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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
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-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone
- 1876-1887
-
-Author: Various
-
-Release Date: October 23, 2016 [EBook #53354]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
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-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE ***
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- BELLS ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS
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- _General Editors_: S. E. WINBOLT, M.A., and KENNETH BELL, M.A.
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- IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE
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- IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE
-
- (1876--1887)
-
-
- COMPILED BY
- R. H. GRETTON
- FORMERLY DEMY OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD
- AUTHOR OF "A MODERN HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE"
-
- [Illustration: (Publisher's colophon)]
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- LONDON
- G. BELL & SONS, LTD.
- 1913
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-INTRODUCTION
-
-
-This series of English History Source Books is intended for use
-with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has
-conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable--nay, an
-indispensable--adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of
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-of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook
-is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and
-exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are
-admirably illustrated in a _History of England for Schools_, Part
-I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish
-to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise
-his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials
-hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very
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-and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics,
-London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history,
-are represented in these pages.
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-numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text
-is modernized, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no
-difficulties in reading.
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-suggestions for improvement.
-
- S. E. WINBOLT.
-
- KENNETH BELL.
-
-
-NOTE TO THIS VOLUME
-
- I acknowledge, with thanks to the authors concerned, and to
- Messrs. Macmillan and Co., their kind permission to reprint in
- this volume the following passages: that on p. 102, from the
- _Life of Lord Randolph Churchill_, by the Right Hon. Winston
- Churchill; three extracts, on pp. 59, 62, 83, from _Mahdiism
- and the Egyptian Soudan_, by Sir Francis Wingate; the passages
- from Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, on pp. 97, 98, 101,
- 110; and the passages from Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_,
- on pp. 68, 69, 70, 87. I acknowledge also with thanks the
- permission of the proprietors of _The Times_ to reprint the
- various extracts from that journal; and the permission of the
- proprietors of _The Saturday Review_ to reprint the extract on
- p. 35. In dealing with a period so recent, I have inevitably
- been very dependent upon the courtesy of the owners of
- copyright, and I wish to express my gratitude for the readiness
- with which that courtesy has been extended in these important
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- permission to print extracts from Professor Mackail's _Life of
- William Morris_, and from Mr. Bernard Holland's _Life of the
- late Duke of Devonshire_, and to Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. for
- similar permission to quote from _General Gordon's Journal_.
-
- R. H. G.
-
-
-
-
-TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
- PAGE
- INTRODUCTION v
-
- DATE
- 1876. PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES 1
- 1876. ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND AFGHANISTAN 3
- 1876. THE QUEEN AS EMPRESS OF INDIA 5
- 1876. BULGARIAN ATROCITIES 8
- I. THUNDER FROM MR. GLADSTONE 8
- II. COLD WATER FROM DISRAELI 11
- 1877. SIR THEOPHILUS SHEPSTONE'S COMMISSION 15
- 1877. RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON TURKEY 16
- 1877. IRISH OBSTRUCTION IN ITS EARLY DAYS 17
- 1877. PLEVNA AFTER THE SIEGE 18
- 1878. STRAINED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA 21
- 1878. PEACE WITH HONOUR 24
- 1878. THE SECRET AGREEMENTS IN BEACONSFIELD'S POCKETS 25
- 1878. GLADSTONE INDIGNANT AGAIN 27
- 1878. RUSSIAN INTRIGUE AT CABUL 28
- 1878. SHERE ALI 30
- 1879. DEATH OF SHERE ALI 31
- 1879. THE GANDAMAK TREATY 31
- 1879. THE CABUL MASSACRE 32
- 1879. THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN 35
- 1880. BEACONSFIELD KEEPS COOL 37
- 1880. THE MAIWAND DISASTER 37
- 1880. THE BRADLAUGH CASE 40
- 1880. SOCIAL AMELIORATIONS 40
- EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY 40
- FUNDED MUNICIPAL DEBT 41
- ELECTRIC LIGHT, THE TELEPHONE, NEW HOTELS 42
- 1880. PARNELL AND THE LAND LEAGUE 43
- 1880. CAPTAIN BOYCOTT 44
- 1880. THE BOER RISING 45
- PROCLAMATION 46
- 1881. BEFORE MAJUBA 46
- 1881. AFTER MAJUBA 47
- 1881. RITUAL CONTROVERSY 48
- 1881. A SHORT WAY WITH OBSTRUCTION 49
- 1881. THE DEATH OF BEACONSFIELD 50
- 1881. THE WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDAHAR 51
- 1881. THE SALVATION ARMY 54
- 1881. ARABI 54
- 1882. THE FIRST CLOSURE 56
- 1882. BIMETALLISM 56
- 1882. BRIGHT'S RESIGNATION 57
- 1883. THE ILBERT BILL 58
- 1883. FENIANS AGAIN 58
- 1883. THE MAHDI 59
- 1883. END OF CAREY THE INFORMER 61
- 1883. SLAUGHTER OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY 62
- 1884. TRANSVAAL CONVENTION 65
- 1884. GORDON'S MISSION TO KHARTOUM 66
- 1884. DIFFICULTIES OF GORDON'S CHARACTER 69
- 1884. ZOBEIR PASHA 71
- 1884. SOME OF GORDON'S TELEGRAMS 73
- 1884. CROSS PURPOSES 75
- 1884. GORDON'S POSITION 78
- 1884. GORDON'S OWN MEDITATIONS 80
- 1884. THE FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION 82
- 1884. FEEDING POOR SCHOOL CHILDREN 83
- 1885. THE DEATH OF GORDON 83
- 1885. THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY 87
- 1885. THE VOTE OF CENSURE 87
- 1885. MORE FENIANISM 90
- 1885. NEW LABOUR MOVEMENTS 91
- 1885. THE UNEMPLOYED 92
- 1885. WORKING MEN MAGISTRATES 93
- 1885. TORY OLIVE-BRANCH TO IRELAND 93
- 1885. THE FIRST SUBMARINE 96
- 1885. THE UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMME 97
- 1885. THE IRISH VOTE 98
- 1885. THE NEW ELECTORATE 100
- 1886. THE OPENING OF THE RIFT 101
- 1886. "ULSTER WILL FIGHT" 102
- 1886. SALISBURY ON HOME RULE 104
- 1886. MR. GLADSTONE'S APPEAL 106
- 1886. LIBERAL UNIONISM 107
- 1886. THE UNEMPLOYED RIOTS 107
- 1886. BIMETALLISM AND LABOUR DISPUTES 109
- 1886. PASTEUR AND HYDROPHOBIA 110
- 1886. THE FINAL HOME RULE RUPTURE 110
- 1887. THE COMING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION 112
- 1887. THE FIRST "GUILLOTINE" CLOSURE 113
- 1887. JUBILEE RETROSPECTS 114
- 1887. "REMEMBER MITCHELSTOWN" 118
- 1887. "BLOODY SUNDAY" 119
- 1887. FIRST REPORT ON THE RAND 120
-
-
-
-
-IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE
-
-(1876--1887)
-
-
-
-
-PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES (1876).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 95 (Debate on
-the Address, February, 1876).
-
-
-MR. DISRAELI: ... When we acceded to office two years ago an
-International Commission had only just ceased its labours at
-Constantinople upon the dues of the Suez Canal, and upon the means
-of ascertaining and maintaining a limit of them, and it had arrived
-at reasons entirely protested against by the proprietary. What was
-the state of affairs there? Lord Derby had to deal with them. The
-proprietary of the canal threatened, and not only threatened, but
-proceeded, to stop the canal. They refused pilots; they threatened
-to change the signals; they took steps which would have interrupted
-that mode of intercourse with India.... From that moment it became
-a matter of interest to those responsible for the government of
-this country to see what could be done to remedy those relations
-with the Suez Canal.... But it suddenly comes to our knowledge that
-the Khedive, on whose influence we mainly depended, is going to
-part with his shares. We received a telegram from Cairo informing
-us that the Khedive was anxious to raise a considerable sum of
-money upon his shares in the Suez Canal, and offered them to
-England. We considered the question immediately, and it appeared
-to us to be a complicated transaction--one to which there were
-several objections; and we sent back to say that we were favourably
-disposed to assist the Khedive, but that at the same time we were
-only prepared to purchase the shares outright. What was the answer?
-The answer was that the Khedive was resolved, if he possibly
-could, to keep his shares, and that he could only therefore avail
-himself of a loan. There matters seemed to end. Then suddenly
-there came news to the Government of this country that a French
-society--Société Générale--was prepared to offer the Khedive a
-large sum of money--very little inferior to the four millions--but
-on very onerous conditions. The Khedive communicated with us, and
-said that the conditions were so severe that he would sooner sell
-the shares outright, and--which I had forgotten to mention--that,
-in deference to his promise that England should always have the
-refusal of the shares if he decided to sell them, he offered them
-to the English Government. It was absolutely necessary to decide at
-that moment what course we should take. It was not a thing on which
-we could hesitate.... To pretend that Lord Derby has treated this
-business as a mere commercial speculation is idle. If he did not
-act in accordance with the principles of high policy, I should like
-to know what high policy is, and how a man can pursue it.
-
-Apart from looking upon this as an investment, if the shares had
-been offered, and if there had been no arrangement of paying
-interest for nineteen years, so far as I am concerned, I should
-have been in favour of the purchase of the shares. I should have
-agreed with Lord Derby in thinking that England would never be
-satisfied if all the shares of the Suez Canal were possessed by
-a foreign company. Then it is said, if any obstacles had been
-put in your way by the French proprietors of the canal, you
-know very well that ultimately it must come to force, and you
-will then obtain at once the satisfaction of your desire. Well,
-if the government of the world was a mere alternation between
-abstract right and overwhelming force, I agree there is a good
-deal in that observation; but that is not the way in which the
-world is governed. The world is governed by conciliation,
-compromise, influence, varied interests, the recognition of the
-rights of others, coupled with the assertion of one's own; and,
-in addition, a general conviction, resulting from explanation and
-good understanding, that it is for the interests of all parties
-that matters should be conducted in a satisfactory and peaceful
-manner.... I cannot doubt that the moral influence of England
-possessing two-fifths of the shares in this great undertaking
-must have made itself felt, must have a considerable influence
-upon the conduct of those who manage the company.... England
-is a Mediterranean Power; a great Mediterranean Power. This is
-shown by the fact that in time of war always, and frequently in
-time of peace, she has the greatest force upon those waters.
-Furthermore, she has strongholds upon those waters which she will
-never relinquish. The policy of England, however, is not one of
-aggression. It is not provinces she wants. She will not interest
-herself in the redistribution of territory on the shores of the
-Mediterranean, as long as the redistribution does not imperil
-the freedom of the seas and the dominion which she legitimately
-exercises. And therefore I look upon this, that in the great
-chain of fortresses which we possess, almost from the Metropolis
-to India, that the Suez Canal is a means of securing the free
-intercourse of the waters, is a great addition to that security,
-and one we should prize.
-
-
-
-
-ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND AFGHANISTAN (1876).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2, 190,
-of 1878, p. 156.
-
-
-_Extract from Lord Salisbury's Despatch to the Viceroy of India,
-dated February 28, 1876._
-
-The increasing weakness and uncertainty of British influence in
-Afghanistan constitutes a prospective peril to British interests;
-the deplorable interruption of it in Khelat inflicts upon them an
-immediate inconvenience by involving the cessation of all effective
-control over the turbulent and predatory habits of the trans-Indus
-tribes. In view of these considerations, Her Majesty's Government
-have ... instructed the Viceroy to find an early occasion for
-sending to Cabul a temporary mission, furnished with such
-instructions as may, perhaps, enable it to overcome the Ameer's
-apparent reluctance to the establishment of permanent British
-Agencies in Afghanistan, by convincing His Highness that the
-Government of India is ... willing to afford him material support
-in the defence of his territories from any actual and unprovoked
-external aggression, but that it cannot practically avert or
-provide for such a contingency without timely and unrestricted
-permission to place its own agents in those parts of his dominions
-whence they may best watch the course of events. It appears to
-Her Majesty's Government that the present moment is favourable
-for the execution of this last-mentioned instruction. The Queen's
-assumption of the Imperial title in relation to Her Majesty's
-Indian subjects, feudatories, and allies will now for the first
-time conspicuously transfer to her Indian dominion, in form as well
-as in fact, the supreme authority of the Indian Empire.... The
-maintenance in Afghanistan of a strong and friendly power has at
-all times been the object of British policy. The attainment of this
-object is now to be considered with due reference to the situation
-created by the recent and rapid advance of the Russian arms in
-Central Asia towards the Northern frontiers of British India. Her
-Majesty's Government cannot view with complete indifference the
-probable influence of that situation upon the uncertain character
-of an Oriental Chief whose ill-defined dominions are thus brought,
-within a steadily narrowing circle, between the conflicting
-pressures of two great military Empires, one of which expostulates
-and remains passive, whilst the other apologizes and continues
-to move forward. It is well known that not only the English
-newspapers, but also all works published in England upon Indian
-questions, are rapidly translated for the information of the Ameer,
-and carefully studied by His Highness. Sentiments of irritation
-and alarm at the advancing power of Russia in Central Asia find
-frequent expression through the English press, in language which,
-if taken by Shere Ali for a revelation of the mind of the
-English Government, must have long been accumulating in his mind
-impressions unfavourable to its confidence in British power.... Her
-Majesty's Government would not, therefore, view with indifference
-any attempt on the part of Russia to compete with British influence
-in Afghanistan, nor could the Ameer's reception of a British Agent
-(whatever be the official rank or function of that Agent) in any
-part of the dominions of His Highness afford for his subsequent
-reception of a Russian Agent any pretext to which the Government
-of Her Majesty would not be entitled to, except as incompatible
-with the assurances spontaneously offered to it by the Cabinet of
-St. Petersburg. You will bear in mind these facts when framing
-instructions for your mission to Cabul.... The conduct of Shere Ali
-has more than once been characterized by so significant a disregard
-of the wishes and interests of the Government of India that the
-irretrievable alienation of his confidence in the sincerity and
-power of that Government is a contingency which cannot be dismissed
-as impossible. Should such a fear be confirmed by the result of
-the proposed negotiation, no time must be lost in reconsidering,
-from a new point of view, the policy to be pursued in reference to
-Afghanistan.
-
-
-
-
-THE QUEEN AS EMPRESS OF INDIA (1876).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 1,736 (Debate on
-Royal Titles Bill, March 9, 1876).
-
-
-MR. GLADSTONE: ... In my opinion this is a matter of the greatest
-importance. We have had some declarations in this House with
-respect to India. The hon. member for West Cumberland (Mr. Percy
-Wyndham), on the night when the right hon. gentleman first made
-his proposal, said that an Imperial title would be the one most
-suitable, because it would signify that Her Majesty governed India
-without the restraints of law or constitution.
-
-MR. PERCY WYNDHAM: I said that the Government of India was a
-despotic Government, not in the hands of one person, and not,
-as in this country, a constitutional Government in the hands of
-the Queen and the Houses of Lords and Commons. The Government of
-India is essentially a despotic Government as administered by us,
-although it includes more than one individual.
-
-MR. GLADSTONE: I am very much obliged, and I perceive completely
-the hon. member's meaning; but I am sorry that to that meaning,
-as it stands, I take the greatest objection. If it be true--and
-it is true--that we govern India without the restraints of law,
-except such law as we make ourselves; if it be true that we have
-not been able to give to India the benefit and blessings of free
-institutions, I leave it to the hon. gentleman--I leave it to the
-right hon. gentleman if he thinks fit--to boast that he is about
-to place that fact solemnly upon record. By the assumption of the
-title of Empress, I for one will not attempt to turn into glory
-that which, so far as it is true, I feel to be our weakness and
-our calamity.... It is plain that the government of India--that
-is, the entire India--never has yet, by statute, been vested in
-Her Majesty; but that which has been vested is the government of
-the countries which were held in trust for Her Majesty by the East
-India Company. I would be the last man to raise this question
-if it were a mere verbal quibble. It is as far as possible from
-being a question merely verbal.... I am under the belief that to
-this moment there are important Princes and States in India over
-which we have never assumed dominion, whatever may have been our
-superiority of strength. We are now going, by Act of Parliament,
-to assume that dominion, the possible consequences of which no man
-can foresee; and when the right hon. gentleman tells us the Princes
-desire this change to be made, does he really mean to assure us
-that this is the case? If so, I require distinct evidence of the
-fact. There are Princes in India who, no doubt, have hitherto
-enjoyed no more than a theoretical political supremacy, but do
-they desire to surrender even that under the provisions of this
-Bill? The right hon. gentleman is going to advise the Queen to
-become Empress of India. I raise the question, What is India? I
-have said that the dominion now vested in Her Majesty is limited
-to the territories vested in the East India Company. I ask whether
-the supremacy of certain important Native States in India ever was
-vested in the Company, or whether it was not? We are bound to ask
-the right hon. gentleman--and I think he is bound to answer the
-question through the medium of his best legal authorities--whether
-this supremacy is so vested or not, and whether he can assure us
-upon his responsibility that no political change in the condition
-of the Native Princes of India will be effected by this Bill.
-If there is a political change effected, I do not hesitate to
-say I do not think it would be possible to offer too determined
-an opposition to the proposal of the Government.... I feel with
-the right hon. gentleman--indeed, I feel a little more than the
-right hon. gentleman--the greatness, the unsullied greatness, of
-the title which is now borne by the Queen of England. I think
-I use the language of moderation when I say that it is a title
-unequalled for its dignity and weight, unequalled for the glory
-of its historic associations, unequalled for the promise which it
-offers to the future, among the titles of the Sovereigns of Europe,
-among all the states and nations on earth. Sir, I have a jealousy
-of touching that title, and I am not to be told that this is a
-small matter. There is nothing small in a matter, in my judgment,
-which touches the honour and dignity of the Crown of England....
-The right hon. gentleman has indeed manfully contended that there
-is no inferiority in the title of King as compared with that of
-Emperor.... I want to know why I am to be dragged into novelties,
-or into comparisons on a subject of this sort?... There is one
-other point on which I am anxious to make a few comments. I was, I
-own, struck by what fell from my right hon. friend the member for
-the University of London (Mr. Lowe) the other evening in reference
-to the colonies. Whether it be desirable to make any recital with
-regard to the colonies or not, it is a subject which requires much
-consideration whether we can wisely introduce reference to India
-in the title of the Sovereign, while we at the same time take no
-notice of the colonies.
-
-
-
-
-BULGARIAN ATROCITIES (1876).
-
-I. THUNDER FROM MR. GLADSTONE.
-
-=Source.=--Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet, _Bulgarian Horrors and the
-Question of the East_, 1876, p. 10.
-
-
-In default of Parliamentary action, and a public concentrated as
-usual, we must proceed as we can, with impaired means of appeal.
-But honour, duty, compassion, and I must add shame, are sentiments
-never in a state of _coma_. The working-men of the country, whose
-condition is less affected than that of others by the season, have
-to their honour led the way, and shown that the great heart of
-Britain has not ceased to beat. And the large towns and cities, now
-following in troops, are echoing back, each from its own place,
-the mingled notes of horror, pain, and indignation.... A curtain
-opaque and dense, which at the prorogation had been lifted but a
-few inches from the ground, has since then, from day to day, been
-slowly rising. And what a scene it has disclosed! And where!
-
-... I have the fullest confidence in the honour and in the
-intelligence of Mr. Baring, who has been inquiring on behalf of
-England. But he was not sent to examine the matter until the 19th
-of July, three months after the rising, and nearly one month after
-the first inquiries in Parliament. He had been but two days at
-Philippopolis, when he sent home, with all the despatch he could
-use, some few rudiments of a future report. Among them was his
-estimate of the murders, necessarily far from final, at the figure
-of twelve thousand.
-
-We know that we had a well-manned Embassy at Constantinople, and
-a network of Consulates and Vice-Consulates, really discharging
-diplomatic duties, all over the provinces of European Turkey.
-That villages could be burned down by scores, and men, women, and
-children murdered, or worse than murdered, by thousands, in a
-Turkish province lying between the capital and the scene of the
-recent excitements, and that our Embassy and Consulates could know
-nothing of it? The thing was impossible. It could not be. So
-silence was obtained, and relief; and the well-oiled machinery of
-our luxurious, indifferent life worked smoothly on....
-
-It was on the 20th of April that the insurrection broke out in
-Bulgaria.... On the 9th of May Sir Henry Elliot ... observing a
-great Mohammedan excitement, and an extensive purchase of arms in
-Constantinople, wisely telegraphed to the British Admiral in the
-Mediterranean expressing a desire that he would bring his squadron
-to Besika Bay. The purpose was for the protection of British
-subjects, and of the Christians in general.... These measures were
-substantially wise, and purely pacific. They had, if understood
-rightly, no political aspect, or, if any, one rather anti-Turkish
-than Turkish. But there were reasons, and strong reasons, why
-the public should not have been left to grope out for itself the
-meaning of a step so serious as the movement of a naval squadron
-towards a country disturbed both by revolt and by an outbreak of
-murderous fanaticism. In the year 1853, when the negotiations with
-Russia had assumed a gloomy and almost a hopeless aspect, the
-English and French fleets were sent eastwards; not as a measure
-of war, but as a measure of preparation for war, and proximate to
-war. The proceedings marked a transition of discussion into that
-angry stage which immediately precedes a blow; and the place, to
-which the fleets were then sent, was Besika Bay. In the absence
-of information, how could the British nation avoid supposing that
-the same act, as that done in 1853, bore also the same meaning?...
-The expectation of a rupture pervaded the public mind. The Russian
-funds fell very heavily, under a war panic; partisans exulted in
-a diplomatic victory, and in the increase of what is called our
-_prestige_, the bane, in my opinion, of all upright politics. The
-Turk was encouraged in his humour of resistance. And this, as we
-now know, while his hands were so reddened with Bulgarian blood.
-Foreign capitals were amazed at the martial excitement in London.
-But the Government spoke never a word.... And this ostentatious
-protection to Turkey, this wanton disturbance of Europe, was
-continued by our Ministry, with what I must call a strange
-perversity, for weeks and weeks....
-
-What we have to guard against is imposture--that Proteus with a
-thousand forms. A few months ago the new Sultan served the turn,
-and very well. Men affirmed that he must have time. And now another
-new Sultan is in the offing. I suppose it will be argued that he
-must have time too. Then there will be, perhaps, new constitutions;
-firmans of reforms; proclamations to commanders of Turkish armies,
-enjoining extra humanity. All these should be quietly set down as
-simply zero. At this moment we hear of the adoption by the Turks of
-the last and most enlightened rule of warfare--namely, the Geneva
-Convention. They might just as well adopt the Vatican Council or
-the British Constitution. All these things are not even the oysters
-before the dinner. Still worse is any plea founded upon any reports
-made by Turkish authority upon the Bulgarian outrages.... I return
-to, and I end with, that which is the Omega as well as the Alpha
-of this great and most mournful case. An old servant of the Crown
-and State, I entreat my countrymen, upon whom far more than perhaps
-any other people of Europe it depends, to require, and to insist,
-that our Government, which has been working in one direction,
-shall work in the other, and shall apply all its vigour to concur
-with the other States of Europe in obtaining the extinction of the
-Turkish executive power in Bulgaria. Let the Turks now carry away
-their abuses in the only possible manner--namely, by carrying off
-themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and
-their Yuzbachis, their Kaimakams and their Pashas, one and all, bag
-and baggage, shall, I hope, clear out from the province they have
-desolated and profaned. This thorough riddance, this most blessed
-deliverance, is the only reparation we can make to the memory of
-those heaps on heaps of dead; to the violated purity alike of
-matron, of maiden, and of child; to the civilization which has
-been affronted and shamed; to the laws of God, or, if you like,
-of Allah; to the moral sense of mankind at large. There is not a
-criminal in a European gaol, there is not a cannibal in the South
-Sea Islands, whose indignation would not rise and overboil at the
-recital of that which has been done, which has left behind all
-the foul and all the fierce passions that produced it, and which
-may again spring up, in another murderous harvest, from the soil
-soaked and reeking with blood, and in the air tainted with every
-imaginable deed of crime and shame.
-
-
-II. COLD WATER FROM DISRAELI.
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 231, col. 1,138, August
-11, 1876 (Third Reading of the Appropriation Bill; Bulgarian
-Atrocities raised).
-
-MR. DISRAELI: ... Let me at once place before the House what I
-believe is the true view of the circumstances which principally
-interest us to-night, for, after the Rhodian eloquence to which
-we have just listened, it is rather difficult for the House to
-see clearly the point which is before it. The Queen's Ambassador
-at Constantinople, who has at all times no easy duty to fulfil,
-found himself at the end of April and in the first three weeks
-of May in a position of extreme difficulty and danger. Affairs
-in Constantinople never had assumed--at least in our time,
-certainly--a more perilous character. It was difficult to ascertain
-what was going to happen; but that something was going to happen,
-and something of a character which might disturb the relations
-of the Porte with all the Powers of Europe, and might even bring
-about a revolution, the effect of which would be felt in distant
-countries, there was no doubt.... In the present instance the
-hon. and learned gentleman has made one assumption throughout his
-speech--that there has been no communication whatever between the
-Queen's Ambassador at Constantinople and Her Majesty's Ministers
-upon the subject in discussion; that we never heard of those
-affairs until the newspapers published accounts. The state of
-the facts is the reverse. From the very first period that these
-transactions occurred--from the very commencement--the Ambassador
-was in constant communication with Her Majesty's Ministers.
-(No, no.) Why, that may be proved by the papers on the table.
-Throughout the months of May and June the Ambassador is constantly
-referring to the atrocities occurring in Bulgaria and to the
-repeated protests which he is making to the Turkish Government, and
-informing Her Majesty's Government of interviews and conversations
-with the Grand Vizier on that subject. The hon. and learned
-gentleman says that when questions were addressed to me in this
-House I was perfectly ignorant of what was taking place. But that
-is exactly the question we have to settle to-night. I say that we
-were not perfectly ignorant of what was taking place.... I agree
-that even the slightest estimate of the horrors that occurred in
-Bulgaria is quite enough to excite the indignation of this country
-and of Parliament; but when you come to say that we were ignorant
-of all that was occurring, and did nothing to counteract it,
-because we said in answer to Questions that the information which
-had reached us did not warrant the statements that were quoted
-in the House--these are two entirely different questions. In the
-newspaper which has been referred to the first account was, if I
-recollect aright, that 30,000 or 32,000 persons had been slain;
-that 10,000 were in prison; it was also stated that 1,000 girls had
-been sold in the open market, that 40 girls had been burnt alive in
-a stable; and cartloads of human heads paraded through the streets
-of the cities of Bulgaria--these were some of, though not all, the
-statements made; and I was perfectly justified in saying that the
-information which had reached us did not justify these statements,
-and therefore we believed them to be exaggerated.... Lord Derby
-telegraphed to Sir Henry Elliot that it was very important that Her
-Majesty's Government should be able to reply to the inquiries made
-in Parliament respecting these and other statements, and directed
-Sir Henry Elliot to inquire by telegram of the Consuls, and report
-as soon as he could. All these statements are untrue. There never
-were forty maidens locked up in a stable and burnt alive. That
-was ascertained with great care by Mr. Baring, and I am surprised
-that the right hon. gentleman the member for Bradford should still
-speak of it as a statement in which he has confidence. I believe
-it to be an entire fabrication. I believe also it is an entire
-fabrication that 1,000 young women were sold in the market as
-slaves. We have not received the slightest evidence of a single
-sale, even in those journals on which the right hon. gentleman
-the member for Bradford founded his erratic speech. I have been
-attacked for saying that I did not believe it was possible to have
-10,000 persons in prison in Bulgaria. So far as I can ascertain
-from the papers, there never could have been more than 3,000. As
-to the 10,000 cases of torture, what evidence is there of a single
-case of torture? We know very well that there has been considerable
-slaughter; that there must have been isolated and individual cases
-of most atrocious rapine, and outrages of a most atrocious kind;
-but still we have had communications with Sir Henry Elliot, and he
-has always assumed from what he knew that these cases of individual
-rapine and outrage were occurring. He knew that civil war there was
-carried on under conditions of brutality which, unfortunately, are
-not unprecedented in that country; and the question is whether the
-information we had justified the extravagant statements made in
-Parliament, which no one pretends to uphold and defend.... The hon.
-and learned member (Sir W. Harcourt) has done full justice to the
-Bulgarian atrocities. He has assumed as absolutely true everything
-that criticism and more authentic information had modified, and
-in some cases had proved not merely to be exaggeration but to
-be absolute falsehoods. And then the hon. and learned gentleman
-says--"By your policy you have depopulated a province." Well, sir,
-certainly the slaughter of 12,000 individuals, whether Turks or
-Bulgarians, whether they were innocent peasants or even brigands,
-is a horrible event which no one can think of without emotion.
-But when I remember that the population of Bulgaria is 3,700,000
-persons, and that it is a very large country, is it not a most
-extravagant abuse of rhetoric to say that the slaughter of so
-considerable a number as 12,000 is the depopulation of a province?
-Well, the hon. and learned gentleman said also that Her Majesty's
-Government had incurred a responsibility which is not possessed by
-any other country as regards our relations with and our influence
-with the Turks. I say that we have incurred no responsibility which
-is not shared with us by all the other contracting Powers to the
-Treaty of Paris. I utterly disclaim any peculiar responsibility....
-That an hon. and learned gentleman, once a member of a Government
-and an ornament of that Government, should counsel as the solution
-of all these difficulties that Her Majesty's Government should
-enter into an immediate combination to expel the Turkish nation
-from Eastern Europe does indeed surprise me. And because we are
-not prepared to enter into a scheme so quixotic as that would be,
-we are held up as having given our moral, not to say our material,
-support to Turkey.... We are, it is true, the allies of Turkey;
-so is Austria, so is Russia, so is France, and so are others. We
-are also their partners in a tripartite Treaty, in which we not
-only generally, but singly, guarantee with France and Austria
-the territorial integrity of Turkey. And if these engagements,
-renovated and repeated only four years ago by the wisdom of Europe,
-are to be treated by the hon. and learned gentleman as idle wind
-and chaff, and if we are to be told that our political duty is by
-force to expel the Turks to the other side of the Bosphorus, then
-politics cease to be an art, statesmanship becomes a mere mockery,
-and instead of being a House of Commons faithful to its traditions,
-and which is always influenced, I have ever thought, by sound
-principles of policy, whoever may be its leaders, we had better at
-once resolve ourselves into one of those revolutionary clubs which
-settle all political and social questions with the same ease as the
-hon. and learned member.
-
-
-[NOTE.--This was Disraeli's last speech as a member of the House of
-Commons. He was raised to the peerage on August 12, 1876.]
-
-
-
-
-SIR THEOPHILUS SHEPSTONE'S COMMISSION (1877).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 7.
-
-
-Whereas grievous disturbances have broken out in the territories
-adjacent to Our colonies in South Africa, with war between the
-white inhabitants and the native races, to the great peril of
-the peace and safety of Our said colonies; and whereas, having
-regard to the safety of Our said colonies, it greatly concerns
-Us that full inquiry should be made into the origin, nature, and
-circumstances of the said disturbances, and with respect to the
-measures to be adopted for preventing the recurrence of the like
-disturbances in the future; and whereas it may become requisite to
-this end that the said territories, or portions of them, should be
-administered in Our name and in Our behalf.
-
-Now know you that We, having especial trust and confidence in the
-loyalty and fidelity of you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone,
-have appointed you to be Our special Commissioner for the purpose
-of making such inquiry as aforesaid ... and if the emergency seem
-to you to be such as to render it necessary, in order to secure
-the peace and safety of Our said colonies, and of Our subjects
-elsewhere, that the said territories, or any portion or portions of
-the same, should be provisionally, and pending the announcement of
-Our pleasure, be administered in Our name and on Our behalf, then,
-and in such case only, We do further authorize you, the said Sir
-Theophilus Shepstone, by proclamation under your hand, to declare
-that from and after a day to be therein named, so much of any such
-territories aforesaid as to you, after due consideration, shall
-seem fit, shall be annexed and form part of Our dominions.
-
-And We do hereby constitute and appoint you to be thereupon
-Administrator of the same provisionally and until Our pleasure is
-more fully known.
-
-Provided, first, that no such proclamation shall be issued by you
-with respect to any district, territory, or state, unless you shall
-be satisfied that the inhabitants thereof, or a sufficient number
-of them, or the Legislature thereof, desire to become Our subjects;
-nor if any conditions unduly limiting Our power and authority
-therein are sought to be imposed....
-
-
-
-
-RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON TURKEY (1877).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, April 25.
-
-
-We have not a word to say in defence of the Porte. We admit that it
-was guilty, as Lord Salisbury has confessed, of infatuation when
-it defied the Conference, and that it would have accepted even the
-Protocol, if it had possessed a tithe of the sagacity which was
-once a better protection of its weakness than ironclads are to-day.
-We may even admit that the Protocol was, what Prince Gortchakoff
-styles it, the last expression of the united will of Europe. But
-his story is fatally incomplete. It would have been desirable to
-know whether Russia has done her best to make it easy for Turkey
-to accept the undisguised tutelage of the European Powers. That
-question calls to mind how much the fanaticism of the Turks was
-inflamed by the covert aid which Russia gave to Servia. The Czar
-refers to the famous words which he spoke in the Kremlin. They were
-indeed the real declaration of war, for they prevented Russia from
-accepting anything less than the complete submission of Turkey.
-Russia might plead, no doubt, that as war was certain to be found
-an absolute necessity in the end, it mattered little how rudely
-she ruffled the Osmanli pride. But in that case the negotiations
-of the past two years have been a series of hypocrisies. As it
-is, the general judgment is expressed by what Lord Derby said
-last night. While he found it hopeless to bend the will of Turkey
-towards submission, he equally found on the part of her Government
-"a deeply seated conviction that, do what they would, sooner or
-later war would be forced upon them." He believed that he and
-his colleagues have throughout been "engaged in the solution of
-a hopeless problem." Such, we fear, is the prosaic truth, and,
-whatever be the measure of Turkish obstinacy, Russia cannot escape
-condemnation. She has sometimes acted as if she wished to cut off
-a way of retreat both from herself and her foe.... Russia has
-hastened to stop all further negotiations, and to act as if she
-and she alone had an interest in the tranquillity of the Turkish
-Empire. Thus she has forfeited any right to speak in the name
-of Europe. Nor has she given the Powers assurances which they
-had a right to expect. Nothing is said in the same strain as the
-declarations at Livadia, that Russia had no objects of territorial
-ambition.... The Czar has committed a grave error by neglecting to
-proclaim that in no event would he seize Turkish territory.
-
-
-
-
-IRISH OBSTRUCTION IN ITS EARLY DAYS (1877).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, August 1.
-
-
-Mr. Parnell and his special friends greatly distinguished
-themselves in the House of Commons last night by the multiplicity
-of the motions in committee on the South Africa Bill. The
-Government adopted special means to wear out the tenacity of the
-members who thus consume hour after hour, for it had arranged that
-the House should sit until the work should be done, even if the
-discussion should last till breakfast time. But it does injustice
-to Mr. Parnell. He is the most misunderstood and most ill-used man
-in the House of Commons. Such is the burden of the long letter from
-him which we printed on Monday. He has been accused of trying to
-stop public business by floods of irrelevant speech. He has been
-charged with something like open disrespect for the authority of
-Mr. Speaker. He has been suspected of a wish to make Irish members
-intolerable, in the hope that weary Englishmen and Scotchmen would
-bid them begone to enjoy the beatitudes of Home Rule. He has made
-the Leader of the House, although the mildest of men, propose to
-banish him to the penal settlement of silence, and the House has
-done him the honour of framing two new rules to impede the flow of
-his speech during the rest of the Session.... The incorrectness
-of that accusation, he replies, is proved by the comparatively
-small use he has made of almost boundless opportunities. If his
-enemies speak of what he has done, he appeals to what he might
-have done. Has he obstructed every clause of every Bill? Has he
-even obstructed every Bill? Has he exhausted all the forms of the
-House even yet? These questions oppress us with a sense of his
-moderation. If he has done so much, he might have done so much
-more! As most Bills have at least ten clauses, as most clauses
-contain at least a hundred words, and as at least one amendment
-might be moved after each word, Mr. Parnell could have opposed
-each Bill with at least a thousand amendments, and he himself, Mr.
-Biggar, and Mr. O'Donnell could each have delivered at least a
-thousand speeches.
-
-
-
-
-PLEVNA AFTER THE SIEGE (1877).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, December 15.
-
-
-_From Our Special Correspondent.--Plevna, December 11._
-
-As I rode up the slope of the hill east of Plevna towards the
-redoubt defending the road between the town and the village of
-Radicheve, a ghastly scene was presented. Hundreds of Russian
-skeletons lay glistening on the hillsides, where they had fallen
-during the assault of September. The bones were generally
-completely bare. Those nearest to the earthwork had been covered
-with a few inches of earth, which had been washed off by the first
-shower, and now they lay as naked as the others. The Moslem outpost
-pits were among these skeletons, many of them not being more than a
-yard distant. Singular as it may seem, many of these skeletons had
-distinct expressions, both in the attitude in which they had fallen
-and in the position of the fleshless jaws. I could distinguish
-those who had fallen without suffering from those who had died in
-agony, and the effect was such as I shall never forget. The Russian
-soldiers who marched into Plevna in the rear of Osman's sallying
-force passed among these remains of their unburied comrades.... On
-entering the town I was surprised to find it so little injured by
-the cannonading....
-
-Within a short time after Osman's surrender at the bridge over
-the Vid, on the Sofia road, the 16,000 prisoners were turned back
-into the town, with the artillery and transport trains.... The
-Turks were well fed in appearance, but were generally ragged, and
-were all wearing sandals. No boots were to be seen, though most of
-them had overcoats.... The contrast between these tatterdemalion
-battalions and the well-dressed men guarding them made the war
-appear a one-sided affair, until the reflection came that a ragged
-man shot as well as one perfectly equipped. Later in the day,
-standing on the Sofia road, in the Gravitza valley west of Plevna,
-I surveyed the whole basin forming Osman's position. The herbage
-and all other growing things had so effectually disappeared that
-the earth's surface looked as if a conflagration had swept over
-every square foot of it. The colour was a dull brown, and I never
-gazed upon a more dismal-looking region. The sides of the basin
-were serried by ravines, all centering in the valley where I stood,
-and upon the surrounding edges of the basin were the Turkish
-and Allied batteries planted in irregular line, but commanding
-every vantage-point of the neighbourhood.... Where the Gravitza
-_chaussée_ crosses the elevation the Turkish redoubts were weakest,
-and here the Russian artillery fire had been chiefly concentrated.
-The front and rear of the earthworks were ploughed up by shells,
-and in truth there was scarcely a square yard which had not been
-struck. Thousands of such missiles, varying from 3 inches to 6
-inches in diameter, lay unexploded upon the surface of the earth.
-In a previous telegram I said that these redoubts were battered to
-pieces; but I now discover that this was a curious error of vision.
-The works are practically uninjured. So far as the earthworks are
-concerned, the Russian artillery ammunition has been absolutely
-wasted, and from an inspection of the trenches I do not believe
-that the garrison has suffered more than their defences. Neither
-do I believe that any artillery could have accomplished more. The
-fact is that shells against earthworks are useless at a greater
-distance than 500 or 600 yards, and then the guns cannot be worked
-on account of the enemy's sharpshooters. The Turkish soldiers
-in the redoubts had bomb-proof abodes in the back walls of the
-pits.... I was very much surprised to find the Turkish lines of
-fortification so weak, as far as the quantity of earthwork is
-concerned. The redoubts are much smaller than I supposed them to
-be.... There are no double lines of infantry trenches--in fact,
-no interior lines of any sort; neither are there trenches on the
-hillsides below the redoubts. There are no lines of intrenchments
-for the reserves; indeed, there were apparently no reserves.
-When I saw this technically weak line I could not but admire the
-efficiency of the weapons with which it had been defended, and
-the stubborn tenacity of the men who could hold it against such
-assaults as the Allies have delivered against it. The Allies had
-double and treble lines around Plevna. Their works are much better
-constructed than those of the Turks, so far as finish is concerned;
-but for safety I would rather trust myself to the latter.... The
-Roumanian trenches, however, were well constructed and capacious.
-The best trench is within 25 feet of the Turkish counterscarp [of a
-redoubt]. From the bottom of this trench two shafts were sunk about
-15 feet in depth, and from the bottom two galleries had been pushed
-under the Turkish parapet, and the mines were nearly ready when the
-Moslems evacuated their positions. But the strangest part of the
-history of this siege is the fact that the Turks had also mined
-the Gravitza redoubt opposite, and before leaving their earthwork
-they had fired the mining fuse. The Roumanians, discovering their
-departure, entered their ditches, found the gallery, and reached
-the fuse in time to quench it before it had burned to the explosive
-charge; so that each was prepared to blow the other up without
-knowing, apparently, that counter-operations were in progress....
-
-At noon to-day the Emperor arrived at the redoubt defending
-the approach to Plevna by the Gravitza _chaussée_.... [After a
-religious service] the whole party rode into Plevna, taking the
-less frequented streets, lest some assassin might fire upon the
-Emperor. In a small house, surrounded by a high stone wall, lunch
-was served, after which there was a sudden hush, and Osman Pasha
-was carried into the yard and through the portico by a Cossack
-officer and one of his own attendants. As he passed through the
-crowd of staff officers, every one saluted him, and shouted,
-"Bravo, Osman!" He then passed into the presence of the Emperor,
-who shook hands with him, and informed him that, in consideration
-of his gallant defence of Plevna, he had given orders that his
-sword should be returned to him, and that he could wear it.
-
-
-
-
-STRAINED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA (1878).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 237, cols. 1,326, 1332
-(Questions, February 8, 1878).
-
-
-THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Mr. Speaker, the Government
-have received a telegram to-day from Mr. Layard, containing a
-summary of the articles of the armistice.... The telegram ends by
-saying that the Turks have begun to remove their guns from the
-Constantinople lines. Now it is quite evident that, whatever may
-have been the arrangements with regard to the neighbourhood of
-Constantinople, a neutral zone has been declared, which includes
-the lines of Tchekmedje, which protect Constantinople; and
-according to the terms of the armistice the Turks are bound not to
-retain those fortresses, and accordingly are bound to remove--and
-are quietly beginning to remove--their guns and armaments from the
-fortifications by lines and to specified places.... The consequence
-is that, although the Russians do not occupy those lines
-themselves, they occupy an outpost close to them, while the lines
-themselves are being thoroughly disarmed. They have the power,
-therefore, at any moment, subject to the necessity of giving three
-days' notice of the termination of the armistice, of advancing
-on Constantinople without hindrance.... I may perhaps venture to
-call the attention of the House to one of the papers which we laid
-upon the table yesterday. That contains a copy of a Memorandum
-which was communicated to the Russian Ambassador by Her Majesty's
-Government on the 28th of July last, in which they say they "look
-with much anxiety at the state of things in Constantinople, and
-the prospect of the disorder and bloodshed, and even anarchy,
-which may occur as the Russian forces draw near to the capital.
-The crisis which may at any time arrive in Constantinople may be
-such as Her Majesty's Government could not overlook, while they
-had the means of mitigating its horrors. Her Majesty's Government
-are fully determined (unless it should be necessary for the
-preservation of interests which they have already stated they are
-bound to maintain) not to depart from the line of neutrality which
-they have declared their intention to observe; but they do not
-consider that they would be departing from this neutrality, and
-they think that Russia will not consider they are doing so, if they
-should find themselves compelled to direct their fleet to proceed
-to Constantinople, and thus afford protection to the European
-population against internal disturbance." The Government, I may
-add, feel that the state of affairs disclosed by the armistice has
-given rise to the danger which they thus apprehended, and they
-have, in the circumstances, thought it right to order a portion of
-the fleet to proceed at once to Constantinople for the purpose of
-protecting the lives and property of British subjects.
-
-
-Cols. 1622-1623 (Questions, February 13, 1878).
-
-THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: I stated, I think, or at all
-events referred on Monday to the fact, that communications had
-been made to the Porte to ascertain whether permission would be
-given, or a _firman_ be granted, for the British fleet to enter
-the Dardanelles. That permission was refused, but Her Majesty's
-Government thought it right to direct the ships to proceed, and
-they have proceeded accordingly. No material opposition was
-offered, and they are by this time, I presume, anchored in the
-neighbourhood of Constantinople. I may perhaps mention that a
-communication has been made by the Russian Government to the
-effect that, in view of the intended sending of the fleet by Her
-Majesty's Government to the neighbourhood of Constantinople, it
-would be a matter for the consideration of the Russian Government
-whether they should not themselves occupy the city. In answer to
-that Her Majesty's Government have sent a communication which will
-be laid on the table of the House to-night, in which they protest
-against that view, and state that they cannot acknowledge that in
-the case of the two countries the circumstances are parallel, or
-that the despatch of the British fleet for the purpose indicated
-justifies the Russian Government in the step which they announce it
-to be their intention to take.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, March 29, 1878.
-
-The uncertainty which has prevailed during the last few days
-respecting the course which our Government would pursue, in view
-of the difference respecting the Congress which had arisen between
-ourselves and Russia, has received a startling and momentous
-solution. When the House of Lords met yesterday, Lord Derby no
-longer occupied his seat on the Ministerial Bench, and he at once
-announced that he had resigned the office of Secretary of State for
-Foreign Affairs.... The explanations given yesterday remove all
-doubt respecting the relative positions assumed by our Government
-and Russia in regard to the Congress. Sir Stafford Northcote
-stated in the House of Commons the import of the communications
-which have passed between ourselves and Russia.... Russia's reply
-amounted to a clear intimation that she claims to withhold from the
-cognizance of the Powers any articles of the preliminary Treaty
-she may choose. Such a reserve as she asserts is tantamount to a
-definite claim to alter an existing Treaty by force of arms without
-consulting the other Powers who signed it, and towards whom she is
-under honourable obligations. There being this imminent danger that
-the Congress may not meet--it being, as Lord Beaconsfield said,
-"the belief" of the Government "that the Congress would not meet,"
-it became necessary for the Government to consider what further
-course they would take.... We do not know what course Lord Derby
-would have advised, and it is possible he would not immediately
-have taken any fresh steps. But the rest of the Government decided
-that in the interests of peace, and for the due protection of the
-rights of the Empire, it was their duty "to advise Her Majesty to
-avail herself of those powers which she has for calling for the
-services of her Reserved Forces." As subsequently explained by Mr.
-Hardy in the House of Commons, this step is one which is rendered
-necessary by the new organization of the Army.... Its result will
-be to raise our regular forces to their utmost efficiency. In
-other words, it will place the land forces which actually exist in
-readiness for prompt action; and it is thus a plain declaration--a
-declaration rendered emphatic by Lord Derby's resignation--that
-we are prepared to act promptly if the course on which Russia
-has entered directly injures our honour or our interests. Such a
-declaration of our being determined to adhere to the claims we have
-put forward is perhaps the most momentous step which has yet been
-taken by this country.
-
-
-
-
-PEACE WITH HONOUR (1878).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, July 17.
-
-
-The Premier alighted at his official residence in Downing Street,
-and was met on the threshold by General Ponsonby, bearing a bouquet
-of rare flowers, sent to him by the gracious forethought of Her
-Majesty the Queen.... The ground was well kept by the police, till
-the Prime Minister appeared at a window and began to speak. Then
-a rush swept the police away. Three cheers for Lord Beaconsfield
-were given. For the second time in the day the Prime Minister was
-visibly affected. He had to wait long for silence, but when an
-approach to quiet had been obtained Lord Beaconsfield said: "I
-can assure you that no recognition of neighbours could be more
-gratifying to my feelings than these expressions of the sentiments
-of those among whom I see many of my oldest and most cherished
-friends. Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace, but
-a peace, I hope, with honour, which may satisfy our Sovereign, and
-tend to the welfare of the country."
-
-
-
-
-THE SECRET AGREEMENTS IN BEACONSFIELD'S POCKETS (1878).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 242, col. 344 (House of
-Lords: Debate on the Protocols of Berlin, August, 1878).
-
-
-The Earl of Rosebery rose to call attention to a memorandum
-purporting to have been signed by the Marquis of Salisbury and
-Count Schouvaloff on May 30, 1878, and to ask if it was the
-intention of the Government to lay it on the table of the House....
-The course the Government had pursued with respect to their policy
-was, he would venture to say, one of obscurity enlivened with
-sarcasm. In the whole history of the negotiations there were five
-cardinal points--points which became salient to everyone who had
-studied the history of these transactions. First, there was the San
-Stefano treaty; the second was the circular of the 1st of April;
-the third, the alleged secret agreement of May 30th; the fourth,
-the secret convention of June 4th with Turkey; and the fifth was
-the treaty signed at Berlin on the 30th of July. As to the secret
-agreement between Russia and England, it would be well to recall
-how they came to have any cognizance of it at all. The substance
-of it appeared in the _Globe_ within, he thought, three or four
-days after it was signed, and it was on the 14th of June, he
-thought, that the entire text was given in the columns of the same
-journal.... They had all heard that the agreement was not to be
-laid on the table, because there were documents in connection with
-it which it would be necessary to present at the same time; but
-other Powers would not allow us to produce them. What he gathered
-from all this was that, if it had not been for the ill-advised
-conduct of a very subordinate clerk in the Foreign Office, who was
-entrusted with the copying of the agreement at the rate of 10d. an
-hour, the English public would not at this moment have the faintest
-conception of such an agreement, and the keystone of the whole
-purpose of the Government would be wrapped in obscurity. This was
-alarming in itself, because, if these subterranean methods were
-employed as a rule, they would give the public some little dismay
-in regard to the course of further negotiations.... Having signed
-this agreement, and having signed another secret agreement within
-two or three days with Turkey, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries
-proceeded, fortified with them, to the Congress. Now came the most
-extraordinary point in all the history of these negotiations, so
-far as they knew it. Eight days after the signature, or alleged
-signature, of this agreement, in which, if the House would
-remember, we consented to the abandonment of Batoum and other
-Russian conquests in Armenia, the Foreign Secretary addressed a
-despatch to our Resident Plenipotentiary in Berlin, in which he
-urged him to use his exertions to the utmost on behalf of Batoum.
-The words were so remarkable that he might be pardoned for quoting
-them to their lordships. On the 8th of June the noble Marquis wrote
-to Lord Odo Russell: "There is no ground for believing that Russia
-will willingly give way in respect to Batoum, Kars, or Ardahan; and
-it is possible that the arguments of England urged in Congress will
-receive little assistance from other Powers, and will not be able
-to shake her resolution in this respect." Well, that was not likely
-under the circumstances. The noble Marquis continued in this letter
-of June 8th: "You will not on that account abstain from earnestly
-pressing upon them and upon Russia the justice of abstaining from
-annexations which are unconnected with the professed object of the
-war, and profoundly distasteful to the populations concerned, and
-the expediency, in regard to the future tranquillizing of Asia, of
-forbearing to shake so perilously the position of the Government
-of Turkey...." Now, the great point with regard to this was, was
-Lord Odo Russell, when he received that communication, cognizant
-of the agreement which had been signed on the 30th of May? Because
-what they wanted to know was this, was Lord Odo Russell one of a
-company, or was he a simple actor put up to recite the arguments
-of Batoum, with a prompter by to keep him to his part?... Then,
-on the same day, Mr. Secretary Cross addressed a despatch to
-the Plenipotentiaries of Her Majesty, urging them to make great
-exertion on behalf of Greece. He should say that the position of
-a Plenipotentiary who entered the Congress to struggle on behalf
-of Batoum, Kars, Ardahan, and Greece must have been a somewhat
-melancholy one in the retrospect; because, when the questions
-came up, the Turkish positions were abandoned, and Greece was
-ignored.... He did not pretend that secret understandings were
-unknown to us, but he believed this was the first time we had
-called a European Congress with the view of discussing great
-treaties, and standing forth on behalf of public law, we ourselves
-having, at the same time, bound ourselves in private to consent to
-those stipulations which we had denounced, and which we continued
-to denounce.
-
-
-
-
-GLADSTONE INDIGNANT AGAIN (1878).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, December 2.
-
-
-MR. GLADSTONE (at Greenwich): I want to ask you, and I think
-after these two years it is about time, who are the true friends
-of Russia? Is it we, gentlemen, who met two years and a half
-ago on Blackheath, and said it was most mischievous to leave to
-any single country the settlement of the Eastern question?...
-Who brought Russia back to the Danube? Those very men who are
-continually denouncing us as the friends of Russia. We had in
-1856 by the fortune of war driven Russia back from the Danube;
-the present Government have brought Russia back to the Danube.
-They made a secret memorandum with Count Schouvaloff by which they
-engaged--unless they could convert him by their arguments--to vote
-in the Congress for bringing Russia back to the Danube.... Who
-gave Russia the fortress of Kars? The present Government. These
-people say they want to keep down the power of Russia. Want to keep
-down the power of Russia! Why, they have left it in her power to
-make herself the liberator of Bulgaria, and secure for herself the
-influence which always follows upon gratitude.
-
-
-
-
-RUSSIAN INTRIGUE AT CABUL (1878).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,190 of
-1878, p. 228.
-
-
-_Telegram dated August 2, 1878. From Viceroy, Simla, to Secretary
-of State, London._
-
-Further confirmation received of presence of Russian mission at
-Cabul headed by General Abramoff, Governor of Samarkand, who is
-mentioned by name. We desire to point out that present situation
-requires immediate correction. It will soon be known throughout
-India that Russian officers and troops have been received with
-honour, and are staying at Cabul within short distance of our
-frontier and our largest military garrison, while our officers
-have been denied admission there. We have further reports of
-Russian officers having visited and been well received at Maimena.
-To remain inactive now will, we respectfully submit, be to allow
-Afghanistan to fall as certainly and as completely under Russian
-power and influence as the Khanates. We believe we could correct
-situation if allowed to treat it as question between us and the
-Ameer, and probably could do so without recourse to force. But we
-must speak plainly and decidedly, and be sure of your support. We
-propose, therefore, in the first place, to insist on reception of
-suitable British mission at Cabul. To this we do not anticipate
-serious resistance; indeed, we think it probable that Ameer,
-adhering to his policy of playing Russia and ourselves off against
-each other, will really welcome such mission, while outwardly only
-yielding to pressure....
-
-
-_From Secretary of State, August 3, 1878 (Extract)._
-
-Assuming the certainty of Russian officers at Cabul, your proposals
-to insist on reception of British envoy approved. In case of
-refusal you will telegraph again as to the steps you desire to take
-for compelling the Ameer to receive your mission.
-
-
-_Telegram from Viceroy, September 21, 1878._
-
-Chamberlain[A] reports from Peshawur that it is quite evident
-Ameer is bent on utmost procrastination, and determined on making
-acceptance of our mission dependent on his pleasure and choice of
-time.... To await at Peshawur Ameer's pleasure would be to abandon
-whole policy and accept easy repulse at outset.... Consequently
-mission moved this morning to Jamrud; thence Cavagnari advances to
-Ali Musjid with small escort to demand passage....
-
-[A] General Sir Neville Chamberlain.
-
-
-_Telegram from Viceroy, September 22, 1878._
-
-Following telegram received last night from Sir Neville
-Chamberlain. Message begins: Cavagnari reports that we have
-received a decisive answer from Faiz Mahomed, after personal
-interview, that he will not allow mission to proceed. He crowned
-the heights commanding the way with his levies, and though many
-times warned by Cavagnari that his reply would be regarded as reply
-of the Ameer, said he would not let mission pass....
-
-
-_Telegram from Secretary of State, October 30, 1878._
-
-Text of letter, as approved, to be sent to the Ameer.... In
-consequence of this hostile action on your part, I have assembled
-Her Majesty's forces on your frontier, but I desire to give you a
-last opportunity of averting the calamities of war. For this it
-is necessary that a full and suitable apology be offered by you
-in writing, and tendered on British territory by an officer of
-sufficient rank. Furthermore, as it has been found impossible to
-maintain satisfactory relations between the two States unless the
-British Government is adequately represented in Afghanistan, it
-will be necessary that you should consent to receive a permanent
-British Mission within your territory.... Unless these conditions
-are accepted, fully and plainly, by you, and your acceptance
-received by me not later than the 20th November, I shall be
-compelled to consider your intentions as hostile, and to treat you
-as a declared enemy of the British Government.
-
-
-
-
-SHERE ALI (1878).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,190 of
-1878, p. 225.
-
-
-_Extract from a Memorandum by Lord Napier of Magdala._
-
-We have unfortunately managed Shere Ali badly. Perhaps it might
-not have been possible, with our scruples and his want of them, to
-have managed him advantageously; but it must be admitted that we
-have not given him the reasons to unite himself with us that he
-naturally expected. First, we stood aloof in his struggles for life
-and empire, ready to acknowledge whoever might prove the master
-of Afghanistan. Then, when Shere Ali had subdued his enemies, he
-came forward to meet us with an alliance, but we were willing to
-form only an imperfect alliance with him. He was willing to trust
-us, provided that we would trust him; but we felt that we could
-not bind ourselves to unreserved support of a power whose ideas of
-right and wrong were so different from ours. We therefore proposed
-to bind him, leaving ourselves (according to his idea) free, and he
-recoiled from this bargain. His friendly feelings, however, were
-not entirely alienated by that experience of us; he abstained from
-any action towards Seistan at our desire, and he believed that
-the mediation which we pressed upon him would have ended by the
-restoration of the portion of Seistan that Persia had occupied in
-his days of trouble. And not only Shere Ali, but the whole Afghan
-people, believed that we should restore to them what they had
-lost. When they found that we had allowed Persia to obstruct and
-ill-treat our arbitrator, and to retain much of her encroachments,
-they looked upon us as a weak and treacherous people, who, under
-the guise of friendship, had spoiled them in favour of Persia.
-This I believe to be the root of Shere Ali's discontent with us.
-
-
-
-
-DEATH OF SHERE ALI (1879).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,401 of
-1879, p. 12.
-
-
-_Translation of a Letter, dated February 26, 1879, from Sirdar
-Mahomed Yakub Khan to Major Cavagnari._
-
-... I now write a second time in accordance with former friendship
-to inform you that to-day a letter was received by post from
-Turkestan announcing that my worthy and exalted father had, upon
-29th Safar (21st February, 1879), obeyed the call of the summoner,
-and, throwing off the dress of existence, hastened to the region of
-the divine mercy.
-
-
-
-
-THE GANDAMAK TREATY (1879).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,362 of
-1879.
-
-
-ARTICLE III.--His Highness the Ameer of Afghanistan and its
-dependencies agrees to conduct his relations with foreign States in
-accordance with the advice and wishes of the British Government....
-The British Government will support the Ameer against any foreign
-aggression with money, arms, or troops, to be employed in
-whatsoever manner the British Government may judge best for the
-purpose.
-
-ARTICLE IV.--With a view to the maintenance of the direct and
-intimate relations now established ... it is agreed that a British
-Resident representative shall reside at Cabul, with a suitable
-escort, in a place of residence appropriate to his rank and
-dignity. It is also agreed that the British Government shall have
-the right to depute British Agents with suitable escorts to the
-Afghan frontiers, whensoever this may be considered necessary by
-the British Government in the interests of both States, on the
-occurrence of any important external fact....
-
-ARTICLE IX.--The British Government restores to His Highness the
-Ameer of Afghanistan and its dependencies the towns of Candahar and
-Jellalabad, with all the territory now in possession of the British
-armies, excepting the districts of Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi. His
-Highness ... agrees on his part that the districts of Kurram,
-Pishin, and Sibi, according to the limits defined in the schedule
-annexed, shall remain under the protection and administrative
-control of the British Government: that is to say, the aforesaid
-districts shall be treated as assigned districts, and shall not be
-considered as permanently severed from the limits of the Afghan
-kingdom.... The British Government will retain in its own hands the
-control of the Khyber and Michni Passes, and of all relations with
-the independent tribes of the territory directly connected with
-these passes.
-
-Done at Gandamak this 26th day of May, 1879.
-
-
-
-
-THE CABUL MASSACRE (1879).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications, "Afghanistan,"_ C 2,457 of
-1880, p. 95.
-
-
-_Statement of Taimur (Timoss), Sowar B troop, Corps of Guides, on
-September 15, 1879._
-
-I was in the Bala Hissar, Cabul, on the 3rd instant: Major Sir
-Louis Cavagnari and the other British officers were in the
-bungalow. At about 8 a.m. the Turkestani ("Ardal") regiment, which
-was in the Bala Hissar, was paraded to receive its pay. Daud Shah,
-the Commander-in-Chief, gave them one month's pay. They claimed
-two, and broke. They were paraded quite close to the Residency,
-and another regiment was also quartered with them. One of soldiery
-shouted out, "Let us destroy the Envoy first of all, and after
-that the Ameer!" They rushed into the courtyard in front of the
-Residency, and stoned some of the syces who were sitting there. We
-then opened fire on them, without orders from any European. All
-the British officers were inside. The Ameer's men then went for
-their weapons, and returned with them in a quarter of an hour.
-They then commenced to besiege the Residency, and from commanding
-positions made the roof of the Residency untenable. We made shelter
-trenches on it, and fired from the windows. The city people came
-to help the soldiers about 10 a.m. Major Sir Louis Cavagnari was
-wounded in the forehead about 1 p.m.; he was in a shelter trench. A
-man from the roof of a house shot at him, and the bullet striking
-a brick, it, together with a piece of brick, struck Sir Louis.
-But he was not killed. Mr. Jenkyns came up and sent for a Munshi
-to write to the Ameer, but the scribe was unable to write through
-fear. I then wrote briefly to the Ameer that we were besieged, and
-he was to help us; and sent it by Gholam Nabbi, a Kabuli, an old
-Guide Sowar who was in the Residency. No answer came. Gholam Nabbi
-afterwards told me that the Ameer wrote on the letter, "If God
-will, I am just making arrangements." Major Cavagnari was helped
-into the Residency, and tended to by Dr. Kelly. Mr. Jenkyns then
-ordered me to send a second letter to the Ameer, stating that Major
-Cavagnari was wounded, and to hasten on assistance. The letter was
-sent by a Hindu whose name I don't know. He was cut to pieces in
-front of the Residency. I was at about 3 p.m. sent with a letter
-by Mr. Hamilton promising six months' pay. By that time they had
-managed to get on to the roof of the Residency. I went armed into
-the midst of the crowd, and was immediately stripped of my arms,
-but my life was saved by an officer. They threw me from the roof
-of the Residency on to the roof of the neighbouring house. I lost
-my senses.... I know nothing of what happened after this, but I
-visited the place next morning. I recollect they had begun to set
-fire to the Residency just as I was leaving.... Daybreak I went
-to the Residency, and saw first the corpse of Lieutenant Hamilton
-lying over a mountain gun which had been brought up. The troops
-who were there told me Mr. Hamilton had shot about three men with
-his pistol, and had cut down two more before he was shot. He was
-stripped and cut into pieces, but not dishonoured. About 25 feet
-off was the body of Mr. Jenkyns in a similar state. I did not go
-into the Residency, but was told Dr. Kelly was lying killed in the
-Residency. Sir Louis Cavagnari was in the Residency when it fell in
-flames. He was in the room where the wounded were, and his body had
-not been discovered when I left the city.
-
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,457 of
-1880, p. 83.
-
-_Extract from Deposition of Ressaldar-Major Nakshband Khan._
-
-At about 9 a.m., while the fighting was going on, I myself saw the
-four European officers charge out at the head of some twenty-five
-of the garrison; they drove away a party that were holding some
-broken ground. About a quarter of an hour after this another sally
-was made by a party with three officers at their head--Cavagnari
-was not with them this time--with the same result. A third sally
-was made with two British officers (Jenkyns and Hamilton) leading;
-a fourth sally was made with a Sikh Jemadar bravely leading. No
-more sallies were made after this. They all appeared to go to the
-upper part of the house, and fired from above. At about half-past
-eleven o'clock part of the building, in which the Embassy was,
-was noticed to be on fire. I do not know who fired it. I think
-it probable that the defenders, finding themselves so few, fired
-part, so as to have a less space to defend. The firing went on
-continuously all day; perhaps it was hottest from 10 a.m. to 3
-p.m., after which it slackened, and the last shots were fired at
-about 8.30 p.m. or 9 p.m., after which all was quiet, and everyone
-dispersed. The next morning I heard shots being fired. I asked an
-old woman, to whose house I had been sent for safety by Sirdar Wali
-Muhammad Khan, what this was: she sent out her son to find out.
-He said: "They are shooting the people found still alive in the
-Residency."
-
-
-
-
-THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN (1879).
-
-=Source.=--_The Saturday Review_, November 29.
-
-
-The personal enthusiasm with which Mr. Gladstone is regarded by the
-mass of his followers has been largely stimulated by his appearance
-in Scotland and by his fervid harangues. The only local topic on
-which he has cared to dwell is the alleged creation of fagot votes
-by his opponents. There can be no doubt that the purchase of little
-freeholds for the sole purpose of obtaining votes is an abuse and a
-grievance, though it is said that Mr. Gladstone once held a fagot
-vote. For two or three years of his life Mr. Cobden concentrated
-all his efforts on a gigantic scheme of fagot votes, by which the
-manufacturing towns were to obtain control of the counties; but the
-total failure of the project caused it to be tacitly abandoned.
-If Mr. Gladstone is after all defeated in Midlothian, the moral
-effect of a Conservative victory will be greatly impaired by the
-process of tampering with the representation. To Mr. Gladstone's
-excited mind an attempt to pack a constituency probably assumes
-extravagant dimensions. Before he arrived at Edinburgh he began
-his public protest against fagot votes in Midlothian, as well as
-against the crimes of a Government which he has persuaded himself
-to regard as the worst and most dangerous that has held power in
-England. He has denounced his opponents so loudly and so often that
-even his overflowing eloquence could include nothing new, but the
-crowded assemblies which he addressed, though they had read his
-orations, and perhaps his pamphlets, had not heard him speak. It is
-not surprising that eager and unanimous multitudes should welcome
-with admiration and delight the detailed exposition, by the most
-eloquent of politicians, of the opinions which they had already
-been taught to hold. Few cold-blooded or dispassionate sceptics
-would ask themselves whether it was credible that a Ministry
-and a great and steady majority of the House of Commons should
-never, even by accident, have deviated into prudence, justice, or
-patriotic foresight. In private discussion and in Parliamentary
-debate it is found expedient, according to the old legal phrase, to
-give colour, or, in other words, to admit that the theory, which is
-impugned, though unsound, is at least credible or intelligible. Mr.
-Gladstone follows the bent of his own genius when he encourages the
-popular tendency to deal with difficult controversies as if they
-were wholly one-sided.
-
-His Liberal colleagues, perhaps, regard his present enterprise
-with mixed feelings. Their confidence in their former leader is
-qualified by doubts of his judgment, and by uncertainty as to the
-present range of his ambition. They cannot but perceive that he
-assumes the character of representative of the party, although he
-probably intends no disloyalty to its official or nominal chiefs.
-It is true that if, in appealing to the multitude, he pushes his
-successors aside, they have little right to complain. Almost
-all of them have of late addressed vehement language to public
-meetings, though none of them can compete with Mr. Gladstone in
-the power of stirring political passion. Official subordination
-is set aside when policy is regulated, not by Parliament, but by
-the voice of the general population. Senators and Consulars must
-stand aside in the presence of a Dictator. Although it has long
-been customary for statesmen to make occasional speeches to public
-meetings, the extent to which the practice has lately been carried
-is altogether unprecedented. The result is that the Constitution
-is gradually weakened by the substitution of numerical majorities
-for the representatives of the people in Parliament. The approach
-of a General Election furnishes no sufficient justification for
-an innovation which accelerates the prevalence of democracy, and
-aggravates its evil tendencies. Mr. Gladstone himself perhaps
-understands and approves the organic change which promotes the
-supremacy of popular eloquence in the State. It is his habit to
-depreciate the honesty and judgment of the educated classes.
-
-
-
-
-BEACONSFIELD KEEPS COOL.
-
-=Source.=--Holland's _Life of the Duke of Devonshire_, i. 258.
-(Longmans and Co.)
-
-
-_Lord Beaconsfield to Mr. Gathorne Hardy._
-
-It certainly is a relief that the drenching rhetoric has at length
-ceased--but I have never read a word of it. "Satis eloquentiæ
-sapientiæ parum."
-
-
-
-
-THE MAIWAND DISASTER (1880).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2,736 of
-1880, p. 3.
-
-
-_Telegram from Viceroy, June 27, 1880, to Secretary of State._
-
-Telegram from Thomson at Teheran says: Ayub Khan marching against
-Candahar with large force. I think we should leave Shere Ali to
-defend himself beyond the Helmund, but it seems to me, after
-communicating with Stewart, that it would be inconsistent with
-security of our military position at Candahar to allow hostile
-forces to cross that river. I propose, therefore, to instruct
-Primrose, if Ayub reaches Furrah, to advance towards Girishk with
-sufficient force to prevent passage of Helmund....
-
-
-_Telegram dated August 2, 1880, from Colonel St. John, Candahar, to
-Foreign, Simla (p. 33)._
-
-_29th._--Arrived here yesterday afternoon with General Burrows
-and Nuttall and remnant of force. Telegraph has been interrupted
-ever since my arrival. No chance of restoration, so send this
-by messenger to Chaman. Burrows marched from Kushk-i-Nakhud on
-morning 27th, having heard from me that Ayub's advanced guard had
-occupied Maiwand, about three miles from the latter place. Enemy's
-cavalry appeared advancing from direction of Haidrabad, their
-camp on Helmund ten miles above Girishk. Artillery and cavalry
-engaged them at 9 a.m., so shortly afterwards whole force of enemy
-appeared, and formed line of battle--seven regiments, regulars in
-centre, three others in reserve; about 2,000 cavalry on right;
-400 mounted men and 2,000 Ghazis and irregular infantry on left;
-other cavalry and irregulars in reserve; five or six batteries of
-guns, including one of breechloaders, distributed at intervals.
-Estimated total force, 12,000. Ground slightly undulating, enemy
-being well posted. Till 1 p.m. action confined to artillery fire,
-which so well sustained and directed by enemy that our superior
-quality armament failed to compensate for inferior number of guns.
-After development of rifle fire, our breechloaders told; but
-vigorous advance of cavalry against our left, and Ghazis along the
-front, caused native infantry to fall back in confusion on 66th,
-abandoning two guns. Formation being lost, infantry retreated
-slowly; and in spite of gallant efforts of General Burrows to rally
-them, were cut off from cavalry and artillery. This was at 3 p.m.,
-and followers and baggage were streaming away towards Candahar.
-After severe fighting in enclosed ground, General Burrows succeeded
-in extricating infantry and brought them into line of retreat.
-Unfortunately no effort would turn fugitives from main road,
-waterless at this season. Thus majority casualties appear to have
-occurred from thirst and exhaustion. Enemy's pursuit continued to
-ten miles from Candahar, but was not vigorous. Cavalry, artillery,
-and a few infantry reached banks of Argandab, forty miles from
-scene of action, at 7 a.m., many not having tasted water since
-previous morning. Nearly all ammunition lost, with 400 Martini,
-700 Sniders, and 2 nine-pounder guns. Estimated loss, killed,
-and missing: 66th, 400; Grenadiers, 350; Jacob's Rifles, 350;
-artillery, 40; sappers, 21; cavalry, 60.... Preparations being now
-made for siege....
-
-
-_Extract from General Burrows's Report on the Action (p. 101)._
-
-... Between two and three o'clock the fire of the enemy's guns
-slackened, and swarms of Ghazis advanced rapidly towards our
-centre. Up to this time the casualties among the infantry had not
-been heavy, and as the men were firing steadily, and the guns
-were sweeping the ground with case shot, I felt confident as to
-the result. But our fire failed to check the Ghazis; they came on
-in overwhelming numbers, and, making good their rush, they seized
-the two most advanced horse artillery guns. With the exception of
-two companies of Jacob's Rifles, which had caused me great anxiety
-by their unsteadiness early in the day, the conduct of the troops
-had been splendid up to this point; but now, at the critical
-moment, when a firm resistance might have achieved a victory, the
-infantry gave way, and, commencing from the left, rolled up, like
-a wave, to the right. After vainly endeavouring to rally them, I
-went for the cavalry.... The 3rd Light Cavalry and the 3rd Sind
-Horse were retiring slowly on our left, and I called upon them to
-charge across our front and so give the infantry an opportunity
-of reforming; but the terrible artillery fire to which they had
-been exposed, and from which they had suffered so severely, had so
-shaken them that General Nuttall was unable to give effect to my
-order. All was now over....
-
-
-_Extract from Report by Lieutenant-General Primrose, Commanding 1st
-Division Southern Afghanistan Field Force (p. 156)._
-
-I would most respectfully wish to bring to the Commander-in-Chief's
-notice the gallant and determined stand made by the officers
-and men of the 66th Regiment at Maiwand.... 10 officers and 275
-non-commissioned officers and men were killed, and 2 officers and
-30 non-commissioned officers and men wounded. These officers and
-men nearly all fell fighting desperately for the honour of their
-Queen and country. I have it on the authority of a Colonel of
-Artillery of Ayub Khan's army that a party of the 66th Regiment,
-which he estimated at one hundred officers and men, made a most
-determined stand in a garden. They were surrounded by the whole
-Afghan Army, and fought on until only eleven men were left,
-inflicting enormous loss upon the enemy. These eleven charged out
-of the garden, and died with their faces to the foe, fighting to
-the death. Such was the nature of their charge and the grandeur
-of their bearing that, although the whole of the Ghazis were
-assembled around them, not one dared approach to cut them down.
-Thus standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily and truly,
-every shot telling, surrounded by thousands, these eleven officers
-and men died; and it was not until the last man had been shot down
-that the Ghazis dared advance upon them.
-
-
-
-
-THE BRADLAUGH CASE (1880).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, June 25.
-
-
-We may regard the episode of Tuesday's resolution, and its natural
-sequence in the imprisonment of Mr. Bradlaugh for defying the
-authority of the House, as now at an end.... We regret unfeignedly,
-as we have all along done, that Mr. Bradlaugh was not permitted to
-make affirmation, instead of taking an oath, when he first asked
-to be allowed to do so.... But opportunity of creating a precedent
-consonant with reason and common sense has been let slip, and in
-default of a reasonable precedent the only manly course now seems
-to be to supply its place by fresh legislation. If the personal
-question of Mr. Bradlaugh and his very unsavoury opinions can once
-be got out of the way, there are probably very few members of the
-House of Commons, and very few sensible Englishmen, however strong
-their religious opinions, who would not acknowledge the anomaly,
-the inexpediency, and the injustice of making the Parliamentary
-oath of allegiance more stringent and more exclusive than the
-existing statutory provisions for securing truth of testimony and
-uprightness of conduct.
-
-
-
-
-SOCIAL AMELIORATIONS (1880).
-
-EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, July 3.
-
-
-The fact is that considerations of risk are not uniformly present
-to servants when they are hired, and that the miner or railway
-guard generally contracts on the assumption in his own mind
-that he will be lucky, and will not be injured. The impulse to
-such Bills as Mr. Brassey's, Earl De La Warr's, and the measure
-introduced by the Government, is the inability of many people to
-see any good reason why, if a master is liable for the acts of
-his servant towards a stranger, he should be irresponsible when
-someone, fully clothed with his authority, and acting with all his
-power to enforce obedience, injures a so-called fellow-servant,
-who, perhaps, did not know of the existence of this vice-principal,
-and who never, in fact, consented to endure without complaint
-what might befall him by reason of the negligence of the latter.
-Perhaps in theory it is entirely wrong to make a master in any case
-liable for the acts of his servants. It is hard to give any good
-reason for this portion of our common law. Perhaps this species
-of responsibility, when historically examined, will be proved to
-be a shoot from the Roman law of master and slave, which has been
-unintelligently grafted on a law governing the relations of men
-who are free. It matters not, however, how employers came to incur
-their present liability to strangers for the acts of their workmen.
-The question is whether it is right or worth while retaining an
-exception to the general law of master and servant. The question
-has become one, not of principle, but of details.... The Government
-Bill starts from the principle that workmen may claim redress when
-they are injured in consequence of defective works or machinery,
-or of the negligence of any person in the service of the employer,
-who has superintendence entrusted to him.... It will be highly
-expedient to endeavour to express more clearly a law which must
-annually be set in motion in hundreds of cases.
-
-
-FUNDED MUNICIPAL DEBT.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, September 2.
-
-A subject of great interest was discussed at yesterday's meeting of
-the Liverpool City Council. In seconding a recommendation of the
-Finance Committee that the settlement of the prospectus and terms
-of issue of the first £2,000,000 of stock to be created under the
-Liverpool Loans Act be referred to that Committee, Alderman A. B.
-Forwood explained that the Bill had now passed both Houses.... It
-had been a very difficult and intricate matter to get the Bill
-through, because the Liverpool Corporation were the first in the
-kingdom to obtain powers to fund their debt in the way proposed. He
-believed that, when the new water scheme was passed, the new mode
-of raising money would materially reduce the cost of money to the
-town, and would effect the saving of £25,000 to £30,000 a year. The
-stock would be put in exactly the same position as Consols.
-
-
-ELECTRIC LIGHT, THE TELEPHONE, NEW HOTELS.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times._
-
-_January 5._--The last American mail has brought us interesting
-details relating to the progress made in manipulating the electric
-light. Pending the researches in which Professor Edison has for a
-long time been engaged, it appears that his laboratory at Menlo
-Park was practically closed to all strangers, until the young
-scientist should have arrived at a point to enable him to declare
-that complete success had attended his final efforts. That point
-has apparently been reached.... The steadiness, reliability, and
-non-fusibility of the carbon filament, Mr. Edison tells us, are not
-the only elements incident to the new discovery. There is likewise
-obtained an element of proper and uniform resistance to the passage
-of the electric current.
-
-_April 10._--Several chambers in the Temple will shortly possess
-the advantage of having communication by telephone with the Law
-Courts at Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. The telephonic
-apparatus is at present being laid down between the Temple
-Gardens and Westminster Hall, the Metropolitan District Railway
-being utilized for the purpose. The apparatus, after having been
-connected with several of the chambers and offices in the Temple,
-enters the underground railway line, which it is carried along,
-immediately under the crown of the railway arch.
-
-_May 31._--That the Lord Mayor should in his official capacity
-have lent his presence to the opening of the Grand Hotel at
-Charing Cross, as he did on Saturday evening, implies that the new
-undertaking possesses a more than private character. So, in fact,
-it does. If it cannot be said altogether to open a new era in the
-history of hotels in this country, it makes at least a distinct
-advance in the character of English hotel accommodation.... The
-distinctively English hotel is a dismal and cheerless place,
-where one feels cut off from all human sympathy. Of late years
-there has been a tendency in London to adopt Continental ways,
-but the improvement has seldom been carried much further than the
-establishment of a _table d'hôte_. The Grand Hotel is an ambitious
-attempt to rival the best European and American models.
-
-
-
-
-PARNELL AND THE LAND LEAGUE (1880).
-
-=Source.=--_Freeman's Journal_, September 9 (Report of a speech by
-Parnell at Ennis).
-
-
-Depend upon it that the measure of the Land Bill of next session
-will be the measure of your activity and energy this winter; it
-will be the measure of your determination not to pay unjust rents;
-it will be the measure of your determination to keep a firm grip of
-your homesteads; it will be the measure of your determination not
-to bid for farms from which others have been evicted, and to use
-the strong force of public opinion to deter any unjust men among
-yourselves--and there are many such--from bidding for such farms.
-If you refuse to pay unjust rents, if you refuse to take farms from
-which others have been evicted, the Land Question must be settled,
-and settled in a way that will be satisfactory to you. It depends,
-therefore, upon yourselves, and not upon any Commission or any
-Government. When you have made this question ripe for settlement,
-then, and not till then, will it be settled.... Now what are you
-to do to a tenant who bids for a farm from which another tenant
-has been evicted? [Several voices, "Shoot him!"] I think I heard
-somebody say, "Shoot him!" I wish to point out to you a very much
-better way--a more Christian and charitable way--which will give
-the lost man an opportunity of repenting. When a man takes a farm
-from which another has been unjustly evicted, you must show him on
-the roadside when you meet him, you must show him in the streets
-of the town, you must show him in the shop, you must show him in
-the fair-green and in the market-place, and even in the place
-of worship, by leaving him alone, by putting him into a moral
-Coventry, by isolating him from the rest of his country as if he
-were the leper of old--you must show him your detestation of the
-crime he has committed.
-
-
-
-
-CAPTAIN BOYCOTT (1880).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, November 10.
-
-
-Captain Boycott's case, from the time when attention was first
-drawn to it, has inspired general and increasing interest, which
-in the north of Ireland has taken the practical form of the relief
-expedition despatched yesterday to the shores of Lough Mask. It
-is well understood on both sides that the persecution of Captain
-Boycott is only a typical instance of the system by which the
-peasantry are attempting to carry into effect the instructions of
-the Land League. Into the merits of Captain Boycott's relations
-with the tenants on Lord Erne's estates it is quite unnecessary to
-enter. He has been beleaguered in his house near Ballinrobe; he
-is excluded from intercourse, not merely with the people around
-him, but with the neighbouring towns; his crops are perishing,
-because such is the organized intimidation in the district that
-no labourers would dare to be seen working in his fields. It is
-certain that any ordinary workman whom Captain Boycott might hire
-would be subjected to brutal violence, as indeed has already
-happened to servants and others who ventured even to fetch his
-letters for him from the nearest post-office.
-
-
-
-
-THE BOER RISING (1880).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Transvaal," C 2,838 of 1881, p.
-10.
-
-
-_To the Administrator of the Transvaal._
-
-EXCELLENCY,
-
-In the name of the people of the South African Republic we come
-to you to fulfil an earnest but unavoidable duty. We have the
-honour to send you a copy of the Proclamation promulgated by the
-Government and Volksraad, and universally published. The wish
-of the people is clearly to be seen therefrom, and requires no
-explanation from us. We declare in the most solemn manner that we
-have no desire to spill blood, and that from our side we do not
-wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal to arms in
-self-defence. Should it come so far, which may God prevent, we
-will do so with the utmost reverence for Her Majesty the Queen
-of England and her flag. Should it come so far, we will defend
-ourselves with a knowledge that we are fighting for the honour of
-Her Majesty, for we fight for the sanctity of treaties sworn by
-Her, but broken by Her officers. However, the time for complaint
-is past, and we wish now alone from your Excellency co-operation
-for an amicable solution of the question on which we differ....
-In 1877 our then Government gave up the keys of the Government
-offices without bloodshed. We trust that your Excellency, as
-representative of the noble British nation, will not less nobly and
-in the same way place our Government in the position to assume the
-administration.
-
- We have, etc.,
-
- S. J. P. KRUGER (_Vice-President_).
- M. W. PRETORIOUS.
- P. J. JOUBERT.
- (_Triumvirate_.)
- J. P. MARE.
- C. J. JOUBERT.
- E. J. P. JORISSEN.
- W. EDWARD BOK (_Acting State Secretary_).
-
- HEIDELBERG,
- _December 16, 1880_.
-
-
-PROCLAMATION.
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Transvaal," C 2,838 of 1881, p.
-11.
-
-In the name of the people of the South African Republic. With
-prayerful look to God we, S. J. P. Kruger, Vice-President, M. W.
-Pretorious, and P. J. Joubert, appointed by the Volksraad in its
-session of the 13th December, 1880, as the Triumvirate to carry on
-temporarily the supreme administration of the Republic, make known:
-
- * * * * *
-
-We thus give notice to everyone that on the 13th day of December of
-the year 1880 the Government has been re-established; the Volksraad
-has resumed its sitting....
-
-And it is further generally made known that from this day the whole
-country is placed in a state of siege and under the stipulations of
-the War Ordinance....
-
-
-
-
-BEFORE MAJUBA (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 17.
-
-
-We give this morning an account from our correspondent at Pretoria
-of the meeting held by the Boers last month for the purpose of
-protesting against the annexation of the Transvaal. The report of
-the proceedings leaves no doubt of the extent and nature of Boer
-disaffection.... That the annexation of the Transvaal may have been
-necessary when the step was taken may be admitted without prejudice
-to the question whether its permanent occupation and administration
-by British authority is desirable or not. When Sir Theophilus
-Shepstone annexed the territory, the Government was disorganized,
-the Treasury was bankrupt, the Republican troops were hopelessly
-demoralized, and the whole district was threatened by two powerful
-native chiefs, the weaker of whom had proved his superiority to
-any force which the Boers could bring against him. Now Cetywayo
-and Secocoeni are captives, and the whole border is tranquil. We
-have done for the Boers what it is certain they could not have
-done for themselves, and we have placed the security of the South
-African Colonies beyond all reasonable fear. Hence it might be
-argued that the reasons which compelled the temporary annexation of
-the Transvaal are no longer applicable in favour of its permanent
-occupation. It may be argued that we cannot recede where we have
-once advanced; certainly we cannot, where we have good reason to
-believe that our security requires that we should maintain our
-hold. But when our presence is manifestly unwelcome, and when the
-question of the best mode of guarding our security in future is
-at least an open one, it would be a very contemptible piece of
-national vanity to refuse to recede, simply because we had once
-found it necessary to advance in very different circumstances.
-
-
-
-
-AFTER MAJUBA.
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Transvaal," C 2,998 of 1881.
-
-
-_Convention for the Settlement of the Transvaal Territory, signed
-at Pretoria, 1881._
-
-PREAMBLE: Her Majesty's Commissioners for the settlement of the
-Transvaal Territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed
-under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of
-April, 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee on behalf of Her
-Majesty that, from and after the 8th day of August, 1881, complete
-self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her
-heirs and successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the
-Transvaal upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to
-the following reservations and limitations.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, August 5, 1881.
-
-England can now have no desire to intrude herself upon the
-Transvaal. The more completely its people can get on without
-interference of any kind, the better pleased we shall be....
-The occasion may come which will call for all the knowledge and
-discretion which our Government will have at its command. The
-Boers, if they are so disposed, may give trouble in a thousand
-ways. The question may be continually arising whether the point
-has yet been reached at which active interference is called for,
-or whether it may be the prudent and better course to let things
-be. The fact is that between England and the Transvaal there is
-no natural connection whatever. The bond which unites them is an
-artificial one, and though it is too early to anticipate the time
-at which it will be severed, we are sure that at no time will it be
-found strong enough to bear a violent strain. The strain may never
-come. The Convention, which has been entered upon in due form,
-and with all solemnity, may remain to all intents and purposes a
-dead letter as to the chief part of its provisions, and may thus
-pass quietly into the great limbo to which all monstrous political
-births must some day come. It will be by the fault of the Boers
-that we can be driven to put an active interpretation upon it. It
-contains terms which we cannot suffer to be disregarded.
-
-
-
-
-RITUAL CONTROVERSY (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 12.
-
-
-_Extract from a Memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury, signed by
-various Deans, Canons, etc._
-
-... The immediate need of our Church is, in our opinion, a tolerant
-recognition of divergent ritual practice; but we feel bound to
-submit to your Grace that our present troubles are likely to recur,
-unless the Courts by which ecclesiastical causes are decided in the
-first instance and on appeal can be so constructed as to secure the
-conscientious obedience of clergymen who believe the constitution
-of the Church of Christ to be of Divine appointment, and who
-protest against the State's encroachment upon Rights assured to the
-Church of England by solemn Acts of Parliament....
-
-
-
-
-A SHORT WAY WITH OBSTRUCTION (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, February 3.
-
-
-About nine o'clock in the morning Mr. Gladstone, Mr. W. E.
-Forster, Mr. Dodson, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Sir R. Cross
-entered the House amid cheers. While Mr. Biggar was continuing his
-observations on the Land League the Speaker resumed the Chair amid
-loud cheering. The Speaker, without calling on the hon. member to
-proceed with his remarks, at once said: "The motion for leave to
-bring in the Person and Property Protection (Ireland) Bill has now
-been under discussion for five days. The present sitting, having
-commenced on Monday last, has continued till Wednesday morning,
-a period of no less than forty-one hours, the House having been
-occupied with discussions upon repeated motions for adjournment.
-However tedious these discussions were, they were carried to a
-division by small minorities in opposition to the general sense
-of the House. A necessity has thus arisen which demands the
-interposition of the Chair (cheers). The usual rule has been
-proved powerless to insure orderly debate. An important measure,
-recommended in Her Majesty's Speech, and declared to be urgent in
-the interests of the State by a decisive majority, has been impeded
-by the action of an inconsiderable minority of members who have
-resorted to those modes of obstruction which have been recognized
-by the House as a Parliamentary offence. The credit and authority
-of this House are seriously threatened, and it is necessary they
-should be vindicated. Under the operation of the accustomed rules
-and methods of procedure the legislative powers of the House are
-paralyzed. A new and exceptional course is imperatively demanded,
-and I am satisfied that I shall best carry out the wish of the
-House if I decline to call upon any more members to speak, and at
-once put the question to the House."
-
-The Speaker then put the question, when there appeared--
-
- For the amendment 19
- Against 164
-
-The Speaker then put the main question, that leave be given to
-bring in the Bill, when Mr. J. McCarthy rose to speak, but the
-Speaker declined to hear him, and there were loud cries of "Order"
-on the Ministerial side of the House. The Home Rulers stood up, and
-for some time, with raised hand, shouted, "Privilege!" and then,
-having bowed to the Chair, left the House.
-
-
-
-
-THE DEATH OF BEACONSFIELD (1881).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, April 20.
-
-
-The end really corresponded to the beginning, and both were alike
-exceptional.... It must have been an ideal and living world that
-home life introduced Benjamin Disraeli to. It was in this that
-he acquired his repertory of parts and character; his caps fit
-for wearers; his motley for those it suited; his titles of little
-honour; his stage tricks and artifices; his gibes and jests that
-Yorick might have overflowed with in the spirit of his age; and his
-unfailing consciousness of a knowledge and power ever sufficient
-for the occasion.... The new deliverer of the Conservatives
-presented himself as a magician, master of many spells, charged
-with all the secrets of the political creation, ready to control
-the winds and the tides of opinion and faction, sounding the very
-depths of political possibility, and with a touch of his wand
-able to leave a mark on any foe or wanton intruder. The plea
-was necessity. Fortunately for Lord Beaconsfield, the age of
-consistency is no more. Sir Robert Peel destroyed that idol, and in
-doing so sacrificed himself. Lord Beaconsfield advanced to power
-over his body.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, April 22, 1881.
-
-It is finely said by Bacon of death that "it openeth the gate
-to good fame and extinguisheth envy...." It is singularly true
-of Lord Beaconsfield, whose fate it was to interest all men, to
-puzzle most, and to provoke the antagonism of many. Certainly
-no English statesman, since the death of Lord Palmerston, has
-occupied so prominent a position or excited so deep an interest
-on the Continent of Europe. His secret lay perhaps in the
-magnetic influence of a dauntless will, in his unrivalled powers
-of patience, in his impenetrable reserve and detachment. If we
-compare the beginning of his political life with its close, and
-note how its unchastened audacity was gradually toned down into
-the coolest determination and the most dispassionate tenacity, we
-shall see how the magnificent victory he achieved over himself gave
-him power to govern others, to withstand their opposition, and to
-bend their wills to his own. This is what Continental observers
-saw in him--unrivalled strength of will and dauntless tenacity of
-purpose--and this is why they admired him. The sense of mystery
-engendered the sense of power, and foreigners freely admired where
-Englishmen were often puzzled and at times almost bewildered.
-
-
-
-
-THE WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDAHAR (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 259, C 49-74 (House of
-Lords debate on the withdrawal from Candahar, March 3, 1881).
-
-
-THE EARL OF LYTTON: ... And now, my Lords, allow me to recapitulate
-the conclusions which appear to me established by the facts to
-which I have solicited your attention. On the strength of these
-facts I affirm once more that Russian influence at Cabul did
-not commence with the Stolieteff mission, and that it did not
-cease with the withdrawal of that mission. I affirm that for
-all practical purposes the Ameer of Cabul had ceased to be the
-friend and ally of England, and that he had virtually become the
-friend and ally of Russia at least three years before I had any
-dealings with His Highness, or any connection with the government
-of India. I affirm that the sole cause of the late Afghan war was
-a Russian intrigue of long duration, for purposes which it was
-the imperative duty of the Government of India to oppose at any
-cost. And, finally, I affirm that the establishment of Russian
-influence was caused by the collapse and paralysis of British
-influence at Cabul, and that this was the natural result of the
-deplorable policy to which Her Majesty's Government are now so
-eagerly reverting.... Surely, my Lords, prevention is better than
-cure. Surely it is wiser and safer to stay at Candahar, whence we
-can exclude Russian influence from Herat by peaceably extending our
-own influence in that direction, than to retire to the Indus, and
-there passively await an event which is to involve us in a great
-European war, for the purpose of undoing what could not otherwise
-have been done in a remote corner of Asia. The noble Duke, the
-Lord Privy Seal, has expressed his astonishment at the prodigious
-importance I now attach to the retention of Candahar, because,
-he says, I did not hold that opinion till a late period of my
-Viceroyalty. That is true--I did not. But in the statement which
-elicited this remark I thought I had explained the reason why. I
-can sincerely assure your Lordships that the late Government of
-India was not an annexationist Government. As long as we had any
-reasonable hope of loyalty on the part of Yakub Khan, or of the
-observance of the Gandamak Treaty, which gave us moral guarantees
-of adequate control over Afghanistan, our wish was not to weaken
-but to strengthen the Cabul Power. But the whole situation, and
-our duty concerning it, were changed irrevocably by the atrocious
-crime which compelled us to occupy Cabul, and by the revelations
-discovered at Cabul, and now known to your Lordships, of the
-extent to which Russian influence had penetrated to the very heart
-of the country. My Lords, it then seemed to my colleagues in the
-Government of India, and it still seems to me, that the only
-practical means of counteracting the dangerous Russian influence
-at Cabul would be to assume ourselves over Western Afghanistan a
-controlling and commanding position, not dependent on the good or
-bad faith of any Cabul ruler. Such control can only be exercised
-from Candahar. The history of the last eight years clearly shows,
-not merely that the Russian Power is approaching, and must
-approach, towards India, but that Russia has long sought, is still
-seeking, and will continue to seek, great political influence
-over Afghanistan; that this influence has already found a fulcrum
-at Cabul, and that it must be a permanent source of disquiet to
-the Government of India, whenever she wishes to embarrass British
-policy in Europe. Therefore, for the safety of the British Power in
-India, it is indispensable that the Government of India shall have
-the means of preventing--at all events, of counteracting--Russian
-influence in Afghanistan. It is absurd to suppose that you can have
-any controlling power over a country in which you have no _locus
-standi_ at all. Now amongst the arrangements contemplated by Her
-Majesty's Government after the evacuation of Candahar, where do
-they expect to find a _locus standi_ in Afghanistan? I do not see
-where.... Great as are the undisputed strategical advantages of
-Candahar, the late Government of India did not regard the retention
-of it primarily, or mainly, as a military question. We felt that
-it would give us a political and commercial control over Western
-Afghanistan up to Herat so complete that we might contemplate
-with unconcern the course of events at Cabul. If you retain
-Candahar, and hold it firmly and fearlessly, then you may view with
-indifference the uncertain faith and fate of Cabul rulers, and
-the certain advance of the Russian Power. If you retain Candahar,
-and administer it wisely, you will replace anarchy and bloodshed
-and difficulty and uncertainty on your own border by peace and
-prosperity; and if you connect Candahar by rail with the Valley of
-the Indus, you will be able to sweep the whole commerce of Central
-Asia, vastly augmented by the beneficent protection of a strong, a
-settled, and a civilized Government, into the harbours of Kurrachee
-and Calcutta, and thence into the ports of Liverpool and London.
-But, my Lords, you cannot do all this unless you retain a garrison
-in Candahar.... If you accept the conclusion admitted by the noble
-Duke, and affirmed by every Indian statesman, that Afghanistan must
-on no account be permitted to remain under the forbidden influence
-of Russia, then, my Lords, for the enforcement of that conclusion
-you must choose between the retention of Candahar and reliance on
-the instructions said to have been issued to General Kauffman "not
-to do it again." There is no alternative. To talk about developing
-the internal resources of India is nothing to the point. There
-is no reason why the continued development of India's internal
-resources should not proceed _pari passu_ with the consolidation of
-her external securities. But do not fatten the lamb only to feed
-the wolf. My Lords, all those whose privilege it is to build up
-the noble edifice of India's prosperity must be content to labour
-like the builders of the second Temple--working with one hand, but
-holding the sword in the other to defend their work.
-
-
-
-
-THE SALVATION ARMY (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, October 13.
-
-
-For two years, or thereabouts, our towns have had frequent
-opportunities of witnessing an exhibition not to everybody's taste.
-The "Salvation Army," as far as it can be known to the uninitiated,
-consists of bands of men marching through the streets, generally
-towards "church time," with banners, devices, and sometimes
-emblematic helmets and other accoutrements, singing sensational
-hymns. Most people are ready to leave it alone. But there remain
-the irrepressible "roughs." It is with them that the "Salvation
-Army" is now waging its only physical warfare. English people
-generally would leave it to the test of time.... We must beware how
-we quarrel with those who honestly believe there is a great work
-to be done. If we do not like these singular modes of propagandism
-and conversion, we need not assist the "roughs" to put them down.
-Another course lies before us all. It is to do the work in a better
-way.
-
-
-
-
-ARABI (1881).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, December 21.
-
-
-_Extract from a letter by Sir William Gregory._
-
-... I called at Arabi Bey's house by appointment, and was very
-courteously received by a tall, athletic, soldier-like man. His
-countenance is peculiarly grave, and even stern, with much power
-in it. It is at first sight somewhat heavy, until he is aroused,
-when his eyes light up and he speaks with great energy.... He
-said that he looked on the Sultan as his lord--as the head of his
-religion--and that he was bound to do so; that the dominions of the
-Sultan were like a great palace, in which the different nations
-had each one its own chamber, suited to its wants, and arranged
-according to its own manner; that to introduce other persons into
-those chambers would be to upset the arrangements, to annoy and
-dispossess the occupants, and to do an unjust act; and he was
-therefore most decidedly opposed to any interference on the part
-of the Sultan in the government of Egypt, and every opposition
-would be given to the introduction of Turkish troops. Secondly, as
-regards the religious question, nothing could be more untrue than
-the allegations that he and those who went with him were in favour
-of any intolerant movement.... The next point was the accusation
-that he was aiming at establishing a military supremacy. This he
-denied, saying that an army has no right to be supreme in time of
-peace ... but it was obliged to take the lead in getting rid of
-abuses and establishing justice. Lastly, as to his desire to remove
-European officials from the country, he said he had no idea or wish
-to remove the Control to which his countrymen were indebted for
-the Justice which the cultivators now enjoy, at all events for the
-present, until Egypt knew how to govern herself, and could stand
-alone; but he spoke with the greatest bitterness of the manner in
-which his countrymen were ousted from every superior position in
-every department.... I next asked him if the opinion were prevalent
-that England desired to occupy Egypt. He said that he himself
-did not believe it. Egypt was looked upon as the centre of the
-Mohammedan world, and in every country where there was a Mussulman
-community there would be deep-seated indignation were she to be
-annexed, and probably the loss of India would be ultimately the
-consequence. Egypt, if left alone, would always protect the passage
-to India, which he knew to be our great object.
-
- CAIRO,
- _December 11_.
-
-
-
-
-THE FIRST CLOSURE (1882).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 266, col. 1,124, February
-20, 1882.
-
-
-Ordered: That, when it shall appear to Mr. Speaker or to the
-Chairman of Committee of the whole House, during any debate, to
-be the evident sense of the House or of the Committee, that the
-Question be now put, he may so inform the House or the Committee;
-and, if a motion be made, "That the Question be now put," Mr.
-Speaker, or the Chairman, shall forthwith put such question; and,
-if the same be decided in the affirmative, the Question under
-discussion shall be put forthwith; provided that the Question shall
-not be decided in the affirmative, if a division be taken, unless
-it shall appear to have been supported by more than 200 members, or
-to have been opposed by less than 40 members.
-
-
-
-
-BIMETALLISM (1882).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, March 11.
-
-
-A meeting convened by the Council of the International Monetary
-Standard Association was held in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion
-House.
-
-Mr. Grenfell, Governor of the Bank of England, said ... he presumed
-that all present knew that the standard of this country was a
-monometallic gold standard, and that it was introduced by that
-great statesman Sir Robert Peel; but it was not so generally
-known, and it was somewhat singular, that when Sir R. Peel brought
-forward the measure for the resumption of cash payments, and for
-the institution of a monometallic gold standard, he appealed to
-the House of Commons, by all the wish they had to act with good
-faith towards their creditors, that they should return to the
-ancient standard of the realm. He presumed that Sir R. Peel meant
-that the ancient standard of the realm was a gold standard; but it
-was not a monometallic standard at all. The ancient standard of
-the realm was a bimetallic standard, and although there had been
-a monometallic standard before, it was never a gold standard....
-What were the events that had occurred since Sir R. Peel's death?
-They were entirely new. The first event was the calling together
-of a conference in Paris in 1868, for the purpose of attempting
-to govern the coinage of all nations, and unfortunately that
-conference came to the conclusion that the best of all standards
-was a monometallic gold standard. Very shortly afterwards there
-came the Franco-German War, and when a large quantity of the
-gold of France passed into the hands of Germany, that Government
-decided to make a gold standard. Scarcely had that been done, when
-the evil arising from the great monetary revolution began to be
-shown.... Had they calculated what the cost of the demonetization
-of Germany was? The amount the German Government coined was
-87,000,000 sterling of gold, which, according to the average for
-the last twenty years, was equal to 3.3 years of the whole world's
-production of gold. Besides that, Germany sold 28,000,000 sterling
-of silver, which was equal to more than two years' production of
-the whole world of that metal. What did they think, supposing the
-Latin Union, our Indian Empire, and the United States were to
-resort to some such measure as Germany did?
-
-
-
-
-BRIGHT'S RESIGNATION (1882).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 272, col. 724, July 17,
-1882.
-
-
-_A Gladstonian Fine Distinction._
-
-MR. GLADSTONE: ... This is not an occasion for arguing the question
-of the differences that have unhappily arisen between my right hon.
-friend and those who were, and rejoiced to be, his colleagues. But
-I venture to assure him that I agree with him in thinking that
-the moral law is as applicable to the conduct of nations as of
-individuals, and that the difference between us, most painful to
-him and most painful to us, is a difference as to the particular
-application in this particular case of the Divine law.
-
-
-
-
-THE ILBERT BILL (1883).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, March 5.
-
-
-Four weeks have elapsed since we first called attention to
-the disapprobation and discontent excited among the English
-residents in India by the Bill for subjecting them to the criminal
-jurisdiction of native judges and magistrates. The measure,
-of which we then pointed out the dangers, has since assumed a
-portentous importance. The whole non-official European community
-has been convulsed by it.... As for the asserted symmetry which is
-to follow from it, and the asserted inequalities which it is to
-remove, it will not, and cannot, do what it has been credited with
-doing. It removes one inequality while it leaves a dozen others
-untouched, and the inequality which it does remove is just that
-which is most clearly justifiable. It is a pandering, we will not
-say to native opinion, for no such opinion has been formed for it,
-but to the noisily expressed views of the native Press, and of
-one or two native civil servants, who are anxious to exercise the
-powers which the Bill confers, and who are on that very account
-so much the less fit to be trusted with them.... The Bill may be
-unimportant in itself, but it is one among many signs of the new
-ideas and new principles upon which the Government of India is to
-be conducted, ideas and principles which are utterly at variance
-with those by which our position in the country has been gained and
-held.
-
-
-
-
-FENIANS AGAIN (1883).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, March 16.
-
-
-A terrific explosion occurred last night at the offices of the
-Local Government Board, Parliament Street, Westminster. The report
-was heard about half a minute after nine o'clock in the House of
-Commons. So great was the force of the explosion that the floor
-of the House and the galleries shook. At the time there was but a
-thin attendance of members, it being the dinner hour. The Duke
-of Edinburgh was in the Peers' Gallery, and he turned round at
-once and spoke to Sir Henry Fletcher, who was sitting near him.
-The Speaker rang his bell, and inquired the cause of the alarm....
-The explosion occurred in the ground floor of the Local Government
-Board, smashing the stonework into splinters, and breaking into
-fragments the windows, portions of which lay strewn in the
-surrounding streets. Alarmed crowds gathered.
-
-
-
-
-THE MAHDI (1883).
-
-=Source.=--Sir Reginald Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan_, pp. 2, 5, 12-14. (Macmillans.)
-
-
-Mahdiism, with which we have to deal, has two sides to it. There
-is the Mahdi, whose coming is looked forward to by good Sunnis
-as the advent of the Messiah is expected by the Jews. And there
-is the Mahdi who disappeared, and may appear miraculously at
-any moment to good Shias.... Mohammed Ahmed of Dongola took up
-Mahdiism from the Shia's point of view.... His movement was, in
-the first place, a religious movement--the superior enthusiasm,
-eloquence, and dramatic knowledge of one priest over his fellows.
-It was recruited by a desire, widespread among the villagers,
-and especially among the superstitious masses of Kordofan, for
-revenge for the cruelties and injustice of the Egyptians and
-Bashi-Bazuks. It swept into force on the withdrawal of all
-semblance of government, the sole element opposed to it, and it
-became a tool for the imperious and warlike Baggara, and enabled
-them to usurp the vacant throne. Religion has thus knit together
-the different races, each with their own grievance, and summoned
-them to the banner of emirs in search of power and the right to
-trade in slaves.... There is no doubt that, until he was ruined by
-unbridled sensuality, this man [Mohammed Ahmed] had the strongest
-head and the clearest mental vision of any man in the two million
-square miles of which he more or less made himself master before
-he died; and it is a matter of regret that more cannot be learnt
-of his early youth than what follows. Born at Dongola in 1848, of
-a family of excellent boat-builders, whose boats are to this day
-renowned for sound construction, he was early recognized by his
-family as the clever one, and, so to speak, went into the Church.
-At twenty-two he was already a sheikh with a great reputation
-for sanctity, and his preaching was renowned far and wide. Men
-wept and beat their breasts at his moving words; even his brother
-fikis could not conceal their admiration. The first steps of the
-Mahdi in his career are of genuine interest. Tall, rather slight,
-of youthful build, and, like many Danagla, with large eyes and
-pleasing features, Mohammed Ahmed bore externally all the marks
-of a well-bred gentleman. He moved about with quiet dignity of
-manner, but there was nothing unusual about him until he commenced
-to preach. Then, indeed, one understood the power within him which
-men obeyed. With rapid earnest words he stirred their hearts, and
-bowed their heads like corn beneath the storm. And what a theme was
-his! No orator in France in 1792 could speak of oppression that
-here in the Soudan was not doubled. What need of description when
-he could use denunciation; when he could stretch forth his long
-arm and point to the tax-gatherer who twice, three times, and yet
-again, carried off the last goat, the last bundle of dhurra straw,
-from yon miserable man listening with intent eyes! And then he
-urges in warning tones what Whitfield, Wesley, have urged before
-him, that all this misery, all this oppression, is God's anger at
-the people's wickedness. That since the Prophet left the earth
-the world has all fallen into sin and neglect. But now a time was
-at hand when all this should have an end. The Lord would send a
-deliverer who should sweep away the veil before their eyes, clear
-the madness from the brain, the hideous dream would be broken
-for ever, and, strong in the faith of their divine leader, these
-new-made men, with clear-seeing vision and well-laid plans before
-them, should go forth and possess the land. The cursed tax-gatherer
-should be driven into holes and caves, the bribe-taking official
-hunted from off the field he had usurped, and the Turk should be
-thrown to jabber his delirium on his own dunghill. With the coming
-of the Mahdi the right should triumph, and all oppression should
-have an end. When would this Mahdi come? What wonder that every
-hut and every thicket echoed the longing for the promised Saviour!
-The hot wind roamed from desert to plain of withered grass, from
-mountain range to sandy valley, and whispered "Mahdi" as it blew;
-all nature joined; how childish, yet how effective. The women found
-the eggs inscribed with "Jesus," "Mohammed," and the "Mahdi." The
-very leaves rustled down to the ground, and in their fall received
-the imprint of the sacred names. The land was sown with fikis, many
-of them past masters in the art of swaying a crowd. They came and
-listened, and soon they recognized that they had found their master
-here. The leaven worked rapidly among them, until one evening at
-Abba Island, a hundred and fifty miles south of Khartoum, there
-came a band of self-reliant men who heard the stirring words, and
-saw the tall, slight, earnest figure. They said, "You are our
-promised leader," and in solemn secrecy he said, "I am the Mahdi."
-
-
-[Note.--Mahdi signifies "the guided" in the hadaya or true way of
-salvation, hence "the guide." In the tenets of all sects of the
-Moslems there is an intimate connection between the Mahdi and Jesus
-Christ.]
-
-
-
-
-END OF CAREY THE INFORMER (1883).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, July 31.
-
-
-James Carey has not long escaped those who, it was well known,
-had resolved to slay him at the first opportunity. According to
-telegrams received from Durban and Cape Town he was shot dead
-on Sunday, on board the liner _Melrose_, by an Irishman named
-O'Donnell. The vessel had got into harbour at Port Elizabeth, and
-was discharging her passengers and cargo, when Carey was shot.
-Fully warned of the intention to murder him, the authorities at
-Dublin had taken pains to conceal his movements. When he quitted
-Kilmainham, it was stated that he had resolved to brave the worst,
-and settle down in Dublin to his old occupations. Then it was said
-that he had been seen in London. According to another account he
-had sailed for Canada, and had actually landed at Montreal under
-the escort of two detectives. If these tales were circulated with
-the hope of putting the Invincibles on a false scent, they signally
-failed. His enemies were too astute to be deceived by pious
-frauds. Carey's death is a public misfortune. He had indeed been a
-principal in a cruel and barbarous murder. He behaved with supreme
-callousness and repulsive levity throughout the trials; and he was
-in every way one of the worst specimens of a bad type. But he was
-the instrument by which the Phœnix Park murderers were brought
-to justice, and it would have been well had he lived to defy the
-machinations of the Invincibles. But this misfortune is only a
-consequence of facts which, as a rule, serve as a safeguard and
-protection to society. Gibbon has forcibly described the unhappy
-condition of the wretch who tried to flee from the power of a Roman
-Emperor. There was no escape from it: he confronted it wherever he
-fled. No better are the chances of flight of one who, in these days
-of publicity, of photographs and illustrated newspapers, tries to
-hide himself from the gaze of those who know him. All this told
-against Carey's chances of escape. He had made himself the object
-of bitter hatred of secret societies, which have ramifications
-through many parts of the world. During the long trials at Dublin,
-portraits of him in all attitudes were published. His very marked
-features became familiar to everyone. Disguise himself as he
-might--and it is stated that when he was shot he was disguised--he
-could not help being recognized wherever he went.
-
-
-
-
-SLAUGHTER OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY (1883).
-
-=Source.=--Sir Reginald Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan_, pp. 85, 88-90. (Macmillans.)
-
-
-Mohammed Ahmed, on hearing of the departure of the army of Hicks
-Pasha from Khartoum, sent spies to watch their movements, and
-on learning that the latter had arrived at Duem, and intended
-advancing on El Obeid, he sent a force of 3,000 men under the emir
-Abd el Halim and Abu Girgeh to follow in rear of the Egyptian army
-and close up the wells as they advanced, so that retreat would be
-impossible. Abd el Halim, on arrival at Rahad, at once rode off
-to El Obeid and personally informed the Mahdi of the strength and
-probable movements of the Egyptian force. On receipt of this news
-Mohammed Ahmed forthwith despatched all his fighting men towards
-Rahad to join Abd el Halim's force, but on their way they met Abd
-el Halim retiring from Alluba, and, having joined him, the whole
-force, amounting to some 40,000, encamped in the forest of Shekan,
-and there awaited the advance of the Egyptian troops.... At 10 a.m.
-on Monday morning, November 5, the troops marched out of the zariba
-and formed up in three squares, the whole formation resembling a
-triangle. Each square had its own transport and ammunition in the
-centre. Hicks Pasha with his staff led the way, followed by four
-guns of the artillery, then the first square, which was supported
-to the right and left rear by the other two squares, some 300 yards
-distant from the square and from each other. Ala ed Din Pasha
-commanded the right square and Selim Bey the left. The exposed
-flanks of the squares were covered by cavalry, and a detachment
-of horsemen brought up the rear. In this formation the troops
-steadily advanced, and half an hour later reached a fairly open
-valley, interspersed here and there with bush, while on either
-side were thick woods full of the enemy.... Now all was ready, and
-Mohammed Ahmed patiently awaited the arrival of the troops, which
-could already be seen advancing in the distance. He assembled
-his emirs for the last final instructions, and, rising from his
-prayer, drew his sword, shouted three times, "Allahu akbar! You
-need not fear, for the victory is ours." On came the squares.
-The first had reached the wooded depression, when up sprang the
-Arabs with their fierce yells. Startled and surprised, the square
-was broken in a moment. The flanking squares now fired wildly at
-the Arabs fighting hand to hand with the Egyptians, and in their
-efforts must have killed numbers of their own comrades. But almost
-at the same instant the Arabs simultaneously attacked from the
-woods on both sides and from front and rear. The wildest confusion
-followed; squares fired on each other, on friends or enemies.
-While the surging mass of Arabs now completely encircled the force
-and gradually closed in on them, a massacre of the most appalling
-description took place. In little over quarter of an hour all was
-over. Hicks Pasha with his staff, seeing that he could do nothing,
-cut his way through on the left and reached some cultivated ground.
-Here he was surrounded by some Baggara horsemen, and for a time
-kept them at bay, fighting most gallantly till his revolver was
-empty, and then committing most terrible execution with his sword.
-He was the last of the Europeans to fall, and one savage charge
-he made on his assailants is memorable to this day in the Soudan,
-and a body of Baggara who fled before him were called by their
-tribesmen "Baggar Hicks," or the cows driven by Hicks. But at last
-he fell, pierced by the spear of the Khalifa Mohammed Sherif. His
-cavalry bodyguard fought gallantly, and though repeatedly called
-on to surrender replied, "We shall never surrender, but will die
-like our officers, and kill many of you as well." And soon all were
-killed. Ala ed Din Pasha was killed trying to make his way from the
-right square to join Hicks Pasha. Genawi Bey lay dead in the square
-beside his horse. It is said that as he fell mortally wounded he,
-with his own sword, hamstrung his horse, saying, "No other shall
-ever ride on you after me." The whole force, with the exception of
-some 300 men, and most of these wounded, had now been completely
-annihilated.... The news of the Mahdi's victory spread far and
-wide, and if there had been some doubts previous to what was now
-termed a miracle, the complete annihilation of a whole army soon
-dispelled them, and from the Red Sea to the confines of Waddai the
-belief was universal that at last the true Mahdi had appeared.
-
-
-[NOTE.--Sir R. Wingate's account is quoted from two sources--one,
-Mohammed Nur el Barudi, who was cook to Hicks Pasha, and was one
-of the wounded prisoners after the battle; and the other, Hassan
-Habashi, a former Government official at El Obeid, who had fallen
-into the Mahdi's hands on the capture of that place. Hence the
-story is complete on both sides.]
-
-
-
-
-TRANSVAAL CONVENTION (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Transvaal," C 3,947 of 1884, p.
-47.
-
-
-_A Convention between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom
-of Great Britain and Ireland, and the South African Republic._
-
-Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its
-delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger,
-President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit,
-Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member
-of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention signed at
-Pretoria on the 13th day of August, 1881, and ratified by the
-Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October, 1881, contains
-certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens
-and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be
-relieved, and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said
-Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace
-and good order of the said State and of the countries adjacent
-thereto; and whereas Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom
-of Great Britain and Ireland has been pleased to take the said
-representations into consideration.
-
-Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is
-hereby declared, that the following articles of a new Convention,
-signed on behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner
-in South Africa, the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Herbert
-Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of the most distinguished Order
-of St. Michael and St. George, Governor of the Colony of the
-Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf of the Transvaal State (which
-shall hereinafter be called the South African Republic) by the
-above-named delegates, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus
-Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified
-by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for
-the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August, 1881; which
-latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and
-effect.
-
-
-[NOTE.--The word "Preamble" is not prefixed to the opening passage
-of this Convention. When the suzerainty question arose in 1898 the
-British argument was that the 1884 Convention only altered the
-articles of the 1881 Convention, and left the Preamble in force;
-the Boer argument was that the 1884 Convention had a preamble, and
-therefore the earlier one must have been superseded.]
-
-
-
-
-GORDON'S MISSION TO KHARTOUM (1884).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," No. 2 of 1884, C 3,845.
-
-
-_P. 2. The Cabinet's Instructions to General Gordon._
-
-Her Majesty's Government are desirous that you should proceed at
-once to Egypt, to report to them on the military situation in the
-Soudan, 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
-Khartoum. You are also desired to consider and report upon the best
-mode of effecting the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan,
-and upon the manner in which the safety and good administration by
-the Egyptian Government of the ports on the sea coast can best be
-secured. In connection with this subject, you should pay especial
-consideration to the question of the steps that may usefully be
-taken to counteract the stimulus which it is feared may possibly be
-given to the Slave Trade by the present insurrectionary movement
-and by the withdrawal of the Egyptian authority from the interior.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," No. 6 of 1884, C 3,878.
-
-_Further Instructions by the Egyptian Government._
-
-I have now to indicate to you the views of the Egyptian Government
-on two of the points to which your special attention was directed
-by Lord Granville. These are (1) the measures which it may be
-advisable to take for the security of the Egyptian garrisons
-still holding positions in the Soudan, and for the safety of the
-European population in Khartoum. (2) The best mode of effecting
-the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan. These two points are
-intimately connected, and may conveniently be considered together.
-It is believed that the number of Europeans at Khartoum is very
-small, but it has been estimated by the local authorities that some
-10,000 to 15,000 people will wish to move northwards from Khartoum
-only when the Egyptian garrison is withdrawn. These people are
-native Christians, Egyptian employés, their wives and children,
-etc. The Government of His Highness the Khedive is earnestly
-solicitous that no effort should be spared to insure the retreat
-both of these people and of the Egyptian garrison without loss of
-life. As regards the most opportune time and the best method for
-effecting the retreat, whether of the garrisons or of the civil
-populations, it is neither necessary nor desirable that you should
-receive detailed instructions.... You will bear in mind that the
-main end to be pursued is the evacuation of the Soudan. This
-policy was adopted, after very full discussion, by the Egyptian
-Government, on the advice of Her Majesty's Government. It meets
-with the full approval of His Highness the Khedive, and of the
-present Egyptian Ministry. I understand, also, that you entirely
-concur in the desirability of adopting this policy, and that you
-think it should on no account be changed. You consider that it may
-take a few months to carry it out with safety. You are further of
-opinion that "the restoration of the country should be made to the
-different petty Sultans who existed at the time of Mehemet Ali's
-conquest, and whose families still exist"; and that an endeavour
-should be made to form a confederation of those Sultans. In this
-view the Egyptian Government entirely concur. It will, of course,
-be fully understood that the Egyptian troops are not to be kept in
-the Soudan merely with a view to consolidating the power of the new
-rulers of the country. But the Egyptian Government has the fullest
-confidence in your judgment, your knowledge of the country, and in
-your comprehension of the general line of policy to be pursued. You
-are, therefore, given full discretionary power to retain the troops
-for such reasonable period as you may think necessary, in order
-that the abandonment of the country may be accomplished with the
-least possible risk to life and property.
-
-Sir E. Baring, in forwarding the copy of the instructions to Lord
-Granville, wrote:
-
-I read the draft of the letter over to General Gordon. He expressed
-to me his entire concurrence in the instructions. The only
-suggestion he made was in connection with the passage in which,
-speaking of the policy of abandoning the Soudan, I had said, "I
-understand also that you entirely concur in the desirability of
-adopting this policy." General Gordon wished that I should add the
-words, "and that you think it should on no account be changed."
-These words were accordingly added.
-
-
-III.
-
-=Source.=--Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, vol. i., p. 428.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-Looking back at what occurred after a space of many years, two
-points are to my mind clear. The first is that no Englishman should
-have been sent to Khartoum. The second is that, if anyone had to be
-sent, General Gordon was not the right man to send. The reasons why
-no Englishman should have been sent are now sufficiently obvious.
-If he were beleaguered at Khartoum, the British Government might be
-obliged to send an expedition to relieve him. The main object of
-British policy was to avoid being drawn into military operations
-in the Soudan. The employment of a British official at Khartoum
-involved a serious risk that it would be no longer possible to
-adhere to this policy, and the risk was materially increased when
-the individual chosen to go to the Soudan was one who had attracted
-to himself a greater degree of popular sympathy than almost any
-Englishman of modern times.
-
-
-
-
-DIFFICULTIES OF GORDON'S CHARACTER (1884).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, vol. i., p. 432.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-
-I must, for the elucidation of this narrative, state why I think
-it was a mistake to send General Gordon to Khartoum. "It is
-impossible," I wrote privately to Lord Granville on January 28,
-1884, "not to be charmed by the simplicity and honesty of Gordon's
-character." "My only fear," I added, "is that he is terribly
-flighty and changes his opinions very rapidly...." Impulsive
-flightiness was, in fact, the main defect of General Gordon's
-character, and it was one which, in my opinion, rendered him unfit
-to carry out a work which pre-eminently required a cool and steady
-head. I used to receive some twenty or thirty telegrams from
-General Gordon in the course of the day when he was at Khartoum,
-those in the evening often giving opinions which it was impossible
-to reconcile with others despatched the same morning. Scarcely,
-indeed, had General Gordon started on his mission, when Lord
-Granville, who does not appear at first to have understood General
-Gordon's character, began to be alarmed at his impulsiveness. On
-February 8 Lord Granville wrote to me: "I own your letters about
-Gordon rather alarm. His changes about Zobeir are difficult to
-understand. Northbrook consoles me by saying that he says all the
-foolish things that pass through his head, but that his judgment is
-excellent." I am not prepared to go so far as to say that General
-Gordon's judgment was excellent. Nevertheless, there was some truth
-in Lord Northbrook's remark. I often found that, amidst a mass
-of irrelevant verbiage and amidst many contradictory opinions,
-a vein of sound common sense and political instinct ran through
-General Gordon's proposals. So much was I impressed with this, and
-so fearful was I that the sound portions of his proposals would
-be rejected in London on account of the eccentric language in
-which they were often couched, that, on February 12, I telegraphed
-to Lord Granville: "In considering Gordon's suggestions, please
-remember that his general views are excellent, but that undue
-importance must not be attached to his words. We must look to the
-spirit rather than the letter of what he says."
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, vol. i., p. 488.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-On February 26th, thirty-nine days had elapsed since General Gordon
-had left London, thirty-one days since he had left Cairo, and
-eight days since he had arrived at Khartoum. During that period,
-leaving aside points of detail, as to which his contradictions
-had been numerous, General Gordon had marked out for himself no
-less than five different lines of policy, some of which were
-wholly conflicting one with another, whilst others, without being
-absolutely irreconcilable, differed in respect to some of their
-most important features. On January 18 he started from London with
-instructions which had been dictated by himself. His wish then
-was that he should be merely sent to "report upon the best means
-of effecting the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan." He
-expressed his entire concurrence in the policy of evacuation. This
-was the first and original stage of General Gordon's opinions.
-Before he arrived in Egypt, on January 24, he had changed his
-views as to the nature of the functions he should fulfil. He
-no longer wished to be a mere reporter. He wished to be named
-Governor-General of the Soudan with full executive powers. He
-supplemented his original ideas by suggesting that the country
-should be handed over to "the different petty Sultans who existed
-at the time of Mehemet Ali's conquest." This was the second stage
-of General Gordon's opinions. Fifteen days later (February 8) he
-wrote from Abu Hamed a memorandum in which he advocated "evacuation
-but not abandonment." The Government of Egypt were to "maintain
-their position as a Suzerain Power, nominate the Governor-General
-and Moudirs, and act as a supreme Court of Appeal." This was the
-third stage of General Gordon's opinions. Ten days later (February
-18) General Gordon reverted to the principles of his memorandum
-of the 8th, but with a notable difference. It was no longer
-the Egyptian but the British Government which were to control
-the Soudan administration. The British Government were also to
-appoint a Governor-General, who was to be furnished with a British
-commission, and who was to receive a British decoration. Zobeir
-Pasha was the man whom General Gordon wished the British Government
-to select. This was the fourth stage of General Gordon's opinions.
-Eight days later (February 26), when General Gordon had learnt
-that the British Government were not prepared to approve of Zobeir
-Pasha being sent to the Soudan, he proposed that the Mahdi should
-be "smashed up," and that, to assist in this object, 200 British
-Indian troops should be sent to Wadi Halfa. This was the fifth
-stage of General Gordon's opinions. In thirty-nine days, therefore,
-General Gordon had drifted by successive stages from a proposal
-that he should report on the affairs of the Soudan to advocating
-the policy of "smashing up" the Mahdi. It would, he said, be
-"comparatively easy to destroy the Mahdi."
-
-
-
-
-ZOBEIR PASHA (1884).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," No. 12 of 1884.
-
-
-_P. 71. Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring. Telegraphic,
-Khartoum, February 18, 1884._
-
-I have stated that to withdraw without being able to place a
-successor in my seat would be the signal for general anarchy
-throughout the country, which, though all Egyptian element was
-withdrawn, would be a misfortune and inhuman.... I distinctly
-state that if Her Majesty's Government gave a Commission to my
-successor, I recommend neither a subsidy nor men being given. I
-would select and give a Commission to some man, and promise him
-the moral support of Her Majesty's Government and nothing more....
-As for the man, Her Majesty's Government should select one above
-all others--namely, Zobeir. He alone has the ability to rule the
-Soudan, and would be universally accepted by the Soudan. He should
-be made K.C.M.G., and given presents.... Zobeir's exile at Cairo
-for ten years, amidst all the late events, and his mixing with
-Europeans, must have had great effect on his character....
-
-
-II.
-
-_P. 72. Extract from Sir E. Baring's Despatch commenting on the
-Above._
-
-I believe Zobeir Pasha to be the only possible man. He undoubtedly
-possesses energy and ability, and has great local influence. As
-regards the Slave Trade, I discussed the matter with General Gordon
-when he was in Cairo, and he fully agreed with me in thinking that
-Zobeir Pasha's presence or absence would not affect the question
-in one way or the other. I am also convinced from many things that
-have come to my notice that General Gordon is right in thinking
-that Zobeir Pasha's residence in Egypt has considerably modified
-his character. He now understands what European power is, and it is
-much better to have to deal with a man of this sort than with a man
-like the Mahdi.... I cannot recommend that he should be promised
-the "moral support" of Her Majesty's Government. In the first
-place, he would scarcely understand the sense of the phrase, and,
-moreover, I do not think that he would attach importance to any
-support which was not material. It is for Her Majesty's Government
-to judge what the effect of his appointment would be upon public
-opinion in England, but except for that I can see no reason why
-Zobeir Pasha should not be proclaimed Ruler of the Soudan with the
-approbation of Her Majesty's Government.
-
-
-III.
-
-_P. 95. Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring. February 22, 1884._
-
-Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that the gravest objections
-exist to the appointment by their authority of a successor to
-General Gordon. The necessity does not, indeed, appear to have
-yet arisen of going beyond the suggestions contained in General
-Gordon's Memorandum of the 22nd ultimo, by making special provision
-for the government of the country. In any case the public opinion
-of this country would not tolerate the appointment of Zobeir Pasha.
-
-
-
-
-SOME OF GORDON'S TELEGRAMS (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," No. 12 of 1884.
-
-
-_P. 156. Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring. Khartoum, March 3,
-1884._
-
-... I am strongly against any permanent retention of the Soudan,
-but I think we ought to leave it with decency, and give the
-respectable people a man to lead them, around whom they can rally,
-and we ought to support that man by money and by opening road to
-Berber. Pray do not consider me in any way to advocate retention of
-Soudan; I am quite averse to it, but you must see that you could
-not recall me, nor could I possibly obey, until the Cairo employés
-get out from all the places. I have named men to different places,
-thus involving them with Mahdi: how could I look the world in the
-face if I abandoned them and fled? As a gentleman, could you advise
-this course? It may have been a mistake to send me up, but that
-having been done I have no option but to see evacuation through,
-for even if I was mean enough to escape I have no power to do so.
-
-
-_P. 161. The Same to the Same. Khartoum, March 9, 1884, 11.30 p.m._
-
-If you mean to make the proposed diversion to Berber [of British
-troops], and to accept my proposal as to Zobeir, to install him
-in the Soudan and evacuate, then it is worth while to hold on to
-Khartoum. If, on the other hand, you determine on neither of these
-steps, then I can see no use in holding on to Khartoum, for it is
-impossible for me to help the other garrisons, and I shall only
-be sacrificing the whole of the troops and employés here. In this
-latter case your instructions to me had better be that I should
-evacuate Khartoum, and, with all the employés and troops, remove
-the seat of Government to Berber. You would understand that such
-a step would mean the sacrificing of all outlying places except
-Berber and Dongola. You must give a prompt reply to this, as
-even the retreat to Berber may not be in my power in a few days;
-and even if carried out at once, the retreat will be of extreme
-difficulty.
-
-
-_P. 161. Same Date, 11.40 p.m._
-
-If the immediate evacuation of Khartoum is determined upon,
-irrespective of outlying towns, I would propose to send all Cairo
-employés and white troops with Colonel Stewart to Berber, where he
-would await your orders. I would also ask Her Majesty's Government
-to accept the resignation of my commission, and I would take
-all steamers and stores up to the Equatorial and Bahr Gazelle
-provinces, and consider those provinces as under the King of the
-Belgians.
-
-
-[_P. 160._ Sir E. Baring comments that, owing to interruption of
-the telegraph line, these and other messages did not reach him till
-March 12. He instructed Gordon to hold on at Khartoum until he
-could communicate further with the British Government, and on no
-account to proceed to the Bahr Gazelle and Equatorial provinces.]
-
-
-_P. 152. Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring, March 13, 1884._
-
-If General Gordon is of opinion that the prospect of his early
-departure diminishes the chance of accomplishing his task, and that
-by staying at Khartoum himself for any length of time which he may
-judge necessary he would be able to establish a settled Government
-at that place, he is at liberty to remain there. In the event of
-his being unable to carry out this suggestion, he should evacuate
-Khartoum and save that garrison by conducting it himself to Berber
-without delay.
-
-
-
-
-CROSS PURPOSES (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," No. 13 of 1884, C 3,970.
-
-
-_P. 9. Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. Cairo, April 8, 1884._
-
-In a telegram from Khartoum, General Gordon says: I wish I could
-convey to you my impressions of the truly trumpery nature of this
-revolt, which 500 determined men could put down. Be assured, for
-present, and for two months hence, we are as safe here as at Cairo.
-If you would get, by good pay, 3,000 Turkish infantry and 1,000
-Turkish cavalry, the affair, including crushing of Mahdi, would be
-accomplished in four months.
-
-
-_P. 12. Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. Cairo, April 18, 1884._
-
-Lately I have been sending telegrams to Berber to be forwarded
-to Gordon. Since communication between Berber and Khartoum was
-cut, his telegrams to me have taken from a week to ten days. My
-telegrams to him appear to have taken even longer, and some, I
-think, have not reached him at all.
-
-
-_The Same, Later._
-
-I have received another telegram from Gordon.... It is most
-unfortunate that of all the telegrams I have sent to him only one
-very short one appears to have reached him. He evidently thinks he
-is to be abandoned, and is very indignant.
-
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," C 3,998 of 1884.
-
-_P. 1. Gordon to Baring. Telegraphic. Khartoum, April 16, 1884,
-5.15 p.m._
-
-As far as I can understand, the situation is this: you state your
-intention of not sending any relief up here or to Berber, and
-you refuse me Zobeir. I consider myself free to act according to
-circumstances. I shall hold on here as long as I can, and if I can
-suppress the rebellion I shall do so. If I cannot, I shall retire
-to the Equator, and leave you indelible disgrace of abandoning
-garrisons of Senaar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the
-certainty that you will be eventually forced to smash up the Mahdi
-under great difficulties if you would retain peace in Egypt.
-
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Papers_, "Egypt," C 3,970 of 1884.
-
-_P. 15. Earl Granville to Mr. Egerton, April 23, 1884._
-
-Gordon should be at once informed, in cipher, by several messengers
-at some interval between each, through Dongola as well as Berber,
-or in such other way as may on the spot be deemed most prompt
-and certain, that he should keep us informed, to the best of his
-ability, not only as to immediate but as to any prospective danger
-at Khartoum; that to be prepared for any such danger he advise
-us as to the force necessary in order to secure his removal, its
-amount, character, route for access to Khartoum, and time of
-operation; that we do not propose to supply him with Turkish or
-other force for the purpose of undertaking military expeditions,
-such being beyond the scope of the commission he holds, and at
-variance with the pacific policy which was the purpose of his
-mission to the Soudan; that if with this knowledge he continues at
-Khartoum, he should state to us the cause and intention with which
-he so continues. Add expressions both of respect and gratitude for
-his gallant and self-sacrificing conduct, and for the good he has
-achieved.
-
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Egypt," No. 21 of 1884, C
-4,005.
-
-_Mr. Egerton to Earl Granville. Cairo, May 10, 1884._
-
-The messengers sent in succession by the Governor of Dongola with
-the ciphered message for Gordon have returned. He telegraphed
-yesterday that they report that the rebels have invested Khartoum;
-that, in consequence, excursions in steamers are made on the White
-Nile in order to attack those on the banks; that the rebels have
-constructed wooden shelters to protect themselves against the
-projectiles; when the Government forces pursue them into these
-shelters, the rebels take flight into the country beyond gun-shot;
-that this state of things makes it impossible to get into Khartoum.
-
-
-=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Egypt," No. 22 of 1884, C
-4,042.
-
-_Earl Granville to Mr. Egerton, May 17, 1884._
-
-The following is the further message which Her Majesty's Government
-desires to communicate to General Gordon in addition to that
-contained in my telegram of the 23rd ultimo, which should be
-repeated to him. Having regard to the time which has elapsed, Her
-Majesty's Government desires to add to their communication of the
-23rd April as follows: As the original plan for the evacuation of
-the Soudan has been dropped, and as aggressive operations cannot
-be undertaken with the countenance of Her Majesty's Government,
-General Gordon is enjoined to consider and either to report upon,
-or, if feasible, to adopt, at the first proper moment, measures
-for his own removal and that of the Egyptians at Khartoum who have
-suffered for him or who have served him faithfully, including their
-wives and children, by whatever route he may consider best, having
-especial regard to his own safety and that of the other British
-subjects. With regard to the Egyptians above referred to, General
-Gordon is authorized to make free use of money rewards or promises
-at his discretion. For example, he is at liberty to assign to
-Egyptian soldiers at Khartoum sums for themselves and for persons
-brought with them per head, contingent on their safe arrival at
-Korosko, or whatever point he may consider a place of safety; or
-he may employ or pay the tribes in the neighbourhood to escort
-them. In the event of General Gordon having despatched any persons
-or agents to other points, he is authorized to spend any money
-required for the purpose of recalling them or securing their safety.
-
-
-
-
-GORDON'S POSITION (1884).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, July 29.
-
-
-Last night at eleven o'clock the British and African Royal Mail
-steamer _Kinsembo_ arrived in Plymouth Sound, having on board
-Mr. H. M. Stanley, the African explorer. In the course of a
-conversation with a correspondent, Mr. Stanley declared that
-General Gordon might leave Khartoum whenever he chose, and had
-three routes of escape open to him. He was a soldier, but not a
-traveller. He would not leave Khartoum ingloriously. He could
-escape by means of the Congo, the Nile, and across the desert to
-Zanzibar. He could force his way through the country, because the
-people would be afraid of an armed force. He is perfectly well
-supplied with arms and ammunition, and is quite strong enough to
-meet the Mahdi. Mr. Stanley derides the suggested expedition to
-Khartoum, and says the men would die like flies when the summer is
-waning. He says that Gordon only requires to act like a soldier, as
-he believes he will, to settle the whole difficulty.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--Holland's _Life of the Duke of Devonshire_, vol. i., p.
-472 _et seq._ (Longmans.)
-
-On 29th July Lord Hartington circulated to the Cabinet his
-own final memorandum on the subject. He said: "I wish before
-Parliament is prorogued, and it becomes absolutely impossible to do
-anything for the relief of General Gordon, to bring the subject
-once more under the consideration of the Cabinet. On the last
-occasion when it was discussed, although an opinion was expressed
-that the balance of probability was that no expedition would be
-required to enable General Gordon and those dependent on him to
-leave Khartoum, I gathered that a considerable majority were in
-favour of making some preparations, and taking some steps which
-would make a relief expedition to Khartoum possible. I believe
-that I have already stated the grounds on which I think that if
-anything is now attempted it must be by the Valley of the Nile,
-and not by the Suakin-Berber line. The delay which has taken place
-makes it impossible that the railway should be constructed for
-any considerable distance on that line during the next autumn
-and winter, the period during which military operations would be
-practicable without great suffering and loss of life to the troops.
-The renewed concentration of the tribes under Osman Digna, near
-Suakin, and the fall of Berber, makes it inevitable that severe
-fighting would have to be done at both ends of the march, and,
-in consequence of the necessity of crossing the desert in small
-detachments, the engagement near Berber would be fought under
-great disadvantages. On the other hand, we have for the defence
-of the Nile itself been compelled to send a considerable force of
-British and Egyptian troops up the Nile; and the positions which
-are now occupied by those troops are so many stages on the advance
-by the Nile Valley.... The proposal which I make is that a brigade
-should be ordered to advance as soon as possible to Dongola by
-the Nile.... I have not entered into the question whether it is
-or is not probable that General Gordon can leave Khartoum without
-assistance. As we know absolutely nothing, any opinion on this
-subject can only be guess-work. But I do not see how it is possible
-to redeem the pledges which we have given, if the necessity should
-be proved to exist, without some such preparations and measures as
-those which I now suggest...." Mr. Chamberlain minuted that he was
-"against what is called an expedition, or the preparations for an
-expedition." He did not think that the information was sufficient
-to justify it. He thought that more information should first be
-obtained.... Mr. Gladstone minuted (July 31): "I confess it to be
-my strong conviction that to send an expedition either to Dongola
-or Khartoum at the present time would be to act in the teeth of
-evidence as to Gordon which, however imperfect, is far from being
-trivial, and would be a grave and dangerous error." Mr. Gladstone
-at the same time wrote to Lord Granville a letter, which the latter
-forwarded to Lord Hartington. He said: "I had intended to give much
-time to-day to collecting the sum of the evidence as to Gordon's
-position, which appears to me to be strangely underrated by
-some.... Undoubtedly I can be no party to the proposed despatch, as
-a first step, of a brigade to Dongola. I do not think the evidence
-as to Gordon's position requires or justifies, in itself, military
-preparations for the contingency of a military expedition. There
-are, however, preparations, perhaps, of various kinds which might
-be made, and which are matters simply of cost, and do not include
-necessary consequences in point of policy. To these I have never
-offered an insuperable objection, and the adoption of them might
-be, at the worst, a smaller evil than the evils with which we are
-threatened in other forms. This on what I may call my side. On
-the other hand, I hope I may presume that, while we are looking
-into the matters I have just indicated, nothing will be done to
-accelerate a Gordon crisis until we see, in the early days of next
-week, what the Conference crisis is to produce."
-
-
-
-
-GORDON'S OWN MEDITATIONS (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_General Gordon's Journal_, pp. 46, 56, 59, 93, 112.
-(_Kegan Paul._)
-
-
-_September 17._--Had Zobeir Pasha been sent up when I asked for
-him, Berber would in all probability never have fallen, and one
-might have made a Soudan Government in opposition to the Mahdi.
-We choose to refuse his coming up because of his antecedents _in
-re_ slave trade; granted that we had reason, yet as we take no
-precautions as to the future of these with respect to the slave
-trade, the above opposition seems absurd. I will not send up A.
-because he will do this, but will leave the country to B., who will
-do exactly the same.
-
-_September 19._--I was engaged in a certain work--_i.e._, to take
-down the garrisons, etc. It suited me altogether to accept this
-work (when once it was decided on to abandon the Soudan), which,
-to my idea, is preferable to letting it be under those wretched
-effete Egyptian Pashas. Her Majesty's Government agreed to send me.
-It was a mutual affair; they owe me positively nothing, and I owe
-them nothing. A member of Parliament, in one of our last received
-papers, asked "whether officers were not supposed to go where
-they were ordered?" I quite agree with his view, but it cannot
-be said I was ordered to go. The subject was too complex for any
-order. It was, "Will you go and try?" and my answer was, "Only too
-delighted." As for all that may be said of our holding out, etc.,
-etc., it is all twaddle, for we had no option; as for all that
-may be said as to why I did not escape with Stewart, it is simply
-because the people would not have been such fools as to have let me
-go, so there is an end of those great-coats of self-sacrifice, etc.
-I must add _in re_ "the people not letting me go," that even if
-they had been willing for me to go, I would not have gone, and left
-them in their misery.
-
-_September 19._--Anyone reading the telegram 5th May, Suakin, 29th
-April, Massowah, and _without_ date, Egerton saying, "Her Majesty's
-Government does not entertain your proposal to supply Turkish or
-other troops in order to undertake military operations in the
-Soudan, and consequently if you stay at Kartoum you should state
-your reasons," might imagine one was luxuriating up here, whereas,
-I am sure, no one wishes more to be out of this than myself; the
-_reasons_ are those horribly plucky Arabs. I own to having been
-very insubordinate to Her Majesty's Government and its officials,
-but it is my nature, and I cannot help it.
-
-_September 24._--I altogether _decline_ the imputation that the
-projected expedition has come to _relieve me_. It has _come to
-save our national honour in extricating the garrisons, etc., from
-a position our action in Egypt has placed those garrisons_. As to
-myself, I could make good my retreat at any moment if I wished.
-
-_September 29._--My idea is to induce Her Majesty's Government to
-undertake the extrication of all people or garrisons, now hemmed in
-or captive, and that if this is not their programme then to resign
-my commission and do what I can to attain it (the object).... I say
-this, because I should be sorry for Lord Wolseley to advance from
-Dongola without fully knowing my views. If Her Majesty's Government
-are going to abandon the garrisons, then do not advance. I say
-nothing of evacuating the country; I merely maintain that if we do
-so, everyone in the Soudan, captive or hemmed in, ought to have the
-option and power of retreat.
-
-
-
-
-THE FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, November 19.
-
-
-The Representation of the People Bill was yesterday read a second
-time in the House of Lords without a division, and without
-discussion upon anything it contains.... The terms offered by
-the Government, and now definitely accepted by the Opposition,
-are, first, that the draft of the Redistribution Bill shall be
-submitted in private to the Conservative leaders, in order that, by
-suggesting the alterations they think necessary, they may convince
-themselves of the equity and fairness of the measure. In the second
-place, it is agreed that, when a Redistribution Bill satisfactory
-to both parties has been framed, the Opposition will give to the
-Government adequate assurance that the Franchise Bill shall pass
-the House of Lords.... Lastly, the Government pledge themselves to
-take up the Redistribution Bill as early as possible in the New
-Year, to push it through its remaining stages with all possible
-expedition, and, relying upon the loyal support of the Opposition
-being given to the joint scheme, to stake not only their credit
-but their existence upon the passing of the Bill into law in the
-Session of 1885.
-
-
-
-
-FEEDING POOR SCHOOL CHILDREN (1884).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, December 13.
-
-
-The question of providing penny dinners for the children of the
-London poor has received pretty ample discussion. Everybody
-can form an idea now of the difficulties which will have to be
-surmounted by the central committee of School Board managers and
-teachers.... The vital principle of the scheme is that the dinners
-shall be supplied on a self-supporting basis. In some places the
-work has been undertaken with more zeal than knowledge, and there
-has been quick disappointment. The Vicar of St. Mark's, Walworth,
-who seems to doubt whether the scheme can be carried out on purely
-commercial lines, tells us how fastidious are the children of the
-poor. They turn from macaroni; they dislike the flavour of cabbage
-boiled up in a stew; they will have nothing to say to haricot
-beans, lentils, or salads; they mistrust soup; and are generally
-most attracted by suet dumplings and jam or currant puddings.
-
-
-
-
-THE DEATH OF GORDON (1885).
-
-=Source.=--Sir Reginald Wingate's _Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan_, pp. 166-172. (Macmillans.)
-
-
-Soon all that had been in the commissariat was finished, and
-then the inhabitants and the soldiers had to eat dogs, donkeys,
-skins of animals, gum, and palm fibre, and famine prevailed. The
-soldiers stood on the fortifications like pieces of wood. The
-civilians were even worse off. Many died of hunger, and corpses
-filled the streets; no one had even energy to bury them.... We
-were heartbroken; the people and soldiers began to lose faith in
-Gordon's promises, and they were terribly weak from famine. At
-last Sunday morning broke, and Gordon Pasha, who used always to
-watch the enemy's movements from the top of the palace, noticed a
-considerable movement in the south, which looked as if the Arabs
-were collecting at Kalakala. He at once sent word to all of us who
-had attended the previous meeting, and to a few others, to come at
-once to the palace. We all came, but Gordon Pasha did not see us.
-We were again addressed by Giriagis Bey, who said he had been told
-by Gordon Pasha to inform us that he noticed much movement in the
-enemy's lines, and believed an attack would be made on the town; he
-therefore ordered us to collect every male in the town from the age
-of eight, even to the old men, and to line all the fortifications,
-and that if we had difficulty in getting this order obeyed we were
-to use force. Giriagis said that Gordon Pasha now appealed to us
-for the last time to make a determined stand, for in twenty-four
-hours' time he had no doubt the English would arrive; but that if
-we preferred to submit then, he gave the commandant liberty to open
-the gates, and let all join the rebels. He had nothing more to
-say. I then asked to be allowed to see the Pasha, and was admitted
-to his presence. I found him sitting on a divan, and as I came in
-he pulled off his tarboush (fez) and flung it from him, saying,
-"What more can I say? I have nothing more to say; the people will
-no longer believe me; I have told them over and over again that
-help would be here, but it has never come, and now they must see I
-tell them lies. If this, my last promise, fails, I can do nothing
-more. Go and collect all the people you can on the lines, and make
-a good stand. Now leave me to smoke these cigarettes." (There
-were two full boxes of cigarettes on the table.) I could see he
-was in despair, and he spoke in a tone I had never heard before.
-I knew then that he had been too agitated to address the meeting,
-and thought the sight of his despair would dishearten us. All the
-anxiety he had undergone had gradually turned his hair to a snowy
-white. I left him, and this was the last time I saw him alive....
-It was a gloomy day, that last day in Khartoum; hundreds lay dead
-and dying in the streets from starvation, and there were none to
-bury them. At length the night came, and, as I afterwards learnt,
-Gordon Pasha sat up writing till midnight, and then lay down to
-sleep. He awoke some time between two and three a.m. The wild
-war-cries of the Arabs were heard close at hand. A large body of
-rebels had crept in the dark close up to the broken-down parapet
-and filled-up ditch, between the White Nile and the Messalamieh
-Gate. The soldiers never knew of the enemy's approach until about
-twenty minutes before they were actually attacked, when the tramp
-of feet was heard, and the alarm was sounded; but they were so
-tired out and exhausted that it was not until the sentries fired
-that the rest of the men suddenly started up surprised, to find
-swarms of Arabs pouring over the ditch and up the parapet, yelling
-and shouting their war-cries. Here they met with little resistance,
-for most of the soldiers were four or five paces apart, and were
-too feeble to oppose such a rush. The Arabs were soon within the
-lines, and thus able to attack the rest of the soldiers from
-behind. They were opposed at some points, but it was soon all
-over.... Meanwhile Gordon Pasha, on being roused by the noise,
-went on to the roof of the palace in his sleeping clothes. He soon
-made out that the rebels had entered the town, and for upwards of
-an hour he kept up a hot fire in the direction of the attack. I
-heard that he also sent word to get up steam in the steamer, but
-the engineer was not there; he had been too frightened to leave his
-house. As dawn approached Gordon Pasha could see the Arab banners
-in the town, and soon the gun became useless, for he could not
-depress it enough to fire on the enemy. By this time the Arabs had
-crowded round the palace in thousands, but for a time no one dared
-enter, for they thought mines were laid to blow them up. Meanwhile
-Gordon Pasha had left the roof; he went to his bedroom, which was
-close to the divan, and there he put on a white uniform, his sword,
-which he did not draw, and, carrying his revolver in his right
-hand, stepped out into the passage in front of the entrance to the
-office, and just at the head of the staircase. During this interval
-four men, more brave than the rest, forced their way into the
-palace, and once in were followed by hundreds of others. Of these
-latter, the majority rushed up the stairs to the roof, where, after
-a short resistance, the palace guard, servants, and cavasses were
-all killed; while the four men--Taha Shahin, a Dongolawi, whose
-father was formerly in my service; Ibrahim Abu Shanab, servant of
-George Angelleto; Hamad Wad Ahmed Jar en Nebbi, Hassani; and a
-fourth, also a Dongolawi, servant to Fathallah Jehami--followed
-by a crowd of others, knowing Gordon Pasha's room, rushed towards
-it. Taha Shahin was the first to encounter Gordon beside the door
-of the divan, apparently waiting for the Arabs, and standing with
-a calm and dignified manner, his left hand resting on the hilt of
-his sword. Shahin, dashing forward with the curse "Mala' oun el
-yom yomek!" (O cursed one, your time is come!), plunged his spear
-into his body. Gordon, it is said, made a gesture of scorn with his
-right hand, and turned his back, where he received another spear
-wound, which caused him to fall forward, and was most likely his
-mortal wound. The other three men, closely following Shahin, then
-rushed in, and, cutting at the prostrate body with their swords,
-must have killed him in a few seconds. His death occurred just
-before sunrise. He made no resistance, and did not fire a shot
-from his revolver. From all I knew, I am convinced that he never
-intended to surrender. I should say he must have intended to use
-his revolver only if he saw it was the intention of the Arabs to
-take him prisoner alive; but he saw such crowds rushing on him with
-swords and spears, and there being no important emirs with them, he
-must have known that they did not intend to spare him, and that was
-most likely what he wanted.... Gordon Pasha's head was immediately
-cut off and sent to the Mahdi at Omdurman, while his body was
-dragged downstairs and left exposed for a time in the garden, where
-many Arabs came to plunge their spears into it. I heard that the
-Mahdi had given orders for Gordon to be spared, but what I have
-stated was told me by the four men I have mentioned, and I believe
-the Mahdi pardoned them for their disobedience of orders.... I saw
-Gordon Pasha's head exposed in Omdurman. It was fixed between the
-branches of a tree, and all who passed by threw stones at it.
-
-
-[NOTE.--This account is from the journal of Bordeini Bey, an
-eminent Khartoum merchant, who willingly gave up his large stores
-of grain to Gordon for the supply of the garrison. He was taken
-prisoner at the fall of the city.]
-
-
-
-
-THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY (1885).
-
-=Source.=--Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, vol. i., p. 589.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-
-It has been already shown that General Gordon paid little heed to
-his instructions, that he was consumed with a desire to "smash
-the Mahdi," and that the view that he was constrained to withdraw
-everyone who wished to leave from the most distant parts of the
-Soudan was, to say the least, quixotic. The conclusion to be drawn
-from these facts is that it was a mistake to send General Gordon
-to the Soudan. But do they afford any justification for the delay
-in preparing and in despatching the relief expedition? I cannot
-think that they do so. Whatever errors of judgment General Gordon
-may have committed, the broad facts, as they existed in the early
-summer of 1884, were that he was sent to Khartoum by the British
-Government, who never denied their responsibility for his safety,
-that he was beleaguered, and that he was, therefore, unable to get
-away. It is just possible that he could have effected his retreat,
-if, having abandoned the southern posts, he had moved northward
-with the Khartoum garrison in April or early in May. As time went
-on, and nothing was heard of him, it became more and more clear
-that he either could not or would not--probably that he could
-not--move. The most indulgent critic would scarcely extend beyond
-June 27 the date at which the Government should have decided on the
-question of whether a relief expedition should or should not be
-despatched. On that day the news that Berber had been captured on
-May 26 by the Dervishes was finally confirmed. Yet it was not till
-six weeks later that the Government obtained from Parliament the
-funds necessary to prepare for an expedition.
-
-
-
-
-THE VOTE OF CENSURE (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 294, col. 1311. (House of
-Lords debate on Egypt, February 26, 1885.)
-
-
-THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY: ... The conduct of Her Majesty's
-Government has been an alternation of periods of slumber and
-periods of rush, and the rush, however vehement, has always been
-too unprepared and too unintelligent to repair the damage which
-the period of slumber has effected.... The case of the bombardment
-of Alexandria, the case of the abandonment of the Soudan, the
-case of the mission of General Graham's force--they are all on
-the same plan, and all show you that remarkable characteristic
-of torpor during the time when action was needed, and hasty,
-impulsive, ill-considered action when the time for action had
-passed by. Their further conduct was modelled on their action in
-the past. So far was it modelled that we were able to put it to the
-test which establishes a scientific law. I should like to quote
-what I said on the 4th of April, when discussing the prospect of
-the relief of General Gordon. What I said was this: "Are these
-circumstances encouraging to us when we are asked to trust that,
-on the inspiration of the moment, when the danger comes, Her
-Majesty's Government will find some means of relieving General
-Gordon? I fear that the history of the past will be repeated in
-the future; and just again, when it is too late, the critical
-resolution will be taken; some terrible news will come that the
-position of Gordon is absolutely a forlorn and hopeless one, and
-then, under the pressure of public wrath and Parliamentary censure,
-some desperate resolution of sending an expedition will be formed
-too late to achieve the object which it is desired to gain." I
-quote these words to show that by that time we had ascertained
-the laws of motion and the orbits of those erratic comets who sit
-on the Treasury Bench. Now the terrible responsibility and shame
-rests upon the Government, because they were warned in March and
-April of the danger to General Gordon, because they received every
-intimation which men could reasonably look for that his danger
-would be extreme, and because they delayed from March and April
-right down to the 15th of August before they took a single measure
-to relieve him. What were they doing all that time? It is very
-difficult to conceive. What happened during those eventful months?
-I suppose some day the memoirs will tell our grandchildren, but
-we shall never know. Some people think there were divisions in
-the Cabinet, and that after division on division a decision was
-put off, lest the Cabinet be broken up. I am rather inclined to
-think it was due to the peculiar position of the Prime Minister.
-He came in as the apostle of the Midlothian campaign, loaded with
-all the doctrines and all the follies of that pilgrimage. We have
-seen on each occasion, after one of these mishaps, when he has been
-forced by events and by the common sense of the nation to take some
-active steps--we have seen his extreme supporters falling foul
-of him, and reproaching him with having deserted their opinions
-and disappointed the ardent hopes which they had formed of him as
-the apostle of absolute negation in foreign affairs. I think he
-has always felt the danger of that reproach. He always felt the
-debt he had incurred to those supporters. He always felt a dread
-lest they should break away; and he put off again and again to
-the last practical moment any action which might bring him into
-open conflict with the doctrine by which his present eminence was
-gained. At all events, this is clear--that throughout those six
-months the Government knew perfectly well the danger in which
-General Gordon was placed. It has been said that General Gordon
-did not ask for troops. I am surprised at that defence. One of
-the characteristics of General Gordon was the extreme abnegation
-of his nature. It was not to be expected that he should send
-home a telegram to say, "I am in great danger, therefore send me
-troops"--he would probably have cut off his right hand before
-he would have sent a telegram of that sort. But he sent home
-telegrams through Mr. Power, telegrams saying that the people of
-Khartoum were in great danger; that the Mahdi would succeed unless
-military succour was sent forward; urging at one time the sending
-forward of Sir Evelyn Wood and his Egyptians, and at another the
-landing of Indians at Suakin and the establishment of the Berber
-route, and distinctly telling the Government--and this is the main
-point--that unless they would consent to his views the supremacy of
-the Mahdi was assured.... Well, now, my Lords, is it conceivable
-that after two months, in May, the Prime Minister should have
-said that they were waiting to have reasonable proof that Gordon
-was in danger? By that time Khartoum was surrounded, the Governor
-of Berber had announced that his case was hopeless, which was too
-surely proved by the massacre which took place in June; and yet
-in May Mr. Gladstone was still waiting for "reasonable proof"
-that the men who were surrounded, who had announced that they had
-only five months' food, were in danger.... It was the business
-of the Government not to interpret General Gordon's telegrams
-as if they had been statutory declarations, but to judge for
-themselves of the circumstances of the case, and to see that those
-who were surrounded, who were only three Englishmen among such a
-vast body of Mohammedans, and who were already cut off from all
-communications with the civilized world by the occupation of every
-important town upon the river, were really in danger, and that if
-they meant to answer their responsibilities they were bound to
-relieve them. I cannot tell what blindness fell over the eyes of
-some members of Her Majesty's Government....
-
-
-
-
-MORE FENIANISM (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 26.
-
-
-The "dynamite war," as it is called by the disloyal Irish and
-the Irish-American outrage-mongers, was continued in London on
-Saturday with some success to the perpetrators. Accepting the
-privilege accorded to all comers to view the Houses of Parliament
-and the Tower of London, they cunningly placed charged machines
-of dynamite in the Crypt leading out of Westminster Hall, in
-the House of Commons chamber itself, and caused, almost at
-the same time, an explosion in the Tower of London. The first
-explosion at Westminster was in the Hall itself. Some visitors
-were passing through the Crypt, when one noticed a parcel on the
-ground. It is described as the usual "black bag." ... The nearest
-police-constable, Cole by name, picked up the smoking parcel, and
-brought it to the entrance of the Crypt, where, from its heat or
-some other cause, he dropped it. It was fortunate for him that
-he did so, for in an instant a terrific explosion burst from the
-parcel.... The stone flooring was shattered, and the rails round
-the Crypt were somewhat twisted by the immediate blow of the
-explosion. Its secondary effect was to break some of the windows,
-and shake down from the vast beams of Irish oak, forming the roof,
-the accumulated dust of ages.... The chamber of the House of
-Commons presented the scene of a complete wreck from the second
-explosion. The benches of the Government side were torn up, and
-some of the seats had been hurled up into the gallery above....
-The explosion at the Tower of London was the most serious in its
-effects of the three, for several persons were injured, some damage
-was done to the building, and a fire ensued, lasting an hour....
-The explosive was placed between the stands of arms in the ancient
-banqueting-room of the Tower.
-
-
-
-
-NEW LABOUR MOVEMENTS (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 31.
-
-
-_Industrial Remuneration Conference._
-
-Yesterday the delegates held their concluding sitting at Prince's
-Hall, Piccadilly, when the subject set down for discussion was:
-Would the more general distribution of capital or land, or the
-State management of capital or land, promote or impair the
-production of wealth and the welfare of the community?...
-
-The discussion on the papers was begun by Mr. Williams (Social
-Democratic Federation), who said that if they left all the
-machinery, all the railways, and all the mines in the hands of the
-rich capitalists, the working classes would still continue to be
-oppressed. They must either say that the Government had no right
-to interfere with anything, or they must admit that the State
-must equally interfere between the landlord, the capitalist, and
-the labourer. He compared the part played by politicians like Mr.
-Chamberlain, who directed their attacks exclusively against the
-landlords, and spared the rich capitalists, to that sustained by
-the Artful Dodger in "Oliver Twist."
-
-Mr. B. Shaw (Fabian Society) said he had no desire to give pain
-to the burglar--if any of that trade were in the room--or to the
-landlord or the capitalist, pure and simple; all he could say was
-that all three belonged to the same class, and that the injury each
-inflicted on the community was precisely of the same nature.
-
-
-[NOTE.--The Social Democratic Federation had been founded in 1881;
-the Fabian Society, a few weeks before this conference met.]
-
-
-
-
-THE UNEMPLOYED (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, February 17.
-
-
-Yesterday afternoon three or four thousand of the unemployed of
-London held a demonstration on the Embankment near Cleopatra's
-Needle, and afterwards marched to Westminster, carrying banners.
-From Whitehall a large number of the crowd passed into Downing
-Street near the Premier's residence, where a Cabinet meeting was
-being held at the time, but at the request of the police, of whom
-an extra force were in attendance, the crowd moved round to King
-Street, where they were addressed in somewhat inflammatory terms
-by some of their speakers, who wore red badges. One speaker clung
-to the top of a lamp-post, and thence harangued the crowd; another
-spoke from a window-sill. Meantime, in the absence of Sir Charles
-Dilke, who was at the Cabinet Meeting, Mr. G. W. E. Russell,
-Parliamentary Secretary of the Local Government Board, received a
-small deputation of the leaders.... At the close of the interview
-the crowd marched back to the Embankment, where the following
-resolution was passed unanimously: "That this meeting of the
-Unemployed, having heard the answer given by the Local Government
-Board to their deputation, considers the refusal to start public
-works to be a sentence of death on thousands of those out of
-work, and the recommendation to bring pressure to bear on the
-local bodies to be a direct incitement to violence; further, it
-will hold Mr. G. W. E. Russell and the members of the Government,
-individually and collectively, guilty of the murder of those who
-may die in the next few weeks, and whose lives would have been
-saved had the suggestions of the deputation been acted on."
-
- (Signed) JOHN BURNS, ENGINEER.
- JOHN E. WILLIAMS, LABOURER.
- WILLIAM HENRY, FOREMAN.
- JAMES MACDONALD, TAILOR.
-
-
-
-
-WORKING MEN MAGISTRATES (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Manchester Guardian_, May 14.
-
-
-We understand that it is in contemplation to raise a number of
-workmen to the magisterial bench in the Duchy of Lancaster. The
-first of the appointments is that of Mr. H. R. Slatter to the
-Commission of the peace for the City of Manchester. He is Secretary
-to the Provincial Typographical Association, and a member of the
-Manchester School Board. It is understood that similar offers of
-appointment to the magistracy have been made to Mr. T. Birtwistle,
-of Accrington, Secretary to the Operative Weavers' Association of
-North and North-east Lancashire, and Mr. Fielding, of Bolton, who
-holds the post of Secretary to the local branch of the Operative
-Cotton Spinners' Association.
-
-
-
-
-TORY OLIVE-BRANCH TO IRELAND (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 298, col. 1658. (House of
-Lords, July 6, 1885.)
-
-
-THE LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (THE EARL OF CARNARVON): My Lords,
-my noble friend [Lord Salisbury] has desired that I should state to
-your Lordships the general position that Her Majesty's Government
-are prepared to occupy with regard to Irish affairs, and I hope
-to do so in comparatively few sentences. I need not tell your
-Lordships what everyone in this House knows, the nature of the
-events which have brought us to the present position. It will be
-perhaps sufficient if, by quoting a few figures, I show what the
-state of agrarian crime was a few years ago, what it has since
-been in the interval, and what it is at the present time. In 1878
-agrarian crime in Ireland stood at 301 cases. In the following
-year there were 860, and in the three following years--1880, 1881,
-and 1882--the cases reached the enormous totals of 2,580, 4,439,
-and 3,433 respectively. In 1883, after the Crimes Act had passed,
-agrarian crimes fell to 870, and last year to 762. I ought perhaps
-to supplement that statement by saying that in 1884 I think that
-there was no case of the worst form of agrarian crime. I think that
-there was not one case of actual murder, and the calendars promise
-to be of a comparatively, if not singularly, light character. The
-substance therefore of the statement is that, whereas crime rose
-in those three years to an enormous figure, it has since fallen
-to what I do not call an absolutely normal level, but to the same
-level--in fact, below the level of 1879. In these circumstances the
-question has naturally arisen--what Her Majesty's Government are
-to do; and it is impossible to conceive a graver or more serious
-matter on which to deliberate. Within a very short time--indeed,
-within a time to be numbered by weeks--the Crimes Act expires, and
-the question is, What course should be taken? Three courses are
-possible. Either you may re-enact the Crimes Act in the whole,
-or you may re-enact it in part, or you may allow it to lapse
-altogether. I think very few persons would be disposed to advocate
-its re-enactment as a whole. The more serious and practical
-question is whether it shall be re-enacted in part. The Act having
-produced, as all agree, its effect, and three years having lapsed,
-it seems hard to call on Parliament once more to re-enact it.
-I believe for my part that special legislation of this sort is
-inexpedient. It is inexpedient while it is in operation, because
-it must conjure up a sense of restlessness and irritation; and
-it is still more inexpedient when it has to be renewed at short
-intervals, and brings before the mind of the people of the country
-that they are to be kept under peculiar and exceptional coercion.
-Now I have looked through a good many of the Acts that have been
-passed, I may say, during the last generation for Ireland, and
-I have been astonished to find that ever since the year 1847,
-with some very short intervals which are hardly worth mentioning,
-Ireland has lived under exceptional and coercive legislation.
-No sane man can admit that this is a satisfactory or wholesome
-state of things. It does seem to me that it is very desirable,
-if possible, to extricate ourselves from this miserable habit,
-and to aim at some wholesome and better solution. But, more than
-being undesirable, I hold that such legislation is practically
-impossible, if it is to be continually and indefinitely re-enacted.
-I think it was Count Cavour who said that it is easy to govern in
-a state of siege. It may be easy to govern in a state of siege
-for a time, but to attempt to govern permanently is, I believe,
-utterly impossible. It may be said that this is a question of
-trust. No doubt it is a question of trust; but trust begets trust,
-and it is after all the only foundation upon which we can hope
-to build up amity and concord between the two nations. I know of
-nothing more sad than to see how, instead of diminishing under
-the healing process of time, there has been a growth of ill-will
-between these two nations; and I think it is time to try how far we
-may appeal to better feelings. I for my part believe that Ireland
-will justify the confidence which is shown her when this Act is
-allowed to lapse. If I am asked further as to policy, I will speak
-generally in these terms. So far as the mere administration of the
-law is concerned, it is our hope and intention to administer the
-ordinary law firmly and effectually. So far as the larger field of
-Government, which includes law, and more than law, is concerned,
-I hope we shall deal justly, and that we shall secure perhaps a
-somewhat better, wholesomer, and kindlier relation, I will not
-say merely between classes, creeds, or races, but between the
-rulers and the ruled. I cannot and will not lightly believe that
-the combination of good feeling to England and good government
-to Ireland is a hopeless task. My Lords, I do not believe that
-with honesty and single-mindedness of purpose on the one side,
-and with the willingness of the Irish people on the other, it is
-hopeless to look for some satisfactory solution of this terrible
-question. My Lords, these I believe to be the views and opinions
-of my colleagues. And just as I have seen in English colonies
-across the sea a combination of English, Irish, and Scotch settlers
-bound together in loyal obedience to the law and the Crown, and
-contributing to the general prosperity of the country, so I cannot
-conceive that there is any irreconcilable bar here in their native
-home and in England to the unity and amity of the two nations.
-
-
-
-
-THE FIRST SUBMARINE (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, October 1.
-
-
-The interest excited by the recent trials of the Nordenfeldt
-submarine boat is sufficiently shown by the presence at Landskrona
-of thirty-nine officers, representing every European Power,
-together with Brazil and Japan. The Nordenfeldt boat, the first of
-its class, was built at Stockholm about two years ago. The boat is
-cigar-shaped, with a coffin-like projection on the top amidships,
-formed by vertical combings supporting a glass dome or conning
-tower, 1 foot high, which enables the commander to see his way.
-The dome, with its iron protecting cover, stands on a horizontal
-lid, which can be swung to one side to allow the crew of three men
-to get in or out without difficulty. The length of the hull is
-64 feet, and the central diameter 9 feet. It is built of Swedish
-mild steel plates ⅝ inch thick at the centre, tapered to ⅜ inch
-at the ends.... In order to prepare for action, enough sea-water
-is taken in to reduce the buoyancy to 1 cwt., which suffices to
-keep the conning tower well above the surface. In order to sink
-the boat further, the vertical propellers are set in motion, and
-by their action it is held at the required depth. Thus to come
-to the surface again it is merely necessary to stop the vertical
-propellers, in which case the reserve of buoyancy at once comes
-into play.... The motive power is steam alone. For submarine work,
-as stoking is, of course, impossible, the firebox has to be sealed.
-It is therefore necessary to store the requisite power beforehand,
-and this is done by heating the water in two tanks placed fore
-and aft, till a pressure of about 150 pounds per square inch is
-obtained. With about this initial pressure the boat has been driven
-for sixteen miles at a speed of three knots.... No compressed
-air is carried, and the crew depend therefore for existence on
-the amount of air sealed up in the hull. With this amount of air
-only, four men have remained for a period of six hours without any
-special inconvenience.
-
-
-
-
-THE UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMME (1885).
-
-=Source.=--Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 173, 174,
-220-226. (Macmillans.)
-
-
-Mr. Chamberlain had been rapidly advancing in public prominence,
-and he now showed that the agitation against the House of Lords
-was to be only the beginning and not the end. At Ipswich (January
-14) he said this country had been called the paradise of the
-rich, and warned his audience no longer to allow it to remain the
-purgatory of the poor. He told them that reform of local government
-must be almost the first reform of the next Parliament, and spoke
-in favour of allotments, the creation of small proprietors, the
-placing of a small tax on the total property of the taxpayer, and
-of free education. Mr. Gladstone's attention was drawn from Windsor
-to these utterances, and he replied that though he thought some
-of them were "on various grounds open to grave objection," yet
-they seemed to raise no "definite point on which, in his capacity
-of Prime Minister, he was entitled to interfere and lecture the
-speaker." A few days later, more terrible things were said by Mr.
-Chamberlain at Birmingham. He pronounced for the abolition of
-plural voting, and in favour of payment of members, and manhood
-suffrage. He also advocated a bill for enabling local communities
-to acquire land, a graduated income-tax, and the breaking up of the
-great estates as the first step in land reform....
-
-Mr. Gladstone made a lenient communication to the orator, to the
-effect that "there had better be some explanations among them when
-they met." ... He recognized by now that in the Cabinet the battle
-was being fought between old time and new. He did not allow his
-dislike of some of the new methods of forming public opinion to
-prevent him from doing full justice to the energetic and sincere
-public spirit behind them....
-
-The address to his electors ... was given to the public on
-September 17. It was, as he said, as long as a pamphlet.... The
-Whigs, we are told, found it vague, the Radicals cautious, the
-Tories crafty; but everybody admitted that it tended to heal
-feuds.... Mr. Chamberlain, though raising his own flag, was
-respectful to his leader's manifesto. The surface was thus stilled
-for the moment; yet the waters ran very deep....
-
-[Gladstone] goes on to say that the ground had now been
-sufficiently laid for going to the election with a united front,
-that ground being the common profession of a limited creed or
-programme in the Liberal sense, with an entire freedom for those
-so inclined to travel beyond it, but not to impose their own sense
-upon all other people.... If the party and its leaders were agreed
-as to immediate measures ... were not these enough to find a
-Liberal administration plenty of work ... for several years?...
-
-An advance was made in the development of a peculiar situation by
-important conversations with Mr. Chamberlain [at Hawarden: these]
-did not materially alter Mr. Gladstone's disposition [but the first
-crisis which promptly developed tended to obscure the direct issue].
-
-
-
-
-THE IRISH VOTE (1885).
-
-=Source.=--Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 188-245.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-
-On May 15 Mr. Gladstone announced ... that they proposed to
-continue what he described as certain clauses of a valuable and
-equitable description in the existing Coercion Act.
-
-No Parliamentary situation could be more tempting to an astute
-Opposition. The signs that the Cabinet was not united were
-unmistakable.... The key to an operation that should at once, with
-the aid of the disaffected Liberals and the Irish, turn out Mr.
-Gladstone and secure the English elections, was an understanding
-with Mr. Parnell.... Lord Salisbury and his confidential friends
-had resolved [previous to the defeat of the Government], subject
-to official information, to drop coercion, and the only visible
-reason why they should form the resolution at that particular
-moment was its probable effect upon Mr. Parnell. [Meanwhile] the
-policy of the Central Board [for Ireland], of which Mr. Gladstone
-so decisively approved, had been killed.... When it came to the
-full Cabinet it could not be carried. [June 6. Government defeated
-on an amendment to the Budget by 264 to 252.] The defeat of the
-Gladstone Government was the first success of a combination
-between Tories and Irish that proved of cardinal importance to
-policies and parties for several critical months to come.... The
-new Government were not content with renouncing coercion for the
-present. They cast off all responsibility for its practice in
-the past.... In July a singular incident occurred, nothing less
-strange than an interview between the new Lord-Lieutenant [Lord
-Carnarvon] and the leader of the Irish party. To realize its full
-significance we have to recall the profound odium that at this
-time enveloped Mr. Parnell's name in the minds of nearly all
-Englishmen.... The transaction had consequences, and the Carnarvon
-episode was a pivot. The effect on the mind of Mr. Parnell was easy
-to foresee.... Why should he not believe that the alliance formed
-in June ... had really blossomed from a mere lobby manœuvre and
-election expedient into a policy adopted by serious statesmen?
-
-[In Midlothian, on November 9, Mr. Gladstone said:] "It will be a
-vital danger to the country and to the empire, if at a time when a
-demand from Ireland for larger powers of self-government is to be
-dealt with, there is not in Parliament a party totally independent
-of the Irish vote." ... Mr. Gladstone's cardinal deliverance in
-November had been preceded by an important event. On October 7,
-1885, Lord Salisbury made that speech at Newport which is one of
-the tallest and most striking landmarks in the shifting sands of
-this controversy.... Some of the more astute of the Minister's own
-colleagues were delighted with his speech, as keeping the Irishmen
-steady to the Tory party.... The question on which side the Irish
-vote in Great Britain should be thrown seems not to have been
-decided until after Mr. Gladstone's speech. It was then speedily
-settled. On November 21 a manifesto was issued, handing over the
-Irish vote in Great Britain solid to the orator of the Newport
-speech. The tactics were obvious. It was Mr. Parnell's interest to
-bring the two contending British parties as near as might be to a
-level, and this he could only hope to do by throwing his strength
-upon the weaker side. It was from the weaker side, if they could
-be maintained in office, that he would get the best terms....
-Some estimated the loss to the Liberal party in this island at
-twenty seats, others at forty. Whether twenty or forty, these
-lost seats made a fatal difference in the division on the Irish
-Bill a few months later.... But this was not all, and was not the
-worst of it.... Passions were roused, and things were said about
-Irishmen that could not at once be forgotten; and the great task
-of conversion in 1886, difficult in any case, was made a thousand
-times more difficult still by the antipathies of the electoral
-battle of 1885. Meanwhile it was for the moment, and for the
-purposes of the moment, a striking success.
-
-
-
-
-THE NEW ELECTORATE (1885).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, December 11.
-
-
-From a carefully prepared statistical abstract of the election it
-appears that in the English counties, out of a total electorate of
-2,303,133 voters, 1,937,988 votes were recorded, in the proportion
-of 1,020,774 Liberal votes to 916,314 Conservative.
-
-
-
-
-THE OPENING OF THE RIFT (1886).
-
-=Source.=--Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 292-295.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-
-What Mr. Gladstone called the basis of his new government was set
-out in a short memorandum, which he read to each of those whom he
-hoped to include in his Cabinet: "I propose to examine whether it
-is or is not practicable to comply with the desire widely prevalent
-in Ireland, and testified by the return of eighty-five out of
-one hundred and three representatives, for the establishment by
-statute of a legislative body to sit in Dublin, and to deal with
-Irish as distinguished from Imperial affairs, in such a manner
-as would be just to each of the three kingdoms, equitable with
-reference to every class of the people of Ireland, conducive to
-the social order and harmony of that country, and calculated to
-support and consolidate the unity of the Empire on the continued
-basis of Imperial authority and mutual attachment." No definite
-plan was propounded or foreshadowed, but only the proposition
-that it was a duty to seek a plan. The cynical version was that a
-Cabinet was got together on the chance of being able to agree. To
-Lord Hartington Mr. Gladstone applied as soon as he received the
-Queen's commission. The invitation was declined on reasoned grounds
-(January 30th). Examination and inquiry, said Lord Hartington, must
-mean a proposal. If no proposal followed inquiry, the reaction of
-Irish disappointment would be severe, as it would be natural. He
-could not depart from the traditions of British statesmen, and he
-was opposed to a separate Irish legislature. At the same time,
-he concluded, in a sentence afterwards pressed by Mr. Gladstone
-on the notice of the Queen: "I am fully convinced that the
-alternative policy of governing Ireland without large concessions
-to the national sentiment, presents difficulties of a tremendous
-character, which in my opinion could now only be faced by the
-support of a nation united by the consciousness that the fullest
-opportunity had been given for the production and consideration
-of a conciliatory policy...." The decision was persistently
-regarded by Mr. Gladstone as an important event in English
-political history. With a small number of distinguished individual
-exceptions, it marked the withdrawal from the Liberal party of the
-aristocratic element....
-
-Mr. Goschen, who had been a valuable member of the great Ministry
-of 1868, was invited to call, but without hopes that he would
-rally to a cause so startling; the interview, while courteous
-and pleasant, was over in a very few minutes. Lord Derby, a man
-of still more cautious type, and a rather recent addition to the
-officers of the Liberal staff, declined, not without good nature.
-Most lamented of all the abstentions was the honoured and trusted
-name of Mr. Bright.
-
-
-
-
-"ULSTER WILL FIGHT" (1886).
-
-=Source.=--Winston Churchill's _Life of Lord Randolph Churchill_,
-vol. ii., pp. 60-65. (Macmillans.)
-
-
-Lord Randolph crossed the Channel and arrived at Larne early on the
-morning of February 22. He was welcomed like a king.... That night
-the Ulster Hall (in Belfast) was crowded to its utmost compass.
-In order to satisfy the demand for tickets all the seats were
-removed, and the concourse--which he addressed for nearly an hour
-and a half--heard him standing. He was nearly always successful
-on the platform, but the effect he produced upon his audience at
-Belfast was one of the most memorable triumphs of his life.... "Now
-may be the time," he said, "to show whether all these ceremonies
-and forms which are practised in Orange lodges are really living
-symbols or only idle and meaningless ceremonies; whether that which
-you have so carefully fostered is really the lamp of liberty, and
-its flame the undying and unquenchable fire of freedom.... Like
-Macbeth before the murder of Duncan, Mr. Gladstone asks for time.
-Before he plunges the knife into the heart of the British Empire,
-he reflects, he hesitates.... The Loyalists in Ulster should wait
-and watch--organize and prepare. Diligence and vigilance ought to
-be your watchword; so that the blow, if it does come, may not come
-upon you as a thief in the night, and may not find you unready, and
-taken by surprise. I believe that this storm will blow over, and
-that the vessel of the Union will emerge with her Loyalist crew
-stronger than before; but it is right and useful that I should add
-that if the struggle should continue, and if my conclusions should
-turn out to be wrong, then I am of opinion that the struggle is not
-likely to remain within the lines of what we are accustomed to look
-upon as constitutional action. No portentous change such as the
-Repeal of the Union, no change so gigantic, could be accomplished
-by the mere passing of a law. The history of the United States will
-teach us a different lesson; and if it should turn out that the
-Parliament of the United Kingdom was so recreant from all its high
-duties, and that the British nation was so apostate to traditions
-of honour and courage, as to hand over the Loyalists of Ireland to
-the domination of an Assembly in Dublin, which must be to them a
-foreign and an alien assembly, if it should be within the design
-of Providence to place upon you and your fellow-Loyalists so heavy
-a trial, then, gentlemen, I do not hesitate to tell you most truly
-that in that dark hour there will not be wanting to you those of
-position and influence in England who would be willing to cast in
-their lot with you, and who, whatever the result, will share your
-fortunes and your fate. There will not be wanting those who, at
-the exact moment, when the time is fully come--if that time should
-come--will address you in words which are perhaps best expressed by
-one of our greatest English poets:
-
- 'The combat deepens; on, ye brave,
- Who rush to glory or the grave.
- Wave, Ulster--all thy banners wave,
- And charge with all thy chivalry.'"
-
-... A few weeks later, in a letter to a Liberal-Unionist member, he
-repeated his menace in an even clearer form: "If political parties
-and political leaders, not only Parliamentary but local, should be
-so utterly lost to every feeling and dictate of honour and courage
-as to hand over coldly, and for the sake of purchasing a short and
-illusory Parliamentary tranquillity, the lives and liberties of
-the Loyalists of Ireland to their hereditary and most bitter foes,
-make no doubt on this point--Ulster will not be a consenting party;
-Ulster at the proper moment will resort to the extreme arbitrament
-of force; Ulster will fight, Ulster will be right; Ulster will
-emerge from the struggle victorious, because all that Ulster
-represents to us Britons will command the sympathy and support of
-an enormous section of our British community, and also, I feel
-certain, will attract the admiration and the approval of free and
-civilized nations."
-
-
-
-
-SALISBURY ON HOME RULE (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, April 14.
-
-
-_Demonstration at Her Majesty's Theatre against the Home Rule Bill._
-
-LORD SALISBURY: ... The great result which I hope from the
-brilliant debates that have taken place is that the conviction
-will be carried home to the British people that there is no
-middle term between government at Westminster and independent
-and entirely separate government at Dublin. If you do not have a
-Government in some form or other issuing from the centre you must
-have absolute separation. Now I ask you to look at what separation
-means. It means the cutting off from the British Islands of a
-province tied to them by the hand of Nature. It is hard to find a
-parallel instance in the contemporary world, because the tendency
-of events has been in the opposite direction. In every country you
-find that consolidation, and not severance, has been the object
-which statesmen have pursued. But there is one exception. There
-is a State in Europe which has had very often to hear the word
-"autonomy," which has had more than once to grant Home Rule, and
-to see separation following Home Rule. The State I have referred
-to is Turkey. Let anyone who thinks that separation is consistent
-with the strength and prosperity of the country look to its effect,
-its repeated effect, when applied to a country of which he can
-judge more impartially.... Turkey is a decaying Empire; England, I
-hope, is not. But I frankly admit that this is not the only reason
-which urges me. The point that the Government have consistently
-ignored is that Ireland is not occupied by a homogeneous and
-united people. In proportions which are variously stated, which
-some people state as four-fifths to one-fifth, but which I should
-be more inclined to state as two-thirds to one-third, the Irish
-people are deeply divided, divided not only by creed, which may
-extend into both camps, but divided by history and by a long
-series of animosities, which the conflicts that have lasted during
-centuries have created. I confess that it seems to me that Whiteboy
-Associations, and Moonlight Associations, and Riband Associations,
-and murder committed at night and in the open day, and a constant
-disregard to all the rights of property--these things make me
-doubt the angelic character which has been attributed to the Irish
-peasantry. I do not for a moment maintain that they are in their
-nature worse than other people. But I say there are circumstances
-attaching to Ireland--circumstances derived from history that is
-past and gone through many generations--which make it impossible
-for us to believe that, if liberty, entire liberty, were suddenly
-given to them, they would be able to forget the animosities of
-centuries and to treat those who are placed in their power for the
-first time with perfect justice and equity. You must not imagine
-that with a wave of a wand by any Minister, however powerful, the
-effects of centuries of conflict and exasperation will be wiped
-away.... My belief is that the future government of Ireland does
-not involve any unmanageable difficulty. We want a wise, firm,
-continuous administration of the law. We want a steady policy. But
-you must support it, or it will not take place. There has been
-a great contest between England and the discontented portion of
-the Irish people. It is a contest that has lasted through many
-generations past, through many vicissitudes, and now you are asked
-to submit to a measure which is placed before you, and to end that
-contest by a complete and ignominious surrender. It is not a
-surrender marked by the mere ordinary circumstances of ignominy. It
-is a painful thing for a great nation to lose a battle and have to
-acknowledge defeat. It is a painful thing if defeat involves loss
-of territory, and the nation has to be content with a restricted
-Empire. But these things do not represent the depth of infamy to
-which you will descend. There is something worse than all this,
-and that is when defeat is marked by the necessity of abandoning
-to your enemies those whom you have called upon to defend you, and
-who have risked their all on your behalf. That is an infamy below
-which it is impossible to go; that is an infamy to which you are
-asked to submit yourselves now. Your enemies in every part of the
-world will be looking on what you do with exultation. Your friends,
-your supporters, your partisans, will view it with shame, with
-confusion, and with dismay in every quarter of the globe.
-
-
-
-
-MR. GLADSTONE'S APPEAL (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 295, col. 649. Second
-reading of the Home Rule Bill, June 7th.
-
-
-Ireland stands at your bar expectant, hopeful, almost suppliant.
-Her words are the words of truth and soberness. She asks a blessed
-oblivion of the past, and in that oblivion our interest is deeper
-even than hers. You have been asked to-night to abide by the
-traditions of which we are the heirs. What traditions? By the Irish
-traditions? Go into the length and breadth of the world, ransack
-the literature of all countries, find if you can a single voice,
-a single book, in which the conduct of England towards Ireland is
-anywhere treated except with profound and bitter condemnation. Are
-these the traditions by which we are exhorted to stand? No; they
-are a sad exception to the glory of our country. They are a broad
-and black blot upon the pages of its history, and what we want to
-do is to stand by the traditions of which we are the heirs in all
-matters except our relations with Ireland, and to make our relation
-with Ireland conform to the other traditions of our country. So we
-treat our traditions, so we hail the demand of Ireland for what I
-call a blessed oblivion of the past. She asks also a boon for the
-future; and that boon for the future, unless we are much mistaken,
-will be a boon to us in respect of honour, no less than a boon to
-her in respect of happiness, prosperity, and peace. Such, sir, is
-her prayer. Think, I beseech you; think well, think wisely, think,
-not for the moment, but for the years that are to come, before you
-reject this Bill.
-
-
-
-
-LIBERAL UNIONISM (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, May 17.
-
-
-The Conservative leaders will do well to say plainly that they
-will not attack any Liberal seats held by representatives who have
-voted against the Home Rule Bill, whatever prospect there may have
-otherwise been of displacing the sitting members, or whatever
-provocation may have been given in former contests. By this course
-Conservatives can insure the return, with very few exceptions, of
-all the Liberal members who have declared against the Bill. It is
-open to them to assail the seats held by Gladstonian Liberals,
-and on the principle of conjoint action they will be entitled,
-in assailing those seats, and in defending those they at present
-occupy, to the support of all Liberal Unionists.
-
-
-
-
-THE UNEMPLOYED RIOTS (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, February 9.
-
-
-There is serious work before the new Home Secretary and his
-working-man colleague, Mr. Broadhurst. Yesterday there occurred
-the most alarming and destructive riot that has taken place in
-London for many years, or perhaps we may say the most destructive
-that has taken place within living memory. The destruction of the
-Hyde Park railings in 1866 was in some respects a more threatening
-affair, as being the work of a bigger mob; but that, unlike the
-present business, was not accompanied by the wholesale destruction
-of property and the looting of shops. Yesterday a mob some
-thousands strong marched along Pall Mall, St. James's Street, and
-Piccadilly to Hyde Park, then broke into several sections, and
-returned by South Audley Street, Oxford Street, Regent Street,
-and other routes, smashing windows, wrecking private carriages,
-and robbing jewellers' and other shops, utterly unchecked by
-the police, and leaving only one or two of their number in the
-hands of the authorities.... The occasion of all this lamentable
-affair was the great meeting of the unemployed which took place
-in Trafalgar Square. As our readers are aware, this meeting was
-but the culmination of many attempts that have been made lately
-to attract public attention to what is a very real difficulty and
-hardship. At last the time came for the men to gather in Trafalgar
-Square. But unfortunately there was not that perfect harmony in
-their proceedings which might have been desired. Some groups were
-simply unemployed labourers, come in all honesty of purpose to hear
-what could be said for them, and their chances of finding work.
-Some were fair-traders, anxious to impress on the Government that
-foreign bounties and other tariff enormities were at the root of
-the mischief. But with these moderately pacific bodies were the
-more dangerous element brought into the meeting by Messrs. Hyndman,
-Burns, and Champion. The Revolutionary Social Democrats were there,
-with the express object of breaking up the meeting called by Mr.
-Kenny and his friends, and of "preventing people being made the
-tools of the paid agitators who were working in the interests
-of the Fair Trade League." It cannot be too clearly understood
-that it was to the proceedings of these men--of Mr. Burns and Mr.
-Hyndman and their colleagues--that all the subsequent destruction
-was due.... Already on several occasions the fanatic Hyndman has
-done his best to break the peace, from the time when, a year or
-two ago, he told the crowd on the Thames Embankment that their
-principle should be a life for a life--the life of a Minister for
-that of every working-man who starved--down to the time when at
-the Holborn Town Hall he offered to head "the Revolution." Burns
-is as vehement, and his voice carries further. He yesterday told
-the mob that "the next time they met it would be to go and sack the
-bakers' shops in the West of London," and that "they had better die
-fighting than starving." He and his red flag led the mob yesterday
-in their march.
-
-
-
-
-BIMETALLISM AND LABOUR DISPUTES (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, February 19.
-
-
-_Extract from a Letter by Lord Grey._
-
-Some portion of public attention ought to be given to a subject
-of very pressing importance--that of the "scarcity of gold." The
-share which the enhancement of the value of gold has probably had
-in producing these disastrous strikes seems not to have attracted
-sufficient notice. The fall of prices from the growing scarcity
-of gold has necessarily made the same wages for labour really
-higher than they formerly were, while at the same time this fall
-of prices has diminished the total return from labour and capital
-employed in production.... Probably this has not been sufficiently
-well understood by either masters or men, but the masters have
-practically felt that they could no longer afford to pay the same
-money wages they used to do, while the men have not understood the
-necessity for such a reduction. What I would propose is that £1
-notes, payable in silver bullion, should be issued, but only in
-exchange for the same bullion after a certain fixed amount of them
-had been sent into circulation. But this bullion I should propose
-to give or receive in exchange for notes, not at any fixed price
-for silver, but at the market price of the metal, which should be
-published weekly in the _Gazette_. By this arrangement it will
-be perceived that silver would be largely used as an instrument
-for carrying on the business of exchange, without incurring the
-inconvenience which seems to be inseparable from the scheme of the
-bimetallists, who would establish by law a fixed price for silver
-and for gold. As the cost of producing these metals is liable to
-variation, I cannot understand how the bimetallists can expect
-that fixing their comparative prices by law could prevent that
-which could at the moment be most cheaply produced from driving
-the other out of circulation, since all who had to pay money would
-naturally make use of the cheapest money they could get.
-
-
-
-
-PASTEUR AND HYDROPHOBIA (1886).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, January 8.
-
-
-_Extract from an Article on "Science in 1885."_
-
-We may here refer to the momentous work of M. Pasteur in connection
-with hydrophobia. That he has discovered a remedy for one of
-the most terrible afflictions to which humanity is liable it
-would probably be premature to say; but that he has taken every
-precaution against self-deception must be admitted, and so far as
-he has gone it is difficult to discredit his results.
-
-
-
-
-THE FINAL HOME RULE RUPTURE (1886).
-
-=Source.=--Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 364-368.
-(Macmillans.)
-
-
-As it happened, all this [Randolph Churchill's resignation of the
-Exchequer, and Goschen's appointment] gave a shake to both of
-the Unionist wings. The ominous clouds of coercion were sailing
-slowly but discernibly along the horizon, and this made men in the
-Unionist camp still more restless and uneasy. Mr. Chamberlain, on
-the very day of the announcement of the Churchill resignation,
-had made a speech that was taken to hold out an olive-branch to
-his old friends. Sir William Harcourt ... thought the break-up
-of a great political combination to be so immense an evil as to
-call for almost any sacrifices to prevent it. He instantly wrote
-to Birmingham to express his desire to co-operate in reunion,
-and in the course of a few days five members of the original
-Liberal Cabinet of 1886 met at his house in what is known as the
-Round Table Conference (Sir W. Harcourt, Mr. Chamberlain, Lord
-Herschell, Sir George Trevelyan, and myself).... Mr. Gladstone gave
-the Round Table his blessing, his "general idea being that he had
-better meddle as little as possible with the Conference, and retain
-a free hand." Lord Hartington would neither join the Conference
-nor deny that he thought it premature.... On the other side,
-both English Liberals and Irish Nationalists were equally uneasy
-lest the unity of the party should be bought by the sacrifice of
-fundamentals.... Mr. Parnell, though alive to the truth that when
-people go into a conference it usually means that they are willing
-to give up something, was thoroughly awake to the satisfactory
-significance of the Birmingham overtures.
-
-Things at the Round Table for some time went smoothly enough.
-Mr. Chamberlain gradually advanced the whole length. He publicly
-committed himself to the expediency of establishing some kind of
-legislative authority in Dublin in accordance with Mr. Gladstone's
-principle, with a preference, in his own mind, for a plan on the
-lines of Canada. This he followed up, also in public, by the
-admission that of course the Irish legislature must be allowed
-to organize their own form of executive government, either by an
-imitation on a small scale of all that goes on at Westminster and
-Whitehall, or in whatever other shape they might think proper....
-Then the surface became mysteriously ruffled. Language was used
-by some of the plenipotentiaries in public, of which each side in
-turn complained as inconsistent with conciliatory negotiations in
-private. At last, on the very day on which the provisional result
-of the Conference was laid before Mr. Gladstone, there appeared
-in a print called _The Baptist_ an article from Mr. Chamberlain
-containing an ardent plea for the disestablishment of the Welsh
-Church, but warning the Welshmen that they and the Scotch crofters,
-and the English labourers--thirty-two millions of people--must all
-go without much-needed legislation because three millions were
-disloyal, while nearly six hundred members of Parliament would
-be reduced to forced inactivity because some eighty delegates,
-representing the policy and receiving the pay of the Chicago
-Convention, were determined to obstruct all business until their
-demands were conceded. Men naturally asked what was the use of
-continuing a discussion when one party to it was attacking in this
-peremptory fashion the very persons and the policy that in private
-he was supposed to accept. Mr. Gladstone showed no implacability
-... he said ... "I am inclined to think we can hardly do more
-now.... We are quite willing that the subject should stand over for
-resumption at a convenient season."
-
-The resumption never happened. Two or three weeks later Mr.
-Chamberlain announced that he did not intend to return to the
-Round Table. No other serious and formal attempt was ever made on
-either side to prevent the Liberal Unionists from hardening into a
-separate species. When they became accomplices in coercion they cut
-off the chances of reunion.
-
-
-
-
-THE COMING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION (1887).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, March 17.
-
-
-Lord Hartington made a striking speech last night to the
-Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute. In the presence of
-such an audience a text was perhaps needed, and he took as his
-text some remarks made by Professor Huxley, who lately pointed
-out the instructive likeness between warfare and industry. If
-we are well advised--and Lord Hartington has no misgivings on
-the subject--in spending freely to protect ourselves against
-aggression, it is equally our duty to be not niggardly in providing
-industrial education, and diffusing scientific knowledge. It is the
-condition of industrial supremacy, and it is not an unattainable
-condition. A Watt or even an Edison is born, not made. But the
-knowledge of drawing, mechanics, mathematics, and chemistry, and
-other sciences or arts, which aid the artisan in his daily work,
-may be imparted, and on the spread of such knowledge may depend
-the continuance of industrial supremacy. Great commanders cannot
-be called into being; but in the main it depends on the rank and
-file of the army of industry whether its battles are lost or won.
-How is the work to be accomplished? In answer to this question
-Lord Hartington let fall one or two remarks which, though not
-offering a complete solution, are, if we mistake not, likely to be
-fruitful in consequences. The State, he is satisfied, cannot do all
-or much; and he is struck with the inability of purely voluntary
-efforts to meet the demand. He finds the necessary assistance, if
-anywhere, in our municipal institutions. "I hope the time is not
-far distant when our town councils or local governing bodies will
-establish in every considerable centre industrial and technical
-schools, suitable to the wants of the district, and supported out
-of local funds." The institutions which now imperfectly do the
-work of diffusing technical instruction "are playing the same part
-in relation to technical and industrial education that was played
-by the voluntary schools in relation to elementary education."
-This points to a national system of technical education; it is the
-largest and clearest conception of the subject which any public man
-of importance has put forth.
-
-
-
-
-THE FIRST "GUILLOTINE" CLOSURE (1887).
-
-=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 315, col. 1674, June 10.
-
-
-Ordered: That at ten o'clock p.m. on Friday, the 17th day of June,
-if the Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland) Bill be not previously
-reported from the Committee of the whole House, the Chairman
-shall put forthwith the Question or Questions on any amendment or
-motion already proposed from the Chair. He shall next proceed and
-successively put forthwith the Question that any clause then under
-consideration, and each remaining clause in the Bill, stand part of
-the Bill, unless progress be moved as hereinafter provided. After
-the clauses are disposed of, he shall forthwith report the Bill, as
-amended, to the House.
-
-From and after the passing of this Order, no motion that the
-Chairman do leave the Chair, or do report progress, shall be
-allowed, unless moved by one of the members in charge of the Bill,
-and the Question on such motion shall be put forthwith.
-
-If progress be reported on 17th June the Chairman shall put this
-Order in force in any subsequent sitting of the Committee.
-
-
-
-
-JUBILEE RETROSPECTS (1887).
-
-I.
-
-=Source.=--An article by Mr. Gladstone in _The Nineteenth Century_,
-vol. xxi., p. 1.
-
-
-The Prophet of the new Locksley Hall records against us many sad,
-and even shameful, defaults. They are not to be denied, and the
-list might probably be lengthened. The youngest among us will not
-see the day in which new social problems will have ceased to spring
-up as from the depths, and vex even the most successful solvers of
-the old; or in which this proud and great English nation will not
-have cause, in all its ranks and orders, to bow its head before
-the Judge Eternal, and humbly to confess to forgotten duties, or
-wasted and neglected opportunities. It is well to be reminded,
-and in tones such as make the deaf man hear, of city children who
-"soak and blacken soul and sense in city slime"; of maidens cast by
-thousands on the street; of the sempstress scrimped of her daily
-bread; of dwellings miserably crowded; of fever as the result. But
-take first the city child as he is described. For one such child
-now there were ten, perhaps twenty, fifty years back. A very large,
-and a still increasing proportion of these children have been
-brought under the regular teaching and discipline of the school.
-Take the maidens who are now, as they were then, cast by thousands
-on the streets. But then, if one among them were stricken with
-penitence, and sought for a place in which to hide her head, she
-found it only in the pomp of paid institutions, and in a help well
-meant, no doubt, yet carrying little of what was most essential,
-sympathetic discrimination, and mild, nay even tender care. Within
-the half-century a new chapter has opened. Faith and love have gone
-forth into the field. Specimens of womankind, sometimes the very
-best and highest, have not deemed this quest of souls beneath them.
-Scrimping of wages, no doubt, there is and was. But the fair wage
-of to-day is far higher than it was then, and the unfair wage is
-assumably not lower. Miserable and crowded dwellings, again, and
-fever as their result, both then and now. But legislation has in
-the interval made its attempts in earnest; and if this was with
-awkward and ungainly hand, private munificence or enterprise is
-dotting our city areas with worthy dwellings. Above all, have we
-not to record in this behalf martyred lives, such as those of
-Denison and Toynbee? Or shall we refuse honourable mention to not
-less devoted lives, happily still retained, of such persons as
-Miss Octavia Hill? With all this there has happily grown up not
-only a vast general extension of benevolent and missionary means,
-but a great parochial machinery of domestic visitation, charged
-with comfort and blessing to the needy, and spread over so wide
-a circle, that what was formerly an exception may now with some
-confidence be said to be the rule. If insufficiencies have come to
-be more keenly felt, is that because they are greater, or because
-there is a bolder and better trained disposition to feel them?...
-
-I will refer as briefly as may be to the sphere of legislation.
-Slavery has been abolished. A criminal code, which disgraced the
-Statute Book, has been effectually reformed. Laws of combination
-and contract, which prevented the working population from obtaining
-the best price for their labour, have been repealed. The lamentable
-and demoralizing abuses of the Poor Law have been swept away. Lives
-and limbs, always exposed to destruction through the incidents of
-labour, formerly took their chance, no man heeding them, even when
-the origin of the calamity lay in the recklessness or neglect of
-the employer. They are now guarded by preventive provisions, and
-the loss is mitigated, to the sufferers or their survivors, by
-pecuniary compensation. The scandals of labour in mines, factories,
-and elsewhere, to the honour, first and foremost, of the name
-of Shaftesbury, have been either removed, or greatly qualified
-and reduced. The population on the sea-coast is no longer forced
-wholesale into contraband trade by fiscal follies; and the Game
-Laws no longer constitute a plausible apology for poaching. The
-entire people have good schools placed within the reach of their
-children, and are put under legal obligation to use the privileges
-and contribute to the charge. They have also at their doors the
-means of husbanding their savings, without the compromise of their
-independence by the inspection of the rector or the squire, and
-under the guarantee of the State to the uttermost farthing of the
-amount. Information through a free press, formerly cut off from
-them by stringent taxation, is now at their easy command. Their
-interests at large are protected by their votes, and their votes
-are protected by the secrecy which screens them from intimidation
-either through violence, or in its subtler forms.
-
-It is perhaps of interest to turn from such dry outlines as may be
-sketched by the aid of almanacs to those more delicate gradations
-of the social movement, which in their detail are indeterminate
-and almost fugitive, but which in their mass may be apprehended,
-and made the subject of record. Pugilism, which ranges between
-manliness and brutality, and which in the days of my boyhood, in
-its greatest celebrations, almost monopolized the space of journals
-of the highest order, is now rare, modest, and unobtrusive. But,
-if less exacting in the matter of violent physical excitements,
-the nation attaches not less but more value to corporal education,
-and for the schoolboy and the man alike athletics are becoming an
-ordinary incident of life. Under the influence of better conditions
-of living, and probably of increased self-respect, mendicity,
-except in seasons of special distress, has nearly disappeared. If
-our artisans combine (as they well may) partly to uphold their
-wages, it is also greatly with the noble object of keeping all the
-members of their enormous class independent of public alms. They
-have forwarded the cause of self-denial, and manfully defended
-themselves even against themselves, by promoting restraints
-upon the traffic in strong liquors. In districts where they are
-most advanced, they have fortified their position by organized
-co-operation in supply. Nor are the beneficial changes of the
-last half-century confined to the masses. Swearing and duelling
-established until a recent date almost as institutions of the
-country, have nearly disappeared from the face of society.... At
-the same time the disposition to lay bare public mischiefs and drag
-them into the light of day, which, though liable to exaggeration,
-has perhaps been our best distinction among the nations, has become
-more resolute than ever....
-
-The sum of the matter seems to be that, upon the whole and in
-a degree, we who lived fifty, sixty, seventy years back, and
-are living now, have lived into a gentler time; that the public
-conscience has grown more tender, as indeed was very needful; and
-that, in matters of practice, at sight of evils formerly regarded
-with indifference, or even connivance, it now not only winces, but
-rebels; that upon the whole the race has been reaping, and not
-scattering; earning, and not wasting.
-
-
-II.
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, June 21.
-
-The men of the Victorian age have lived in the midst of almost
-cataclysmic mental changes. New facts have rained upon them with
-a rapidity that baffles hypothesis, and stamps theory as obsolete
-before half the world has become reconciled to its existence. In
-such a time of intellectual flux anything like monumental art is
-impossible, since neither the artist nor the age possesses the
-permanence of mood required for a true presentment. Although,
-however, the Victorian era has not produced much that the most
-liberal charity can conceive as belonging to all time, it has
-shown immense fertility and vigour in supplying the intellectual
-wants of the present. In all but those supreme manifestations of
-the human intellect which we ascribe to genius, its products are
-at least equal, and in most cases superior, to those of any period
-of our history, while in quantity and variety of intellectual
-effort, and in diffusion of intellectual interest, it is entirely
-unapproachable.
-
-
-
-
-"REMEMBER MITCHELSTOWN" (1887).
-
-=Source.=--_The Times_, October 19.
-
-
-(MR. GLADSTONE at Nottingham): The case I have now to mention
-goes further than that. It is the Mitchelstown case. I was
-responsible for putting in a telegraphic answer to a telegram the
-words, "Remember Mitchelstown," and Mitchelstown will and must
-be remembered, and the meeting has an account to settle with the
-Government in respect to Mitchelstown. I should have been glad to
-have sealed my own lips, had not the Government sent forth its
-testimony, its solemn, downright, unequivocal judgment that the
-proceeding at Mitchelstown were right.... What did Mr. Balfour
-say, when the Irish Nationalist members brought up the question of
-the proceedings at Mitchelstown? He said that the whole action of
-the police was in the face of the most tremendous provocation, and
-absolutely in self-defence. He said that when the order to fire was
-given the order was to fire only on those portions of the crowd who
-were engaged in throwing stones.... Three human beings lost their
-lives under the fire of the police. I cannot say three men, for in
-the ordinary sense of the word they were not men. Two of them had
-been men, and were in harmless old age. The other was growing to be
-a man, and was still in harmless boyhood. Not one of these three
-persons is even alleged to have thrown a stone. Not one of them, if
-I recollect aright, is even alleged to have carried a stick.... Is
-not this a melancholy and a miserable farce--tragic, too, in the
-highest degree, when we consider that these trumpery proceedings,
-perhaps of some casual boys or men, who are only able in the
-utmost of their wrath and in the supply of stones that they could
-command to break two or three windows in the police barracks--that
-these are to be represented as leading and heading an attack which
-caused a humane and intelligent body of the representatives of the
-Government to fire out of windows, to kill three persons, one of
-them distant 100 yards away, and two others sixty yards away. I
-have said, and say again, "Remember Mitchelstown!"
-
-
-
-
-"BLOODY SUNDAY" (1887).
-
-=Source.=--Mackail's _Life of William Morris_, vol. ii., p. 190.
-
-
-The restlessness among the working classes culminated in the
-famous scenes of the 13th of November (1887), "Bloody Sunday,"
-in and round Trafalgar Square. A meeting in the Square had been
-announced to protest against the Irish policy of the Government;
-it had been proclaimed by the police, and became converted into
-a demonstration on a huge scale. No one who saw it will ever
-forget the strange, and indeed terrible, sight of that grey
-winter day, the vast sombre-coloured crowd, the brief but fierce
-struggle at the corner of the Strand, and the river of steel and
-scarlet that moved slowly through the dusky swaying masses when
-two squadrons of the Life Guards were summoned up from Whitehall.
-Only disorganized fragments straggled into the Square, to find
-that the other columns had also been headed off or crushed, and
-that the day was practically over. Preparations had been made to
-repel something little short of a popular insurrection. An immense
-police force had been concentrated, and in the afternoon the Square
-was lined by a battalion of Foot Guards, with fixed bayonets and
-twenty rounds of ball cartridge. For an hour or two the danger was
-imminent of street-fighting such as had not been known in London
-for more than a century. But the organized force at the disposal
-of the civil authorities proved sufficient to check the insurgent
-columns and finally clear the streets without a shot being fired.
-For some weeks afterwards the Square was garrisoned by special
-drafts of police. Otherwise London next day had resumed its usual
-aspect. Once more the London Socialists had drawn into line with
-the great mass of the London Radicals, and a formidable popular
-movement had resulted, which, on that Sunday, was within a very
-little of culminating in a frightful loss of life and the practical
-establishment of a state of siege in London. But the English spirit
-of compromise soon made itself felt.... Measures were taken for the
-relief of the unemployed. Political Radicalism resumed its normal
-occupations; and by the end of the year the Socialist League had
-dropped back into its old place, a small body of enthusiasts among
-whom an Anarchist group were now beginning to assume a distinct
-prominence.
-
-
-
-
-FIRST REPORT ON THE RAND (1887).
-
-=Source.=--_The Board of Trade Journal_, December.
-
-
-_Extracts from a Report, dated 4th October, by Mr. Ralph Williams,
-British Officer at Pretoria._
-
-On the 20th September, 1886, the Witwatersrand district was
-declared a public goldfield, and from that date the history
-of Johannesburg begins. For some months the town was known as
-Ferreira's Camp, and the Natal Camp, and it was not till, perhaps,
-March last that the present town of Johannesburg became recognized
-as the central point of the goldfields of the district. From that
-date the growth of the town has been almost unprecedented.... Large
-hotels exist which equal in accommodation anything in South Africa.
-Warehouses are full of all that can be obtained even at Cape Town.
-A theatre--rough, it is true, but of considerable capacity--is in
-full working order. Four banks are at work. Three newspapers are
-published every other day.... The actual number of the population
-I can hardly estimate, opinions differing so greatly. In the town
-of Johannesburg itself I am disposed to think there are about
-4,000 people. The outlying districts also contain a very large
-population, probably nearly equalling that of the town.
-
-The reefs which constitute the wealth of the Witwatersrand are
-entirely different from any development which has yet been
-worked.... The principal reef, which has now been traced to a
-distance of between twenty-five and thirty miles, is called the
-"main reef." It may be taken to have an average breadth of from 3
-feet 6 inches to 15 feet. It has in several places been tested to
-a depth of 70 feet, in every case being proved to be better and
-richer at the lower levels than at the surface.
-
-An inspection of the properties and inquiry into the cost of
-production cannot fail to impress one with the fact that, if these
-reefs are found to have sufficient depth, one of the richest
-goldfields in the world has now come to light.
-
-
-BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
-
-
-
-
- TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
-
- There is only one Footnote in this book, marked [A] on page 29. It
- has been placed at the end of the short section containing the anchor.
-
- Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
- corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
- the text and consultation of external sources.
-
- Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
- and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example,
- sea-coast, sea coast; to-night; employés; overboil; mendicity.
-
- Pg 13, 'slighest evidence' replaced by 'slightest evidence'.
- Pg 68, 'the British Goverment' replaced by 'the British Government'.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone, by Various
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone
- 1876-1887
-
-Author: Various
-
-Release Date: October 23, 2016 [EBook #53354]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by John Campbell and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-
-<div class="transnote">
-<p><strong>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE</strong></p>
-
-<p>Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
-corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
-the text and consultation of external sources.</p>
-
-<p>More detail can be found at the <a href="#TN">end of the book.</a></p>
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap pg-brk" />
-
-
-<p class="pfs100 lsp">BELLS ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><em>General Editors</em>: <span class="smcap">S. E. Winbolt</span>, M.A., and <span class="smcap">Kenneth Bell</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p6" />
-<p class="pfs135">IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE</p>
-
-<p class="p6" />
-
-
-<hr class="chap pg-brk" />
-<p class="p2" />
-
-<div class="bbox">
-
-
-<p class="pfs135">BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY<br />SOURCE BOOKS.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><em>Volumes now Ready. 1s. net each.</em></p>
-
-
-<div class="blockquot fs90">
-
-<p><b>1154&ndash;1216. The Angevins and the Charter.</b>
-Edited by <span class="smcap">S. M. Toyne</span>, M.A., Headmaster of St.
-Peter's School, York, and late Assistant Master at
-Haileybury College.</p>
-
-<p><b>1307&ndash;1399. War and Misrule</b> (special period
-for the School Certificate Examination, July and
-December, 1913). Edited by <span class="smcap">A. A. Locke</span>.</p>
-
-<p><b>1485&ndash;1547. The Reformation and the Renaissance.</b>
-Edited by <span class="smcap">F. W. Bewsher</span>, Assistant
-Master at St. Paul's School.</p>
-
-<p><b>1547&ndash;1603. The Age of Elizabeth.</b> Edited
-by <span class="smcap">Arundell Esdaile</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p><b>1603&ndash;1660. Puritanism and Liberty.</b> Edited
-by <span class="smcap">Kenneth Bell</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p><b>1660&ndash;1714. A Constitution in Making.</b>
-Edited by <span class="smcap">G. B. Perrett</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p><b>1714&ndash;1760. Walpole and Chatham.</b> Edited
-by <span class="smcap">K. A. Esdaile</span>.</p>
-
-<p><b>1760&ndash;1801. American Independence and the
-French Revolution.</b> Edited by <span class="smcap">S. E. Winbolt</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p><b>1801&ndash;1815. England and Napoleon.</b> Edited
-by <span class="smcap">S. E. Winbolt</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p><b>1816&ndash;1836. Peace and Reform.</b> Edited by
-<span class="smcap">A. C. W. Edwards</span>, Assistant Master at Christ's
-Hospital.</p>
-
-<p><b>1876&ndash;1887. Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone.</b>
-Edited by <span class="smcap">R. H. Gretton</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class="r15a" />
-<p><b>1535&ndash;Present-Day. Canada.</b> Edited by <span class="smcap">H. J.
-Munro</span>, M.A.</p>
-
-<p class="fs90"><em>Other volumes, covering the whole range of English
-History from Roman Britain are in active preparation,
-and will be issued at short intervals.</em></p>
-
-<hr class="r15a" />
-<p class="pfs90">LONDON: G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="p4" />
-
-
-<hr class="chap pg-brk" />
-<p class="p4" />
-
-<h1>IMPERIALISM AND<br />
-MR. GLADSTONE<br />
-<span class="large">(1876&mdash;1887)</span></h1>
-
-<p class="p4" />
-
-<p class="pfs70">COMPILED BY</p>
-<p class="pfs135">R. H. GRETTON</p>
-<p class="pfs60">FORMERLY DEMY OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD<br />
-AUTHOR OF "A MODERN HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE"</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i003-75.jpg" width="75" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<p class="p4" />
-
-<p class="pfs120">LONDON<br />
-<span class="wsp">G. BELL &amp; SONS, LTD.</span></p>
-<p class="pfs100">1913</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h2>
-
-
-<p class="noindent">This series of English History Source Books is intended for
-use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience
-has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable&mdash;nay,
-an indispensable&mdash;adjunct to the history lesson. It is
-capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration
-at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before
-the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind
-of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents
-are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a <cite>History of England
-for Schools</cite>, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381.
-However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the
-manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to
-provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily
-accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of
-the books in this series should bring them within reach of
-every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to
-take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson.
-Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to
-teacher and taught.</p>
-
-<p>Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all
-grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form
-boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities.
-What differentiates students at one extreme from those
-at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt
-with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.</p>
-
-<p>In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy
-the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital
-importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter.
-It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>
-lively in style&mdash;that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical,
-or even strongly partisan&mdash;and should not so much profess to
-give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the
-greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters,
-biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper
-accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social
-life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.</p>
-
-<p>The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each
-being numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given.
-The text is modernized, where necessary, to the extent of
-leaving no difficulties in reading.</p>
-
-<p>We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who
-may send us suggestions for improvement.</p>
-
-<p class="right small">S. E. WINBOLT. &nbsp;<br />
-KENNETH BELL.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100">NOTE TO THIS VOLUME</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot fs90">
-
-<p class="noindent">I acknowledge, with thanks to the authors concerned, and to
-Messrs. Macmillan and Co., their kind permission to reprint in
-this volume the following passages: that on p. 102, from the
-<cite>Life of Lord Randolph Churchill</cite>, by the Right Hon. Winston
-Churchill; three extracts, on pp. 59, 62, 83, from <cite>Mahdiism and
-the Egyptian Soudan</cite>, by Sir Francis Wingate; the passages
-from Lord Morley's <cite>Life of Gladstone</cite>, on pp. 97, 98, 101, 110;
-and the passages from Lord Cromer's <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>, on pp. 68,
-69, 70, 87. I acknowledge also with thanks the permission of
-the proprietors of <cite>The Times</cite> to reprint the various extracts
-from that journal; and the permission of the proprietors of
-<cite>The Saturday Review</cite> to reprint the extract on p. 35. In dealing
-with a period so recent, I have inevitably been very dependent
-upon the courtesy of the owners of copyright, and I wish to
-express my gratitude for the readiness with which that courtesy
-has been extended in these important cases.</p>
-
-<p>I am also indebted to Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co. for
-permission to print extracts from Professor Mackail's <cite>Life of
-William Morris</cite>, and from Mr. Bernard Holland's <cite>Life of the late
-Duke of Devonshire</cite>, and to Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. for
-similar permission to quote from <cite>General Gordon's Journal</cite>.</p>
-
-<p class="right">R. H. G.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">TABLE OF CONTENTS</a></h2>
-
-<div class="center smcap fs90">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary="">
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdr xs">PAGE</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl">Introduction</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdc xs">DATE</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1876.</td><td class="tdl">Purchase of the Suez Canal Shares</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1876.</td><td class="tdl">England, Russia, and Afghanistan</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1876.</td><td class="tdl">The Queen as Empress of India</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1876.</td><td class="tdl">Bulgarian Atrocities</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">&nbsp;I. Thunder from Mr. Gladstone</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">II. Cold Water from Disraeli</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1877.</td><td class="tdl">Sir Theophilus Shepstone's Commission</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1877.</td><td class="tdl">Russia declares War on Turkey</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1877.</td><td class="tdl">Irish Obstruction in its Early Days</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1877.</td><td class="tdl">Plevna after the Siege</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">Strained Relations with Russia</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">Peace with Honour</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">The Secret Agreements in Beaconsfield's Pockets</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">Gladstone Indignant Again</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">Russian Intrigue at Cabul</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1878.</td><td class="tdl">Shere Ali</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1879.</td><td class="tdl">Death of Shere Ali</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1879.</td><td class="tdl">The Gandamak Treaty</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1879.</td><td class="tdl">The Cabul Massacre</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1879.</td><td class="tdl">The Midlothian Campaign</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">Beaconsfield keeps Cool</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">The Maiwand Disaster</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">The Bradlaugh Case</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">Social Ameliorations</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">Employers' Liability</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">Funded Municipal Debt</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">Electric Light, The Telephone, New Hotels</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">Parnell and the Land League</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">Captain Boycott</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1880.</td><td class="tdl">The Boer Rising</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl"></td><td class="tdl pad3">Proclamation</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">Before Majuba</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">After Majuba</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">Ritual Controversy</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">A Short Way with Obstruction</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">The Death of Beaconsfield</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum fvnormal"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>
- The Withdrawal from Candahar</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">The Salvation Army</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1881.</td><td class="tdl">Arabi</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1882.</td><td class="tdl">The First Closure</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1882.</td><td class="tdl">Bimetallism</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1882.</td><td class="tdl">Bright's Resignation</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1883.</td><td class="tdl">The Ilbert Bill</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1883.</td><td class="tdl">Fenians Again</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1883.</td><td class="tdl">The Mahdi</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1883.</td><td class="tdl">End of Carey the Informer</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1883.</td><td class="tdl">Slaughter of Hicks Pasha's Army</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Transvaal Convention</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Gordon's Mission to Khartoum</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Difficulties of Gordon's Character</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Zobeir Pasha</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Some of Gordon's Telegrams</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Cross Purposes</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Gordon's Position</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Gordon's Own Meditations</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">The Franchise and Redistribution</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1884.</td><td class="tdl">Feeding Poor School Children</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Death of Gordon</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Government's Responsibility</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Vote of Censure</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">More Fenianism</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">New Labour Movements</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Unemployed</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">Working Men Magistrates</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">Tory Olive-Branch to Ireland</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The First Submarine</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Unauthorized Programme</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The Irish Vote</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1885.</td><td class="tdl">The New Electorate</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">The Opening of the Rift</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">"Ulster will Fight"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">Salisbury on Home Rule</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">Mr. Gladstone's Appeal</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">Liberal Unionism</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">The Unemployed Riots</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">Bimetallism and Labour Disputes</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">Pasteur and Hydrophobia</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1886.</td><td class="tdl">The Final Home Rule Rupture</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">The Coming of Technical Education</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">The First "Guillotine" Closure</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">Jubilee Retrospects</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">"Remember Mitchelstown"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">"Bloody Sunday"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">1887.</td><td class="tdl">First Report on the Rand</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="p4" />
-<h2>IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE</h2>
-
-<p class="pfs120">(1876&mdash;1887)</p>
-
-<hr class="r30" />
-
-<h3><a name="PURCHASE_OF_THE_SUEZ_CANAL_SHARES_1876" id="PURCHASE_OF_THE_SUEZ_CANAL_SHARES_1876"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES (1876).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 95 (Debate on the
-Address, February, 1876).</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Disraeli</span>: ... When we acceded to office two years
-ago an International Commission had only just ceased its labours
-at Constantinople upon the dues of the Suez Canal, and upon
-the means of ascertaining and maintaining a limit of them, and
-it had arrived at reasons entirely protested against by the
-proprietary. What was the state of affairs there? Lord
-Derby had to deal with them. The proprietary of the canal
-threatened, and not only threatened, but proceeded, to stop the
-canal. They refused pilots; they threatened to change the
-signals; they took steps which would have interrupted that
-mode of intercourse with India.... From that moment it
-became a matter of interest to those responsible for the government
-of this country to see what could be done to remedy
-those relations with the Suez Canal.... But it suddenly
-comes to our knowledge that the Khedive, on whose influence
-we mainly depended, is going to part with his shares. We
-received a telegram from Cairo informing us that the Khedive
-was anxious to raise a considerable sum of money upon his
-shares in the Suez Canal, and offered them to England. We
-considered the question immediately, and it appeared to us to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
-a complicated transaction&mdash;one to which there were several
-objections; and we sent back to say that we were favourably
-disposed to assist the Khedive, but that at the same time we
-were only prepared to purchase the shares outright. What
-was the answer? The answer was that the Khedive was
-resolved, if he possibly could, to keep his shares, and that he
-could only therefore avail himself of a loan. There matters
-seemed to end. Then suddenly there came news to the Government
-of this country that a French society&mdash;<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Société Générale</span>&mdash;was
-prepared to offer the Khedive a large sum of money&mdash;very
-little inferior to the four millions&mdash;but on very onerous conditions.
-The Khedive communicated with us, and said that the
-conditions were so severe that he would sooner sell the shares
-outright, and&mdash;which I had forgotten to mention&mdash;that, in
-deference to his promise that England should always have the
-refusal of the shares if he decided to sell them, he offered them
-to the English Government. It was absolutely necessary to
-decide at that moment what course we should take. It was
-not a thing on which we could hesitate.... To pretend that
-Lord Derby has treated this business as a mere commercial
-speculation is idle. If he did not act in accordance with the
-principles of high policy, I should like to know what high
-policy is, and how a man can pursue it.</p>
-
-<p>Apart from looking upon this as an investment, if the shares
-had been offered, and if there had been no arrangement of
-paying interest for nineteen years, so far as I am concerned, I
-should have been in favour of the purchase of the shares.
-I should have agreed with Lord Derby in thinking that
-England would never be satisfied if all the shares of the Suez
-Canal were possessed by a foreign company. Then it is said,
-if any obstacles had been put in your way by the French
-proprietors of the canal, you know very well that ultimately it
-must come to force, and you will then obtain at once the satisfaction
-of your desire. Well, if the government of the world
-was a mere alternation between abstract right and overwhelming
-force, I agree there is a good deal in that observation; but
-that is not the way in which the world is governed. The world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
-is governed by conciliation, compromise, influence, varied
-interests, the recognition of the rights of others, coupled with
-the assertion of one's own; and, in addition, a general conviction,
-resulting from explanation and good understanding, that
-it is for the interests of all parties that matters should be
-conducted in a satisfactory and peaceful manner.... I
-cannot doubt that the moral influence of England possessing
-two-fifths of the shares in this great undertaking must have
-made itself felt, must have a considerable influence upon the
-conduct of those who manage the company.... England
-is a Mediterranean Power; a great Mediterranean Power.
-This is shown by the fact that in time of war always, and
-frequently in time of peace, she has the greatest force upon
-those waters. Furthermore, she has strongholds upon those
-waters which she will never relinquish. The policy of England,
-however, is not one of aggression. It is not provinces she
-wants. She will not interest herself in the redistribution of
-territory on the shores of the Mediterranean, as long as the
-redistribution does not imperil the freedom of the seas and the
-dominion which she legitimately exercises. And therefore I
-look upon this, that in the great chain of fortresses which we
-possess, almost from the Metropolis to India, that the Suez
-Canal is a means of securing the free intercourse of the waters,
-is a great addition to that security, and one we should prize.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="ENGLAND_RUSSIA_AND_AFGHANISTAN_1876" id="ENGLAND_RUSSIA_AND_AFGHANISTAN_1876"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND AFGHANISTAN (1876).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2, 190,
-of 1878, p. 156.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from Lord Salisbury's Despatch to the Viceroy of India,
-dated February 28, 1876.</cite></p>
-
-<p>The increasing weakness and uncertainty of British influence
-in Afghanistan constitutes a prospective peril to British interests;
-the deplorable interruption of it in Khelat inflicts upon them
-an immediate inconvenience by involving the cessation of all
-effective control over the turbulent and predatory habits of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-trans-Indus tribes. In view of these considerations, Her
-Majesty's Government have ... instructed the Viceroy to
-find an early occasion for sending to Cabul a temporary mission,
-furnished with such instructions as may, perhaps, enable
-it to overcome the Ameer's apparent reluctance to the establishment
-of permanent British Agencies in Afghanistan, by convincing
-His Highness that the Government of India is ...
-willing to afford him material support in the defence of his
-territories from any actual and unprovoked external aggression,
-but that it cannot practically avert or provide for such a contingency
-without timely and unrestricted permission to place
-its own agents in those parts of his dominions whence they may
-best watch the course of events. It appears to Her Majesty's
-Government that the present moment is favourable for the execution
-of this last-mentioned instruction. The Queen's assumption
-of the Imperial title in relation to Her Majesty's Indian
-subjects, feudatories, and allies will now for the first time conspicuously
-transfer to her Indian dominion, in form as well as
-in fact, the supreme authority of the Indian Empire.... The
-maintenance in Afghanistan of a strong and friendly power has
-at all times been the object of British policy. The attainment
-of this object is now to be considered with due reference to the
-situation created by the recent and rapid advance of the Russian
-arms in Central Asia towards the Northern frontiers of British
-India. Her Majesty's Government cannot view with complete
-indifference the probable influence of that situation upon the
-uncertain character of an Oriental Chief whose ill-defined
-dominions are thus brought, within a steadily narrowing circle,
-between the conflicting pressures of two great military Empires,
-one of which expostulates and remains passive, whilst the other
-apologizes and continues to move forward. It is well known
-that not only the English newspapers, but also all works published
-in England upon Indian questions, are rapidly translated
-for the information of the Ameer, and carefully studied by His
-Highness. Sentiments of irritation and alarm at the advancing
-power of Russia in Central Asia find frequent expression
-through the English press, in language which, if taken by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
-Shere Ali for a revelation of the mind of the English Government,
-must have long been accumulating in his mind impressions
-unfavourable to its confidence in British power.... Her
-Majesty's Government would not, therefore, view with indifference
-any attempt on the part of Russia to compete with British
-influence in Afghanistan, nor could the Ameer's reception of a
-British Agent (whatever be the official rank or function of that
-Agent) in any part of the dominions of His Highness afford for
-his subsequent reception of a Russian Agent any pretext to
-which the Government of Her Majesty would not be entitled
-to, except as incompatible with the assurances spontaneously
-offered to it by the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. You will bear
-in mind these facts when framing instructions for your mission
-to Cabul.... The conduct of Shere Ali has more than once
-been characterized by so significant a disregard of the wishes
-and interests of the Government of India that the irretrievable
-alienation of his confidence in the sincerity and power of that
-Government is a contingency which cannot be dismissed as
-impossible. Should such a fear be confirmed by the result of
-the proposed negotiation, no time must be lost in reconsidering,
-from a new point of view, the policy to be pursued in reference
-to Afghanistan.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_QUEEN_AS_EMPRESS_OF_INDIA_1876" id="THE_QUEEN_AS_EMPRESS_OF_INDIA_1876"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE QUEEN AS EMPRESS OF INDIA (1876).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 1,736 (Debate on Royal
-Titles Bill, March 9, 1876).</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Gladstone</span>: ... In my opinion this is a matter of
-the greatest importance. We have had some declarations in
-this House with respect to India. The hon. member for West
-Cumberland (Mr. Percy Wyndham), on the night when the
-right hon. gentleman first made his proposal, said that an
-Imperial title would be the one most suitable, because it would
-signify that Her Majesty governed India without the restraints
-of law or constitution.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Percy Wyndham</span>: I said that the Government of India
-was a despotic Government, not in the hands of one person,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
-and not, as in this country, a constitutional Government in the
-hands of the Queen and the Houses of Lords and Commons.
-The Government of India is essentially a despotic Government
-as administered by us, although it includes more than one
-individual.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Gladstone</span>: I am very much obliged, and I perceive
-completely the hon. member's meaning; but I am sorry that
-to that meaning, as it stands, I take the greatest objection. If
-it be true&mdash;and it is true&mdash;that we govern India without the
-restraints of law, except such law as we make ourselves; if it
-be true that we have not been able to give to India the benefit
-and blessings of free institutions, I leave it to the hon. gentleman&mdash;I
-leave it to the right hon. gentleman if he thinks fit&mdash;to
-boast that he is about to place that fact solemnly upon
-record. By the assumption of the title of Empress, I for one
-will not attempt to turn into glory that which, so far as it is
-true, I feel to be our weakness and our calamity.... It is
-plain that the government of India&mdash;that is, the entire India&mdash;never
-has yet, by statute, been vested in Her Majesty; but
-that which has been vested is the government of the countries
-which were held in trust for Her Majesty by the East India
-Company. I would be the last man to raise this question if it
-were a mere verbal quibble. It is as far as possible from being
-a question merely verbal.... I am under the belief that to
-this moment there are important Princes and States in India
-over which we have never assumed dominion, whatever may
-have been our superiority of strength. We are now going, by
-Act of Parliament, to assume that dominion, the possible consequences
-of which no man can foresee; and when the right
-hon. gentleman tells us the Princes desire this change to be
-made, does he really mean to assure us that this is the case?
-If so, I require distinct evidence of the fact. There are Princes
-in India who, no doubt, have hitherto enjoyed no more than a
-theoretical political supremacy, but do they desire to surrender
-even that under the provisions of this Bill? The right hon.
-gentleman is going to advise the Queen to become Empress
-of India. I raise the question, What is India? I have said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-that the dominion now vested in Her Majesty is limited to
-the territories vested in the East India Company. I ask
-whether the supremacy of certain important Native States in
-India ever was vested in the Company, or whether it was not?
-We are bound to ask the right hon. gentleman&mdash;and I think he
-is bound to answer the question through the medium of his
-best legal authorities&mdash;whether this supremacy is so vested or
-not, and whether he can assure us upon his responsibility that
-no political change in the condition of the Native Princes of
-India will be effected by this Bill. If there is a political change
-effected, I do not hesitate to say I do not think it would be
-possible to offer too determined an opposition to the proposal
-of the Government.... I feel with the right hon. gentleman&mdash;indeed,
-I feel a little more than the right hon. gentleman&mdash;the
-greatness, the unsullied greatness, of the title which is now
-borne by the Queen of England. I think I use the language
-of moderation when I say that it is a title unequalled for its
-dignity and weight, unequalled for the glory of its historic
-associations, unequalled for the promise which it offers to the
-future, among the titles of the Sovereigns of Europe, among
-all the states and nations on earth. Sir, I have a jealousy
-of touching that title, and I am not to be told that this is a small
-matter. There is nothing small in a matter, in my judgment,
-which touches the honour and dignity of the Crown of
-England.... The right hon. gentleman has indeed manfully
-contended that there is no inferiority in the title of King
-as compared with that of Emperor.... I want to know why
-I am to be dragged into novelties, or into comparisons on a
-subject of this sort?... There is one other point on which
-I am anxious to make a few comments. I was, I own, struck
-by what fell from my right hon. friend the member for the
-University of London (Mr. Lowe) the other evening in reference
-to the colonies. Whether it be desirable to make any
-recital with regard to the colonies or not, it is a subject which
-requires much consideration whether we can wisely introduce
-reference to India in the title of the Sovereign, while we at the
-same time take no notice of the colonies.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="BULGARIAN_ATROCITIES_1876" id="BULGARIAN_ATROCITIES_1876"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BULGARIAN ATROCITIES (1876).</a></h3>
-
-
-<h4>I. <span class="smcap">Thunder from Mr. Gladstone.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet, <cite>Bulgarian Horrors and the
-Question of the East</cite>, 1876, p. 10.</p>
-
-<p>In default of Parliamentary action, and a public concentrated
-as usual, we must proceed as we can, with impaired
-means of appeal. But honour, duty, compassion, and I must
-add shame, are sentiments never in a state of <em>coma</em>. The working-men
-of the country, whose condition is less affected than
-that of others by the season, have to their honour led the way,
-and shown that the great heart of Britain has not ceased to
-beat. And the large towns and cities, now following in troops,
-are echoing back, each from its own place, the mingled notes of
-horror, pain, and indignation.... A curtain opaque and dense,
-which at the prorogation had been lifted but a few inches from
-the ground, has since then, from day to day, been slowly rising.
-And what a scene it has disclosed! And where!</p>
-
-<p>... I have the fullest confidence in the honour and in the
-intelligence of Mr. Baring, who has been inquiring on behalf
-of England. But he was not sent to examine the matter until the
-19th of July, three months after the rising, and nearly one month
-after the first inquiries in Parliament. He had been but two
-days at Philippopolis, when he sent home, with all the despatch
-he could use, some few rudiments of a future report. Among
-them was his estimate of the murders, necessarily far from final,
-at the figure of twelve thousand.</p>
-
-<p>We know that we had a well-manned Embassy at Constantinople,
-and a network of Consulates and Vice-Consulates,
-really discharging diplomatic duties, all over the provinces of
-European Turkey. That villages could be burned down by
-scores, and men, women, and children murdered, or worse than
-murdered, by thousands, in a Turkish province lying between
-the capital and the scene of the recent excitements, and that
-our Embassy and Consulates could know nothing of it? The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
-thing was impossible. It could not be. So silence was
-obtained, and relief; and the well-oiled machinery of our
-luxurious, indifferent life worked smoothly on....</p>
-
-<p>It was on the 20th of April that the insurrection broke out
-in Bulgaria.... On the 9th of May Sir Henry Elliot ...
-observing a great Mohammedan excitement, and an extensive
-purchase of arms in Constantinople, wisely telegraphed to the
-British Admiral in the Mediterranean expressing a desire that
-he would bring his squadron to Besika Bay. The purpose was
-for the protection of British subjects, and of the Christians in
-general.... These measures were substantially wise, and
-purely pacific. They had, if understood rightly, no political
-aspect, or, if any, one rather anti-Turkish than Turkish. But
-there were reasons, and strong reasons, why the public should
-not have been left to grope out for itself the meaning of a step
-so serious as the movement of a naval squadron towards a
-country disturbed both by revolt and by an outbreak of
-murderous fanaticism. In the year 1853, when the negotiations
-with Russia had assumed a gloomy and almost a hopeless
-aspect, the English and French fleets were sent eastwards;
-not as a measure of war, but as a measure of preparation for
-war, and proximate to war. The proceedings marked a transition
-of discussion into that angry stage which immediately
-precedes a blow; and the place, to which the fleets were then
-sent, was Besika Bay. In the absence of information, how
-could the British nation avoid supposing that the same act, as
-that done in 1853, bore also the same meaning?... The
-expectation of a rupture pervaded the public mind. The
-Russian funds fell very heavily, under a war panic; partisans
-exulted in a diplomatic victory, and in the increase of what is
-called our <em>prestige</em>, the bane, in my opinion, of all upright
-politics. The Turk was encouraged in his humour of resistance.
-And this, as we now know, while his hands were so
-reddened with Bulgarian blood. Foreign capitals were amazed
-at the martial excitement in London. But the Government
-spoke never a word.... And this ostentatious protection to
-Turkey, this wanton disturbance of Europe, was continued by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-our Ministry, with what I must call a strange perversity, for
-weeks and weeks....</p>
-
-<p>What we have to guard against is imposture&mdash;that Proteus
-with a thousand forms. A few months ago the new Sultan
-served the turn, and very well. Men affirmed that he must
-have time. And now another new Sultan is in the offing. I
-suppose it will be argued that he must have time too. Then
-there will be, perhaps, new constitutions; firmans of reforms;
-proclamations to commanders of Turkish armies, enjoining extra
-humanity. All these should be quietly set down as simply zero.
-At this moment we hear of the adoption by the Turks of the
-last and most enlightened rule of warfare&mdash;namely, the Geneva
-Convention. They might just as well adopt the Vatican
-Council or the British Constitution. All these things are not
-even the oysters before the dinner. Still worse is any plea
-founded upon any reports made by Turkish authority upon the
-Bulgarian outrages.... I return to, and I end with, that
-which is the Omega as well as the Alpha of this great and
-most mournful case. An old servant of the Crown and State,
-I entreat my countrymen, upon whom far more than perhaps
-any other people of Europe it depends, to require, and to insist,
-that our Government, which has been working in one direction,
-shall work in the other, and shall apply all its vigour to concur
-with the other States of Europe in obtaining the extinction of
-the Turkish executive power in Bulgaria. Let the Turks now
-carry away their abuses in the only possible manner&mdash;namely,
-by carrying off themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs,
-their Bimbashis and their Yuzbachis, their Kaimakams and
-their Pashas, one and all, bag and baggage, shall, I hope, clear
-out from the province they have desolated and profaned. This
-thorough riddance, this most blessed deliverance, is the only
-reparation we can make to the memory of those heaps on
-heaps of dead; to the violated purity alike of matron, of maiden,
-and of child; to the civilization which has been affronted and
-shamed; to the laws of God, or, if you like, of Allah; to the
-moral sense of mankind at large. There is not a criminal in a
-European gaol, there is not a cannibal in the South Sea Islands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
-whose indignation would not rise and overboil at the recital of
-that which has been done, which has left behind all the foul
-and all the fierce passions that produced it, and which may
-again spring up, in another murderous harvest, from the soil
-soaked and reeking with blood, and in the air tainted with
-every imaginable deed of crime and shame.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<h4>II. <span class="smcap">Cold Water from Disraeli.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="negin2 fs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 231, col. 1,138, August 11, 1876
-(Third Reading of the Appropriation Bill; Bulgarian Atrocities
-raised).</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Disraeli</span>: ... Let me at once place before the House
-what I believe is the true view of the circumstances which
-principally interest us to-night, for, after the Rhodian eloquence
-to which we have just listened, it is rather difficult for the
-House to see clearly the point which is before it. The Queen's
-Ambassador at Constantinople, who has at all times no easy
-duty to fulfil, found himself at the end of April and in the first
-three weeks of May in a position of extreme difficulty and
-danger. Affairs in Constantinople never had assumed&mdash;at
-least in our time, certainly&mdash;a more perilous character. It
-was difficult to ascertain what was going to happen; but that
-something was going to happen, and something of a character
-which might disturb the relations of the Porte with all the
-Powers of Europe, and might even bring about a revolution,
-the effect of which would be felt in distant countries, there was
-no doubt.... In the present instance the hon. and learned
-gentleman has made one assumption throughout his speech&mdash;that
-there has been no communication whatever between the
-Queen's Ambassador at Constantinople and Her Majesty's
-Ministers upon the subject in discussion; that we never heard
-of those affairs until the newspapers published accounts. The
-state of the facts is the reverse. From the very first period
-that these transactions occurred&mdash;from the very commencement&mdash;the
-Ambassador was in constant communication with
-Her Majesty's Ministers. (No, no.) Why, that may be proved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
-by the papers on the table. Throughout the months of May and
-June the Ambassador is constantly referring to the atrocities
-occurring in Bulgaria and to the repeated protests which he
-is making to the Turkish Government, and informing Her
-Majesty's Government of interviews and conversations with
-the Grand Vizier on that subject. The hon. and learned
-gentleman says that when questions were addressed to me
-in this House I was perfectly ignorant of what was taking
-place. But that is exactly the question we have to settle
-to-night. I say that we were not perfectly ignorant of what
-was taking place.... I agree that even the slightest estimate
-of the horrors that occurred in Bulgaria is quite enough to
-excite the indignation of this country and of Parliament; but
-when you come to say that we were ignorant of all that was
-occurring, and did nothing to counteract it, because we said in
-answer to Questions that the information which had reached
-us did not warrant the statements that were quoted in the
-House&mdash;these are two entirely different questions. In the
-newspaper which has been referred to the first account was, if
-I recollect aright, that 30,000 or 32,000 persons had been slain;
-that 10,000 were in prison; it was also stated that 1,000 girls
-had been sold in the open market, that 40 girls had been burnt
-alive in a stable; and cartloads of human heads paraded through
-the streets of the cities of Bulgaria&mdash;these were some of, though
-not all, the statements made; and I was perfectly justified in
-saying that the information which had reached us did not justify
-these statements, and therefore we believed them to be exaggerated....
-Lord Derby telegraphed to Sir Henry Elliot
-that it was very important that Her Majesty's Government
-should be able to reply to the inquiries made in Parliament
-respecting these and other statements, and directed Sir Henry
-Elliot to inquire by telegram of the Consuls, and report as soon
-as he could. All these statements are untrue. There never
-were forty maidens locked up in a stable and burnt alive. That
-was ascertained with great care by Mr. Baring, and I am surprised
-that the right hon. gentleman the member for Bradford
-should still speak of it as a statement in which he has confidence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
-I believe it to be an entire fabrication. I believe also it is an
-entire fabrication that 1,000 young women were sold in the
-market as slaves. We have not received the <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note&mdash;Original text: 'slighest evidence'">slightest evidence</ins>
-of a single sale, even in those journals on which the right hon.
-gentleman the member for Bradford founded his erratic speech.
-I have been attacked for saying that I did not believe it was
-possible to have 10,000 persons in prison in Bulgaria. So far
-as I can ascertain from the papers, there never could have been
-more than 3,000. As to the 10,000 cases of torture, what
-evidence is there of a single case of torture? We know very
-well that there has been considerable slaughter; that there
-must have been isolated and individual cases of most atrocious
-rapine, and outrages of a most atrocious kind; but still we
-have had communications with Sir Henry Elliot, and he has
-always assumed from what he knew that these cases of individual
-rapine and outrage were occurring. He knew that civil war
-there was carried on under conditions of brutality which, unfortunately,
-are not unprecedented in that country; and the question
-is whether the information we had justified the extravagant
-statements made in Parliament, which no one pretends to
-uphold and defend.... The hon. and learned member (Sir
-W. Harcourt) has done full justice to the Bulgarian atrocities.
-He has assumed as absolutely true everything that criticism
-and more authentic information had modified, and in some cases
-had proved not merely to be exaggeration but to be absolute
-falsehoods. And then the hon. and learned gentleman says&mdash;"By
-your policy you have depopulated a province." Well, sir,
-certainly the slaughter of 12,000 individuals, whether Turks
-or Bulgarians, whether they were innocent peasants or even
-brigands, is a horrible event which no one can think of without
-emotion. But when I remember that the population of Bulgaria
-is 3,700,000 persons, and that it is a very large country, is it not
-a most extravagant abuse of rhetoric to say that the slaughter
-of so considerable a number as 12,000 is the depopulation of
-a province? Well, the hon. and learned gentleman said also
-that Her Majesty's Government had incurred a responsibility
-which is not possessed by any other country as regards our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-relations with and our influence with the Turks. I say that
-we have incurred no responsibility which is not shared with us
-by all the other contracting Powers to the Treaty of Paris. I
-utterly disclaim any peculiar responsibility.... That an hon.
-and learned gentleman, once a member of a Government and
-an ornament of that Government, should counsel as the solution
-of all these difficulties that Her Majesty's Government should
-enter into an immediate combination to expel the Turkish
-nation from Eastern Europe does indeed surprise me. And
-because we are not prepared to enter into a scheme so quixotic
-as that would be, we are held up as having given our moral,
-not to say our material, support to Turkey.... We are, it is
-true, the allies of Turkey; so is Austria, so is Russia, so is
-France, and so are others. We are also their partners in
-a tripartite Treaty, in which we not only generally, but singly,
-guarantee with France and Austria the territorial integrity of
-Turkey. And if these engagements, renovated and repeated
-only four years ago by the wisdom of Europe, are to be treated
-by the hon. and learned gentleman as idle wind and chaff, and
-if we are to be told that our political duty is by force to expel
-the Turks to the other side of the Bosphorus, then politics
-cease to be an art, statesmanship becomes a mere mockery, and
-instead of being a House of Commons faithful to its traditions,
-and which is always influenced, I have ever thought, by sound
-principles of policy, whoever may be its leaders, we had better
-at once resolve ourselves into one of those revolutionary clubs
-which settle all political and social questions with the same
-ease as the hon. and learned member.</p>
-
-
-<p>[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;This was Disraeli's last speech as a member of
-the House of Commons. He was raised to the peerage on
-August 12, 1876.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="SIR_THEOPHILUS_SHEPSTONES_COMMISSION_1877" id="SIR_THEOPHILUS_SHEPSTONES_COMMISSION_1877"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SIR THEOPHILUS SHEPSTONE'S COMMISSION (1877).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 7.</p>
-
-
-<p>Whereas grievous disturbances have broken out in the territories
-adjacent to Our colonies in South Africa, with war
-between the white inhabitants and the native races, to the
-great peril of the peace and safety of Our said colonies; and
-whereas, having regard to the safety of Our said colonies, it
-greatly concerns Us that full inquiry should be made into the
-origin, nature, and circumstances of the said disturbances, and
-with respect to the measures to be adopted for preventing the
-recurrence of the like disturbances in the future; and whereas
-it may become requisite to this end that the said territories, or
-portions of them, should be administered in Our name and in
-Our behalf.</p>
-
-<p>Now know you that We, having especial trust and confidence
-in the loyalty and fidelity of you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone,
-have appointed you to be Our special Commissioner for
-the purpose of making such inquiry as aforesaid ... and if the
-emergency seem to you to be such as to render it necessary, in
-order to secure the peace and safety of Our said colonies, and
-of Our subjects elsewhere, that the said territories, or any
-portion or portions of the same, should be provisionally, and
-pending the announcement of Our pleasure, be administered in
-Our name and on Our behalf, then, and in such case only, We
-do further authorize you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone, by
-proclamation under your hand, to declare that from and after
-a day to be therein named, so much of any such territories
-aforesaid as to you, after due consideration, shall seem fit, shall
-be annexed and form part of Our dominions.</p>
-
-<p>And We do hereby constitute and appoint you to be thereupon
-Administrator of the same provisionally and until Our
-pleasure is more fully known.</p>
-
-<p>Provided, first, that no such proclamation shall be issued by
-you with respect to any district, territory, or state, unless you
-shall be satisfied that the inhabitants thereof, or a sufficient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
-number of them, or the Legislature thereof, desire to become
-Our subjects; nor if any conditions unduly limiting Our power
-and authority therein are sought to be imposed....</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="RUSSIA_DECLARES_WAR_ON_TURKEY_1877" id="RUSSIA_DECLARES_WAR_ON_TURKEY_1877"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON TURKEY (1877).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, April 25.</p>
-
-
-<p>We have not a word to say in defence of the Porte. We
-admit that it was guilty, as Lord Salisbury has confessed, of
-infatuation when it defied the Conference, and that it would
-have accepted even the Protocol, if it had possessed a tithe of
-the sagacity which was once a better protection of its weakness
-than ironclads are to-day. We may even admit that the
-Protocol was, what Prince Gortchakoff styles it, the last expression
-of the united will of Europe. But his story is fatally
-incomplete. It would have been desirable to know whether
-Russia has done her best to make it easy for Turkey to accept
-the undisguised tutelage of the European Powers. That question
-calls to mind how much the fanaticism of the Turks was
-inflamed by the covert aid which Russia gave to Servia. The
-Czar refers to the famous words which he spoke in the Kremlin.
-They were indeed the real declaration of war, for they prevented
-Russia from accepting anything less than the complete submission
-of Turkey. Russia might plead, no doubt, that as war
-was certain to be found an absolute necessity in the end, it
-mattered little how rudely she ruffled the Osmanli pride. But
-in that case the negotiations of the past two years have been a
-series of hypocrisies. As it is, the general judgment is expressed
-by what Lord Derby said last night. While he found
-it hopeless to bend the will of Turkey towards submission, he
-equally found on the part of her Government "a deeply seated
-conviction that, do what they would, sooner or later war would
-be forced upon them." He believed that he and his colleagues
-have throughout been "engaged in the solution of a hopeless
-problem." Such, we fear, is the prosaic truth, and, whatever
-be the measure of Turkish obstinacy, Russia cannot escape<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
-condemnation. She has sometimes acted as if she wished to
-cut off a way of retreat both from herself and her foe....
-Russia has hastened to stop all further negotiations, and to act
-as if she and she alone had an interest in the tranquillity of the
-Turkish Empire. Thus she has forfeited any right to speak
-in the name of Europe. Nor has she given the Powers assurances
-which they had a right to expect. Nothing is said in the
-same strain as the declarations at Livadia, that Russia had no
-objects of territorial ambition.... The Czar has committed
-a grave error by neglecting to proclaim that in no event would
-he seize Turkish territory.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="IRISH_OBSTRUCTION_IN_ITS_EARLY_DAYS_1877" id="IRISH_OBSTRUCTION_IN_ITS_EARLY_DAYS_1877"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">IRISH OBSTRUCTION IN ITS EARLY DAYS (1877).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, August 1.</p>
-
-
-<p>Mr. Parnell and his special friends greatly distinguished
-themselves in the House of Commons last night by the multiplicity
-of the motions in committee on the South Africa Bill.
-The Government adopted special means to wear out the
-tenacity of the members who thus consume hour after hour, for
-it had arranged that the House should sit until the work should
-be done, even if the discussion should last till breakfast time.
-But it does injustice to Mr. Parnell. He is the most misunderstood
-and most ill-used man in the House of Commons.
-Such is the burden of the long letter from him which we
-printed on Monday. He has been accused of trying to stop
-public business by floods of irrelevant speech. He has been
-charged with something like open disrespect for the authority
-of Mr. Speaker. He has been suspected of a wish to make
-Irish members intolerable, in the hope that weary Englishmen
-and Scotchmen would bid them begone to enjoy the beatitudes
-of Home Rule. He has made the Leader of the House,
-although the mildest of men, propose to banish him to the
-penal settlement of silence, and the House has done him the
-honour of framing two new rules to impede the flow of his
-speech during the rest of the Session.... The incorrectness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-of that accusation, he replies, is proved by the comparatively
-small use he has made of almost boundless opportunities. If
-his enemies speak of what he has done, he appeals to what he
-might have done. Has he obstructed every clause of every
-Bill? Has he even obstructed every Bill? Has he exhausted
-all the forms of the House even yet? These questions oppress
-us with a sense of his moderation. If he has done so much, he
-might have done so much more! As most Bills have at least
-ten clauses, as most clauses contain at least a hundred words,
-and as at least one amendment might be moved after each
-word, Mr. Parnell could have opposed each Bill with at least
-a thousand amendments, and he himself, Mr. Biggar, and
-Mr. O'Donnell could each have delivered at least a thousand
-speeches.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="PLEVNA_AFTER_THE_SIEGE_1877" id="PLEVNA_AFTER_THE_SIEGE_1877"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">PLEVNA AFTER THE SIEGE (1877).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, December 15.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><em>From Our Special Correspondent.&mdash;Plevna, December 11.</em></p>
-
-<p>As I rode up the slope of the hill east of Plevna towards the
-redoubt defending the road between the town and the village
-of Radicheve, a ghastly scene was presented. Hundreds of
-Russian skeletons lay glistening on the hillsides, where they
-had fallen during the assault of September. The bones were
-generally completely bare. Those nearest to the earthwork
-had been covered with a few inches of earth, which had been
-washed off by the first shower, and now they lay as naked
-as the others. The Moslem outpost pits were among these
-skeletons, many of them not being more than a yard distant.
-Singular as it may seem, many of these skeletons had distinct
-expressions, both in the attitude in which they had fallen and
-in the position of the fleshless jaws. I could distinguish those
-who had fallen without suffering from those who had died
-in agony, and the effect was such as I shall never forget.
-The Russian soldiers who marched into Plevna in the rear
-of Osman's sallying force passed among these remains of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
-unburied comrades.... On entering the town I was surprised
-to find it so little injured by the cannonading....</p>
-
-<p>Within a short time after Osman's surrender at the bridge
-over the Vid, on the Sofia road, the 16,000 prisoners were
-turned back into the town, with the artillery and transport
-trains.... The Turks were well fed in appearance, but were
-generally ragged, and were all wearing sandals. No boots
-were to be seen, though most of them had overcoats.... The
-contrast between these tatterdemalion battalions and the well-dressed
-men guarding them made the war appear a one-sided
-affair, until the reflection came that a ragged man shot as well
-as one perfectly equipped. Later in the day, standing on the
-Sofia road, in the Gravitza valley west of Plevna, I surveyed
-the whole basin forming Osman's position. The herbage and
-all other growing things had so effectually disappeared that the
-earth's surface looked as if a conflagration had swept over every
-square foot of it. The colour was a dull brown, and I never
-gazed upon a more dismal-looking region. The sides of the
-basin were serried by ravines, all centering in the valley
-where I stood, and upon the surrounding edges of the basin
-were the Turkish and Allied batteries planted in irregular line,
-but commanding every vantage-point of the neighbourhood....
-Where the Gravitza <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chaussée</i> crosses the elevation the Turkish
-redoubts were weakest, and here the Russian artillery fire had
-been chiefly concentrated. The front and rear of the earthworks
-were ploughed up by shells, and in truth there was
-scarcely a square yard which had not been struck. Thousands
-of such missiles, varying from 3 inches to 6 inches in diameter,
-lay unexploded upon the surface of the earth. In a previous
-telegram I said that these redoubts were battered to pieces;
-but I now discover that this was a curious error of vision.
-The works are practically uninjured. So far as the earthworks
-are concerned, the Russian artillery ammunition has been
-absolutely wasted, and from an inspection of the trenches I do
-not believe that the garrison has suffered more than their
-defences. Neither do I believe that any artillery could have
-accomplished more. The fact is that shells against earthworks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
-are useless at a greater distance than 500 or 600 yards, and
-then the guns cannot be worked on account of the enemy's
-sharpshooters. The Turkish soldiers in the redoubts had
-bomb-proof abodes in the back walls of the pits.... I was
-very much surprised to find the Turkish lines of fortification so
-weak, as far as the quantity of earthwork is concerned. The
-redoubts are much smaller than I supposed them to be....
-There are no double lines of infantry trenches&mdash;in fact, no
-interior lines of any sort; neither are there trenches on the hillsides
-below the redoubts. There are no lines of intrenchments
-for the reserves; indeed, there were apparently no reserves.
-When I saw this technically weak line I could not but admire
-the efficiency of the weapons with which it had been defended,
-and the stubborn tenacity of the men who could hold it against
-such assaults as the Allies have delivered against it. The
-Allies had double and treble lines around Plevna. Their
-works are much better constructed than those of the Turks, so
-far as finish is concerned; but for safety I would rather trust
-myself to the latter.... The Roumanian trenches, however,
-were well constructed and capacious. The best trench is
-within 25 feet of the Turkish counterscarp [of a redoubt].
-From the bottom of this trench two shafts were sunk about
-15 feet in depth, and from the bottom two galleries had
-been pushed under the Turkish parapet, and the mines were
-nearly ready when the Moslems evacuated their positions.
-But the strangest part of the history of this siege is the fact
-that the Turks had also mined the Gravitza redoubt opposite,
-and before leaving their earthwork they had fired the mining
-fuse. The Roumanians, discovering their departure, entered
-their ditches, found the gallery, and reached the fuse in time to
-quench it before it had burned to the explosive charge; so that
-each was prepared to blow the other up without knowing,
-apparently, that counter-operations were in progress....</p>
-
-<p>At noon to-day the Emperor arrived at the redoubt defending
-the approach to Plevna by the Gravitza <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chaussée</i>.... [After
-a religious service] the whole party rode into Plevna, taking
-the less frequented streets, lest some assassin might fire upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
-the Emperor. In a small house, surrounded by a high stone
-wall, lunch was served, after which there was a sudden hush,
-and Osman Pasha was carried into the yard and through the
-portico by a Cossack officer and one of his own attendants.
-As he passed through the crowd of staff officers, every one
-saluted him, and shouted, "Bravo, Osman!" He then passed
-into the presence of the Emperor, who shook hands with him,
-and informed him that, in consideration of his gallant defence
-of Plevna, he had given orders that his sword should be
-returned to him, and that he could wear it.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="STRAINED_RELATIONS_WITH_RUSSIA_1878" id="STRAINED_RELATIONS_WITH_RUSSIA_1878"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">STRAINED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 237, cols. 1,326, 1332 (Questions,
-February 8, 1878).</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The Chancellor of the Exchequer</span>: Mr. Speaker, the
-Government have received a telegram to-day from Mr. Layard,
-containing a summary of the articles of the armistice.... The
-telegram ends by saying that the Turks have begun to
-remove their guns from the Constantinople lines. Now it is
-quite evident that, whatever may have been the arrangements
-with regard to the neighbourhood of Constantinople, a neutral
-zone has been declared, which includes the lines of Tchekmedje,
-which protect Constantinople; and according to the terms of
-the armistice the Turks are bound not to retain those fortresses,
-and accordingly are bound to remove&mdash;and are quietly beginning
-to remove&mdash;their guns and armaments from the fortifications
-by lines and to specified places.... The consequence is
-that, although the Russians do not occupy those lines themselves,
-they occupy an outpost close to them, while the lines
-themselves are being thoroughly disarmed. They have the
-power, therefore, at any moment, subject to the necessity of
-giving three days' notice of the termination of the armistice,
-of advancing on Constantinople without hindrance.... I
-may perhaps venture to call the attention of the House to one
-of the papers which we laid upon the table yesterday. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
-contains a copy of a Memorandum which was communicated
-to the Russian Ambassador by Her Majesty's Government on
-the 28th of July last, in which they say they "look with much
-anxiety at the state of things in Constantinople, and the
-prospect of the disorder and bloodshed, and even anarchy,
-which may occur as the Russian forces draw near to the
-capital. The crisis which may at any time arrive in Constantinople
-may be such as Her Majesty's Government could
-not overlook, while they had the means of mitigating its horrors.
-Her Majesty's Government are fully determined (unless it
-should be necessary for the preservation of interests which
-they have already stated they are bound to maintain) not to
-depart from the line of neutrality which they have declared
-their intention to observe; but they do not consider that they
-would be departing from this neutrality, and they think that
-Russia will not consider they are doing so, if they should find
-themselves compelled to direct their fleet to proceed to Constantinople,
-and thus afford protection to the European population
-against internal disturbance." The Government, I may
-add, feel that the state of affairs disclosed by the armistice has
-given rise to the danger which they thus apprehended, and they
-have, in the circumstances, thought it right to order a portion
-of the fleet to proceed at once to Constantinople for the purpose
-of protecting the lives and property of British subjects.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs90">Cols. 1622-1623 (Questions, February 13, 1878).</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The Chancellor of the Exchequer</span>: I stated, I think, or
-at all events referred on Monday to the fact, that communications
-had been made to the Porte to ascertain whether permission
-would be given, or a <em>firman</em> be granted, for the British
-fleet to enter the Dardanelles. That permission was refused,
-but Her Majesty's Government thought it right to direct the
-ships to proceed, and they have proceeded accordingly. No
-material opposition was offered, and they are by this time, I
-presume, anchored in the neighbourhood of Constantinople.
-I may perhaps mention that a communication has been made
-by the Russian Government to the effect that, in view of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
-intended sending of the fleet by Her Majesty's Government to
-the neighbourhood of Constantinople, it would be a matter for
-the consideration of the Russian Government whether they
-should not themselves occupy the city. In answer to that
-Her Majesty's Government have sent a communication which
-will be laid on the table of the House to-night, in which they
-protest against that view, and state that they cannot acknowledge
-that in the case of the two countries the circumstances
-are parallel, or that the despatch of the British fleet for the
-purpose indicated justifies the Russian Government in the step
-which they announce it to be their intention to take.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, March 29, 1878.</p>
-
-<p>The uncertainty which has prevailed during the last few
-days respecting the course which our Government would
-pursue, in view of the difference respecting the Congress which
-had arisen between ourselves and Russia, has received a startling
-and momentous solution. When the House of Lords met
-yesterday, Lord Derby no longer occupied his seat on the
-Ministerial Bench, and he at once announced that he had
-resigned the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs....
-The explanations given yesterday remove all doubt respecting
-the relative positions assumed by our Government and Russia
-in regard to the Congress. Sir Stafford Northcote stated in the
-House of Commons the import of the communications which
-have passed between ourselves and Russia.... Russia's
-reply amounted to a clear intimation that she claims to withhold
-from the cognizance of the Powers any articles of the
-preliminary Treaty she may choose. Such a reserve as she
-asserts is tantamount to a definite claim to alter an existing
-Treaty by force of arms without consulting the other Powers
-who signed it, and towards whom she is under honourable obligations.
-There being this imminent danger that the Congress
-may not meet&mdash;it being, as Lord Beaconsfield said, "the
-belief" of the Government "that the Congress would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-meet," it became necessary for the Government to consider
-what further course they would take.... We do not know
-what course Lord Derby would have advised, and it is possible
-he would not immediately have taken any fresh steps. But the
-rest of the Government decided that in the interests of peace,
-and for the due protection of the rights of the Empire, it was
-their duty "to advise Her Majesty to avail herself of those
-powers which she has for calling for the services of her
-Reserved Forces." As subsequently explained by Mr. Hardy
-in the House of Commons, this step is one which is rendered
-necessary by the new organization of the Army.... Its result
-will be to raise our regular forces to their utmost efficiency.
-In other words, it will place the land forces which actually
-exist in readiness for prompt action; and it is thus a plain
-declaration&mdash;a declaration rendered emphatic by Lord Derby's
-resignation&mdash;that we are prepared to act promptly if the course
-on which Russia has entered directly injures our honour or our
-interests. Such a declaration of our being determined to
-adhere to the claims we have put forward is perhaps the most
-momentous step which has yet been taken by this country.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="PEACE_WITH_HONOUR_1878" id="PEACE_WITH_HONOUR_1878"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">PEACE WITH HONOUR (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, July 17.</p>
-
-
-<p>The Premier alighted at his official residence in Downing
-Street, and was met on the threshold by General Ponsonby,
-bearing a bouquet of rare flowers, sent to him by the gracious
-forethought of Her Majesty the Queen.... The ground was
-well kept by the police, till the Prime Minister appeared at a
-window and began to speak. Then a rush swept the police
-away. Three cheers for Lord Beaconsfield were given. For
-the second time in the day the Prime Minister was visibly
-affected. He had to wait long for silence, but when an approach
-to quiet had been obtained Lord Beaconsfield said: "I
-can assure you that no recognition of neighbours could be more
-gratifying to my feelings than these expressions of the senti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>ments
-of those among whom I see many of my oldest and most
-cherished friends. Lord Salisbury and myself have brought
-you back peace, but a peace, I hope, with honour, which may
-satisfy our Sovereign, and tend to the welfare of the country."</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_SECRET_AGREEMENTS_IN_BEACONSFIELDS" id="THE_SECRET_AGREEMENTS_IN_BEACONSFIELDS"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE SECRET AGREEMENTS IN BEACONSFIELD'S
-POCKETS (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 242, col. 344 (House of Lords:
-Debate on the Protocols of Berlin, August, 1878).</p>
-
-
-<p>The Earl of Rosebery rose to call attention to a memorandum
-purporting to have been signed by the Marquis of Salisbury and
-Count Schouvaloff on May 30, 1878, and to ask if it was the intention
-of the Government to lay it on the table of the House....
-The course the Government had pursued with respect to their
-policy was, he would venture to say, one of obscurity enlivened
-with sarcasm. In the whole history of the negotiations there
-were five cardinal points&mdash;points which became salient to
-everyone who had studied the history of these transactions.
-First, there was the San Stefano treaty; the second was the
-circular of the 1st of April; the third, the alleged secret agreement
-of May 30th; the fourth, the secret convention of June 4th
-with Turkey; and the fifth was the treaty signed at Berlin on
-the 30th of July. As to the secret agreement between Russia
-and England, it would be well to recall how they came to have
-any cognizance of it at all. The substance of it appeared in
-the <cite>Globe</cite> within, he thought, three or four days after it was
-signed, and it was on the 14th of June, he thought, that the
-entire text was given in the columns of the same journal.... They
-had all heard that the agreement was not to be laid on the
-table, because there were documents in connection with it which
-it would be necessary to present at the same time; but other
-Powers would not allow us to produce them. What he gathered
-from all this was that, if it had not been for the ill-advised
-conduct of a very subordinate clerk in the Foreign Office, who
-was entrusted with the copying of the agreement at the rate of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
-10d. an hour, the English public would not at this moment have
-the faintest conception of such an agreement, and the keystone
-of the whole purpose of the Government would be wrapped in
-obscurity. This was alarming in itself, because, if these subterranean
-methods were employed as a rule, they would give the
-public some little dismay in regard to the course of further negotiations....
-Having signed this agreement, and having signed
-another secret agreement within two or three days with Turkey,
-Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries proceeded, fortified with them,
-to the Congress. Now came the most extraordinary point in
-all the history of these negotiations, so far as they knew it.
-Eight days after the signature, or alleged signature, of this
-agreement, in which, if the House would remember, we consented
-to the abandonment of Batoum and other Russian conquests
-in Armenia, the Foreign Secretary addressed a despatch
-to our Resident Plenipotentiary in Berlin, in which he urged
-him to use his exertions to the utmost on behalf of Batoum.
-The words were so remarkable that he might be pardoned for
-quoting them to their lordships. On the 8th of June the noble
-Marquis wrote to Lord Odo Russell: "There is no ground for
-believing that Russia will willingly give way in respect to
-Batoum, Kars, or Ardahan; and it is possible that the arguments
-of England urged in Congress will receive little assistance
-from other Powers, and will not be able to shake her
-resolution in this respect." Well, that was not likely under
-the circumstances. The noble Marquis continued in this letter
-of June 8th: "You will not on that account abstain from
-earnestly pressing upon them and upon Russia the justice of
-abstaining from annexations which are unconnected with the
-professed object of the war, and profoundly distasteful to the
-populations concerned, and the expediency, in regard to the
-future tranquillizing of Asia, of forbearing to shake so perilously
-the position of the Government of Turkey...." Now, the
-great point with regard to this was, was Lord Odo Russell,
-when he received that communication, cognizant of the agreement
-which had been signed on the 30th of May? Because
-what they wanted to know was this, was Lord Odo Russell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
-one of a company, or was he a simple actor put up to recite
-the arguments of Batoum, with a prompter by to keep him to
-his part?... Then, on the same day, Mr. Secretary Cross
-addressed a despatch to the Plenipotentiaries of Her Majesty,
-urging them to make great exertion on behalf of Greece. He
-should say that the position of a Plenipotentiary who entered
-the Congress to struggle on behalf of Batoum, Kars, Ardahan,
-and Greece must have been a somewhat melancholy one in the
-retrospect; because, when the questions came up, the Turkish
-positions were abandoned, and Greece was ignored.... He
-did not pretend that secret understandings were unknown to
-us, but he believed this was the first time we had called a
-European Congress with the view of discussing great treaties,
-and standing forth on behalf of public law, we ourselves having,
-at the same time, bound ourselves in private to consent to those
-stipulations which we had denounced, and which we continued
-to denounce.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="GLADSTONE_INDIGNANT_AGAIN_1878" id="GLADSTONE_INDIGNANT_AGAIN_1878"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">GLADSTONE INDIGNANT AGAIN (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, December 2.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Gladstone</span> (at Greenwich): I want to ask you, and I
-think after these two years it is about time, who are the true
-friends of Russia? Is it we, gentlemen, who met two years
-and a half ago on Blackheath, and said it was most mischievous
-to leave to any single country the settlement of the Eastern
-question?... Who brought Russia back to the Danube?
-Those very men who are continually denouncing us as the
-friends of Russia. We had in 1856 by the fortune of war
-driven Russia back from the Danube; the present Government
-have brought Russia back to the Danube. They made
-a secret memorandum with Count Schouvaloff by which they
-engaged&mdash;unless they could convert him by their arguments&mdash;to
-vote in the Congress for bringing Russia back to the
-Danube.... Who gave Russia the fortress of Kars? The
-present Government. These people say they want to keep
-down the power of Russia. Want to keep down the power<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
-of Russia! Why, they have left it in her power to make herself
-the liberator of Bulgaria, and secure for herself the influence
-which always follows upon gratitude.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="RUSSIAN_INTRIGUE_AT_CABUL_1878" id="RUSSIAN_INTRIGUE_AT_CABUL_1878"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">RUSSIAN INTRIGUE AT CABUL (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,190 of
-1878, p. 228.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Telegram dated August 2, 1878. From Viceroy, Simla, to
-Secretary of State, London.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Further confirmation received of presence of Russian mission
-at Cabul headed by General Abramoff, Governor of Samarkand,
-who is mentioned by name. We desire to point out that
-present situation requires immediate correction. It will soon
-be known throughout India that Russian officers and troops
-have been received with honour, and are staying at Cabul
-within short distance of our frontier and our largest military
-garrison, while our officers have been denied admission there.
-We have further reports of Russian officers having visited and
-been well received at Maimena. To remain inactive now will,
-we respectfully submit, be to allow Afghanistan to fall as
-certainly and as completely under Russian power and influence
-as the Khanates. We believe we could correct situation if
-allowed to treat it as question between us and the Ameer, and
-probably could do so without recourse to force. But we must
-speak plainly and decidedly, and be sure of your support. We
-propose, therefore, in the first place, to insist on reception of
-suitable British mission at Cabul. To this we do not anticipate
-serious resistance; indeed, we think it probable that Ameer,
-adhering to his policy of playing Russia and ourselves off
-against each other, will really welcome such mission, while
-outwardly only yielding to pressure....</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>From Secretary of State, August 3, 1878 (Extract).</cite></p>
-
-<p>Assuming the certainty of Russian officers at Cabul, your
-proposals to insist on reception of British envoy approved. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
-case of refusal you will telegraph again as to the steps you
-desire to take for compelling the Ameer to receive your mission.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Telegram from Viceroy, September 21, 1878.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Chamberlain<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> reports from Peshawur that it is quite evident
-Ameer is bent on utmost procrastination, and determined on
-making acceptance of our mission dependent on his pleasure
-and choice of time.... To await at Peshawur Ameer's
-pleasure would be to abandon whole policy and accept easy
-repulse at outset.... Consequently mission moved this
-morning to Jamrud; thence Cavagnari advances to Ali Musjid
-with small escort to demand passage....</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> General Sir Neville Chamberlain.</p></div>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Telegram from Viceroy, September 22, 1878.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Following telegram received last night from Sir Neville
-Chamberlain. Message begins: Cavagnari reports that we
-have received a decisive answer from Faiz Mahomed, after
-personal interview, that he will not allow mission to proceed.
-He crowned the heights commanding the way with his levies,
-and though many times warned by Cavagnari that his reply
-would be regarded as reply of the Ameer, said he would not let
-mission pass....</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Telegram from Secretary of State, October 30, 1878.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Text of letter, as approved, to be sent to the Ameer.... In
-consequence of this hostile action on your part, I have assembled
-Her Majesty's forces on your frontier, but I desire to give you
-a last opportunity of averting the calamities of war. For this
-it is necessary that a full and suitable apology be offered by
-you in writing, and tendered on British territory by an officer
-of sufficient rank. Furthermore, as it has been found impossible
-to maintain satisfactory relations between the two States
-unless the British Government is adequately represented in
-Afghanistan, it will be necessary that you should consent to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
-receive a permanent British Mission within your territory....
-Unless these conditions are accepted, fully and plainly, by
-you, and your acceptance received by me not later than the
-20th November, I shall be compelled to consider your intentions
-as hostile, and to treat you as a declared enemy of the
-British Government.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="SHERE_ALI_1878" id="SHERE_ALI_1878"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SHERE ALI (1878).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,190 of
-1878, p. 225.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from a Memorandum by Lord Napier of Magdala.</cite></p>
-
-<p>We have unfortunately managed Shere Ali badly. Perhaps
-it might not have been possible, with our scruples and his
-want of them, to have managed him advantageously; but it
-must be admitted that we have not given him the reasons to
-unite himself with us that he naturally expected. First, we
-stood aloof in his struggles for life and empire, ready to acknowledge
-whoever might prove the master of Afghanistan. Then,
-when Shere Ali had subdued his enemies, he came forward to
-meet us with an alliance, but we were willing to form only an
-imperfect alliance with him. He was willing to trust us, provided
-that we would trust him; but we felt that we could not
-bind ourselves to unreserved support of a power whose ideas
-of right and wrong were so different from ours. We therefore
-proposed to bind him, leaving ourselves (according to his idea)
-free, and he recoiled from this bargain. His friendly feelings,
-however, were not entirely alienated by that experience of us;
-he abstained from any action towards Seistan at our desire,
-and he believed that the mediation which we pressed upon him
-would have ended by the restoration of the portion of Seistan
-that Persia had occupied in his days of trouble. And not only
-Shere Ali, but the whole Afghan people, believed that we should
-restore to them what they had lost. When they found that we
-had allowed Persia to obstruct and ill-treat our arbitrator, and
-to retain much of her encroachments, they looked upon us as
-a weak and treacherous people, who, under the guise of friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>ship,
-had spoiled them in favour of Persia. This I believe to
-be the root of Shere Ali's discontent with us.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="DEATH_OF_SHERE_ALI_1879" id="DEATH_OF_SHERE_ALI_1879"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">DEATH OF SHERE ALI (1879).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,401 of
-1879, p. 12.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Translation of a Letter, dated February 26, 1879, from Sirdar
-Mahomed Yakub Khan to Major Cavagnari.</cite></p>
-
-<p>... I now write a second time in accordance with former
-friendship to inform you that to-day a letter was received by
-post from Turkestan announcing that my worthy and exalted
-father had, upon 29th Safar (21st February, 1879), obeyed the
-call of the summoner, and, throwing off the dress of existence,
-hastened to the region of the divine mercy.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_GANDAMAK_TREATY_1879" id="THE_GANDAMAK_TREATY_1879"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE GANDAMAK TREATY (1879).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,362 of 1879.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Article III.</span>&mdash;His Highness the Ameer of Afghanistan and
-its dependencies agrees to conduct his relations with foreign
-States in accordance with the advice and wishes of the British
-Government.... The British Government will support the
-Ameer against any foreign aggression with money, arms, or
-troops, to be employed in whatsoever manner the British
-Government may judge best for the purpose.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Article IV.</span>&mdash;With a view to the maintenance of the direct
-and intimate relations now established ... it is agreed that
-a British Resident representative shall reside at Cabul, with
-a suitable escort, in a place of residence appropriate to his rank
-and dignity. It is also agreed that the British Government
-shall have the right to depute British Agents with suitable
-escorts to the Afghan frontiers, whensoever this may be considered
-necessary by the British Government in the interests
-of both States, on the occurrence of any important external
-fact....</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Article IX.</span>&mdash;The British Government restores to His
-Highness the Ameer of Afghanistan and its dependencies the
-towns of Candahar and Jellalabad, with all the territory now
-in possession of the British armies, excepting the districts of
-Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi. His Highness ... agrees on his
-part that the districts of Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi, according
-to the limits defined in the schedule annexed, shall remain
-under the protection and administrative control of the British
-Government: that is to say, the aforesaid districts shall be
-treated as assigned districts, and shall not be considered as permanently
-severed from the limits of the Afghan kingdom....
-The British Government will retain in its own hands the control
-of the Khyber and Michni Passes, and of all relations with the
-independent tribes of the territory directly connected with
-these passes.</p>
-
-<p>Done at Gandamak this 26th day of May, 1879.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_CABUL_MASSACRE_1879" id="THE_CABUL_MASSACRE_1879"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE CABUL MASSACRE (1879).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications, "Afghanistan,"</cite> C 2,457 of
-1880, p. 95.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Statement of Taimur (Timoss), Sowar B troop, Corps of Guides, on
-September 15, 1879.</cite></p>
-
-<p>I was in the Bala Hissar, Cabul, on the 3rd instant: Major
-Sir Louis Cavagnari and the other British officers were in the
-bungalow. At about 8 a.m. the Turkestani ("Ardal") regiment,
-which was in the Bala Hissar, was paraded to receive its pay.
-Daud Shah, the Commander-in-Chief, gave them one month's
-pay. They claimed two, and broke. They were paraded quite
-close to the Residency, and another regiment was also quartered
-with them. One of soldiery shouted out, "Let us destroy the
-Envoy first of all, and after that the Ameer!" They rushed into
-the courtyard in front of the Residency, and stoned some of
-the syces who were sitting there. We then opened fire on
-them, without orders from any European. All the British
-officers were inside. The Ameer's men then went for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
-weapons, and returned with them in a quarter of an hour.
-They then commenced to besiege the Residency, and from
-commanding positions made the roof of the Residency untenable.
-We made shelter trenches on it, and fired from the
-windows. The city people came to help the soldiers about
-10 a.m. Major Sir Louis Cavagnari was wounded in the forehead
-about 1 p.m.; he was in a shelter trench. A man from
-the roof of a house shot at him, and the bullet striking a brick,
-it, together with a piece of brick, struck Sir Louis. But he
-was not killed. Mr. Jenkyns came up and sent for a Munshi
-to write to the Ameer, but the scribe was unable to write through
-fear. I then wrote briefly to the Ameer that we were besieged,
-and he was to help us; and sent it by Gholam Nabbi, a Kabuli,
-an old Guide Sowar who was in the Residency. No answer
-came. Gholam Nabbi afterwards told me that the Ameer wrote
-on the letter, "If God will, I am just making arrangements."
-Major Cavagnari was helped into the Residency, and tended to
-by Dr. Kelly. Mr. Jenkyns then ordered me to send a second
-letter to the Ameer, stating that Major Cavagnari was wounded,
-and to hasten on assistance. The letter was sent by a Hindu
-whose name I don't know. He was cut to pieces in front of
-the Residency. I was at about 3 p.m. sent with a letter by
-Mr. Hamilton promising six months' pay. By that time they
-had managed to get on to the roof of the Residency. I went
-armed into the midst of the crowd, and was immediately stripped
-of my arms, but my life was saved by an officer. They threw
-me from the roof of the Residency on to the roof of the neighbouring
-house. I lost my senses.... I know nothing of what
-happened after this, but I visited the place next morning. I
-recollect they had begun to set fire to the Residency just as
-I was leaving.... Daybreak I went to the Residency, and
-saw first the corpse of Lieutenant Hamilton lying over a
-mountain gun which had been brought up. The troops who
-were there told me Mr. Hamilton had shot about three men
-with his pistol, and had cut down two more before he was shot.
-He was stripped and cut into pieces, but not dishonoured.
-About 25 feet off was the body of Mr. Jenkyns in a similar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
-state. I did not go into the Residency, but was told Dr. Kelly
-was lying killed in the Residency. Sir Louis Cavagnari was
-in the Residency when it fell in flames. He was in the room
-where the wounded were, and his body had not been discovered
-when I left the city.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,457 of
-1880, p. 83.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from Deposition of Ressaldar-Major Nakshband Khan.</cite></p>
-
-<p>At about 9 a.m., while the fighting was going on, I myself
-saw the four European officers charge out at the head of some
-twenty-five of the garrison; they drove away a party that were
-holding some broken ground. About a quarter of an hour after
-this another sally was made by a party with three officers
-at their head&mdash;Cavagnari was not with them this time&mdash;with
-the same result. A third sally was made with two British
-officers (Jenkyns and Hamilton) leading; a fourth sally was
-made with a Sikh Jemadar bravely leading. No more sallies
-were made after this. They all appeared to go to the upper
-part of the house, and fired from above. At about half-past
-eleven o'clock part of the building, in which the Embassy was,
-was noticed to be on fire. I do not know who fired it. I think
-it probable that the defenders, finding themselves so few, fired
-part, so as to have a less space to defend. The firing went on
-continuously all day; perhaps it was hottest from 10 a.m. to
-3 p.m., after which it slackened, and the last shots were fired at
-about 8.30 p.m. or 9 p.m., after which all was quiet, and everyone
-dispersed. The next morning I heard shots being fired.
-I asked an old woman, to whose house I had been sent for
-safety by Sirdar Wali Muhammad Khan, what this was: she
-sent out her son to find out. He said: "They are shooting the
-people found still alive in the Residency."</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_MIDLOTHIAN_CAMPAIGN_1879" id="THE_MIDLOTHIAN_CAMPAIGN_1879"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN (1879).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Saturday Review</cite>, November 29.</p>
-
-
-<p>The personal enthusiasm with which Mr. Gladstone is
-regarded by the mass of his followers has been largely stimulated
-by his appearance in Scotland and by his fervid harangues.
-The only local topic on which he has cared to dwell is the
-alleged creation of fagot votes by his opponents. There can
-be no doubt that the purchase of little freeholds for the sole
-purpose of obtaining votes is an abuse and a grievance, though
-it is said that Mr. Gladstone once held a fagot vote. For two
-or three years of his life Mr. Cobden concentrated all his efforts
-on a gigantic scheme of fagot votes, by which the manufacturing
-towns were to obtain control of the counties; but the
-total failure of the project caused it to be tacitly abandoned.
-If Mr. Gladstone is after all defeated in Midlothian, the moral
-effect of a Conservative victory will be greatly impaired by the
-process of tampering with the representation. To Mr. Gladstone's
-excited mind an attempt to pack a constituency probably
-assumes extravagant dimensions. Before he arrived at Edinburgh
-he began his public protest against fagot votes in
-Midlothian, as well as against the crimes of a Government
-which he has persuaded himself to regard as the worst and
-most dangerous that has held power in England. He has
-denounced his opponents so loudly and so often that even his
-overflowing eloquence could include nothing new, but the
-crowded assemblies which he addressed, though they had read
-his orations, and perhaps his pamphlets, had not heard him
-speak. It is not surprising that eager and unanimous multitudes
-should welcome with admiration and delight the detailed
-exposition, by the most eloquent of politicians, of the opinions
-which they had already been taught to hold. Few cold-blooded
-or dispassionate sceptics would ask themselves whether it was
-credible that a Ministry and a great and steady majority of the
-House of Commons should never, even by accident, have
-deviated into prudence, justice, or patriotic foresight. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
-private discussion and in Parliamentary debate it is found
-expedient, according to the old legal phrase, to give colour, or,
-in other words, to admit that the theory, which is impugned,
-though unsound, is at least credible or intelligible. Mr. Gladstone
-follows the bent of his own genius when he encourages
-the popular tendency to deal with difficult controversies as if
-they were wholly one-sided.</p>
-
-<p>His Liberal colleagues, perhaps, regard his present enterprise
-with mixed feelings. Their confidence in their former
-leader is qualified by doubts of his judgment, and by uncertainty
-as to the present range of his ambition. They cannot
-but perceive that he assumes the character of representative of
-the party, although he probably intends no disloyalty to its
-official or nominal chiefs. It is true that if, in appealing to the
-multitude, he pushes his successors aside, they have little right
-to complain. Almost all of them have of late addressed
-vehement language to public meetings, though none of them
-can compete with Mr. Gladstone in the power of stirring
-political passion. Official subordination is set aside when
-policy is regulated, not by Parliament, but by the voice of the
-general population. Senators and Consulars must stand aside
-in the presence of a Dictator. Although it has long been
-customary for statesmen to make occasional speeches to public
-meetings, the extent to which the practice has lately been
-carried is altogether unprecedented. The result is that the
-Constitution is gradually weakened by the substitution of
-numerical majorities for the representatives of the people in
-Parliament. The approach of a General Election furnishes no
-sufficient justification for an innovation which accelerates the
-prevalence of democracy, and aggravates its evil tendencies.
-Mr. Gladstone himself perhaps understands and approves the
-organic change which promotes the supremacy of popular
-eloquence in the State. It is his habit to depreciate the honesty
-and judgment of the educated classes.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="BEACONSFIELD_KEEPS_COOL" id="BEACONSFIELD_KEEPS_COOL"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BEACONSFIELD KEEPS COOL.</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Holland's <cite>Life of the Duke of Devonshire</cite>, i. 258.
-(Longmans and Co.)</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Lord Beaconsfield to Mr. Gathorne Hardy.</cite></p>
-
-<p>It certainly is a relief that the drenching rhetoric has at
-length ceased&mdash;but I have never read a word of it. "<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Satis
-eloquentiæ sapientiæ parum.</span>"</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_MAIWAND_DISASTER_1880" id="THE_MAIWAND_DISASTER_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE MAIWAND DISASTER (1880).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Afghanistan," C 2,736 of
-1880, p. 3.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Telegram from Viceroy, June 27, 1880, to Secretary of State.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Telegram from Thomson at Teheran says: Ayub Khan
-marching against Candahar with large force. I think we
-should leave Shere Ali to defend himself beyond the Helmund,
-but it seems to me, after communicating with Stewart, that it
-would be inconsistent with security of our military position at
-Candahar to allow hostile forces to cross that river. I propose,
-therefore, to instruct Primrose, if Ayub reaches Furrah, to
-advance towards Girishk with sufficient force to prevent passage
-of Helmund....</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Telegram dated August 2, 1880, from Colonel St. John,
-Candahar, to Foreign, Simla (p. 33).</cite></p>
-
-<p><em>29th.</em>&mdash;Arrived here yesterday afternoon with General Burrows
-and Nuttall and remnant of force. Telegraph has been
-interrupted ever since my arrival. No chance of restoration,
-so send this by messenger to Chaman. Burrows marched
-from Kushk-i-Nakhud on morning 27th, having heard from me
-that Ayub's advanced guard had occupied Maiwand, about
-three miles from the latter place. Enemy's cavalry appeared
-advancing from direction of Haidrabad, their camp on Helmund
-ten miles above Girishk. Artillery and cavalry engaged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
-them at 9 a.m., so shortly afterwards whole force of enemy
-appeared, and formed line of battle&mdash;seven regiments, regulars
-in centre, three others in reserve; about 2,000 cavalry on
-right; 400 mounted men and 2,000 Ghazis and irregular infantry
-on left; other cavalry and irregulars in reserve; five
-or six batteries of guns, including one of breechloaders, distributed
-at intervals. Estimated total force, 12,000. Ground
-slightly undulating, enemy being well posted. Till 1 p.m.
-action confined to artillery fire, which so well sustained and
-directed by enemy that our superior quality armament failed
-to compensate for inferior number of guns. After development
-of rifle fire, our breechloaders told; but vigorous advance of
-cavalry against our left, and Ghazis along the front, caused
-native infantry to fall back in confusion on 66th, abandoning
-two guns. Formation being lost, infantry retreated slowly;
-and in spite of gallant efforts of General Burrows to rally them,
-were cut off from cavalry and artillery. This was at 3 p.m.,
-and followers and baggage were streaming away towards
-Candahar. After severe fighting in enclosed ground, General
-Burrows succeeded in extricating infantry and brought them
-into line of retreat. Unfortunately no effort would turn fugitives
-from main road, waterless at this season. Thus majority
-casualties appear to have occurred from thirst and exhaustion.
-Enemy's pursuit continued to ten miles from Candahar, but
-was not vigorous. Cavalry, artillery, and a few infantry reached
-banks of Argandab, forty miles from scene of action, at 7 a.m.,
-many not having tasted water since previous morning. Nearly
-all ammunition lost, with 400 Martini, 700 Sniders, and 2 nine-pounder
-guns. Estimated loss, killed, and missing: 66th, 400;
-Grenadiers, 350; Jacob's Rifles, 350; artillery, 40; sappers, 21;
-cavalry, 60.... Preparations being now made for siege....</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Extract from General Burrows's Report on the Action (p. 101).</cite></p>
-
-<p>... Between two and three o'clock the fire of the enemy's
-guns slackened, and swarms of Ghazis advanced rapidly towards
-our centre. Up to this time the casualties among the infantry
-had not been heavy, and as the men were firing steadily, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
-the guns were sweeping the ground with case shot, I felt
-confident as to the result. But our fire failed to check the
-Ghazis; they came on in overwhelming numbers, and, making
-good their rush, they seized the two most advanced horse
-artillery guns. With the exception of two companies of
-Jacob's Rifles, which had caused me great anxiety by their
-unsteadiness early in the day, the conduct of the troops had
-been splendid up to this point; but now, at the critical moment,
-when a firm resistance might have achieved a victory, the
-infantry gave way, and, commencing from the left, rolled up,
-like a wave, to the right. After vainly endeavouring to rally
-them, I went for the cavalry.... The 3rd Light Cavalry and
-the 3rd Sind Horse were retiring slowly on our left, and I
-called upon them to charge across our front and so give the
-infantry an opportunity of reforming; but the terrible artillery
-fire to which they had been exposed, and from which they had
-suffered so severely, had so shaken them that General Nuttall
-was unable to give effect to my order. All was now over....</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1 pfs100"><cite>Extract from Report by Lieutenant-General Primrose, Commanding
-1st Division Southern Afghanistan Field Force (p. 156).</cite></p>
-
-<p>I would most respectfully wish to bring to the Commander-in-Chief's
-notice the gallant and determined stand made by the
-officers and men of the 66th Regiment at Maiwand....
-10 officers and 275 non-commissioned officers and men
-were killed, and 2 officers and 30 non-commissioned officers
-and men wounded. These officers and men nearly all fell
-fighting desperately for the honour of their Queen and country.
-I have it on the authority of a Colonel of Artillery of Ayub
-Khan's army that a party of the 66th Regiment, which he
-estimated at one hundred officers and men, made a most determined
-stand in a garden. They were surrounded by the whole
-Afghan Army, and fought on until only eleven men were left,
-inflicting enormous loss upon the enemy. These eleven
-charged out of the garden, and died with their faces to the foe,
-fighting to the death. Such was the nature of their charge and
-the grandeur of their bearing that, although the whole of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
-Ghazis were assembled around them, not one dared approach to
-cut them down. Thus standing in the open, back to back,
-firing steadily and truly, every shot telling, surrounded by
-thousands, these eleven officers and men died; and it was not
-until the last man had been shot down that the Ghazis dared
-advance upon them.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_BRADLAUGH_CASE_1880" id="THE_BRADLAUGH_CASE_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE BRADLAUGH CASE (1880).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, June 25.</p>
-
-
-<p>We may regard the episode of Tuesday's resolution, and its
-natural sequence in the imprisonment of Mr. Bradlaugh for
-defying the authority of the House, as now at an end....
-We regret unfeignedly, as we have all along done, that
-Mr. Bradlaugh was not permitted to make affirmation, instead
-of taking an oath, when he first asked to be allowed to do
-so.... But opportunity of creating a precedent consonant
-with reason and common sense has been let slip, and in default
-of a reasonable precedent the only manly course now seems to
-be to supply its place by fresh legislation. If the personal
-question of Mr. Bradlaugh and his very unsavoury opinions can
-once be got out of the way, there are probably very few
-members of the House of Commons, and very few sensible
-Englishmen, however strong their religious opinions, who
-would not acknowledge the anomaly, the inexpediency, and the
-injustice of making the Parliamentary oath of allegiance more
-stringent and more exclusive than the existing statutory provisions
-for securing truth of testimony and uprightness of
-conduct.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="SOCIAL_AMELIORATIONS_1880" id="SOCIAL_AMELIORATIONS_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SOCIAL AMELIORATIONS (1880).</a></h3>
-
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Employers' Liability.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, July 3.</p>
-
-<p>The fact is that considerations of risk are not uniformly
-present to servants when they are hired, and that the miner or
-railway guard generally contracts on the assumption in his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
-mind that he will be lucky, and will not be injured. The
-impulse to such Bills as Mr. Brassey's, Earl De La Warr's, and
-the measure introduced by the Government, is the inability of
-many people to see any good reason why, if a master is liable
-for the acts of his servant towards a stranger, he should be
-irresponsible when someone, fully clothed with his authority,
-and acting with all his power to enforce obedience, injures
-a so-called fellow-servant, who, perhaps, did not know of the
-existence of this vice-principal, and who never, in fact, consented
-to endure without complaint what might befall him by reason
-of the negligence of the latter. Perhaps in theory it is entirely
-wrong to make a master in any case liable for the acts of his
-servants. It is hard to give any good reason for this portion of
-our common law. Perhaps this species of responsibility, when
-historically examined, will be proved to be a shoot from the
-Roman law of master and slave, which has been unintelligently
-grafted on a law governing the relations of men who are free.
-It matters not, however, how employers came to incur their
-present liability to strangers for the acts of their workmen.
-The question is whether it is right or worth while retaining
-an exception to the general law of master and servant. The
-question has become one, not of principle, but of details....
-The Government Bill starts from the principle that workmen
-may claim redress when they are injured in consequence
-of defective works or machinery, or of the negligence of any
-person in the service of the employer, who has superintendence
-entrusted to him.... It will be highly expedient to endeavour
-to express more clearly a law which must annually be set
-in motion in hundreds of cases.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<h4><span class="smcap">Funded Municipal Debt.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, September 2.</p>
-
-<p>A subject of great interest was discussed at yesterday's
-meeting of the Liverpool City Council. In seconding a
-recommendation of the Finance Committee that the settlement
-of the prospectus and terms of issue of the first £2,000,000 of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
-stock to be created under the Liverpool Loans Act be referred
-to that Committee, Alderman A. B. Forwood explained that
-the Bill had now passed both Houses.... It had been a very
-difficult and intricate matter to get the Bill through, because
-the Liverpool Corporation were the first in the kingdom to
-obtain powers to fund their debt in the way proposed. He
-believed that, when the new water scheme was passed, the new
-mode of raising money would materially reduce the cost of
-money to the town, and would effect the saving of £25,000 to
-£30,000 a year. The stock would be put in exactly the same
-position as Consols.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<h4><span class="smcap">Electric Light, The Telephone, New Hotels.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times.</cite></p>
-
-<p><em>January 5.</em>&mdash;The last American mail has brought us interesting
-details relating to the progress made in manipulating the
-electric light. Pending the researches in which Professor
-Edison has for a long time been engaged, it appears that his
-laboratory at Menlo Park was practically closed to all strangers,
-until the young scientist should have arrived at a point to
-enable him to declare that complete success had attended his
-final efforts. That point has apparently been reached....
-The steadiness, reliability, and non-fusibility of the carbon
-filament, Mr. Edison tells us, are not the only elements incident
-to the new discovery. There is likewise obtained an element
-of proper and uniform resistance to the passage of the electric
-current.</p>
-
-<p><em>April 10.</em>&mdash;Several chambers in the Temple will shortly
-possess the advantage of having communication by telephone
-with the Law Courts at Westminster and the Houses of Parliament.
-The telephonic apparatus is at present being laid down
-between the Temple Gardens and Westminster Hall, the
-Metropolitan District Railway being utilized for the purpose.
-The apparatus, after having been connected with several of the
-chambers and offices in the Temple, enters the underground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
-railway line, which it is carried along, immediately under the
-crown of the railway arch.</p>
-
-<p><em>May 31.</em>&mdash;That the Lord Mayor should in his official capacity
-have lent his presence to the opening of the Grand Hotel
-at Charing Cross, as he did on Saturday evening, implies that
-the new undertaking possesses a more than private character.
-So, in fact, it does. If it cannot be said altogether to open
-a new era in the history of hotels in this country, it makes
-at least a distinct advance in the character of English hotel
-accommodation.... The distinctively English hotel is a
-dismal and cheerless place, where one feels cut off from all
-human sympathy. Of late years there has been a tendency in
-London to adopt Continental ways, but the improvement has
-seldom been carried much further than the establishment of a
-<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">table d'hôte</i>. The Grand Hotel is an ambitious attempt to rival
-the best European and American models.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="PARNELL_AND_THE_LAND_LEAGUE_1880" id="PARNELL_AND_THE_LAND_LEAGUE_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">PARNELL AND THE LAND LEAGUE (1880).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Freeman's Journal</cite>, September 9 (Report of a speech
-by Parnell at Ennis).</p>
-
-
-<p>Depend upon it that the measure of the Land Bill of next
-session will be the measure of your activity and energy this
-winter; it will be the measure of your determination not to
-pay unjust rents; it will be the measure of your determination
-to keep a firm grip of your homesteads; it will be the measure
-of your determination not to bid for farms from which others
-have been evicted, and to use the strong force of public opinion
-to deter any unjust men among yourselves&mdash;and there are many
-such&mdash;from bidding for such farms. If you refuse to pay
-unjust rents, if you refuse to take farms from which others
-have been evicted, the Land Question must be settled, and
-settled in a way that will be satisfactory to you. It depends,
-therefore, upon yourselves, and not upon any Commission or
-any Government. When you have made this question ripe
-for settlement, then, and not till then, will it be settled....
-Now what are you to do to a tenant who bids for a farm from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
-which another tenant has been evicted? [Several voices,
-"Shoot him!"] I think I heard somebody say, "Shoot him!"
-I wish to point out to you a very much better way&mdash;a more
-Christian and charitable way&mdash;which will give the lost man an
-opportunity of repenting. When a man takes a farm from
-which another has been unjustly evicted, you must show him
-on the roadside when you meet him, you must show him in
-the streets of the town, you must show him in the shop, you
-must show him in the fair-green and in the market-place, and
-even in the place of worship, by leaving him alone, by putting
-him into a moral Coventry, by isolating him from the rest of
-his country as if he were the leper of old&mdash;you must show him
-your detestation of the crime he has committed.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="CAPTAIN_BOYCOTT_1880" id="CAPTAIN_BOYCOTT_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">CAPTAIN BOYCOTT (1880).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, November 10.</p>
-
-
-<p>Captain Boycott's case, from the time when attention was
-first drawn to it, has inspired general and increasing interest,
-which in the north of Ireland has taken the practical form
-of the relief expedition despatched yesterday to the shores of
-Lough Mask. It is well understood on both sides that the
-persecution of Captain Boycott is only a typical instance of
-the system by which the peasantry are attempting to carry
-into effect the instructions of the Land League. Into the
-merits of Captain Boycott's relations with the tenants on Lord
-Erne's estates it is quite unnecessary to enter. He has been
-beleaguered in his house near Ballinrobe; he is excluded from
-intercourse, not merely with the people around him, but with
-the neighbouring towns; his crops are perishing, because such
-is the organized intimidation in the district that no labourers
-would dare to be seen working in his fields. It is certain that
-any ordinary workman whom Captain Boycott might hire
-would be subjected to brutal violence, as indeed has already
-happened to servants and others who ventured even to fetch
-his letters for him from the nearest post-office.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_BOER_RISING_1880" id="THE_BOER_RISING_1880"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE BOER RISING (1880).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Transvaal," C 2,838 of 1881, p. 10.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><em>To the Administrator of the Transvaal.</em></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Excellency</span>,</p>
-
-<p class="in4">In the name of the people of the South African Republic
-we come to you to fulfil an earnest but unavoidable duty.
-We have the honour to send you a copy of the Proclamation
-promulgated by the Government and Volksraad, and universally
-published. The wish of the people is clearly to be seen therefrom,
-and requires no explanation from us. We declare in the
-most solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and
-that from our side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands
-to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence. Should it come
-so far, which may God prevent, we will do so with the utmost
-reverence for Her Majesty the Queen of England and her flag.
-Should it come so far, we will defend ourselves with a knowledge
-that we are fighting for the honour of Her Majesty, for
-we fight for the sanctity of treaties sworn by Her, but broken
-by Her officers. However, the time for complaint is past, and
-we wish now alone from your Excellency co-operation for an
-amicable solution of the question on which we differ.... In
-1877 our then Government gave up the keys of the Government
-offices without bloodshed. We trust that your Excellency, as
-representative of the noble British nation, will not less nobly
-and in the same way place our Government in the position to
-assume the administration.</p>
-
-<p class="negin2 pad6">
-We have, etc.,<br />
-<span class="smcap">S. J. P. Kruger</span> (<em>Vice-President</em>).<br />
-<span class="smcap">M. W. Pretorious.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">P. J. Joubert.</span><br />
-<span class="pad4">(<em>Triumvirate</em>.)</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">J. P. Mare.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">C. J. Joubert.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">E. J. P. Jorissen.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">W. Edward Bok</span> (<em>Acting State Secretary</em>).<br /></p>
-
-<p class="noindent fs80"><span class="smcap">Heidelberg</span>,<br />
-<span class="pad2"><em>December 16, 1880</em>.</span></p>
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<h4><span class="smcap">Proclamation.</span></h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Transvaal," C 2,838 of 1881, p. 11.</p>
-
-<p>In the name of the people of the South African Republic.
-With prayerful look to God we, S. J. P. Kruger, Vice-President,
-M. W. Pretorious, and P. J. Joubert, appointed by the
-Volksraad in its session of the 13th December, 1880, as the
-Triumvirate to carry on temporarily the supreme administration
-of the Republic, make known:</p>
-
-<hr class="r30a" />
-
-<p>We thus give notice to everyone that on the 13th day of
-December of the year 1880 the Government has been re-established;
-the Volksraad has resumed its sitting....</p>
-
-<p>And it is further generally made known that from this day
-the whole country is placed in a state of siege and under the
-stipulations of the War Ordinance....</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="BEFORE_MAJUBA_1881" id="BEFORE_MAJUBA_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BEFORE MAJUBA (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 17.</p>
-
-
-<p>We give this morning an account from our correspondent at
-Pretoria of the meeting held by the Boers last month for the
-purpose of protesting against the annexation of the Transvaal.
-The report of the proceedings leaves no doubt of the extent
-and nature of Boer disaffection.... That the annexation of
-the Transvaal may have been necessary when the step was
-taken may be admitted without prejudice to the question
-whether its permanent occupation and administration by
-British authority is desirable or not. When Sir Theophilus
-Shepstone annexed the territory, the Government was disorganized,
-the Treasury was bankrupt, the Republican troops
-were hopelessly demoralized, and the whole district was
-threatened by two powerful native chiefs, the weaker of whom
-had proved his superiority to any force which the Boers could
-bring against him. Now Cetywayo and Secocoeni are captives,
-and the whole border is tranquil. We have done for the Boers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
-what it is certain they could not have done for themselves, and
-we have placed the security of the South African Colonies
-beyond all reasonable fear. Hence it might be argued that
-the reasons which compelled the temporary annexation of the
-Transvaal are no longer applicable in favour of its permanent
-occupation. It may be argued that we cannot recede where
-we have once advanced; certainly we cannot, where we have
-good reason to believe that our security requires that we should
-maintain our hold. But when our presence is manifestly unwelcome,
-and when the question of the best mode of guarding
-our security in future is at least an open one, it would be a very
-contemptible piece of national vanity to refuse to recede, simply
-because we had once found it necessary to advance in very
-different circumstances.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="AFTER_MAJUBA" id="AFTER_MAJUBA"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">AFTER MAJUBA.</a></h3>
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Transvaal," C 2,998 of 1881.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Convention for the Settlement of the Transvaal Territory,
-signed at Pretoria, 1881.</cite></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Preamble</span>: Her Majesty's Commissioners for the settlement
-of the Transvaal Territory, duly appointed as such by
-a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet,
-bearing date the 5th of April, 1881, do hereby undertake and
-guarantee on behalf of Her Majesty that, from and after the
-8th day of August, 1881, complete self-government, subject to
-the suzerainty of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will
-be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal upon the
-following terms and conditions, and subject to the following
-reservations and limitations.</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, August 5, 1881.</p>
-
-<p>England can now have no desire to intrude herself upon the
-Transvaal. The more completely its people can get on without
-interference of any kind, the better pleased we shall be....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
-The occasion may come which will call for all the knowledge
-and discretion which our Government will have at its command.
-The Boers, if they are so disposed, may give trouble
-in a thousand ways. The question may be continually arising
-whether the point has yet been reached at which active interference
-is called for, or whether it may be the prudent and
-better course to let things be. The fact is that between
-England and the Transvaal there is no natural connection
-whatever. The bond which unites them is an artificial one,
-and though it is too early to anticipate the time at which it
-will be severed, we are sure that at no time will it be found
-strong enough to bear a violent strain. The strain may never
-come. The Convention, which has been entered upon in due
-form, and with all solemnity, may remain to all intents and
-purposes a dead letter as to the chief part of its provisions,
-and may thus pass quietly into the great limbo to which all
-monstrous political births must some day come. It will be by
-the fault of the Boers that we can be driven to put an active
-interpretation upon it. It contains terms which we cannot
-suffer to be disregarded.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="RITUAL_CONTROVERSY_1881" id="RITUAL_CONTROVERSY_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">RITUAL CONTROVERSY (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 12.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from a Memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
-signed by various Deans, Canons, etc.</cite></p>
-
-<p>... The immediate need of our Church is, in our opinion, a
-tolerant recognition of divergent ritual practice; but we feel
-bound to submit to your Grace that our present troubles are
-likely to recur, unless the Courts by which ecclesiastical causes
-are decided in the first instance and on appeal can be so constructed
-as to secure the conscientious obedience of clergymen
-who believe the constitution of the Church of Christ to be
-of Divine appointment, and who protest against the State's
-encroachment upon Rights assured to the Church of England
-by solemn Acts of Parliament....</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="A_SHORT_WAY_WITH_OBSTRUCTION_1881" id="A_SHORT_WAY_WITH_OBSTRUCTION_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">A SHORT WAY WITH OBSTRUCTION (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, February 3.</p>
-
-
-<p>About nine o'clock in the morning Mr. Gladstone, Mr. W. E.
-Forster, Mr. Dodson, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Sir R. Cross
-entered the House amid cheers. While Mr. Biggar was continuing
-his observations on the Land League the Speaker
-resumed the Chair amid loud cheering. The Speaker, without
-calling on the hon. member to proceed with his remarks, at
-once said: "The motion for leave to bring in the Person and
-Property Protection (Ireland) Bill has now been under discussion
-for five days. The present sitting, having commenced
-on Monday last, has continued till Wednesday morning, a
-period of no less than forty-one hours, the House having been
-occupied with discussions upon repeated motions for adjournment.
-However tedious these discussions were, they were
-carried to a division by small minorities in opposition to the
-general sense of the House. A necessity has thus arisen
-which demands the interposition of the Chair (cheers). The
-usual rule has been proved powerless to insure orderly debate.
-An important measure, recommended in Her Majesty's Speech,
-and declared to be urgent in the interests of the State by a
-decisive majority, has been impeded by the action of an inconsiderable
-minority of members who have resorted to those
-modes of obstruction which have been recognized by the
-House as a Parliamentary offence. The credit and authority
-of this House are seriously threatened, and it is necessary they
-should be vindicated. Under the operation of the accustomed
-rules and methods of procedure the legislative powers of the
-House are paralyzed. A new and exceptional course is imperatively
-demanded, and I am satisfied that I shall best carry out
-the wish of the House if I decline to call upon any more
-members to speak, and at once put the question to the House."</p>
-
-<p>The Speaker then put the question, when there appeared&mdash;</p>
-
-
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="">
-<tr><td class="tdl">For the amendment</td><td class="tdr">19</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="tdl">Against</td><td class="tdr">164</td></tr>
-</table></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Speaker then put the main question, that leave be given
-to bring in the Bill, when Mr. J. McCarthy rose to speak, but
-the Speaker declined to hear him, and there were loud cries of
-"Order" on the Ministerial side of the House. The Home
-Rulers stood up, and for some time, with raised hand, shouted,
-"Privilege!" and then, having bowed to the Chair, left the
-House.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_DEATH_OF_BEACONSFIELD_1881" id="THE_DEATH_OF_BEACONSFIELD_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE DEATH OF BEACONSFIELD (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, April 20.</p>
-
-
-<p>The end really corresponded to the beginning, and both were
-alike exceptional.... It must have been an ideal and living
-world that home life introduced Benjamin Disraeli to. It was
-in this that he acquired his repertory of parts and character;
-his caps fit for wearers; his motley for those it suited; his
-titles of little honour; his stage tricks and artifices; his gibes
-and jests that Yorick might have overflowed with in the spirit
-of his age; and his unfailing consciousness of a knowledge and
-power ever sufficient for the occasion.... The new deliverer
-of the Conservatives presented himself as a magician, master
-of many spells, charged with all the secrets of the political
-creation, ready to control the winds and the tides of opinion
-and faction, sounding the very depths of political possibility,
-and with a touch of his wand able to leave a mark on any foe
-or wanton intruder. The plea was necessity. Fortunately for
-Lord Beaconsfield, the age of consistency is no more. Sir Robert
-Peel destroyed that idol, and in doing so sacrificed himself.
-Lord Beaconsfield advanced to power over his body.</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, April 22, 1881.</p>
-
-<p>It is finely said by Bacon of death that "it openeth the gate
-to good fame and extinguisheth envy...." It is singularly
-true of Lord Beaconsfield, whose fate it was to interest all
-men, to puzzle most, and to provoke the antagonism of many.
-Certainly no English statesman, since the death of Lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
-Palmerston, has occupied so prominent a position or excited
-so deep an interest on the Continent of Europe. His secret
-lay perhaps in the magnetic influence of a dauntless will, in
-his unrivalled powers of patience, in his impenetrable reserve
-and detachment. If we compare the beginning of his political
-life with its close, and note how its unchastened audacity was
-gradually toned down into the coolest determination and the
-most dispassionate tenacity, we shall see how the magnificent
-victory he achieved over himself gave him power to govern
-others, to withstand their opposition, and to bend their wills to
-his own. This is what Continental observers saw in him&mdash;unrivalled
-strength of will and dauntless tenacity of purpose&mdash;and
-this is why they admired him. The sense of mystery
-engendered the sense of power, and foreigners freely admired
-where Englishmen were often puzzled and at times almost
-bewildered.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_WITHDRAWAL_FROM_CANDAHAR_1881" id="THE_WITHDRAWAL_FROM_CANDAHAR_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDAHAR (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 259, C 49-74 (House of Lords
-debate on the withdrawal from Candahar, March 3, 1881).</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The Earl of Lytton</span>: ... And now, my Lords, allow me
-to recapitulate the conclusions which appear to me established
-by the facts to which I have solicited your attention. On the
-strength of these facts I affirm once more that Russian influence
-at Cabul did not commence with the Stolieteff mission, and that
-it did not cease with the withdrawal of that mission. I affirm
-that for all practical purposes the Ameer of Cabul had ceased
-to be the friend and ally of England, and that he had virtually
-become the friend and ally of Russia at least three years before
-I had any dealings with His Highness, or any connection with
-the government of India. I affirm that the sole cause of the
-late Afghan war was a Russian intrigue of long duration, for
-purposes which it was the imperative duty of the Government
-of India to oppose at any cost. And, finally, I affirm that the
-establishment of Russian influence was caused by the collapse
-and paralysis of British influence at Cabul, and that this was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
-the natural result of the deplorable policy to which Her Majesty's
-Government are now so eagerly reverting.... Surely, my
-Lords, prevention is better than cure. Surely it is wiser and
-safer to stay at Candahar, whence we can exclude Russian
-influence from Herat by peaceably extending our own influence
-in that direction, than to retire to the Indus, and there passively
-await an event which is to involve us in a great European war,
-for the purpose of undoing what could not otherwise have been
-done in a remote corner of Asia. The noble Duke, the Lord
-Privy Seal, has expressed his astonishment at the prodigious
-importance I now attach to the retention of Candahar, because,
-he says, I did not hold that opinion till a late period of my
-Viceroyalty. That is true&mdash;I did not. But in the statement
-which elicited this remark I thought I had explained the reason
-why. I can sincerely assure your Lordships that the late
-Government of India was not an annexationist Government.
-As long as we had any reasonable hope of loyalty on the
-part of Yakub Khan, or of the observance of the Gandamak
-Treaty, which gave us moral guarantees of adequate control
-over Afghanistan, our wish was not to weaken but to strengthen
-the Cabul Power. But the whole situation, and our duty concerning
-it, were changed irrevocably by the atrocious crime
-which compelled us to occupy Cabul, and by the revelations
-discovered at Cabul, and now known to your Lordships, of the
-extent to which Russian influence had penetrated to the very
-heart of the country. My Lords, it then seemed to my colleagues
-in the Government of India, and it still seems to me,
-that the only practical means of counteracting the dangerous
-Russian influence at Cabul would be to assume ourselves over
-Western Afghanistan a controlling and commanding position,
-not dependent on the good or bad faith of any Cabul ruler.
-Such control can only be exercised from Candahar. The
-history of the last eight years clearly shows, not merely that
-the Russian Power is approaching, and must approach, towards
-India, but that Russia has long sought, is still seeking, and will
-continue to seek, great political influence over Afghanistan;
-that this influence has already found a fulcrum at Cabul, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
-that it must be a permanent source of disquiet to the Government
-of India, whenever she wishes to embarrass British
-policy in Europe. Therefore, for the safety of the British
-Power in India, it is indispensable that the Government of
-India shall have the means of preventing&mdash;at all events, of
-counteracting&mdash;Russian influence in Afghanistan. It is absurd
-to suppose that you can have any controlling power over a
-country in which you have no <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">locus standi</i> at all. Now amongst
-the arrangements contemplated by Her Majesty's Government
-after the evacuation of Candahar, where do they expect to find
-a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">locus standi</i> in Afghanistan? I do not see where.... Great
-as are the undisputed strategical advantages of Candahar, the
-late Government of India did not regard the retention of it
-primarily, or mainly, as a military question. We felt that it
-would give us a political and commercial control over Western
-Afghanistan up to Herat so complete that we might contemplate
-with unconcern the course of events at Cabul. If you retain
-Candahar, and hold it firmly and fearlessly, then you may view
-with indifference the uncertain faith and fate of Cabul rulers,
-and the certain advance of the Russian Power. If you retain
-Candahar, and administer it wisely, you will replace anarchy
-and bloodshed and difficulty and uncertainty on your own border
-by peace and prosperity; and if you connect Candahar by rail
-with the Valley of the Indus, you will be able to sweep the
-whole commerce of Central Asia, vastly augmented by the
-beneficent protection of a strong, a settled, and a civilized
-Government, into the harbours of Kurrachee and Calcutta,
-and thence into the ports of Liverpool and London. But, my
-Lords, you cannot do all this unless you retain a garrison in
-Candahar.... If you accept the conclusion admitted by the
-noble Duke, and affirmed by every Indian statesman, that
-Afghanistan must on no account be permitted to remain under
-the forbidden influence of Russia, then, my Lords, for the
-enforcement of that conclusion you must choose between the
-retention of Candahar and reliance on the instructions said to
-have been issued to General Kauffman "not to do it again."
-There is no alternative. To talk about developing the internal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
-resources of India is nothing to the point. There is no reason
-why the continued development of India's internal resources
-should not proceed <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pari passu</i> with the consolidation of her
-external securities. But do not fatten the lamb only to feed
-the wolf. My Lords, all those whose privilege it is to build
-up the noble edifice of India's prosperity must be content to
-labour like the builders of the second Temple&mdash;working with
-one hand, but holding the sword in the other to defend their
-work.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_SALVATION_ARMY_1881" id="THE_SALVATION_ARMY_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE SALVATION ARMY (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, October 13.</p>
-
-
-<p>For two years, or thereabouts, our towns have had frequent
-opportunities of witnessing an exhibition not to everybody's
-taste. The "Salvation Army," as far as it can be known to
-the uninitiated, consists of bands of men marching through the
-streets, generally towards "church time," with banners, devices,
-and sometimes emblematic helmets and other accoutrements,
-singing sensational hymns. Most people are ready to leave it
-alone. But there remain the irrepressible "roughs." It is
-with them that the "Salvation Army" is now waging its only
-physical warfare. English people generally would leave it to
-the test of time.... We must beware how we quarrel with
-those who honestly believe there is a great work to be done.
-If we do not like these singular modes of propagandism and
-conversion, we need not assist the "roughs" to put them down.
-Another course lies before us all. It is to do the work in a
-better way.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="ARABI_1881" id="ARABI_1881"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">ARABI (1881).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, December 21.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from a letter by Sir William Gregory.</cite></p>
-
-<p>... I called at Arabi Bey's house by appointment, and was
-very courteously received by a tall, athletic, soldier-like man.
-His countenance is peculiarly grave, and even stern, with much
-power in it. It is at first sight somewhat heavy, until he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
-aroused, when his eyes light up and he speaks with great
-energy.... He said that he looked on the Sultan as his lord&mdash;as
-the head of his religion&mdash;and that he was bound to do so;
-that the dominions of the Sultan were like a great palace, in
-which the different nations had each one its own chamber,
-suited to its wants, and arranged according to its own manner;
-that to introduce other persons into those chambers would be
-to upset the arrangements, to annoy and dispossess the occupants,
-and to do an unjust act; and he was therefore most
-decidedly opposed to any interference on the part of the Sultan
-in the government of Egypt, and every opposition would be
-given to the introduction of Turkish troops. Secondly, as
-regards the religious question, nothing could be more untrue
-than the allegations that he and those who went with him were
-in favour of any intolerant movement.... The next point
-was the accusation that he was aiming at establishing a
-military supremacy. This he denied, saying that an army has
-no right to be supreme in time of peace ... but it was obliged
-to take the lead in getting rid of abuses and establishing justice.
-Lastly, as to his desire to remove European officials from the
-country, he said he had no idea or wish to remove the Control
-to which his countrymen were indebted for the Justice which
-the cultivators now enjoy, at all events for the present, until
-Egypt knew how to govern herself, and could stand alone;
-but he spoke with the greatest bitterness of the manner in
-which his countrymen were ousted from every superior position
-in every department.... I next asked him if the opinion
-were prevalent that England desired to occupy Egypt. He
-said that he himself did not believe it. Egypt was looked
-upon as the centre of the Mohammedan world, and in every
-country where there was a Mussulman community there would
-be deep-seated indignation were she to be annexed, and probably
-the loss of India would be ultimately the consequence.
-Egypt, if left alone, would always protect the passage to India,
-which he knew to be our great object.</p>
-
-<p class="fs80"><span class="smcap">Cairo</span>,<br />
-<span class="pad2"><em>December 11</em>.</span></p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_FIRST_CLOSURE_1882" id="THE_FIRST_CLOSURE_1882"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE FIRST CLOSURE (1882).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 266, col. 1,124,
-February 20, 1882.</p>
-
-
-<p>Ordered: That, when it shall appear to Mr. Speaker or to
-the Chairman of Committee of the whole House, during any
-debate, to be the evident sense of the House or of the Committee,
-that the Question be now put, he may so inform the
-House or the Committee; and, if a motion be made, "That
-the Question be now put," Mr. Speaker, or the Chairman, shall
-forthwith put such question; and, if the same be decided in
-the affirmative, the Question under discussion shall be put
-forthwith; provided that the Question shall not be decided in
-the affirmative, if a division be taken, unless it shall appear
-to have been supported by more than 200 members, or to have
-been opposed by less than 40 members.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="BIMETALLISM_1882" id="BIMETALLISM_1882"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BIMETALLISM (1882).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, March 11.</p>
-
-
-<p>A meeting convened by the Council of the International
-Monetary Standard Association was held in the Egyptian Hall
-of the Mansion House.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Grenfell, Governor of the Bank of England, said ...
-he presumed that all present knew that the standard of this
-country was a monometallic gold standard, and that it was
-introduced by that great statesman Sir Robert Peel; but it
-was not so generally known, and it was somewhat singular,
-that when Sir R. Peel brought forward the measure for the
-resumption of cash payments, and for the institution of a monometallic
-gold standard, he appealed to the House of Commons,
-by all the wish they had to act with good faith towards their
-creditors, that they should return to the ancient standard of the
-realm. He presumed that Sir R. Peel meant that the ancient
-standard of the realm was a gold standard; but it was not a
-monometallic standard at all. The ancient standard of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
-realm was a bimetallic standard, and although there had been
-a monometallic standard before, it was never a gold standard....
-What were the events that had occurred since Sir R.
-Peel's death? They were entirely new. The first event was
-the calling together of a conference in Paris in 1868, for the
-purpose of attempting to govern the coinage of all nations, and
-unfortunately that conference came to the conclusion that the
-best of all standards was a monometallic gold standard. Very
-shortly afterwards there came the Franco-German War, and
-when a large quantity of the gold of France passed into the
-hands of Germany, that Government decided to make a gold
-standard. Scarcely had that been done, when the evil arising
-from the great monetary revolution began to be shown....
-Had they calculated what the cost of the demonetization of Germany
-was? The amount the German Government coined was
-87,000,000 sterling of gold, which, according to the average
-for the last twenty years, was equal to 3.3 years of the whole
-world's production of gold. Besides that, Germany sold
-28,000,000 sterling of silver, which was equal to more than
-two years' production of the whole world of that metal. What
-did they think, supposing the Latin Union, our Indian Empire,
-and the United States were to resort to some such measure as
-Germany did?</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="BRIGHTS_RESIGNATION_1882" id="BRIGHTS_RESIGNATION_1882"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BRIGHT'S RESIGNATION (1882).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 272, col. 724, July 17, 1882.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><em>A Gladstonian Fine Distinction.</em></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Gladstone</span>: ... This is not an occasion for arguing the
-question of the differences that have unhappily arisen between
-my right hon. friend and those who were, and rejoiced to be,
-his colleagues. But I venture to assure him that I agree with
-him in thinking that the moral law is as applicable to the conduct
-of nations as of individuals, and that the difference between
-us, most painful to him and most painful to us, is a difference
-as to the particular application in this particular case of the
-Divine law.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_ILBERT_BILL_1883" id="THE_ILBERT_BILL_1883"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE ILBERT BILL (1883).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, March 5.</p>
-
-
-<p>Four weeks have elapsed since we first called attention to
-the disapprobation and discontent excited among the English
-residents in India by the Bill for subjecting them to the
-criminal jurisdiction of native judges and magistrates. The
-measure, of which we then pointed out the dangers, has since
-assumed a portentous importance. The whole non-official
-European community has been convulsed by it.... As
-for the asserted symmetry which is to follow from it, and the
-asserted inequalities which it is to remove, it will not, and
-cannot, do what it has been credited with doing. It removes
-one inequality while it leaves a dozen others untouched, and
-the inequality which it does remove is just that which is most
-clearly justifiable. It is a pandering, we will not say to native
-opinion, for no such opinion has been formed for it, but to the
-noisily expressed views of the native Press, and of one or two
-native civil servants, who are anxious to exercise the powers
-which the Bill confers, and who are on that very account so
-much the less fit to be trusted with them.... The Bill may
-be unimportant in itself, but it is one among many signs of the
-new ideas and new principles upon which the Government of
-India is to be conducted, ideas and principles which are
-utterly at variance with those by which our position in the
-country has been gained and held.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="FENIANS_AGAIN_1883" id="FENIANS_AGAIN_1883"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">FENIANS AGAIN (1883).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, March 16.</p>
-
-
-<p>A terrific explosion occurred last night at the offices of the
-Local Government Board, Parliament Street, Westminster.
-The report was heard about half a minute after nine o'clock in
-the House of Commons. So great was the force of the explosion
-that the floor of the House and the galleries shook. At
-the time there was but a thin attendance of members, it being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
-the dinner hour. The Duke of Edinburgh was in the Peers'
-Gallery, and he turned round at once and spoke to Sir Henry
-Fletcher, who was sitting near him. The Speaker rang his
-bell, and inquired the cause of the alarm.... The explosion
-occurred in the ground floor of the Local Government Board,
-smashing the stonework into splinters, and breaking into fragments
-the windows, portions of which lay strewn in the surrounding
-streets. Alarmed crowds gathered.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_MAHDI_1883" id="THE_MAHDI_1883"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE MAHDI (1883).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Sir Reginald Wingate's <cite>Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan</cite>, pp. 2, 5, 12-14. (Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>Mahdiism, with which we have to deal, has two sides to it.
-There is the Mahdi, whose coming is looked forward to by good
-Sunnis as the advent of the Messiah is expected by the Jews.
-And there is the Mahdi who disappeared, and may appear
-miraculously at any moment to good Shias.... Mohammed
-Ahmed of Dongola took up Mahdiism from the Shia's point of
-view.... His movement was, in the first place, a religious
-movement&mdash;the superior enthusiasm, eloquence, and dramatic
-knowledge of one priest over his fellows. It was recruited by
-a desire, widespread among the villagers, and especially among
-the superstitious masses of Kordofan, for revenge for the
-cruelties and injustice of the Egyptians and Bashi-Bazuks. It
-swept into force on the withdrawal of all semblance of government,
-the sole element opposed to it, and it became a tool for
-the imperious and warlike Baggara, and enabled them to usurp
-the vacant throne. Religion has thus knit together the different
-races, each with their own grievance, and summoned them to
-the banner of emirs in search of power and the right to trade in
-slaves.... There is no doubt that, until he was ruined by
-unbridled sensuality, this man [Mohammed Ahmed] had the
-strongest head and the clearest mental vision of any man in the
-two million square miles of which he more or less made himself
-master before he died; and it is a matter of regret that more
-cannot be learnt of his early youth than what follows. Born at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
-Dongola in 1848, of a family of excellent boat-builders, whose
-boats are to this day renowned for sound construction, he was
-early recognized by his family as the clever one, and, so to
-speak, went into the Church. At twenty-two he was already a
-sheikh with a great reputation for sanctity, and his preaching
-was renowned far and wide. Men wept and beat their breasts
-at his moving words; even his brother fikis could not conceal
-their admiration. The first steps of the Mahdi in his career
-are of genuine interest. Tall, rather slight, of youthful build,
-and, like many Danagla, with large eyes and pleasing features,
-Mohammed Ahmed bore externally all the marks of a well-bred
-gentleman. He moved about with quiet dignity of manner,
-but there was nothing unusual about him until he commenced
-to preach. Then, indeed, one understood the power within
-him which men obeyed. With rapid earnest words he stirred
-their hearts, and bowed their heads like corn beneath the storm.
-And what a theme was his! No orator in France in 1792
-could speak of oppression that here in the Soudan was not
-doubled. What need of description when he could use denunciation;
-when he could stretch forth his long arm and point
-to the tax-gatherer who twice, three times, and yet again,
-carried off the last goat, the last bundle of dhurra straw, from
-yon miserable man listening with intent eyes! And then he
-urges in warning tones what Whitfield, Wesley, have urged
-before him, that all this misery, all this oppression, is God's
-anger at the people's wickedness. That since the Prophet left
-the earth the world has all fallen into sin and neglect. But
-now a time was at hand when all this should have an end.
-The Lord would send a deliverer who should sweep away the
-veil before their eyes, clear the madness from the brain, the
-hideous dream would be broken for ever, and, strong in the
-faith of their divine leader, these new-made men, with clear-seeing
-vision and well-laid plans before them, should go forth
-and possess the land. The cursed tax-gatherer should be
-driven into holes and caves, the bribe-taking official hunted
-from off the field he had usurped, and the Turk should be
-thrown to jabber his delirium on his own dunghill. With the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
-coming of the Mahdi the right should triumph, and all oppression
-should have an end. When would this Mahdi come?
-What wonder that every hut and every thicket echoed the
-longing for the promised Saviour! The hot wind roamed from
-desert to plain of withered grass, from mountain range to sandy
-valley, and whispered "Mahdi" as it blew; all nature joined;
-how childish, yet how effective. The women found the eggs
-inscribed with "Jesus," "Mohammed," and the "Mahdi."
-The very leaves rustled down to the ground, and in their fall
-received the imprint of the sacred names. The land was sown
-with fikis, many of them past masters in the art of swaying
-a crowd. They came and listened, and soon they recognized
-that they had found their master here. The leaven worked
-rapidly among them, until one evening at Abba Island, a
-hundred and fifty miles south of Khartoum, there came a band
-of self-reliant men who heard the stirring words, and saw the
-tall, slight, earnest figure. They said, "You are our promised
-leader," and in solemn secrecy he said, "I am the Mahdi."</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1">[Note.&mdash;Mahdi signifies "the guided" in the hadaya or true
-way of salvation, hence "the guide." In the tenets of all sects
-of the Moslems there is an intimate connection between the
-Mahdi and Jesus Christ.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="END_OF_CAREY_THE_INFORMER_1883" id="END_OF_CAREY_THE_INFORMER_1883"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">END OF CAREY THE INFORMER (1883).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, July 31.</p>
-
-
-<p>James Carey has not long escaped those who, it was well
-known, had resolved to slay him at the first opportunity.
-According to telegrams received from Durban and Cape Town
-he was shot dead on Sunday, on board the liner <i>Melrose</i>, by an
-Irishman named O'Donnell. The vessel had got into harbour
-at Port Elizabeth, and was discharging her passengers and
-cargo, when Carey was shot. Fully warned of the intention
-to murder him, the authorities at Dublin had taken pains to
-conceal his movements. When he quitted Kilmainham, it was
-stated that he had resolved to brave the worst, and settle down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
-in Dublin to his old occupations. Then it was said that he
-had been seen in London. According to another account he
-had sailed for Canada, and had actually landed at Montreal
-under the escort of two detectives. If these tales were circulated
-with the hope of putting the Invincibles on a false
-scent, they signally failed. His enemies were too astute to be
-deceived by pious frauds. Carey's death is a public misfortune.
-He had indeed been a principal in a cruel and barbarous murder.
-He behaved with supreme callousness and repulsive levity
-throughout the trials; and he was in every way one of the
-worst specimens of a bad type. But he was the instrument
-by which the Phœnix Park murderers were brought to justice,
-and it would have been well had he lived to defy the machinations
-of the Invincibles. But this misfortune is only a consequence
-of facts which, as a rule, serve as a safeguard and
-protection to society. Gibbon has forcibly described the
-unhappy condition of the wretch who tried to flee from the
-power of a Roman Emperor. There was no escape from it:
-he confronted it wherever he fled. No better are the chances
-of flight of one who, in these days of publicity, of photographs
-and illustrated newspapers, tries to hide himself from the gaze
-of those who know him. All this told against Carey's chances
-of escape. He had made himself the object of bitter hatred
-of secret societies, which have ramifications through many
-parts of the world. During the long trials at Dublin, portraits
-of him in all attitudes were published. His very marked
-features became familiar to everyone. Disguise himself as
-he might&mdash;and it is stated that when he was shot he was disguised&mdash;he
-could not help being recognized wherever he went.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="SLAUGHTER_OF_HICKS_PASHAS_ARMY_1883" id="SLAUGHTER_OF_HICKS_PASHAS_ARMY_1883"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SLAUGHTER OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY (1883).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Sir Reginald Wingate's <cite>Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan</cite>, pp. 85, 88-90. (Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>Mohammed Ahmed, on hearing of the departure of the
-army of Hicks Pasha from Khartoum, sent spies to watch their
-movements, and on learning that the latter had arrived at Duem,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
-and intended advancing on El Obeid, he sent a force of 3,000
-men under the emir Abd el Halim and Abu Girgeh to follow
-in rear of the Egyptian army and close up the wells as they
-advanced, so that retreat would be impossible. Abd el Halim,
-on arrival at Rahad, at once rode off to El Obeid and personally
-informed the Mahdi of the strength and probable movements
-of the Egyptian force. On receipt of this news Mohammed
-Ahmed forthwith despatched all his fighting men towards
-Rahad to join Abd el Halim's force, but on their way they met
-Abd el Halim retiring from Alluba, and, having joined him, the
-whole force, amounting to some 40,000, encamped in the forest
-of Shekan, and there awaited the advance of the Egyptian
-troops.... At 10 a.m. on Monday morning, November 5, the
-troops marched out of the zariba and formed up in three
-squares, the whole formation resembling a triangle. Each
-square had its own transport and ammunition in the centre.
-Hicks Pasha with his staff led the way, followed by four guns
-of the artillery, then the first square, which was supported to
-the right and left rear by the other two squares, some 300
-yards distant from the square and from each other. Ala ed
-Din Pasha commanded the right square and Selim Bey the
-left. The exposed flanks of the squares were covered by
-cavalry, and a detachment of horsemen brought up the rear.
-In this formation the troops steadily advanced, and half an
-hour later reached a fairly open valley, interspersed here and
-there with bush, while on either side were thick woods full of
-the enemy.... Now all was ready, and Mohammed Ahmed
-patiently awaited the arrival of the troops, which could already
-be seen advancing in the distance. He assembled his emirs
-for the last final instructions, and, rising from his prayer, drew
-his sword, shouted three times, "Allahu akbar! You need
-not fear, for the victory is ours." On came the squares. The
-first had reached the wooded depression, when up sprang the
-Arabs with their fierce yells. Startled and surprised, the
-square was broken in a moment. The flanking squares now
-fired wildly at the Arabs fighting hand to hand with the
-Egyptians, and in their efforts must have killed numbers of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
-their own comrades. But almost at the same instant the
-Arabs simultaneously attacked from the woods on both sides
-and from front and rear. The wildest confusion followed;
-squares fired on each other, on friends or enemies. While
-the surging mass of Arabs now completely encircled the force
-and gradually closed in on them, a massacre of the most
-appalling description took place. In little over quarter of an
-hour all was over. Hicks Pasha with his staff, seeing that he
-could do nothing, cut his way through on the left and reached
-some cultivated ground. Here he was surrounded by some
-Baggara horsemen, and for a time kept them at bay, fighting
-most gallantly till his revolver was empty, and then committing
-most terrible execution with his sword. He was the last of
-the Europeans to fall, and one savage charge he made on his
-assailants is memorable to this day in the Soudan, and a body
-of Baggara who fled before him were called by their tribesmen
-"Baggar Hicks," or the cows driven by Hicks. But at last
-he fell, pierced by the spear of the Khalifa Mohammed Sherif.
-His cavalry bodyguard fought gallantly, and though repeatedly
-called on to surrender replied, "We shall never surrender, but
-will die like our officers, and kill many of you as well." And
-soon all were killed. Ala ed Din Pasha was killed trying to
-make his way from the right square to join Hicks Pasha.
-Genawi Bey lay dead in the square beside his horse. It is
-said that as he fell mortally wounded he, with his own
-sword, hamstrung his horse, saying, "No other shall ever ride
-on you after me." The whole force, with the exception of some
-300 men, and most of these wounded, had now been completely
-annihilated.... The news of the Mahdi's victory spread far
-and wide, and if there had been some doubts previous to what
-was now termed a miracle, the complete annihilation of a
-whole army soon dispelled them, and from the Red Sea to the
-confines of Waddai the belief was universal that at last the true
-Mahdi had appeared.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1">[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;Sir R. Wingate's account is quoted from two
-sources&mdash;one, Mohammed Nur el Barudi, who was cook to
-Hicks Pasha, and was one of the wounded prisoners after the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
-battle; and the other, Hassan Habashi, a former Government
-official at El Obeid, who had fallen into the Mahdi's hands on
-the capture of that place. Hence the story is complete on both
-sides.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="TRANSVAAL_CONVENTION_1884" id="TRANSVAAL_CONVENTION_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">TRANSVAAL CONVENTION (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Transvaal," C 3,947 of 1884,
-p. 47.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>A Convention between Her Majesty the Queen of the United
-Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the South
-African Republic.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through
-its delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger,
-President of the said State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit,
-Superintendent of Education, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a
-member of the Volksraad, have represented that the Convention
-signed at Pretoria on the 13th day of August, 1881, and
-ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October,
-1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and
-imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is
-desirous to be relieved, and that the south-western boundaries
-fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view
-to promote the peace and good order of the said State and of
-the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas Her Majesty the
-Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
-has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration.</p>
-
-<p>Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct,
-and it is hereby declared, that the following articles of a new
-Convention, signed on behalf of Her Majesty by Her Majesty's
-High Commissioner in South Africa, the Right Honourable
-Sir Hercules George Herbert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross
-of the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George,
-Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on
-behalf of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called
-the South African Republic) by the above-named delegates,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
-Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du
-Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit, shall, when ratified by the
-Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for
-the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August, 1881;
-which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full
-force and effect.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1">[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;The word "Preamble" is not prefixed to the opening
-passage of this Convention. When the suzerainty question
-arose in 1898 the British argument was that the 1884 Convention
-only altered the articles of the 1881 Convention, and left
-the Preamble in force; the Boer argument was that the 1884
-Convention had a preamble, and therefore the earlier one must
-have been superseded.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="GORDONS_MISSION_TO_KHARTOUM_1884" id="GORDONS_MISSION_TO_KHARTOUM_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">GORDON'S MISSION TO KHARTOUM (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," No. 2 of 1884, C 3,845.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 2. The Cabinet's Instructions to General Gordon.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Her Majesty's Government are desirous that you should
-proceed at once to Egypt, to report to them on the military
-situation in the Soudan, 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 Khartoum. You are also desired
-to consider and report upon the best mode of effecting the
-evacuation of the interior of the Soudan, and upon the manner
-in which the safety and good administration by the Egyptian
-Government of the ports on the sea coast can best be secured.
-In connection with this subject, you should pay especial consideration
-to the question of the steps that may usefully be
-taken to counteract the stimulus which it is feared may
-possibly be given to the Slave Trade by the present insurrectionary
-movement and by the withdrawal of the Egyptian
-authority from the interior.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," No. 6 of 1884, C 3,878.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Further Instructions by the Egyptian Government.</cite></p>
-
-<p>I have now to indicate to you the views of the Egyptian
-Government on two of the points to which your special attention
-was directed by Lord Granville. These are (1) the
-measures which it may be advisable to take for the security of
-the Egyptian garrisons still holding positions in the Soudan,
-and for the safety of the European population in Khartoum.
-(2) The best mode of effecting the evacuation of the interior of
-the Soudan. These two points are intimately connected, and
-may conveniently be considered together. It is believed that
-the number of Europeans at Khartoum is very small, but it
-has been estimated by the local authorities that some 10,000
-to 15,000 people will wish to move northwards from Khartoum
-only when the Egyptian garrison is withdrawn. These people
-are native Christians, Egyptian employés, their wives and
-children, etc. The Government of His Highness the Khedive
-is earnestly solicitous that no effort should be spared to insure
-the retreat both of these people and of the Egyptian garrison
-without loss of life. As regards the most opportune time and
-the best method for effecting the retreat, whether of the
-garrisons or of the civil populations, it is neither necessary
-nor desirable that you should receive detailed instructions....
-You will bear in mind that the main end to be pursued is the
-evacuation of the Soudan. This policy was adopted, after
-very full discussion, by the Egyptian Government, on the
-advice of Her Majesty's Government. It meets with the full
-approval of His Highness the Khedive, and of the present
-Egyptian Ministry. I understand, also, that you entirely concur
-in the desirability of adopting this policy, and that you
-think it should on no account be changed. You consider that
-it may take a few months to carry it out with safety. You
-are further of opinion that "the restoration of the country
-should be made to the different petty Sultans who existed at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
-the time of Mehemet Ali's conquest, and whose families
-still exist"; and that an endeavour should be made to form a
-confederation of those Sultans. In this view the Egyptian
-Government entirely concur. It will, of course, be fully
-understood that the Egyptian troops are not to be kept in the
-Soudan merely with a view to consolidating the power of the
-new rulers of the country. But the Egyptian Government
-has the fullest confidence in your judgment, your knowledge
-of the country, and in your comprehension of the general line
-of policy to be pursued. You are, therefore, given full discretionary
-power to retain the troops for such reasonable
-period as you may think necessary, in order that the abandonment
-of the country may be accomplished with the least possible
-risk to life and property.</p>
-
-<p>Sir E. Baring, in forwarding the copy of the instructions to
-Lord Granville, wrote:</p>
-
-<p>I read the draft of the letter over to General Gordon. He
-expressed to me his entire concurrence in the instructions.
-The only suggestion he made was in connection with the
-passage in which, speaking of the policy of abandoning the
-Soudan, I had said, "I understand also that you entirely concur
-in the desirability of adopting this policy." General Gordon
-wished that I should add the words, "and that you think it
-should on no account be changed." These words were
-accordingly added.</p>
-
-
-<h4>III.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Lord Cromer's <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>, vol. i., p. 428.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-<p>Looking back at what occurred after a space of many years,
-two points are to my mind clear. The first is that no Englishman
-should have been sent to Khartoum. The second is that,
-if anyone had to be sent, General Gordon was not the right
-man to send. The reasons why no Englishman should have
-been sent are now sufficiently obvious. If he were beleaguered
-at Khartoum, <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's Note&mdash;Original text: 'the British Goverment'">the British Government</ins> might be obliged to send
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>an expedition to relieve him. The main object of British
-policy was to avoid being drawn into military operations in the
-Soudan. The employment of a British official at Khartoum
-involved a serious risk that it would be no longer possible to
-adhere to this policy, and the risk was materially increased
-when the individual chosen to go to the Soudan was one who
-had attracted to himself a greater degree of popular sympathy
-than almost any Englishman of modern times.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="DIFFICULTIES_OF_GORDONS_CHARACTER_1884" id="DIFFICULTIES_OF_GORDONS_CHARACTER_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">DIFFICULTIES OF GORDON'S CHARACTER (1884).</a></h3>
-
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Lord Cromer's <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>, vol. i., p. 432.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-<p>I must, for the elucidation of this narrative, state why I
-think it was a mistake to send General Gordon to Khartoum.
-"It is impossible," I wrote privately to Lord Granville on
-January 28, 1884, "not to be charmed by the simplicity and
-honesty of Gordon's character." "My only fear," I added,
-"is that he is terribly flighty and changes his opinions very
-rapidly...." Impulsive flightiness was, in fact, the main
-defect of General Gordon's character, and it was one which,
-in my opinion, rendered him unfit to carry out a work which
-pre-eminently required a cool and steady head. I used to
-receive some twenty or thirty telegrams from General Gordon
-in the course of the day when he was at Khartoum, those in
-the evening often giving opinions which it was impossible to
-reconcile with others despatched the same morning. Scarcely,
-indeed, had General Gordon started on his mission, when Lord
-Granville, who does not appear at first to have understood
-General Gordon's character, began to be alarmed at his impulsiveness.
-On February 8 Lord Granville wrote to me: "I
-own your letters about Gordon rather alarm. His changes
-about Zobeir are difficult to understand. Northbrook consoles
-me by saying that he says all the foolish things that pass
-through his head, but that his judgment is excellent." I am
-not prepared to go so far as to say that General Gordon's judgment
-was excellent. Nevertheless, there was some truth in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
-Lord Northbrook's remark. I often found that, amidst a mass
-of irrelevant verbiage and amidst many contradictory opinions,
-a vein of sound common sense and political instinct ran through
-General Gordon's proposals. So much was I impressed with
-this, and so fearful was I that the sound portions of his proposals
-would be rejected in London on account of the eccentric
-language in which they were often couched, that, on February
-12, I telegraphed to Lord Granville: "In considering
-Gordon's suggestions, please remember that his general views
-are excellent, but that undue importance must not be attached
-to his words. We must look to the spirit rather than the letter
-of what he says."</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Lord Cromer's <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>, vol. i., p. 488.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-<p>On February 26th, thirty-nine days had elapsed since
-General Gordon had left London, thirty-one days since he had
-left Cairo, and eight days since he had arrived at Khartoum.
-During that period, leaving aside points of detail, as to which
-his contradictions had been numerous, General Gordon had
-marked out for himself no less than five different lines of
-policy, some of which were wholly conflicting one with another,
-whilst others, without being absolutely irreconcilable, differed
-in respect to some of their most important features. On
-January 18 he started from London with instructions which
-had been dictated by himself. His wish then was that he
-should be merely sent to "report upon the best means of effecting
-the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan." He expressed
-his entire concurrence in the policy of evacuation. This was
-the first and original stage of General Gordon's opinions.
-Before he arrived in Egypt, on January 24, he had changed his
-views as to the nature of the functions he should fulfil. He no
-longer wished to be a mere reporter. He wished to be named
-Governor-General of the Soudan with full executive powers.
-He supplemented his original ideas by suggesting that the
-country should be handed over to "the different petty Sultans
-who existed at the time of Mehemet Ali's conquest." This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
-was the second stage of General Gordon's opinions. Fifteen
-days later (February 8) he wrote from Abu Hamed a memorandum
-in which he advocated "evacuation but not abandonment."
-The Government of Egypt were to "maintain their
-position as a Suzerain Power, nominate the Governor-General
-and Moudirs, and act as a supreme Court of Appeal." This
-was the third stage of General Gordon's opinions. Ten days
-later (February 18) General Gordon reverted to the principles
-of his memorandum of the 8th, but with a notable difference.
-It was no longer the Egyptian but the British Government
-which were to control the Soudan administration. The British
-Government were also to appoint a Governor-General, who
-was to be furnished with a British commission, and who was
-to receive a British decoration. Zobeir Pasha was the man
-whom General Gordon wished the British Government to
-select. This was the fourth stage of General Gordon's
-opinions. Eight days later (February 26), when General
-Gordon had learnt that the British Government were not
-prepared to approve of Zobeir Pasha being sent to the Soudan,
-he proposed that the Mahdi should be "smashed up," and that,
-to assist in this object, 200 British Indian troops should be
-sent to Wadi Halfa. This was the fifth stage of General
-Gordon's opinions. In thirty-nine days, therefore, General
-Gordon had drifted by successive stages from a proposal that
-he should report on the affairs of the Soudan to advocating
-the policy of "smashing up" the Mahdi. It would, he said,
-be "comparatively easy to destroy the Mahdi."</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="ZOBEIR_PASHA_1884" id="ZOBEIR_PASHA_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">ZOBEIR PASHA (1884).</a></h3>
-
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," No. 12 of 1884.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 71. Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring. Telegraphic,
-Khartoum, February 18, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>I have stated that to withdraw without being able to place a
-successor in my seat would be the signal for general anarchy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
-throughout the country, which, though all Egyptian element
-was withdrawn, would be a misfortune and inhuman.... I
-distinctly state that if Her Majesty's Government gave a Commission
-to my successor, I recommend neither a subsidy nor
-men being given. I would select and give a Commission to
-some man, and promise him the moral support of Her Majesty's
-Government and nothing more.... As for the man, Her
-Majesty's Government should select one above all others&mdash;namely,
-Zobeir. He alone has the ability to rule the Soudan,
-and would be universally accepted by the Soudan. He should
-be made K.C.M.G., and given presents.... Zobeir's exile
-at Cairo for ten years, amidst all the late events, and his mixing
-with Europeans, must have had great effect on his character....</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 72. Extract from Sir E. Baring's Despatch commenting on the
-Above.</cite></p>
-
-<p>I believe Zobeir Pasha to be the only possible man. He
-undoubtedly possesses energy and ability, and has great local
-influence. As regards the Slave Trade, I discussed the matter
-with General Gordon when he was in Cairo, and he fully
-agreed with me in thinking that Zobeir Pasha's presence or
-absence would not affect the question in one way or the other.
-I am also convinced from many things that have come to my
-notice that General Gordon is right in thinking that Zobeir
-Pasha's residence in Egypt has considerably modified his
-character. He now understands what European power is,
-and it is much better to have to deal with a man of this sort
-than with a man like the Mahdi.... I cannot recommend
-that he should be promised the "moral support" of Her
-Majesty's Government. In the first place, he would scarcely
-understand the sense of the phrase, and, moreover, I do not
-think that he would attach importance to any support which
-was not material. It is for Her Majesty's Government to
-judge what the effect of his appointment would be upon public
-opinion in England, but except for that I can see no reason<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
-why Zobeir Pasha should not be proclaimed Ruler of the
-Soudan with the approbation of Her Majesty's Government.</p>
-
-
-<h4>III.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 95. Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring. February 22, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that the gravest
-objections exist to the appointment by their authority of
-a successor to General Gordon. The necessity does not,
-indeed, appear to have yet arisen of going beyond the suggestions
-contained in General Gordon's Memorandum of the 22nd
-ultimo, by making special provision for the government of the
-country. In any case the public opinion of this country would
-not tolerate the appointment of Zobeir Pasha.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="SOME_OF_GORDONS_TELEGRAMS_1884" id="SOME_OF_GORDONS_TELEGRAMS_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SOME OF GORDON'S TELEGRAMS (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," No. 12 of 1884.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 156. Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring. Khartoum,
-March 3, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>... I am strongly against any permanent retention of the
-Soudan, but I think we ought to leave it with decency, and
-give the respectable people a man to lead them, around whom
-they can rally, and we ought to support that man by money
-and by opening road to Berber. Pray do not consider me in
-any way to advocate retention of Soudan; I am quite averse
-to it, but you must see that you could not recall me, nor could
-I possibly obey, until the Cairo employés get out from all the
-places. I have named men to different places, thus involving
-them with Mahdi: how could I look the world in the face if I
-abandoned them and fled? As a gentleman, could you advise
-this course? It may have been a mistake to send me up, but
-that having been done I have no option but to see evacuation
-through, for even if I was mean enough to escape I have no
-power to do so.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100"><cite>P. 161. The Same to the Same. Khartoum, March 9, 1884,
-11.30 p.m.</cite></p>
-
-<p>If you mean to make the proposed diversion to Berber [of
-British troops], and to accept my proposal as to Zobeir, to
-install him in the Soudan and evacuate, then it is worth while
-to hold on to Khartoum. If, on the other hand, you determine
-on neither of these steps, then I can see no use in holding on
-to Khartoum, for it is impossible for me to help the other
-garrisons, and I shall only be sacrificing the whole of the
-troops and employés here. In this latter case your instructions
-to me had better be that I should evacuate Khartoum,
-and, with all the employés and troops, remove the seat of
-Government to Berber. You would understand that such a
-step would mean the sacrificing of all outlying places except
-Berber and Dongola. You must give a prompt reply to this,
-as even the retreat to Berber may not be in my power in a few
-days; and even if carried out at once, the retreat will be of
-extreme difficulty.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100"><cite>P. 161. Same Date, 11.40 p.m.</cite></p>
-
-<p>If the immediate evacuation of Khartoum is determined
-upon, irrespective of outlying towns, I would propose to
-send all Cairo employés and white troops with Colonel
-Stewart to Berber, where he would await your orders. I
-would also ask Her Majesty's Government to accept the
-resignation of my commission, and I would take all steamers
-and stores up to the Equatorial and Bahr Gazelle provinces,
-and consider those provinces as under the King of the Belgians.</p>
-
-
-<p>[<em>P. 160.</em> Sir E. Baring comments that, owing to interruption
-of the telegraph line, these and other messages did not reach
-him till March 12. He instructed Gordon to hold on at
-Khartoum until he could communicate further with the British
-Government, and on no account to proceed to the Bahr Gazelle
-and Equatorial provinces.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100"><cite>P. 152. Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring, March 13, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>If General Gordon is of opinion that the prospect of his
-early departure diminishes the chance of accomplishing his
-task, and that by staying at Khartoum himself for any length
-of time which he may judge necessary he would be able to
-establish a settled Government at that place, he is at liberty to
-remain there. In the event of his being unable to carry out
-this suggestion, he should evacuate Khartoum and save that
-garrison by conducting it himself to Berber without delay.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="CROSS_PURPOSES_1884" id="CROSS_PURPOSES_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">CROSS PURPOSES (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," No. 13 of 1884, C 3,970.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 9. Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. Cairo, April 8, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>In a telegram from Khartoum, General Gordon says: I wish
-I could convey to you my impressions of the truly trumpery
-nature of this revolt, which 500 determined men could put
-down. Be assured, for present, and for two months hence, we
-are as safe here as at Cairo. If you would get, by good pay,
-3,000 Turkish infantry and 1,000 Turkish cavalry, the affair,
-including crushing of Mahdi, would be accomplished in four
-months.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100"><cite>P. 12. Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. Cairo, April 18, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Lately I have been sending telegrams to Berber to be forwarded
-to Gordon. Since communication between Berber and
-Khartoum was cut, his telegrams to me have taken from a
-week to ten days. My telegrams to him appear to have taken
-even longer, and some, I think, have not reached him at all.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs100"><cite>The Same, Later.</cite></p>
-
-<p>I have received another telegram from Gordon.... It is
-most unfortunate that of all the telegrams I have sent to him
-only one very short one appears to have reached him. He
-evidently thinks he is to be abandoned, and is very indignant.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," C 3,998 of 1884.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 1. Gordon to Baring. Telegraphic. Khartoum,
-April 16, 1884, 5.15 p.m.</cite></p>
-
-<p>As far as I can understand, the situation is this: you state
-your intention of not sending any relief up here or to Berber,
-and you refuse me Zobeir. I consider myself free to act
-according to circumstances. I shall hold on here as long as I
-can, and if I can suppress the rebellion I shall do so. If I
-cannot, I shall retire to the Equator, and leave you indelible
-disgrace of abandoning garrisons of Senaar, Kassala, Berber,
-and Dongola, with the certainty that you will be eventually
-forced to smash up the Mahdi under great difficulties if you
-would retain peace in Egypt.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Papers</cite>, "Egypt," C 3,970 of 1884.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>P. 15. Earl Granville to Mr. Egerton, April 23, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Gordon should be at once informed, in cipher, by several
-messengers at some interval between each, through Dongola
-as well as Berber, or in such other way as may on the spot be
-deemed most prompt and certain, that he should keep us
-informed, to the best of his ability, not only as to immediate
-but as to any prospective danger at Khartoum; that to be
-prepared for any such danger he advise us as to the force
-necessary in order to secure his removal, its amount, character,
-route for access to Khartoum, and time of operation; that we
-do not propose to supply him with Turkish or other force for
-the purpose of undertaking military expeditions, such being
-beyond the scope of the commission he holds, and at variance
-with the pacific policy which was the purpose of his mission
-to the Soudan; that if with this knowledge he continues at
-Khartoum, he should state to us the cause and intention with
-which he so continues. Add expressions both of respect and
-gratitude for his gallant and self-sacrificing conduct, and for
-the good he has achieved.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Egypt," No. 21 of 1884,
-C 4,005.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Mr. Egerton to Earl Granville. Cairo, May 10, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>The messengers sent in succession by the Governor of
-Dongola with the ciphered message for Gordon have returned.
-He telegraphed yesterday that they report that the rebels
-have invested Khartoum; that, in consequence, excursions in
-steamers are made on the White Nile in order to attack those
-on the banks; that the rebels have constructed wooden
-shelters to protect themselves against the projectiles; when
-the Government forces pursue them into these shelters, the
-rebels take flight into the country beyond gun-shot; that this
-state of things makes it impossible to get into Khartoum.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2 pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Parliamentary Publications</cite>, "Egypt," No. 22 of 1884,
-C 4,042.</p>
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Earl Granville to Mr. Egerton, May 17, 1884.</cite></p>
-
-<p>The following is the further message which Her Majesty's
-Government desires to communicate to General Gordon in
-addition to that contained in my telegram of the 23rd ultimo,
-which should be repeated to him. Having regard to the time
-which has elapsed, Her Majesty's Government desires to add
-to their communication of the 23rd April as follows: As the
-original plan for the evacuation of the Soudan has been dropped,
-and as aggressive operations cannot be undertaken with the
-countenance of Her Majesty's Government, General Gordon
-is enjoined to consider and either to report upon, or, if feasible,
-to adopt, at the first proper moment, measures for his own
-removal and that of the Egyptians at Khartoum who have
-suffered for him or who have served him faithfully, including
-their wives and children, by whatever route he may consider
-best, having especial regard to his own safety and that of the
-other British subjects. With regard to the Egyptians above
-referred to, General Gordon is authorized to make free use of
-money rewards or promises at his discretion. For example,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
-he is at liberty to assign to Egyptian soldiers at Khartoum sums
-for themselves and for persons brought with them per head,
-contingent on their safe arrival at Korosko, or whatever point
-he may consider a place of safety; or he may employ or pay
-the tribes in the neighbourhood to escort them. In the event
-of General Gordon having despatched any persons or agents to
-other points, he is authorized to spend any money required for
-the purpose of recalling them or securing their safety.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="GORDONS_POSITION_1884" id="GORDONS_POSITION_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">GORDON'S POSITION (1884).</a></h3>
-
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, July 29.</p>
-
-<p>Last night at eleven o'clock the British and African Royal
-Mail steamer <i>Kinsembo</i> arrived in Plymouth Sound, having on
-board Mr. H. M. Stanley, the African explorer. In the course
-of a conversation with a correspondent, Mr. Stanley declared
-that General Gordon might leave Khartoum whenever he
-chose, and had three routes of escape open to him. He was
-a soldier, but not a traveller. He would not leave Khartoum
-ingloriously. He could escape by means of the Congo, the
-Nile, and across the desert to Zanzibar. He could force his
-way through the country, because the people would be afraid
-of an armed force. He is perfectly well supplied with arms
-and ammunition, and is quite strong enough to meet the Mahdi.
-Mr. Stanley derides the suggested expedition to Khartoum, and
-says the men would die like flies when the summer is waning.
-He says that Gordon only requires to act like a soldier, as he
-believes he will, to settle the whole difficulty.</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Holland's <cite>Life of the Duke of Devonshire</cite>, vol. i.,
-p. 472 <em>et seq.</em> (Longmans.)</p>
-
-<p>On 29th July Lord Hartington circulated to the Cabinet his
-own final memorandum on the subject. He said: "I wish
-before Parliament is prorogued, and it becomes absolutely impossible
-to do anything for the relief of General Gordon, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
-bring the subject once more under the consideration of the
-Cabinet. On the last occasion when it was discussed, although
-an opinion was expressed that the balance of probability was
-that no expedition would be required to enable General Gordon
-and those dependent on him to leave Khartoum, I gathered
-that a considerable majority were in favour of making some
-preparations, and taking some steps which would make a relief
-expedition to Khartoum possible. I believe that I have already
-stated the grounds on which I think that if anything is now
-attempted it must be by the Valley of the Nile, and not by the
-Suakin-Berber line. The delay which has taken place makes
-it impossible that the railway should be constructed for any
-considerable distance on that line during the next autumn and
-winter, the period during which military operations would be
-practicable without great suffering and loss of life to the troops.
-The renewed concentration of the tribes under Osman Digna,
-near Suakin, and the fall of Berber, makes it inevitable that
-severe fighting would have to be done at both ends of the
-march, and, in consequence of the necessity of crossing the
-desert in small detachments, the engagement near Berber
-would be fought under great disadvantages. On the other
-hand, we have for the defence of the Nile itself been compelled
-to send a considerable force of British and Egyptian troops up
-the Nile; and the positions which are now occupied by those
-troops are so many stages on the advance by the Nile Valley....
-The proposal which I make is that a brigade should be ordered
-to advance as soon as possible to Dongola by the Nile.... I
-have not entered into the question whether it is or is not probable
-that General Gordon can leave Khartoum without assistance.
-As we know absolutely nothing, any opinion on this
-subject can only be guess-work. But I do not see how it is
-possible to redeem the pledges which we have given, if the
-necessity should be proved to exist, without some such preparations
-and measures as those which I now suggest...."
-Mr. Chamberlain minuted that he was "against what is called
-an expedition, or the preparations for an expedition." He did
-not think that the information was sufficient to justify it. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
-thought that more information should first be obtained....
-Mr. Gladstone minuted (July 31): "I confess it to be my
-strong conviction that to send an expedition either to Dongola
-or Khartoum at the present time would be to act in the teeth
-of evidence as to Gordon which, however imperfect, is far from
-being trivial, and would be a grave and dangerous error."
-Mr. Gladstone at the same time wrote to Lord Granville a
-letter, which the latter forwarded to Lord Hartington. He
-said: "I had intended to give much time to-day to collecting
-the sum of the evidence as to Gordon's position, which appears
-to me to be strangely underrated by some.... Undoubtedly
-I can be no party to the proposed despatch, as a first step, of a
-brigade to Dongola. I do not think the evidence as to Gordon's
-position requires or justifies, in itself, military preparations for
-the contingency of a military expedition. There are, however,
-preparations, perhaps, of various kinds which might be made,
-and which are matters simply of cost, and do not include
-necessary consequences in point of policy. To these I have
-never offered an insuperable objection, and the adoption of
-them might be, at the worst, a smaller evil than the evils with
-which we are threatened in other forms. This on what I may
-call my side. On the other hand, I hope I may presume that,
-while we are looking into the matters I have just indicated,
-nothing will be done to accelerate a Gordon crisis until we see,
-in the early days of next week, what the Conference crisis is to
-produce."</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="GORDONS_OWN_MEDITATIONS_1884" id="GORDONS_OWN_MEDITATIONS_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">GORDON'S OWN MEDITATIONS (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>General Gordon's Journal</cite>, pp. 46, 56, 59, 93, 112.
-(<em>Kegan Paul.</em>)</p>
-
-
-<p><em>September 17.</em>&mdash;Had Zobeir Pasha been sent up when I asked
-for him, Berber would in all probability never have fallen, and
-one might have made a Soudan Government in opposition to
-the Mahdi. We choose to refuse his coming up because of his
-antecedents <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in re</i> slave trade; granted that we had reason, yet
-as we take no precautions as to the future of these with respect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
-to the slave trade, the above opposition seems absurd. I will
-not send up A. because he will do this, but will leave the
-country to B., who will do exactly the same.</p>
-
-<p><em>September 19.</em>&mdash;I was engaged in a certain work&mdash;<em>i.e.</em>, to take
-down the garrisons, etc. It suited me altogether to accept this
-work (when once it was decided on to abandon the Soudan),
-which, to my idea, is preferable to letting it be under those
-wretched effete Egyptian Pashas. Her Majesty's Government
-agreed to send me. It was a mutual affair; they owe me positively
-nothing, and I owe them nothing. A member of Parliament,
-in one of our last received papers, asked "whether officers
-were not supposed to go where they were ordered?" I quite
-agree with his view, but it cannot be said I was ordered to go.
-The subject was too complex for any order. It was, "Will
-you go and try?" and my answer was, "Only too delighted."
-As for all that may be said of our holding out, etc., etc., it is
-all twaddle, for we had no option; as for all that may be said
-as to why I did not escape with Stewart, it is simply because
-the people would not have been such fools as to have let me
-go, so there is an end of those great-coats of self-sacrifice, etc.
-I must add <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in re</i> "the people not letting me go," that even if
-they had been willing for me to go, I would not have gone, and
-left them in their misery.</p>
-
-<p><em>September 19.</em>&mdash;Anyone reading the telegram 5th May,
-Suakin, 29th April, Massowah, and <em>without</em> date, Egerton
-saying, "Her Majesty's Government does not entertain your
-proposal to supply Turkish or other troops in order to undertake
-military operations in the Soudan, and consequently if you
-stay at Kartoum you should state your reasons," might imagine
-one was luxuriating up here, whereas, I am sure, no one wishes
-more to be out of this than myself; the <em>reasons</em> are those
-horribly plucky Arabs. I own to having been very insubordinate
-to Her Majesty's Government and its officials, but it is
-my nature, and I cannot help it.</p>
-
-<p><em>September 24.</em>&mdash;I altogether <em>decline</em> the imputation that the
-projected expedition has come to <em>relieve me</em>. It has <em>come to save
-our national honour in extricating the garrisons, etc., from a position<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
-our action in Egypt has placed those garrisons</em>. As to myself, I
-could make good my retreat at any moment if I wished.</p>
-
-<p><em>September 29.</em>&mdash;My idea is to induce Her Majesty's Government
-to undertake the extrication of all people or garrisons,
-now hemmed in or captive, and that if this is not their programme
-then to resign my commission and do what I can to
-attain it (the object).... I say this, because I should be
-sorry for Lord Wolseley to advance from Dongola without
-fully knowing my views. If Her Majesty's Government are
-going to abandon the garrisons, then do not advance. I say
-nothing of evacuating the country; I merely maintain that if
-we do so, everyone in the Soudan, captive or hemmed in, ought
-to have the option and power of retreat.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_FRANCHISE_AND_REDISTRIBUTION_1884" id="THE_FRANCHISE_AND_REDISTRIBUTION_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, November 19.</p>
-
-
-<p>The Representation of the People Bill was yesterday read a
-second time in the House of Lords without a division, and
-without discussion upon anything it contains.... The terms
-offered by the Government, and now definitely accepted by the
-Opposition, are, first, that the draft of the Redistribution Bill
-shall be submitted in private to the Conservative leaders, in
-order that, by suggesting the alterations they think necessary,
-they may convince themselves of the equity and fairness of
-the measure. In the second place, it is agreed that, when
-a Redistribution Bill satisfactory to both parties has been
-framed, the Opposition will give to the Government adequate
-assurance that the Franchise Bill shall pass the House of
-Lords.... Lastly, the Government pledge themselves to
-take up the Redistribution Bill as early as possible in the New
-Year, to push it through its remaining stages with all possible
-expedition, and, relying upon the loyal support of the Opposition
-being given to the joint scheme, to stake not only their credit
-but their existence upon the passing of the Bill into law in the
-Session of 1885.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="FEEDING_POOR_SCHOOL_CHILDREN_1884" id="FEEDING_POOR_SCHOOL_CHILDREN_1884"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">FEEDING POOR SCHOOL CHILDREN (1884).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, December 13.</p>
-
-
-<p>The question of providing penny dinners for the children of
-the London poor has received pretty ample discussion. Everybody
-can form an idea now of the difficulties which will have
-to be surmounted by the central committee of School Board
-managers and teachers.... The vital principle of the scheme
-is that the dinners shall be supplied on a self-supporting basis.
-In some places the work has been undertaken with more zeal
-than knowledge, and there has been quick disappointment.
-The Vicar of St. Mark's, Walworth, who seems to doubt
-whether the scheme can be carried out on purely commercial
-lines, tells us how fastidious are the children of the poor. They
-turn from macaroni; they dislike the flavour of cabbage boiled
-up in a stew; they will have nothing to say to haricot beans,
-lentils, or salads; they mistrust soup; and are generally most
-attracted by suet dumplings and jam or currant puddings.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_DEATH_OF_GORDON_1885" id="THE_DEATH_OF_GORDON_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE DEATH OF GORDON (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Sir Reginald Wingate's <cite>Mahdiism and the Egyptian
-Soudan</cite>, pp. 166-172. (Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>Soon all that had been in the commissariat was finished, and
-then the inhabitants and the soldiers had to eat dogs, donkeys,
-skins of animals, gum, and palm fibre, and famine prevailed.
-The soldiers stood on the fortifications like pieces of wood.
-The civilians were even worse off. Many died of hunger, and
-corpses filled the streets; no one had even energy to bury
-them.... We were heartbroken; the people and soldiers
-began to lose faith in Gordon's promises, and they were terribly
-weak from famine. At last Sunday morning broke, and
-Gordon Pasha, who used always to watch the enemy's movements
-from the top of the palace, noticed a considerable
-movement in the south, which looked as if the Arabs were
-collecting at Kalakala. He at once sent word to all of us who
-had attended the previous meeting, and to a few others, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
-come at once to the palace. We all came, but Gordon Pasha
-did not see us. We were again addressed by Giriagis Bey, who
-said he had been told by Gordon Pasha to inform us that he
-noticed much movement in the enemy's lines, and believed an
-attack would be made on the town; he therefore ordered us to
-collect every male in the town from the age of eight, even to
-the old men, and to line all the fortifications, and that if we
-had difficulty in getting this order obeyed we were to use force.
-Giriagis said that Gordon Pasha now appealed to us for the
-last time to make a determined stand, for in twenty-four hours'
-time he had no doubt the English would arrive; but that if we
-preferred to submit then, he gave the commandant liberty to
-open the gates, and let all join the rebels. He had nothing
-more to say. I then asked to be allowed to see the Pasha,
-and was admitted to his presence. I found him sitting on a
-divan, and as I came in he pulled off his tarboush (fez) and
-flung it from him, saying, "What more can I say? I have
-nothing more to say; the people will no longer believe me;
-I have told them over and over again that help would be here,
-but it has never come, and now they must see I tell them lies.
-If this, my last promise, fails, I can do nothing more. Go and
-collect all the people you can on the lines, and make a good
-stand. Now leave me to smoke these cigarettes." (There
-were two full boxes of cigarettes on the table.) I could see
-he was in despair, and he spoke in a tone I had never heard
-before. I knew then that he had been too agitated to address
-the meeting, and thought the sight of his despair would dishearten
-us. All the anxiety he had undergone had gradually
-turned his hair to a snowy white. I left him, and this was the
-last time I saw him alive.... It was a gloomy day, that
-last day in Khartoum; hundreds lay dead and dying in the
-streets from starvation, and there were none to bury them. At
-length the night came, and, as I afterwards learnt, Gordon
-Pasha sat up writing till midnight, and then lay down to sleep.
-He awoke some time between two and three a.m. The wild
-war-cries of the Arabs were heard close at hand. A large
-body of rebels had crept in the dark close up to the broken-down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
-parapet and filled-up ditch, between the White Nile and
-the Messalamieh Gate. The soldiers never knew of the
-enemy's approach until about twenty minutes before they were
-actually attacked, when the tramp of feet was heard, and the
-alarm was sounded; but they were so tired out and exhausted
-that it was not until the sentries fired that the rest of the men
-suddenly started up surprised, to find swarms of Arabs pouring
-over the ditch and up the parapet, yelling and shouting their
-war-cries. Here they met with little resistance, for most of
-the soldiers were four or five paces apart, and were too feeble
-to oppose such a rush. The Arabs were soon within the lines,
-and thus able to attack the rest of the soldiers from behind.
-They were opposed at some points, but it was soon all over....
-Meanwhile Gordon Pasha, on being roused by the noise, went
-on to the roof of the palace in his sleeping clothes. He soon
-made out that the rebels had entered the town, and for upwards
-of an hour he kept up a hot fire in the direction of the attack.
-I heard that he also sent word to get up steam in the steamer,
-but the engineer was not there; he had been too frightened to
-leave his house. As dawn approached Gordon Pasha could
-see the Arab banners in the town, and soon the gun became
-useless, for he could not depress it enough to fire on the enemy.
-By this time the Arabs had crowded round the palace in
-thousands, but for a time no one dared enter, for they thought
-mines were laid to blow them up. Meanwhile Gordon Pasha
-had left the roof; he went to his bedroom, which was close to
-the divan, and there he put on a white uniform, his sword, which
-he did not draw, and, carrying his revolver in his right hand,
-stepped out into the passage in front of the entrance to the
-office, and just at the head of the staircase. During this interval
-four men, more brave than the rest, forced their way into the
-palace, and once in were followed by hundreds of others. Of
-these latter, the majority rushed up the stairs to the roof,
-where, after a short resistance, the palace guard, servants,
-and cavasses were all killed; while the four men&mdash;Taha Shahin,
-a Dongolawi, whose father was formerly in my service; Ibrahim
-Abu Shanab, servant of George Angelleto; Hamad Wad Ahmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
-Jar en Nebbi, Hassani; and a fourth, also a Dongolawi, servant
-to Fathallah Jehami&mdash;followed by a crowd of others, knowing
-Gordon Pasha's room, rushed towards it. Taha Shahin was
-the first to encounter Gordon beside the door of the divan,
-apparently waiting for the Arabs, and standing with a calm and
-dignified manner, his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
-Shahin, dashing forward with the curse "Mala' oun el yom
-yomek!" (O cursed one, your time is come!), plunged his
-spear into his body. Gordon, it is said, made a gesture of
-scorn with his right hand, and turned his back, where he
-received another spear wound, which caused him to fall forward,
-and was most likely his mortal wound. The other three men,
-closely following Shahin, then rushed in, and, cutting at the
-prostrate body with their swords, must have killed him in a few
-seconds. His death occurred just before sunrise. He made no
-resistance, and did not fire a shot from his revolver. From all
-I knew, I am convinced that he never intended to surrender.
-I should say he must have intended to use his revolver only if
-he saw it was the intention of the Arabs to take him prisoner
-alive; but he saw such crowds rushing on him with swords
-and spears, and there being no important emirs with them, he
-must have known that they did not intend to spare him, and
-that was most likely what he wanted.... Gordon Pasha's
-head was immediately cut off and sent to the Mahdi at
-Omdurman, while his body was dragged downstairs and left
-exposed for a time in the garden, where many Arabs came to
-plunge their spears into it. I heard that the Mahdi had given
-orders for Gordon to be spared, but what I have stated was
-told me by the four men I have mentioned, and I believe the
-Mahdi pardoned them for their disobedience of orders....
-I saw Gordon Pasha's head exposed in Omdurman. It was
-fixed between the branches of a tree, and all who passed by
-threw stones at it.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1">[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;This account is from the journal of Bordeini Bey,
-an eminent Khartoum merchant, who willingly gave up his
-large stores of grain to Gordon for the supply of the garrison.
-He was taken prisoner at the fall of the city.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_GOVERNMENTS_RESPONSIBILITY_1885" id="THE_GOVERNMENTS_RESPONSIBILITY_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Lord Cromer's <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>, vol. i., p. 589.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>It has been already shown that General Gordon paid little
-heed to his instructions, that he was consumed with a desire to
-"smash the Mahdi," and that the view that he was constrained
-to withdraw everyone who wished to leave from the most
-distant parts of the Soudan was, to say the least, quixotic.
-The conclusion to be drawn from these facts is that it was a
-mistake to send General Gordon to the Soudan. But do they
-afford any justification for the delay in preparing and in despatching
-the relief expedition? I cannot think that they do
-so. Whatever errors of judgment General Gordon may have
-committed, the broad facts, as they existed in the early summer
-of 1884, were that he was sent to Khartoum by the British
-Government, who never denied their responsibility for his
-safety, that he was beleaguered, and that he was, therefore,
-unable to get away. It is just possible that he could have
-effected his retreat, if, having abandoned the southern posts,
-he had moved northward with the Khartoum garrison in April
-or early in May. As time went on, and nothing was heard of
-him, it became more and more clear that he either could not
-or would not&mdash;probably that he could not&mdash;move. The most
-indulgent critic would scarcely extend beyond June 27 the date
-at which the Government should have decided on the question
-of whether a relief expedition should or should not be despatched.
-On that day the news that Berber had been captured on May 26
-by the Dervishes was finally confirmed. Yet it was not till
-six weeks later that the Government obtained from Parliament
-the funds necessary to prepare for an expedition.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_VOTE_OF_CENSURE_1885" id="THE_VOTE_OF_CENSURE_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE VOTE OF CENSURE (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 294, col. 1311. (House of
-Lords debate on Egypt, February 26, 1885.)</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The Marquis of Salisbury</span>: ... The conduct of Her
-Majesty's Government has been an alternation of periods of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
-slumber and periods of rush, and the rush, however vehement,
-has always been too unprepared and too unintelligent to repair
-the damage which the period of slumber has effected.... The
-case of the bombardment of Alexandria, the case of the abandonment
-of the Soudan, the case of the mission of General
-Graham's force&mdash;they are all on the same plan, and all show
-you that remarkable characteristic of torpor during the time
-when action was needed, and hasty, impulsive, ill-considered
-action when the time for action had passed by. Their further
-conduct was modelled on their action in the past. So far was
-it modelled that we were able to put it to the test which
-establishes a scientific law. I should like to quote what I said
-on the 4th of April, when discussing the prospect of the relief
-of General Gordon. What I said was this: "Are these circumstances
-encouraging to us when we are asked to trust that,
-on the inspiration of the moment, when the danger comes,
-Her Majesty's Government will find some means of relieving
-General Gordon? I fear that the history of the past will be
-repeated in the future; and just again, when it is too late, the
-critical resolution will be taken; some terrible news will come
-that the position of Gordon is absolutely a forlorn and hopeless
-one, and then, under the pressure of public wrath and Parliamentary
-censure, some desperate resolution of sending an
-expedition will be formed too late to achieve the object which
-it is desired to gain." I quote these words to show that by
-that time we had ascertained the laws of motion and the orbits
-of those erratic comets who sit on the Treasury Bench. Now
-the terrible responsibility and shame rests upon the Government,
-because they were warned in March and April of the
-danger to General Gordon, because they received every intimation
-which men could reasonably look for that his danger
-would be extreme, and because they delayed from March and
-April right down to the 15th of August before they took a single
-measure to relieve him. What were they doing all that time?
-It is very difficult to conceive. What happened during those
-eventful months? I suppose some day the memoirs will tell
-our grandchildren, but we shall never know. Some people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
-think there were divisions in the Cabinet, and that after
-division on division a decision was put off, lest the Cabinet be
-broken up. I am rather inclined to think it was due to the
-peculiar position of the Prime Minister. He came in as the
-apostle of the Midlothian campaign, loaded with all the
-doctrines and all the follies of that pilgrimage. We have seen
-on each occasion, after one of these mishaps, when he has
-been forced by events and by the common sense of the nation
-to take some active steps&mdash;we have seen his extreme supporters
-falling foul of him, and reproaching him with having
-deserted their opinions and disappointed the ardent hopes
-which they had formed of him as the apostle of absolute
-negation in foreign affairs. I think he has always felt the
-danger of that reproach. He always felt the debt he had
-incurred to those supporters. He always felt a dread lest they
-should break away; and he put off again and again to the last
-practical moment any action which might bring him into open
-conflict with the doctrine by which his present eminence was
-gained. At all events, this is clear&mdash;that throughout those six
-months the Government knew perfectly well the danger in
-which General Gordon was placed. It has been said that
-General Gordon did not ask for troops. I am surprised at that
-defence. One of the characteristics of General Gordon was
-the extreme abnegation of his nature. It was not to be expected
-that he should send home a telegram to say, "I am in
-great danger, therefore send me troops"&mdash;he would probably
-have cut off his right hand before he would have sent a telegram
-of that sort. But he sent home telegrams through
-Mr. Power, telegrams saying that the people of Khartoum
-were in great danger; that the Mahdi would succeed unless
-military succour was sent forward; urging at one time the
-sending forward of Sir Evelyn Wood and his Egyptians, and
-at another the landing of Indians at Suakin and the establishment
-of the Berber route, and distinctly telling the Government&mdash;and
-this is the main point&mdash;that unless they would consent
-to his views the supremacy of the Mahdi was assured....
-Well, now, my Lords, is it conceivable that after two months,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
-in May, the Prime Minister should have said that they were
-waiting to have reasonable proof that Gordon was in danger?
-By that time Khartoum was surrounded, the Governor of
-Berber had announced that his case was hopeless, which was
-too surely proved by the massacre which took place in June;
-and yet in May Mr. Gladstone was still waiting for "reasonable
-proof" that the men who were surrounded, who had announced
-that they had only five months' food, were in danger.... It
-was the business of the Government not to interpret General
-Gordon's telegrams as if they had been statutory declarations,
-but to judge for themselves of the circumstances of the case,
-and to see that those who were surrounded, who were only
-three Englishmen among such a vast body of Mohammedans,
-and who were already cut off from all communications with
-the civilized world by the occupation of every important town
-upon the river, were really in danger, and that if they meant to
-answer their responsibilities they were bound to relieve them.
-I cannot tell what blindness fell over the eyes of some members
-of Her Majesty's Government....</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="MORE_FENIANISM_1885" id="MORE_FENIANISM_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">MORE FENIANISM (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 26.</p>
-
-
-<p>The "dynamite war," as it is called by the disloyal Irish
-and the Irish-American outrage-mongers, was continued in
-London on Saturday with some success to the perpetrators.
-Accepting the privilege accorded to all comers to view the
-Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London, they cunningly
-placed charged machines of dynamite in the Crypt leading
-out of Westminster Hall, in the House of Commons
-chamber itself, and caused, almost at the same time, an
-explosion in the Tower of London. The first explosion at
-Westminster was in the Hall itself. Some visitors were passing
-through the Crypt, when one noticed a parcel on the
-ground. It is described as the usual "black bag." ... The
-nearest police-constable, Cole by name, picked up the smoking
-parcel, and brought it to the entrance of the Crypt, where,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
-from its heat or some other cause, he dropped it. It was
-fortunate for him that he did so, for in an instant a terrific
-explosion burst from the parcel.... The stone flooring was
-shattered, and the rails round the Crypt were somewhat twisted
-by the immediate blow of the explosion. Its secondary effect
-was to break some of the windows, and shake down from the
-vast beams of Irish oak, forming the roof, the accumulated
-dust of ages.... The chamber of the House of Commons
-presented the scene of a complete wreck from the second
-explosion. The benches of the Government side were torn up,
-and some of the seats had been hurled up into the gallery
-above.... The explosion at the Tower of London was the
-most serious in its effects of the three, for several persons
-were injured, some damage was done to the building, and a
-fire ensued, lasting an hour.... The explosive was placed
-between the stands of arms in the ancient banqueting-room of
-the Tower.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="NEW_LABOUR_MOVEMENTS_1885" id="NEW_LABOUR_MOVEMENTS_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">NEW LABOUR MOVEMENTS (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 31.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Industrial Remuneration Conference.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Yesterday the delegates held their concluding sitting at
-Prince's Hall, Piccadilly, when the subject set down for discussion
-was: Would the more general distribution of capital
-or land, or the State management of capital or land, promote
-or impair the production of wealth and the welfare of the
-community?...</p>
-
-<p>The discussion on the papers was begun by Mr. Williams
-(Social Democratic Federation), who said that if they left all
-the machinery, all the railways, and all the mines in the hands
-of the rich capitalists, the working classes would still continue
-to be oppressed. They must either say that the Government
-had no right to interfere with anything, or they must admit
-that the State must equally interfere between the landlord, the
-capitalist, and the labourer. He compared the part played by
-politicians like Mr. Chamberlain, who directed their attacks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
-exclusively against the landlords, and spared the rich capitalists,
-to that sustained by the Artful Dodger in "Oliver Twist."</p>
-
-<p>Mr. B. Shaw (Fabian Society) said he had no desire to give
-pain to the burglar&mdash;if any of that trade were in the room&mdash;or
-to the landlord or the capitalist, pure and simple; all he
-could say was that all three belonged to the same class, and
-that the injury each inflicted on the community was precisely
-of the same nature.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p1">[<span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;The Social Democratic Federation had been founded
-in 1881; the Fabian Society, a few weeks before this conference
-met.]</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_UNEMPLOYED_1885" id="THE_UNEMPLOYED_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE UNEMPLOYED (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, February 17.</p>
-
-
-<p>Yesterday afternoon three or four thousand of the unemployed
-of London held a demonstration on the Embankment
-near Cleopatra's Needle, and afterwards marched to Westminster,
-carrying banners. From Whitehall a large number
-of the crowd passed into Downing Street near the Premier's
-residence, where a Cabinet meeting was being held at the time,
-but at the request of the police, of whom an extra force were
-in attendance, the crowd moved round to King Street, where
-they were addressed in somewhat inflammatory terms by some
-of their speakers, who wore red badges. One speaker clung
-to the top of a lamp-post, and thence harangued the crowd;
-another spoke from a window-sill. Meantime, in the absence
-of Sir Charles Dilke, who was at the Cabinet Meeting, Mr.
-G. W. E. Russell, Parliamentary Secretary of the Local
-Government Board, received a small deputation of the leaders....
-At the close of the interview the crowd marched back
-to the Embankment, where the following resolution was passed
-unanimously: "That this meeting of the Unemployed, having
-heard the answer given by the Local Government Board to
-their deputation, considers the refusal to start public works to
-be a sentence of death on thousands of those out of work, and
-the recommendation to bring pressure to bear on the local<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
-bodies to be a direct incitement to violence; further, it will hold
-Mr. G. W. E. Russell and the members of the Government,
-individually and collectively, guilty of the murder of those who
-may die in the next few weeks, and whose lives would have
-been saved had the suggestions of the deputation been acted on."</p>
-
-<p class="pad8">
-(Signed) <span class="smcap">&nbsp;John Burns, Engineer.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap pad5">John E. Williams, Labourer.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap pad5">William Henry, Foreman.</span><br />
-<span class="smcap pad5">James Macdonald, Tailor.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="WORKING_MEN_MAGISTRATES_1885" id="WORKING_MEN_MAGISTRATES_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">WORKING MEN MAGISTRATES (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Manchester Guardian</cite>, May 14.</p>
-
-
-<p>We understand that it is in contemplation to raise a number
-of workmen to the magisterial bench in the Duchy of Lancaster.
-The first of the appointments is that of Mr. H. R. Slatter to
-the Commission of the peace for the City of Manchester. He
-is Secretary to the Provincial Typographical Association, and
-a member of the Manchester School Board. It is understood
-that similar offers of appointment to the magistracy have been
-made to Mr. T. Birtwistle, of Accrington, Secretary to the
-Operative Weavers' Association of North and North-east
-Lancashire, and Mr. Fielding, of Bolton, who holds the post
-of Secretary to the local branch of the Operative Cotton
-Spinners' Association.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="TORY_OLIVE-BRANCH_TO_IRELAND_1885" id="TORY_OLIVE-BRANCH_TO_IRELAND_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">TORY OLIVE-BRANCH TO IRELAND (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 298, col. 1658.
-(House of Lords, July 6, 1885.)</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (The Earl of Carnarvon)</span>:
-My Lords, my noble friend [Lord Salisbury] has desired
-that I should state to your Lordships the general position that
-Her Majesty's Government are prepared to occupy with regard
-to Irish affairs, and I hope to do so in comparatively few
-sentences. I need not tell your Lordships what everyone in
-this House knows, the nature of the events which have brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
-us to the present position. It will be perhaps sufficient if, by
-quoting a few figures, I show what the state of agrarian crime
-was a few years ago, what it has since been in the interval, and
-what it is at the present time. In 1878 agrarian crime in
-Ireland stood at 301 cases. In the following year there were
-860, and in the three following years&mdash;1880, 1881, and 1882&mdash;the
-cases reached the enormous totals of 2,580, 4,439, and 3,433
-respectively. In 1883, after the Crimes Act had passed, agrarian
-crimes fell to 870, and last year to 762. I ought perhaps to
-supplement that statement by saying that in 1884 I think that
-there was no case of the worst form of agrarian crime. I think
-that there was not one case of actual murder, and the calendars
-promise to be of a comparatively, if not singularly, light character.
-The substance therefore of the statement is that,
-whereas crime rose in those three years to an enormous figure,
-it has since fallen to what I do not call an absolutely normal
-level, but to the same level&mdash;in fact, below the level of 1879.
-In these circumstances the question has naturally arisen&mdash;what
-Her Majesty's Government are to do; and it is impossible to
-conceive a graver or more serious matter on which to deliberate.
-Within a very short time&mdash;indeed, within a time to be numbered
-by weeks&mdash;the Crimes Act expires, and the question is, What
-course should be taken? Three courses are possible. Either
-you may re-enact the Crimes Act in the whole, or you may
-re-enact it in part, or you may allow it to lapse altogether.
-I think very few persons would be disposed to advocate
-its re-enactment as a whole. The more serious and practical
-question is whether it shall be re-enacted in part. The
-Act having produced, as all agree, its effect, and three years
-having lapsed, it seems hard to call on Parliament once more
-to re-enact it. I believe for my part that special legislation
-of this sort is inexpedient. It is inexpedient while it is in
-operation, because it must conjure up a sense of restlessness
-and irritation; and it is still more inexpedient when it has to
-be renewed at short intervals, and brings before the mind of
-the people of the country that they are to be kept under peculiar
-and exceptional coercion. Now I have looked through a good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
-many of the Acts that have been passed, I may say, during
-the last generation for Ireland, and I have been astonished to
-find that ever since the year 1847, with some very short intervals
-which are hardly worth mentioning, Ireland has lived under
-exceptional and coercive legislation. No sane man can admit
-that this is a satisfactory or wholesome state of things. It
-does seem to me that it is very desirable, if possible, to extricate
-ourselves from this miserable habit, and to aim at
-some wholesome and better solution. But, more than being
-undesirable, I hold that such legislation is practically impossible,
-if it is to be continually and indefinitely re-enacted.
-I think it was Count Cavour who said that it is easy to govern
-in a state of siege. It may be easy to govern in a state of
-siege for a time, but to attempt to govern permanently is,
-I believe, utterly impossible. It may be said that this is a
-question of trust. No doubt it is a question of trust; but trust
-begets trust, and it is after all the only foundation upon which
-we can hope to build up amity and concord between the two
-nations. I know of nothing more sad than to see how, instead
-of diminishing under the healing process of time, there has
-been a growth of ill-will between these two nations; and I
-think it is time to try how far we may appeal to better feelings.
-I for my part believe that Ireland will justify the confidence
-which is shown her when this Act is allowed to lapse. If I
-am asked further as to policy, I will speak generally in these
-terms. So far as the mere administration of the law is concerned,
-it is our hope and intention to administer the ordinary
-law firmly and effectually. So far as the larger field of Government,
-which includes law, and more than law, is concerned, I
-hope we shall deal justly, and that we shall secure perhaps a
-somewhat better, wholesomer, and kindlier relation, I will not
-say merely between classes, creeds, or races, but between the
-rulers and the ruled. I cannot and will not lightly believe that
-the combination of good feeling to England and good government
-to Ireland is a hopeless task. My Lords, I do not believe
-that with honesty and single-mindedness of purpose on the one
-side, and with the willingness of the Irish people on the other,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
-it is hopeless to look for some satisfactory solution of this
-terrible question. My Lords, these I believe to be the views
-and opinions of my colleagues. And just as I have seen in
-English colonies across the sea a combination of English, Irish,
-and Scotch settlers bound together in loyal obedience to the law
-and the Crown, and contributing to the general prosperity of
-the country, so I cannot conceive that there is any irreconcilable
-bar here in their native home and in England to the unity
-and amity of the two nations.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_FIRST_SUBMARINE_1885" id="THE_FIRST_SUBMARINE_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE FIRST SUBMARINE (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, October 1.</p>
-
-
-<p>The interest excited by the recent trials of the Nordenfeldt
-submarine boat is sufficiently shown by the presence at
-Landskrona of thirty-nine officers, representing every European
-Power, together with Brazil and Japan. The Nordenfeldt
-boat, the first of its class, was built at Stockholm about two
-years ago. The boat is cigar-shaped, with a coffin-like projection
-on the top amidships, formed by vertical combings supporting
-a glass dome or conning tower, 1 foot high, which enables
-the commander to see his way. The dome, with its iron protecting
-cover, stands on a horizontal lid, which can be swung
-to one side to allow the crew of three men to get in or out
-without difficulty. The length of the hull is 64 feet, and the
-central diameter 9 feet. It is built of Swedish mild steel plates
-⅝ inch thick at the centre, tapered to ⅜ inch at the ends....
-In order to prepare for action, enough sea-water is taken in to
-reduce the buoyancy to 1 cwt., which suffices to keep the
-conning tower well above the surface. In order to sink the
-boat further, the vertical propellers are set in motion, and by
-their action it is held at the required depth. Thus to come to
-the surface again it is merely necessary to stop the vertical
-propellers, in which case the reserve of buoyancy at once
-comes into play.... The motive power is steam alone. For
-submarine work, as stoking is, of course, impossible, the firebox
-has to be sealed. It is therefore necessary to store the requisite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
-power beforehand, and this is done by heating the water in two
-tanks placed fore and aft, till a pressure of about 150 pounds
-per square inch is obtained. With about this initial pressure
-the boat has been driven for sixteen miles at a speed of three
-knots.... No compressed air is carried, and the crew depend
-therefore for existence on the amount of air sealed up in the
-hull. With this amount of air only, four men have remained
-for a period of six hours without any special inconvenience.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_UNAUTHORIZED_PROGRAMME_1885" id="THE_UNAUTHORIZED_PROGRAMME_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMME (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Morley's <cite>Life of Gladstone</cite>, vol. iii., pp. 173, 174, 220-226.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>Mr. Chamberlain had been rapidly advancing in public
-prominence, and he now showed that the agitation against the
-House of Lords was to be only the beginning and not the end.
-At Ipswich (January 14) he said this country had been called
-the paradise of the rich, and warned his audience no longer to
-allow it to remain the purgatory of the poor. He told them
-that reform of local government must be almost the first reform
-of the next Parliament, and spoke in favour of allotments, the
-creation of small proprietors, the placing of a small tax on the
-total property of the taxpayer, and of free education. Mr. Gladstone's
-attention was drawn from Windsor to these utterances,
-and he replied that though he thought some of them were "on
-various grounds open to grave objection," yet they seemed
-to raise no "definite point on which, in his capacity of Prime
-Minister, he was entitled to interfere and lecture the speaker."
-A few days later, more terrible things were said by Mr. Chamberlain
-at Birmingham. He pronounced for the abolition of plural
-voting, and in favour of payment of members, and manhood
-suffrage. He also advocated a bill for enabling local communities
-to acquire land, a graduated income-tax, and the
-breaking up of the great estates as the first step in land
-reform....</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Gladstone made a lenient communication to the
-orator, to the effect that "there had better be some explanations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
-among them when they met." ... He recognized by now
-that in the Cabinet the battle was being fought between old
-time and new. He did not allow his dislike of some of the
-new methods of forming public opinion to prevent him from
-doing full justice to the energetic and sincere public spirit
-behind them....</p>
-
-<p>The address to his electors ... was given to the public
-on September 17. It was, as he said, as long as a pamphlet....
-The Whigs, we are told, found it vague, the Radicals
-cautious, the Tories crafty; but everybody admitted that it
-tended to heal feuds.... Mr. Chamberlain, though raising
-his own flag, was respectful to his leader's manifesto. The
-surface was thus stilled for the moment; yet the waters ran
-very deep....</p>
-
-<p>[Gladstone] goes on to say that the ground had now been
-sufficiently laid for going to the election with a united front,
-that ground being the common profession of a limited creed or
-programme in the Liberal sense, with an entire freedom for
-those so inclined to travel beyond it, but not to impose their
-own sense upon all other people.... If the party and its
-leaders were agreed as to immediate measures ... were not
-these enough to find a Liberal administration plenty of work ...
-for several years?...</p>
-
-<p>An advance was made in the development of a peculiar
-situation by important conversations with Mr. Chamberlain [at
-Hawarden: these] did not materially alter Mr. Gladstone's
-disposition [but the first crisis which promptly developed tended
-to obscure the direct issue].</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_IRISH_VOTE_1885" id="THE_IRISH_VOTE_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE IRISH VOTE (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Morley's <cite>Life of Gladstone</cite>, vol. iii., pp. 188-245.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>On May 15 Mr. Gladstone announced ... that they proposed
-to continue what he described as certain clauses of a
-valuable and equitable description in the existing Coercion Act.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>No Parliamentary situation could be more tempting to an
-astute Opposition. The signs that the Cabinet was not united
-were unmistakable.... The key to an operation that should
-at once, with the aid of the disaffected Liberals and the Irish,
-turn out Mr. Gladstone and secure the English elections, was
-an understanding with Mr. Parnell.... Lord Salisbury and
-his confidential friends had resolved [previous to the defeat
-of the Government], subject to official information, to drop
-coercion, and the only visible reason why they should form the
-resolution at that particular moment was its probable effect
-upon Mr. Parnell. [Meanwhile] the policy of the Central
-Board [for Ireland], of which Mr. Gladstone so decisively
-approved, had been killed.... When it came to the full
-Cabinet it could not be carried. [June 6. Government defeated
-on an amendment to the Budget by 264 to 252.] The defeat
-of the Gladstone Government was the first success of a combination
-between Tories and Irish that proved of cardinal
-importance to policies and parties for several critical months
-to come.... The new Government were not content with
-renouncing coercion for the present. They cast off all responsibility
-for its practice in the past.... In July a singular
-incident occurred, nothing less strange than an interview
-between the new Lord-Lieutenant [Lord Carnarvon] and the
-leader of the Irish party. To realize its full significance we
-have to recall the profound odium that at this time enveloped
-Mr. Parnell's name in the minds of nearly all Englishmen....
-The transaction had consequences, and the Carnarvon episode
-was a pivot. The effect on the mind of Mr. Parnell was easy
-to foresee.... Why should he not believe that the alliance
-formed in June ... had really blossomed from a mere lobby
-manœuvre and election expedient into a policy adopted by
-serious statesmen?</p>
-
-<p>[In Midlothian, on November 9, Mr. Gladstone said:] "It
-will be a vital danger to the country and to the empire, if at
-a time when a demand from Ireland for larger powers of self-government
-is to be dealt with, there is not in Parliament
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>a party totally independent of the Irish vote." ... Mr.
-Gladstone's cardinal deliverance in November had been preceded
-by an important event. On October 7, 1885, Lord
-Salisbury made that speech at Newport which is one of the
-tallest and most striking landmarks in the shifting sands of
-this controversy.... Some of the more astute of the
-Minister's own colleagues were delighted with his speech, as
-keeping the Irishmen steady to the Tory party.... The
-question on which side the Irish vote in Great Britain should
-be thrown seems not to have been decided until after
-Mr. Gladstone's speech. It was then speedily settled. On
-November 21 a manifesto was issued, handing over the Irish
-vote in Great Britain solid to the orator of the Newport speech.
-The tactics were obvious. It was Mr. Parnell's interest to
-bring the two contending British parties as near as might be
-to a level, and this he could only hope to do by throwing his
-strength upon the weaker side. It was from the weaker side,
-if they could be maintained in office, that he would get the
-best terms.... Some estimated the loss to the Liberal party
-in this island at twenty seats, others at forty. Whether twenty
-or forty, these lost seats made a fatal difference in the division
-on the Irish Bill a few months later.... But this was not
-all, and was not the worst of it.... Passions were roused,
-and things were said about Irishmen that could not at once be
-forgotten; and the great task of conversion in 1886, difficult
-in any case, was made a thousand times more difficult still by
-the antipathies of the electoral battle of 1885. Meanwhile it
-was for the moment, and for the purposes of the moment,
-a striking success.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_NEW_ELECTORATE_1885" id="THE_NEW_ELECTORATE_1885"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE NEW ELECTORATE (1885).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, December 11.</p>
-
-
-<p>From a carefully prepared statistical abstract of the election
-it appears that in the English counties, out of a total electorate
-of 2,303,133 voters, 1,937,988 votes were recorded, in the proportion
-of 1,020,774 Liberal votes to 916,314 Conservative.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="THE_OPENING_OF_THE_RIFT_1886" id="THE_OPENING_OF_THE_RIFT_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE OPENING OF THE RIFT (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Morley's <cite>Life of Gladstone</cite>, vol. iii., pp. 292-295.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>What Mr. Gladstone called the basis of his new government
-was set out in a short memorandum, which he read to each of
-those whom he hoped to include in his Cabinet: "I propose to
-examine whether it is or is not practicable to comply with the
-desire widely prevalent in Ireland, and testified by the return
-of eighty-five out of one hundred and three representatives, for
-the establishment by statute of a legislative body to sit in
-Dublin, and to deal with Irish as distinguished from Imperial
-affairs, in such a manner as would be just to each of the three
-kingdoms, equitable with reference to every class of the people
-of Ireland, conducive to the social order and harmony of that
-country, and calculated to support and consolidate the unity of
-the Empire on the continued basis of Imperial authority and
-mutual attachment." No definite plan was propounded or
-foreshadowed, but only the proposition that it was a duty to
-seek a plan. The cynical version was that a Cabinet was got
-together on the chance of being able to agree. To Lord
-Hartington Mr. Gladstone applied as soon as he received the
-Queen's commission. The invitation was declined on reasoned
-grounds (January 30th). Examination and inquiry, said Lord
-Hartington, must mean a proposal. If no proposal followed
-inquiry, the reaction of Irish disappointment would be severe,
-as it would be natural. He could not depart from the traditions
-of British statesmen, and he was opposed to a separate Irish
-legislature. At the same time, he concluded, in a sentence
-afterwards pressed by Mr. Gladstone on the notice of the
-Queen: "I am fully convinced that the alternative policy of
-governing Ireland without large concessions to the national
-sentiment, presents difficulties of a tremendous character, which
-in my opinion could now only be faced by the support of a
-nation united by the consciousness that the fullest opportunity
-had been given for the production and consideration of a con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>ciliatory
-policy...." The decision was persistently regarded
-by Mr. Gladstone as an important event in English political
-history. With a small number of distinguished individual
-exceptions, it marked the withdrawal from the Liberal party
-of the aristocratic element....</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Goschen, who had been a valuable member of the great
-Ministry of 1868, was invited to call, but without hopes that he
-would rally to a cause so startling; the interview, while
-courteous and pleasant, was over in a very few minutes. Lord
-Derby, a man of still more cautious type, and a rather recent
-addition to the officers of the Liberal staff, declined, not
-without good nature. Most lamented of all the abstentions
-was the honoured and trusted name of Mr. Bright.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="ULSTER_WILL_FIGHT_1886" id="ULSTER_WILL_FIGHT_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">"ULSTER WILL FIGHT" (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Winston Churchill's <cite>Life of Lord Randolph Churchill</cite>,
-vol. ii., pp. 60-65. (Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>Lord Randolph crossed the Channel and arrived at Larne
-early on the morning of February 22. He was welcomed like a
-king.... That night the Ulster Hall (in Belfast) was crowded
-to its utmost compass. In order to satisfy the demand for
-tickets all the seats were removed, and the concourse&mdash;which
-he addressed for nearly an hour and a half&mdash;heard him standing.
-He was nearly always successful on the platform, but the
-effect he produced upon his audience at Belfast was one of the
-most memorable triumphs of his life.... "Now may be the
-time," he said, "to show whether all these ceremonies and
-forms which are practised in Orange lodges are really living
-symbols or only idle and meaningless ceremonies; whether
-that which you have so carefully fostered is really the lamp of
-liberty, and its flame the undying and unquenchable fire of
-freedom.... Like Macbeth before the murder of Duncan,
-Mr. Gladstone asks for time. Before he plunges the knife into
-the heart of the British Empire, he reflects, he hesitates....
-The Loyalists in Ulster should wait and watch&mdash;organize and
-prepare. Diligence and vigilance ought to be your watchword;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
-so that the blow, if it does come, may not come upon you as a
-thief in the night, and may not find you unready, and taken by
-surprise. I believe that this storm will blow over, and that the
-vessel of the Union will emerge with her Loyalist crew stronger
-than before; but it is right and useful that I should add that if
-the struggle should continue, and if my conclusions should turn
-out to be wrong, then I am of opinion that the struggle is not
-likely to remain within the lines of what we are accustomed to
-look upon as constitutional action. No portentous change such
-as the Repeal of the Union, no change so gigantic, could be
-accomplished by the mere passing of a law. The history of
-the United States will teach us a different lesson; and if it
-should turn out that the Parliament of the United Kingdom
-was so recreant from all its high duties, and that the British
-nation was so apostate to traditions of honour and courage, as
-to hand over the Loyalists of Ireland to the domination of an
-Assembly in Dublin, which must be to them a foreign and an
-alien assembly, if it should be within the design of Providence
-to place upon you and your fellow-Loyalists so heavy a trial,
-then, gentlemen, I do not hesitate to tell you most truly that in
-that dark hour there will not be wanting to you those of position
-and influence in England who would be willing to cast in
-their lot with you, and who, whatever the result, will share
-your fortunes and your fate. There will not be wanting those
-who, at the exact moment, when the time is fully come&mdash;if that
-time should come&mdash;will address you in words which are perhaps
-best expressed by one of our greatest English poets:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
-<p class="verseq">'The combat deepens; on, ye brave,</p>
-<p class="verse">Who rush to glory or the grave.</p>
-<p class="verse">Wave, Ulster&mdash;all thy banners wave,</p>
-<p class="verse">And charge with all thy chivalry.'"</p>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>... A few weeks later, in a letter to a Liberal-Unionist
-member, he repeated his menace in an even clearer form: "If
-political parties and political leaders, not only Parliamentary
-but local, should be so utterly lost to every feeling and dictate
-of honour and courage as to hand over coldly, and for the sake
-of purchasing a short and illusory Parliamentary tranquillity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
-the lives and liberties of the Loyalists of Ireland to their hereditary
-and most bitter foes, make no doubt on this point&mdash;Ulster
-will not be a consenting party; Ulster at the proper
-moment will resort to the extreme arbitrament of force; Ulster
-will fight, Ulster will be right; Ulster will emerge from the
-struggle victorious, because all that Ulster represents to us
-Britons will command the sympathy and support of an enormous
-section of our British community, and also, I feel certain,
-will attract the admiration and the approval of free and civilized
-nations."</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="SALISBURY_ON_HOME_RULE_1886" id="SALISBURY_ON_HOME_RULE_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">SALISBURY ON HOME RULE (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, April 14.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><em>Demonstration at Her Majesty's Theatre against the Home
-Rule Bill.</em></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Lord Salisbury</span>: ... The great result which I hope from
-the brilliant debates that have taken place is that the conviction
-will be carried home to the British people that there is no
-middle term between government at Westminster and independent
-and entirely separate government at Dublin. If you
-do not have a Government in some form or other issuing from
-the centre you must have absolute separation. Now I ask you
-to look at what separation means. It means the cutting off
-from the British Islands of a province tied to them by the
-hand of Nature. It is hard to find a parallel instance in the
-contemporary world, because the tendency of events has been
-in the opposite direction. In every country you find that consolidation,
-and not severance, has been the object which statesmen
-have pursued. But there is one exception. There is a
-State in Europe which has had very often to hear the word
-"autonomy," which has had more than once to grant Home
-Rule, and to see separation following Home Rule. The State
-I have referred to is Turkey. Let anyone who thinks that
-separation is consistent with the strength and prosperity of the
-country look to its effect, its repeated effect, when applied to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
-country of which he can judge more impartially.... Turkey
-is a decaying Empire; England, I hope, is not. But I frankly
-admit that this is not the only reason which urges me. The
-point that the Government have consistently ignored is that
-Ireland is not occupied by a homogeneous and united people.
-In proportions which are variously stated, which some people
-state as four-fifths to one-fifth, but which I should be more
-inclined to state as two-thirds to one-third, the Irish people
-are deeply divided, divided not only by creed, which may extend
-into both camps, but divided by history and by a long
-series of animosities, which the conflicts that have lasted during
-centuries have created. I confess that it seems to me that
-Whiteboy Associations, and Moonlight Associations, and
-Riband Associations, and murder committed at night and in
-the open day, and a constant disregard to all the rights of
-property&mdash;these things make me doubt the angelic character
-which has been attributed to the Irish peasantry. I do not for
-a moment maintain that they are in their nature worse than
-other people. But I say there are circumstances attaching to
-Ireland&mdash;circumstances derived from history that is past and
-gone through many generations&mdash;which make it impossible for
-us to believe that, if liberty, entire liberty, were suddenly given
-to them, they would be able to forget the animosities of centuries
-and to treat those who are placed in their power for
-the first time with perfect justice and equity. You must not
-imagine that with a wave of a wand by any Minister, however
-powerful, the effects of centuries of conflict and exasperation
-will be wiped away.... My belief is that the future government
-of Ireland does not involve any unmanageable difficulty.
-We want a wise, firm, continuous administration of the law.
-We want a steady policy. But you must support it, or it will
-not take place. There has been a great contest between England
-and the discontented portion of the Irish people. It is
-a contest that has lasted through many generations past,
-through many vicissitudes, and now you are asked to submit
-to a measure which is placed before you, and to end that contest
-by a complete and ignominious surrender. It is not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
-surrender marked by the mere ordinary circumstances of ignominy.
-It is a painful thing for a great nation to lose a battle
-and have to acknowledge defeat. It is a painful thing if defeat
-involves loss of territory, and the nation has to be content with
-a restricted Empire. But these things do not represent the
-depth of infamy to which you will descend. There is something
-worse than all this, and that is when defeat is marked by
-the necessity of abandoning to your enemies those whom you
-have called upon to defend you, and who have risked their all
-on your behalf. That is an infamy below which it is impossible
-to go; that is an infamy to which you are asked to submit
-yourselves now. Your enemies in every part of the world
-will be looking on what you do with exultation. Your friends,
-your supporters, your partisans, will view it with shame, with
-confusion, and with dismay in every quarter of the globe.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="MR_GLADSTONES_APPEAL_1886" id="MR_GLADSTONES_APPEAL_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">MR. GLADSTONE'S APPEAL (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 295, col. 649. Second reading
-of the Home Rule Bill, June 7th.</p>
-
-
-<p>Ireland stands at your bar expectant, hopeful, almost suppliant.
-Her words are the words of truth and soberness. She
-asks a blessed oblivion of the past, and in that oblivion our
-interest is deeper even than hers. You have been asked
-to-night to abide by the traditions of which we are the heirs.
-What traditions? By the Irish traditions? Go into the
-length and breadth of the world, ransack the literature of all
-countries, find if you can a single voice, a single book, in which
-the conduct of England towards Ireland is anywhere treated
-except with profound and bitter condemnation. Are these the
-traditions by which we are exhorted to stand? No; they are
-a sad exception to the glory of our country. They are a broad
-and black blot upon the pages of its history, and what we want
-to do is to stand by the traditions of which we are the heirs in
-all matters except our relations with Ireland, and to make our
-relation with Ireland conform to the other traditions of our
-country. So we treat our traditions, so we hail the demand of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
-Ireland for what I call a blessed oblivion of the past. She
-asks also a boon for the future; and that boon for the future,
-unless we are much mistaken, will be a boon to us in respect
-of honour, no less than a boon to her in respect of happiness,
-prosperity, and peace. Such, sir, is her prayer. Think, I
-beseech you; think well, think wisely, think, not for the
-moment, but for the years that are to come, before you reject
-this Bill.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="LIBERAL_UNIONISM_1886" id="LIBERAL_UNIONISM_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">LIBERAL UNIONISM (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, May 17.</p>
-
-
-<p>The Conservative leaders will do well to say plainly that
-they will not attack any Liberal seats held by representatives
-who have voted against the Home Rule Bill, whatever prospect
-there may have otherwise been of displacing the sitting
-members, or whatever provocation may have been given in
-former contests. By this course Conservatives can insure the
-return, with very few exceptions, of all the Liberal members
-who have declared against the Bill. It is open to them to
-assail the seats held by Gladstonian Liberals, and on the principle
-of conjoint action they will be entitled, in assailing those
-seats, and in defending those they at present occupy, to the
-support of all Liberal Unionists.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_UNEMPLOYED_RIOTS_1886" id="THE_UNEMPLOYED_RIOTS_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE UNEMPLOYED RIOTS (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, February 9.</p>
-
-
-<p>There is serious work before the new Home Secretary and
-his working-man colleague, Mr. Broadhurst. Yesterday there
-occurred the most alarming and destructive riot that has taken
-place in London for many years, or perhaps we may say the
-most destructive that has taken place within living memory.
-The destruction of the Hyde Park railings in 1866 was in some
-respects a more threatening affair, as being the work of a bigger
-mob; but that, unlike the present business, was not accompanied
-by the wholesale destruction of property and the looting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
-of shops. Yesterday a mob some thousands strong marched
-along Pall Mall, St. James's Street, and Piccadilly to Hyde
-Park, then broke into several sections, and returned by South
-Audley Street, Oxford Street, Regent Street, and other routes,
-smashing windows, wrecking private carriages, and robbing
-jewellers' and other shops, utterly unchecked by the police, and
-leaving only one or two of their number in the hands of the
-authorities.... The occasion of all this lamentable affair
-was the great meeting of the unemployed which took place in
-Trafalgar Square. As our readers are aware, this meeting was
-but the culmination of many attempts that have been made
-lately to attract public attention to what is a very real difficulty
-and hardship. At last the time came for the men to gather in
-Trafalgar Square. But unfortunately there was not that perfect
-harmony in their proceedings which might have been
-desired. Some groups were simply unemployed labourers,
-come in all honesty of purpose to hear what could be said for
-them, and their chances of finding work. Some were fair-traders,
-anxious to impress on the Government that foreign
-bounties and other tariff enormities were at the root of the
-mischief. But with these moderately pacific bodies were the
-more dangerous element brought into the meeting by Messrs.
-Hyndman, Burns, and Champion. The Revolutionary Social
-Democrats were there, with the express object of breaking up
-the meeting called by Mr. Kenny and his friends, and of "preventing
-people being made the tools of the paid agitators who
-were working in the interests of the Fair Trade League." It
-cannot be too clearly understood that it was to the proceedings
-of these men&mdash;of Mr. Burns and Mr. Hyndman and their colleagues&mdash;that
-all the subsequent destruction was due....
-Already on several occasions the fanatic Hyndman has done
-his best to break the peace, from the time when, a year or two
-ago, he told the crowd on the Thames Embankment that their
-principle should be a life for a life&mdash;the life of a Minister for
-that of every working-man who starved&mdash;down to the time
-when at the Holborn Town Hall he offered to head "the
-Revolution." Burns is as vehement, and his voice carries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
-further. He yesterday told the mob that "the next time they
-met it would be to go and sack the bakers' shops in the West
-of London," and that "they had better die fighting than
-starving." He and his red flag led the mob yesterday in their
-march.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="BIMETALLISM_AND_LABOUR_DISPUTES_1886" id="BIMETALLISM_AND_LABOUR_DISPUTES_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">BIMETALLISM AND LABOUR DISPUTES (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, February 19.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from a Letter by Lord Grey.</cite></p>
-
-<p>Some portion of public attention ought to be given to a
-subject of very pressing importance&mdash;that of the "scarcity of
-gold." The share which the enhancement of the value of gold
-has probably had in producing these disastrous strikes seems
-not to have attracted sufficient notice. The fall of prices from
-the growing scarcity of gold has necessarily made the same
-wages for labour really higher than they formerly were, while
-at the same time this fall of prices has diminished the total
-return from labour and capital employed in production....
-Probably this has not been sufficiently well understood by either
-masters or men, but the masters have practically felt that they
-could no longer afford to pay the same money wages they used
-to do, while the men have not understood the necessity for such
-a reduction. What I would propose is that £1 notes, payable
-in silver bullion, should be issued, but only in exchange for the
-same bullion after a certain fixed amount of them had been
-sent into circulation. But this bullion I should propose to give
-or receive in exchange for notes, not at any fixed price for
-silver, but at the market price of the metal, which should be
-published weekly in the <cite>Gazette</cite>. By this arrangement it will
-be perceived that silver would be largely used as an instrument
-for carrying on the business of exchange, without incurring the
-inconvenience which seems to be inseparable from the scheme
-of the bimetallists, who would establish by law a fixed price
-for silver and for gold. As the cost of producing these metals
-is liable to variation, I cannot understand how the bimetallists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
-can expect that fixing their comparative prices by law could
-prevent that which could at the moment be most cheaply produced
-from driving the other out of circulation, since all who
-had to pay money would naturally make use of the cheapest
-money they could get.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="PASTEUR_AND_HYDROPHOBIA_1886" id="PASTEUR_AND_HYDROPHOBIA_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">PASTEUR AND HYDROPHOBIA (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, January 8.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extract from an Article on "Science in 1885."</cite></p>
-
-<p>We may here refer to the momentous work of M. Pasteur
-in connection with hydrophobia. That he has discovered a
-remedy for one of the most terrible afflictions to which humanity
-is liable it would probably be premature to say; but that he
-has taken every precaution against self-deception must be
-admitted, and so far as he has gone it is difficult to discredit
-his results.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_FINAL_HOME_RULE_RUPTURE_1886" id="THE_FINAL_HOME_RULE_RUPTURE_1886"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE FINAL HOME RULE RUPTURE (1886).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Morley's <cite>Life of Gladstone</cite>, vol. iii., pp. 364-368.
-(Macmillans.)</p>
-
-
-<p>As it happened, all this [Randolph Churchill's resignation
-of the Exchequer, and Goschen's appointment] gave a shake
-to both of the Unionist wings. The ominous clouds of coercion
-were sailing slowly but discernibly along the horizon, and this
-made men in the Unionist camp still more restless and uneasy.
-Mr. Chamberlain, on the very day of the announcement of the
-Churchill resignation, had made a speech that was taken to
-hold out an olive-branch to his old friends. Sir William
-Harcourt ... thought the break-up of a great political combination
-to be so immense an evil as to call for almost any
-sacrifices to prevent it. He instantly wrote to Birmingham to
-express his desire to co-operate in reunion, and in the course
-of a few days five members of the original Liberal Cabinet of
-1886 met at his house in what is known as the Round Table<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
-Conference (Sir W. Harcourt, Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Herschell,
-Sir George Trevelyan, and myself).... Mr. Gladstone
-gave the Round Table his blessing, his "general idea being
-that he had better meddle as little as possible with the Conference,
-and retain a free hand." Lord Hartington would neither
-join the Conference nor deny that he thought it premature....
-On the other side, both English Liberals and Irish Nationalists
-were equally uneasy lest the unity of the party should be
-bought by the sacrifice of fundamentals.... Mr. Parnell,
-though alive to the truth that when people go into a conference
-it usually means that they are willing to give up something,
-was thoroughly awake to the satisfactory significance of the
-Birmingham overtures.</p>
-
-<p>Things at the Round Table for some time went smoothly
-enough. Mr. Chamberlain gradually advanced the whole
-length. He publicly committed himself to the expediency of
-establishing some kind of legislative authority in Dublin in
-accordance with Mr. Gladstone's principle, with a preference,
-in his own mind, for a plan on the lines of Canada. This he
-followed up, also in public, by the admission that of course the
-Irish legislature must be allowed to organize their own form of
-executive government, either by an imitation on a small scale
-of all that goes on at Westminster and Whitehall, or in whatever
-other shape they might think proper.... Then the
-surface became mysteriously ruffled. Language was used by
-some of the plenipotentiaries in public, of which each side in
-turn complained as inconsistent with conciliatory negotiations
-in private. At last, on the very day on which the provisional
-result of the Conference was laid before Mr. Gladstone, there
-appeared in a print called <cite>The Baptist</cite> an article from Mr.
-Chamberlain containing an ardent plea for the disestablishment
-of the Welsh Church, but warning the Welshmen that
-they and the Scotch crofters, and the English labourers&mdash;thirty-two
-millions of people&mdash;must all go without much-needed
-legislation because three millions were disloyal, while nearly
-six hundred members of Parliament would be reduced to
-forced inactivity because some eighty delegates, representing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
-the policy and receiving the pay of the Chicago Convention,
-were determined to obstruct all business until their demands
-were conceded. Men naturally asked what was the use of
-continuing a discussion when one party to it was attacking in
-this peremptory fashion the very persons and the policy that in
-private he was supposed to accept. Mr. Gladstone showed no
-implacability ... he said ... "I am inclined to think we
-can hardly do more now.... We are quite willing that the
-subject should stand over for resumption at a convenient
-season."</p>
-
-<p>The resumption never happened. Two or three weeks later
-Mr. Chamberlain announced that he did not intend to return
-to the Round Table. No other serious and formal attempt
-was ever made on either side to prevent the Liberal Unionists
-from hardening into a separate species. When they became
-accomplices in coercion they cut off the chances of reunion.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_COMING_OF_TECHNICAL_EDUCATION_1887" id="THE_COMING_OF_TECHNICAL_EDUCATION_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE COMING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, March 17.</p>
-
-
-<p>Lord Hartington made a striking speech last night to the
-Polytechnic Young Men's Christian Institute. In the presence
-of such an audience a text was perhaps needed, and he took as
-his text some remarks made by Professor Huxley, who lately
-pointed out the instructive likeness between warfare and industry.
-If we are well advised&mdash;and Lord Hartington has no
-misgivings on the subject&mdash;in spending freely to protect ourselves
-against aggression, it is equally our duty to be not
-niggardly in providing industrial education, and diffusing
-scientific knowledge. It is the condition of industrial
-supremacy, and it is not an unattainable condition. A Watt
-or even an Edison is born, not made. But the knowledge of
-drawing, mechanics, mathematics, and chemistry, and other
-sciences or arts, which aid the artisan in his daily work, may be
-imparted, and on the spread of such knowledge may depend
-the continuance of industrial supremacy. Great commanders
-cannot be called into being; but in the main it depends on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
-rank and file of the army of industry whether its battles are
-lost or won. How is the work to be accomplished? In answer
-to this question Lord Hartington let fall one or two remarks
-which, though not offering a complete solution, are, if we
-mistake not, likely to be fruitful in consequences. The State,
-he is satisfied, cannot do all or much; and he is struck with
-the inability of purely voluntary efforts to meet the demand.
-He finds the necessary assistance, if anywhere, in our municipal
-institutions. "I hope the time is not far distant when our town
-councils or local governing bodies will establish in every considerable
-centre industrial and technical schools, suitable to the
-wants of the district, and supported out of local funds." The
-institutions which now imperfectly do the work of diffusing
-technical instruction "are playing the same part in relation to
-technical and industrial education that was played by the voluntary
-schools in relation to elementary education." This points
-to a national system of technical education; it is the largest
-and clearest conception of the subject which any public man of
-importance has put forth.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="THE_FIRST_GUILLOTINE_CLOSURE_1887" id="THE_FIRST_GUILLOTINE_CLOSURE_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">THE FIRST "GUILLOTINE" CLOSURE (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>Hansard</cite>, Third Series, vol. 315, col. 1674, June 10.</p>
-
-
-<p>Ordered: That at ten o'clock p.m. on Friday, the 17th day of
-June, if the Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland) Bill be not
-previously reported from the Committee of the whole House,
-the Chairman shall put forthwith the Question or Questions on
-any amendment or motion already proposed from the Chair.
-He shall next proceed and successively put forthwith the Question
-that any clause then under consideration, and each remaining
-clause in the Bill, stand part of the Bill, unless progress be
-moved as hereinafter provided. After the clauses are disposed
-of, he shall forthwith report the Bill, as amended, to the House.</p>
-
-<p>From and after the passing of this Order, no motion that the
-Chairman do leave the Chair, or do report progress, shall be
-allowed, unless moved by one of the members in charge of the
-Bill, and the Question on such motion shall be put forthwith.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>If progress be reported on 17th June the Chairman shall put
-this Order in force in any subsequent sitting of the Committee.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="JUBILEE_RETROSPECTS_1887" id="JUBILEE_RETROSPECTS_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">JUBILEE RETROSPECTS (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<h4>I.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;An article by Mr. Gladstone in <cite>The Nineteenth Century</cite>,
-vol. xxi., p. 1.</p>
-
-
-<p>The Prophet of the new Locksley Hall records against us many
-sad, and even shameful, defaults. They are not to be denied,
-and the list might probably be lengthened. The youngest
-among us will not see the day in which new social problems
-will have ceased to spring up as from the depths, and vex even
-the most successful solvers of the old; or in which this proud
-and great English nation will not have cause, in all its ranks
-and orders, to bow its head before the Judge Eternal, and
-humbly to confess to forgotten duties, or wasted and neglected
-opportunities. It is well to be reminded, and in tones such as
-make the deaf man hear, of city children who "soak and blacken
-soul and sense in city slime"; of maidens cast by thousands on
-the street; of the sempstress scrimped of her daily bread; of
-dwellings miserably crowded; of fever as the result. But take
-first the city child as he is described. For one such child now
-there were ten, perhaps twenty, fifty years back. A very large,
-and a still increasing proportion of these children have been
-brought under the regular teaching and discipline of the school.
-Take the maidens who are now, as they were then, cast by
-thousands on the streets. But then, if one among them were
-stricken with penitence, and sought for a place in which to hide
-her head, she found it only in the pomp of paid institutions,
-and in a help well meant, no doubt, yet carrying little of what
-was most essential, sympathetic discrimination, and mild, nay
-even tender care. Within the half-century a new chapter has
-opened. Faith and love have gone forth into the field. Specimens
-of womankind, sometimes the very best and highest, have not
-deemed this quest of souls beneath them. Scrimping of wages,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
-no doubt, there is and was. But the fair wage of to-day is far
-higher than it was then, and the unfair wage is assumably not
-lower. Miserable and crowded dwellings, again, and fever as
-their result, both then and now. But legislation has in the
-interval made its attempts in earnest; and if this was with
-awkward and ungainly hand, private munificence or enterprise
-is dotting our city areas with worthy dwellings. Above all,
-have we not to record in this behalf martyred lives, such as
-those of Denison and Toynbee? Or shall we refuse honourable
-mention to not less devoted lives, happily still retained, of such
-persons as Miss Octavia Hill? With all this there has happily
-grown up not only a vast general extension of benevolent and
-missionary means, but a great parochial machinery of domestic
-visitation, charged with comfort and blessing to the needy, and
-spread over so wide a circle, that what was formerly an exception
-may now with some confidence be said to be the rule. If
-insufficiencies have come to be more keenly felt, is that because
-they are greater, or because there is a bolder and better trained
-disposition to feel them?...</p>
-
-<p>I will refer as briefly as may be to the sphere of legislation.
-Slavery has been abolished. A criminal code, which disgraced
-the Statute Book, has been effectually reformed. Laws of
-combination and contract, which prevented the working
-population from obtaining the best price for their labour,
-have been repealed. The lamentable and demoralizing abuses
-of the Poor Law have been swept away. Lives and limbs,
-always exposed to destruction through the incidents of labour,
-formerly took their chance, no man heeding them, even when
-the origin of the calamity lay in the recklessness or neglect of
-the employer. They are now guarded by preventive provisions,
-and the loss is mitigated, to the sufferers or their
-survivors, by pecuniary compensation. The scandals of
-labour in mines, factories, and elsewhere, to the honour, first
-and foremost, of the name of Shaftesbury, have been either
-removed, or greatly qualified and reduced. The population on
-the sea-coast is no longer forced wholesale into contraband
-trade by fiscal follies; and the Game Laws no longer constitute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
-a plausible apology for poaching. The entire people have good
-schools placed within the reach of their children, and are put
-under legal obligation to use the privileges and contribute to
-the charge. They have also at their doors the means of
-husbanding their savings, without the compromise of their
-independence by the inspection of the rector or the squire, and
-under the guarantee of the State to the uttermost farthing of
-the amount. Information through a free press, formerly
-cut off from them by stringent taxation, is now at their
-easy command. Their interests at large are protected by
-their votes, and their votes are protected by the secrecy which
-screens them from intimidation either through violence, or in its
-subtler forms.</p>
-
-<p>It is perhaps of interest to turn from such dry outlines as
-may be sketched by the aid of almanacs to those more delicate
-gradations of the social movement, which in their detail are
-indeterminate and almost fugitive, but which in their mass may
-be apprehended, and made the subject of record. Pugilism,
-which ranges between manliness and brutality, and which in
-the days of my boyhood, in its greatest celebrations, almost
-monopolized the space of journals of the highest order, is now
-rare, modest, and unobtrusive. But, if less exacting in the
-matter of violent physical excitements, the nation attaches not
-less but more value to corporal education, and for the schoolboy
-and the man alike athletics are becoming an ordinary incident
-of life. Under the influence of better conditions of living, and
-probably of increased self-respect, mendicity, except in seasons
-of special distress, has nearly disappeared. If our artisans
-combine (as they well may) partly to uphold their wages, it is
-also greatly with the noble object of keeping all the members
-of their enormous class independent of public alms. They have
-forwarded the cause of self-denial, and manfully defended
-themselves even against themselves, by promoting restraints
-upon the traffic in strong liquors. In districts where they are
-most advanced, they have fortified their position by organized
-co-operation in supply. Nor are the beneficial changes of the
-last half-century confined to the masses. Swearing and duelling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
-established until a recent date almost as institutions of the
-country, have nearly disappeared from the face of society....
-At the same time the disposition to lay bare public mischiefs
-and drag them into the light of day, which, though liable to
-exaggeration, has perhaps been our best distinction among the
-nations, has become more resolute than ever....</p>
-
-<p>The sum of the matter seems to be that, upon the whole and
-in a degree, we who lived fifty, sixty, seventy years back, and
-are living now, have lived into a gentler time; that the public
-conscience has grown more tender, as indeed was very needful;
-and that, in matters of practice, at sight of evils formerly
-regarded with indifference, or even connivance, it now not only
-winces, but rebels; that upon the whole the race has been
-reaping, and not scattering; earning, and not wasting.</p>
-
-
-<h4>II.</h4>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, June 21.</p>
-
-<p>The men of the Victorian age have lived in the midst of
-almost cataclysmic mental changes. New facts have rained
-upon them with a rapidity that baffles hypothesis, and stamps
-theory as obsolete before half the world has become reconciled
-to its existence. In such a time of intellectual flux anything
-like monumental art is impossible, since neither the artist nor
-the age possesses the permanence of mood required for a true
-presentment. Although, however, the Victorian era has not
-produced much that the most liberal charity can conceive as
-belonging to all time, it has shown immense fertility and vigour
-in supplying the intellectual wants of the present. In all but
-those supreme manifestations of the human intellect which we
-ascribe to genius, its products are at least equal, and in most
-cases superior, to those of any period of our history, while in
-quantity and variety of intellectual effort, and in diffusion of
-intellectual interest, it is entirely unapproachable.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="REMEMBER_MITCHELSTOWN_1887" id="REMEMBER_MITCHELSTOWN_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">"REMEMBER MITCHELSTOWN" (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Times</cite>, October 19.</p>
-
-
-<p>(<span class="smcap">Mr. Gladstone</span> at Nottingham): The case I have now to
-mention goes further than that. It is the Mitchelstown case.
-I was responsible for putting in a telegraphic answer to a telegram
-the words, "Remember Mitchelstown," and Mitchelstown
-will and must be remembered, and the meeting has an account
-to settle with the Government in respect to Mitchelstown. I
-should have been glad to have sealed my own lips, had not the
-Government sent forth its testimony, its solemn, downright,
-unequivocal judgment that the proceeding at Mitchelstown
-were right.... What did Mr. Balfour say, when the Irish
-Nationalist members brought up the question of the proceedings
-at Mitchelstown? He said that the whole action of the police
-was in the face of the most tremendous provocation, and absolutely
-in self-defence. He said that when the order to fire was
-given the order was to fire only on those portions of the crowd
-who were engaged in throwing stones.... Three human
-beings lost their lives under the fire of the police. I cannot say
-three men, for in the ordinary sense of the word they were not
-men. Two of them had been men, and were in harmless old
-age. The other was growing to be a man, and was still in
-harmless boyhood. Not one of these three persons is even
-alleged to have thrown a stone. Not one of them, if I recollect
-aright, is even alleged to have carried a stick.... Is not this
-a melancholy and a miserable farce&mdash;tragic, too, in the highest
-degree, when we consider that these trumpery proceedings,
-perhaps of some casual boys or men, who are only able in the
-utmost of their wrath and in the supply of stones that they
-could command to break two or three windows in the police
-barracks&mdash;that these are to be represented as leading and
-heading an attack which caused a humane and intelligent body
-of the representatives of the Government to fire out of windows,
-to kill three persons, one of them distant 100 yards away, and
-two others sixty yards away. I have said, and say again,
-"Remember Mitchelstown!"</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
-
-<h3><a name="BLOODY_SUNDAY_1887" id="BLOODY_SUNDAY_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">"BLOODY SUNDAY" (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;Mackail's <cite>Life of William Morris</cite>, vol. ii., p. 190.</p>
-
-
-<p>The restlessness among the working classes culminated in the
-famous scenes of the 13th of November (1887), "Bloody
-Sunday," in and round Trafalgar Square. A meeting in the
-Square had been announced to protest against the Irish policy
-of the Government; it had been proclaimed by the police, and
-became converted into a demonstration on a huge scale. No
-one who saw it will ever forget the strange, and indeed terrible,
-sight of that grey winter day, the vast sombre-coloured crowd,
-the brief but fierce struggle at the corner of the Strand, and the
-river of steel and scarlet that moved slowly through the dusky
-swaying masses when two squadrons of the Life Guards were
-summoned up from Whitehall. Only disorganized fragments
-straggled into the Square, to find that the other columns had
-also been headed off or crushed, and that the day was practically
-over. Preparations had been made to repel something little
-short of a popular insurrection. An immense police force had
-been concentrated, and in the afternoon the Square was lined
-by a battalion of Foot Guards, with fixed bayonets and twenty
-rounds of ball cartridge. For an hour or two the danger was
-imminent of street-fighting such as had not been known in
-London for more than a century. But the organized force at
-the disposal of the civil authorities proved sufficient to check
-the insurgent columns and finally clear the streets without a
-shot being fired. For some weeks afterwards the Square was
-garrisoned by special drafts of police. Otherwise London next
-day had resumed its usual aspect. Once more the London
-Socialists had drawn into line with the great mass of the
-London Radicals, and a formidable popular movement had
-resulted, which, on that Sunday, was within a very little of
-culminating in a frightful loss of life and the practical establishment
-of a state of siege in London. But the English spirit of
-compromise soon made itself felt.... Measures were taken
-for the relief of the unemployed. Political Radicalism resumed
-its normal occupations; and by the end of the year the Socialist
-League had dropped back into its old place, a small body of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
-enthusiasts among whom an Anarchist group were now
-beginning to assume a distinct prominence.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<h3><a name="FIRST_REPORT_ON_THE_RAND_1887" id="FIRST_REPORT_ON_THE_RAND_1887"></a><a href="#CONTENTS">FIRST REPORT ON THE RAND (1887).</a></h3>
-
-<p class="pfs90"><b>Source.</b>&mdash;<cite>The Board of Trade Journal</cite>, December.</p>
-
-
-<p class="pfs100"><cite>Extracts from a Report, dated 4th October, by Mr. Ralph
-Williams, British Officer at Pretoria.</cite></p>
-
-<p>On the 20th September, 1886, the Witwatersrand district
-was declared a public goldfield, and from that date the history
-of Johannesburg begins. For some months the town was
-known as Ferreira's Camp, and the Natal Camp, and it was not
-till, perhaps, March last that the present town of Johannesburg
-became recognized as the central point of the goldfields of the
-district. From that date the growth of the town has been
-almost unprecedented.... Large hotels exist which equal in
-accommodation anything in South Africa. Warehouses are full
-of all that can be obtained even at Cape Town. A theatre&mdash;rough,
-it is true, but of considerable capacity&mdash;is in full working
-order. Four banks are at work. Three newspapers are published
-every other day.... The actual number of the population
-I can hardly estimate, opinions differing so greatly. In the
-town of Johannesburg itself I am disposed to think there are
-about 4,000 people. The outlying districts also contain a very
-large population, probably nearly equalling that of the town.</p>
-
-<p>The reefs which constitute the wealth of the Witwatersrand
-are entirely different from any development which has yet been
-worked.... The principal reef, which has now been traced
-to a distance of between twenty-five and thirty miles, is called
-the "main reef." It may be taken to have an average breadth
-of from 3 feet 6 inches to 15 feet. It has in several places
-been tested to a depth of 70 feet, in every case being proved to
-be better and richer at the lower levels than at the surface.</p>
-
-<p>An inspection of the properties and inquiry into the cost
-of production cannot fail to impress one with the fact that,
-if these reefs are found to have sufficient depth, one of the
-richest goldfields in the world has now come to light.</p>
-
-
-<p class="p2" />
-<p class="pfs70 over">BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD</p>
-
-
-<div class="transnote pg-brk">
-<a name="TN" id="TN"></a>
-<p><strong>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE</strong></p>
-
-<p>There is only one Footnote in this book, marked [A] on <a href="#Page_29">page 29</a>. It
-has been placed at the end of the short section containing the anchor.</p>
-
-<p>Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
-corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
-the text and consultation of external sources.</p>
-
-<p>Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
-and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example,
-sea-coast, sea coast; to-night; employés; overboil; mendicity.</p>
-
-<p>
-<a href="#Page_13">Pg 13</a>, 'slighest evidence' replaced by 'slightest evidence'.<br />
-<a href="#Page_68">Pg 68</a>, 'the British Goverment' replaced by 'the British Government'.<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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