possibly of +gaining Russia's assent to the future German expansion in the Far +East.</p> +<p>Here, of course, we are reduced to conjecture, but the +conjecture is consonant with later developments. In any case, the +new Triple Alliance was a temporary and artificial union, which +prompt and united action on the part of Great Britain and the +United States would have speedily dissolved. Unfortunately these +Powers were engrossed in other concerns, and took no action to +redress the balance which the self-constituted champions of +political stability were upsetting to their own advantage.</p> +<p>The effects of their action were diverse, and for the most part +unforeseen. In the first place, Japan, far from being discouraged +by this rebuff, set to work to perfect her army and navy, and with +a thoroughness which Roon and Moltke would have envied. +Organisation, weapons, drill, marksmanship (the last a weak point +in the war with China) were improved; heavy ironclads were ordered, +chiefly in British yards, and, when procured, were handled with +wonderful efficiency. Few, if any, of those "disasters" which are +so common in the British navy in time of peace, occurred in the new +Japanese navy--a fact which redounds equally to the credit of the +British instructors and to the pupils themselves.</p> +<p>The surprising developments of the Far Eastern Question were +soon to bring the new armaments to a terrible test. Japan and the +whole world believed that the Liaotung Peninsula was made over to +China in perpetuity. It soon appeared that the Czar and his +Ministers had other views, and that, having used France and Germany +for the purpose of warning off Japan, they were preparing schemes +for the subjection of Manchuria to Russian influence. Or rather, it +is probable that Li Hung Chang had already arranged the following +terms with Russia as the price of her intervention on behalf of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page579" id="page579"></a>[pg +579]</span> China. The needs of the Court of Pekin and the itching +palms of its officials proved to be singularly helpful in the +carrying out of the bargain. China being unequal to the task of +paying the Japanese war indemnity, Russia undertook to raise a four +per cent loan of 400,000,000 francs--of course mainly at Paris--in +order to cover the half of that debt. In return for this favour, +the Muscovites required the establishment of a Russo-Chinese Bank +having widespread powers, comprising the receipt of taxes, the +management of local finances, and the construction of such railway +and telegraph lines as might be conceded by the Chinese +authorities.</p> +<p>This in itself was excellent "brokerage" on the French money, of +which China was assumed to stand in need. At one stroke Russia +ended the commercial supremacy of England in China, the result of a +generation of commercial enterprise conducted on the ordinary +lines, and substituted her own control, with powers almost equal to +those of a Viceroy. They enabled her to displace Englishmen from +various posts in Northern China and to clog the efforts of their +merchants at every turn. The British Government, we may add, showed +a singular equanimity in face of this procedure.</p> +<p>But this was not all. At the close of March 1896, it appeared +that the gratitude felt by the Chinese Andromeda to the Russian +Perseus had ripened into a definite union. The two Powers framed a +secret treaty of alliance which accorded to the northern State the +right to make use of any harbour in China, and to levy Chinese +troops in case of a conflict with an Asiatic State. In particular, +the Court of Pekin granted to its ally the free use of Port Arthur +in time of peace, or, if the other Powers should object, of +Kiao-chau. Manchuria was thrown open to Russian officers for +purposes of survey, etc., and it was agreed that on the completion +of the trans-Siberian railway, a line should be constructed +southwards to Talienwan or some other place, under the joint +control of the two Powers<a name="FNanchor491"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_491">[491]</a>.</p> +<p>The Treaty marks the end of the first stage in the Russification +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page580" id="page580"></a>[pg +580]</span> of Manchuria. Another stage was soon covered, and, as +it seems, by the adroitness of Count Cassini, Russian Minister at +Pekin. The details, and even the existence, of the Cassini +Convention of September 30, 1896, have been disputed; but there are +good grounds for accepting the following account as correct. Russia +received permission to construct her line to Vladivostok across +Manchuria, thereby saving the northern detour down the difficult +valley of the Amur; also to build her own line to Mukden, if China +found herself unable to do so; and the line southwards to Talienwan +and Port Arthur was to be made on Russian plans. Further, all these +new lines built by Russia might be guarded by her troops, +presumably to protect them from natives who objected to the +inventions of the "foreign devils." As regards naval affairs, the +Czar's Government gained the right to "lease" from China the +harbour of Kiao-chau for fifteen years; and, in case of war, to +make use of Port Arthur. The last clauses granted to Russian +subjects the right to acquire mining rights in Manchuria, and to +the Czar's officers to drill the levies of that province in the +European style, should China desire to reorganise them.<a name= +"FNanchor492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492">[492]</a></p> +<p>But the protector had not reaped the full reward of his timely +intervention in the spring of 1895. He had not yet gained complete +control of an ice-free harbour. In fact, the prize of Kiao-chau, +nearly within reach, now seemed to be snatched from his grasp by +Kaiser Wilhelm. The details are well known. Two German subjects who +were Roman Catholic missionaries in the Shan-tung province were +barbarously murdered by Chinese ruffians on November 1, 1897. The +outrage was of a flagrant kind, but in ordinary times would have +been condoned by the punishment of the offenders and a fine payable +by the district. But the occasion was far from ordinary. A German +squadron therefore steamed into Kiao-chau and occupied that +important harbour.</p> +<p>There is reason to think that Germany had long been <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page581" id="page581"></a>[pg 581]</span> +desirous of gaining a foothold in that rich province. The present +writer has been assured by a geological expert, Professor +Skertchley, who made the first map of the district for the Chinese +authorities, that that map was urgently demanded by the German +envoy at Pekin about this time. In any case, the mineral wealth of +the district undoubtedly influenced the course of events. In +accordance with a revised version of the old Christian saying: "The +blood of the martyrs is the seed of--the Empire," the Emperor +William despatched his brother Prince Henry--the "mailed fist" of +Germany--with a squadron to strengthen the Imperial grip on +Kiao-chau. The Prince did so without opposition either from China +or Russia. Finally, on March 5, 1898, the Court of Pekin confirmed +to Germany the lease of that port and of the neighbouring parts of +the province of Shan-tung.</p> +<p>The whole affair caused a great stir, because it seemed to +prelude a partition of China, and that, too, in spite of the +well-meaning declarations of the Salisbury Cabinet in favour, +first, of the integrity of that Empire, and, when that was +untenable, of the policy of the "open door" for traders of all +nations. Most significant of all was the conduct of Russia. As far +as is known, she made no protest against the action of Germany in a +district to which she herself had laid claim. It is reasonable, on +more grounds than one, to suppose that the two Powers had come to +some understanding, Russia conceding Kiao-chau to the Kaiser, +provided that she herself gained Port Arthur and its peninsula. +Obviously she could not have faced the ill-will of Japan, Great +Britain, Germany, and the United States--all more or less concerned +at her rapid strides southward; and it is at least highly probable +that she bought off Germany by waiving her own claims to Kiao-chau, +provided that she gained an ideal terminus for her Siberian line, +and a great naval and military stronghold. It is also worth noting +that the first German troops were landed at Kiao-chau on November +17, 1897, while three Russian warships steamed into Port Arthur on +December 18; and that the German <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page582" id="page582"></a>[pg 582]</span> "lease" was signed at +Pekin on March 5, 1898; while that accorded to Russia bears date +March 27<a name="FNanchor493"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_493">[493]</a>.</p> +<p>If we accept the naive suggestion of the Russian author, +"Vladimir," the occupation of Kiao-chau by Germany "forced" Russia +"to claim some equivalent compensation." Or possibly the cession of +Port Arthur was another of the items in Li Hung Chang's bargain +with Russia. In any case, the Russian warships entered Port Arthur, +at first as if for a temporary stay; when two British warships +repaired thither the Czar's Government requested them to leave--a +request with which the Salisbury Cabinet complied in an +inexplicably craven manner (January 1898). Rather more pressure was +needed on the somnolent mandarins of Pekin; but, under the threat +of war with Russia if the lease of the Liao-tung Peninsula were not +granted by March 27, it was signed on that day. She thereby gained +control of that peninsula for twenty-five years, a period which +might be extended "by mutual agreement." The control of all the +land forces was vested in a Russian official; and China undertook +not to quarter troops to the north without the consent of the Czar. +Port Arthur was reserved to the use of Russian and Chinese ships of +war; and Russia gained the right to erect fortifications.</p> +<p>The British Government, which had hitherto sought to uphold the +integrity of China, thereupon sought to "save its face" by leasing +Wei-hai-wei (July 1). An excuse for the weakness of the Cabinet in +Chinese affairs has been put forward, namely, that the issue of the +Sudan campaign was still in doubt, and that the efforts of French +and Russians to reach the Upper Nile from the French Congo and +Southern Abyssinia compelled Ministers to concentrate their +attention on that great enterprise. But this excuse will not bear +examination. Strength at any one point of an Empire is not +increased by discreditable surrenders at other points. No great +statesman would have proceeded on such an assumption.</p> +<p>Obviously the balance of gain in these shabby transactions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page583" id="page583"></a>[pg +583]</span> in the north of China was enormously in favour of +Russia. She now pushed on her railway southwards with all possible +energy. It soon appeared that Port Arthur could not remain an open +port, and it was closed to merchant ships. Then Talienwan was named +in place of it, but under restrictions which made the place of +little value to foreign merchants. Thereafter the new port of Dalny +was set apart for purposes of commerce, but the efficacy of the +arrangements there has never been tested. In the intentions of the +Czar, Port Arthur was to become the Gibraltar of the Far East, +while Dalny, as the commercial terminus of the trans-Siberian line, +figured as the Cadiz of the new age of exploration and commerce +opening out to the gaze of Russia.</p> +<p>That motives of genuine philanthropy played their part in the +Far Eastern policy of the Czar may readily be granted; but the +enthusiasts who acclaimed him as the world's peacemaker at the +Hague Congress (May 1899) were somewhat troubled by the thought +that he had compelled China to cede to his enormous Empire the very +peninsula, the acquisition of which by little Japan had been +declared to be an unwarrantable disturbance of the balance of power +in the Far East.</p> +<p>These events caused a considerable sensation in Great Britain, +even in a generation which had become inured to "graceful +concessions." In truth, the part played by her in the Far East has +been a sorry one; and if there be eager partisans who still +maintain that British Imperialism is an unscrupulously aggressive +force, ever on the search for new enemies to fight and new lands to +annex, a course of study in the Blue Books dealing with Chinese +affairs in 1897-99 may with some confidence be prescribed as a +sedative and lowering diet. It seems probable that the weakness of +British diplomacy induced the belief at St. Petersburg that no +opposition of any account would be forthcoming. With France acting +as the complaisant treasurer, and Germany acquiescent, the Czar and +his advisers might well believe that they had reached the goal of +their efforts, "the domination of the Pacific."</p> +<p>With the Boxer movement of the years 1899-1900 we have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page584" id="page584"></a>[pg +584]</span> here no concern. Considered pathologically, it was only +the spasmodic protest of a body which the dissectors believed to be +ready for operation. To assign it solely to dislike of European +missionaries argues sheer inability to grasp the laws of evidence. +Missionaries had been working in China for several decades, and +were no more disliked than other "foreign devils." The rising was +clearly due to indignation at the rapacity of the European Powers. +We may note that it gave the Russian governor of the town of +Blagovestchensk an opportunity of cowing the Chinese of northern +Manchuria by slaying and drowning some 4500 persons at that place +(July 1900). Thereafter Russia invaded Manchuria and claimed the +unlimited rights due to actual conquest. On April 8, 1902, she +promised to withdraw; but her persistent neglect to fulfil that +promise (cemented by treaty with China) led to the outbreak of +hostilities with Japan<a name="FNanchor494"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_494">[494]</a>.</p> +<p>We can now see that Russia, since the accession of Nicholas II., +has committed two great faults in the Far East. She has overreached +herself; and she has overlooked one very important factor in the +problem--Japan. The subjects of the Mikado quivered with rage at +the insult implied by the seizure of Port Arthur; but, with the +instinct of a people at once proud and practical, they thrust down +the flames of resentment and turned them into a mighty motive +force. Their preparations for war, steady and methodical before, +now gained redoubled energy; and the whole nation thrilled secretly +but irresistibly to one cherished aim, the recovery of Port Arthur. +How great is the power of chivalry and patriotism the world has now +seen; but it is apt to forget that love of life and fear of death +are feelings alike primal and inalienable among the Japanese as +among other peoples. The inspiring force which nerved some 40,000 +men gladly to lay down their lives on the hills around Port Arthur +was the feeling that they were helping to hurl back in the face of +Russia the gauntlet which she had there so insolently flung down as +to an inferior race.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor483">[483]</a> +Vladimir, <i>Russia en the Pacific.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor484">[484]</a> +Popowski, <i>The Rival Powers in Central Asia</i>, p. 13.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor485">[485]</a> +<i>The Russo-Japanese Conflict</i>, by K. Asakawa (1904), p. 67; +<i>Europe and the Far East</i>, by Sir R. K. Douglas (1904), p. +191.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor486">[486]</a> See +an article by Mr. J.M. Price in <i>The Fortnightly Review</i> for +May 1905.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor487">[487]</a> +<i>Russia on the Pacific</i>, by "Vladimir"; <i>The Awakening of +the East</i>, by P. Leroy-Beaulieu, chaps, ix. x.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor488">[488]</a> See +the evidence adduced by V. Chirol, <i>The Far Eastern Question,</i> +chap, xi., as to the <i>ultimately</i> aggressive designs of China +on Japan.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor489">[489]</a> +<i>Manchu and Muscovite,</i> by B.L. Putnam Weale, p. 60.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor490">[490]</a> +Asakawa, <i>op. cit.</i> p, 76.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor491">[491]</a> +Asakawa, pp. 85-87.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor492">[492]</a> +Asakawa, chap. ii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor493">[493]</a> +Asakawa, p. 110, note.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor494">[494]</a> +Asakawa, chap. vii.; and for the Korean Question, chaps. xvi, +xvii</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page585" id="page585"></a>[pg +585]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<h3>THE NEW GROUPING OF THE GREAT POWERS<a name= +"FNanchor495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495">[495]</a></h3> +<h3>(1900-1907)</h3> +<p>When I penned the words at the end of Chapter XX. it seemed +probable that the mad race in armaments must lead either to war or +to revolution. In these three supplementary chapters I seek to +trace very briefly the causes that have led to war, in other words, +to the ascendancy (perhaps temporary) of the national principle +over the social, and international tendencies of the age.</p> +<p>The collapse of the international and pacifist movement may be +ascribed to various causes. The Franco-German and Russo-Turkish +Wars left behind rankling hatreds which rendered it very difficult +for nations to disarm; and, after the decline of those resentments, +there arose others as the outcome of the Greco-Turkish War and the +Boer War. Further, the conflict between Japan and Russia so far +weakened the latter as to leave Germany and Austria almost supreme +in Europe; and, while in France and the United Kingdom the social +movement has made considerable progress, Germany and Austria have +remained in what may be termed the national stage of development, +which offers many advantages over the international for purposes of +war. Then again in the Central Empires parliamentary institutions +have not been successful, tending on the whole to accentuate the +disputes between the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page586" id= +"page586"></a>[pg 586]</span> dominant and the subject races. The +same is partially true of Russia, and far more so of the Balkan +States. Consequently, in Central and Eastern Europe the national +idea has become militant and aggressive; while Great Britain, the +Netherlands, and to some extent France, have sought as far as +possible to concentrate their efforts upon social legislation, +arming only in self-defence. In this contrast lay one of the +dangers of the situation.</p> +<p>Nationality caused the movements and wars of 1848-77. +Thereafter, that principle seemed to wane. But it revived in +redoubled force among the Balkan peoples owing partly to the brutal +oppressions of the Sublime Porte; and the cognate idea, aiming, +however, not at liberty but conquest, became increasingly popular +with the German people after the accession of Kaiser William II. +The sequel is only too well known. Civilisation has been +overwhelmed by a recrudescence of nationalism, and the wealthiest +age which the world has seen is a victim to the perfection and +potency of its machinery. A recovery of the old belief in the +solidarity of mankind and a conviction of the futility of all +efforts for domination by any one people, are the first requisites +towards the recovery of conditions that make for peace and +good-will.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, recent history has had to concern itself largely with +groupings or alliances, which have in the main resulted from +ambition, distrust, or fear. As has already been shown, the +Partition of Africa was arranged without a resort to arms; but +after that appropriation of the lands of the dark races, the white +peoples in the south came into collision late in 1899.</p> +<p>Much has been written as to the causes of the Boer War; but the +secret encouragements which those brave farmers received from +Germany are still only partly known. Even in 1894 Mr. Merriman +warned Sir Edward Grey of the danger arising from "the steady way +in which Krüger was Teutonising the Transvaal." Germany +undoubtedly stiffened the neck of Krüger and the reactionary +Boers in resisting the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page587" id= +"page587"></a>[pg 587]</span> much-needed reforms. It is +significant that the Kaiser's telegram to Krüger after the +defeat of Jameson's raiders was sent only a few days before his +declaration, January 18, 1896, that Germany must now pursue a +World-Policy, as she did by browbeating Japan in the Far East. +These developments had been rendered possible by the opening of the +Kiel-North Sea Canal in 1895, an achievement which doubled the +naval power of Germany. Thenceforth she pushed on construction, +especially by the Navy Bill of 1898. Reliance on her largely +accounts for the obstinate resistance of the Boers to the just +demands of England and the Outlanders in 1899. A German historian, +Count Reventlow, has said that "a British South Africa could not +but thwart all German interests"; and the anti-British fury +prevalent in Germany in and after 1899 augured ill for the +preservation of peace in the twentieth century so soon as her new +fleet was ready<a name="FNanchor496"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_496">[496]</a>.</p> +<p>The results of the Boer War were as follows. For the time Great +Britain lost very seriously in prestige and in material resources. +Amidst the successes gained by the Boers, the intervention of one +or more European States in their favour seemed highly probable; and +it is almost certain that Krüger relied on such an event. He +paid visits to some of the chief European capitals, and was +received by the French President (November 1900), but not by Kaiser +William. The personality and aims of the Kaiser will concern us +later; but we may notice here that in that year he had special +reasons for avoiding a rupture with the United Kingdom. The +Franco-Russian Alliance gave him pause, especially since June 1898, +when a resolute man, Delcassé, became Foreign Minister at +Paris and showed less complaisance to Germany than had of late been +the case<a name="FNanchor497"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_497">[497]</a>. Besides, in 1898, the Kaiser had +concluded with Great Britain a secret arrangement on <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page588" id="page588"></a>[pg 588]</span> +African affairs, and early in 1900 acquired sole control of Samoa +instead of the joint Anglo-American-German protectorate, which had +produced friction. Finally, in the summer of 1900, the Boxer Rising +in China opened up grave problems which demanded the co-operation +of Germany and the United Kingdom.</p> +<p>It has often been stated that the Kaiser desired to form a +Coalition against Great Britain during the Boer War; and it is +fairly certain that he sounded Russia and France with a view to +joint diplomatic efforts to stop the war on the plea of humanity, +and that, after the failure of this device, he secretly informed +the British Government of the danger which he claimed to have +averted<a name="FNanchor498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498">[498]</a>. +His actions reflected the impulsiveness and impetuosity which have +often puzzled his subjects and alarmed his neighbours; but it seems +likely that his aims were limited either to squeezing the British +at the time of their difficulties, or to finding means of breaking +up the Franco-Russian alliance. His energetic fishing in troubled +waters caused much alarm; but it is improbable that he desired war +with Great Britain until his new navy was ready for sea. The German +Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, has since written as follows: +"We gave England no cause to thwart us in the building of our +fleet: . . . we never came into actual conflict with the Dual +Alliance, which would have hindered us in the gradual acquisition +of a navy<a name="FNanchor499"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_499">[499]</a>." This, doubtless, was the governing +motive in German policy, to refrain from any action that would +involve war, to seize every opportunity for pushing forward German +claims, and, above all, to utilise the prevalent irritation at the +helplessness of Germany at sea as a means of overcoming the still +formidable opposition of German Liberals to the ever-increasing +naval expenditure.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page589" id="page589"></a>[pg +589]</span> +<p>In order to discourage the futile anti-British diatribes in the +German Press, Bülow declared in the Reichstag that in no +quarter was there an intention to intervene against England. There +are grounds for questioning the sincerity of this utterance; for +the Russian statesman, Muraviev, certainly desired to intervene, as +did influential groups at Petrograd, Berlin, and Paris. In any +case, the danger to Great Britain was acute enough to evoke help +from all parts of the Empire, and implant the conviction of the +need of closer union and of maintaining naval supremacy. The risks +of the years 1899-1902 also revealed the very grave danger of what +had been termed "splendid isolation," and aroused a desire for a +friendly understanding with one or more Powers as occasion might +offer.</p> +<p>The war produced similar impressions on the German people. +Dislike of England, always acute in Prussia, especially in +reactionary circles, now spread to all parts and all classes of the +nation; and the Kaiser, as we have seen, made skilful use of it to +further his naval policy. His speech at Hamburg on October 18, +1899, on the need of a great navy, marked the beginning of a new +era, destined to end in war with Great Britain. Admiral von +Tirpitz, in introducing the Amending Bill of February 1900, +demanded the doubling of the navy in a scheme working automatically +until 1920. The Socialist leader, Bebel, opposed it as certain to +strain relations with England, a war with whom would be the +greatest possible misfortune for the German people. On the other +hand, the Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, voiced the opinions of the +governing class and the German Navy League when he declared that +the demand for a great navy originated in the ambition of the +German nation to become a World-Power<a name= +"FNanchor500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500">[500]</a>. The Bill +passed; and thenceforth the United Kingdom and Germany became +declared rivals at sea. Fortunately for the islanders, the new +German Navy could not be ready for action before the year 1904; +otherwise, a very dangerous situation would have arisen. Even as it +was, British statesmen were induced to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page590" id="page590"></a>[pg 590]</span> secure +an ally and to end the Boer War as quickly as possible.</p> +<p>During that conflict the tension between England and the Dual +Alliance (France and Russia) was at times so acute as to render it +doubtful whether we should not gravitate towards the rival Triple +Alliance. The problem was the most important that had confronted +British statesmen during a century. Kinship and tradition seemed to +beckon us towards Germany and Austria. On the other hand, democracy +and social intercourse told in favour of the French connection. +Further, now that Russia was retiring more and more from her Balkan +and Central Asian projects in order to concentrate on the Far East, +she ceased to threaten India and the Levant. Moreover, the +personality of the Tsar, Nicholas II., was reassuring, while that +of Kaiser Wilhelm II. aroused distrust and alarm.</p> +<p>In truth, the inordinate vanity, restless energy, and flamboyant +Chauvinism of the Kaiser placed great difficulties in the way of an +Anglo-German Entente. An article believed to have been inspired by +Bismarck contained the following reference to the Kaiser's +megalomania: "It causes the deepest anxiety in Germany, because it +is feared that it may lead to some irreparable piece of want of +tact, and thence to war. For it is argued that, vanity being at the +bottom of it all, and the Emperor finding he is unable to gain the +premature immortality he thirsts for by peaceful prodigies, his +restless nervous irritability may degenerate into recklessness, and +then his megalomania may blind him to the dangers he and, above +all, poor blood-soaken Germany may encounter on the +war-path<a name="FNanchor501"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_501">[501]</a>." Kaiser William possesses more power of +self-restraint than this passage indicates; for, though he has +spread a warlike enthusiasm through his people, he has also +restrained it until there arrived a fit opportunity for its +exercise. It arrived when Germany and her Allies were far better +prepared, both by land and sea, than the Powers whom she expected +to meet in arms.</p> +<p>His attitude towards Great Britain has varied surprisingly. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page591" id="page591"></a>[pg +591]</span> During several years he figured as her friend. But it +is difficult to believe that a man of his keen intellect did not +discern ahead the collision which his policy must involve. His many +claims to acquire maritime supremacy and a World-Empire were either +mere bluff or a portentous challenge. Only the good-natured, +easy-going British race could so long have clung to the former +explanation, thereby leaving the most diffuse, vulnerable, and +ill-armed Empire that has ever existed face to face with an Empire +that is compact, well-fortified, and armed to the teeth. In this +contrast lies one of the main causes of the present war.</p> +<p>Moreover, the internal difficulties of France and the +preoccupation of Russia in the Far East gave to Kaiser William a +disquietingly easy victory in the affairs of the Near East. His +visit to Constantinople and Palestine in 1898 inaugurated a +Levantine policy destined to have momentous results. On the +Bosphorus he scrupled not to clasp the hand of Sultan Abdul Hamid +II., still reeking with the blood of the Christians of Armenia and +Macedonia. At Jerusalem he figured as the Christian knight-errant, +but at Damascus as the champion of the Moslem creed. After laying a +wreath on the tomb of Saladin, he made a speech which revealed his +plan of utilising the fighting power of Islam. He said: "The three +hundred million Mohammedans who live scattered over the globe may +be assured of this, that the German Emperor will be their friend at +all times." Taken in conjunction with his pro-Turkish policy, this +implied that the Triple Alliance was to be buttressed by the most +terrible fighting force in the East<a name= +"FNanchor502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502">[502]</a>.</p> +<p>During the tour he did profitable business with the Sublime +Porte by gaining a promise for the construction of a railway to +Bagdad and the Persian Gulf, under German auspices. The scheme took +practical form in 1902-3, when the Sultan <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page592" id="page592"></a>[pg 592]</span> +granted a firman for the construction of that line together with +very extensive proprietary rights along its course. Russian +opposition had been bought off in 1900 by the adoption of a more +southerly course than was originally designed; and the Kaiser now +sought to get the financial support of England to the enterprise. +British public opinion, however, was invincibly sceptical, and with +justice, for the scheme would have ruined our valuable trade on the +River Tigris and the Persian Gulf; while the proposed prolongation +of the line to Koweit on the gulf would enable Germany, Austria, +and Turkey to threaten India.</p> +<p>By the year 1903 Austria was so far mistress of the Balkans as +to render it possible for her and Germany in the near future to +send troops through Constantinople and Asia Minor by the railways +which they controlled. Accordingly, affairs in the Near East became +increasingly strained; and, when Russia was involved in the +Japanese War, no Great Power could effectively oppose Austro-German +policy in that quarter. The influence of France and Britain, +formerly paramount both politically and commercially in the Turkish +Empire, declined, while that of Germany became supreme. Every +consideration of prudence therefore prompted the Governments of +London and Paris to come to a close understanding, in order to make +headway against the aggressive designs of the two Kaisers in the +Balkans and Asia Minor. Looking forward, we may note that the +military collapse of Russia in 1904-5 enabled the Central Powers to +push on in the Levant. Germany fastened her grip on the Turkish +Government, exploited the resources of Asia Minor, and posed as the +champion of the Moslem creed. Early in the twentieth century that +creed became aggressive, mainly under the impulse of Sultan Abdul +Hamid II., who varied his propagandism by massacre with appeals to +the faithful to look to him as their one hope in this world. +Constantinople and Cairo were the centres of this Pan-Islamic +movement, which, aiming at the closer union of all Moslems in Asia, +Europe, and Africa around the Sultan, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page593" id="page593"></a>[pg 593]</span> +threatened to embarrass Great Britain, France, and Russia. The +Kaiser, seeing in this revival of Islam an effective force, took +steps to encourage the "true believers" and strengthen the Sultan +by the construction of a branch line of the Bagdad system running +southwards through Aleppo and the district east of the Dead Sea +towards Mecca. Purporting to be a means for lessening the hardships +of pilgrims, it really enabled the Sultan to threaten the Suez +Canal and Egypt.</p> +<p>The aggressive character of these schemes explains why France, +Great Britain, and Russia began to draw together for mutual +support. The three Powers felt the threat implied in an +organisation of the Moslem world under the aegis of the Kaiser. He, +a diligent student of Napoleon's career, was evidently seeking to +dominate the Near East, and to enrol on his side the force of +Moslem enthusiasm which the Corsican had forfeited by his attack on +Egypt in 1798. The construction of German railways in the Levant +and the domination of the Balkan Peninsula by Austria would place +in the hands of the Germanic Powers the keys of the Orient, which +have always been the keys to World-Empire.</p> +<p>Closely connected with these far-reaching schemes was the swift +growth of the Pan-German movement. It sought to group the Germanic +and cognate peoples in some form of political union--a programme +which threatened to absorb Holland, Belgium, the greater part of +Switzerland, the Baltic Provinces of Russia, the Western portions +of the Hapsburg dominions, and, possibly, the Scandinavian peoples. +The resulting State or Federation of States would thus extend from +Ostend to Reval, from Amsterdam (or Bergen) to Trieste.</p> +<p>Even those Germans who did not espouse these ambitious schemes +became deeply imbued with the expansively patriotic ideas +championed by the Kaiser. So far back as 1890 he ordered their +enforcement in the universities and schools<a name= +"FNanchor503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503">[503]</a>. Thenceforth +professors and teachers vied in their eagerness <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page594" id="page594"></a>[pg 594]</span> to +extol the greatness of Germany and the civilising mission of the +Hohenzollerns, whose exploits in the future were to eclipse all the +achievements of Frederick the Great and William I. Moreover, the +new German Navy was acclaimed as a necessary means to the triumph +of German <i>Kultur</i> throughout the world. Other nations were +depicted as slothful, selfish, decadent; and the decline in the +prestige of Great Britain, France, and Russia to some extent +justified these pretensions. The Tsar, by turning away from the +Balkans towards Korea, deadened Slav aspirations. For the time +Pan-Slavism seemed moribund. Pan-Germanism became a far more +threatening force.</p> +<p>Summing up, and including one topic that will soon be dealt +with, we may conclude as follows: Germany showed that she did not +want England's friendship, save in so far as it would help her to +oppose the Monroe Doctrine or supply her with money to finish the +Bagdad Railway. For reasons that have been explained, she and +Austria were likely to undermine British interests in the Near +East; while, on the other hand, the diversion of Russia's +activities from Central Asia and the Balkans to the Far East, +lessened the Muscovite menace which had so long determined the +trend of British policy. Moreover, Russia's ally, France, showed a +conciliatory spirit. Forgetting the rebuff at Fashoda (see +<i>ante</i>, pp. 501-6), she aimed at expansion in Morocco. Now, +Korea and Morocco did not vitally concern us. The Bagdad Railway +and the Kaiser's court to Pan-Islamism were definite threats to our +existence as an Empire. Finally, the development of the German Navy +and the growth of a furiously anti-British propaganda threatened +the long and vulnerable East Coast of Great Britain.</p> +<p>A temporary understanding with Germany could have been attained +if we had acquiesced in her claim for maritime equality and in the +oriental and colonial enterprises which formed its sequel. But that +course, by yielding to her undisputed ascendancy in all parts of +the world, would have <span class="pagenum"><a name="page595" id= +"page595"></a>[pg 595]</span> led to a policy of partition. Now, +since 1688, British statesmen have consistently opposed, often by +force of arms, a policy of partition at the expense of civilised +nations. Their aim has been to support the weaker European States +against the stronger and more aggressive, thus assuring a Balance +of Power which in general has proved to be the chief safeguard of +peace. In seeking an Entente with France, and subsequently with +Russia, British policy has followed the course consistent with the +counsels of moderation and the teachings of experience. We may note +here that the German historian, Count Reventlow, has pointed out +that the Berlin Government could not frame any lasting agreement +with the British; for, sooner or later, they would certainly demand +the limitation of Germany's colonial aims and of her naval +development, to neither of which could she consent. The explanation +is highly significant<a name="FNanchor504"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_504">[504]</a>.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, at first Great Britain sought to come to a +friendly understanding with Germany in the Far East, probably with +a view to preventing the schemes of partition of China which in +1900 assumed a menacing guise. At that time Russia seemed likely to +take the lead in those designs. But opposite to the Russian +stronghold of Port Arthur was the German province of Kiao Chau, in +which the Kaiser took a deep interest. His resolve to play a +leading part in Chinese affairs appeared in his speech to the +German troops sent out in 1900 to assist in quelling the Boxer +Rising. He ordered them to adopt methods of terrorism like those of +Attila's Huns, so that "no Chinaman will ever again dare to look +askance at a German." The orders were ruthlessly obeyed. After the +capture of Pekin by the Allies (September 1900) there ensued a time +of wary balancing. Russia and Germany were both suspected of +designs to cut up China; but they were opposed by Great Britain and +Japan. This obscure situation was somewhat cleared by the statesmen +of London and Berlin agreeing to maintain the territorial integrity +of China and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page596" id= +"page596"></a>[pg 596]</span> freedom of trade (October 1900). But +in March 1901 the German Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, +nullified the agreement by officially announcing that it did not +apply to, or limit, the expansion of Russia in Manchuria. What +caused this <i>volte face</i> is not known; but it implied a +renunciation of the British policy of the <i>status quo</i> in the +Far East and an official encouragement to Russia to push forward to +the Pacific Ocean, where she was certain to come into conflict with +Japan. Such a collision would enfeeble those two Powers; while +Germany, as <i>tertius gaudens</i> would be free to work her will +both in Europe and Asia<a name="FNanchor505"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_505">[505]</a>.</p> +<p>On the other hand, Eckardstein, the German ambassador in London, +is said to have made proposals of an Anglo-German-Japanese Alliance +in March-April 1901. If we may trust the work entitled <i>Secret +Memoirs of Count Hayashi</i> (Japanese ambassador in London) these +proposals were dangled for some weeks, why, he could never +understand. Probably Germany was playing a double game; for Hayashi +believed that she had a secret understanding with Russia on these +questions. He found that the Salisbury Cabinet welcomed her +adhesion to the principles of maintaining the territorial integrity +of China and of freedom of commerce in the Far East<a name= +"FNanchor506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506">[506]</a>.</p> +<p>In October 1901 Germany proposed to the United Kingdom that each +Power should guarantee the possessions of the other in every +Continent except Asia. Why Asia was excepted is not clear, unless +Germany wished to give Russia a free hand in that Continent. The +Berlin Government laid stress on the need of our support in North +and South America, where its aim of undermining the Monroe Doctrine +was notorious. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page597" id= +"page597"></a>[pg 597]</span> The proposed guarantee would also +have compelled us to assist Germany in any dispute that might arise +between her and France about Alsace-Lorraine or colonial questions. +The aim was obvious, to gain the support of the British fleet +either against the United States or France. A British diplomatist +of high repute, who visited Berlin, has declared that the German +Foreign Office made use of garbled and misleading documents to win +him over to these views<a name="FNanchor507"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_507">[507]</a>. It was in vain. The British Government +was not to be hoodwinked; and, as soon as it declined these +compromising proposals, a storm of abuse swept through the German +Press at the barbarities of British troops in South Africa. That +incident ended all chance of an understanding, either between the +two Governments or the two peoples.</p> +<p>The inclusion of Germany in the Anglo-Japanese compact proving +to be impossible, the two Island Powers signed a treaty of alliance +at London on January 30, 1902. It guaranteed the maintenance of the +<i>status quo</i> in the Far East, and offered armed assistance by +either signatory in the event of its ally being attacked by more +than one Power<a name="FNanchor508"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_508">[508]</a>. The alliance ended the isolation of the +British race, and marked the entry of Japan into the circle of the +World-Powers. The chief objections to the new departure were its +novelty, and the likelihood of its embroiling us finally with +Russia and France or Russia and Germany. These fears were +groundless; for France and even Russia(!) expressed their +satisfaction at the treaty. Lord Lansdowne's diplomatic <i>coup</i> +not only ended the isolation of two Island States, which had been +severally threatened by powerful rivals; it also safeguarded China; +and finally, by raising the prestige of Great Britain, it helped to +hasten the end of the Boer War. During the discussion of their +future policy by the Boer delegates at <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page598" id="page598"></a>[pg 598]</span> +Vereeniging on May 30, General Botha admitted that he no longer had +any hope of intervention from the Continent of Europe; for their +deputation thither had failed. All the leaders except De Wet +agreed, and they came to terms with Lords Kitchener and Milner at +Pretoria on May 31. That the Anglo-Japanese compact ended the last +hopes of the Boers for intervention can scarcely be doubted.</p> +<p>Still more significant was the new alliance as a warning to +Russia not to push too far her enterprises in the Far East. On +April 12, 1902, she agreed with China to evacuate Manchuria; but +(as has appeared in Chapter XX.) she finally pressed on, not only +in Manchuria, but also in Korea, in which the Anglo-Japanese treaty +recognised that Japan had predominant interests. For this forward +policy Russia had the general support of the Kaiser, whose aims in +the Near East were obviously served by the transference thence of +Russia's activities to the Far East. It is, indeed, probable that +he and his agents desired to embroil Russia and Japan. Certain it +is that the Russian people regarded the Russo-Japanese War, which +began in February 1904, as "The War of the Grand Dukes." The +Russian troops fought an uphill fight loyally and doggedly, but +with none of the enthusiasm so conspicuous in the present truly +national struggle. In Manchuria the mistakes and incapacity of +their leaders led to an almost unbroken series of defeats, ending +with the protracted and gigantic contests around Mukden (March +1-10, 1905). The almost complete destruction of the Russian Baltic +fleet by Admiral Togo at the Battle of Tsushima (May 27-28) ended +the last hopes of the Tsar and his ministers; and, fearful of the +rising discontent in Russia, they accepted the friendly offers of +the United States for mediation. By the Treaty of Portsmouth (Sept. +5, 1905) they ceded to Japan the southern half of Saghalien and the +Peninsula on which stands Port Arthur: they also agreed to evacuate +South Manchuria and to recognise Korea as within Japan's sphere of +influence. No war indemnity was paid. Indeed it could not be +exacted, as Japan occupied no Russian <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page599" id="page599"></a>[pg 599]</span> +territory which she did not intend to annex. To Russia the material +results of the war were the loss of some 350,000 men, killed, +wounded, and prisoners; of two fleets; and of the valuable +provinces and ice-free harbours for the acquisition of which she +had constructed the Trans-Siberian Railway. So heavy a blow had not +been dealt to a Great Power since the fall of Napoleon III.; and +worse, perhaps, than the material loss was that of prestige in +accepting defeat at the hands of an Island State, whose people +fifty years before fought with bows and arrows.</p> +<p>Japan emerged from the war triumphant, but financially +exhausted. Accordingly, she was not loath to conclude with Russia, +on July 30, 1907, a convention which adjusted outstanding questions +in a friendly manner<a name="FNanchor509"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_509">[509]</a>. The truth about this Russo-Japanese +<i>rapprochement</i> is, of course, not known; but it may +reasonably be ascribed in part to the good services of England +(then about to frame an <i>entente</i> with Russia); and in part to +the suspicion of the statesmen of Petrograd and Tokio that German +influences had secretly incited Russia to the policy of reckless +exploitation in Korea which led to war and disaster.</p> +<p>The chief results of the Russo-Japanese War were to paralyse +Russia, thereby emasculating the Dual Alliance and leaving France +as much exposed to German threats as she was before its conclusion; +also to exalt the Triple Alliance and enable its members (Germany, +Austria, and Italy) successively to adopt the forward policy which +marked the years 1905, 1908, 1911, and 1914. The Russo-Japanese War +therefore inaugurated a new era in European History. Up to that +time the Triple Alliance had been a defensive league, except when +the exuberant impulses of Kaiser William forced it into provocative +courses; and then the provocations generally stopped at telegrams +and orations. But in and after 1905 the Triple Alliance forsook the +watchwords of Bismarck, Andrassy and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page600" id="page600"></a>[pg 600]</span> Crispi. Expansion at the +cost of rivals became the dominant aim.</p> +<p>We must now return to affairs in France which predisposed her to +come to friendly terms, first with Italy, then with Great Britain. +Her internal history in the years 1895-1906 turns largely on the +Dreyfus affair. In 1895, he, a Jewish officer in the French army, +was accused and convicted of selling military secrets to Germany. +But suspicions were aroused that he was the victim of anti-Semites +or the scapegoat of the real offenders; and finally, thanks to the +championship of Zola, his condemnation was proved to have been due +to a forgery (July 1906). Meanwhile society had been rent in twain, +and confidence in the army and in the administration of justice was +seriously impaired. A furious anti-militarist agitation began, +which had important consequences. Already in May 1900, the Premier, +Waldeck-Rousseau, appointed as Minister of War General +André, who sympathised with these views and dangerously +relaxed discipline. The Combes Ministry, which succeeded in June +1902, embittered the strife between the clerical and anti-clerical +sections by measures such as the separation of Church and State and +the expulsion of the Religious Orders. In consequence France was +almost helpless in the first years of the century, a fact which +explains her readiness to clasp the hand of England in 1904 and, in +1905, after the military collapse of Russia in the Far East, to +give way before the threats of Germany<a name= +"FNanchor510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510">[510]</a>.</p> +<p>The weakness of France predisposed Italy to forget the wrong +done by French statesmen in seizing Tunis twenty years before. That +wrong (as we saw on pp. 328, 329) drove Italy into the arms of +Germany and Austria. But now Crispi and other pro-German authors of +the Triple Alliance had passed away; and that compact, founded on +passing passion against France rather than community of interest or +sentiment <span class="pagenum"><a name="page601" id= +"page601"></a>[pg 601]</span> with the Central Empires, had +sensibly weakened. Time after time Italian Ministers complained of +disregard of their interests by the men of Berlin and +Vienna<a name="FNanchor511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511">[511]</a>, +whereas in 1898 France accorded to Italy a favourable commercial +treaty. Victor Emmanuel III. paid his first state visit to +Petrograd, not to Berlin. In December 1900 France and Italy came to +an understanding respecting Tripoli and Morocco; and in May 1902 +the able French Minister, Delcassé, then intent on his +Morocco enterprise, prepared the way for it by a convention with +Italy, which provided that France and Italy should thenceforth +peaceably adjust their differences, mainly arising out of +Mediterranean questions. Seeing that Italy and Austria were at +variance respecting Albania, the Franco-Italian Entente weakened +the Triple Alliance; and the old hatred of Austria appeared in the +shouts of "Viva Trento," "Viva Trieste," often raised in front of +the Austrian embassy at Rome. Despite the renewal of the Triple +Alliance in 1907 and 1912, the adhesion of Italy was open to +question, unless the Allies became the object of indisputable +aggression.</p> +<p>Still more important was the Anglo-French Entente of 1904. That +the Anglophobe outbursts of the Parisian Press and populace in 1902 +should so speedily give way to a friendly understanding was the +work, partly of the friends of peace in both lands, partly of the +personal tact and charm of Edward VII. as manifested during his +visit to Paris in May 1903, but mainly of the French and British +Governments. In October 1903 they agreed by treaty to refer to +arbitration before the Hague Tribunal disputes that might arise +between them. This agreement (one of the greatest triumphs of the +principle of arbitration<a name="FNanchor512"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_512">[512]</a>) naturally led to more cordial relations. +During the visit of President Loubet and M. Delcassé to +London in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page602" id= +"page602"></a>[pg 602]</span> July 1903, the latter discussed with +Lord Lansdowne the questions that hindered a settlement, namely, +our occupation of Egypt (a rankling sore in France ever since +1882); French claims to dominate Morocco both commercially and +politically, "the French shore" of Newfoundland, the New Hebrides, +the French convict-station in New Caledonia, as also the +territorial integrity of Siam, championed by England, threatened by +France. A more complex set of problems never confronted statesmen. +Yet a solution was found simply because both of them were anxious +for a solution. Their anxiety is intelligible in view of the German +activities just noticed, and of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese +War in February 1904. True, France was allied to Russia only for +European affairs; and our alliance with Japan referred mainly to +the Far East. Still, there was danger of a collision, which both +Paris and London wished to avert. It was averted by the skill and +tact of Lord Lansdowne and M. Delcassé, whose conversations +of July 1903 pointed the way to the definitive compact of April 8, +1904.</p> +<p>Stated briefly, France gave way on most of the questions named +above, except one, that is, Morocco. There she attained her end, +the recognition by us of her paramount claims. For this she +conceded most of the points in dispute between the two countries in +Egypt, though she maintains her Law School, hospitals, mission +schools, and a few other institutions. Thenceforth England had +opposed to her in that land only German influence and the Egyptian +nationalists and Pan-Islam fanatics whom it sought to encourage. +France also renounced some of her fishing rights in Newfoundland in +return for gains of territory on the River Gambia and near Lake +Chad. In return for these concessions she secured from us the +recognition of her claim to watch over the tranquillity of Morocco, +together with an offer of assistance for all "the administrative, +economic, financial, and military reforms which it needs." True, +she promised not to change the political condition of Morocco, as +also to maintain equality of <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page603" id="page603"></a>[pg 603]</span> commercial privileges. +Great Britain gave a similar undertaking for Egypt<a name= +"FNanchor513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513">[513]</a>.</p> +<p>The Anglo-French Entente of 1904 is the most important event of +modern diplomacy. Together with the preceding treaty of +arbitration, it removed all likelihood of war between two nations +which used to be "natural enemies"; and the fact that it in no +respect menaced Germany appeared in the communication of its terms +to the German ambassador in Paris shortly before its signature. On +April 12 Bülow declared to the Reichstag his approval of the +compact as likely to end disputes in several quarters, besides +assuring peace and order in Morocco, where Germany's interests were +purely commercial. Two days later, in reply to the Pan-German +leader, Count Reventlow, he said he would not embark Germany on any +enterprise in Morocco. These statements were reasonable and just. +The Entente lessened the friction between Great Britain and Russia +during untoward incidents of the Russo-Japanese War. After the +conclusion of the Entente the Russian ambassador in Paris publicly +stated the approval of his Government, and, quoting the proverb, +"The friends of our friends are <i>our</i> friends," added with a +truly prophetic touch--"Who knows whether that will not be true?" +The agreement also served to strengthen the position of France at a +time when her internal crisis and the first Russian defeats in the +Far East threatened to place her almost at the mercy of Germany. A +dangerous situation would have arisen if France had not recently +gained the friendship both of England and Italy.</p> +<p>Finally, the Anglo-French Entente induced Italy to reconsider +her position. Her dependence on us for coal and iron, together with +the vulnerability of her numerous coast-towns, rendered a breach +with the two Powers of the Entente highly <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page604" id="page604"></a>[pg 604]</span> +undesirable, while on sentimental grounds she could scarcely take +up the gauntlet for her former oppressor, Austria, against two +nations which had assisted in her liberation. As we shall see, she +declared at the Conference of Algeciras her complete solidarity +with Great Britain.</p> +<p>Even so, Germany held a commanding position owing to the +completion of the first part of her naval programme, which placed +her far ahead of France at sea. For reasons that have been set +forth, the military and naval weakness of France was so marked as +greatly to encourage German Chauvinists; but the Entente made them +pause, especially when France agreed to concentrate her chief naval +strength in the Mediterranean, while that of Great Britain was +concentrated in the English Channel and the North Sea. It is +certain that the Entente with France never amounted to an alliance; +that was made perfectly clear; but it was unlikely that the British +Government would tolerate an unprovoked attack upon the Republic, +or look idly on while the Pan-Germans refashioned Europe and the +other Continents. Besides, Great Britain was strong at sea. In 1905 +she possessed thirty-five battleships mounting 12-in. guns; while +the eighteen German battleships carried only 11-in. and 9.4-in. +guns. Further, in 1905-7 we began and finished the first +<i>Dreadnought</i>; and the adoption of that type for the +battle-fleet of the near future lessened the value of the +Kiel-North Sea Canal, which was too small to receive +<i>Dreadnoughts</i>. In these considerations may perhaps be found +the reason for the caution of Germany at a time which was otherwise +very favourable for aggressive action.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Kaiser William, pressed on by the colonials, had +intervened in a highly sensational manner in the Morocco Affair, +thus emphasising his earlier assertion that nothing important must +take place in any part of the world without the participation of +Germany. Her commerce in Morocco was unimportant compared with that +of France and Great Britain; but the position of that land, +commanding the routes to the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic, +was such as to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page605" id= +"page605"></a>[pg 605]</span> interest all naval Powers, while the +State that gained a foothold in Morocco would have a share in the +Moslem questions then arising to prime importance. As we have seen, +the Kaiser had in 1898 declared his resolve to befriend all Moslem +peoples; and his Chancellor, Bülow, has asserted that +Germany's pro-Islam policy compelled her to intervene in the +Moroccan Question. The German ambassador at Constantinople, Baron +von Marschall, said that, if after that promise Germany sacrificed +Morocco, she would at once lose her position in Turkey, and +therefore all the advantages and prospects that she had painfully +acquired by the labour of many years<a name= +"FNanchor514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514">[514]</a>.</p> +<p>On the other hand, the feuds of the Moorish tribes vitally +concerned France because they led to many raids into her Algerian +lands which she could not merely repel. In 1901 she adopted a more +active policy, that of "pacific penetration," and, by successive +compacts with Italy, Great Britain, and Spain, secured a kind of +guardianship over Moroccan affairs. This policy, however, aroused +deep resentment at Berlin. Though Germany was pacifically +penetrating Turkey and Asia Minor, she grudged France her success +in Morocco, not for commercial reasons but for others, closely +connected with high diplomacy and world-policy. As the German +historian, Rachfahl, declared, Morocco was to be a test of +strength<a name="FNanchor515"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_515">[515]</a>.</p> +<p>In one respect Germany had cause for complaint. On October 6, +1904, France signed a Convention with Spain in terms that were +suspiciously vague. They were interpreted by secret articles which +defined the spheres of French and Spanish influence in case the +rule of the Sultan of Morocco ceased. It does not appear that +Germany was aware of these secret articles at the time of her +intervention<a name="FNanchor516"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_516">[516]</a>. But their existence, even perhaps their +general tenor, was surmised. The effective causes of her +intervention were, firstly, her <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page606" id="page606"></a>[pg 606]</span> resolve to be consulted +in every matter of importance, and, secondly, the disaster that +befel the Russians at Mukden early in March 1905. At the end of the +month, the Kaiser landed at Tangier and announced in strident terms +that he came to visit the Sultan as an independent sovereign. This +challenge to French claims produced an acute crisis. +Delcassé desired to persevere with pacific penetration; but +in the debate of April 19 the deficiencies of the French military +system were admitted with startling frankness; and a threat from +Berlin revealed the intention of humiliating France, and, if +possible, of severing the Anglo-French Entente. Here, indeed, is +the inner significance of the crisis. Germany had lately declared +her indifference to all but commercial questions in Morocco. But +she now made use of the collapse of Russia to seek to end the +Anglo-French connection which she had recently declared to be +harmless. The aim obviously was to sow discord between those two +Powers. In this she failed. Lord Lansdowne and Delcassé lent +each other firm support, so much so that the Paris <i>Temps</i> +accused us of pushing France on in a dangerous affair which did not +vitally concern her. The charge was not only unjust but ungenerous; +for Germany had worked so as to induce England to throw over France +or make France throw over England. The two Governments discerned +the snare, and evaded it by holding firmly together<a name= +"FNanchor517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517">[517]</a>.</p> +<p>The chief difficulty of the situation was that it committed +France to two gigantic tasks, that of pacifying Morocco and also of +standing up to the Kaiser in Europe. In this respect the ground for +the conflict was all in his favour; and both he and she knew it. +Consequently, a compromise was desirable; and the Kaiser himself, +in insisting on the holding of a <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page607" id="page607"></a>[pg 607]</span> Conference, built a +golden bridge over which France might draw back, certainly with +honour, probably with success; for in the diplomatic sphere she was +at least as strong as he. When, therefore, Delcassé objected +to the Conference, his colleagues accepted his resignation (June +6). His fall was hailed at Berlin as a humiliation for France. +Nevertheless, her complaisance earned general sympathy, while the +bullying tone of German diplomacy, continued during the Conference +held at Algeciras, hardened the opposition of nearly all the +Powers, including the United States. Especially noteworthy was the +declaration of Italy that her interests were identical with those +of England. German proposals were supported by Austria alone, who +therefore gained from the Kaiser the doubtful compliment of having +played the part of "a brilliant second" to Germany.</p> +<p>It is needless to describe at length the Act of Algeciras (April +7, 1906). It established a police and a State Bank in Morocco, +suppressed smuggling and the illicit trade in arms, reformed the +taxes, and set on foot public works. Of course, little resulted +from all this; but the position of France was tacitly regularised, +and she was left free to proceed with pacific penetration. "We are +neither victors nor vanquished," said Bülow in reviewing the +Act; and M. Rouvier echoed the statement for France. In reality, +Germany had suffered a check. Her chief aim was to sever the +Anglo-French Entente, and she failed. She sought to rally Italy to +her side, and she failed; for Italy now proclaimed her accord with +France on Mediterranean questions. Finally the <i>North German +Gazette</i> paid a tribute to the loyal and peaceable aims of +French policy; while other less official German papers deplored the +mistakes of their Government, which had emphasised the isolation of +Germany<a name="FNanchor518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518">[518]</a>. +This is indeed the outstanding result of the Conference. The +threatening tone of Berlin had disgusted everybody. Above all it +brought to more cordial relations the former rivals, Great Britain +and Russia.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page608" id="page608"></a>[pg +608]</span> +<p>As has already appeared, the friction between Great Britain and +Russia quickly disappeared after the Japanese War. During the +Congress of Algeciras the former rivals worked cordially together +to check the expansive policy of Germany, in which now lay the +chief cause of political unrest. In fact, the Kaiser's Turcophile +policy acquired a new significance owing to the spread of a +Pan-Islamic propaganda which sent thrills of fanaticism through +North-West Africa, Egypt, and Central Asia. At St. Helena Napoleon +often declared Islam to be vastly superior to Christianity as a +fighting creed; and his imitator now seemed about to marshal it +against France, Russia, and Great Britain. Naturally, the three +Powers drew together for mutual support. Further, Germany by +herself was very powerful, the portentous growth of her +manufactures and commerce endowing her with wealth which she spent +lavishly on her army and navy. In May 1906 the Reichstag agreed to +a new Navy Bill for further construction which was estimated to +raise the total annual expenditure on the navy from +£11,671,000 in 1905 to £16,492,000 in 1917; this too +though Bebel had warned the House that the agitation of the_ German +Navy League had for its object a war with England.</p> +<p>In 1906 and 1907 Edward VII. paid visits to William II., who +returned the compliment in November 1907. But this interchange of +courtesies could not end the distrust caused by Germany's increase +of armaments. The peace-loving Administration of +Campbell-Bannerman, installed in power by the General Election of +1906, sought to come to an understanding with Berlin, especially at +the second Hague Conference of 1907, with respect to a limitation +of armaments. But Germany rejected all such proposals<a name= +"FNanchor519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519">[519]</a>. The +hopelessness of framing a friendly arrangement with her threw us +into the arms of Russia; and on August 31, 1907, Anglo-Russian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page609" id="page609"></a>[pg +609]</span> Conventions were signed defining in a friendly way the +interests of the two Powers in Persia, Afghanistan, and Thibet. +True, the interests of Persian reformers were sacrificed by this +bargain; but it must be viewed, firstly, in the light of the Bagdad +Railway scheme, which threatened soon to bring Germany to the gates +of Persia and endanger the position of both Powers in that +land<a name="FNanchor520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520">[520]</a>; +secondly, in that of the general situation, in which Germany and +Austria were rapidly forcing their way to a complete military +ascendancy and refused to consider any limitation of armaments. The +detailed reasons which prompted the Anglo-Russian Entente are of +course unknown. But the fact that the most democratic of all +British Administrations should come to terms with the Russian +autocracy is the most convincing proof of the very real danger +which both States discerned in the aggressive conduct of the +Central Powers. The Triple Alliance, designed by Bismarck solely to +safeguard peace, became, in the hands of William II., a menace to +his neighbours, and led them to form tentative and conditional +arrangements for defence in case of attack. This is all that was +meant by the Triple Entente. It formed a loose pendant to the Dual +Alliance between France and Russia, which <i>was</i> binding and +solid. With those Powers the United Kingdom formed separate +agreements; but they were not alliances; they were friendly +understandings on certain specific objects, and in no respect +threatened the Triple Alliance so long as it remained +non-aggressive<a name="FNanchor521"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_521">[521]</a>.</p> +<p>One question remains. When was it that the friction between +Great Britain and Germany first became acute? Some have dated it +from the Morocco Affair of 1905-6. The assertion is inconsistent +with the facts of the case. Long before that crisis the policy of +the Kaiser tended increasingly towards a collision. His patronage +of the Boers early in 1896 <span class="pagenum"><a name="page610" +id="page610"></a>[pg 610]</span> was a threatening sign; still more +so was his World-Policy, proclaimed repeatedly in the following +years, when the appointments of Tirpitz and Bülow showed that +the threats of capturing the trident, and so forth, were not mere +bravado. The outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, followed quickly by +the Kaiser's speech at Hamburg, and the adoption of accelerated +naval construction in 1900, brought about serious tension, which +was not relaxed by British complaisance respecting Samoa. The +coquetting with the Sultan, the definite initiation of the Bagdad +scheme (1902-3), and the completion of the first part of Germany's +new naval programme in 1904 account for the Anglo-French Entente of +that year. The chief significance of the Morocco Affair of 1905-6 +lay in the Kaiser's design of severing that Entente. His failure, +which was still further emphasised during the Algeciras Conference, +proved that a policy which relies on menace and ever-increasing +armaments arouses increasing distrust and leads the menaced States +to form defensive arrangements. That is also the outstanding lesson +of the career of Napoleon I. Nevertheless, the Kaiser, like the +Corsican, persisted in forceful procedure, until Army Bills, Navy +Bills, and the rejection of pacific proposals at the Hague, led to +their natural result, the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907. This +event should have made him question the wisdom of relying on armed +force and threatening procedure. The Entente between the Tsar and +the Campbell-Bannerman Administration formed a tacit but decisive +censure of the policy of Potsdam; for it realised the fears which +had haunted Bismarck like a nightmare<a name= +"FNanchor522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522">[522]</a>. Its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page611" id="page611"></a>[pg +611]</span> effect on William II. was to induce him to increase his +military and naval preparations, to reject all proposals for the +substitution of arbitration in place of the reign of force, and +thereby to enclose the policy of the Great Powers in a vicious +circle from which the only escape was a general reduction of +armaments or war.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor495">[495]</a> +Written in May-July 1915.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor496">[496]</a> E, +Lewin, <i>The Germans and Africa</i>, p. xvii. and chaps. v.-xiii.; +J. H. Rose, <i>The Origins of the War</i>, Lectures I.-III.; +Reventlow, <i>Deutschlands auswärtige Politik</i>, p. 71.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor497">[497]</a> +Delcassé was Foreign Minister in five Administrations until +1905.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor498">[498]</a> Sir +V. Chirol, <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Oct. 1914.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor499">[499]</a> +Bülow, <i>Imperial Germany</i>, pp. 98-9 (Eng. transl.); +Rachfahl, <i>Kaiser und Reich</i> (p. 163), states that, as in +1900-1, the German fleet, even along with those of France and +Russia, was no match for the British fleet, Germany necessarily +remained neutral. See, too, Hurd and Castle, <i>German Sea +Power</i>, chap. v.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor500">[500]</a> +Prince Hohenlohe, <i>Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. p. 480.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor501">[501]</a> +<i>Contemporary Review</i>, April 1892.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor502">[502]</a> See +Hurgronje, <i>The Holy War; made in Germany</i>, pp. 27-39, 68-78; +also G. E. Holt, <i>Morocco the Piquant</i> (1914), who says (chap, +xiv.): "Islam is waiting for war in Europe. . . . A war between any +two European Powers, in my opinion, would mean the uprising of +Islam."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor503">[503]</a> +Latterly, the catchword, <i>England ist der Feind</i> ("England is +the enemy"), has been taught in very many schools.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor504">[504]</a> +Reventlow, <i>Deutschlands auswärtige Politik</i>, pp. 178-9; +<i>Mr. Chamberlain's Speeches</i>, vol. ii. p. 68.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor505">[505]</a> In +September 1895 the Tsar thanked Prince Hohenlohe for supporting his +Far East policy, and said he was weary of Armenia and distrustful +of England; so, too, in September 1896, when Russo-German relations +were also excellent (<i>Hohenlohe Mems</i>., Eng. edit., ii. 463, +470).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor506">[506]</a> +<i>Secret Memoirs of Count Hayashi</i> (London, 1915), pp. 97-131. +There are suspicious features about this book. I refer to it with +all reserve. Reventlow (<i>Deutschlands auswärtige +Politik</i>, p. 178) thinks Eckardstein may have been playing his +own game--an improbable suggestion.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor507">[507]</a> +<i>Quarterly Review</i>, Oct. 1914, pp. 426-9.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor508">[508]</a> +<i>E.g.</i>, if the Russians alone attacked Japan we were not bound +to help her: but if the French also attacked Japan we must help +her. The aim clearly was to prevent Japan being overborne as in +1895 (see p. 577). The treaty was signed for five years, but was +renewed on August 12, 1905, and in July 1911.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor509">[509]</a> +Hayashi, <i>op. cit.</i> ch. viii. and App. D. On June 10, 1907, +Japan concluded with France an agreement, for which see Hayashi, +ch. vi. and App. C.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor510">[510]</a> Even +in 1908 reckless strikes occurred, and there were no fewer than +11,223 cases of insubordination in the army. Professor Gustave +Hervé left the University in order to direct a paper, <i>La +Guerre sociale</i>, which advocated a war of classes.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor511">[511]</a> +Crispi, <i>Memoirs</i> (Eng. edit.) vol. ii. pp. 166, 169, 472; +vol. iii. pp. 330, 347.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor512">[512]</a> Sir +Thomas Barclay, <i>Anglo-French Reminiscences</i> (1876-1906), ch. +xviii-xxii; M. Hanotaux (<i>La Politique de l'Équilibre</i>, +p. 415) claims that Mr. Chamberlain was chiefly instrumental in +starting the negotiations leading to the Entente with France.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor513">[513]</a> A. +Tardieu, <i>Questions diplomatiques de l'année 1904,</i> +Appendix II. England in 1914 annulled the promise respecting Egypt +because of the declaration of war by Turkey and the assistance +afforded her by the Khedive, Abbas II. (see Earl of Cromer, +<i>Modern Egypt and Abbas II</i>.), On February 15, 1904, France +settled by treaty with Siam frontier disputes of long standing.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor514">[514]</a> +Bülow, <i>Imperial Germany</i>, p. 83.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor515">[515]</a> +Tardieu, <i>Questions diplomatiques de 1904</i>, pp. 56-102; +Rachfahl, <i>Kaiser und Reich</i>, pp. 230-241; E.D. Morel, +<i>Morocco in Diplomacy</i>, chaps, i-xii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor516">[516]</a> +Rachfahl, pp. 235, 238. For details, <i>see</i> Morel, chap. +ii.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor517">[517]</a> In +an interview with M. Tardieu at Baden-Baden on October 4, 1905, +Bülow said that Germany intervened in Morocco because of her +interests there, and also to protest against this new attempt to +isolate her (Tardieu, <i>Questions actuelles de Politique +étrangère</i>, p. 87). If so, her conduct increased +that isolation. Probably the second Anglo-Japanese Treaty of August +12, 1905 (published on September 27), was due to fear of German +aggression. France and Germany came to a preliminary agreement as +to Morocco on September 28.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor518">[518]</a> +Tardieu, <i>La Conference d'Algeciras</i>, pp. 410-20.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor519">[519]</a> See +the cynical section in Reventlow, <i>op. cit.</i> (pp. 280-8), +entitled "Utopien und Intrigen im Haag." For Austria's efforts to +prevent the Anglo-Russian Entente, see H.W. Steed, <i>The Hamburg +Monarchy</i>, p. 230.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor520">[520]</a> +Rachfahl (p. 307) admits this, but accuses England of covert +opposition everywhere, even at the Hague Conference.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor521">[521]</a> On +December 24, 1908, the Russian Foreign Minister, Izvolsky, assured +the Duma that "no open or secret agreements directed against German +interests existed between Russia and England."</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor522">[522]</a> +<i>Bismarck, his Reflections and Recollections</i>, vol. ii. pp. +252, 289. There are grounds for thinking that William II. has been +pushed on to a bellicose policy by the Navy, Colonial, and +Pan-German Leagues. In 1908 he seems to have sought to pause; but +powerful influences (as also at the time of the crises of July 1911 +and 1914) propelled him. See an article in the <i>Revue de +Paris</i> of April 15, 1913, "Guillaume II et les pangermanistes." +In my narrative I speak of the Kaiser as equivalent to the German +Government; for he is absolute and his Ministers are responsible +solely to him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page612" id="page612"></a>[pg +612]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<h3>TEUTON <i>versus</i> SLAV (1908-13)</h3> +<blockquote>"To tell the truth, the Slav seems to us a born +slave."--TREITSCHKE, June 1876.</blockquote> +<br> +<p>On October 7, 1908, Austria-Hungary exploded a political +bomb-shell by declaring her resolve to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. +Since the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, she had provisionally occupied +and administered those provinces as mandatory of Europe (see p. +238). But now, without consulting Europe, she appropriated her +charge. On the other hand, she consented to withdraw from the +Sanjak of Novi-Bazar which she had occupied by virtue of a secret +agreement with Russia of July 1878. Even so, her annexation of a +great province caused a sharp crisis for the following reasons: (1) +It violated the international law of Europe without any excuse +whatever. (2) It exasperated Servia, which hoped ultimately to +possess Bosnia, a land peopled by her kindred and necessary to her +expansion seawards. (3) It no less deeply offended the Young Turks, +who were resolved to revivify the Turkish people and assert their +authority over all parts of the Ottoman dominions. (4) It came at +the same time as the assumption by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria of +the title of Tsar of the Bulgarians. This change of title, which +implied a prospect of sovereignty over the Bulgars of Macedonia, +had been arranged during a recent visit to Buda-Pest, and +foreshadowed the supremacy of Austrian influence not only in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page613" id="page613"></a>[pg +613]</span> new kingdom of Bulgaria but eventually in the Bulgar +districts of Macedonia<a name="FNanchor523"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_523">[523]</a>.</p> +<p>Thus, Austria's action constituted a serious challenge to the +Powers in general, especially to Russia, Servia, and to regenerated +Turkey<a name="FNanchor524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524">[524]</a>. +So daring a <i>coup</i> had not been dealt by Austria since 1848, +when Francis Joseph ascended the throne; it is believed that he +desired to have the provinces as a jubilee gift, a set off to the +loss of Lombardy and Venetia in 1859 and 1866. Certainly Austria +had carried out great improvements in Bosnia; but an occupier who +improves a farm does not gain the right to possess it except by +agreement with others who have joint claims. Moreover, the Young +Turks, in power since July 1908, boasted their ability to civilise +Bosnia and all parts of their Empire. Servia also longed to include +it in the large Servo-Croat kingdom of the future.</p> +<p>The Bosnian Question sprang out of a conflict of racial claims, +which two masterful men, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the +Austrian Foreign Minister, Aehrenthal, were resolved to decide in +favour of Austria. The Archduke disliked, and was disliked by, the +Germans and Magyars on account of his pro-Slav tendencies. In 1900 +he contracted with a Slav lady, the Countess Chotek, a morganatic +marriage, which brought him into strained relations with the +Emperor and Court. A silent, resolute man, he determined to lessen +German and Magyar influence in the Empire by favouring the law for +universal suffrage (1906), and by the appointment as Foreign +Minister of Aehrenthal, who harboured ambitiously expansive +schemes. The Archduke also furthered a policy known as Trialism, +that of federalising the Dual Monarchy by constituting the Slav +provinces as the third of its component groups. The annexation of +Bosnia would serve to advance this programme by depressing the +hitherto dominant <span class="pagenum"><a name="page614" id= +"page614"></a>[pg 614]</span> races, the Germans and Magyars, +besides rescuing the monarchy from the position of "brilliant +second" to Germany. Kaiser William was taken aback by this bold +stroke, especially as it wounded Turkey; but he soon saw the +advantage of having a vigorous rather than a passive Ally; and, in +a visit which he paid to the Archduke in November 1908, their +intercourse, which had hitherto been coldly courteous, ripened into +friendship, which became enthusiastic admiration when the Archduke +advocated the building of Austrian <i>Dreadnoughts</i>.</p> +<p>The annexation of Bosnia was a defiance to Europe, because, at +the Conference of the Powers held at London in 1871, they all +(Austria included) solemnly agreed not to depart from their treaty +engagements without a previous understanding with the +co-signatories. Austria's conduct in 1908, therefore, dealt a +severe blow to the regime of international law. But it was +especially resented by the Russians, because for ages they had +lavished blood and treasure in effecting the liberation of the +Balkan peoples. Besides, in 1897, the Tsar had framed an agreement +with the Court of Vienna for the purpose of exercising conjointly +some measure of control over Balkan affairs; and he then vetoed +Austria's suggestion for the acquisition of Bosnia. In 1903, when +the two Empires drew up the "February" and "Mürzsteg" +Programmes for more effectually dealing with the racial disputes in +Macedonia, the Hapsburg Court did not renew the suggestion about +Bosnia, yet in 1908 Austria annexed that province. Obviously, she +would not have thus defied the public law of Europe and Russian, +Servian, and Turkish interests, but for the recent humiliation of +Russia in the Far East, which explains both the dramatic +intervention of the Kaiser at Tangier against Russia's ally, +France, and the sudden apparition of Austria as an aggressive +Power. In his speech to the Austro-Hungarian Delegations Aehrenthal +declared that he intended to continue "an active foreign policy," +which would enable Austria-Hungary to "occupy to the full her place +in the world." She had to act because otherwise "affairs might have +developed against her."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page615" id="page615"></a>[pg +615]</span> +<p>Thus the Eastern Question once more became a matter of acute +controversy. The Austro-Russian agreements of 1897 and 1903 had +huddled up and cloaked over those racial and religious disputes, so +that there was little chance of a general war arising out of them. +But since 1908 the Eastern Question has threatened to produce a +general conflict unless Austria moderated her pretensions. She did +not do so; for, as we have seen, Germany favoured them in order to +assure uninterrupted communications between Central Europe and her +Bagdad Railway. Already Hapsburg influence was supreme at +Bukharest, Sofia, and in Macedonian affairs. If it could dominate +Servia (anti-Austrian since the accession of King Peter in 1903) +the whole of the Peninsula would be subject to Austro-German +control. True, the influence of Germany at Constantinople at first +suffered a shock from the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908; and +those eager nationalists deeply resented the annexation of Bosnia, +which they ascribed to the Austro-German alliance. The men of +Berlin, however, so far from furthering that act, disapproved of it +as endangering their control of Turkey and exploitation of its +resources. In fact, Germany's task in inducing her prospective +vassals, the Turks, to submit to spoliation at the hands of her +ally, Austria, was exceedingly difficult; and in the tension thus +created, the third partner of the Triple Alliance, Italy, very +nearly parted company, from disgust at Austrian encroachments in a +quarter where she cherished aspirations. As we have seen, Victor +Emmanuel III., early in his reign, favoured friendly relations with +Russia; and these ripened quickly during the "Annexation Crisis" of +1908-9, as both Powers desired to maintain the <i>status quo</i> +against Austria<a name="FNanchor525"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_525">[525]</a>. On December 24, 1908, the Russian +Foreign Minister, Izvolsky, declared that, with that aim in view, +he was acting in close concert with France, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page616" id="page616"></a>[pg 616]</span> Great +Britain, and Italy. He urged Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro to +hold closely together for the defence of their common interests: +"Our aim must be to bring them together and to combine them with +Turkey in a common ideal of defence of their national and economic +development." A cordial union between the Slav States and Turkey +now seems a fantastic notion; but it was possible then, under +pressure of the Austro-German menace, which the Young Turks were +actively resisting.</p> +<p>During the early part of 1909 a general war seemed imminent; for +Slavonic feeling was violently excited in Russia and Servia. But, +hostilities being impossible in winter, passions had time to cool. +It soon became evident that those States could not make head +against Austria and Germany. Moreover, the Franco-Russian alliance +did not bind France to act with Russia unless the latter were +definitely attacked; and France was weakened by the widespread +strikes of 1907-8 and the vehement anti-militarist agitation +already described. Further, Italy was distracted by the earthquake +at Messina, and armed intervention was not to be expected from the +Campbell-Bannerman Ministry. Bulgaria and Roumania were +pro-Austrian. Turkey alone could not hope to reconquer Bosnia, and +a Turco-Serb-Russian league was beyond the range of practical +politics. These material considerations decided the issue of +events. Towards the close of March, Kaiser William, the hitherto +silent backer of Austria, ended the crisis by sending to his +ambassador at Petrograd an autograph letter, the effect of which +upon the Tsar was decisive. Russia gave way, and dissociated +herself from France, England, and Italy. In consideration of an +indemnity of £2,200,000 from Austria, Turkey recognised the +annexation. Consequently no Conference of the Powers met even to +register the <i>fait accompli</i> in Bosnia. The Germanic Empires +had coerced Russia and Servia, despoiled Turkey, and imposed their +will on Europe. Kaiser William characteristically asserted that it +was his apparition "in shining armour" by the side of <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page617" id="page617"></a>[pg 617]</span> +Austria which decided the issue of events. Equally decisive, +perhaps, was Germany's formidable shipbuilding in 1908-9, namely, +four <i>Dreadnoughts</i> to England's two, a fact which explains +this statement of Bülow: "When at last, during the Bosnian +crisis, the sky of international politics cleared, when German +power on the Continent burst its encompassing bonds, we had already +got beyond the stage of preparation in the construction of our +fleet<a name="FNanchor526"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_526">[526]</a>."</p> +<p>The crisis of 1908-9 revealed in a startling manner the weakness +of international law in a case where the stronger States were +determined to have their way. It therefore tended to discourage the +peace propaganda and the social movement in Great Britain and +France. The increased speed of German naval construction alarmed +the British people, who demanded precautionary measures<a name= +"FNanchor527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527">[527]</a>. France and +Russia also improved their armaments, for it was clear that +Austria, as well as Germany, intended to pursue an active foreign +policy which would inflict other rebuffs on neighbours who were +unprepared. Further, the Triple Entente had proved far too weak for +the occasion. True, France and England loyally supported Russia in +a matter which chiefly concerned her and Servia, and her sudden +retreat before the Kaiser's menace left them in the lurch. +Consequently, the relations between the Western Powers and Russia +were decidedly cool during the years 1909-10, especially in and +after November 1910, when the Tsar met Kaiser William at Potsdam, +and framed an agreement, both as to their general relations and the +railways then under construction towards Persia. On the other hand, +the rapid advance of Germany and Austria alarmed Italy, who, in +order to safeguard her interests in the Balkans (especially +Albania), came to an understanding with Russia for the support of +their claims. The details are not known, neither are the agreements +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page618" id="page618"></a>[pg +618]</span> of Austria with Bulgaria and Roumania, though it seems +probable that they were framed with the two kings rather than with +the Governments of Sofia and Bukharest. Those sovereigns were +German princes, and the events of 1908-9 naturally attracted them +towards the Central Powers.</p> +<p>In 1909-10 France and England also lost ground in Turkey. There +the Young Turks, who seized power in July 1908, were overthrown in +April 1909, when Abdul Hamid II. was deposed. He was succeeded by +his weakly complaisant brother, Mohammed V. This change, however, +did not promote the cause of reform. The Turkish Parliament became +a bear-garden, and the reformers the tools of reaction. In the four +years 1908-12 there were seven Ministries and countless ministerial +crises, and the Young Turks, copying the forms and killing the +spirit of English Liberalism, soon became the most intolerant +oppressors of their non-Moslem subjects. In administrative matters +they acted on the old Turkish proverb--"The Sultan's treasure is a +sea, and he who does not draw from it is a pig." Germany found +means to satisfy these dominating and acquisitive instincts, and +thus regained power at the Sublime Porte. The Ottoman Empire +therefore remained the despair of patriotic reformers, a +hunting-ground for Teutonic <i>concessionnaires</i>, a Hell for its +Christian subjects, and the chief storm-centre of Europe<a name= +"FNanchor528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528">[528]</a>.</p> +<p>The death of King Edward VII. on May 6, 1910, was a misfortune +for the cause of peace. His tact and discernment had on several +occasions allayed animosity and paved the way for friendly +understandings. True, the German Press sought to represent those +efforts as directed towards the "encircling" <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page619" id="page619"></a>[pg 619]</span> +(<i>Einkreisung</i>) of Germany. But here we may note that (1) King +Edward never transgressed the constitutional usage, which +prescribed that no important agreement be arrived at apart from the +responsible Ministers of the Crown<a name= +"FNanchor529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529">[529]</a>. (2) The +agreements with Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and Portugal (in +1903-4) were for the purposes of arbitration. (3) The alliance with +Japan and the Ententes with France and Russia were designed to end +the perilous state of isolation which existed at the time of his +accession. (4) At that time Germany was allied to Austria, Italy, +and (probably) Roumania, not to speak of her secret arrangements +with Turkey. She had no right to complain of the ending of our +isolation. (5) The marriage of King Alfonso of Spain with Princess +Ena of Battenberg (May 1906), was a love-match, and was not the +result of King Edward's efforts to detach Spain from Germany. It +had no political significance. (6) The Kaiser's sister was Crown +Princess (now Queen) of Greece; the King of Roumania was a +Hohenzollern; and the King of Bulgaria and the Prince Consort of +Holland were German Princes. (7) On several occasions King Edward +testified his friendship with Germany, notably during his visit to +Berlin in February 1909, which Germans admit to have helped on the +friendly Franco-German agreement of that month on Morocco; also in +his letter of January 1910, on the occasion of the Kaiser's +birthday, when he expressed the hope that the United Kingdom and +Germany might always work together for the maintenance of +peace<a name="FNanchor530"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_530">[530]</a>.</p> +<p>The chief danger to public tranquillity arises from the vigorous +expansion of some peoples and the decay of others. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page620" id="page620"></a>[pg 620]</span> Nearly +all the great nations of Europe are expansive; but on their fringe +lie other peoples, notably the Turks, Persians, Koreans, and the +peoples of North Africa, who are in a state of decline or +semi-anarchy. In such a state of things friction is inevitable and +war difficult to avoid, unless in the councils of the nations +goodwill and generosity prevail over the suspicion and greed which +are too often the dominant motives. Scarcely was the +Bosnian-Turkish crisis over before Morocco once more became a +danger to the peace of the world.</p> +<p>There the anarchy continued, with results that strained the +relations between France and Germany. Nevertheless, on February 8, +1909 (probably owing to the friendly offices of Great +Britain<a name="FNanchor531"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_531">[531]</a>), the two rivals came to an agreement +that France should respect the independence of Morocco and not +oppose German trade in that quarter, while Germany declared that +her sole interests there were commercial, and that she would not +oppose "the special political interests of France in that +country<a name="FNanchor532"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_532">[532]</a>." But, as trade depended on the +maintenance of order, this vague compact involved difficulties. +Clearly, if disorders continued, the task of France would be +onerous and relatively unprofitable, for she would be working +largely for the benefit of British and German traders. Indeed, the +new Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, admitted to the French +ambassador, Jules Cambon, that thenceforth Morocco was a fruit +destined to fall into the lap of France; only she must humour +public opinion in Germany. Unfortunately, the "Consortium," for +joint commercial enterprises of French and Germans in Morocco and +the French Congo, broke down on points of detail; and this produced +a very sore feeling in Germany in the spring of 1911. Further, as +the Moorish rebels pushed their raids up to the very gates of Fez, +French troops in those same months proceeded to march to that +capital (April 1911). The Kaiser saw in that move, and a +corresponding advance of Spanish troops in the North, a design to +partition Morocco. Failing to secure what he <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page621" id="page621"></a>[pg 621]</span> +considered satisfactory assurances, he decided to send to Agadir a +corvette, the <i>Panther</i> (July 1, 1911), replaced by a cruiser, +the <i>Berlin</i>.</p> +<p>Behind him were ambitious parties which sought to compass +world-predominance for Germany. The Pan-German, Colonial, and Navy +Leagues had gained enormous influence since 1905, when they induced +the Kaiser to visit Tangiers; and early in 1911 they issued +pamphlets urging the annexation of part of Morocco. The chief, +termed <i>West-Marokko deutsch</i>, was inspired by the +Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Kiderlen-Wächter, who +thereafter urged officially that the Government must take into +account public opinion--which he himself had manipulated.</p> +<p>Again, as at Tangiers in 1905, Germany's procedure was +needlessly provocative if, as the agreement of 1909 declared, her +interests in Morocco were solely commercial. If this were so, why +send a war-ship, when diplomatic insistence on the terms of 1909 +would have met the needs of the case, especially as German trade +with Morocco was less than half that of French firms and less than +one-third that of British firms? Obviously, Germany was bent on +something more than the maintenance of her trade (which, indeed, +the French were furthering by suppressing anarchy); otherwise she +would not have risked the chance of a collision which might at any +time result from the presence of a German cruiser alongside French +war-ships in a small harbour.</p> +<p>It is almost certain that the colonial and war parties at Berlin +sought to drive on the Kaiser to hostilities. The occasion was +favourable. In the spring of 1911 France was a prey to formidable +riots of vine-growers. On June 28 occurred an embarrassing change +of Ministry. Besides, the French army and navy had not yet +recovered from the Socialist régime of previous years. The +remodelling of the Russian army was also very far from complete. +Moreover, the Tsar and Kaiser had come to a friendly understanding +at Potsdam in November 1910, respecting Persia and their attitude +towards <span class="pagenum"><a name="page622" id= +"page622"></a>[pg 622]</span> other questions, so that it was +doubtful whether Russia would assist France if French action in +Morocco could be made to appear irregular. As for Great Britain, +her ability to afford sufficiently large and timely succour to the +French was open to question. In the throes of a sharp +constitutional crisis, and beset by acute Labour troubles, she was +ill-fitted even to defend herself. By the close of 1911 the Navy +would include only fourteen first-class ships as against Germany's +nine; while Austria was also becoming a Naval Power. The weakness +of France and England had appeared in the spring when they gave way +before Germany's claims in Asia Minor. On March 18, 1911, by a +convention with Turkey she acquired the right to construct from the +Bagdad Railway a branch line to Alexandretta, together with large +privileges over that port which made it practically German, and the +natural outlet for Mesopotamia and North Syria, heretofore in the +sphere of Great Britain and France. True, she waived conditionally +her claim to push the Bagdad line to the Persian Gulf; but her +recent bargain with the Tsar at Potsdam gave her the lion's share +of the trade of Western Persia.</p> +<p>After taking these strides in the Levant, Germany ought not to +have shown jealousy of French progress in Morocco, where her +commerce was small. As in 1905, she was clearly using the occasion +to test the validity of the Anglo-French Entente and the +effectiveness of British support to France. Probably, too, she +desired either a territorial acquisition in South Morocco, for +which the colonial party and most of the Press were clamouring; or +she intended, in lieu of it, to acquire the French Congo. At +present it is not clear at which of these objects she aimed. +Kiderlen-Wächter declared privately that Germany must have the +Agadir district, and would never merely accept in exchange +Congolese territory<a name="FNanchor533"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_533">[533]</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page623" id="page623"></a>[pg +623]</span> +<p>Whatever were the real aims of the Kaiser, they ran counter to +French and British interests. Moreover, the warning of Sir Edward +Grey, on July 4, that we must be consulted as to any new +developments, was completely ignored; and even on July 21 the +German ambassador in London could give no assurance as to the +policy of his Government. Consequently, on that evening Mr. Lloyd +George, during a speech at the Mansion House, apprised Germany that +any attempt to treat us as a negligible factor in the Cabinet of +Nations "would be a humiliation intolerable for a great country +like ours to endure." The tension must have been far more severe +than appeared in the published documents to induce so peace-loving +a Minister to speak in those terms. They aroused a storm of passion +in the German Press; and, somewhat later, a German admiral, Stiege, +declared that they would have justified an immediate declaration of +war by Germany<a name="FNanchor534"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_534">[534]</a>. Certainly they were more menacing than +is usual in diplomatic parlance; but our cavalier treatment by +Germany (possibly due to Bethmann-Hollweg's belief in blunt +Bismarckian ways) justified a protest, which, after all, was less +questionable than Germany's despatching a cruiser to Agadir, owing +to the reserve of the French Foreign Office. Up to July 27 the +crisis remained acute; but on that day the German ambassador gave +assurances as to a probable agreement with France.</p> +<p>What caused the change of front at Berlin? Probably it was due +to a sharp financial crisis (an unexpected result of the political +crisis), which would have produced a general crash in German +finance, then in an insecure position; and prudence may have +counselled the adoption of the less ambitious course, namely a +friendly negotiation with the French for territorial expansion in +their Congo territory in return for the recognition of their +protectorate of Morocco. Such a compromise (which, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page624" id="page624"></a>[pg 624]</span> as we +shall see, was finally arrived at) involved no loss for Germany. On +the contrary, she gained fertile districts in the tropics and left +the French committed to the Morocco venture, which, at great cost +to them, would tend finally to benefit commerce in general, and +therefore that of Germany.</p> +<p>Also, before the end of these discussions there occurred two +events which might well dispose the Kaiser to a compromise with +France. Firstly, as a result of his negotiations with Russia (then +beset by severe dearth) he secured larger railway and trading +concessions in Persia, the compact of August 19 opening the door +for further German enterprises in the Levant. Secondly, on +September 29, Italy declared war on Turkey, partly (it is said) +because recent German activity in Tripoli menaced the ascendancy +which she was resolved to acquire in that land. This event greatly +deranged the Kaiser's schemes. He had hoped to keep the Triple +Alliance intact, and yet add to it the immense potential fighting +force of Turkey and the Moslem World. Now, however he might +"hedge," he could hardly avoid offending either Rome or +Constantinople; and even if he succeeded, his friends would exhaust +each other and be useless for the near future. Consequently, the +Italo-Turkish War (with its sequel, the Balkan War of 1912) dealt +him a severe blow. The Triple Alliance was at once strained nearly +to breaking-point by Austria forbidding Italy to undertake naval +operations in the Adriatic (probably also in the Aegean). Equally +serious was the hostility of Moslems to Europeans in general which +compromised the Kaiser's schemes for utilising Islam. Accordingly, +for the present, his policy assumed a more peaceful guise.</p> +<p>Here, doubtless, are the decisive reasons for the Franco-German +accord of November 4, 1911, whereby the Berlin Government +recognised a French protectorate over Morocco and agreed not to +interfere in the Franco-Spanish negotiation still pending. France +opened certain "closed" ports (among them Agadir), and guaranteed +equality of trading rights to all nations. She also ceded to +Germany about 100,000 square miles of fertile land in the +north-west of her Congo territory, which <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page625" id="page625"></a>[pg 625]</span> +afforded access to the rivers Congo and Ubangi. The explosion of +Teutonic wrath produced by these far from unfavourable conditions +revealed the magnitude of the designs that prompted the <i>coup</i> +of Agadir. The Colonial Minister at once resigned; and scornful +laughter greeted the Chancellor when he announced to the Reichstag +that the <i>Berlin</i> would be withdrawn from that port, the +protection of German subjects being no longer necessary. He added +that Germany would neither fight for Southern Morocco nor dissipate +her strength in distant expeditions. In fact, he would "avoid any +war which was not required by German honour." Far different was the +tone of the Conservative leader, Herr Heydebrand, who declared Mr. +Lloyd George's "challenge" to be one which the German people would +not tolerate; England had sought to involve them in a war with +France, but they now saw "where the real enemy was to be found." +The Crown Prince, who was present, loudly applauded these +Anglophobe outbursts. The German Press showed no less bitterness. +Besides criticising the Chancellor's blustering beginning and +huckstering conclusion, they manifested a resolve that Germany +should always and everywhere succeed. The Berlin journal, the +<i>Post</i>, went so far as to call the Kaiser <i>ce poltron +misérable</i> for giving up South Morocco; and it was clear +that a large section of the German people ardently desired war with +the Western Powers.</p> +<p>Many Frenchmen and Belgians credited the German colonial party +with the design of acquiring the whole of the French Congo, as a +first step towards annexing the Belgian Congo<a name= +"FNanchor535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535">[535]</a>. Belgium became +alarmed, and in 1913 greatly extended the principle of compulsory +military service. On the other hand, the German Chauvinists +certainly desired the acquisition of a naval base in Morocco which +would help to link up their naval stations and facilitate the +conquest of a World Empire. This was the policy set forth by +Bernhardi in the closing parts of his work, <i>Germany and the next +War,</i> where he protested against the Chancellor's surrender of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page626" id="page626"></a>[pg +626]</span> Morocco as degrading to the nation and damaging to its +future. Following the lead of Treitschke, he depreciated colonies +rich merely in products; for Germany needed homes for her children +in future generations, and she must fight for them with all her +might at the first favourable opportunity. This is the burden of +Bernhardi's message, which bristles with rage at the loss of +Morocco. He regarded that land as more important than the Congo; +for, in addition to the strategic value of its coasts, it offered a +fulcrum in the west whereby to raise the Moslems against the Triple +Entente. In the Epilogue he writes: "Our relations with Islam have +changed for the worse by the abandonment of Morocco. . . . We have +lost prestige in the whole Mohammedan world, which is a matter of +the first importance for us."</p> +<p>The logical conclusion of Bernhardi's thesis was that Germany +and Austria should boldly side with the Moors and Turks against +France and Italy, summoning Islam to arms, if need be, against +Christendom. Perhaps if Turkey had possessed the 1,500,000 troops +whom her War Minister, Chevket Pacha, was hopefully striving to +raise, this might have been the outcome of events. As it was, +<i>Realpolitik</i> counselled prudence, and the observance of the +forms of Christianity.</p> +<p>Certainly there was no sufficient pretext for war. France and +Russia had humoured Germany. As to "the real enemy," light was +thrown on her attitude during the debate of November 27, 1911, at +Westminster. Sir Edward Grey then stated that we had consistently +helped on, and not impeded, the Franco-German negotiations. Never +had we played the dog-in-the-manger to Germany. In fact, the Berlin +Government would greatly have eased the tension if she had declared +earlier that she did not intend to take part of Morocco. Further, +the Entente with France (made public on November 24) contained no +secret articles; nor were there any in any compact made by the +British Government. On December 6, Mr. Asquith declared that we had +no secret engagement with any Power obliging us to take up arms. +"We do not desire <span class="pagenum"><a name="page627" id= +"page627"></a>[pg 627]</span> to stand in the light of any Power +which wants to find its place in the sun. The first of British +interests is, as it always has been, the peace of the world; and to +its attainment British diplomacy and policy will be directed." The +German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, also said in the Reichstag, +"We also, sirs, sincerely desire to live in peace and friendship +with England"--an announcement received with complete silence. Some +applause greeted his statement that he would welcome any definite +proof that England desired friendlier relations with Germany.</p> +<p>Thus ended the year 1911. Frenchmen were sore at discovering +that the Entente entailed no obligation on our part to help them by +force of arms<a name="FNanchor536"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_536">[536]</a>; and Germans, far from rejoicing at their +easy acquisition of a new colony, harboured resentment against both +the Western Powers. Britons had been aroused from party strifes and +Labour quarrels by finding new proofs of the savage enmity with +which Junkers, Colonials, and Pan-Germans regarded them; and the +problem was--Should England seek to regain Germany's friendship, +meanwhile remaining aloof from close connections with France and +Russia; or should she recognise that her uncertain attitude +possessed all the disadvantages and few of the advantages of a +definite alliance?</p> +<p>Early in 1912 light was thrown on the situation, and the Berlin +Government thenceforth could not plead ignorance as to our +intentions; for efforts, both public and private, were made to +improve Anglo-German relations. Mr. Churchill advocated a friendly +understanding in naval affairs. Lord Haldane also visited Berlin on +an official invitation. He declared to that Government that "we +would in no circumstances be a party to any sort of aggression upon +Germany." But we must oppose a violation of the neutrality of +Belgium, and, if the naval competition continued, we should lay +down two keels to Germany's one. As a sequel to these discussions +the two Governments discussed the basis of an Entente. It soon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page628" id="page628"></a>[pg +628]</span> appeared that Germany sought to bind us almost +unconditionally to neutrality in all cases. To this the British +Cabinet demurred, but suggested the following formula:</p> +<blockquote>The two Powers being mutually desirous of securing +peace and friendship between them, England declares that she will +neither make, nor join in, any unprovoked attack upon Germany. +Aggression upon Germany is not the subject, and forms no part of +any treaty, understanding, or combination to which England is now a +party, nor will she become a party to anything that has such an +object.</blockquote> +<p>Further than this it refused to go; and Mr. Asquith in his +speech of October 2, 1914, at Cardiff thus explained the +reason:</p> +<blockquote>They [the Germans] wanted us to go further. They asked +us to pledge ourselves absolutely to neutrality in the event of +Germany being engaged in war, and this, mark you, at a time when +Germany was enormously increasing both her aggressive and defensive +resources, and especially upon the sea. They asked us (to put it +quite plainly) for a free hand, so far as we were concerned, when +they selected the opportunity to overbear, to dominate, the +European World. To such a demand, but one answer was possible, and +that was the answer we gave<a name="FNanchor537"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_537">[537]</a>.</blockquote> +<p>Thus, efforts for a good understanding with Germany broke down +owing to the exacting demands of German diplomacy for our +neutrality in all circumstances (including, of course, a German +invasion of Belgium). Thereupon she proceeded with a new Navy Act +(the fifth in fourteen years) for a large increase in +construction<a name="FNanchor538"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_538">[538]</a>.</p> +<p>Perhaps Germany would have been more conciliatory if she had +foreseen the events of the following autumn. As has already +appeared, Italy's attack upon the Turks (coinciding with +difficulties which their rigour raised up) furnished the +opportunity--for which the Balkan States had been longing--to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page629" id="page629"></a>[pg +629]</span> shake off the Turkish yoke. On March 13, 1912, Servia +and Bulgaria framed a secret treaty of alliance against Turkey, +which contained conditions as to joint action against Austria or +Roumania, if they attacked, and a general understanding as to the +partition of Macedonia. Greece came into the agreement +later<a name="FNanchor539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539">[539]</a>. +No time was fixed for action against Turkey; but in view of her +obstinacy and intolerance action was inevitable. She precipitated +matters by massacring Christians in and on the borders of +Macedonia. Thereupon the three States and Montenegro demanded the +enforcement of the reforms and toleration guaranteed by the Treaty +of Berlin (see p. 242). The Turks having as usual temporised +(though they were still at war with Italy<a name= +"FNanchor540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540">[540]</a>), the four +States demanded complete autonomy and the reconstruction of +frontiers according to racial needs. Both sides rejected the joint +offers of Austria and Russia for friendly intervention; whereupon +Turkey declared war upon Bulgaria and Servia (October 17). On the +morrow Greece declared war upon her. Montenegro had already opened +hostilities. In view of these facts, the later assertions of the +German Powers, that the Balkan League was a Russian plot for +overthrowing Turkey and weakening Teutonic influence, is palpably +false. Turkey had treated her Christian subjects (including the +once faithful Albanians) worse than ever. Their union against +Turkey had long been foretold. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page630" id="page630"></a>[pg 630]</span> It was helped on by +Ottoman misrule, and finally cemented by massacre. Further, Russia +and Austria acted together in seeking to avert an attack on Turkey; +and the Powers collectively warned the Balkan States that no +changes of boundary would be tolerated. Those States refused to +accept the European fiat; for the present misrule was intolerable, +and the inability of the Turks to cope with either the Italians or +the Albanian rebels opened a vista of hope. The German accusations +levelled at Russia were obviously part of the general scheme +adopted at Berlin and Vienna for exasperating public opinion +against the Slav cause.</p> +<p>The Balkan States, though waging war with no combined aim, +speedily overthrew the Turks in the most dramatic and decisive +conflict of our age. The Greeks entered Salonica on November 8 (a +Bulgarian force a few days later); on November 18 the Servians +occupied Monastir, and the Albanian seaport, Durazzo, at the end of +the month. The Bulgar army meanwhile drove the Turks southwards in +headlong rout until in the third week of November the fortified +Tchataldja Lines opposed an invincible obstacle. There, on December +3, all the belligerents, except Greece, concluded an armistice, and +negotiations for peace were begun at London on December 16. Up to +January 22, 1913, Turkey seemed inclined towards peace; but on the +morrow a revolution took place at Constantinople, the Ministry of +Kiamil Pacha being ousted by the warlike faction of Enver Bey. He, +one of the contrivers of the revolution of July 1908, had since +been attached to the Turkish Embassy at Berlin; and his successful +coup was a triumph of German influence. The Peace Conference at +London broke up on February 1. In March the Greeks and Bulgars +captured Janina and Adrianople respectively, while Scutari fell to +the Montenegrins (April 22). The Powers (Russia included) demanded +the evacuation of this town by Montenegro; for they had decided to +constitute Albania (the most turbulent part of the Peninsula) an +independent State, including Scutari.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page631" id="page631"></a>[pg +631]</span> +<p>In Albania, as elsewhere, the feuds of rival races had drenched +the Balkan lands with blood; Greek and Bulgar forces had fought +near Salonica, and there seemed slight chance of a peaceful +settlement in Central Macedonia. That chance disappeared when the +Powers in the resumed Peace Conference at London persisted in +ruling the Serbs and Montenegrins out of Albania, a decision +obviously dictated by the longings of Austria and Italy to gain +that land at a convenient opportunity. This blow to Servia's +aspirations aroused passionate resentment both there and in Russia. +Finally the Serbs gave way, and claimed a far larger part of +Macedonia than had been mapped out in their agreement with Bulgaria +prior to the war. Hence arose strifes between their forces, in +which the Greeks also sided against the Bulgars. Meanwhile, the +London Conference of the Powers and the Balkan States framed terms +of peace, which were largely due to the influence of Sir Edward +Grey<a name="FNanchor541"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_541">[541]</a>.</p> +<p>They may be disregarded here; for they were soon disregarded by +all the Balkan States. Seeking to steal a march upon their rivals, +the Bulgar forces (it is said on the instigation of their King and +his unofficial advisers) made a sudden and treacherous attack. Now, +the dour, pushing Bulgars are the most unpopular race in the +Peninsula. Therefore not only Serbs and Greeks, but also Roumanians +and Turks turned savagely upon them<a name= +"FNanchor542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542">[542]</a>. Overwhelmed on +all sides, Bulgaria sued for peace; and again the Great Powers had +to revise terms that they had declared to be final. Ultimately, on +August 10, 1913, the Peace of Bukharest was signed. It imposed the +present boundaries of the Balkan States, and left them furious but +helpless to resist a policy known to have been dictated largely +from Vienna and Berlin. In May 1914 a warm friend of the Balkan +peoples thus described its effects: "No permanent solution of the +Balkan Question has been arrived at. The ethnographical questions +have been ignored. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page632" id= +"page632"></a>[pg 632]</span> A portion of each race has been +handed over to be ruled by another which it detests. Servia has +acquired a population which is mostly Bulgar and Albanian, though +of the latter she has massacred and expelled many thousands. +Bulgars have been captured by Greeks, Greeks by Bulgars, Albanians +by Greeks, and not one of these races has as yet shown signs of +being capable to rule another justly. The seeds have been sown of +hatreds that will grow and bear fruit<a name= +"FNanchor543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543">[543]</a>." Especially +lamentable were the recovery of the Adrianople district by the +Turks and the unprovoked seizure of the purely Bulgar district +south of Silistria by Roumania. On the other hand, Kaiser William +thus congratulated her king, Charles (a Hohenzollern), on the +peace, a "splendid result, for which not only your own people but +all the belligerent States and the whole of Europe have to thank +your wise and truly statesmanlike policy. At the same time your +mentioning that I have been able to contribute to what has been +achieved is a great satisfaction to me. I rejoice at our mutual +co-operation in the cause of peace."</p> +<p>This telegram, following the trend of Austro-German policy, +sought to win back Roumania to the Central Powers, from which she +had of late sheered off. In other respects the Peace of Bukharest +was a notable triumph for Austria and Germany. Not only had they +rendered impossible a speedy revival of the Balkan League which had +barred their expansion towards the Levant, but they bolstered up +the Ottoman Power when its extrusion from Europe seemed imminent. +They also exhausted Servia, reduced Bulgaria to ruin, and imposed +on Albania a German prince, William of Wied, an officer in the +Prussian army, who was destined to view his principality from the +quarter-deck of his yacht. Such was the Treaty of Bukharest. +Besides dealing a severe blow to the Slav cause, it perpetuated the +recent infamous spoliations and challenged every one concerned to +further conflicts. Within a year the whole of the Continent was in +flames.</p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor523">[523]</a> H.W. +Steed, <i>The Hapsburg Monarchy</i>, pp. 52, 214.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor524">[524]</a> The +constitutional regime which the Young Turks imposed on the +reactionary Abdul Hamid II., in July 1908, was hailed as a victory +for British influence. The change in April 1909 favoured German +influence. I have no space for an account of these complex +events.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor525">[525]</a> +Tittoni, <i>Italy's Foreign and Colonial Policy</i> (English +translation, p. 128). Tittoni denied that the Triple Alliance +empowered Italy to demand "compensation" if Austria expanded in the +Balkans. But the Triple Alliance Treaty, as renewed in 1912, +included such a clause, No. VII.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor526">[526]</a> +Bülow, <i>Imperial Germany</i>, p. 99.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor527">[527]</a> +Annoyance had been caused by the Kaiser's letter of Feb. 18, 1908, +to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, advising (though +in friendly terms) the cessation of suspicion towards Germany's +naval construction. It was held to be an attempt to put us off our +guard.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor528">[528]</a> Lack +of space precludes an account of the Cretan Question, also of the +Agram and Friedjung trials which threw lurid light on Austria's +treatment of her South-Slav subjects, for which see Seton-Watson, +<i>Corruption and Reform in Hungary</i>. Rohrbach, <i>Der deutsche +Gedanke in der Welt</i> (1912), p. 172, explains the success of +German efforts at the Porte by the belief of the Young Turks that +Germany was the only Power that wished them well--Germany who +helped Austria to secure Bosnia; Germany, whose Bagdad Railway +scheme mercilessly exploited Turkish resources! (See D. Fraser, +<i>The Short Cut to India</i>, chs. iii. iv.)</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor529">[529]</a> I +have been assured of this on high authority.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor530">[530]</a> +Viscount Esher, <i>the Influence of King Edward: and Other +Essays</i>, p. 56. The "encircling" myth is worked up by Rachfahl, +<i>Kaiser und Reich</i>, p, 228; Reventlow, <i>op, cit.</i> pp. +254, 279, 298, etc.; and by Rohrbach, <i>Der deutsche Gedanke in +der Welt</i> (ch. vi.), where he says that King Edward's chief idea +from the outset was to cripple Germany. He therefore won over +Japan, France, Spain, and Russia, his aim being to secure all +Africa from the Cape to Cairo, and all Asia from the Sinaitic +Peninsula to Burmah.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor531">[531]</a> +Rachfahl, p. 310.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor532">[532]</a> +Morel, App. XIV.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor533">[533]</a> The +following facts are significant. On November 9, 1911, the +Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, assured the Reichstag that Germany +had never intended to annex Moroccan territory, an assertion +confirmed by Kiderlen-Wächter on Nov. 17. But during the libel +action brought against the Berlin <i>Post</i> it was positively +affirmed that the Government and Kiderlen-Wächter had intended +to annex South-West Morocco. A high official, Dr. Heilbronn, +telephoned so to the <i>Post</i>, urging it to demand that +step.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor534">[534]</a> +Rear-Admiral Stiege in <i>Überall</i> for March 1912.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor535">[535]</a> +Hanotaux, <i>La Politique de l'Équilibre</i>, p. 417.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor536">[536]</a> +Hanotaux, <i>La Politique de l'Équilibre,</i> p. 419.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor537">[537]</a> See +<i>Times</i> of October 3, 1914, and July 20, 1915 (with quotations +from the <i>North German Gazette</i>). Bethmann-Hollweg declared to +the Reichstag, on August 19, 1915, that Asquith's statement was +false; but in a letter published on August 26, and an official +statement of September 1, 1915, Sir E. Grey convincingly refuted +him.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor538">[538]</a> +Castle and Hurd, <i>German Naval Power</i>, pp. 142-152.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor539">[539]</a> The +claim that the Greek statesman, Venizelos, founded the league seems +incorrect. So, too, is the rumour that Russia, through her +minister, Hartvig, at Belgrade, framed it (but see N. Jorga, +<i>Hist. des États balcaniques</i>, p. 436). Miliukoff, in a +"Report to the Carnegie Foundation," denies this. The plan occurred +to many men so soon as Turkish Reform proved a sham. Venizelos is +said to have mooted it to Mr. James Bourchier in May 1911. (R. +Rankin, <i>Inner History of the Balkan War</i>, p. 13.)</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor540">[540]</a> +Italy made peace on October 15, gaining possession of Tripoli and +agreeing to evacuate the Aegean Isles, but on various pretexts kept +her troops there. A little later she renewed the Triple Alliance +with Germany and Austria for five years. This may have resulted +from the Balkan crisis then beginning, and from the visits of the +Russian Foreign Minister, Sazonoff, to Paris and London, whereupon +it was officially stated that Russia adhered both to her treaty +with France and her Entente with England. He added that the +grouping of the great States was necessary in the interests of the +Balance of Power.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor541">[541]</a> See +<i>Times</i> of May 30, 1913; Rankin, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 517.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor542">[542]</a> +Roumania's sudden intervention annoyed Austria, who had hoped for a +longer and more exhausting war in the Balkans.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor543">[543]</a> +Edith Durham, <i>The Struggle for Scutari</i>, p. 315.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page633" id="page633"></a>[pg +633]</span> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<h3>THE CRISIS OF 1914</h3> +<blockquote>"We have an interest in the independence of Belgium +which is wider than that which we have in the literal operation of +the guarantee. It is found in the answer to the question whether +this country would quietly stand by and witness the perpetration of +the direst crime that ever stained the pages of history and thus +become participators in the sin."--GLADSTONE:<br> +<p>Speech of August 1870.</p> +</blockquote> +<br> +<p>The Prussian and German Army Bills of 1860 and onwards have +tended to make military preparedness a weighty factor in the recent +development of nations; and the issue of events has too often been +determined, not by the justice of a cause, but rather by the armed +strength at the back of it. We must therefore glance at the +military and naval preparations which enabled the Central Powers to +win their perilous triumph over Russia and the Slavs of the +Balkans. In April 1912 the German Chancellor introduced to the +Reichstag Army and Navy Bills (passed on May 21) providing for +great increases in the navy, also forces amounting to two new army +corps, and that, too, though Germany's financial position was +admitted to be "very serious," and the proposed measures merely +precautionary. Nevertheless, only Socialists, Poles, and Alsatians +voted against them. But the events of the first Balkan War were +cited as menacing Germany with a conflict in which she "might have +to protect, against several enemies, frontiers which are extended +and by nature to a large extent open." A new Army Bill was +therefore introduced in March 1913 (passed in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page634" id="page634"></a>[pg 634]</span> June), +which increased the total of the forces by 145,000, and raised +their peace strength in 1914 to more than 870,000 men. The +Chancellor referred gratefully to "the extraordinary ability and +spirit of conciliation" of Sir Edward Grey during the Conference at +London, and admitted that a collision between Germans and Slavs was +not inevitable; but Germany must take precautions, this, too, at a +time when Russia and Austria agreed to place their forces again on +a peace footing. Germany, far from relaxing her efforts after the +sharp rebuff to the Slavonic cause in the summer of 1913, continued +her military policy. It caused grave apprehension, especially as +the new drastic taxes (estimated to produce £50,000,000) were +loudly declared a burden that could not long be borne. As to the +naval proposals, the Chancellor commended Mr. Churchill's +suggestion (on March 26) of a "naval holiday," but said there were +many difficulties in the way.</p> +<p>The British Naval Budget of 1912 had provided for a six years' +programme of 25 <i>Dreadnoughts</i> against Germany's 14; and for +every extra German ship two British would be added. In March 1913 +this was continued, with the offer of a "holiday" for 1914 if +Germany would soon accept. No acceptance came. The peace strength +of the British Regular Army was reckoned early in 1914 at 156,000 +men, with about 250,000 effective Territorials.</p> +<p>The increases in the German army induced the French Chambers, in +July 1913, to recur to three years' military service, that of two +years being considered inadequate in face of the new menace from +beyond the Rhine<a name="FNanchor544"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_544">[544]</a>. Jaurès and the Socialists, who +advocated a national militia on the Swiss system, were beaten by +496 votes to 77, whereupon some of them resorted to obstructive +tactics, and the measure was carried with some difficulty on July +8. The General Confederation of Labour and the Anarchist Congress +both announced their resolve to <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page635" id="page635"></a>[pg 635]</span> keep up the agitation in +the army against the three years' service. Mutinous symptoms had +already appeared. The military equipment of the French army was +officially admitted to be in an unsatisfactory state during the +debate of July 13, 1914, when it appeared that France was far from +ready for a campaign. The peace strength of the army was then +reckoned at 645,000 men.</p> +<p>In Russia in 1912 the chief efforts were concentrated on the +navy. As regards the army, it was proposed in the Budget of July +1913 to retain 300,000 men on active service for six months longer +than before, thus strengthening the forces, especially during the +winter months. Apart from this measure (a reply to that of Germany) +no important development took place in 1912-14. The peace strength +of the Russian army for Europe in 1914 exceeded 1,200,000<a name= +"FNanchor545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545">[545]</a>. That of +Austria-Hungary exceeded 460,000 men, that of Italy 300,000 men. +Consequently the Triple Entente had on foot just over 2,000,000 men +as against 1,590,000 for the Triple Alliance; but the latter group +formed a solid well-prepared block, while the Triple Entente were +separate units; and the Russian and British forces could not be +speedily marshalled at the necessary points on the Continent. +Moreover, all great wars, especially from the time of Frederick the +Great, have shown the advantage of the central position, if +vigorously and skilfully used.</p> +<p>In these considerations lies the key to the European situation +in the summer of 1914. The simmering of fiscal discontent and +unsated military pride in Germany caused general alarm, especially +when the memories of the Wars of Liberation of 1813-14 were +systematically used to excite bellicose ardour against France. +Against England it needed no official stimulus, for professors and +teachers had long taught that "England was the foe." In particular +preparations had been made in South-West Africa for stirring up a +revolt of the Boers as a preliminary to the expulsion of the +British <span class="pagenum"><a name="page636" id= +"page636"></a>[pg 636]</span> from South Africa. Relations had been +established with De Wet and Maritz. In 1913 the latter sent an +agent to the German colony asking what aid the Kaiser would give +and how far he would guarantee the independence of South Africa. +The reply came: "I will not only acknowledge the independence of +South Africa, but I will even guarantee it, provided the rebellion +is started immediately<a name="FNanchor546"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_546">[546]</a>." The reason for the delay is not known. +Probably on further inquiry it was found that the situation was not +ready either in Europe or in South Africa. But as to German +preparations for a war with England both in South-West Africa and +Egypt there can be no doubt. India and probably Ireland also were +not neglected.</p> +<p>In fact a considerable part of the German people looked forward +to a war with Great Britain as equally inevitable and desirable. +She was rich and pleasure-loving; her Government was apt to wait +till public opinion had been decisively pronounced; her sons, too +selfish to defend her, paid "mercenaries" to do it. Her scattered +possessions would therefore fall an easy prey to a well-organised, +warlike, and thoroughly patriotic nation. Let the world belong to +the ablest race, the Germanic. Such had been the teachings of +Treitschke and his disciples long before the Boer War or the +Anglo-French Entente. Those events and the Morocco Question in 1905 +and 1911 sharpened the rivalry; but it is a superficial reading of +events to suppose that Morocco caused the rivalry, which clearly +originated in the resolve of the Germans to possess a World-Empire. +So soon as their influential classes distinctly framed that resolve +a conflict was inevitable with Great Britain, which blocked their +way to the Ocean and possessed in every sea valuable colonies which +she seemed little able to defend. The Morocco affair annoyed them +because, firstly, they wanted that strategic position, and +secondly, they desired to sunder the Anglo-French Entente. But +Morocco was settled in 1911, and still the friction continued +unabated. There remained the Eastern <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page637" id="page637"></a>[pg 637]</span> Question, a far more +serious affair; for on it hung the hopes of Germany in the Orient +and of Austria in the Balkans.</p> +<p>The difficulty for Germany was, how to equate her world-wide +ambitions with the restricted and diverse aims of Austria and +Italy. The interests of the two Central Empires harmonised only +respecting the Eastern Question. <i>Weltpolitik</i> in general and +Morocco in particular did not in the least concern Austria. +Further, the designs of Vienna and Rome on Albania clashed +hopelessly. An effort was made in the Triple Alliance, as renewed +in 1912, to safeguard Italian interests by insisting that, if +Austria gained ground in the Balkans, Italy should have +"compensation." The effort to lure the Government of Rome into +Balkan adventures prompted the Austrian offer of August 9, 1913, +for joint action against Servia. Italy refused, alleging that, as +Servia was not guilty of aggression, the Austro-Italian Alliance +did not hold good for such a venture. Germany also refused the +Austrian offer--why is not clear. Austria was annoyed with the +gains of Servia in the Peace of Bukharest, for which Kaiser William +was largely responsible. Probably, then, they differed as to some +of the details of the Balkan settlement. But it is far more +probable that Germany checked the Austrians because she was not yet +fully ready for vigorous action. The doctrine of complete +preparedness was edifyingly set forth by a well-informed writer, +Rohrbach, who, in 1912, urged his countrymen to be patient. In 1911 +they had been wrong to worry France and England about Morocco, +where German interests were not vital. Until the Bagdad and Hedjaz +Railways had neared their goals, Turkish co-operation in an attack +on Egypt would be weak. Besides, adds Rohrbach, the Kiel-North Sea +Canal was not ready, and Heligoland and other coast defences were +not sufficiently advanced for Germany confidently to face a war +with England. Thanks to the Kaiser, the fleet would soon be in a +splendid condition, and then Germany could launch out boldly in the +world. The same course was urged by Count Reventlow early in 1914. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page638" id="page638"></a>[pg +638]</span> Germany must continue to arm, though fully conscious +that she was "constructing for her foreign politics and diplomacy, +a Calvary which <i>nolens volens</i> she would have to +climb<a name="FNanchor547"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_547">[547]</a>."</p> +<p>Other evidence, especially from Bernhardi, Frobenius, and the +works of the Pan-German and Navy Leagues, might be quoted in proof +of Germany's design to begin war when she was fully prepared. Now, +the immense sums voted in the War Budget of 1913 had not as yet +provided the stores of artillery and ammunition that were to +astonish the world. Nor had Turkey recovered from the wounds of +1912. Nor was the enlarged Kiel-North Sea Canal ready. Its opening +at Midsummer 1914 created a naval situation far more favourable to +Germany. A year earlier a French naval officer had prophesied that +she would await the opening of the canal before declaring +war<a name="FNanchor548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548">[548]</a>.</p> +<p>At Midsummer 1914 the general position was as follows. Germany +had reached the pitch of perfection in armaments, and the Kiel +Canal was open. France was unready, though the three years' service +promised to improve her army. The Russian forces were slowly +improving in number and cohesion. Belgium also, alarmed by the +German menace both in Europe and on the Congo, had in 1912-13 +greatly extended the principle of compulsory service, so that in +1914 she would have more than 200,000 men available, and by 1926 as +many as 340,000. In naval strength it was unlikely that Germany +would catch up Great Britain. But the submarine promised to make +even the most powerful ironclads of doubtful value.</p> +<p>Consequently, Germany and her friends (except perhaps Turkey) +could never hope to have a longer lead over the Entente Powers than +in 1914, at least as regards efficiency and preparedness. Therefore +in the eyes of the military party at Berlin the problem resembled +that of 1756, which Frederick the Great thus stated: "The war was +equally certain and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page639" id= +"page639"></a>[pg 639]</span> inevitable. It only remained to +calculate whether there was more advantage in deferring it a few +months or beginning at once." We know what followed in 1756--the +invasion of neutral Saxony, because she had not completed her +armaments<a name="FNanchor549"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_549">[549]</a>. For William II. in 1914 the case of +Belgium was very similar. She afforded him the shortest way of +striking at his enemy and the richest land for feeding the German +forces. That Prussia had guaranteed Belgian neutrality counted as +naught; that in 1912 Lord Haldane had warned him of the hostility +of England if he invaded Belgium was scarcely more important. +William, like his ancestor, acted solely on military +considerations. He despised England: for was she not distracted by +fierce party feuds, by Labour troubles, by wild women, and by what +seemed to be the beginnings of civil war in Ireland? All the able +rulers of the House of Hohenzollern have discerned when to strike +and to strike hard. In July 1914 William II.'s action was typically +Hohenzollern; and by this time his engaging personality and fiery +speeches, aided by professorial and Press propaganda, had +thoroughly Prussianised Germany. In regard to <i>moral</i> as well +as <i>matériel</i>, "the day" had come by Midsummer +1914.</p> +<p>Moreover, her generally passive partner, Austria, was then +excited to frenzy by the murder of the heir to the throne, Archduke +Francis Ferdinand. The criminals were Austrian Serbs; but no proof +was then or has since been forthcoming as to the complicity of the +Servian Government. Nevertheless, in the state of acute tension +long existing between Servia and Austria-Hungary, the affair seemed +the climax of a series of efforts at wrecking the Dual Monarchy and +setting up a Serbo-Croatian Kingdom. Therefore German and Magyar +sentiment caught flame, and war with Servia was loudly demanded. +Dr. Dillon, while minimising the question of the murder, prophesied +that the quarrel would develop into a gigantic struggle between +Teuton and Slav<a name="FNanchor550"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_550">[550]</a>. In this connection we must remember +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page640" id="page640"></a>[pg +640]</span> that the Central Empires had twice dictated to the rest +of Europe: first, in the Bosnian crisis of 1908-9; secondly, in the +negotiations which led to the Treaty of Bukharest (August 1913). On +other occasions Kaiser William had bent the will of Tsar Nicholas +II., notably in the Potsdam interview of November 1910. It is +therefore possible that Berlin reckoned once more on the +complaisance of Russia; and in that event Austria would have +dragooned Servia and refashioned the Balkan lands at her will, +Germany meanwhile "keeping the ring." This explanation of the +crisis is, however, open to the objection that the questions at +issue more vitally affected Russia than did those of 1908-10, and +she had nearly recovered normal strength. Unless the politicians of +Berlin and Vienna were blind, they must have foreseen that Russia +would aid Servia in resisting the outrageous demands sent from +Vienna to Belgrade on July 23. Those demands were incompatible with +Servia's independence; and though she, within the stipulated +forty-eight hours, acquiesced in all save two of them, the Austrian +Government declared war (July 28). In so doing it relied on the +assurances of the German Ambassador, von Tchirsky, that Russia +would not fight. But by way of retort to the Austrian order for +complete mobilisation (July 31, 1 A.M.), Russia quite early on that +same day ordered a similar measure<a name= +"FNanchor551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551">[551]</a>.</p> +<p>The procedure of Austria and Germany now claims our attention. +The policy of Count Berchtold, Austria's Foreign Minister, had +generally been pacific. On July 28 he yielded to popular clamour +for war against Servia, but only, it appears, because of his belief +that "Russia would have no right to intervene after receiving his +assurance that Austria sought no territorial aggrandisement." On +July 30 and 31 he consented to continue friendly discussions with +Russia. Even on August 1 the Austrian Ambassador at Petrograd +expressed to the Foreign <span class="pagenum"><a name="page641" +id="page641"></a>[pg 641]</span> Minister, Sazonoff, the hope that +things had not gone too far<a name="FNanchor552"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_552">[552]</a>. There was then still a hope that Sir +Edward Grey's offer of friendly mediation might be accepted by +Germany, Austria, and Russia. But on August 1 Germany declared war +on Russia.</p> +<p>It is well to remember that by her action in August 1913 she +held back Austria from a warlike policy. In July 1914 some of +Germany's officials knew of the tenor of the Austrian demands on +the Court of Belgrade; and her Ambassador at Vienna stated on July +26 that Germany knew what she was doing in backing up Austria. +Kaiser William, who had been on a yachting cruise, hurriedly +returned to Berlin on the night of July 26-27. He must have +approved of Austria's declaration of war against Servia on July 28, +for on that day his Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, finally rejected +Sir Edward Grey's proposal of a Peace Conference to settle that +dispute. The Chancellor then also expressed to our Ambassador, Sir +Edward Goschen, the belief that Russia had no right to intervene in +the Austro-Serb affair. The Austrian Ambassador at Berlin also +opined that "Russia neither wanted nor was in a position to make +war." This belief was widely expressed in diplomatic circles at +Berlin. Military men probably viewed matters from that standpoint; +and in all probability there was a struggle between the civilians +and the soldiers, which seems to have ended in a victory for the +latter in an important Council meeting held at Potsdam on the +evening of July 29. Immediately afterwards the Chancellor summoned +Sir Edward Goschen and made to him the "infamous proposals" for the +neutrality of Great Britain in case of a European War, provided +that Germany (1) would engage to take no territory from the +mainland of France (he would make no promise respecting the French +colonies); (2) would respect the neutrality of Holland; (3) would +restore the independence of Belgium in case the French menace +compelled her to invade that country.</p> +<p>These proposals prove that by the evening of July 29 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page642" id="page642"></a>[pg +642]</span> Germany regarded war as imminent<a name= +"FNanchor553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553">[553]</a>. But why? Even +in the East matters did not as yet threaten such a conflict. Russia +had declared that Servia was not to be made a vassal of the +Hapsburgs; and, to give effect to that declaration, she had +mobilised the southern and eastern portions of her forces as a +retort to a similar partial mobilisation by Austria. But neither +Russia nor, perhaps, Austria wished for, or expected, a European +war<a name="FNanchor554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554">[554]</a>. +Austria seems to have expected a <i>limited</i> war, <i>i.e.</i> +only with the Serbs. She denied that the Russians had any right to +intervene so long as she did not annex Serb land. Her aim was to +reduce the Serbs to vassalage, and she expected Germany +successfully to prevent Russia's intervention, as in 1909<a name= +"FNanchor555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555">[555]</a>. The German +proposals of July 29 are the first clear sign of a general +conflict; for they presumed the probability of a war with France in +which Belgium, and perhaps England, might be involved while Holland +would be left alone. In the course of his remarks the Chancellor +said that "he had in mind a general neutrality agreement between +England and Germany"--a reference to the German offers of 1912 +described in this chapter. As at that time the Chancellor sought to +tie our hands in view of any action by Germany, so, too, at present +his object clearly was to preclude the possibility of our stirring +on behalf of Belgium. Both Goschen and Grey must have seen the +snare. The former referred the proposals to Grey, who of course +decisively refused them.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page643" id="page643"></a>[pg +643]</span> +<p>This was the first of Grey's actions which betokened tension +with Germany. Up to the 28th his efforts for peace had seemed not +unlikely to be crowned with success. On July 20, that is three days +before Austria precipitated the crisis, he begged the Berlin +Government to seek to moderate her demands on Servia. The day after +the Austrian Note he urged a Conference between France and England +on one side and Germany and Italy on the other so as to counsel +moderation to their respective Allies, Russia and Austria. It was +Germany and Austria who negatived this by their acts of the 28th. +Still Grey worked for peace, with the approval of Russia, and, on +July 30 to August 1, of Austria. But on July 31 and August 1 +occurred events which frustrated these efforts. On July 31 the +Berlin Government, hearing of the complete mobilisation by Russia +(a retort to the similar proceeding of Austria a few hours +earlier), sent a stiff demand to Petrograd for demobilisation +within twelve hours; also to Paris for a reply within eighteen +hours whether it would remain neutral in case of a Russo-German +War.</p> +<p>Here we must pause to notice that to ask Russia to demobilise, +without requiring the same measure from Austria, was manifestly +unjust. Russia could not have assented without occupying an +inferior position to Austria. If Germany had desired peace, she +would have suggested the same action for each of the disputants. +Further, while blaming the Russians for mobilising, she herself had +taken all the preliminary steps, including what is called +<i>Kriegsgefahr</i>, which made her army far better prepared for +war than mobilisation itself did for the Russian Empire in view of +its comparatively undeveloped railway system. Again, if the Kaiser +wished to avoid war, why did he not agree to await the arrival (on +August 1) of the special envoy, Tatisheff, whom, on the night of +July 30, the Tsar had despatched to Berlin<a name= +"FNanchor556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556">[556]</a>? There is not a +single <span class="pagenum"><a name="page644" id="page644"></a>[pg +644]</span> sign that the Berlin Government really feared "the +Eastern Colossus," though statements as to "the eastern peril" were +very serviceable in frightening German Socialists into line.</p> +<p>The German ultimatum failed to cow Russia; and as she returned +no answer, the Kaiser declared war on August 1. He added by +telegram that he had sought, <i>in accord with England,</i> to +mediate between Russia and Austria, but the Russian mobilisation +led to his present action. In reply to the German demand at Paris +the French Premier, M. Viviani, declared on August 1 at 1 P.M. that +France would do that "which her interests dictated"--an evasive +reply designed to gain time and to see what course Russia would +take. The Kaiser having declared war on Russia, France had no +alternative but to come to the assistance of her Ally. But the +Kaiser's declaration of war against France did not reach Paris +until August 3 at 6.45 P.M.<a name="FNanchor557"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_557">[557]</a> His aim was to leave France and Belgium +in doubt as to his intentions, and meanwhile to mass overwhelming +forces on their borders, especially that of Belgium.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, on August 1, German officials detained and +confiscated the cargoes of a few British ships. On August 2 German +troops violated the neutrality of Luxemburg. On the same day Sir +Edward Grey assured the French ambassador, M. Paul Cambon, that if +the German fleet attacked that of France or her coasts, the British +fleet would afford protection. This assurance depended, however, on +the sanction of Parliament. It is practically certain that +Parliament would have sanctioned this proceeding; and, if so, war +would have come about owing to the naval understanding with +France<a name="FNanchor558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558">[558]</a>, +that is, if Germany chose to disregard it. But another incident +brought matters to a clearer issue. On August 3, German troops +entered Belgium, though on the previous day the German ambassador +had assured the Government of King Albert that no such step would +be taken. The pretext now was that the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page645" id="page645"></a>[pg 645]</span> French +were about to invade Belgium, as to which there was then, and has +not been since, any proof whatever.</p> +<p>Here we must go back in order to understand the action of the +British, French, and German Governments. They and all the Powers +had signed the treaty of 1839 guaranteeing the independence of +Belgium; and nothing had occurred since to end their engagement. +The German proposals of July 29, 1914, having alarmed Sir Edward +Grey, he required both from Paris and Berlin assurances that +neither Power would invade Belgium. That of France on August 1 was +clear and satisfactory. On July 31 the German Secretary of State, +von Jagow, declined to give a reply, because "any reply they [the +Emperor and Chancellor] might give could not but disclose a certain +amount of their plan of campaign in the event of war ensuing." As +on August 2 the official assurances of the German ambassador at +Brussels were satisfactory, the British Foreign Office seems to +have felt no great alarm on this topic. But at 7 P.M. of that +evening the same ambassador presented a note from his Government +demanding the right to march its troops into Belgium in order to +prevent a similar measure by the French. On the morrow Belgium +protested against this act, and denied the rumour as to French +action. King Albert also telegraphed to King George asking for the +help of the United Kingdom. The tidings reached the British Cabinet +after it had been carefully considering whether German aggression +on Belgium would not constitute a <i>casus belli</i><a name= +"FNanchor559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559">[559]</a>.</p> +<p>The news of the German demand and the King's appeal reached +Westminster just before the first debate on August 3. Sir Edward +Grey stated that we were not parties to the Franco-Russian +Alliance, of which we did not know the exact terms; and there was +no binding compact with France; but the conversations on naval +affairs pledged us to consult her <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page646" id="page646"></a>[pg 646]</span> with a view to +preventing an unprovoked attack by the German navy. He explained +his conditional promise to M. Cambon. Thereupon Mr. Redmond +promised the enthusiastic support of all Irishmen. Mr. Ramsay +Macdonald, though demurring to the policy of Sir Edward Grey, said, +"If the Right Honourable gentleman could come to us and tell us +that a small European nationality like Belgium is in danger, and +could assure us that he is going to confine the conflict to that +question, then we would support him." Now, the Cabinet had by this +time resolved that the independence of Belgium should be a test +question, as it was in 1870. Therefore, there seemed the hope that +not only the Irish but all the Labour party would give united +support to the Government. By the evening debate official +information had arrived; and, apart from some cavilling criticisms, +Parliament was overwhelmingly in favour of decided action on behalf +of Belgium. Sir Edward Grey despatched to Berlin an ultimatum +demanding the due recognition of Belgian neutrality by Germany. No +answer being sent, Great Britain and Germany entered on a state of +war shortly before midnight of August 4.</p> +<p>The more fully the facts are known, the clearer appears the +aggressive character of German policy. Some of her Ministers +doubted the advisability of war, and hoped to compass their ends by +threats as in 1909 and 1913; but they were overborne by the +bellicose party on or shortly before July 29. Whether the Kaiser, +the Crown Prince, or the General Staff is most to blame, it is idle +to speculate; but German diplomacy at the crisis shows every sign +of having been forced on by military men. Bethmann-Hollweg was +never remarkable for breadth of view and clearness of insight; yet +he alone could scarcely have perpetrated the follies which +alienated Italy and outraged the sentiments of the civilised world +in order to gain a few days' start over France and stab her +unguarded side. It is a clumsy imitation of the policy of Frederick +in 1756.</p> +<p>As to the forbearance of Great Britain at the crisis, few words +are needed. In earlier times the seizure of British <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page647" id="page647"></a>[pg 647]</span> ships +and their cargoes (August 1) would have led to a rupture. Clearly, +Sir Edward Grey and his colleagues clung to peace as long as +possible. The wisdom of his procedure at one or two points has been +sharply impugned. Critics have said that early in the crisis he +should have empowered Sir George Buchanan, our ambassador at +Petrograd, to join Russia and France in a declaration of our +resolve to join them in case of war<a name= +"FNanchor560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560">[560]</a>. But (1) no +British Minister is justified in committing his country to such a +course of action. (2) The terms of the Ententes did not warrant it. +(3) A menace to Germany and Austria would, by the terms of the +Triple Alliance, have compelled Italy to join them, and it was +clearly the aim of the British Government to avert such a disaster. +(4) On July 30 and 31 Grey declared plainly to Germany that she +must not count on our neutrality in all cases, and that a +Franco-German War (quite apart from the question of Belgium) would +probably draw us in<a name="FNanchor561"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_561">[561]</a>.</p> +<p>Sir Edward is also charged with not making our intentions clear +as to what would happen in case of the violation of the neutrality +of Belgium. But he demanded, both from France and Germany, +assurances that they would respect that neutrality; and on August 1 +he informed the German ambassador in London of our "very great +regret" at the ambiguity of the German reply. Also, on August 2 the +German ambassador at Brussels protested that Belgium was quite safe +so far as concerned Germany<a name="FNanchor562"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_562">[562]</a>. When a great Power gives those +assurances, it does not improve matters to threaten her with war if +she breaks them. She broke them on August 3; whereupon Grey took +the decided action which Haldane had declared in 1912 that we would +take. The clamour raised in Germany as to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page648" id="page648"></a>[pg 648]</span> our +intervention being unexpected is probably the result of blind +adherence to a preconceived theory and of rage at a "decadent" +nation daring to oppose an "invincible" nation. The German +Government of course knew the truth, but its education of public +opinion through the Press had become a fine art. Therefore, at the +beginning of the war all Germans believed that France was about to +invade Belgium, whereupon they stepped in to save her; that the +Eastern Colossus had precipitated the war by its causeless +mobilisation (a falsehood which ranged nearly all German Socialists +on the side of the Government); that Russia and Servia had planned +the dismemberment of Austria; that, consequently, Teutons (and +Turks) must fight desperately for national existence in a conflict +forced upon them by Russia, Servia, and France, England +perfidiously appearing as a renegade to her race and creed.</p> +<p>By these falsehoods, dinned into a singularly well-drilled and +docile people, the Germans were worked up to a state of frenzy for +an enterprise for which their rulers had been preparing during more +than a decade. The colossal stores of war material, amassed +especially in 1913-14 (some of them certain soon to deteriorate), +the exquisitely careful preparations at all points of the national +life, including the colonies, refute the fiction that war was +forced upon Germany. The course of the negotiations preceding the +war, the assiduous efforts of Germany to foment Labour troubles in +Russia before the crisis, the unpreparedness of the Allies for the +fierce and sustained energy of the Teutonic assault,--all these +symptoms prove the guilt of Germany<a name= +"FNanchor563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563">[563]</a>. The crowning +proof is that up to the present (August 1915) she has not issued a +complete set of diplomatic documents, and not one despatch which +bears out the Chancellor's statement that he used his influence at +Vienna for peace. The twenty-nine despatches published in her White +Book are a mere fragment of her immense diplomatic correspondence +which she has found it desirable to keep secret, and, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page649" id="page649"></a>[pg 649]</span> as we +have seen, her officials suppressed the Tsar's second telegram of +July 29 urging that the Austro-Serb dispute be referred to the +Hague Tribunal.</p> +<p>The sets of despatches published by the Allies show conclusively +that each of them worked for peace and was surprised by the war. +Their unpreparedness and the absolute preparedness of Germany have +appeared so clearly during the course of hostilities as to give the +lie to the German pamphleteers who have striven to prove that in +the last resort the war was "a preventive war," that is, designed +to avert a future conflict at a time unfavourable to Germany. There +is not a sign that any one of the Powers of the Entente was making +more than strictly defensive preparations; and, as has been shown, +the Entente themselves were formed in order to give mutual +protection in case of aggression from her. The desperate nature of +that aggression appeared in her unscrupulous but successful efforts +to force Turkey into war (Oct.-Nov. 1914). No crime against +Christendom has equalled that whereby the champions of +<i>Kultur</i> sought to stir up the fanatical passions of the +Moslem World against Europe. Fortunately, that design has failed; +and incidentally it added to the motives which have led Italy to +break loose from the Central Powers and assist the Allies in +assuring the future of the oppressed nationalities of Europe.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page650" id="page650"></a>[pg +650]</span> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/650.png" width="80%" alt=""><br> +<b>Map of Africa (1902)</b></p> +<br> +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor544">[544]</a> The +<i>Temps</i> of March 30, 1913, estimated that Germany would soon +have 500,000 men in her first line, as against 175,000 French, +unless France recurred to three years' service. See M. Sembat, +<i>Faites un Roi, si non faites la Paix.</i></p> +<p><a name="Footnote_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor545">[545]</a> G. +Alexinsky, <i>La Russie et la guerre</i>, pp. 83-88.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor546">[546]</a> +General Botha's speech at Cape Town, July 25, 1915.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor547">[547]</a> +Rohrbach, <i>Der deutsche Gedanke in der Welt</i> (1912), p. 216 +(more than 10,000 copies of this work were sold in a year); +Reventlow, <i>Deutschlands auswärtige Politik,</i> p. 251.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor548">[548]</a> +<i>Revue des questions diplomatiques</i> (1913), pp. 417-18.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor549">[549]</a> +Frédéric, <i>Hist. de la guerre de sept Ans</i>, i. +p. 37.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor550">[550]</a> +<i>Daily Telegraph</i>, July 25, 1914.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor551">[551]</a> +<i>J'accuse</i>, pp. 134-5 (German edition). The partial +mobilisations of Austria and Russia earlier were intended to +threaten and protect Servia. The time of Austria's order for +complete mobilisation is shown in French Yellow Book, No. 115. That +of Russia in Austrian "Rotbuch," No. 52, and Russian Orange Book, +No. 77.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor552">[552]</a> +Austrian "Rotbuch," Nos. 50-56; British White Papers, Miscellaneous +(1914), No. 6 (No. 137), and No. 10, p. 3; French Yellow Book, No. +120.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor553">[553]</a> M. +Jules Cambon telegraphed from Berlin to his Government on July 30 +that late on July 29 Germany had ordered mobilisation, but +countermanded it in view of the reserve of Sir Edward Goschen as to +England's attitude, and owing to the Tsar's telegram of July 29 to +the Kaiser. Berlin papers which had announced the mobilisation were +seized. All measures preliminary to mobilisation had been taken +(French Yellow Book, No. 107; German White Book, No. 21).</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor554">[554]</a> +Russian Orange Book, Nos. 25, 40, 43, 58.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor555">[555]</a> +Austrian "Rotbuch," Nos. 28, 31, 44; Brit. White Paper, Nos. 91-97, +161. <i>J'accuse</i> (III. A) goes too far in accusing Austria of +consciously provoking a European War; for, as I have shown, she +wished on August 1 to continue negotiations with Russia. The retort +that she did so only when she knew that Germany was about to throw +down the gauntlet, seems to me far-fetched. Besides, Austria was +not ready; Germany was.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor556">[556]</a> +German White Book, No. 23<i>a</i>; <i>J'accuse</i>, Section III. B, +pp. 153, 164 (German edit.), shows that the German White Book +suppressed the Tsar's second telegram of July 29 to the Kaiser, +inviting him to refer the Austro-Serb dispute to the Hague +Tribunal. (See, too, J.W. Headlam, <i>History of Twelve Days,</i> +p. 183.)</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor557">[557]</a> +German White Book, Nos. 26, 27; French Yellow Book, No. 147.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor558">[558]</a> +British White Paper, No. 105 and <i>Enclosures</i>, also No. +116.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor559">[559]</a> +British White Paper, Nos. 123, 151, 153; Belgian Grey Book, Nos. +20-25. For a full and convincing refutation of the German charges +that our military attachés at Brussels in 1906 and 1912 had +bound us by <i>conventions</i>(!) to land an army in Belgium, see +second Belgian Grey Book, pp. 103-6; Headlam, <i>op. cit.</i>, ch. +xvi., also p. 377, on the charge that France was about to invade +Belgium.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor560">[560]</a> +British White Paper, Nos. 6, 24, 99; Russian Orange Book, No. +17.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor561">[561]</a> +British White Paper, Nos. 101, 102, 111, 114, 119. I dissent from +Mr. F.S. Oliver (<i>Ordeal by Battle,</i> pp. 30-34) on the +question discussed above. For other arguments, see my <i>Origins of +the War,</i> pp. 167-9. The ties binding Roumania to Germany and +Austria were looser; but anything of the nature of a general threat +to the Central Powers would probably have ranged her too on their +side.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor562">[562]</a> +British White Paper, Nos. 114, 122, 123, 125; Belgian Grey Book, +No. 19.</p> +<p><a name="Footnote_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor563">[563]</a> See +the damning indictment by a German in <i>J'accuse</i>, Section +III., also the thorough and judicial examination by J.W. Headlam, +<i>The History of Twelve Days</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page651" id="page651"></a>[pg +651]</span> +<h2><a name="INDEX."></a>INDEX.</h2> +<div class="indx"> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Abdul, Aziz <a href="#page168">168-9</a></p> +<p>Abdul Hamid II., <a href="#page169">169-70</a>, <a href= +"#page174">174</a>, <a href="#page177">177-9</a>, <a href= +"#page185">185-6</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page223">223-4</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page245">245-9</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>, <a href= +"#page266">266-9</a>, <a href="#page274">274-5</a>, <a href= +"#page277">277</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href= +"#page328">328</a>, <a href="#page436">436</a>, <a href= +"#page447">447-8</a>, <a href="#page453">453</a>, <a href= +"#page457">457</a>, <a href="#page591">591-2</a>, <a href= +"#page618">618</a></p> +<p>Abdul Kerim, <a href="#page194">194-6</a>, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page206">206</a></p> +<p>Abdur Rahman, <a href="#page389">389</a>, <a href= +"#page400">400</a>, <a href="#page404">404-5</a>, <a href= +"#page407">407</a>, <a href="#page417">417</a>, <a href= +"#page418">418-19</a>, <a href="#page428">428-31</a>, <a href= +"#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Abeken, Herr, <a href="#page044">44</a></p> +<p>Abu Klea, Battle of, <a href="#page480">480</a></p> +<p>Abyssinia, <a href="#page335">335</a>, <a href= +"#page487">487</a>, <a href="#page504">504</a></p> +<p>Adam, Mme, <a href="#page333">333</a></p> +<p>Adrianople, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href= +"#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href= +"#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page270">270</a></p> +<p>Aehrenthal, Count, <a href="#page613">613-4</a></p> +<p>Afghanistan, <a href="#page334">334</a>, <a href= +"#page345">345-6</a>, <a href="#page366">366</a>, <a href= +"#page378">378-9</a>, <a href="#page386">386-91</a>, <a href= +"#page472">472</a>, <a href="#page527">527</a></p> +<p class="i1">War in (1878-9), chap. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XIV">xiv</a>. <a href="#page394">394</a> +<i>passim</i></p> +<p>Africa, Partition of, chap. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">xviii</a>, +<i>passim</i>, <a href="#page586">586</a></p> +<p>Africa, South-West, <a href="#page635">635-6</a></p> +<p>Agadir, Coup d', <a href="#page621">621</a>, <a href= +"#page623">623</a>, <a href="#page625">625</a></p> +<p>Albania, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229</a></p> +<p>Albania, autonomy of, <a href="#page630">630-1</a></p> +<p>Albert, King of Belgium, <a href="#page644">644-5</a></p> +<p>Albrecht, Archduke, <a href="#page033">33-6</a></p> +<p>Alexander I., <a href="#page031">31</a>, <a href= +"#page160">160-1</a>, <a href="#page297">297</a>, <a href= +"#page364">364</a></p> +<p>Alexander II., <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href= +"#page167">167</a>, <a href="#page173">173-5</a>, <a href= +"#page180">180-83</a>, <a href="#page192">192</a>, <a href= +"#page204">204-5</a>, <a href="#page209">209-10</a>, <a href= +"#page215">215</a>, <a href="#page222">222-8</a>, <a href= +"#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page254">254-6</a>, <a href= +"#page289">289</a>, <a href="#page293">293</a>, <a href= +"#page295">295-8</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a>, <a href= +"#page308">308</a>, <a href="#page313">313</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page322">322</a>, <a href= +"#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page355">355</a>, <a href= +"#page398">398-9</a></p> +<p>Alexander III., <a href="#page255">255-65</a>, <a href= +"#page272">272-86</a>, <a href="#page298">298-9</a>, <a href= +"#page301">301-4</a>, <a href="#page309">309-11</a>, <a href= +"#page331">331</a>, <a href="#page337">337</a>, <a href= +"#page340">340</a>, <a href="#page343">343-6</a>, <a href= +"#page423">423-4</a>, <a href="#page428">428-9</a></p> +<p>Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, <a href="#page254">254</a>, +<a href="#page260">260-82</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href= +"#page339">339</a>, <a href="#page428">428</a></p> +<p>Alexandretta, <a href="#page622">622</a></p> +<p>Alexandria, bombardment of, <a href="#page450">450-52</a></p> +<p>Alfonso, King of Spain, <a href="#page619">619</a></p> +<p><i>Algeciras</i>, Conference of, <a href="#page604">604</a>, +<a href="#page606">606-8</a>, <a href="#page610">610</a></p> +<p class="i1">Act of, <a href="#page607">607</a></p> +<p>Alikhanoff, M., <a href="#page424">424</a></p> +<p>Alsace, <a href="#page094">94</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page133">133-4</a></p> +<p>Alvensleben, General von, <a href="#page061">61</a>, <a href= +"#page065">65-7</a>, <a href="#page077">77</a></p> +<p>Amur, river, <a href="#page571">571</a>, <a href= +"#page572">572</a>, <a href="#page580">580</a></p> +<p>Andrassy, Count, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page232">232</a>, <a href="#page599">599</a></p> +<p>André, General, <a href="#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Anglo-French Entente (1904), <a href="#page601">601-4</a>, +<a href="#page606">606</a>, <a href="#page607">607</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a>, <a href="#page622">622</a>, <a href= +"#page626">626</a>, <a href="#page636">636</a></p> +<p>Anglo-German Agreement (1890), <a href="#page520">520-523</a>, +<a href="#page525">525</a>, <a href="#page532">532</a></p> +<p>Anglo-Japanese Compact, <a href="#page597">597-8</a>, <a href= +"#page602">602</a></p> +<p>Anglo-Russian Conventions, <a href="#page608">608-10</a></p> +<p>Angra Pequeña, <a href="#page523">523</a>, <a href= +"#page524">524</a></p> +<p>Antonelli, Cardinal, <a href="#page089">89</a></p> +<p>Arabi Pasha, <a href="#page266">266</a>, <a href= +"#page444">444</a>, <a href="#page447">447-9</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452</a>, <a href="#page453">453-7</a></p> +<p>Archinard, M., <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Argyll, Duke of, <a href="#page371">371-2</a>, <a href= +"#page376">376</a>, <a href="#page417">417</a></p> +<p>Armenia, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href= +"#page250">250</a>, <a href="#page307">307</a></p> +<p>Army Bill, French (1875), <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href= +"#page121">121-2</a></p> +<p>Arnim, Count von, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a></p> +<p>Artomoroff, Colonel, <a href="#page504">504</a></p> +<p>Asquith, H.H., <a href="#page626">626-8</a></p> +<p>Atbara, Battle of the, <a href="#page490">490-91</a></p> +<p>Augustenburg, Duke of, <a href="#page016">16</a></p> +<p>Aumale, Duc d', <a href="#page117">117</a></p> +<p>Austria, <a href="#page004">4-23</a>, <a href= +"#page032">32-7</a>, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href= +"#page063">63</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href= +"#page148">148</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page177">177</a>, <a href="#page180">180-81</a>, <a href= +"#page184">184-6</a>, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page227">227-8</a>, <a href="#page231">231</a>, <a href= +"#page232">232</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257-8</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>, <a href= +"#page271">271</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>, <a href= +"#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page323">323-7</a>, <a href= +"#page331">331-3</a>, <a href="#page350">350-51</a>, <a href= +"#page485">485</a>, <a href="#page585">585</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592-3</a>, <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604</a>, <a href="#page607">607</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a>, <a href="#page612">612-17</a>, <a href= +"#page622">622</a>, <a href="#page629">629-32</a>, <a href= +"#page634">634</a>, <a href="#page637">637</a>, <a href= +"#page639">639</a>, <a href="#page644">644</a>, <a href= +"#page647">647</a>, <a href="#page649">649</a></p> +<p class="i1">Army of, <a href="#page635">635</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page652" id="page652"></a>[pg +652]</span> +<p>Austro-German Alliance, <a href="#page324">324-7</a></p> +<p>Austro-Prussian War (1866), <a href="#page017">17-21</a></p> +<p>Austro-Russian Agreements (1897 and 1903), <a href= +"#page615">615</a></p> +<p>Austro-Russian Treaty (1877), <a href="#page179">179-180</a></p> +<p>Ayub Khan, <a href="#page407">407</a>, <a href= +"#page415">415</a>, <a href="#page418">418-9</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Baden, <a href="#page012">12</a>, <a href="#page021">21</a></p> +<p>Baden, Grand Duke of, <a href="#page130">130</a></p> +<p>Baert, Captain, <a href="#page564">564</a></p> +<p>Bagdad Railway, <a href="#page591">591-4</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a>, <a href="#page615">615</a>, <a href= +"#page622">622</a>, <a href="#page637">637</a></p> +<p>Bahr-el-Ghazal, the, <a href="#page504">504</a>, <a href= +"#page506">506</a>, <a href="#page552">552</a>, <a href= +"#page558">558-9</a></p> +<p>Bakunin, <a href="#page282">292-5</a></p> +<p>Balfour, Mr. A., <a href="#page431">431-2</a></p> +<p>Balkan League, the, <a href="#page629">629</a>, <a href= +"#page632">632</a></p> +<p>Balkan Peninsula, <a href="#page025">25</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a></p> +<p>Balkan Question, the, <a href="#page631">631-2</a></p> +<p>Balkan States, <a href="#page586">586</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592</a>, <a href="#page616">616</a>, <a href= +"#page628">628-9</a>, <a href="#page633">633</a></p> +<p>Balkan War (1912), <a href="#page624">624</a>, <a href= +"#page629">629-31</a>, <a href="#page633">633</a></p> +<p>Balkh, <a href="#page399">399</a>, <a href= +"#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Baluchistan, <a href="#page367">367</a>, <a href= +"#page381">381</a>, <a href="#page384">384-6</a>, <a href= +"#page432">432</a></p> +<p><a name="Baring"></a>Baring, Sir E., <a href="#page463">463</a>, +<a href="#page466">466-473</a></p> +<p>Batak, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href= +"#page171">171</a></p> +<p>Batoum, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276</a></p> +<p>Bavaria, <a href="#page018">18</a>, <a href="#page020">20</a>, +<a href="#page021">21</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href= +"#page133">133-5</a></p> +<p>Bazaine, Marshall, <a href="#page063">63-5</a>, <a href= +"#page067">67-73</a>, <a href="#page075">75-8</a>, <a href= +"#page097">97</a></p> +<p>Bazeilles, <a href="#page079">79-82</a></p> +<p><a name="Beaconsfield"></a>Beaconsfield, Earl of, <a href= +"#page029">29</a>, <a href="#page165">165-6</a>, <a href= +"#page171">171</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href= +"#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a>, <a href= +"#page187">187-8</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href= +"#page231">231</a>, <a href="#page232">232-3</a>, <a href= +"#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page236">236-7</a>, <a href= +"#page240">240-41</a>, <a href="#page243">243-5</a>, <a href= +"#page287">287</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>, <a href= +"#page380">380</a>, <a href="#page282">282-3</a>, <a href= +"#page391">391-3</a>, <a href="#page400">400</a>, <a href= +"#page405">405</a>, <a href="#page440">440</a>, <a href= +"#page516">516</a></p> +<p>Beaumont, Battle of, <a href="#page078">78</a></p> +<p>Bebel, Herr, <a href="#page589">589</a></p> +<p>Bechuanaland, <a href="#page530">530-33</a></p> +<p>Beernaert, M., <a href="#page556">556</a></p> +<p>Belfort, <a href="#page098">98</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, +<a href="#page105">105</a></p> +<p>Belgium, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href="#page016">16</a>, +<a href="#page026">26</a>, <a href="#page148">148</a>, <a href= +"#page550">550-52</a>, <a href="#page555">555-7</a>, <a href= +"#page567">567</a>, <a href="#page625">625</a>, <a href= +"#page627">627-8</a>, <a href="#page638">638-9</a>, <a href= +"#page641">641-2</a>, <a href="#page644">644-8</a></p> +<p>Bendereff, <a href="#page271">271</a>, <a href= +"#page278">278-9</a></p> +<p>Benedek, General, <a href="#page018">18</a></p> +<p>Benedetti, M., <a href="#page040">40-43</a>, <a href= +"#page048">48</a></p> +<p>Bentley, Rev. W.H., <a href="#page546">546</a></p> +<p>Berber, <a href="#page473">473</a>, <a href="#page475">475</a>, +<a href="#page478">478</a>, <a href="#page488">488</a>, <a href= +"#page490">490</a></p> +<p>Berchtold, Count, <a href="#page640">640</a></p> +<p>Beresford, Lord Charles, <a href="#page480">480</a></p> +<p>Berlin Conference (1885), <a href="#page548">548-50</a>, +<a href="#page552">552</a>, <a href="#page559">559</a>, <a href= +"#page562">562</a>, <a href="#page567">567</a></p> +<p class="i1">Congress of (1878), <a href="#page228">228</a>, +<a href="#page235">235-42</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a>, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>, <a href="#page323">323</a>, <a href= +"#page328">328</a>, <a href="#page345">345</a>, <a href= +"#page388">388</a>, <a href="#page513">513</a></p> +<p class="i1">Memorandum, the, <a href="#page167">167-9</a>, +<a href="#page181">181</a></p> +<p>Berlin, Treaty of (1878), <a href="#page237">237-42</a>, +<a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page267">267-8</a>, <a href= +"#page275">275</a>, <a href="#page291">291</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a>, <a href="#page353">353</a>, <a href= +"#page612">612</a>, <a href="#page629">629</a></p> +<p>Bernhardi, General von, <a href="#page625">625-6</a>, <a href= +"#page638">638</a></p> +<p>Besika Bay, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <a href= +"#page171">171</a>, <a href="#page172">172</a>, <a href= +"#page177">177</a>, <a href="#page224">224</a></p> +<p>Bessarabia, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href= +"#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page230">230</a>, <a href= +"#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page260">260</a></p> +<p>Bethman-Hollweg, Chancellor, <a href="#page620">620</a>, +<a href="#page623">623</a>, <a href="#page625">625</a>, <a href= +"#page627">627</a>, <a href="#page633">633-4</a>, <a href= +"#page641">641-2</a>, <a href="#page645">645-6</a>, <a href= +"#page648">648</a></p> +<p>Beust, Count von, <a href="#page032">32</a>, <a href= +"#page036">36</a>, <a href="#page037">37</a></p> +<p>Biarritz, <a href="#page016">16</a></p> +<p>Biddulph, General, <a href="#page398">398</a></p> +<p>Bismarck, Prince Otto von, <a href="#page008">8</a>, <a href= +"#page012">12-22</a>, <a href="#page027">27</a>, <a href= +"#page030">30</a>, <a href="#page031">31</a>, <a href= +"#page039">39</a>, <a href="#page041">41-49</a>, <a href= +"#page085">85</a>, <a href="#page086">86</a>, <a href= +"#page089">89</a>, <a href="#page094">94</a>, <a href= +"#page097">97</a>, <a href="#page103">103-5</a>, <a href= +"#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href= +"#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page129">129-32</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href= +"#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href= +"#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page168">168</a>, <a href="#page173">173</a>, <a href= +"#page184">184</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a>, <a href= +"#page282">282</a>, <a href="#page317">317-27</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a>, <a href="#page335">335</a>, <a href= +"#page336">336-8</a>, <a href="#page342">342</a>, <a href= +"#page426">426</a>, <a href="#page446">446</a>, <a href= +"#page457">457</a>, <a href="#page513">513-15</a>, <a href= +"#page520">520-21</a>, <a href="#page527">527</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a>, <a href="#page534">534</a>, <a href= +"#page547">547</a>, <a href="#page548">548</a>, <a href= +"#page590">590</a>, <a href="#page599">599</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a></p> +<p class="i1">and "Protection," <a href="#page141">141-150</a></p> +<p>Bismarck, Count Herbert, <a href="#page523">523-4</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a></p> +<p>Blagovestchensk, <a href="#page584">584</a></p> +<p>Blowitz, M. de, <a href="#page321">321-2</a></p> +<p>Blumenthal, Count von, <a href="#page072">72</a>, <a href= +"#page077">77</a>, <a href="#page085">85</a>, <a href= +"#page094">94</a></p> +<p>Boer War, <a href="#page585">585-8</a>, <a href= +"#page590">590</a>, <a href="#page597">597-8</a>, <a href= +"#page610">610</a>, <a href="#page636">636</a></p> +<p>Bokhara, <a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href= +"#page371">371</a></p> +<p>Bonnier, M., <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Bordeaux, <a href="#page098">98</a>, <a href="#page099">99</a>, +<a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href= +"#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href= +"#page118">118</a></p> +<p>Bosnia, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page168">168</a>, +<a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href= +"#page258">258</a>, <a href="#page332">332</a></p> +<p>Bosnia-Herzegovina, annexation of, <a href="#page612">612</a>, +<i>seq</i>. <a href="#page640">640</a></p> +<p>Botha, General, <a href="#page598">598</a></p> +<p>Boulanger, General, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href= +"#page333">333</a>, <a href="#page337">337</a>, <a href= +"#page339">339</a>, <a href="#page341">341</a></p> +<p>Bourbaki, General, <a href="#page098">98</a></p> +<p>Bourbon, House of, <a href="#page003">3-6</a></p> +<p>Bourgas, <a href="#page278">278</a></p> +<p>Bourgeois, M., <a href="#page504">504</a></p> +<p>Boxer Movement, the, <a href="#page583">583</a></p> +<p>Boxer Rising in China (1900), <a href="#page588">588</a>, +<a href="#page595">595</a></p> +<p>Brazza, M. de, <a href="#page546">546</a></p> +<p>Bremen, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Bright, Mr. J., <a href="#page417">417</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452</a></p> +<p>British Central Africa Protectorate, <a href= +"#page533">533</a></p> +<p>Broadwood, General, <a href="#page487">487</a>, <a href= +"#page496">496</a>, <a href="#page498">498</a></p> +<p>Browne, General Sir Samuel, <a href="#page394">394</a></p> +<p>Brussels, Conference at (1876), <a href="#page545">545</a></p> +<p class="i1">Anti-Slavery Conference at, <a href= +"#page534">534</a></p> +<p>Buchanan, Sir George, <a href="#page647">647</a></p> +<p>Bukharest, Peace of (1913), <a href="#page631">631-2</a>, +<a href="#page637">637</a>, <a href="#page639">639</a></p> +<p>Bukharest, Treaty of (1886), <a href="#page272">272</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page653" id="page653"></a>[pg +653]</span> +<p>Bulgaria, <a href="#page157">157-9</a>, <a href= +"#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page170">170-72</a>, <a href= +"#page176">176</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href= +"#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page229">229-30</a>, <a href= +"#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page237">237-9</a>, <a href= +"#page251">251-288</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href= +"#page233">333</a>, <a href="#page334">334</a></p> +<p class="i1">Campaigns in, <a href="#page194">194-216</a></p> +<p>Bülow, Prince von, <a href="#page588">588-9</a>, <a href= +"#page596">596</a>, <a href="#page603">603</a>, <a href= +"#page605">605</a>, <a href="#page607">607</a>, <a href= +"#page617">617</a></p> +<p>Bundesrath, the, <a href="#page133">133-4</a>, <a href= +"#page138">138</a></p> +<p>Burmah, <a href="#page527">527</a>, <a href= +"#page530">530</a></p> +<p class="i1">Annexation of, <a href="#page432">432</a></p> +<p>Burnaby, Colonel, <a href="#page480">480</a></p> +<p>Burrows, Brigadier-General, <a href="#page407">407</a></p> +<p>Busa, <a href="#page540">540</a></p> +<p>Busch, Dr., <a href="#page022">22</a>, <a href= +"#page143">143</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Cabul, <a href="#page370">370</a>, <a href="#page381">381</a>, +<a href="#page383">383</a>, <a href="#page387">387</a>, <a href= +"#page388">388</a>, <a href="#page390">390</a>, <a href= +"#page401">401-5</a>, <a href="#page412">412-413</a>, <a href= +"#page431">431</a></p> +<p>Cabul, Treaty of (1905), <a href="#page435">435</a></p> +<p>Cairo, capture of, <a href="#page455">455-6</a></p> +<p>Cairoli, Signor, <a href="#page329">329</a></p> +<p>"Caisse de la Delte" (Egyptian), <a href="#page442">442</a>, +<a href="#page459">459</a></p> +<p>Cambon, Jules, <a href="#page620">620</a></p> +<p class="i2">Paul, <a href="#page644">644</a>, <a href= +"#page646">646</a></p> +<p>Cameroons, <a href="#page528">528</a>, <a href= +"#page533">533-6</a></p> +<p>Candahar, <a href="#page367">367</a>, <a href= +"#page381">381</a>, <a href="#page387">387</a>, <a href= +"#page398">398</a>, <a href="#page405">405</a>, <a href= +"#page407">407</a>, <a href="#page413">413-18</a>, <a href= +"#page432">432</a></p> +<p>Canning, Lord, <a href="#page368">368</a></p> +<p>Canrobert, Marshal, <a href="#page072">72</a></p> +<p>Caprivi, Count, <a href="#page520">520</a></p> +<p>Carnarvon, Lord, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page525">525</a></p> +<p>Carnot, President Sadi, <a href="#page127">127</a></p> +<p>Casement, Mr. Roger, <a href="#page558">558</a>, <a href= +"#page560">560-62</a>, <a href="#page565">565</a>, <a href= +"#page566">566</a></p> +<p>Cassini, Count, <a href="#page580">580</a></p> +<p>Catharine II., <a href="#page361">361</a></p> +<p>Cattier, M., <a href="#page552">552</a>, <a href= +"#page563">563</a>, <a href="#page564">564</a></p> +<p>Cavagnari, Sir Louis, <a href="#page401">401</a></p> +<p>Cavour, Count, <a href="#page008">8-11</a>, <a href= +"#page013">13</a>, <a href="#page090">90</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a></p> +<p>Centralisation of Governments, <a href="#page111">111-112</a>, +<a href="#page315">315</a></p> +<p>Chad, Lake, <a href="#page537">537</a></p> +<p>Châlons-sur-Marne, <a href="#page068">68</a>, <a href= +"#page074">74</a>, <a href="#page075">75</a></p> +<p>Chamberlain, Mr., <a href="#page417">417</a></p> +<p>Chambord, Comte de, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href= +"#page122">122</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a></p> +<p>Charasia, Battle of (1878), <a href="#page402">402-3</a></p> +<p>Charles, King of Roumania, <a href="#page192">192</a>, <a href= +"#page206">206</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href= +"#page215">215</a>, <a href="#page230">230</a>, <a href= +"#page262">262</a>, <a href="#page632">632</a></p> +<p>Charles Albert, King, <a href="#page006">6-8</a></p> +<p>Chevket Pacha, <a href="#page626">626</a></p> +<p>China, <a href="#page568">568</a>, <a href="#page571">571-2</a>, +<a href="#page576">576-82</a>, <a href="#page595">595-7</a></p> +<p>Chino-Japanese War, <a href="#page576">576-7</a></p> +<p>Chitral, <a href="#page386">386</a>, <a href="#page388">388</a>, +<a href="#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Chotek, Countess, <a href="#page613">613</a></p> +<p>Christian IX., <a href="#page014">14</a></p> +<p>Churchill, Winston, <a href="#page627">627</a>, <a href= +"#page634">634</a></p> +<p>Clement, Bishop, <a href="#page280">280</a>, <a href= +"#page282">282</a></p> +<p>Cobden, Mr., <a href="#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Colombey, Battle of, <a href="#page063">63-5</a></p> +<p>Combes, M., <a href="#page349">349</a>, <a href= +"#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Congo Free State, the, <a href="#page502">502</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a>, <i>passim</i> chap. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XIX">xix</a>.</p> +<p>Congo, French, <a href="#page622">622</a>, <a href= +"#page625">625</a></p> +<p>Constantinople, Conference of (1876), <a href= +"#page174">174</a>, <a href="#page176">176-9</a></p> +<p>Constitution, French (1875), <a href="#page124">124-5</a></p> +<p class="i1">German, <a href="#page132">132-7</a></p> +<p class="i1">Turkish (1876), <a href="#page177">177-9</a></p> +<p>Constitution of Finland, <a href="#page308">308</a>, <a href= +"#page309">309</a></p> +<p>Cossacks, the, <a href="#page360">360-62</a>, <a href= +"#page344">434</a>, <a href="#page435">435</a>, <a href= +"#page453">453</a></p> +<p>Coulmiers, Battle of, <a href="#page097">97</a></p> +<p>Cranbrook, Lord, <a href="#page387">387</a></p> +<p>Crete, <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href= +"#page248">248</a></p> +<p>Crimean War, <a href="#page008">8</a>, <a href= +"#page013">13</a>, <a href="#page030">30</a>, <a href= +"#page031">31</a>, <a href="#page161">161-2</a>, <a href= +"#page345">345</a>, <a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href= +"#page425">425</a>, <a href="#page434">434</a></p> +<p>Crispi, Signor, <a href="#page336">336</a>, <a href= +"#page337">337</a>, <a href="#page355">355</a>, <a href= +"#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Cromer, Lord. <i>See</i> <a href="#Baring">Baring, Sir +E.</a></p> +<p>Cronstadt, <a href="#page343">343</a>, <a href= +"#page346">346</a></p> +<p>Crown Prince of Saxony, <a href="#page074">74</a>, <a href= +"#page130">130</a></p> +<p>Currie, Sir Donald, <a href="#page524">524</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a></p> +<p>Curzon, Lord, <a href="#page423">423</a>, <a href= +"#page431">431</a>, <a href="#page432">432</a>, <a href= +"#page576">576</a></p> +<p>Cyprus, <a href="#page328">328</a></p> +<p class="i1">Convention, <a href="#page234">234-5</a>, <a href= +"#page243">243-4</a>, <a href="#page250">250</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Dahomey, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Dalmatia, <a href="#page329">329</a></p> +<p>Dalny, <a href="#page583">583</a></p> +<p>Dardanelles, the, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <a href= +"#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href= +"#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a></p> +<p>Decazes, Duc, <a href="#page321">321-2</a>, <a href= +"#page440">440</a></p> +<p>Delagoa Bay, <a href="#page525">525-6</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a>, <a href="#page534">534</a></p> +<p>Delcassé, M., <a href="#page587">587</a>, <a href= +"#page601">601</a>, <a href="#page606">606</a>, <a href= +"#page607">607</a></p> +<p><a name="Denghil_Tepe"></a>Denghil Tepe, Battle of, <a href= +"#page420">420-23</a>, <a href="#page500">500</a></p> +<p>Denmark, <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href="#page005">5</a>, +<a href="#page013">13-16</a>, <a href="#page035">35</a></p> +<p>Depretis, Signor, <a href="#page329">329</a>, <a href= +"#page335">335-6</a>, <a href="#page355">355</a></p> +<p>Derby, Lord, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href= +"#page176">176</a>, <a href="#page178">178</a>, <a href= +"#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href= +"#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page231">231</a>, <a href= +"#page243">243</a>, <a href="#page440">440</a>, <a href= +"#page524">524</a>, <a href="#page530">530</a></p> +<p>De Wet, General, <a href="#page598">598</a>, <a href= +"#page635">635</a></p> +<p>Dhanis, Commandant, <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>Dilke, Sir Charles, <a href="#page465">465</a>, <a href= +"#page563">563</a></p> +<p>Dillon, Dr., <a href="#page639">639</a></p> +<p>Disraeli. <i>See</i> <a href= +"#Beaconsfield">Beaconsfield</a></p> +<p>Dobrudscha, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page229">229-30</a>, <a href= +"#page240">240</a></p> +<p>Dodds, Colonel, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Dolgorukoff, General, <a href="#page280">280-81</a></p> +<p>Dongola, <a href="#page474">474</a>, <a href="#page476">476</a>, +<a href="#page479">479</a>, <a href="#page488">488</a>, <a href= +"#page489">489</a></p> +<p>Dost Mohammed, <a href="#page368">368</a>, <a href= +"#page379">379</a></p> +<p>Dragomiroff, General, <a href="#page197">197</a></p> +<p>Dreyfus, M., <a href="#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Drouyn de Lhuys, <a href="#page020">20</a></p> +<p>Drury Lowe, General Sir, <a href="#page454">454-6</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page654" id="page654"></a>[pg +654]</span> +<p><a name="Dual_Alliance"></a>Dual Alliance, <a href= +"#page342">342-50</a>, <a href="#page587">587-8</a>, <a href= +"#page590">590</a>, <a href="#page599">599</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a>, <a href="#page616">616</a>, <a href= +"#page644">644</a></p> +<p>Dual Control, the (in Egypt), <a href="#page442">442</a>, +<a href="#page443">443</a>, <a href="#page445">445</a>, <a href= +"#page457">457</a></p> +<p>Ducrot, General, <a href="#page080">80</a>, <a href= +"#page081">81</a>, <a href="#page083">83</a></p> +<p>Dufaure, M., <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href= +"#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a></p> +<p>Dufferin, Lord, <a href="#page326">326</a>, <a href= +"#page424">424</a>, <a href="#page426">426-8</a>, <a href= +"#page429">429</a>, <a href="#page458">458</a>, <a href= +"#page461">461-2</a></p> +<p>Dulcigno, <a href="#page246">246-7</a></p> +<p>Durand, Sir Mortimer, <a href="#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Durbar at Delhi (1878), <a href="#page383">383</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>East Africa (British), <a href="#page520">520-21</a>, <a href= +"#page523">523</a></p> +<p class="i1">(German), <a href="#page520">520-23</a></p> +<p>East Africa Company (British), <a href="#page519">519-22</a></p> +<p>Eastern Question, the, <a href="#page155">155-189</a>, <a href= +"#page222">222-250</a>, <a href="#page383">383</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615</a>, <a href="#page636">636-7</a></p> +<p>Eastern Roumelia, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>, <a href= +"#page260">260</a>, <a href="#page263">263-4</a>, <a href= +"#page268">268</a>, <a href="#page275">275-6</a>, <a href= +"#page333">333</a></p> +<p>Eckardstein, Herr, <a href="#page527">527</a></p> +<p>Edward VII., <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page608">608</a>, <a href="#page618">618-9</a></p> +<p>Egypt, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, +<a href="#page266">266</a>, <a href="#page275">275</a>, <a href= +"#page602">602</a>, <a href="#page636">636-7</a>, <i>passim</i> +chaps. <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">xv</a>. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Einwold, Herr, <a href="#page527">527</a></p> +<p>Elgin, Lord, <a href="#page368">368</a></p> +<p>Elliott, Sir Henry, <a href="#page176">176</a>, <a href= +"#page177">177</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a></p> +<p>El Obeid, Battle of, <a href="#page461">461</a>, <a href= +"#page462">462</a></p> +<p>El Teb, Battle of, <a href="#page470">470</a></p> +<p>Ems, <a href="#page042">42-5</a></p> +<p>Ena, Queen of Spain, <a href="#page619">619</a></p> +<p>England. <i>See</i> <a href="#Great_Britain">Great +Britain</a></p> +<p>Enver Bey, <a href="#page630">630</a></p> +<p>Epirus, <a href="#page241">241</a>, <a href= +"#page248">248</a></p> +<p>Erzeroum, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page241">241</a></p> +<p>Eugénie, Empress, <a href="#page019">19</a>, <a href= +"#page029">29</a>, <a href="#page038">38</a>, <a href= +"#page047">47</a>, <a href="#page075">75</a>, <a href= +"#page087">87</a>, <a href="#page097">97</a>, <a href= +"#page139">139</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Faidherbe, M. <a href="#page538">538</a></p> +<p>Fashoda, <a href="#page349">349</a>, <a href= +"#page501">501-6</a>, <a href="#page594">594</a></p> +<p>Faure, President, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href= +"#page346">346</a></p> +<p>Favre, M. Jules, <a href="#page087">87</a>, <a href= +"#page088">88</a>, <a href="#page094">94</a>, <a href= +"#page098">98</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href= +"#page114">114</a></p> +<p>Ferdinand, Prince, <a href="#page285">285-6</a></p> +<p>Ferdinand, Tsar, of Bulgaria, <a href="#page612">612</a>, +<a href="#page631">631</a></p> +<p>Fergusson, Sir James, <a href="#page336">336</a></p> +<p>Ferry, M., <a href="#page266">266</a>, <a href= +"#page329">329</a></p> +<p>Finland, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href= +"#page307">307-14</a></p> +<p>Flegel, Herr, <a href="#page535">535</a></p> +<p>Floquet, M., <a href="#page126">126</a></p> +<p>Flourens, M., <a href="#page343">343</a></p> +<p>Forbach, Battle of, <a href="#page062">62</a>, <a href= +"#page063">63</a></p> +<p>Formosa, Island of, <a href="#page577">577</a></p> +<p>Fox Bourne, Mr., <a href="#page563">563</a></p> +<p>France, <a href="#page003">3-6</a>, <a href="#page009">9</a>, +<a href="#page019">19</a>, <a href="#page020">20</a>, <a href= +"#page025">25-9</a>, <a href="#page032">32</a>, <a href= +"#page033">33</a>, <a href="#page035">35</a>, <a href= +"#page046">46-9</a>, <a href="#page052">52-6</a>, <a href= +"#page087">87-9</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href= +"#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page320">320-24</a>, <a href= +"#page326">326</a>, <a href="#page333">333-6</a>, <a href= +"#page337">337-8</a>, <a href="#page341">341-5</a>, <a href= +"#page347">347-9</a>, <a href="#page350">350</a>, <a href= +"#page437">437-8</a>, <a href="#page442">442</a>, <a href= +"#page446">446</a>, <a href="#page448">448</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452-3</a>, <a href="#page457">457</a>, <a href= +"#page458">458-9</a>, <a href="#page485">485</a>, <a href= +"#page513">513-514</a>, <a href="#page529">529</a>, <a href= +"#page535">535</a>, <a href="#page537">537-41</a>, <a href= +"#page546">546-9</a>, <a href="#page558">558</a>, <a href= +"#page559">559</a>, <a href="#page577">577-9</a>, <a href= +"#page585">585-6</a>, <a href="#page591">591</a>, <a href= +"#page593">593-4</a>, <a href="#page597">597</a>, <a href= +"#page599">599-608</a>, <a href="#page614">614-6</a>, <a href= +"#page618">618</a>, <a href="#page620">620-2</a>, <a href= +"#page624">624</a>, <a href="#page626">626</a>, <a href= +"#page638">638</a>, <a href="#page641">641-8</a></p> +<p class="i1">and Morocco, <a href="#page602">602</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604-7</a>, <a href="#page609">609-10</a>, <a href= +"#page620">620</a> <i>seq</i>., <a href="#page636">636-7</a></p> +<p class="i1">Army of, <a href="#page634">634-5</a></p> +<p>France and the Sudan, <a href="#page501">501-6</a></p> +<p>France and Tunis, <a href="#page328">328-30</a></p> +<p>Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, <a href="#page613">613-4</a>, +<a href="#page639">639</a></p> +<p>Francis Joseph, <a href="#page006">6</a>, <a href= +"#page032">32</a>, <a href="#page036">36</a>, <a href= +"#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page613">613</a></p> +<p>Franco-German War, causes of, <a href="#page036">36-49</a></p> +<p>Franco-Italian Entente, <a href="#page601">601</a></p> +<p>Franco-Russian Alliance. (<i>See</i> <a href= +"#Dual_Alliance">Dual Alliance</a>)</p> +<p>Frankfurt, Treaty of, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href= +"#page114">114</a></p> +<p>Frankfurt-on-Main, <a href="#page011">11</a>, <a href= +"#page012">12</a>, <a href="#page021">21</a>, <a href= +"#page022">22</a></p> +<p>Frederick the Great, <a href="#page594">594</a>, <a href= +"#page635">635</a>, <a href="#page638">638</a>, <a href= +"#page646">646</a></p> +<p>Frederick III., Crown Prince of Germany and Emperor, <a href= +"#page018">18</a>, <a href="#page074">74</a>, <a href= +"#page076">76</a>, <a href="#page080">80</a>, <a href= +"#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a>, <a href= +"#page151">151</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a></p> +<p>Frederick VII., <a href="#page014">14</a></p> +<p>Frederick Charles, Prince, <a href="#page066">66</a>, <a href= +"#page068">68</a></p> +<p>Frederick William IV., <a href="#page011">11-13</a>, <a href= +"#page031">31</a>, <a href="#page593">593</a></p> +<p>Free Trade (in Germany), <a href="#page141">141-3</a></p> +<p class="i1">(in France), <a href="#page142">142</a></p> +<p>French Congoland, <a href="#page506">506</a>, <a href= +"#page546">546</a>, <a href="#page622">622</a>, <a href= +"#page625">625</a></p> +<p>French Revolution of 1830, <a href="#page005">5</a></p> +<p>Frere, Sir Bartle, <a href="#page380">380-81</a>, <a href= +"#page524">524</a></p> +<p>Freycinet, M. de, <a href="#page446">446</a>, <a href= +"#page447">447</a>, <a href="#page452">452</a>, <a href= +"#page456">456</a>, <a href="#page502">502</a>, <a href= +"#page503">503</a></p> +<p>Frobenius, Herr, <a href="#page638">638</a></p> +<p>Frossard, General, <a href="#page063">63-5</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Galatz, <a href="#page197">197</a></p> +<p>Galbraith, Colonel, <a href="#page411">411</a></p> +<p>Gallieni, M., <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Gallipoli, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href= +"#page226">226</a></p> +<p>Gambetta, M., <a href="#page087">87</a>, <a href= +"#page096">96-101</a>, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href= +"#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a>, <a href= +"#page330">330</a>, <a href="#page446">446</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452</a>, <a href="#page538">538</a></p> +<p>Gandamak, Treaty of, <a href="#page400">400</a>, <a href= +"#page418">418</a></p> +<p>Garde Mobile, the, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href= +"#page094">94</a></p> +<p>Garde Nationale, the, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href= +"#page094">94</a></p> +<p>Garibaldi, <a href="#page006">6</a>, <a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page009">9-11</a>, <a href="#page028">28</a>, <a href= +"#page090">90-91</a>, <a href="#page327">327</a></p> +<p>Gastein, Convention of, <a href="#page016">16</a></p> +<p>Gatacre, General, <a href="#page490">490</a>, <a href= +"#page492">492</a></p> +<p>Gavril, Pasha, <a href="#page263">263</a></p> +<p>Geok Tepe. <i>See</i> <a href="#Denghil_Tepe">Denghil +Tepe</a></p> +<p>George V., King of England, <a href="#page645">645</a></p> +<p>George, David Lloyd, <a href="#page623">623</a>, <a href= +"#page625">625</a></p> +<p>German Army, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href= +"#page633">633-4</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page655" id="page655"></a>[pg +655]</span> +<p>German Army, Kriegsgefahr, <a href="#page643">643</a></p> +<p class="i1">Confederation (1815-66), <a href= +"#page004">4-22</a></p> +<p class="i1">Constitution (1871), <a href="#page132">132-7</a></p> +<p class="i1">Empire, <a href="#page129">129</a>. <i>See</i> +<a href="#Germany">Germany</a></p> +<p class="i1">Navy, <a href="#page587">587-9</a>, <a href= +"#page594">594</a>, <a href="#page609">609</a>, <a href= +"#page617">617</a>, <a href="#page628">628</a>, <a href= +"#page633">633</a>, <a href="#page638">638</a></p> +<p class="i1">Zollverein, the, <a href="#page141">141-2</a></p> +<p><a name="Germany"></a>Germany, <a href="#page003">3-6</a>, +<a href="#page011">11-18</a>, <a href="#page020">20-23</a>, +<a href="#page027">27</a>, <a href="#page034">34</a>, <a href= +"#page039">39</a>, <a href="#page045">45-9</a>, <a href= +"#page051">51-5</a>, <a href="#page129">129-154</a>, <a href= +"#page164">164-6</a>, <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page275">275</a>, <a href= +"#page277">277</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318-27</a>, <a href="#page329">329</a>, <a href= +"#page330">330</a>, <a href="#page337">337-9</a>, <a href= +"#page350">350</a>, <a href="#page447">447-8</a>, <a href= +"#page453">453</a>, <a href="#page457">457</a>, <a href= +"#page472">472</a>, <a href="#page485">485</a>, <a href= +"#page513">513-18</a>, <a href="#page520">520-22</a>, <a href= +"#page524">524-30</a>, <a href="#page533">533-7</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a>, <a href="#page547">547</a>, <a href= +"#page559">559</a>, <a href="#page577">577-9</a>, <a href= +"#page581">581</a>, <a href="#page585">585-9</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592</a>, <a href="#page595">595-7</a>, <a href= +"#page600">600-609</a>, <a href="#page615">615-18</a>, <a href= +"#page620">620-21</a>, <a href="#page623">623-8</a>, <a href= +"#page632">632</a>, <a href="#page634">634</a>, <a href= +"#page635">635-8</a>, <a href="#page640">640-49</a></p> +<p>Gervais, Admiral, <a href="#page343">343</a></p> +<p>Ghaznee, Battle of, <a href="#page405">405</a></p> +<p>Giers, M. de, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href= +"#page263">263</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276</a>, <a href="#page281">281</a>, <a href= +"#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a>, <a href="#page333">333-5</a>, <a href= +"#page337">337</a>, <a href="#page424">424</a>, <a href= +"#page427">427</a>, <a href="#page515">515</a></p> +<p>Gladstone, Mr., <a href="#page029">29</a>, <a href= +"#page046">46</a>, <a href="#page172">172</a>, <a href= +"#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href= +"#page275">275</a>, <a href="#page356">356</a>, <a href= +"#page371">371</a>, <a href="#page372">372</a>, <a href= +"#page376">376</a>, <a href="#page380">380</a>, <a href= +"#page392">392</a>, <a href="#page405">405</a>, <a href= +"#page417">417</a>, <a href="#page427">427-9</a>, <a href= +"#page446">446</a>, <a href="#page448">448-9</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452</a>, <a href="#page458">458</a>, <a href= +"#page461">461</a>, <a href="#page465">465</a>, <a href= +"#page484">484-5</a>, <a href="#page502">502</a>, <a href= +"#page517">517</a>, <a href="#page524">524</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a>, <a href="#page530">530</a>, <a href= +"#page531">531</a></p> +<p>Glave, Mr., <a href="#page562">562</a></p> +<p>Gold Coast, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Goldie, Sir George T., <a href="#page535">535</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Gontaut-Biron, M. de, <a href="#page421">421</a></p> +<p>Gordon, General, <i>passim</i> chaps. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Gortchakoff, Prince, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page168">168</a>, <a href="#page190">190</a>, <a href= +"#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href= +"#page320">320</a>, <a href="#page322">322-3</a>, <a href= +"#page366">366</a></p> +<p>Goschen, Lord, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page442">442</a></p> +<p>Goschen, Sir Edward, <a href="#page641">641-2</a></p> +<p>Gough, General, <a href="#page404">404</a></p> +<p>Gramont, Duc de, <a href="#page032">32</a>, <a href= +"#page040">40</a>, <a href="#page042">42</a>, <a href= +"#page043">43</a>, <a href="#page047">47</a></p> +<p>Grant Duff, Sir Mountstuart, <a href="#page322">322</a></p> +<p>Granville, Earl, <a href="#page045">45</a>, <a href= +"#page389">389</a>, <a href="#page425">425-6</a>, <a href= +"#page447">447</a>, <a href="#page463">463</a>, <a href= +"#page465">465</a>, <a href="#page470">470</a>, <a href= +"#page473">473-4</a>, <a href="#page517">517</a>, <a href= +"#page523">523</a>, <a href="#page533">533</a>, <a href= +"#page547">547</a></p> +<p><a name="Gravelotte"></a>Gravelotte, Battle of, <a href= +"#page068">68-73</a></p> +<p><a name="Great_Britain"></a>Great Britain, <a href= +"#page014">14</a>, <a href="#page029">29</a>, <a href= +"#page030">30</a>, <a href="#page052">52</a>, <a href= +"#page095">95</a>, <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href= +"#page147">147-9</a>, <a href="#page160">160-61</a>, <a href= +"#page168">168-77</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href= +"#page187">187-8</a>, <a href="#page190">190</a>, <a href= +"#page231">231</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>, <a href= +"#page266">266</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page322">322-4</a>, <a href= +"#page328">328</a>, <a href="#page336">336</a>, <a href= +"#page337">337</a>, <a href="#page342">342</a>, <a href= +"#page364">364-6</a>, <a href="#page372">372-4</a>, <a href= +"#page382">382-4</a>, <a href="#page392">392-4</a>, <a href= +"#page400">400</a>, <a href="#page404">404-6</a>, <a href= +"#page417">417</a>, <a href="#page435">435</a>, <a href= +"#page513">513-14</a>, <a href="#page521">521</a>, <a href= +"#page523">523-30</a>, <a href="#page533">533-7</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a>, <a href="#page547">547</a>, <a href= +"#page578">578-9</a>, <a href="#page581">581-2</a>, <a href= +"#page585">585-7</a>, <a href="#page600">600</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604-9</a>, <a href="#page616">616</a>, <a href= +"#page618">618</a>, <a href="#page620">620</a>, <a href= +"#page622">622-3</a>, <a href="#page626">626-8</a>, <a href= +"#page636">636-9</a>, <a href="#page641">641-8</a></p> +<p class="i1">Army of, <a href="#page634">634</a></p> +<p>Great Britain and Egypt, <i>passim</i> chaps. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XV">xv</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Great Britain and Russia (1878), <a href= +"#page222">222-8</a></p> +<p>Greco-Turkish War, <a href="#page585">585</a></p> +<p>Greece, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href="#page158">158</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page227">227</a>, <a href="#page240">240-41</a>, <a href= +"#page245">245-8</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href= +"#page267">267</a></p> +<p>Grenfell, Rev. G., <a href="#page546">546</a></p> +<p>Grévy, M., <a href="#page337">337</a>, <a href= +"#page355">355</a></p> +<p>Grey, Sir Edward, <a href="#page503">503</a>, <a href= +"#page586">586</a>, <a href="#page623">623</a>, <a href= +"#page626">626</a>, <a href="#page631">631</a>, <a href= +"#page634">634</a>, <a href="#page641">641-7</a></p> +<p>Griffin, Sir Lepel, <a href="#page405">405-6</a></p> +<p>Gurko, General, <a href="#page201">201-3</a>, <a href= +"#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page219">219</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Habibulla, Ameer of Afghanistan, <a href="#page431">431</a>, +<a href="#page435">435</a></p> +<p>Hague Conference, <a href="#page608">608</a></p> +<p class="i1">Congress, the (1899), <a href="#page583">583</a></p> +<p class="i1">Tribunal, <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page649">649</a></p> +<p>Haldane, Lord, <a href="#page627">627</a>, <a href= +"#page639">639</a>, <a href="#page647">647</a></p> +<p>Hamburg, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Hanotaux, M., <a href="#page504">504</a></p> +<p>Hanover, <a href="#page011">11</a>, <a href="#page021">21</a>, +<a href="#page023">23</a></p> +<p>Hartington, Lord, <a href="#page417">417</a>, <a href= +"#page465">465</a>, <a href="#page476">476</a></p> +<p>Hayashi, Count, <a href="#page596">596</a></p> +<p>Heligoland, <a href="#page521">521</a>, <a href= +"#page637">637</a></p> +<p>Herat, <a href="#page367">367</a>, <a href="#page368">368</a>, +<a href="#page381">381</a>, <a href="#page387">387</a>, <a href= +"#page388">388</a>, <a href="#page405">405</a>, <a href= +"#page425">425</a></p> +<p>Héricourt, Battle of, <a href="#page098">98</a></p> +<p>Herzegovina, <a href="#page163">163-5</a>, <a href= +"#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a></p> +<p>Hesse-Cassel, <a href="#page012">12</a>, <a href= +"#page021">21</a>, <a href="#page023">23</a></p> +<p>Hesse Darmstadt, <a href="#page020">20</a></p> +<p>Heydebrand, Herr, <a href="#page625">625</a></p> +<p>Hicks, Pasha, <a href="#page461">461-2</a></p> +<p>Hinde, Captain S.L., <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>Hinterland, Question of the, <a href="#page547">547</a>, +<a href="#page550">550</a></p> +<p>Hohenlohe, Prince, <a href="#page589">589</a></p> +<p>Hohenzollern, House of, <a href="#page011">11</a>, <a href= +"#page039">39-41</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>;</p> +<p class="i1">also <i>see</i> <a href="#Germany">Germany</a></p> +<p>Holland, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href="#page554">554-5</a>, +<a href="#page641">641-2</a></p> +<p>Holstein, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href= +"#page026">26</a></p> +<p>Holy Alliance, the, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href= +"#page319">319</a></p> +<p>Holy Roman Empire, the, <a href="#page136">136</a></p> +<p>Hornby, Admiral, <a href="#page224">224</a></p> +<p>Hoskier, M., <a href="#page340">340</a></p> +<p>Hudson, Sir James, <a href="#page274">274</a></p> +<p>Hungary, <a href="#page032">32</a>, <a href="#page036">36</a>, +<a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href= +"#page277">277</a></p> +<p>Hunter, General, <a href="#page487">487</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Iddesleigh, Lord, <a href="#page519">519</a></p> +<p>Ignatieff, General, <a href="#page174">174</a>, <a href= +"#page177">177</a>, <a href="#page181">181</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229</a>, <a href="#page230">230</a>, <a href= +"#page232">232</a>, <a href="#page332">332</a></p> +<p>India, <a href="#page165">165</a>, <a href="#page212">212</a>, +<a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href="#page368">368</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592</a></p> +<p>"International Association of the Congo," <a href= +"#page545">545</a>, <a href="#page547">547-9</a></p> +<p>"Internationale," the, <a href="#page292">292</a></p> +<p>Isabella, Queen, <a href="#page040">40</a></p> +<p>Ismail, Khedive, <a href="#page438">438-40</a>, <a href= +"#page442">442</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page656" id="page656"></a>[pg +656]</span> +<p>Istria, <a href="#page329">329</a></p> +<p>Isvolsky, M., <a href="#page615">615</a></p> +<p>"<i>Italia irredenta</i>," <a href="#page329">329</a></p> +<p>Italo-Turkish War, the, <a href="#page624">624</a>, <a href= +"#page628">628</a></p> +<p>Italy, <a href="#page004">4-11</a>, <a href= +"#page016">16-23</a>, <a href="#page028">28</a>, <a href= +"#page030">30</a>, <a href="#page034">34</a>, <a href= +"#page037">37</a>, <a href="#page038">38</a>, <a href= +"#page055">55</a>, <a href="#page056">56</a>, <a href= +"#page063">63</a>, <a href="#page089">89-92</a>, <a href= +"#page148">148</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href= +"#page266">266</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href= +"#page319">319</a>, <a href="#page335">335</a>, <a href= +"#page350">350</a>, <a href="#page453">453</a>, <a href= +"#page485">485</a>, <a href="#page487">487</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a>, <a href="#page541">541</a>, <a href= +"#page567">567</a>, <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page603">603-5</a>, <a href="#page607">607</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615-17</a>, <a href="#page624">624</a>, <a href= +"#page628">628</a>, <a href="#page631">631</a>, <a href= +"#page636">636</a>, <a href="#page643">643</a>, <a href= +"#page646">646-7</a>, <a href="#page649">649</a></p> +<p>Italy and the Triple Alliance, <a href="#page327">327-331</a>, +<a href="#page600">600</a>, <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615</a>, <a href="#page624">624</a>, <a href= +"#page637">637</a>, <a href="#page647">647</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Jacob, General, <a href="#page385">385</a></p> +<p>Jacobabad, Treaty of, <a href="#page385">385</a></p> +<p>Jagow, Herr von, <a href="#page645">645</a></p> +<p>Jameson, Dr. <a href="#page587">587</a></p> +<p>Janssen, M., <a href="#page552">552</a></p> +<p>Japan, <a href="#page348">348</a>, <a href="#page572">572-4</a>, +<a href="#page576">576-8</a>, <a href="#page581">581-4</a>, +<a href="#page585">585</a>, <a href="#page597">597-9</a></p> +<p>Jaurés, M., <a href="#page634">634</a></p> +<p>Jermak, <a href="#page361">361</a>, <a href="#page569">569</a>, +<a href="#page570">570</a></p> +<p>Jesuits, the, <a href="#page138">138</a></p> +<p>Jews, persecution of the, <a href="#page304">304</a>, <a href= +"#page305">305</a></p> +<p>Johnstone, Sir Harry, <a href="#page519">519</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Kamchatka, <a href="#page570">570</a>, <a href= +"#page571">571</a></p> +<p>Karaveloff, M., <a href="#page256">256</a>, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>, <a href="#page280">280</a></p> +<p>Kars, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page234">234</a></p> +<p>Kassala, <a href="#page487">487</a>, <a href="#page488">488</a>, +<a href="#page491">491</a></p> +<p>Katkoff, M., <a href="#page259">259</a>, <a href= +"#page283">283</a>, <a href="#page324">324</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a>, <a href="#page333">333</a>, <a href= +"#page334">334</a>, <a href="#page337">337</a></p> +<p>Kaufmann, General, <a href="#page366">366</a>, <a href= +"#page383">383</a>, <a href="#page398">398</a></p> +<p>Kaulbars, General, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257-8</a>, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284</a></p> +<p>Khalifa, <i>passim</i> chap. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Khama, <a href="#page533">533</a></p> +<p>Khartum, <a href="#page437">437</a>, <a href="#page439">439</a>, +<a href="#page445">445</a>, <i>passim</i> chaps. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Khelat, Khan of, <a href="#page384">384-5</a></p> +<p>Khiva, <a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href="#page374">374</a>, +<a href="#page377">377</a></p> +<p>Khokand, <a href="#page383">383</a></p> +<p>Khyber Pass, <a href="#page386">386</a>, <a href= +"#page390">390</a>, <a href="#page394">394</a>, <a href= +"#page401">401</a>, <a href="#page412">412</a></p> +<p>Kiamil Pacha, <a href="#page630">630</a></p> +<p>Kiao-chau, <a href="#page580">580-81</a></p> +<p>Kiderlen-Wächter, Herr, <a href="#page621">621-2</a></p> +<p>Kiel, North Sea Canal, <a href="#page587">587</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604</a>, <a href="#page637">637-8</a></p> +<p>Kirk, Sir John, <a href="#page518">518</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Kitchener, Lord, <a href="#page441">441</a>, <a href= +"#page479">479</a>, <a href="#page598">598</a>, <i>passim</i> chap. +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Komaroff, General, <a href="#page427">427</a>, <a href= +"#page428">428</a></p> +<p>Königgrätz, Battle of, <a href= +"#page018">18-20</a></p> +<p>Kordofan, <a href="#page461">461</a>, <a href= +"#page462">462</a>, <a href="#page470">470</a>, <a href= +"#page476">476</a></p> +<p>Korea, <a href="#page568">568</a></p> +<p>Korsakoff, General, <a href="#page254">254</a></p> +<p>Kossuth, <a href="#page006">6</a></p> +<p>Krüdener, General, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page206">206-7</a></p> +<p>Krüger, President, <a href="#page586">586-7</a></p> +<p>Kultur-Kampf, the, <a href="#page139">139-41</a></p> +<p>Kuropatkin, General, <a href="#page311">311-12</a>, <a href= +"#page314">314</a>, <a href="#page422">422-3</a></p> +<p>Kurram Valley, the, <a href="#page394">394-7</a>, <a href= +"#page400">400</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Labouchere, Mr., <a href="#page336">336</a></p> +<p>Lado, <a href="#page502">502</a>, <a href= +"#page558">558-9</a></p> +<p>Lagos, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Lamsdorff, Count, <a href="#page575">575</a></p> +<p>Lansdowne, Lord, <a href="#page433">433</a>, <a href= +"#page567">567</a>, <a href="#page597">597</a>, <a href= +"#page602">602</a>, <a href="#page606">606</a></p> +<p>Lavigerie, Cardinal, <a href="#page534">534</a></p> +<p>Lawrence, Lord J., <a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href= +"#page368">368-9</a>, <a href="#page371">371</a>, <a href= +"#page385">385</a>, <a href="#page387">387</a></p> +<p>Layard, Sir Henry, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href= +"#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a></p> +<p>Leboeuf, Marshall, <a href="#page047">47</a>, <a href= +"#page053">53</a>, <a href="#page064">64</a>, <a href= +"#page065">65</a></p> +<p>Lebrun, General, <a href="#page034">34-6</a>, <a href= +"#page065">65</a></p> +<p>Leflô, General, <a href="#page322">322</a></p> +<p>Le Mans, Battle of, <a href="#page098">98</a></p> +<p>Leo XIII., <a href="#page327">327</a>, <a href= +"#page331">331</a>, <a href="#page335">335</a></p> +<p>Leopold II. (King of the Belgians), <a href="#page342">342</a>, +<a href="#page465">465</a>, <a href="#page509">509</a>, <a href= +"#page514">514</a>, <a href="#page543">543</a>, <a href= +"#page550">550-52</a>, <a href="#page555">555-7</a>, <a href= +"#page558">558</a>, <a href="#page565">565</a></p> +<p>Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, <a href="#page040">40</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a></p> +<p>Lessar, M., <a href="#page424">424</a></p> +<p>Lesseps, M. de, <a href="#page438">438</a>, <a href= +"#page441">441</a></p> +<p>Lewis, General, <a href="#page487">487</a></p> +<p>Liaotung Peninsula, <a href="#page577">577</a>, <a href= +"#page578">578</a>, <a href="#page581">581-2</a></p> +<p>Liberation, Wars of (1813-14), <a href="#page635">635</a></p> +<p>Li-Hung Chang, <a href="#page577">577</a>, <a href= +"#page578">578</a>, <a href="#page582">582</a></p> +<p>Lissa, Battle of, <a href="#page017">17</a></p> +<p>Livingstone, D., <a href="#page508">508-9</a>, <a href= +"#page543">543-4</a>, <a href="#page567">567</a></p> +<p>Lobánoff, Prince, <a href="#page575">575</a></p> +<p>Local Government (French), <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href= +"#page120">120</a></p> +<p>Lomakin, General, <a href="#page420">420</a></p> +<p>Lombardy, <a href="#page005">5-11</a>, <a href= +"#page032">32</a></p> +<p>London, Conference of (1867), <a href="#page015">15</a>, +<a href="#page028">28</a></p> +<p class="i1">Congress of (1871), <a href="#page095">95</a></p> +<p>London, Peace Conference at (1913), <a href= +"#page630">630-31</a>, <a href="#page634">634</a></p> +<p>Lorraine, <a href="#page094">94</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, +<a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page133">133-4</a></p> +<p>Lothaire, Commandant, <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>Loubet, M., <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href= +"#page601">601</a></p> +<p>Louis Philippe, King, <a href="#page006">6</a></p> +<p>Lovtcha, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href= +"#page212">212</a></p> +<p>Lübeck, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Lüderitz, Herr, <a href="#page523">523</a></p> +<p>Lugard, Sir Frederick, <a href="#page522">522</a>, <a href= +"#page537">537</a>, <a href="#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Lumsden, Sir Peter, <a href="#page426">426</a></p> +<p>Luxemburg, <a href="#page027">27</a>, <a href="#page028">28</a>, +<a href="#page032">32</a>, <a href="#page039">39</a></p> +<p>Lyttleton, Colonel, <a href="#page492">492</a></p> +<p>Lytton, Lord, <a href="#page481">481-7</a>, <a href= +"#page490">490-92</a>, <a href="#page405">405-6</a>, <a href= +"#page417">417</a>, <a href="#page419">419</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page657" id= +"page657"></a>[pg 657]</span> +<p>Macdonald, General, <a href="#page402">402</a>, <a href= +"#page487">487</a>, <a href="#page491">491</a>, <a href= +"#page496">496-8</a></p> +<p>Macdonald, Ramsay, <a href="#page646">646</a></p> +<p>Macedonia, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href= +"#page230">230</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href= +"#page250">250</a>, <a href="#page287">287-8</a>, <a href= +"#page391">391</a></p> +<p>Mackenzie, Rev. John, <a href="#page530">530-31</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Mackinnon, Sir William, <a href="#page516">516</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Maclaine, Lieutenant, <a href="#page408">408</a>, <a href= +"#page415">415</a></p> +<p>MacMahon, Marshall, <a href="#page059">59-61</a>, <a href= +"#page074">74-80</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page125">125-7</a>, <a href="#page322">322</a>, <a href= +"#page525">525-6</a></p> +<p>Mahdi, the, <a href="#page266">266</a>; chaps. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>. +<i>passim</i></p> +<p>Maiwand, Battle of, <a href="#page407">407-11</a></p> +<p>Malet, Sir Edward, <a href="#page548">548</a></p> +<p>Malmesbury, Lord, <a href="#page047">47</a></p> +<p>Manchuria, <a href="#page345">345-6</a>, <a href= +"#page349">349</a>, <a href="#page568">568</a>, <a href= +"#page578">578</a>, <a href="#page580">580</a>, <a href= +"#page584">584</a></p> +<p>Mancíní, Sígnor, <a href= +"#page355">355</a></p> +<p>Manin, <a href="#page007">7</a></p> +<p>Marchand, Colonel, <a href="#page501">501-6</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a></p> +<p>Maritz, General, <a href="#page635">635</a></p> +<p>Marschall, Baron von, <a href="#page605">605</a></p> +<p>Mars-la-Tour, Battle of, <a href="#page067">67-70</a></p> +<p>Maxwell, General, <a href="#page487">487</a>, <a href= +"#page491">491</a>, <a href="#page497">497</a></p> +<p>"May Laws," the, <a href="#page139">139-41</a>, <a href= +"#page319">319</a></p> +<p>Mayo, Lord, <a href="#page372">372-3</a></p> +<p>Mazzini, <a href="#page006">6</a>, <a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page091">91</a>, <a href="#page092">92</a>, <a href= +"#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page327">327</a></p> +<p>Mecklenburg, <a href="#page017">17</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Mehemet Ali, Pasha, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page209">209</a>, <a href="#page215">215-16</a></p> +<p>Melikoff, General Loris, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page296">296-8</a></p> +<p>Méline, M., <a href="#page504">504</a></p> +<p>Mentana, Battle of, <a href="#page028">28</a>, <a href= +"#page090">90</a></p> +<p>Mercantile System, the, <a href="#page150">150</a></p> +<p>Merriman, Mr., <a href="#page586">586</a></p> +<p>Merv, <a href="#page345">345</a>, <a href="#page374">374</a>, +<a href="#page387">387</a>, <a href="#page388">388</a>, <a href= +"#page423">423-5</a>, <a href="#page431">431</a>, <a href= +"#page518">518</a></p> +<p>Metternich, Prince, <a href="#page007">7</a>, <a href= +"#page036">36</a></p> +<p>Metz, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href="#page063">63-73</a>, +<a href="#page097">97</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a></p> +<p>Mexico, <a href="#page019">19</a>, <a href="#page026">26</a>, +<a href="#page031">31</a></p> +<p>Midhat, Pasha, <a href="#page178">178-9</a>, <a href= +"#page186">186</a></p> +<p>Milan, King, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href= +"#page263">263</a>, <a href="#page269">269-72</a></p> +<p>Milner, Lord, <a href="#page440">440</a>, <a href= +"#page448">448</a>, <a href="#page598">598</a></p> +<p>Milutin, General, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page215">215</a></p> +<p>Mir, the, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href= +"#page307">307</a></p> +<p>Mohammed Ali, <a href="#page437">437-8</a></p> +<p>Mohammed V., <a href="#page618">618</a></p> +<p>Moltke, Count von, <a href="#page018">18</a>, <a href= +"#page043">43</a>, <a href="#page065">65</a>, <a href= +"#page066">66</a>, <a href="#page078">78</a>, <a href= +"#page085">85</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href= +"#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page193">193</a>, <a href= +"#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page320">320</a></p> +<p>Mombasa, <a href="#page520">520</a>, <a href= +"#page523">523</a></p> +<p>Montenegro, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href= +"#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href= +"#page173">173-4</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href= +"#page194">194</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href= +"#page232">232</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page246">246-7</a>, <a href= +"#page263">263</a></p> +<p>Morier, Sir Robert, <a href="#page187">187</a>, <a href= +"#page273">273</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page428">428</a></p> +<p>Morley, Mr. John, <a href="#page427">427</a></p> +<p>Morocco, <a href="#page602">602</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604-7</a>, <a href="#page609">609-10</a>, <a href= +"#page620">620</a> <i>seq</i>., <a href="#page636">636-7</a></p> +<p>Moslem Creed, the, and Christians, <a href="#page156">156-8</a>, +<a href="#page186">186-7</a></p> +<p>Mukden, <a href="#page598">598</a>, <a href= +"#page606">606</a></p> +<p>Mukhtar, Pasha, <a href="#page208">208</a></p> +<p>Münster, Count, <a href="#page523">523</a></p> +<p>Murad V., <a href="#page169">169</a></p> +<p>Muravieff, Count, <a href="#page571">571-3</a>, <a href= +"#page575">575</a>, <a href="#page589">589</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Nabokoff, Captain, <a href="#page278">278</a></p> +<p>Nachtigall, Dr., <a href="#page533">533-4</a></p> +<p>Napoleon I., <a href="#page002">2-4</a>, <a href= +"#page012">12</a>, <a href="#page013">13</a>, <a href= +"#page015">15-17</a>, <a href="#page023">23</a>, <a href= +"#page025">25</a>, <a href="#page089">89</a>, <a href= +"#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href= +"#page325">325</a>, <a href="#page437">437</a>, <a href= +"#page537">537</a>, <a href="#page593">593</a>, <a href= +"#page608">608</a>, <a href="#page610">610</a></p> +<p>Napoleon III., <a href="#page006">6</a>, <a href= +"#page007">7</a>, <a href="#page009">9-11</a>, <a href= +"#page016">16</a>, <a href="#page017">17</a>, <a href= +"#page019">19</a>, <a href="#page020">20</a>, <a href= +"#page025">25-33</a>, <a href="#page037">37-40</a>, <a href= +"#page046">46-9</a>, <a href="#page052">52</a>, <a href= +"#page063">63-5</a>, <a href="#page075">75-8</a>, <a href= +"#page084">84-6</a>, <a href="#page088">88-9</a>, <a href= +"#page098">98</a>, <a href="#page099">99</a>, <a href= +"#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href= +"#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page538">538</a>, <a href= +"#page599">599</a></p> +<p>Napoleon, Prince Jerome, <a href="#page020">20</a>, <a href= +"#page037">37</a></p> +<p>Natal, <a href="#page527">527</a>, <a href="#page528">528</a>, +<a href="#page529">529</a>, <a href="#page534">534</a></p> +<p>National African Company, the, <a href="#page535">535</a></p> +<p>National Assembly, the French, <a href="#page098">98-108</a>, +<a href="#page115">115-26</a></p> +<p>Nationality, <a href="#page002">2-12</a>, <a href= +"#page023">23</a>, <a href="#page025">25</a>, <a href= +"#page026">26-8</a>, <a href="#page036">36</a>, <a href= +"#page089">89</a>, <a href="#page586">586</a></p> +<p>Nelidoff, Count, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href= +"#page274">274</a>, <a href="#page277">277</a></p> +<p>Nelson, <a href="#page437">437</a>, <a href= +"#page441">441</a></p> +<p>Nesselrode, Count, <a href="#page364">364</a></p> +<p>Netherlands, the, <a href="#page586">586</a></p> +<p>Nice, <a href="#page009">9</a>, <a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page039">39</a></p> +<p>Nicholas, I., <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href= +"#page289">289</a>, <a href="#page292">292</a>, <a href= +"#page304">304</a>, <a href="#page308">308</a>, <a href= +"#page364">364</a></p> +<p>Nicholas II., <a href="#page289">289</a>, <a href= +"#page311">311-14</a>, <a href="#page346">346</a>, <a href= +"#page349">349</a>, <a href="#page506">506</a>, <a href= +"#page575">575</a>, <a href="#page580">580</a>, <a href= +"#page584">584</a>, <a href="#page590">590</a>, <a href= +"#page594">594</a>, <a href="#page598">598</a>. <a href= +"#page610">610</a>, <a href="#page614">614</a>, <a href= +"#page617">617</a>, <a href="#page621">621-2</a>, <a href= +"#page640">640</a>, <a href="#page643">643</a>, <a href= +"#page649">649</a></p> +<p>Nicholas, Grand Duke, <a href="#page192">192-3</a>, <a href= +"#page200">200-2</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href= +"#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page215">215</a>, <a href= +"#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href= +"#page291">291</a>, <a href="#page292">292</a></p> +<p>Nicholas, Prince of Montenegro, <a href="#page263">263</a></p> +<p>Nicopolis, <a href="#page196">196</a>, <a href= +"#page200">200-1</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href= +"#page217">217</a></p> +<p>Niger, river, <a href="#page533">533-40</a>, <a href= +"#page548">548</a></p> +<p>Nigeria, <a href="#page534">534-7</a></p> +<p>Nihilism, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href= +"#page233">233</a>, <a href="#page266">266-7</a>, <a href= +"#page291">291-8</a>, <a href="#page300">300-4</a>, <a href= +"#page327">327</a></p> +<p>Nikolsburg, <a href="#page019">19</a></p> +<p>Northbrook, Lord, <a href="#page373">373-4</a>, <a href= +"#page376">376</a>, <a href="#page379">379</a>, <a href= +"#page381">381</a>, <a href="#page465">465</a></p> +<p>Northcote, Sir Stafford, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <a href= +"#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page243">243</a></p> +<p>North German Confederation, <a href="#page022">22</a>, <a href= +"#page035">35</a>, <a href="#page051">51</a>, <a href= +"#page052">52</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a></p> +<p>Norway, <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href="#page005">5</a></p> +<p>Novi-Bazar, <a href="#page332">332</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page658" id="page658"></a>[pg +658]</span> +<p>Novi-Bazar, Sanjak of, <a href="#page612">612</a></p> +<p>Nuttall, General, <a href="#page411">411</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Obock, <a href="#page504">504</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a></p> +<p>Obretchoff, General, <a href="#page324">324</a>, <a href= +"#page326">326</a></p> +<p>O'Donovan, Mr., <a href="#page424">424</a>, <a href= +"#page462">462</a></p> +<p>Ollivier, M., <a href="#page028">28</a>, <a href= +"#page029">29</a>, <a href="#page034">34</a>, <a href= +"#page041">41</a>, <a href="#page046">46</a>, <a href= +"#page047">47</a>, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href= +"#page065">65</a></p> +<p>Olmütz, Convention of, <a href="#page012">12</a>, <a href= +"#page018">18</a></p> +<p>Omdurman, Battle of, <a href="#page441">441</a>, <a href= +"#page493">493-500</a></p> +<p>Orleans, <a href="#page097">97</a></p> +<p>Osman Digna, <a href="#page470">470</a>, <a href= +"#page486">486</a></p> +<p>Osman Pasha, <a href="#page196">196</a>, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href= +"#page214">214-19</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Palikao, Count, <a href="#page065">65</a>, <a href= +"#page075">75</a>, <a href="#page077">77</a>, <a href= +"#page079">79</a>, <a href="#page087">87</a></p> +<p>Palmerston, Lord, <a href="#page030">30</a>, <a href= +"#page438">438</a>, <a href="#page441">441</a></p> +<p>Pan-German Movement, <a href="#page593">593-4</a>, <a href= +"#page621">621</a></p> +<p>Pan-Islamic Movement, <a href="#page592">592-3</a>, <a href= +"#page608">608</a></p> +<p>Panjdeh, <a href="#page346">346</a>, <a href= +"#page426">426-9</a>, <a href="#page432">432</a></p> +<p>Papal States, the, <a href="#page009">9</a>, <a href= +"#page010">10</a></p> +<p>Paris, <a href="#page087">87</a>, <a href="#page088">88</a>, +<a href="#page095">95</a>, <a href="#page097">97</a>, <a href= +"#page098">98</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href= +"#page107">107-113</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a></p> +<p>Paris Commune, the (1871), <a href="#page106">106-113</a>, +<a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href="#page315">315</a></p> +<p>Paris, Comte de, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href= +"#page122">122</a></p> +<p>Paris, Treaty of (1856), <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href= +"#page176">176</a></p> +<p>Peiwar, Kotal, Battle at, <a href="#page396">396</a></p> +<p>Pekin, Capture of, <a href="#page595">595</a></p> +<p>Persia, <a href="#page367">367</a>, <a href="#page368">368</a>, +<a href="#page374">374</a>, <a href="#page378">378</a>, <a href= +"#page380">380</a>, <a href="#page609">609</a>, <a href= +"#page624">624</a></p> +<p>Persian Gulf, the, <a href="#page592">592</a></p> +<p>Peshawur, <a href="#page394">394</a></p> +<p>Peter, King of Servia, <a href="#page615">615</a></p> +<p>Peters, Dr. Karl, <a href="#page517">517-19</a>, <a href= +"#page522">522</a></p> +<p>Phayre, General, <a href="#page416">416</a></p> +<p>Philippopolis, <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href= +"#page260">260</a>, <a href="#page263">263-4</a>, <a href= +"#page270">270</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>, <a href= +"#page281">281</a></p> +<p>Picard, M., <a href="#page103">103</a></p> +<p>Piedmont, <a href="#page007">7</a></p> +<p>Pishin, <a href="#page400">400</a></p> +<p>Pius IX., <a href="#page006">6</a>, <a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page038">38</a>, <a href="#page089">89-91</a>, <a href= +"#page122">122</a>, <a href="#page138">138-9</a>, <a href= +"#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page327">327</a></p> +<p>Plevna, Battles at, <a href="#page206">206-19</a></p> +<p>Pobyedonosteff, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href= +"#page300">300</a></p> +<p>Poland, <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href="#page005">5</a>, +<a href="#page025">25</a>, <a href="#page026">26</a>, <a href= +"#page031">31</a>, <a href="#page301">301</a></p> +<p>Pondoland, <a href="#page529">529</a></p> +<p>Port Arthur, <a href="#page346">346</a>, <a href= +"#page580">580</a></p> +<p>Porte, the. <i>See</i> <a href="#Turkey">Turkey</a></p> +<p>Portsmouth, Treaty of, <a href="#page598">598</a></p> +<p>Portugal, <a href="#page520">520</a>, <a href= +"#page525">525</a>, <a href="#page526">526</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a>, <a href="#page541">541</a>, <a href= +"#page546">546-9</a></p> +<p>Posen, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> +<p>Primrose, General, <a href="#page407">407</a>, <a href= +"#page411">411</a></p> +<p>Prudhon, <a href="#page292">292-5</a></p> +<p>Prussia (1815-66), <a href="#page004">4-22</a>, <a href= +"#page026">26</a>, <a href="#page051">51-5</a>, <a href= +"#page095">95</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href= +"#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>. <i>See</i> <a href= +"#Germany">Germany</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Quadrilateral, the Turkish, <a href="#page194">194-7</a>, +<a href="#page199">199-200</a></p> +<p>Quetta, <a href="#page381">381</a>, <a href="#page385">385</a>, +<a href="#page398">398</a>, <a href="#page412">412</a>, <a href= +"#page416">416</a>, <a href="#page432">432</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Rabinek, Herr, <a href="#page565">565</a></p> +<p>Rachfahl, Herr, <a href="#page605">605</a></p> +<p>Radetzky, General, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href= +"#page220">220</a></p> +<p>Radowitz, Herr von, <a href="#page321">321</a></p> +<p>Radziwill, Princess, <a href="#page236">236-7</a>, <a href= +"#page291">291</a></p> +<p>Rauf Pasha, <a href="#page460">460-61</a></p> +<p>Rawlinson, Sir Henry, <a href="#page380">380</a></p> +<p>Redcliffe, Lord Stratford de, <a href="#page188">188</a></p> +<p>Redmond, Mr., <a href="#page646">646</a></p> +<p>Reichstag, the German, <a href="#page133">133-4</a>, <a href= +"#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href= +"#page145">145-6</a></p> +<p>Reventlow, Count, <a href="#page587">587</a>, <a href= +"#page595">595</a>, <a href="#page603">603</a>, <a href= +"#page637">637-8</a></p> +<p>Revolutions of 1848, <a href="#page006">6-7</a>, <a href= +"#page011">11-12</a></p> +<p>Rezonville, Battle of, <a href="#page067">67-70</a></p> +<p>Rhodes, Mr. Cecil, <a href="#page530">530-32</a>, <a href= +"#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Rhodesia, <a href="#page532">532</a></p> +<p>Riaz Pasha, <a href="#page445">445</a></p> +<p>Ribot, M., <a href="#page346">346</a></p> +<p>Ripon, Lord, <a href="#page406">406</a>, <a href= +"#page412">412</a>, <a href="#page417">417</a></p> +<p>Roberts, Lord, <a href="#page379">379</a>, <a href= +"#page389">389</a>, <a href="#page392">392-3</a>, <a href= +"#page395">395-8</a>, <a href="#page402">402-4</a>, <a href= +"#page535">535</a></p> +<p>Rohrbach, Herr, <a href="#page637">637</a></p> +<p>Rome, <a href="#page007">7</a>, <a href="#page010">10</a>, +<a href="#page038">38</a>, <a href="#page089">89-92</a>, <a href= +"#page095">95</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a></p> +<p>Roon, Count von, <a href="#page017">17</a>, <a href= +"#page043">43</a></p> +<p>Rosebery, Earl of, <a href="#page275">275</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276</a>, <a href="#page503">503</a>, <a href= +"#page519">519</a>, <a href="#page528">528</a></p> +<p>Roumania, <a href="#page026">26</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a>, +<a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192-3</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href= +"#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229-30</a>, <a href="#page238">238-40</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page260">260-62</a>, <a href= +"#page262">269</a></p> +<p>Roumania, King of, <a href="#page041">41</a></p> +<p>Rouvier, M., <a href="#page607">607</a></p> +<p>Royal Niger Company, the, <a href="#page526">526</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a></p> +<p>Rubber Tax, in Congo State, <a href="#page565">565-7</a></p> +<p>Russell, Lord John, <a href="#page014">14</a>, <a href= +"#page015">15</a></p> +<p>Russell, Lord Odo, <a href="#page322">322</a></p> +<p>Russia, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href="#page009">9</a>, +<a href="#page012">12</a>, <a href="#page013">13</a>, <a href= +"#page026">26</a>, <a href="#page031">31</a>, <a href= +"#page032">32</a>, <a href="#page055">55</a>, <a href= +"#page095">95</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href= +"#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page148">148</a>, <a href= +"#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page164">164-8</a>, <a href= +"#page172">172</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a>, <a href= +"#page190">190-92</a>, <a href="#page231">231</a>, <a href= +"#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href= +"#page289">289</a>, <a href="#page290">290</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a>, <a href="#page322">322-7</a>, <a href= +"#page331">331-5</a>, <a href="#page337">337</a>, <a href= +"#page341">341-5</a>, <a href="#page347">347-9</a>, <a href= +"#page371">371</a>, <a href="#page446">446</a>, <a href= +"#page447">447-8</a>, <a href="#page457">457</a>, <a href= +"#page458">458</a>, <a href="#page472">472</a>, <a href= +"#page485">485</a>, <a href="#page527">527</a>, <a href= +"#page586">586</a>, <a href="#page590">590-91</a>, <a href= +"#page593">593-5</a>, <a href="#page597">597</a>, <a href= +"#page603">603</a>, <a href="#page606">606-8</a>, <a href= +"#page612">612-13</a>, <a href="#page615">615-17</a>, <a href= +"#page621">621</a>, <a href="#page624">624</a>, <a href= +"#page626">626</a>, <a href="#page629">629-31</a>, <a href= +"#page633">633-4</a>, <a href="#page640">640-44</a>, <a href= +"#page647">647-8</a></p> +<p class="i1">and Bulgaria, <a href="#page253">253-88</a></p> +<p class="i1">and Finland, <a href="#page307">307-14</a></p> +<p class="i1">and Japan, <a href="#page585">585</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592</a>, <a href="#page598">598-9</a></p> +<p class="i1">and the Jews, <a href="#page304">304-5</a></p> +<p class="i1">and Turkey, <a href="#page222">222-7</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229-42</a></p> +<p class="i1">army of, <a href="#page635">635</a>, <a href= +"#page638">638</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page659" id="page659"></a>[pg +659]</span> +<p>Russia in Central Asia, <a href="#page359">359-66</a>, <a href= +"#page371">371-4</a>, <a href="#page376">376-80</a>, <a href= +"#page383">383</a>, <a href="#page387">387-91</a>, <a href= +"#page398">398-9</a>, <a href="#page403">403</a>, <a href= +"#page419">419-30</a></p> +<p class="i1">in the Far East, <a href="#page595">595-6</a>, +<a href="#page598">598</a>, <a href="#page614">614</a>, chap. +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">xx</a>. <i>passim</i></p> +<p>Russo-Japanese War, <a href="#page598">598-9</a>, <a href= +"#page602">602</a></p> +<p>Russo-Turkish War, <a href="#page585">585</a></p> +<p>Rustchuk, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href= +"#page265">265</a>, <a href="#page280">280-82</a>, <a href= +"#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page334">334</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Saarbrücken, Battle of, <a href="#page061">61</a>, <a href= +"#page062">62</a></p> +<p>Said, Khedive, <a href="#page438">438</a></p> +<p>St. Hilaire, Barthélémy de, <a href= +"#page328">328</a></p> +<p>St. Lucia Bay, <a href="#page519">519</a>, <a href= +"#page525">525</a>, <a href="#page527">527</a>, <a href= +"#page528">528</a>, <a href="#page534">534</a></p> +<p>St. Privat, Battle of <i>See</i> <a href= +"#Gravelotte">Gravelotte</a></p> +<p>St. Quentin, Battle of, <a href="#page098">98</a></p> +<p>Saladin, <a href="#page591">591</a></p> +<p>Salisbury, Marquis of, <a href="#page176">176-7</a>, <a href= +"#page187">187</a>, <a href="#page232">232-4</a>, <a href= +"#page240">240</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>, <a href= +"#page266">266-9</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a>, <a href= +"#page275">275</a>, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href= +"#page287">287</a>, <a href="#page328">328</a>, <a href= +"#page336">336</a>, <a href="#page380">380-81</a>, <a href= +"#page383">383</a>, <a href="#page387">387</a>, <a href= +"#page428">428</a>, <a href="#page505">505</a>, <a href= +"#page519">519</a>, <a href="#page522">522</a>, <a href= +"#page540">540</a>, <a href="#page554">554</a>, <a href= +"#page581">581</a></p> +<p>Salonica, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229</a></p> +<p>Samarcand, <a href="#page365">365-6</a>, <a href= +"#page371">371</a>, <a href="#page388">388-9</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604</a></p> +<p>Samoa, <a href="#page588">588</a>, <a href= +"#page610">610</a></p> +<p>Samory, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>San Stefano, Treaty of, <a href="#page229">229-32</a>, <a href= +"#page233">233</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a></p> +<p>Sandeman, Sir Robert, <a href="#page384">384-5</a></p> +<p>Sardinia, Kingdom of, <a href="#page008">8-11</a>, <a href= +"#page162">162</a></p> +<p>Saxony, <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href="#page005">5</a>, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, <a href="#page018">18</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134-6</a></p> +<p>Sazonoff, M., <a href="#page641">641</a></p> +<p>Schleswig-Holstein, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href= +"#page012">12</a>, <a href="#page013">13-16</a>, <a href= +"#page021">21</a>, <a href="#page026">26</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a></p> +<p>Schnaebele, M., <a href="#page334">334</a>, <a href= +"#page338">338</a></p> +<p>Sedan, Battle of, <a href="#page077">77-88</a></p> +<p>Septennate, the (in France), <a href="#page123">123</a></p> +<p>Serpa Pinto, <a href="#page540">540</a></p> +<p>Servia, <a href="#page158">158-9</a>, <a href= +"#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page167">167</a>, <a href= +"#page173">173-4</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href= +"#page194">194</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a>, <a href= +"#page238">238</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href= +"#page267">267</a>, <a href="#page612">612-13</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615-16</a>, <a href="#page631">631</a>, <a href= +"#page637">637</a>, <a href="#page639">639-43</a>, <a href= +"#page648">648-9</a></p> +<p>Seymour, Admiral, <a href="#page449">449-50</a></p> +<p>Shan-tung, Province of, <a href="#page580">580</a>, <a href= +"#page581">581</a></p> +<p>Shere Ali, <a href="#page369">369-74</a>, <a href= +"#page376">376-7</a>, <a href="#page379">379-80</a>, <a href= +"#page384">384</a>, <a href="#page386">386-8</a>, <a href= +"#page390">390-92</a>, <a href="#page398">398-400</a></p> +<p>Sherpur, Engagements at (1878), <a href="#page404">404</a></p> +<p>Shipka Pass, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href= +"#page201">201-3</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href= +"#page220">220</a></p> +<p>Shumla, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href= +"#page208">208</a></p> +<p>Shutargardan Pass, the, <a href="#page402">402</a></p> +<p>Shuvaloff, Count, <a href="#page233">233</a>, <a href= +"#page235">235</a></p> +<p>Siberia, <a href="#page361">361</a>, <a href="#page366">366</a>, +<a href="#page570">570-72</a>, <a href="#page574">574</a></p> +<p>Sibi, <a href="#page398">398</a>, <a href="#page400">400</a></p> +<p>Simon, Jules, <a href="#page103">103</a></p> +<p>Sistova, <a href="#page196">196</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, +<a href="#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href= +"#page217">217</a></p> +<p>Skiernewice, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href= +"#page266">266</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>, <a href="#page332">332-5</a>, <a href= +"#page426">426</a>, <a href="#page515">515-18</a></p> +<p>Skobeleff, General, <a href="#page198">198-9</a>, <a href= +"#page203">203</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href= +"#page211">211-15</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>, <a href="#page330">330</a>, <a href= +"#page388">388-9</a>, <a href="#page421">421-4</a>, <a href= +"#page431">431</a></p> +<p>Slave-trade, the, <a href="#page558">558</a>, <a href= +"#page562">562</a></p> +<p>Slavophils, the, <a href="#page310">310-12</a>, <a href= +"#page339">339</a></p> +<p>Slivnitza, Battle of, <a href="#page270">270-71</a></p> +<p>Soboleff, General, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href= +"#page257">257-8</a></p> +<p>Sofia, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page219">219</a>, +<a href="#page271">271</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a>, <a href= +"#page278">278-9</a></p> +<p>Solferino, Battle of, <a href="#page009">9</a></p> +<p>Somaliland, <a href="#page540">540</a></p> +<p>South Africa Company, British, <a href="#page533">533</a></p> +<p>South German Confederation, <a href="#page021">21</a>, <a href= +"#page022">22</a>, <a href="#page035">35</a></p> +<p>South-West Africa (German), <a href="#page523">523-7</a>, +<a href="#page531">531-2</a></p> +<p>Spain, <a href="#page040">40</a>, <a href="#page041">41</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a>, <a href="#page605">605</a></p> +<p>Spicheren, Battle of, <a href="#page062">62</a>, <a href= +"#page063">63</a></p> +<p>Stambuloff, <a href="#page256">256</a>, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href= +"#page289">289</a>, <a href="#page283">283-6</a>, <a href= +"#page334">334</a></p> +<p>Stanley, Sir H.M., <a href="#page465">465</a>, <a href= +"#page508">508-9</a>, <a href="#page543">543-4</a>, <a href= +"#page552">552</a>, <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>State Socialism (in Germany), <a href="#page150">150-53</a></p> +<p>Steinmetz, General, <a href="#page071">71</a></p> +<p>Stephenson, General, <a href="#page474">474</a></p> +<p>Stepniak, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href= +"#page303">303</a></p> +<p>Stewart, Colonel, <a href="#page466">466</a>, <a href= +"#page476">476</a></p> +<p>Stewart, Sir Donald, <a href="#page398">398</a>, <a href= +"#page405">405</a></p> +<p>Stewart, Sit Herbert, <a href="#page480">480</a></p> +<p>Stiege, Admiral, <a href="#page623">623</a></p> +<p>Stoffel, Colonel, <a href="#page053">53</a></p> +<p>Stokes, Mr., execution of, <a href="#page565">565</a></p> +<p>Stolieteff, General, <a href="#page388">388-90</a>, <a href= +"#page398">398</a></p> +<p>Stundists, the, <a href="#page305">305-7</a></p> +<p>Suakim, <a href="#page462">462</a>, <a href="#page473">473</a>, +<a href="#page478">478</a>, <a href="#page486">486</a>, <a href= +"#page488">488</a>, <a href="#page518">518</a></p> +<p>Sudan, the, <i>passim</i> chaps. <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">xvi</a>. +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">xvii</a>.</p> +<p>Suez Canal, the, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href= +"#page190">190</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page438">438</a>, <a href="#page439">439</a>, <a href= +"#page457">457</a>, <a href="#page513">513</a></p> +<p>Suleiman Pasha, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href= +"#page208">208-9</a>, <a href="#page215">215</a>, <a href= +"#page216">216</a>, <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href= +"#page221">221</a></p> +<p>Swat Valley, the, <a href="#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Sweden, <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href="#page005">5</a></p> +<p>Switzerland, <a href="#page098">98</a>, <a href= +"#page148">148</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Tamai, Battle of, <a href="#page470">470</a></p> +<p>Tangier, <a href="#page614">614</a></p> +<p>Tashkend, <a href="#page365">365</a>, <a href= +"#page388">388</a>, <a href="#page433">433</a></p> +<p>Tatisheff, M., <a href="#page643">643</a></p> +<p>Tchernayeff, General, <a href="#page174">174</a></p> +<p>Tchirsky, Herr von, <a href="#page640">640</a></p> +<p>Tel-el-Kebir, Battle of, <a href="#page454">454-5</a></p> +<p>Tewfik, Khedive, <a href="#page442">442-7</a>, <a href= +"#page452">452-3</a>, <a href="#page458">458</a>, <a href= +"#page461">461</a>, <a href="#page466">466-7</a>, <a href= +"#page487">487</a>, <a href="#page503">503</a>, <a href= +"#page507">507</a></p> +<p>Thessaly, <a href="#page240">240-41</a>, <a href= +"#page248">248-9</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page660" id="page660"></a>[pg +660]</span> +<p>Thiers, M., <a href="#page026">26</a>, <a href= +"#page027">27</a>, <a href="#page047">47</a>, <a href= +"#page087">87</a>, <a href="#page094">94</a>, <a href= +"#page100">100-6</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href= +"#page114">114-19</a>, <i>passim</i> chaps. <a href= +"#CHAPTER_IV">iv</a>. <a href="#CHAPTER_V">v</a>.</p> +<p>Thomson, Joseph, <a href="#page509">509-10</a>, <a href= +"#page535">535-6</a>, <a href="#page541">541</a></p> +<p>Thornton, Sir Edward, <a href="#page427">427</a></p> +<p>Three Emperors' League, the, <a href="#page179">179</a>, +<a href="#page184">184</a>, <a href="#page319">319-23</a>, <a href= +"#page326">326</a>, <a href="#page332">332-4</a>, <a href= +"#page448">448</a>, <a href="#page515">515</a></p> +<p>Tilsit, Treaty of, <a href="#page308">308</a></p> +<p>Timbuctu, <a href="#page539">539</a></p> +<p>Tipu Tib, <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>Tirard, M., <a href="#page341">341</a></p> +<p>Tirpitz, Admiral von, <a href="#page589">589</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a></p> +<p>Tisza, M., <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href= +"#page283">283</a></p> +<p>Todleben, <a href="#page216">216-17</a></p> +<p>Togo, Admiral, <a href="#page598">598</a></p> +<p>Trans-Siberian Railway, the, <a href="#page574">574-6</a>, +<a href="#page580">580</a>, <a href="#page582">582-3</a>, <a href= +"#page599">599</a></p> +<p>Transvaal, the, <a href="#page525">525</a>, <a href= +"#page527">527</a>, <a href="#page586">586</a></p> +<p>Treitschke, Herr, <a href="#page626">626</a>, <a href= +"#page636">636</a></p> +<p>Trentino, <a href="#page335">335</a></p> +<p>Triple Alliance, the, <a href="#page021">21</a>, <a href= +"#page327">327-33</a>, <a href="#page335">335-9</a>, <a href= +"#page453">453</a>, <a href="#page515">515</a>, <a href= +"#page590">590-1</a>, <a href="#page599">599-601</a>, <a href= +"#page609">609</a>, <a href="#page615">615</a>, <a href= +"#page624">624</a>, <a href="#page635">635</a>, <a href= +"#page637">637</a>, <a href="#page647">647</a></p> +<p>Triple Entente, the, <a href="#page593">593</a>, <a href= +"#page595">595</a>, <a href="#page609">609</a>, <a href= +"#page617">617</a>, <a href="#page635">635</a>, <a href= +"#page647">647</a>, <a href="#page649">649</a></p> +<p>Trochu, General, <a href="#page101">101</a></p> +<p>Tsushima, Battle of, <a href="#page598">598</a></p> +<p>Tunis, <a href="#page328">328-30</a>, <a href= +"#page436">436</a>, <a href="#page448">448</a>, <a href= +"#page513">513-14</a>, <a href="#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Turgenieff, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href= +"#page295">295</a></p> +<p>Turkestan, <a href="#page361">361</a>, <a href= +"#page364">364</a>, <a href="#page366">366-7</a>, <a href= +"#page419">419-30</a></p> +<p><a name="Turkey"></a>Turkey, <a href="#page005">5</a>, <a href= +"#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page168">168-77</a>, <a href= +"#page181">181</a>, <a href="#page187">187-8</a>, <a href= +"#page190">190-221</a>, <a href="#page229">229-42</a>, <a href= +"#page332">332</a>, <a href="#page342">342</a>, <a href= +"#page348">348</a>,<br> +<a href="#page436">436-8</a>, <a href="#page446">446</a>, <a href= +"#page502">502</a>, <a href="#page567">567</a>, <a href= +"#page592">592</a>, <a href="#page613">613</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615-616</a>, <a href="#page618">618</a>, <a href= +"#page624">624</a>, <a href="#page628">628-30</a>, <a href= +"#page632">632</a>, <a href="#page638">638-9</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Uganda, <a href="#page502">502</a>, <a href= +"#page522">522-3</a></p> +<p>Umballa, Conference at, <a href="#page372">372-3</a></p> +<p>Umberto I., King of Italy, <a href="#page327">327</a>, <a href= +"#page329">329-31</a>, <a href="#page333">333</a>, <a href= +"#page335">335</a>, <a href="#page336">336</a></p> +<p>United Kingdom. <i>See</i> <a href="#Great_Britain">Great +Britain</a></p> +<p>United Netherlands, Kingdom of, <a href="#page005">5</a></p> +<p>United States, the, <a href="#page030">30</a>, <a href= +"#page031">31</a>, <a href="#page547">547</a>, <a href= +"#page567">567</a>, <a href="#page578">578</a>, <a href= +"#page581">581</a>, <a href="#page596">596-8</a>, <a href= +"#page607">607</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Vandervelde, M., <a href="#page557">557</a></p> +<p>Venetia, <a href="#page005">5-11</a>, <a href="#page017">17</a>, +<a href="#page019">19</a>, <a href="#page021">21</a></p> +<p>Verdun, <a href="#page065">65</a>, <a href="#page068">68</a></p> +<p>Versailles, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href= +"#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href= +"#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a></p> +<p>Victor Emmanuel II., King of Italy, <a href="#page002">2-11</a>, +<a href="#page037">37</a>, <a href="#page063">63</a>, <a href= +"#page090">90</a>, <a href="#page327">327</a></p> +<p>Victor Emmanuel III., <a href="#page601">601</a>, <a href= +"#page615">615</a></p> +<p>Victoria, Queen, <a href="#page014">14</a>, <a href= +"#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page165">165</a>, <a href= +"#page171">171</a>, <a href="#page223">223-4</a>, <a href= +"#page261">261</a>, <a href="#page322">322</a></p> +<p class="i1">proclaimed Empress of India, <a href= +"#page382">382</a></p> +<p>Victoria, Crown Princess of Germany, <a href= +"#page323">323</a></p> +<p>Vienna, Treaty of (1815), <a href="#page004">4</a>, <a href= +"#page005">5</a></p> +<p>Vionville, Battle of, <a href="#page067">67-70</a></p> +<p>Viviani, M., <a href="#page644">644</a></p> +<p>Vladivostok, <a href="#page572">572</a>, <a href= +"#page575">575</a>, <a href="#page580">580</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Waddington, M., <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href= +"#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href= +"#page328">328</a></p> +<p>Wady Halfa, <a href="#page439">439</a>, <a href= +"#page476">476</a>, <a href="#page478">478</a>, <a href= +"#page483">483</a>, <a href="#page484">484</a>, <a href= +"#page486">486</a>, <a href="#page489">489</a>, <a href= +"#page502">502</a></p> +<p>Waldeck-Rousseau, M., <a href="#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Waldemar, Prince, <a href="#page284">284</a></p> +<p>Walfisch Bay, <a href="#page524">524</a></p> +<p>Wallachia, <a href="#page160">160-62</a></p> +<p>Warren, Sir Charles, <a href="#page531">531-2</a></p> +<p>Wei-hai-wei, <a href="#page582">582</a></p> +<p>West Africa, <a href="#page533">533-40</a></p> +<p>White, Major G., <a href="#page402">402</a></p> +<p>White, Sir William, <a href="#page177">177</a>, <a href= +"#page187">187</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href= +"#page267">267-9</a>, <a href="#page273">273-4</a>, <a href= +"#page287">287</a>, <a href="#page302">302</a></p> +<p>Widdin, <a href="#page194">194</a>, <a href="#page196">196</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href= +"#page270">270</a></p> +<p>William I. (King of Prussia, German Emperor), <a href= +"#page011">11-22</a>, <a href="#page031">31</a>, <a href= +"#page032">32</a>, <a href="#page041">41-6</a>, <a href= +"#page073">73</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href= +"#page129">129-30</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href= +"#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a>, <a href= +"#page321">321-2</a>, <a href="#page325">325</a>, <a href= +"#page335">335</a>, <a href="#page339">339</a>, <a href= +"#page517">517</a>, <a href="#page594">594</a></p> +<p>William II. (King of Prussia, German Emperor), <a href= +"#page151">151-3</a>, <a href="#page339">339-40</a>, <a href= +"#page342">342</a>, <a href="#page522">522</a>, <a href= +"#page580">580</a>, <a href="#page582">582</a>, <a href= +"#page586">586-93</a>, <a href="#page598">598-9</a>, <a href= +"#page604">604</a>, <a href="#page606">606-611</a>, <a href= +"#page614">614</a>, <a href="#page616">616-7</a>, <a href= +"#page620">620-1</a>, <a href="#page623">623-4</a>, <a href= +"#page632">632</a>, <a href="#page636">636-7</a>, <a href= +"#page639">639-41</a>, <a href="#page643">643-6</a></p> +<p>William, Crown Prince of Germany, <a href="#page625">625</a>, +<a href="#page646">646</a></p> +<p>William of Weid, Prince, <a href="#page632">632</a></p> +<p>Wilson, Sir Charles, <a href="#page480">480</a></p> +<p>Wimpffen, General de, <a href="#page079">79-86</a></p> +<p>Winton, Sir Francis de, <a href="#page552">552</a></p> +<p>Wissmann, Lieutenant von, <a href="#page546">546</a></p> +<p>Wolf, Dr., <a href="#page546">546</a></p> +<p>Wolff, Sir H. Drummond, <a href="#page485">485</a></p> +<p>Wolseley, Lord, <a href="#page454">454-6</a>, <a href= +"#page466">466</a>, <a href="#page475">475</a>, <a href= +"#page476">476</a>, <a href="#page478">478</a>, <a href= +"#page481">481</a>, <a href="#page507">507</a></p> +<p>Wörth, Battle of, <a href="#page059">59-62</a></p> +<p>Würtemberg, <a href="#page021">21</a>, <a href= +"#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page133">133-5</a>, <a href= +"#page137">137</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Yakub Khan, <a href="#page379">379</a>, <a href= +"#page400">400-3</a></p> +<p>Young Turk Party, the, <a href="#page612">612-3</a>, <a href= +"#page616">616</a>, <a href="#page618">618</a></p> +<p class="i1">Revolution (1908), <a href="#page615">615</a></p> +</div> +<div class="letter"> +<p>Zankoff, M., <a href="#page280">280</a></p> +<p>Zanzibar, <a href="#page516">516-21</a>, <a href= +"#page532">532</a>, <a href="#page553">553</a></p> +<p>Zazulich, Vera, <a href="#page292">292</a></p> +<p>Zebehr, Pasha, <a href="#page469">469-73</a></p> +<p>Zemstvo, the, <a href="#page293">293</a>, <a href= +"#page296">296</a>, <a href="#page301">301</a></p> +<p>Zola, Emile, <a href="#page600">600</a></p> +<p>Zulfikar Pass, the, <a href="#page428">428</a></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14644 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14644-h/images/001.png b/14644-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0205056 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/001.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/195.png b/14644-h/images/195.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3eea2b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/195.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/239.png b/14644-h/images/239.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9b27d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/239.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/249.png b/14644-h/images/249.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..937650a --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/249.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/289.png b/14644-h/images/289.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea51ef8 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/289.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/375.png b/14644-h/images/375.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e08d62 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/375.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/409.png b/14644-h/images/409.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9735be0 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/409.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/451.png b/14644-h/images/451.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b7d4a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/451.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/477.png b/14644-h/images/477.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2dad53 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/477.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/495.png b/14644-h/images/495.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5df30fb --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/495.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/499.png b/14644-h/images/499.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ed17f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/499.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/650.png b/14644-h/images/650.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c807d73 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/650.png diff --git a/14644-h/images/img001.jpg b/14644-h/images/img001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..334bfc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/img001.jpg diff --git a/14644-h/images/img002.jpg b/14644-h/images/img002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfbb792 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/img002.jpg diff --git a/14644-h/images/img003.jpg b/14644-h/images/img003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..53def70 --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/img003.jpg diff --git a/14644-h/images/img004.jpg b/14644-h/images/img004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2955ffe --- /dev/null +++ b/14644-h/images/img004.jpg |
