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RECESSIONAL
'l^od of our fathers known of old
.

^Lord of our far-flung battle-line,


Benczvth whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over pa.lm a.nd pine-
Lord Cod of Hosts be with us yet
.

Lest we forget — lest wc forget'


IJihc tumult and the shouting dies;
^Thc captains and the kin$s depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts be with us yet. ,

Lest we forget — lest wc forget!


'Ijar-called.our na.vies n\clt aw^&y;
^On dune and headland sinks the fire:
our pon^p of yesterday
Lo. all
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Jud^e of the Nations, spare us ycf.
Lest wc forget — lest we forget?

Xl f. drunk with si^ht of power, wc loose


Wild tongues that have aot Thee in awe.
Such boastini^sas the Gentiles use.
Or —
lesser breeds without the Law^
Lord God of Hosts be with us yet.
.

Lest we forget— lest we forget!


lil or heathen heart that puts her trust
IV ^ In reeking tube and iron shard.
All valiant dust that builds on dust.
And guarding. calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast aj\d foolish word
Thy Mercy onThy People. Lord '—An\en.
Rudyard Kipling

i^A

\
The Book of History
H Ibistot^ of all Bations
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT

WITH OVER 8000 ILLUSTRATIONS


WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
VISCOUNT BRYCE, p.c, d.c.l., ll.d., f.r.s.

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

W. M. Flinders Petrie, LL.D., F.R.S. Holland Thompson, Ph.D.


UNIVERSnV COLLEGE, LONDON THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
Hans F. Helmolt, Ph.D. W. Stewart Wallace, M.A.
EDITOR, GER>L\N "HISTORY OF THE WORLD" UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Stanley Lane-Poole, M.A., Litt.D. Maurice Maeterlinck
TRINITY COLLKOE, DUBLIN ESSAYIST, POET, PHILOSOPHER
Robert Nisbet Bain Dr. Emile J. Dillon
ASSISTANT LIIiRARIAN, BRITISH MUSEUM UNIVERSITY OF ST. PETERSBURG
Hugo Winckler, Ph.D. Arthur Mee
UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN EDITOR, "THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE"
Archibald H. Sayce, D.Litt., LL.D. Sir Harry H. Johnston, K.C.B., D.Sc.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY LATE COMMISSIONER FOR UGANDA
Alfred Russel Wallace, LL.D., F.R.S. Johannes Ranke
AUTHOR, "MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE" UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
Sir William Lee-Warner, K.C.S.I. K. G. Brandis, Ph.D.
MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY OF JENA
And many other Specialists

Volume XIII
EUROPEAN POWERS TODAY
Russia The Balkan Wars
.

Austria . Germany Holland Belgium


. .

Switzerland . Italy France


,

Spain . Portugal . Scandinavian States


THE BRITISH EMPIRE
AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS

NEW YORK . THE GROLIER SOCIETY


.

LONDON . THE EDUCATIONAL BOOK CO.


CONTENTS OF VOLUME XIII

RECESSIONAL, BY RUDYARD KIPLING FRONTISPIECE

SIXTH GRAND DIVISION {continued)

EUROPEAN POWERS TO-DAY


Great Dates from the French Revolution to our own Time 5279
Glimpses of Europe's Capital Cities 5281

Russia .....
Plan of the Seventh Division

The Balkan Wars of 1912-13


5293
5295
5317

Germany .....
Austria-Hungary

Holland and Belgium


5329
5339
5357
The Grand Duchy
Switzerland
Italy
.... of Luxemburg 5362
5365
5369
The Republic
France .....
of San

The Principality of Monaco


Marino 5375
5377
5397

Spain
Portugal
.....
The Republic of Andorra

.....
.
5398
5399
5404
The Scandinavian States .
541
United Kingdom 5417
Types of British Battleships 5425

THE BRITISH EMPIRE


Map showing
The «£mpire in the Making .....
Routes of Early Voyagers . •

5441
S440

British Trade and the Flag .....


William the Conqueror granting a Charter to the City of London

Slave Trade as a Factor in Colonial Expansion


Plate facing 5464


5465
5473

Wars of the Empire


British Conquests in the East
....
Colonies grown from Convict Settlements

.


5479
5483
5497
Britain's Contests in Africa • 5509
Fighting Forces of the British Empire • 5525
Outposts of Empire • 5537
Composition of the Empire • 5545
Great Britain's Inner Empire . • 5557
Parliaments of the Outer Empire • 5573
The Sinews of Empire . 558r
British Expansion in Europe • 5599
British Expansion in America
King Edward VII .... . . .

Plate facing 5614


]
5610
THE BCX)K OF HISTORY

Britain's Great Indian ......,.,.


..........
Empire
PACE
5615
British Expansion in Africa
Man's Triumph over Nature ..........
..........
5623
5631

The Future of the Empire ...........


Civilisation and Christianity 5639
5644

SEVENTH GRAND DIVISION

AMERICA
THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
Map of Atlantic Ocean ...........
.......... 5656
The
The ..........
Atlantic before Columbus
Atlantic after Columbus
5657
5663

AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS


Where did ........
..........
American Man come from? 5675
Prehistoric South America
Races of the North and East
American Peoples of the West
..........
.........
5679
5691
5707
GREAT DATES FROM THE FRENCH REVOLU-
TION TO OUR OWN TIME
A.D. A.D.
1789 May : Meeting of States-General. June Tennis : 1803 March : Secularisation of ecclesiastical states in
Court Oath. The States-General becomes the Germany. May War declared between France :

National or Constituent Assembly. July 14th : and (ireat Britain French occupy Hanover. ;

Fall of Bastille. Aug. Abolition of Feudal : 1804 Feb.: Royalist Plot of Pichegru and Cadoudal
privileges. Oct. Insurrection of Women. : Moreau exiled. March Murder of Due :

1790 Feb. : Leopold II. Emperor. July Treaty of :


d'Enghien. Issue of the Code Napoleon. May :

Reichenbach. AUGUST Mutinies, and massacre :


Napoleon I. Emperor of the French. Pitt re-
of Nanci. turns to office. Russw forms alliance with
Prussia. Nov. Alliance joined by Austria.
1791 March Death of Mirabeau. May Canada Act.
: :
1805 March ViUeneuve sails from Toulon. May
:
:

June Flight of Louis to Varennes. Aug.


: :
ItalianRepublic becomes a monarchy, with
Conference of Pilnitz. Sept. Txjiiis accepts
" Legislative " As-
:
Napoleon king. Eugene Beauhamais viceroy.
the Constitution. Oct. :
July Calder
: defeats ViUeneuve. Sept :

sembly meets. Third Coalition formed. Oct. : Capitulation of


1792 Jan. :Treaty of Jassy. Feb. Treaty between :
Ulm. Trafalgar. Dec. Austerlitz. Treaties :

Austria and Prussia. March 1st, Francis II. :


of Schonbrunn and Presburg. Bourbon Dynasty
Emperor ; 29th, Gustavus III. of Sweden of Naples deposed.
assassinated. April : France declares war on 1806 Jan. Death of Pitt.
: End of Holy Roman Em-
Austria. June Mob breaks into Tuileries. : pire. Joseph Bonaparte King of Naples.
April :

Jul Y 24th, Prussia declares war


: 27th, ;
June Louis Bonaparte King of Holland. July
: :

Brunswick's proclamation. Aug. Mob attack : Confederation of the Rhine. Oct. Prussia :

on Tuileries Louis a prisoner. Supremacy of


; crushed at Jena and Auerstadt. Nov. The :

Paris Commune. Fall of Longwy. Sept. :


Berlin Decree.
September massacres. Cannonade of Valmy. 1807 Jan. The Orders in Council. Act abolishing
:

" National Convention " meets Republic pro- ; Slave Trade. Feb. Eylau. March Port- : :

claimed. Oct. and Nov. Success of Repub- : land Ministry. Canning Foreign Secretary.
lican armies. Dec. Trial of Louis XVI. opens. :
April Treaty of Bartenstein. June
: Fried- :

1793 Jan. : Second partition of Poland. Louis be- land. July Treaty of Tilsit. Jerome Bona-
:

headed. Feb. Declaration of war with Eng-:


parte King of Westphalia. Sept. Copenhagen :

land and Holland. Revolt of La Vendue. bombarded. Oct. Treaty of Fontainebleau. :

Mar. Revolutionary Tribunal. April Flight


: :
French troops enter Spain. Stein begins his
of Dumouriez. June Fall of Gironde. July : :
reforms in Prussia. DEC. Junot at Lisbon. :

Revolt of Girondist dei)artments. Death of 1808 March Abdication of Charles IV. of Spain. May
: :

Marat. Sept Law of the Suspect. Carnot.


:
Meeting at Bayonne. Rising of Spain. June ;

Oct. Republican Calendar. Marie Antoinette


:
Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain. Murat King
and Girondins guillotined. Nov. Reign of :
of Naples. July Capitulation of Baylen. :

Terror. Dec. Toulon capture<l. :


Aug. Vimeiro. Convention of Cintra. OCT.
: :

Meeting of Erfurt. Nov. Fall of St*in.


1794 March : Fall of Hebertists. April : Fall of Napoleon goes to Spain. Dec. Advance and
:

:
Danton Robespierre supreme. Pichegru in
:
retreat of Sir John Moore. Napoleon leaves
Netherlands. June Ist, Howe's victory :
Spain.
26th, Jourdan's victory at Fleurus ; 28th,
Therm idorian reaction. Fall of Robespierre 1809 Jan. Moore at Corunna. Feb.
: Fall of Sara- :

end of Reign of Terror. Oct. : Pichegru over- gossa. April Wellesley at Lisbon. Austria
:

runs Holland. declares war. May Tyrolese revolt. Aspern. :

Annexation of Papal States. June Soult :

1795 Jan. :Third partition of Poland. April : Peace forced to evacuate Portugal. JULY Wagrani :
of Basle with Prussia. July
;
Peace of Basle :
Talavera. Walcheren Expedition. Oct. Peace :

with Spain. Emigres crushed at Quiberon. of Vienna. Bernadotte becomes Crown Prince
Oct. : Insurrection of Vend6miaire suppressed.
of Sweden.
Directory established.
May : Bonaparte in Italy. Lodi. Sept. : Archduke 1810 March Napoleon marries Marie Louise. July
: :

1796 Annexation of North Sea Coast Districts.


Charles repulses invasion of Jourdan and Moreau. Busaco ; Cortes meets at Cadiz. Nov.
Sept. : :

Oct. Spain allies with France. Nov. Areola


: :
Torres Vedras. Dec. : Tsar withdraws from
Paul I. Tsar of Russia. Gustavus IV. assumes
Continental System.
government of Sweden.
Jan. Feb. Cape St. Vincent. April-
1811 May Fuentes d'Onoro and Albuera.
:
1797 Rivoli.
: :

June Mutinies in British Fleet. Treaty of


:
1812 Jan. Ciudad Rodrigo. April Badajoz. June
: : :

Leoben. Repression of Venice. Cisalpine and Moscow Expedition starts. Liverpool Ministry.
Ligiu-ian Republics constituted. Sept. Coup :
July Salamanca. Sept. Borodino. Burning
: :

d'etat of Fructidor. Death of Roche. October :


of Moscow. Oct. Retreat from Moscow. :

Camperdown. Treaty of Campo Formio. Nov. :


Nov. Bridge of Beresina.
: Dec. Agreement :

Frederic William III. King of Prassia. of Tauroggen.


April Helvetic Republic constituted. May
1813 Feb. Treaty of Kalisch.
: May : Liitzen and
1798 : :
Bautzen. JUNE Vittoria. : Treaty of Reichen-
Egyptian expedition sails from Toulon. Rebel- bach. Aug. : Katzbach and Dresden. Sept. :

lion in Ireland. June Vinegar Hill. July : :


Treaty of Toplitz. Oct. Leipzig. :

Battle of the Pyramids. Aug. Battle of the :

Nile. Second coalition formed. 1814 Jan. 'Treaty of Kiel.


: Norway joined to Sweden.
Feb. La Rothifere. March
: Capitulation of :

1799 Jan. Parthenopean Republic of Naples. March


: :
Paris. April Battle of Toidouse. Napoleon
Magnano. May
:

Stockach. APRIL Bona- : :


goes to Elba Bourbon restoration. May
; :

parte repulsed at Acre. June Trebbia. Aug. :


Treaty of Paris. Nov. Congress of Vienna :

Novi. Capture of Dutch Fleet in the Texel. meets.


Sept. Restoration of Naples monarchy.
Withdrawal
:

Suwarrow. 1815 March Napoleon Linds and returns to Paris.


:
of Oct. Return of :
May Murat overthrown at Tolentino. June
: :

Bonaparte. Nov. Coup d'6tat of Brumaire.


:
Ligny, Quatre-Bras, and Waterloo. July :

Bonaparte First Consul. . Second Bourbon restoration. Napoleon sent to


1800 June Marengo. Aug.
: Union between Great : St. Helena. Holy Alliance. Nov. Peace of :

Britain and Ireland. Dec. Hohenlinden. : Paris.


1801 FEBRU.VRY Resignation of Pitt. Treaty of Lun6-
: 1818 Congress of Aix-la-ChapeUe. Evacuation of France
ville. March Abercrombie at Aboukir. : by forces of the Allies. Findari war in India.
April Nelson at Copenhagen. Alexander I.
:
1819 The Six Acts.
Tsar. October Peace preliminaries. The :
1820 Accession of George IV. Queen Caroline scandals.
Batavian Republic organised. Royalist reaction in France. Revolution of
1802 March Peace of Amiens. April
: French : Riego in Spain. Revolution in Portugal and
Concordat with Papacy. Aug. Bonaparte : separation from Brazil. Insurrections in the
First Consul for life. Sept. Piedmont annexed : two Sicilies. Congress of Troppau, afterwards
to France. Laibach.

5279
GREAT DATES FROM THE FRENCH REVOLU-
TION TO OUR OWN TIME
A.D. A.D.
1821 Death of Napoleon. Suppression of Italian revolts. 1853 Turkey declares war against Russia.
Greek insurrection against Turkey. 1854 Crimean war. Battles of Alma, Balaclava, and
1822 Canning, Foreign
Secretary. Indei)endence of Inkerman.
South American colonies recognised. Congress 1855 Palmerston Ministry. Fall of Sebastopol. Alex-
of Vienna. Greek successes. ander II. Tsar.
1823 Ferdinand VTI. of Spain re-establishes absolutism 1856 End ofWar. Persian and Chinese wars. Lord
by French help. Reaction in Portugal. Huskis Canning in India.
son's commercial policy in England. 1867 Indian Mutiny revolt broken.
;

1824 Accession of Charles X. in Blanco. 1858 Orsini's bomb. Derby Administration. Mutiny
1825 Ibrahim Pasha in Greece. Nicholas I. Tsar of suppressed India transferred to the Crown.
;

Russia. 1859 Napoleon supports Sardinia against Austria ;

1826 Canning prevents Spanish intervention in Portugal Magenta and Solferino. Peace of Villafranca.
Fall of Miss<jlonghi. Palmerston 's return.
1827 Canning, Prime Minister. Anglo-Russian Treaty of
1860 Union Savoy and Nice to France. Garibaldi in
of
London. Death of Canning. Battle of Navarino.
Sicily. The Commons, the Peers, and the
Paper Duty.
1828 Wellington, Prime Minister. Test and Corporation 1861 Victor Emmanuel King of Itily. Death of Cavour.
Acta repealed. Clare election. Usurpation of Abd ul-Aziz Sultan. William I. in Prussia.
Dom Miguel in Portugal. War between Russia Emancipation of Russian serfs. North American
and Turkey. CivilWar.
1829 Catholic emancipation. Treaty of Adrianople. 1862 Battle of Aspromonte. King Otto expelled from
Greek independence recognised. Greece. Bismarck Prussian Minister. Cotton
1830 Accession of William IV. in Ensland. Grey I^ime famine.
Minister. The July Revolution. Louis Philippe 1863 Schleswig-Holstein war. Suppression of Poland.
King of the French. Risings in Belgium, Poland, The Alabama.
and Sicily. Accession of Ferdinand II. in Naples. 1864 Death of Palmerston.
1831 Belgium recognised as an independent kingdom. 1865 Russell Ministry. Gastein Convention.
Polish revolt suppressed. English Reform Bill 1866 Seven Weeks' War of Prussia and Austria.
rejected. Sadowa. Venetla ceded to Victor Emmanuel.
1882 Reform Act passed. French in Rome. Dual Government of Austria-
1833 Otto of Bavaria King of the Hellenes. Isabella Hungary.
succeeds in Spain. Miguel expelled from 1867 Disraeli's Reform Bill. B.N.A. Consolidation Act,
Portugal. Slavery abolished in the British Abyssinian War.
Empire. 1868 Isabella expelled from Spain. Fenian outrages.
1834 Melbourne Ministry. Poor Law Reform. On Abolition of Church rates.
Melbourne's dismissal by the king, Peel attempts 1869 Gladstone Administration. Irish Land BUI and
to form Ministry. Disestablishment.
1835 Melbourne Ministry returns. Palmerston in control 1870 Franco-German War; Sedan: Third Republic.
of Foreign Affairs. Ferdinand I. Austrian Italy unified. English Education Act.
Emperor. 1871 Surrender of Paris. German Empire proclaimed.
Black Sea Conference.
US? Accession of Victoria. Hanover separated from
1872 Alabama award.
Great Britain. Paplneau's revolt in Canada.
1838 Lord Durham In Canada. Development of
1873 MacMahon President In France.
Chartism. 1874 Alfonso XII. in Spain. Disraeli Administration.
1839 Mehemet All in Syria. Abd ul-Mejid sultan. 1875 Purchase of Suez Canal shares.
Peel and the Bedchamber question. Anti-Corn
1876 Bulgarian atrocities. Abd ul-Hamid Sultan.
Law League.
1840 Mehemet All checked. Marriage of Queen 1877 Russo-Turkish War. Annexation of Transvaal.
Victoria. Canadian Act of Reunion. Chinese 1878 Treaty of San Stefano. Berlin Congress. Afghan
" Opium " War. wars ended In 1880.
;

1841 Kabul disaster. Peel, Prime Minister. 1879 Zulu War : Isandlhwana.
1842 Dost Mohammed restored. Peel's sliding scale. 1880 Gladstone Administration.
The Disruption in Scotland.
1843 1881 Majuba. Retrocession of Transvaal.
Anuexatk)n of Sindh. Owalior Campaign.
1845 First Sikh War ended next year.
;
1882 Bombardment of Alexandria. Tel-el-Keblr.
1846 Repeal of the Com Laws. Plus IX. Pope. Russell 1884 Franchise and Redistribution Acts.
adnilnlgtration. 1885 Death of C. G. Gordon. Penjdeh Incident.
1847 Fielden's Factory Act. 1886 First Home Rule Bill. Salisbury Ministry.
1848 February Revolution ; Second French Republic.
1888 Pamell Commi-slon.
Risings in Sicily and Naples. March Revolu-
tion in Germany. Revolt of Schleswig-Holstein 1889 Annexation of Burmah.
from Denmark. Revolts of Ix)mbardy and 1895 Salisbury's Unionist Administration. Jameson
Venice against Austria. Frankfort Parliament.
raid.
Radetzk-y defeats Charles Albert of Sardinia
at Custozza. Accession of Frederic VII. in 1898 Conquest of Sudan.
Denmark, Francis Joseph in Austria Louis ;
1899 Boxer rising in China. South African War begins.
Napoleon President of French Republic. Dal- 1900 .\ustralian Commonwealth.
housie in India. Collapse of Chartist move- 1901
ment in England. Reaction victorious in
Accession of Edward VII.
Germany and Austria. Second Sikh War. 1902 End of Boer War.
1849 Hungarian 1903 Russo-Japanese War.
revolt suppressed. Victor Em-
manuel King of Sardinia. Dissolution of 1904 Separation of Norway and Sweden.
Frankfort Parliament. Reaction in Central 1905 (Dec.) Cainpl)eU-Bannerni:in (Lil).), Prime Minister.
Italy. Annexation of Punjab. 1906 Grant of resjwnslble government in S. Africa.
1850 North Gennan Confederation. Convention of
Olmutz. 1909 Union of S. Africa.
Australian Constitution Bill. The
Queen's memorandum to Palmerston. 1010 Accession of (ieorge V.
1851 Coup d'ftat in France. Palmerston dismissed, 1011 Republic in Portugal.
(ireat Exhibition. 1912 Manchu dynasty expelled, and republic declared
1852 Schleswig-Holstein question. Cavour Minister. In China.
Death of Duke of Wellington. Napoleon III.
Emperor. 1912
\ Balkan States defeat Turkey.
1913

5280
GLIMPSESfEUROPES
CAPITAL CITIES

IN THE HEART OF LONDON


«»'

S2gt
TRAFALGAR SQUARE AND THE NELSON COLUMN .\> SEEN FROM THE WEST SIDE

ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE MONUMENT, SHOWING ST. PAUL'S IN THE DISTANCE
LONDON, THE CAPITAL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
5282
PANuKAiVllL. VlhW. SHOWING LlGHl OK THE BRIDGES ACROSS THE RIVER SEINE

THE AVLNLL uE L'OPERA. WITH THE OPERA HOUSE IN TH^: DISTANCE.


"LA VILLE LUMIERE": SCENES IN THE BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF FRANCE.
5283
«[ nm^^^^g^^im^^^^giig^^^^^^^i^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H

1
1
HRPH
i
1 ' ,-
*''i»w-'-
-^^*:y'..

''
. .1 1 ^ ^'

J
-
- )

'
y -^m
"*;
r V^iNiL ;v ^ '^
\L >i
1. 'f^*''^'tK A^ ^--
'i -%^ u W^h^^l:. \\ - ^^
^
_-
% < • ih^ '
1 '; ^ /

> rA '^
.'
^-ijX^^ ^

%.
A GENERAL VIEW, SHOWING THE IMPERIAL PALACE AND THE CATHEDRAL

UNTER DEN LINDEN. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STREETS IN EUROPE


IN BERLIN, THE PROSPEROUS CAPITAL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE.
5284
NEVSKll-PROSPEKT, ONE OF THE FINEST THOROUGHFARES IN THE WORLD

1
I,

THE OLD ADMIRALTY BUILDING FROM ONE OF THE BRIDGES SPANNING THE NEVA
PETROGRAD. THE MODERN CAPITAL OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
5285
OF THE FRANZENSRING, THE PRINCIPAL BOULEVARD OF VIENNA

Pliotochrorae

BUDAPEST. SHOWING THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE ACROSS THE RIVER DANUBE


THE CAPITAL CITIES OF AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY
5286
" 'M'^ *>/5S»^ *:'.*>»:?
1 » '.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. SHOWING THE PICTURESQUE MOSQUES AND MINARETS

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CITY. INCLUDING THE GALATA BRIDGE


CONSTANTINOPLE, THE CAPITAL QF THE TURKISH EMPIRE
336 5287
'
tmf mt, IT-*

::^:'\«7t.'

LOOKING TOWARDS THE RUIN> "1 iilE ACROl'i


1

B
^^^^B

.
' 1' I
ssa^:^^
»?C^'^l9^4!««Pil3Bp

GENERAL VIEW OF THE MODERN TOWN


ATHENS, THE CAPITAL OF ANCIENT AND MODERN QREECE
<;288
ROME. SEEN FROM ST. PETER'S. SHOWING THE TIBER AND THE CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO

GENERAL VIEW OF BERNE. WITH THE BERNESE OBERLAND IN THE DISTANCE


ROME AND BERNE: THE CAPITALS OF ITALY AND SWITZERLAND
5289
PANORAMA OF MADRID, GIVING A GLIMPSE OF THE PRADO IN THE FOREGROUND

GENERAL VIEW OF LISBON. LOOKING FROM ST. PEDRO DE ALCANTARA


MADRID AND LISBON: THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE CAPITALS
5290
THE BRUSSELS PALAIS DE JUSTICE: ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST BUILDINGS

THE BRONZE STATUE OF Wll.l 1AM II. A 1 ii 11 \('a:i'.

SCENES IN THE CAPITAL CITIES OF BELGIUM AND HOLLAND


5291
r

Photochrome

A PICTURESQUE GLIMPSE OF BUCHAREST. THE CAPITAL OF ROUMANIA

THE CAPITALS OF ROUMANIA. BULGARIA. AND SERVIA


529a
EUROPE: SEVENTH DIVISION -

THE EUROPEAN
POWERS TO-DAY
AND A SURVEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
As concerns our present great geographical division

Europe we have now reached the last historical phase. It
remains for us to take the states into which that division is
now split up, to give an account of their present-day
characteristics, and to relate the present with the past and the
immediate future. For it is not the historian's part to
prophesy, though he has provided the data for prophetic
inductions, within very circumscribed limits.
At this stage, therefore, we give a picture of the political
and social conditions prevailing, first of all, in every Continental
state, large or small, from Russia to Andorra, dwelling on
those features which appear to be of the strongest interest in
each individual case.
Finally, we turn to Great Britain, and thence digress to an
account of her world-empire, which needs to be treated as a
unity, although such treatment of it has been impossible to
fit into our continuous narrative of world-history built up on a

geographical basis. For it is the history of an expansion into


every quarter of the globe, the picture of an empire whose flag
is planted on every continent, whose dominion in e-'ery
continent but Europe itself e.xtends from sea to sea, and claims
to include, metaphorically at least, in that dominion the
boundless ocean itself.

RUSSIA
By Dr. E. J. Dillon
TURKEY. GREECE AND THE BALKANS
By F. A. McKenzie
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
By Henry W. Nevinson
GERMANY
By Charles Lowe, M.A.
BELGIUM. HOLLAND, LUXEMBURG. SWITZERLAND
By Robert Machray, B.A.
ITALY AND SAN MARINO
By William Durban, B.A.. and Robert Machray. B.A.
FRANCE. MONACO, AND ANDORRA
By Richard Whiteing and Robert Machray. B.A.
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
By Martin Hume, M.A.
SCANDINAVIA
By William Durban. B.A.
THE UNITED KINGDOM
By Arthur D. Innes. M.A.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
By Sir Harry H. Johnston, K.C.B

5293
FROM MAY lOTH TILL JULY
THE FIRST DUMA, WHICH SATdrawing
-2m., V.

From the by Sabbatier


I..

THE SECOND DUMA. WHICH LASTED FROM MARCH 5tu TILL JUNR ir.ni, 1007_

THE THIRD DUMA, WHICH ASSEMBLED ON NOVEMBER 1ST. 1907


RUSSIA'S PARLIAMENT: PICTURES OF THE THREE
DUMAS
5294
EUROPEAN POWERS TODAY
RUSSIAIN OUR OWN TIME
ITS POVERTY, CORRUPTION, AND OPPRESSION
WITH A GLOOMY AND UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK
By Dr. E. J. Dillon
'X'HE Russia of the twentieth century is highest type of social organism. Perfect in
'•
the product of manifold social forces, idea, those institutions had been abused by
religious influences, and political currents, men, and were consequently now capable
of which the most salient and obvious of great improvement. But to put them
began to be keenly felt and generally wholly away for Western innovations
noticed in the reign of Peter the Great. would be suicidal. Indeed, the circum-
Down to that historic epoch the nation had stance that they constituted the exclusive
kept studiously aloof from the progressive heritage of the Russian race might, it was
peoples of Europe, leading a life apart. argued, be taken as a proof that Provi-
Unlike the Poles and Czechs, whom dence has destined the Slav Messiah of the
communion with papal Rome had brought nations to take the place of effete Europe
into continuous contact with aF that was in the vanguard of the cultured world.
stimulating in Western civilisation, Russia The note of Slav thought being the uni-
isolated herself by embracing Byzantine versal and the absolute, it too often
Christianity and accepting Byzantine cul- happens that inadequate attention is paid
ture. Peter the Great was the first ruler by Russian reformers to the concrete, the
to break with this paralysing real, the relative. In this way
T inking e ream -^
came to pass that the friends
^^^^ ^^^ ^^ endeavour to
ussia in
bring his people into line with ^^ Western culture in the tsar-
Two Camps xi. t- i u • Id r
their

European neighbours. dom longed not so much for the


The task was superlatively arduous, and grafting of European ideas on the Russian
the efforts constantly made since then to stock as for a quick and complete break
accomplish it divided thinking Russia into with the past and the complete regeneration
^wo camps, which towards the middle of of the nation onthe hues of extreme Social-
the nineteenth century received the names ist theories. Orthodoxy, autocracy, and
of the Slavophile and the Western. . the village commune, everything Russian,
The men party yearned for
of the latter was to be thrown into the melting-pot,
the regime of France oi England. Those of whence a rejuvenated nation was to emerge.
the former thanked God for having vouch- When far-resonant events like the
safed to His chosen people the best of all Crimean War allied themselves with these
possible institutions Greek orthodoxy as
: nihilistic notions, from the union of the two
the most perfect Christian creed Russian
; sprang that powerful current of anarchistic
autocracy, conceived as a paternal relation thought and feeling which openly and
between tsar and people, and therefore the secretly has been undermining the bases
most satisfactory of all forms of govern- of the Russian Empire ever since. With
ment ; and the village commune as the this tendency, which has made itself felt

5295
HISTORY OF THE WORLD

in all classes of society being indus- true Democrats who could gauge the
triously spread by village schools and tendency of the time and estimate the speed
popular literature, as well as by the and the trend of the main social and polit-
teachings of professional revolutionists ical currents of semi-articulate Russia.
the names of Alexander Herzen, Nicholas Since the partial revolution of 1905-6,
Dobroliuboff, and Leo Tolstoy have been which rendered many weighty problems
closely associated. Most of the active acute without starting practical solutions
leaders of the reform movement, saturated for any of them, Russia has been passing
to the heart's core with those through a transitional phase, the duration
Russia's
of which it is impossible to predict. That
War with subversive ideas, were unwill-
ing to make allowances for extraordinary upheaval, which may be
Japan
Russian ways of thought, aptly characterised as the result of a
modes of living, religious feeling, and struggle not so much between two forces
secular customs. Midway between these as between two weaknesses, between an
two camps stood the ruling oligarchs epileptic and a paralytic organism, began
planless, listless, resourceless. in truly characteristic fashion. Whole
The war with Japan revealed and inten- sections of the Statute Book and State Law
sified the astounding weakness of the were abrogated by implication. Customs
established political and social fabric, and traditions, hallowed by ages, were
hastened the downfall of the regime, and informally but effectively abolished, and
offered the reform party a golden oppor- nothing whatever was put in their places.
tunity to put their fanciful projects to the In short, a sponge was passed over the
test of realisation. When the tsar, giving slate, on which the mob was allowed to
way to what seemed the wishes of his write its conflicting demands, and almost
people, had laid down his prerogative everybody was surprised to see that
of absolutism and promised far-reaching anarchy ensued. Some of the worst
political and social reforms, the ground, effects of the confusion which was thus
cleared oi ancient encumbrances, pre- V ""_'
't
produced continue to make
still
sented a unique site for the erection of a °r themselves felt in the principal
stable democratic fabric. .
.^ departmentsof public life.
jj
Guided by ordinary common-sense and Many of
the political and social
commanded by an unflinching will, the re- questions then formulated are still pressing
form party might have successfully infused for answers. Between the theory and
into the nation all the democratic current practice of the present administration
it was capable of absorbing. The leverage many a chasm is still unbridged.
it had acquired was enormous. Some few Thus it would tax the ingenuity of a
discerned then what the many can plainly Montesquieu to determine the type of

see to-day that that party by first accept- monarchy which in Russia has succeeded
ing the power, without responsibility, which absolutism, and the courtly Almanach de
was well within its reach, might have soon Gotha has illustrated the difficulty by
afterwards obtained the reins of govern- offering a definition of the regime in terms
ment, and begun its grandiose and perilous which contradict each other. One may
experiment upon the nation. take it that the government is still an
But, confident of an easy victory, dis- autocracy, tempered, as the rule of the first
dainful of help, impatient of advice, and Romanofts was, by the wishes of the people
chafed by delay, the Democrats violently but with this difference, that in the seven-
opposed, in lieu of steadily supporting, teenth century public opinion was focussed
Count Witte's administration. fitfully in the Zemsky Councils, whereas
Democrats
In quest of allies, they made a to-day it is permanently embodied in the
in Quest
of Allies
high bid for the support of the Duma and the Council of the Empire.
Jews, the peasants, the working One of the most momentous changes
man, the lower clergy, and the troops by brought about by the revolution of 1905
promising reforms which it would have affects the legislative machinery of the
taken a century of continuous effort and tsardom. Formerly the monarch was
unsold sums of money to realise. At the the sole fountain head of law, and although
best of times Russian reformers lack the he invariably availed himself of the ser-
saving sense of measure, but now they vices of the Council of the Empire and the
broke loose from all restraints and ended Senate, which drafted Bills and inter-
by alienating the sympathies of many preted statutes, his influence upon law-
5296
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
making was paramount and unchallenged. however illogical, unfair, and indefens-
But the charter which he bestowed upon ible they may be on theoretic grounds,
his people in 19*5 contains a promise that attained the end in view. The third
henceforth no measure shall be inscribed Duma accordingly met, passed laws,
upon the Statute Book without the assent discussed Bills, increased the pay of its
of the two representative Chambers. own members to an extent that was
That is now become one of the funda- deemed exorbitant, and accustomed the
mental maxims of the Russian Constitu- nation to the working of a legislative
tion. But, like all such principles, it is assembly. The responsibility
The ^
•r^ •..
Cabinet
..

u-
4.4. ^i
j. ^ j
applicable and absolute only in normal attachmg to that course and
times. During periods of public trouble the credit for these results
exceptions are provided for. For ex-
i Members
Its \M i.
, ,
....
belong prmcipally, if not
.^

ample, if in the intervals between two exclusively, to M. Stolypin. The Duma


Dumas, the Crown believes that the needs in its present shape, and indeed the entire
of the empire call for special legislation, machinery of government, continue to
the tsar may on his own authority pro- exhibit in a superlative degree signs of the
mulgate it, on condition that on the re- haste with which they were elaborated and
assembling of the nation's spokesmen the proofs of the faultiness of their working.
measure be laid before them for confirma- In form they are stamped with the
tion or repeal. The one instance in which mark of transition, in character they ex-
the emperor, going further, altered the hibit the defects of the qualities which
fundamental laws themselves and accom- render the Slavs socially popular and
plished what was technically a coup politically inferior. The " Cabinet," pre-
d'etat, occurred in June, 1907, when he sided over by the Premier, includes only a
authorised M. Stolypin to change materi- certain number of the tsar's official advisers,
ally the electoral law. Among the argu- and ehminates nearly all the more important
ments brought forward in defence of this ones. The Ministers of War, Marine, and
bold line of action two seem Foreign Affairs, as well as the Minister of
.
° '""* especially cogent. The franchise the Imperial Court are outside the Cabinet.
P .
. . as established in 1905 had no At bottom this may be an advantage, for it
claims whatever to be included makes them quite independent of the Prime
among the fundamental laws, which alone Minister. If they take part in any parlia-
are "immutable." Indeed, it had been mentary discussion, the act is understood
printed among them solely in consequence to be quite spontaneous on their part, and
of a mere chancellery blunder. Moreover, in each case they must first obtain the
by their nature the conditions which a express authorisation of the emperor. The
citizen of almost any country must fulfil in Prime Minister's authority does not touch
order to qualify as a voter, especially when them, nor does the Crown, when appoint-
the franchise is very restricted, are not stable. ing or dismissing them, consult him.
They change with the times, and no serious The autocracy as it prevailed down to
legislator would seek to canonise them. 1905 has thus disappeared, but it seems
Another consideration that weighed with impossible to define with anything ap-
the Crown and the Premier was the danger proaching to precision the type of govern-
that threatened representative institutions ment that has taken its place. Nor would
in Russia at that critical period of their it be easier to trace the limits that divide
existence. Two successive Dumas had the legislative, judicial, and executive
come together, bitterly disappointed the powers from each other. The tsar, mdeed,
hopes of their friends, and realised those still retains his old title of
^^^
of their enemies. And if the third ex- Sfn
Autocrat, despite the needlessly
periment should fail, the grant of an a\ "^t bitter oppositionpoliticians offered to it
who
elective Chamber would most probably by democratic
have been suspended sine die. In order to spend most of their energy in barren
avert this calamity it seemed necessary tilting against windmills. But he has
to get together an assembly that would preserved more than the title. No
consent to discharge its own functions measure can acquire the force of law
within the narrow limits outlined by without his assent. All authority emanates
the constitution. A set of arbitrary from him. He is the source of justice
voting qualifications was therefore drawn and mercy, and his dispensing power
up by the Prime Minister, which, of which, however, he but seldom makes

5297
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
use — ^is extensive enough to enable him to say that of late these quarrels have
indirectly to temper or annul a penal law. increased. On the whole, however, that
The tsar is the one connecting link between is in our character. I^t four men come
the Russian nation and all the foreign together, and the very first thing they do is
members of the international community. to rummage each other's souls in quest
He also the war-lord of Russia, to whom
is of each other's defects. About the good
the land and sea forces owe obedience, points nobody cares, but they infallibly
and he is the sole judge of the acts of rake up the delinquencies."
his Ministers, who are respon- It is almost impo^ible to watch the
Disappointed
sible to no other institution working of the administrative mechanism
Liberal
- in the empire. What dis- of to-day without seeing that the Duma
P e ormers
appointed Liberal reformers has lost the fascination for Russia which
most complain of is the Duma's
bitterly it possessed in the year 1906. It was then
impotence even in financial matters. And looked up to as a sort of brazen serpent
in truth its influence is chiefly negative. in the Desert of Bureaucracy, created in
The Lower Chamber may criticise, order to heal. To-day it is but one of the
but cannot reform. If its members pass a many state departments of which there
Bill obnoxious to the Government, the were then too many, whose privileged
Upper House is virtually certain to throw members are paid high salaries by the
it out. A Chamber of Reconciliation is starving people for doing little or nothing.
then convoked, composed of a number of It has ceased to be a fountain of good, and is
members of both legislatures. If these fail looked upon as a source of malignant evils.
to agree, everything remains as it was It has no hold whatever on the country,
before, and if a money vote is in question, and therefore cannot act as a breakwater
the Minister continues to receive the sum against the heavy rollers of the revolu-
allotted to him by the estimates of the tionary sea which threatens to sweep away
preceding year. That the Duma should be the djTiasty and the monarchical regime.
thus restricted to the role of censor is —^ _
e
.
reeping
And as the Duma is the only
deemed to be one of the worst defects of j-g^j^pg^j-^
^ which the monarchy
Paralysis -',

the present system of government.


fth D
now possesses agamst a general
,

On the other hand, it cannot be gainsaid democratic movement —


just
that the soft, plastic character of the as the police is the only protection on which
Slavs, the feebleness of their social the monarch relies against terrorist plots
interests, and the ease with which they it follows that, parallel with the creeping
turn away from deeds to words, are also paralysis of the Duma goes the perilous
to some extent answerable for the barren- weakening of the monarchic regime.
ness of the legislative sessions. The late Thus the Russian Autocracy might be
Speaker, M. Khomyakoff, who is himself likened to a mighty rock which after
endowed with the admirable character- centuries of repose has just rolled from
istics of the Slav in an eminent degree, the summit of a high mountain, but has
has frequently pointed out the evil and been stopped midway down. In its present
explained it. Speaking in November, 1908, precarious position it may remain for
to a publicist about the glut of Bills and years, or it may suddenly resume its down-
the slowness with which they are dealt ward course to-morrow, crushing every-
with, he is reported to have said " Look- : thing in its way. This latter contingency
ing at it all round, I must say that, to my is deemed by many to be all the more
thinking, the legislative machinery should likely as many forces are working de-

Squa hbi e»
^
changed in some way. I liberately, methodically, and perseveringly,
j,^j^j^q|. indicate how this is to be to set it rolling while most of the officials
;

the D
done . . . but
easy to see it is who have undertaken the task of thwarting
that if on J ily ist this year these, are either listless, negligent, or else
there remained 222 Bills untouched, and by secretly in the service of the enemy.
November ist of the seme year 290 more Evidently, then, change is a necessity.
were laid before the House, well, there is The sole question is, who shall have the
something to think about. . But all . shaping of it ? At present the dynasty
that would be nothing if the members of has the opportunity, and, to a limited
the Duma hit it off together, more or less. extent, the ways and means, but apparently
But they are eternally squabbling, etern- lacks the right men or else the will to
ally fighting. With regret I am obliged appoint them. Even of the Bureaucrats,
5298
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
who at present wear the Hvery and receive tection to the regime, but to all elements
the pay of the Crown, a large percentage of peaceful progress in the nation. In
are desirous of ulterior and far-reaching 1905 vigilant observers confidently pre-
changes. A new political and social dicted the saturation of the army with
revolution is what they ardently hope for. anarchistic or socialistic views within three
And they would not only welcome its years, that being the period necessary
advent but would work actively to hasten lor a complete renovation of the troops.
it if they could take this step with im- But although the efforts of the revolutionary
punity. Some of them indeed do, but . party are concentrated on the
.

stern necessity compels the majority to -


* land and sea forces, without
bide their time in relative quiescence. °^* whose help or connivance they
This attitude is but one of many will find it difficult to carry out
symptoms of a dangerous disorder which their subversive designs, the temper of
the ruling classes cannot, or will not, the troops is still on the whole satisfactory.
diagnose. Since the October 17th to 30th, But even the army is not immune from
1905, there has been a bewildering dis- the individual efforts of such apostles
location of the political, forces of the of the revolution as the late Gershuni,
country, but it came to pass so gradually whose almost irresistible influence might

that even its occurrence to say nothing aptly be likened to that of the pied piper of
of its significance — has not been realised Hamelin. Socialism and Anarchism are now
or even noticed by the professional watch- reaching the private soldier and common
men of the nation. But its effects are felt, man by means of the Press, which the
although they are not being traced to the revolutionary forces of the country can
true cause. The Cabinet, the dynasty, the handle with surprising effects. The bulk

ruling classes administrative and legisla- of daily papers, as well as weekly and
tive— are now on one side, and the people monthly journals, are arrayed against the
are on the other. There is no organic nexus government, and their present moderation
^^ Shadow
€>^ , between the governing bodies of tone is solely a result of the powerful
The j 4.1, a- t u
, _ . and the nation.
j.
Liberty is deterrents which martial law puts in the
of & Second , i.

j i.j.v i j.

P . . banished to the parliamentary hands of governors and general-governors.


island of the Tavrida Palace, A change of regime to-morrow, or even the
law to the hall of the Senate and the pages repeal of exceptional legislation, would
of the civil and criminal codes, justice to the effect a sudden and complete transforma-
world to come, and the few measures of methods of warfare.
tion in their
reform with which the Duma or the Cabinet That the army still needs complete
periodically toy are as indifferent to the reorganisation in almost every respect is
nation as the caress of a soft and tender evident, and not merely to -experts, but
hand squandered on a tortoise's shell also to careful outside observers. In the
would be to the slumbering tortoise inside. course of the years 1906 and 1907, the
The nation is marching steadily along its Government removed nearly all the highest
own grooves of thought, and striving commanders from active service, the chiefs
towards its own ideals, and the governing of corps and divisions, and likewise about
classes are moving over theirs. The link two-thirds of the other commanding
between them is purely mechanical, not officers. But independently of this weed-
organic, and that, too, seems destined ing-out process numbers of excellent
shortly to snap. Even now the subter- officers have voluntarily quitted the
ranean forces of upheaval are so active, so army because of the miserly pay there,
constant, so successful, and the resistance the slowness of advancement,
offered them is so feeble, that even strangers the lack of stimulus to enter-
with open eyes and ears, and nimble minds,

N
'^ n *f
d"^
prise, and of the crushing out of
of Reform j- -j
• i-. i
can predict with perfect confidence the individuality by rigorous cen-
coming of the second revolution. trahsation. Hundreds of them found it
The principal mainstay of the dynasty, utterly impossible to live on the pit-
and, indeed, of order in the empire, is tance they received.
at present the army, whose loyalty has Of these many resigned their commis-
withstood temptations that appeared irre- sions, while others plunged into debt. The
sistible. Suspected in 1905 of being life of the average officer, from the grade
honeycombed with sedition, it still con- of major downwards, was a never-ending
stitutes not only the most ef&cient pro- sequence of disillusions and hardships.
5299
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The War Ministry, when it shortened national school for the upbringing of the
the term of service from four years to primitive beings that enter them every
three, failed to allow for the fact that year. Little has been done by the tsar's
the training would have to be inten- military advisers in the way of profiting
sified correspondingly. Twenty-five per by the lessons of the late war. And yet
cent, more work was accordingly ex- most other countries have utilised Russia's
pected of the staff officers, who received painful experience. The hand grenade, for
neither better pay nor more help than instance, proved a most useful weapon
b^^o''^- Y^t ^h^ ^*^^ ^^ officers during the Japanese campaign, and the
c A nny s
'

^^^ nearly always been inade- War Ministry accordingly resolved to


- " "!„ quate. As the number who are introduce it. Two departments, therefore,
Loss of Men ^ .• n
lackmg amounts a„

contmually i i
to
i.
undertook to supply hand grenades to the
about 4,000, the work that falls to those —
army the artillery and the engineers'
who are in the service is doubled and —
corps but as they have been unable to
sometimes trebled. Every year the agree how to set about it, the step has not
military schools send out about 2,500 yet been taken. The utility and necessity
young officers to the army, which is of siege artillery is another of the practical
annually losing about 4,000. The deiicit conclusions which were drawn from the
is therefore growing instead of diminishing, experience obtained during the Manchu-
and most of those who leave the service rian campaign. But the Russian army,
are said to be the best educated and the which was not supplied with siege guns in
most highly qualified. 1904, is not supplied with them yet.
From January, 1909, the pay of the Again, about half of the divisions are still
Russian officers was increased, but only without quick-firing guns, because there i?
slightly. Lack of funds keeps them from no money to buy them, the sum needed
receiving their due, for gold is one of the being computed at $100,000. Yet for the
chief forces that move the steel of armies, new and uncouth headgear which has
and Russia is poor. Still, much larger sums ^ ,. . recently been introduced, a
Essential
might have been made available for the sum ofr r>$7,000,000 was as-
troops by intelligent thrift. The hundreds ""hesitatingly. The
"rPo'mict.-g-''
of miUions assigned in 1908 to the building police, too, which is one of the
of the Amoor railway line would, in the least efficient in the world, is manifestly
opinion of experts and patriots, have been undergoing a process of slow reorganisa-
much better invested in raising the tion. Here, however, the work of improve-
material and moral level of the soldiers and ment is more difficult owing to the exiguity
officers. Men of talent whom a military of qualified men, for in Russia no one can
career was wont to attract under the first become a good policeman who is not a man
Nicholas and the second Alexander now of nerve and a citizen of more than average
seek at the Bar, in trade, commerce and moral worth. And individuals endowed
industry, or in various departments of the with such ethical and physical equipments
civil service, a suitable field for their have no motives for becoming social
activity and adequate remuneration for pariahs by donning a livery which renders
their time and labour. them in the eyes of Russian society what
In Russia, garrison service is marked the publicans were in the eyes of the Jews.
by sameness, and the efforts put forth In order to be and to remain an honest
to vary its monotony too often demoralise and incorruptible member of the police
those who make them. Hence the force in Russia, a man must be heroically
morale of the officers' corps virtuous, wholly temptation proof. Doubt-
/° * . stand in quite as much need less, every department of the administra-
of Garrison ^-
r
bemg improvedj as xi_
1 • •

c . of their tion in the tsardom has its own peculiar


maierial condition. And unless temptations, but that of the police teems
this problem is worked out to a desir- with them. The pay
is absurdly small
able solution, the common men, who the work is hard
the risks are great
; the ;

constitute the finest fighting material in antipathy of the public is intense and
the world, will lack efficient instructors, ruthless, and if a member is dismissed by
without whom the raw stuff cannot be his superiors, he is virtually an outcast.
fashioned into a living organism. In a During the discharge of his duties money
country like Russia, the barracks could, is thrust upon him at every hand's turn,
and should, be turned into a kind of sometimes for what he does, at other times
5300
RUSSIA'S FINEST INFANTRY: THE SEMINOVSKY BEING REVIEWED BY THE TSAR

THE TSAR, WITH AN IKON IN HIS HAND, BLESSING RUSSIAN INFANTRY

ANOTHER PICTURE SHOWING THE TSAR REVIEWING THE SEMINOVSKY REGIMENT


THE TSAR OF RUSSIA AMONG HIS SOLDIERS
5^01
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
for what he leaves undone, and very often were broughtto light. The Govern-
on the principle on which the Chinese pay ment instituted strict investigations,
their doctors, so long as they have no need which led to further discoveries of a
of their professional services. Under these nauseous kind> The accused were sent
circumstances to fall is easy, even to an for trial, the scandal was intense and
immaculate citizen. And the bulk of widespread, and the public mistrust of the
the police are the reverse of immaculate. police became more deep-rooted than
The secret political policeorganisation, before. But the system remains what it
which at a time hke the present was. It may well be doubted whether the
Working! -g moral calibre of the Russian constable
^^g Qf ^j^g mainstays of the
regime, has been shown by can be greatly improved before his material
Pol if"'*'
"^ * well-being has been adequately provided
recent events to be at once
implicitly trusted and absolutely untrust- for by his employers. But if the ordinary
worthy. workings tend to undermine
Its police in Russia resembles salt that has
the throne, which it is paid to support, and lost its savour, the political section may
'.ts agents —some consciously, others un- be likened to a disinfectant with which a

wittingly defeat the very object which potent poison has been mixed.
the organisation exists to promote. Nor is True, in no country is scrupulous respect
it to be supposed that any partial reform for austere moraUty a characteristic of the
will infuse new life into the service so long body of men whose duty it is to discover
as theGovernment lacks men of common in order to frustrate political crimes. So
honesty to work as agents, money to pay long as they keep within certain broad
them well, and an organising intellect to limits, and refrain from committing a
give direction to their efforts. breach of certain rudimentary ethical prin-
Russia's police organisation is divided ciples, they are sure to be judged by an
into two branches, of which one deals with easy standard. But in the practice of the
ordinary crime and criminals, and the Russian secret police all restraints appear
other with individuals and associations *° have been ignored, all
E '1 R d
whose aim is to overthrow the Government breaches of human and divine
{ tK
or to assassinate its members. And the S Azeff ^^^ ^^ ^^
permitted. The
influence of both divisions upon the ^^ '
. Lopoukhine - Azeff scandal,
community is now seen to be positively which stirred the Russian nation to its
mischievous. In some cases the chiefs, and inmost depths in 1909 revealed a code of
in most instances the agents, undisguisedly maxims and a sequence of acts for which
adopt measures which run counter to the even men of lax morality find no excuse,
principles on which society rests. and people of average intelligence can
They violate the law, scoif at morality, suggest no reasonable explanation.
tamper with Imperial behests, paralyse The head of the police, Lopoukhine,
the arm of the most powerful Minister, set great store by a spy named Azeff, who
change a judicial or administrative was the soul and brain of the revolutionary
thunderbolt into a simple petard, open committee which conceived and arranged
prison doors to dangerous malefactors, some of the political outrages that pre-
reveal state secrets to bloodthirsty ceded and accompanied the revolution.
terrorists, and finally reach a point at For the seven years ending in 1909, Azeff
which public opinion, clamouring to have enjoyed the confidence alike of the
them punished, is uncertain whether to terrorists and the police, and, so far as
classify them as cunning conspirators or one can judge, achieved feats of sufficient
as stupid officials. The ordi- importance to justify it in each case. He
orrup ion
j^^^y police System, which is is said to have planned, among other
."^*j. more amenable to supervision crimes, the assassination of General
,
than the political, is undoubt- Bogdanovitch, Governor of Ufa, of the
edly corrupt to the core. Badly-paid Minister Plehve, from whom he was
underlings or impecunious chiefs conspire receiving large sums of money every
with thieves, highwaymen, and other year, of the Grand Duke Sergius.
and
criminals, whom they not only screen On the other hand, he betrayed the most
from punishment, but aid and abet in successful Russian revolutionist that ever
the commission of crime. In the year lived, Gershuni, who was proud of being
IQ08 some extensive conspiracies, in his intimate friend. And while Azeff, the
which members of the police took part, redoubted and redoubtable revolutionist.
5302
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
was thus plajdng false to his party on the mysterious behest. And during a whole
one hand, and was procuring the murder month the chief of the Kieff police con-
of prominent members of the Imperial tinued to report, and the Home Secretary
Government on the other hand, one of the went on repeating his instructions. At
most influential chiefs of the provincial last the day set apart for the crime was
pohce —Bakai, the assistant- director of drawing near, and the police director

the secret police of Warsaw was betraying informed Plehve that the four conspi-
Azeff to the revolutionists. But as the rators whose names he had communicated
revolutionary committee could not on long before had started for Ufa
Forces
such questionable evidence convict its to commit the deed. But still
th&t Prevent
trusted leader of foul play, it appealed to Plehve made no sign. And in
Anarchy
Lopoukhine, the police director who had May, 1903, General Bogdano-
been the zealous co-operator and intimate vitch, Governor of Ufa, was duly shot
friend of the despotic Minister Plehve, dead by the four assassins, who went
and this gentleman gave evidence against away unmolested.
the secret agent whose services he had As things now stand in Russia, the
utilised and appreciated. throne alone would seem to separate the
Among the causes that have led to this nation from anarchy, while the police
anarchy are the lack of unity of system shield the throne from destruction. On
and moral laxity. Under Plehve, for the efficiency of the police, therefore, the
instance, there were five different bodies duration of the present regime will con-
of secret police, each one working by itself tinue to depend, unless it be laid upon
and directing principally against
its efforts some more solid groundwork.
the others. These were, the force under A thorough reorganisation of the police
the police department, the police of the will entail heavy expenditure. Money,
Department of Public Safety, the police therefore, is a requisite. And what is true
of the Minister of the Interior, the palace of the army and the police is equally true
^ n. police, and the police of the of every state department in the empire :
How .
Plots T- •
T~v Tj.
J. i.

without funds, no root-reaching reform is


roreign Department. It is

jj
. easy
. to see how these bodies feasible. On
the other hand, without
might unintentionally baulk purifying reform the diseased organism
each other's schemes but that, moved by
; cannot be healed nor the enfeebled financial
spite, hatred, or other base motives, they forces reinvigorated. We are apparently
should deliberately play into the hands of face to face with a vicious circle.
the revolutionists is more difficult for On the finances in the first instance, and
foreigners to understand. To Russians, on the economic condition of the country
however, it seems not only probable, but in last analysis, the future of the nation
true. And among the instances they bring very largely depends. For the longer
forward in support of this grave accusation needful reforms are delayed, the more
the following is the most striking. intense and widespread will disaffec-
While the cleverest Russian revolutionist, tion become, and the slighter will be
Gershuni, was hving in a tailor's family in the influence of the conservative ele-
Kieff, planning the assassination of the ments in the country. These elements
Governor of Ufa, his every deed and word are at present almost entirely confined to
were revealed to the chief of the Kieff secret the higher classes. Formerly, indeed, the
police. The traitors were two zealous peasantry, too, were included among them,
revolutionists, the tailor and his daughter but erroneously because the Russian
;

in whose house Gershuni was living Now The Peasants'



mooshik this is one of the
the chief of the Kieff General
police. Russian terms for peasant
Idea
Novitsky, forwarded urgent telegrams to
of Politics

bore stoically what he
the Home Secretary, Plehve, asking for could not alter, and dared not
instructions and expecting to be authorised criticise, he was set down as a worshipper
to arrest the conspirators. But Plehve, of the autocracy. And, in order to obtain
who is alleged to have had a grudge a Conservative majority in the Duma, the
against the destined victim of the assas- peasant was enfranchised by the first
sins, ordered the police director to stay electoral law. In the interests of the
his hand. " Observe, report, keep every- nation, that mistake had to be righted as
thing absolutely secret, but do nothing soon as the unwelcome fact became clear
rash." Such was the gist of the Minister's that he was quite indifferent to pohtics, as

337 5303
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
politics, but was ready to join any party, engenders, the country would be ruined.
legal or illegal, that wovild give or promise But his way was blocked with many
him gratmtously the land belonging to the obstacles. Seemingly, the peasantry had
squires, the Crown, or the Church. already thrown in their lot with the enemies
Intellectually little better than the of the empire. Revolutionary groups had
French or British peasant of the eleventh bribed them with the promise of free land,
century, the mooshik lazily tills the land rightly feeling that to be successful the
which he occupies but does not own. He anti-monarchical movement must have
is but a member of the village community the active support of the masses. And
in which the ownership is vested. Hence it was because having won they failed to
he lacks the sharp-cut notion of personal keep that support, and the movement
property, which to European peoples is consequently remained a mere urban
almost an innate idea. He sees no moral revolution, that Russia is still an autocracy.
wrong in sequestrating by force the land Of the lyopoo.ooo who now inhabit the
that belongs to another, especially if that tsardom, only i2-8 per cent,
Russi&'s
other is of a different class; nor can dwell in cities, the other 87*2
Peasant
he discern any danger to himself in that per cent, live in the country,
Population
course, although underlying it is a prin- and of these 74* 2 per cent, are
ciple which, if logically applied, would re- tillers of the soil. The entire peasant
duce him to utter poverty. On the be- class of the empire amounts to 6y2 per
nighted condition of the vast agricultural cent., or two-thirds of the population.
class which thus constitutes a formidable These figures enable one to understand
and proximate danger to the well-being the importance of the peasantry to the
of the nation, the third Prime Minister, revolutionist leaders and the recklessness
M. Stolypin, concentrated his attention. with which they made their bid for its
Among a set of urgent problems all support. Brutal anarchism was the form
pressing for instant solution, he singled which the subversive movement assumed
out the agrarian question as the most among the tillers of the soil.
momentous. Soon after he had accepted M. Stolypin's mode of warring against
he acquired the conviction that unless
office this violent outburst was to smash the
he could win over the peasantry to such last of the three idols of the Slavophiles
conservatism as enlightened selfishness —
the village commune to divide among

RUSSIAN CROWD BEING HELD IN CHECK COSSACK SOLDIERS


5304
A COSSACK REGIMENT RIDING THROUGH THE STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG
individual husbandmen the land thereto- this amounts to nearly 17,000 square miles.
fore possessed in common, and thus graft- This salutary reform, simple
agrarian
ing the idea of personal property on the though it may seem, require the
will
sluggish, untutored minds of the rustics to expenditure of sums of money so vast that
wait until that should bring forth political the special agrarian fund wih not suffice
and social fruit. This vast and fateful to furnish them. One may be pardoned
experiment is now in process of realisation. for doubting whether even yet the Ministry
In the haste with which it had to be under- itself fully realises the amounts that will
taken and the political colour that was ultimately be absorbed by this grandiose
necessarily imparted to it in consequence experiment, or the political changes it
of the stress and strain of the moment lie will bring forth. That the peasants will
the sources of its two sets of defects. fail to redeem the bonds issued by the

But the efforts made by the Government government to the noblemen who are
wece praiseworthy. The domain lands of selling their land, and that the deficit
the Imperial family and extensive estates must one day be covered by the State,
bought from wealthy noblemen seems to many a foregone conclusion.
Emigration
^^^^ parcelled into lots by the But the total cost of the transfer
3. Peasants' Bank, and are will probably not be limited to this loss.
E
Encouraged
^^^ divided among the farmers For the peasant, who already lives from
who undertake to refund the cost price hand to mouth, will be unable, from
to the State. The continuous migration lack of ready money, to till the land as
of landless husbandmen to Siberia is also the noblemen tilled it. He must there-
being directed and fostered by the Govern- fore obtain credit or sell out. Yet, in lieu
ment, which further proposes to invite the of receiving the wherewithal to keep his
same land-seeking class to colonise certain new farm on its old level of productivity
districts of Central Asia. The number of he has to saddle himself from the outset
families that migrated to Siberia during with debts which will cripple him and
the year 1908 was computed by the damage the community. The system of
central authorities at 74,500, or, say cultivation that still obtains in Russia
between 370,000 and 450,000 individuals of may be tersely described as plunder of the
both sexes. The extent of land parcelled out soil. Much is taken, and little or nothing
among these is estimated at 3,000,000 des- is given back. The three-field system,
siatines, a dessiatine being equal to 13,067 which involves enormous work, the lack
square yaids, or approximately 2f acres; of variety of crops, and the absence of
5305
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
artificialmanures, contribute to exhaust of professional revolutionists. In other
the fertihty of the land. But it is difficult words, M. Stolypin's experiment, if there
to see how any Minister, situated as were funds to ensure to it the highes\
M. Stolypin was, could have provided degree of success, could not bring forth
funds enough for the agrarian revolution good fruits before a couple of generations.
which he courageously inaugurated. It —
But realised only in part and plainly in
is worth noting that, contrary to expec- its subversive part — owing to the dearth
tation, the peasants do not readily of funds to carry out the whole, and relied
purchase the land which the upon as an immediate remedy for the
for
Agrarian Bank acquired at its pressing political evils of to-day, it strikes
p* own risk from the landlords most Russian observers as a superlatively
and divided into lots suited for mischievous scheme, which, however, does
farms. And yet the terms on which the credit to the heart of M. Stolypin.
bank offers them are very advantageous That the peasantry is as sorely in need
to the purchaser. Between November, of culture as the land will be taken as a self-
1905, and November, 1908, the bank evident proposition by all who have lived
thus bought 3,682,000 dessiatines from among them. Crass ignorance, mediaeval
noblemen who had either actually suffered superstition, paralysing fatalism, and a
or were afraid of suffering from the vio- propensity to thriftlessness and laziness,
lence of the peasantry. are among their negative characteristics,
Yet, of all this land, only 656,000 dessia- and also among the active causes of the
tines have been bought by the would-be poverty from which they constantly
tenant farmers, or, say, 18 per cent, of the suffer. Indeed, such is the character
whole. The remainder, amounting to more of the Russian agricultural class that,
than 3,000,000 dessiatines, remains on the according to a competent, but one
hands of the bank, which has been author- hopes a mistaken, judge, M. Obraztsoff,
ised to make further purchases amounting the introduction of personal property
to 2,000,000 dessiatines. In this way among them will in three years
Idleness
5,000,000 dessiatines are in a transitional cause about 20,000,000 of them
state —
a result which must have a mis-
in Rural
Russia
to be landless. " The owners
chievous effect on the material well-being will exchange their farms for
of the community. alcohol, just as they now exchange their
In the Budget this dead loss figures as a carts and their garments for drink. There
minus, for the former owners of these are families who have drunk their unsold
estates have already been remunerated in land for twenty years in advance."
government bonds, bearing interest at 5 It is interesting in this connection to
and 6 per cent. And the interest on this note the views of another authority,
debt has to be paid with regularity. The A. J. Savenko, who affirms that the
result is that the Government, in order to fundamental impressions which rural
make good the loss of the bank, draws Russia makes on the observer are the
upon the taxpayer, and having assigned laziness, listlessness, and ignorance of its
7,000,000 roubles to the peasants' bonds in inhabitants. " The indolence of the
1908, gave a subsidy of 17,500,000 in 1909. majority of the peasants transcends all
But a more scathing criticism than bounds. For dwellers in cities, who
could be based upon the probable financial live in an atmosphere of steady toil, it is
consequence of the measure lies in the positively bewildering. The peasants are
grounded fear that by its limitations it averse to doing anything. Work of any
demoralise the village com-
^^'^ sort is distasteful to them, and they shirk
M St I

'1'"'*
*

munity, which
it cannot wholly
' it by every means in their power. Old and
D htf
_ . abolish, will ruin the bulk of
Experiment .,
. young are characterised by sloth, but
r
the peasant farmers, whom it
1 . ,.

youth takes the foremost place. In a


cannot furnish with adequate means of large village you cannot find a single good
tilling the newly acquired soil, will cut worker, male or female. They will not
millions adrift from the land, deprive consent to exert themselves even for most
them of permanent work, rob them of the substantial remuneration, preferring to sit
material and moral help which they here- with folded arms at home. They live in
tofore received from the village com- want ; some of them beg ; but none wish
munity, and expose them unequipped to labour. . . . All in all, I think
for resistance to the powerful temptations that in the course of a whole year the
5306
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
peasants work no more than from one to out distinction of sex, and oftentimes the
two months. The remainder of the time cattle, take their rest in one narrow,
they spend in utter idleness, which has a mephitic room. Such a rudimentary
stupefying effect on them. convenience as a bed is a very great
" Cynicism is a natural consequence of rarity in a farmer's house. The
this sloth and listlessness. The peasants villages and hamlets in which the rural
live in incredible squalor. Their sesthefic popiilation of Russia are sheltered burn
requirements are lowered to a microscopic to ashes once in twenty years, completing
minimum. The need of the most elemen- . . its ruin. Some hygienists hold,
ussia in
tary comforts are wholly unfelt. They however, that if Russia were
lead literally the life of hogs. Brutish ... . not periodically thus consumed
.
with America "^

cynicism shows itself through the whole


iT , j ,

by fire she would rot away


1 .

m
course of rustic existence. I do not her infected huts and cabins. . . .

know wherein the spiritual side of it Nor is the food of the pejasant any better.
consists. The bulk of them are not Compared with what it was, there is a
conscious of any bond between themselves certain change for the worse. It ...
and the nation or the State. Religion consists mainly of bread and potatoes.
no longer plays the part that it once did Even such vegetables as cabbage, onions,
in the life of the people. In a fairly large and cucumber are disappearing from the
village there is no church, and none of table of the bulk of the peasants."
the villagers are in the least put out by The wealth-creating power of the
the lack of one. Only one necessity is Russian husbandman is what the personal
everywhere felt in the gloomy existence of characteristics and the social conditions

the peasantry ^the necessity of vodka — enumerated above would lead one to
and that thirst is stilled abundantly." expect. Take the five principal cereals
A correlate to the laziness of the of the country— rye, wheat, oats, barley,
peasant is the large number of days of —
Indian corn and we find that in the year
^^^\^^ ^"Joys even during the 1900 the total produce was but 3,269
The Peasants
p
busiest months of the year when million poods —
a pood is 36 pounds there ;

Tr'iniess ^^^^y ^°^^ °^ daylight ought are 62 poods in a ton —


valued at i904"7
to be utilised to the fullest. milhons of roubles. That is in Russia,
For example, August ist is a holiday, the where agriculture constitutes the main
sixth is a holiday, the fifteenth is a holiday, occupation, giving w6rk to 74 per cent, of
the twenty-ninth and the thirtieth are the entire population. Now, in the United
holidays. Add to these the four Sundays, States, where only 36 per cent, of the
and you have nine days in one month population till the land, the harvest of
during which no work is done. cereals in that same year amounted to
But it is not only in the country that 5,340 million poods, valued at 2,800
this disregard of time is noticeable. In million roubles. Thus the American
trade and commerce, at the Bar, in the farmers gathered in 63 per cent, more

banks, on the railways in short, every- in weight —
than the Russians. And yet
where it is the same. The Board of the the population of the tsardom is, roughly
Siberian Railway has lately published statis- speaking, double that of the North
tics of the number of hours the trains were American Republic.
late on that line during two consecutive we now inquire how much of the corn
If
years. In 1906 they lost 2,514 hours, and in is eaten by the people who raise it, we
1907, 2,335 hours, i.e., in 1906, 104I days shall find the Russian husbandman
and in 1907, 97 days and 7 hours. In the lagging far behind his rivals.
The Food
course of three years the Siberian trains In fact, one may truly say ot
of the
lost exactly one year. And these sta- Peasants
him what was said of the
tistics deal only with passenger trains. French tiller before the revo-
Poverty is the correlate of sloth and lution " He always has too little to eat,
:

thriftlessness, and it may well be doubted and occasionally dies of hunger." During
whether in any other country in Euru'pe the year 1904 the American citizen
the material exi&tence of the j:)easants consumed 54*3 poods of corn; the Ger-
leaves so much to be desired as in Russia. man, 28-0; Austro - Hungarian, 23*3;
" The peasant's dwelling is a wooden French, 23*3; British, 23*0; Russian, 18*3.
or mudhut, more suited for cattle than The melancholy significance of these
for human beings. The peasants, with- figures will become more clear when we
5307
. . ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


bear in mind that together with corn foods in 1908 : in European Russia, exclu-
the other peoples eat meat, fish, eggs, sive of Poland, 25,000,000 head ; in
vegetables, butter, and fruits in much Poland, 3,000,000 ; in Asiatic Russia,
larger quantities than Russians. Nor 6,000,000 in the Caucasus, 5,000,000 ;
;

should it be forgotten that Russia exports in Finland, 2,000,000. But although the
about 15 per cent, of the entire harvest of absolute total in that year was undoubt-
cereals, which amounts to about 3 to 4 edly greater than in any of the foregoing
-,. poods a head of the popula- years, the percentage per 1,000 souls of
The Scanty
«s
^^^^ ^^^ following SUggeS- the population had fallen perceptibly. In
F&re of the ,. ,, ° j
n . tive table gives poods >^u
,

the m

the sixties of the last century it was


production and the consump- about 340 in the seventies, 327 ; in the
;

tion of the five cereals enumerated above eighties, 319 in the nineties, 311.
;

by six nations in 1894 and 1904 : Fires caused by gross neglect or malice
constitute one of the scourges of the
Production Consumption
Countries
per head per head tsardom. It is computed that every
year fire destroys property valued at
1894 1904 1894 1904 400,000,000 roubles, about $210,000,000.
Britain IO-8 8-2 23'9 23-0 Of every thousand roubles' worth insured
Germany . 21-1 26-1 23"7 28-0 by the various companies almost 80 i>er
France 27*2 28-4 27-5 23'3 cent, of the premium is thus consumed.
Austria-Hungary 24-9 23-1 23-1 23-3
United States
.

72-8 42 -8 54"3
Assuming that the value of insured
5i"3
Russia 266 26-3 22-8 18-3 property in the tsardom amounts to
sixty milliards of roubles, the yearly
The sameness and scantiness of the loss suffered by the insurance companies
Russian peasant's repasts are all the more alone through fire is estimated by
surprising that game is abundant in the experts at 336,000,000 roubles. And this
interior and fish plentiful in Russian forms but a portion of the total loss,
seas, rivers and lakes. The amount because a large amount of pro-
Improved
of fish caught in Russian waters every year perty is never insured. Now,
State of the
is computed by the well-known expert, a considerable percentage of
Workers
Borodin, at 1,120 million kilogrammes, of these fires might be easily hin-
which about 19,000,000 kilogrammes are dered by the application of ordinary
caught in the Caspian Sea 35,000,000 in ; prudence on the part of the peasants
the Baltic and White Seas 17,000,000 in ; and by watchfulness on the part of
the Black Sea and Sea of Azov over ; the authorities, who have done little
6,000,000 in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans ; to suppress incendiarism.
and 5,000,000 in the Ural Sea. Among the Sphinx questions of the
Carp and perch contribute about year of the revolution, 1905, the economic
754,000,000 kilogrammes herring about ; condition of the Russian working man was
152,000,000; salmon, about 45,000,000; thrust in the foreground as the most
sturgeon, approximately, 34,000,000 pressing of all. And, considering that
different other kinds, about 40,000.000 ; the changes brought about in the social
not counting 64,000,000 kilos of fresh- and political framework of Russia were
water fish. And it should be borne in due in large part to the strikes organised
mind that this wealth of fish food is by factory hands, the mistake was par-
obtained with a minimum of expenditure donable. And crying evils were redressed.
in money and labour, for fisheries and The Russian workman, having beaten the
pisciculture in Russia are still in a very world's record for strikes, had most
, primitive state. The sea, like
, of his genuine grievances speedily
r^"*"*!,*- 1, the land, is being ruthlessly remedied ; the hours of work have
Great Fish 1 j j 1 1 ; •

g "'*'' ^
. plundered almost; poaching is been shortened, the pay has been
universal, and down to a short raised, the risks have been lessened,
time ago close seasons were openly dis- the metho'^i of terminating his engagement
regarded. Yet Russia supplies three times have been made easy and satisfactory to
as much fish as the United States, five him, and over and above he has dealt a
times as much as Great Britain, and six stunning blow to the employers of labour,
times as much as France. The amount whose profits he has cut down, and whose
of cattle possessed by the peasantry, business he has in many cases wholly
according to the latest statistics, was mined. But parallel witii the rise in
5308
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
wages went the increase in prices for the dustry, although passing through a pro-
necessaries of Hfe, and some articles are tracted crisis, are seemingly regaining
further out of the workmen's reach to- their buoyancy, and altogether the out-
day than before the revolution. In the look, without being precisely inspiriting,
Moscow district in January, 1897, there is described by observant Russians as less

were 248,500 workmen receiving in wages depressing than might reasonably have
42,500,000 roubles, or, say, 170 roubles been expected. Russia's credit in 1909
a year per man. In 1903 there were may be gauged by the terms on which she
293,000 men in receipt of 56,500,000, _ . concluded her 4^ per cent.
or 192 roubles a head, making a rise ,. . „ . loan in January
Living Beyond ,^, •'.
of that year.
-^
, 111 •

of 12 per cent. But during the same „ j^ ihe conjuncture was highly
period the prices of food rose by unfavourable. War clouds
25 per cent (bread), 36 per cent, (meal), hung over the Balkan Peninsula. It was
and even 50 per cent. (peas). feared that Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria,
In consequence of the strikes of 1905- Servia, and possibly Russia herself, might be
1906 a further great rise took place in drawn into the coming sanguinary struggle.
the prices of bread, foodstuffs generally, The Russian rente stood at yyi, and it
and the necessaries of life. One of the was known that the Finance Minister must
results of the revolution was a further aug- at almost all costs raise funds abroad in
mentation of the wages of workmen without order to pay off the war loan of 300,000,000
any corresponding increase in their produc- roubles contracted in France in 1904. Yet,
tivity. The absorbing power of the home despite these adverse conditions, a loan of
markets was unfavourably affected by this 450,000,000 roubles was raised in January,
perturbation. This was noticed at the 1909, of which the usual price was 89 1, the
fair of Nijni Novgorod in 1908, when the bankers' commission 3|, and the net pro-
turnover fell short of the average of former ceeds received by the Treasury, 85 1. And
years by no less than 15-20 per cent. In considering all the circumstances, these re-
1905, women's wages were sults are considered to be fairly satisfactory.
D ustry s
very low, the average
still At the same time it cannot be gainsaid
g°**. '°^^
. not exceeding 6-8 roubles a that Russia has now reached a point at

month about three to four which she must either live by the exertions
dollars. Since then the lot of the working of her own wealth-creating class, without
man and woman has been very sub- the continuous help of foreign capitalists,
stantially bettered. In 1907 a series of or else be content, after a series of financial
far-reaching measures, calculated to im- crushes, to find her normal level. To
prove it still further, and including in- many who are quite unbiassed observers
surance against accidents, was drafted by she appears to be now living beyond her
the late Minister of Trade and Industry, means. The vast sums which have been
M. Philosofoff, and would have been laid expended on the strategic Amoor rail-
before the Duma in the form of a Bill had way at a time when the army and the
it not been for his sudden death at the police have yet to be reorganised, the
close of that year. navy to be rebuilt, the peasants to
The marvellous vitality of Russian be financed in thv.ir new character
finances and the solidity of their economic of tenant farmers, education to be
basis were brought into sharp relief by cheapened and diffused, the v'lole
the revolutionary movement of
1905, system of internal administration to be
which dealt a severe blow to industry, remodelled, fill one with misgivings, not,
commerce and finances. In 1905 the num- indeed, as to Russia's re-
The a ion
ber of strikes totalled 13,110, while the gQ^rces, which are enormous,
number of workmen taking part in them Bankru^tc
rup cy
^^^ respecting the ability of
amounted to no less than 2,709,695. The ^^^ rulers to develop and
damage done was incalculable. This utilise them sufficiently to make the revenue
phenomenon is unprecedented in the cover the expenditure. With reluctance I
economic history of Europe. It may well venture to utter my strong conviction that
be doubted whether in any other country —
unless some genial administrator a states-
the financial and industrial fabrics would —
man as well as a specialist successfully
have successfully borne such a formidable encounters the hero's task of reconstruct-
strain. In Russia the gold standard is ing the financial and economic fabric of the
Still intact ; trade, commerce, and in- Russian Empire, applying freely the drastic
5309
: —

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


remedies by which alone the present dis- accompanied the revolution. The West
orders are curable, the nation, having first Russian Manchester, Lodz, until 1905
lost its old standard, will inevitably sink one of the most prosperous manufacturing
into the slough of bankruptcy and cities in Europe, was well-nigh ruined and
financial anarchy before the Russian swept out of existence by the anarchistic
constitution is twenty-four years old. wave. And the recent sudden increase in
That the peasant is too heavily taxed the activity of the Moscow manufactures
considering his present income is as and the briskness of tljeir trade is attribut-
_. , . evident as it is that his present able solely to the ruin of those at Lodz.
Defects u ^ j
I'^co'^^ ^s much too slender At present, however, there are signs that
i
*
in Fin 1
considering the extent to which Russian industry is slowly recuperating
System
sobriety, thrift, and industry the staple industries, metallurgy, the
might increase it. Another defect in the collieries, the Baku oil-wells, are no
present financial system is that the tax- longer stagnant. Russian firms have
gathering is done in September, when the competed successfully for orders from
farmer is obliged to sell what he has just Italy and other foreign countries for
threshed in order to satisfy the collector. railway waggons andmetal rails. In
For there is no postponing the season it ;
short, the lowest
depths of depression
is as the laws of the Medes and Persians. appear to have been reached, and the
Even in districts where tobacco is grown, present rise, if very gradual, is at least
which cannot be brought to market before continuous. At the same time, it should
November, the taxes are, for the sake of not be forgotten that a large percentage
uniformity, gathered in September. The of the capita) sums invested in Russian
result is that in many places where ready industry melted away wholly during the
money is not available the belongings of heat of the revolution. And yet the
the farmer are distrained. Russian money market still offers un-
The pivot of the financial machinerj^ is commonly favourable terms for capital.
the sale to foreign countries of cereals, During a great part of the year
Railw
which contribute more than any other „ !,T.*'' 1908 the official rate of discount
Building m
.
^ >^ 1 ,,
1
kind of export to pay the interest on the ^^^^ 7^ P^'" cent., while the
Russia
foreign debt. For the balance of trade in private rate was still higher.
Russia must necessarily be active ; that Even on excellent security advances bore
is to say, the total value of the exports interest at the rate of 10 per cent.
must largely exceed that of the imports. In the tsardom there is hardly any
That is one of the consequences of capital available for industrial enterprises.
the nation's indebtedness. Russia It is mostly locked up in Government securi-
is forced to sell part of the harvest ties. About 25 per cent, of the foreign
to her neighbours, however urgent loans is held in Russia by Russians, or,
may be her own need of it. In 1908 the say, 344,000,000 roubles while over a
;

exportation of corn and other foodstuffs milliard and a half has been invested in
fell off to a disquieting extent affecting internal loans during the past five years.
the trade balance correspondingly. The The building of new railways and the
following comparison of the value of the working of old ones generally offer a fair
exports and imports in millions of roubles test of the level of a country's material
for the following four years needs no further l)rosperity. In Russia, since the war,
commentary little has been attempted in the way of
constnicting new lines. Some that had
Value of Value of Excess of
Year exports in exports over been begun before have been completed,
imports in
million roubles million roubles
imports in such as the Moscow girdle line, the
million roubles
Orenburg-Tashkent, the Perm -Ekaterin-
1905 IOI7 583 434 burg lines, and a few others. In 1908
1906 1043*5 650-5 393 the grandiose Amoor railway, which is
1907 IOl6'8 759-8 257
1908 752-8 179-2
expected to cost much and bring in
little, was begun. The second track
Manufactures in Russia, which were, of the Trans-Siberian was commenced, and
so to say, built up by the Finance Minister, a most useful line connecting Northern
Witte, with the money of foreign capit- Russia with the Donetz coal district was
alists, are still suffering from the strikes, undertaken by a priv^ate company. But
the spoliation, and the incendiarism that railways, which create wealth in other
5310
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
countries, are not profitable in Russia. dollars might easily be made to yield
They are often ruinous, owing to the twice that sum. The naphtha wells in
frauds in countless shapes which turn the Baku and numerous other districts could
immense profits into the pockets of dis- and should be made the sources of a
honest schemers. Millions of passengers splendid annual revenue, whereas, at
travel without tickets every year, and present, they enrich only a few individuals.
many of them lord it over those who pay The fisheries, which are far and away the
their way. The railways are forced to most abundant in the world, are at present
pay enormous damages for the loss of worth no more than $1,000,000 a year.
fictitious consignments. In short, the The State mining industries are carried on
losses needlessly incurred in exploiting at a dead loss. The financial operations
the principal lines are enormous, and it is of the Imperial Russian Bank do not
the peasant, the workman, and the bring in much more than 50,000,000
manufacturer who "s
dollars to the state.
have at last to make In, a word, the
good this deficit. It sources are abun-
is computed that dant, but no one
100,000,000 roubles tries to tap them
are swallowed up properly.Russia
every year by these has her power
it in
colossal frauds. And to pay her way and
in lieu of plucking up prosper. But she
this abuse by the seemingly lacks the
roots, the authori- will. The results are
ties, finding it less all the more deplor-
troublesome to lessen able that they could
the deficit by raising so easily be avoided.
the passenger tariff, One of these re-
have had recourse to sults is the enormous
this expedient, with indebtedness of the
undesirable results. nation. And it is
First-class passengers increasing, not
are either disappear- diminishing. If we
ing altogether from compare the Russian
several lines, or they estimates for 1909
are represented by the with those of pre-
privileged people who vious years, we shall
still travel gratis. find it hard to shake
Experts affirm that of£ the conviction
as the peasants might that the ordinary
easily increase their TWO CELEBRATED RUSSIAN AUTHORS expenditure is grow-
slender Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, two novelists ing out of all propor-
yearly pit- Count portraits
whose are given above, took the side of the poor
tance by thrift, and endeavoured to bring about better social conditions, tion to the growth of
though the latter has not the religious enthusiasm
sobriety, and sheer which characterises Tolstoy's writings. Tolstoy, the ordinary revenue.
hard work, so the having resigned all privileges of rank, died in 1910. The yearly excess of
Government might convert the sempiternal ordinary revenue over ordinary outlay has
deficit into a handsome surplus by exploit- been in millions of roubles in :

ing on businesslike principles the railways, 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
woods and forests, the state lands, the 148-8 111-5 99'3 i4S"9 i46"5 74'4 4"8
minerals, and the fisheries of the empire, Between the years 1903 and 1909 the
all which are now being managed with
of annual income of the state went up from
a degree of perfunctoriness which differs 2,031,080,000 roubles to 2,447,000,000,
little from culpable negligence. Clever while the expenditure rose from
railway managers like those whose names 1,883,000,000 to 2,472,020,000. The
are so well known in Great Britain and the total Budget of 1907 showed a deficit of
United States would soon change the 52,770,000 roubles in
; the following
annual loss of 100.000,000 roubles into a year an internal loan of 200,000,000 was
large net profit. The colossal wealth of required to cover the deficit and in 1909 a
;

forests which now bring in but 30,000,000 foreign loan of 450,000,000 was floated.
5311
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Russia's indebtedness is, therefore, appal- council, having heard the report of the
ling. As compared with her potentialities, school inspector of the district, called for
it is not perhaps alarming but con- : further details with a view to the adop-
trasted with her annual revenue, and the tion of repressive measures. (Cf. " No-
slight wealth-creating power of the state, voye Vremya," November loth, 1908.)
it is becoming disquieting. If the business It is,perhaps, hardly to be wondered at
management of the empire abstraction
—^were
— that the peasantry, whose monotonous
made from politics in competent lives consist mainly of an alternation of
. hands, guided by resourceful hardship and oblivion, should seek to
^^^^^' ^^^^^ ^°^^ ^^ nothing vary it by the artificial mirth and tempo-
to her
„ '....^. to fear, for Russia's potenticd rary forgetfulness bestowed by inebriety.
Fosstbilities 1^ 1111-
'.
J J.
wealth is reasonably beheved to Against such vices as this, and the crimes
be immense. But as things now are, and to which it leads, legislation is powerless.
bid fair to continue, the symptoms are Unless the youth of the country can be
not suggestive of impending prosperity. made amenable to moral influences such
Almost one-fourth of the yearly outlay is as will enable it to face and withstand
spent on the service of the debt, which has temptation, the hope of lasting betterment
increased since 1903 by over 40 per cent. is slender indeed. Religion in Orthodox
In the year 1902 it amounted to Russia is doubtlessly still a beneficent
6,664,000,000 roubles. In 1909 it had force, but it seldom moulds the youthful
grown to 9,175,000,000. mind or steels the tender will. And nothing
Andthis enormous total would have has taken its place. Since the revolutionary
been utterly inadequate to the needs of wave passed over the land the latent symp-
the empire were it not for the unpalat- toms of general anarchism, which long lay
able fact that about 28 per cent, of dormant, have been brought into the light
the ordinary income came from the of day. Now, therefore, there is at least
alcohol state monopoly. This was the hope that the hideous disease may
sale of vodka by the Government, which be cured, which would other-
Schools
was conceived with the best intentions by wise induce general paralysis.
that do not
Alexander III., but proved, according to But by whom ? The clergy
Educate
the testimony of the most competent of the Orthodox Church are
authorities, a curse to the Russian nation. badly educated, badly housed, underfed,
The number of million vedros a vedro — and exposed to all kinds of temptations.
is 2704 —
gallons of vodka consumed The ecclesiastical schools where the religious
yearly from 1901 to 1906 was as follows : shepherds are trained have forfeited the
In 1901 49-5 1111904 71*2 character of educational establishments
.f 1902 66-0 ,,1905 75-9 in the good sense of the term. A professor
,. 1903 71 "5 " 1906 85-0 of the Ecclesiastical Academy of St. Peters-
One of the most gifted and best in- burg, Professor Glubokoftsky, gives a
formed Russian publicists, M. Menshikoff, description of their working in terms that
writes "It must not be supposed that
: make Russian patriots shudder. There is
the alcoholic poison has infected the no teaching there, no dociUty, no obedi-
lower classes only. It has tainted in a ence, and the morals are disgusting. Even
like degree the petty tradesfolk, the mer- the celebrated Ober Procuror of the Most
chants, the clergy, the bureaucrats of Holy Synod, K. Pobedonostseff, deliber-
cities, and it numbers many victims ately stated shortly before his death that
among the higher intelligent classes." " the ecclesiastical school has become a
The injury inflicted by drunken- low tavern." If the salt thus loses its
1 esprea
^^^^ ^^ ^^^ physical and moral savour wherewith shall it be salted ?
-^ constitution of the Russian The condition of ordinary secular schools
.
Drunkenness
race is
1111
incalculable, and1 .l

it is

is often as bad or even worse. It would,


clear to many
that degeneration is the of course, be a gross exaggeration to assert
ultimate form it usually assumes. Disease that the influence of all educational estab-
and crime are its ordinary accompaniments. lishments in Russia is the reverse of bene-
Characteristic is the fact that in many ficial. But it is fair to say that the good
places children are among its victims. schools are the exception, and one may
In a Zemsky Council of the province of truly add that ever since the revolution
Perm the drunkenness of school children of 1905 the youth of Russia has been
was one of the themes discussed, and the animated by a spirit of lawlessness and
5312
.

RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME


gross self-indulgence with which those or occasioned such serious misgivings as
teachers who strove to discharge their the vicious precosity of Russian youth.
duties were generally powerless to cope. Not content with aping the vices of their
Scholars of both sexes in many parts elders, they strove to outdo them. Even
of Russia formed secret societies for the virtue and innocence, which were happily
purpose of meeting together and indulging well represented during that period of
in veritable orgies. The majority, while unbridled licence, generally paid the toll
eschewing such uncleanness, refused of self-disguise to vice. The revolution,
obedience to their teachers, came to school _. _,. . however, merely brought out
The Vicious j •
^i, x "u j i, 1
or absented themselves as they liked, „ Si disease that had long been
Precosity oft
..
, t-
ror many years pre-
, ,

openly criticised their masters, and some- latent,


Y j» •

times turned the school into a tavern or a viously the fermentation of


gambling den. In a Moscow boarding ideas produced by the germs of revolu-
school for children of the nobility, forty tionary literature had been proceeding
scholars struck work in 1908 because they unchecked. Maxims and principles were
were dissatisfied with the conduct of the instilled into the minds "of children which
director. The head-master, it appears, were strong dissolvents of traditional
had demurred to those boarders who failed morality, and, if pushed far enough, of
to come home before one o'clock a.m. the basis of social life.
The indignant young gentlemen first In elementary schools the old ideals were
complained of the head-master to the methodically dethroned. Vice and virtue
marshal of the nobility, and, having were made to derive their changeful cha-
received no redress, quitted the school. racter from the social and political views
In one of the educational establishments of the individual. Thus, to rob or
at Kharkoff the boys were allowed to steal was a good action if undertaken
have their own smoking-room; but they for the purpose, say, of despoiling
turned it into a gambling hell, and drove the rich and succouring the poor man.
away the inspector who came to Killing was not murder if the assassin's
^^ ^^® ^^^^ ^^^y ^^^^ ^°^^S- In motives were politically or socially revolu-
c 00
School
Xiflis a schoolboy, having re- tionary. Religion and traditional ethics,
Revelations 111 r 1.
1

ceived bad marks for his lesson,


1
which taught doctrines the reverse of
protested. His comrades supported him these, were envisaged as a set of social
energetically but vainly. At last they shackles from which mankind could not
ordered the school council to expunge the be too soon emancipated. In a word, the
"
bad marks and put good ones in their place, baleful influence of these " educational
threatening unless this were done to throw currents, felt for nearly forty years, cannot
bombs. And the school council complied. easily be over-estimated.
In the city of Kutais the governor-general When the Press censorship was removed
received an anonymous letter condemning the sluice gates of this reservoir of turbid
him to death. Very shortly after this it nihilism were suddenly burst open. For
came to his knowledge that the missive months the sphere of journalism and
had emanated from the state grammar literature was flooded with the waters of
school, and that one of the fifth form anti-religious, anti-ethical, anti-social doc-
boys had been deputed to kill him. His trines and sentiments. Everything that
excellency, repairing to the educational had been held sacred by former generations
establishment, entered the fifth class was anathematised as degrading or held
during a lesson, and exclaimed abruptly : up to derision by this. Parental affection,
" Master G., you were chosen by lot to coniugalfidelitv, and respect for
kill me. Eh ? " The boy curled up with

Reservoir
.
j.ii-
"xxv.
convictions of others when
i,

f T hi
fear and muttered " Pardon, your those others happened to be
: ».,...,. ^^
excellency, pardon, I — —can — you know
I
Nihilism ,.,.
conservatives
.

m
.

politics or
—^decline — ^refuse —
.to do it." " Oh, well, it religion, were scoffed at as irrational and
doesn't matter. I'll forgive you this time," antiquated. To revealed creeds, to
was the astonishing reply, and, so saying, patriotism, ethics, clean living, no quarter
his excellency walked away majestically. was given by the leading iconoclasts,
And the lad was not even rebuked ! who hypnotised the young generation.
None of the very distressing phenomena Free love was preached and practised
that characterised the Russian revolution by the youth of the intermediate
have challenged such widespread attention schools, who founded " free-love leagues,"

5313

HISTORY OF THE "WORLD
drew up by-la%vs which members were by Artsybashefi, cannot be too severely
bound to observe, and utterly ruined condemned, whether we view them
many youths of both sexes. At last the from the ethical angle of vision or
Press drew attention to the evil, and the the aesthetical.
Minister of Public Instruction endeavoured Wrought upon for decades by disinte-
to uproot it. But the mere surgery of grating forces such as those enumerated
administrative measures was unavailing. above, Russia's vital powers could not but
"The roots of the disease must be treated," be seriously impaired. And the present
—. ^. wrote one of the most widely- plight of the nation moves one to pity.
"""**"
spread journals. "And these," An ardent friend of Russia, himself a Slav
, .^ ^ it added, " are to be found in patriot, has put his impressions frankly
ourselves, m
the whole social upon record as follows " What I am going
:

organism, in the decay of the family, in to say has a paradoxical ring about it, but
the depravity of fathers and mothers." it is none the less true. There is no Russian
Whether the cure will be successfully nation. With an Orthodox Russian people
accomplished, it is unhappDy certain that we are indeed acquainted, a people
the young generation will come to the front numbering 88,000,000, whose religious con-
moralJy and intellectually enfeebled by victions offer them a substitute for every-
the ravages of one of the most malignant thing in the nature of national ideas
diseases that can befall the social organism. possessed by other peoples. But we look
The morbid feelings and subversive in vain for a compact Russian nation
notions which are among the symptoms permeated with identical interests. And
of this fell malady are necessarily mirrored the most amazing trait of this phenomenon
in the popular literature, which therefore is the circumstance that this gigantic mass
throws a strong light on latter-day Russia. of people speaks one tongue, cherishes one
But the Russian literature of to-day is faith, and yet in spite of it aU shows so
much more than a mirror. Some sections little understanding for the common ties
of it might, perhaps, be aptly likened to a that bind it to the State.
laboratory where noxious germs are care- •'
It is no satisfactory explana-
o f2^^
ussian ^.^^
fully cultivated which warp the mind, ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^j^ ^^ culture
°*** ^
disfigure the soul, and produce the and geographical conditions
monstrous shapes that excite our disgust. are answerable for this. The fundamental
Characters which Wycherly and Congreve causes lie deeper it
: is that egotism
would have shuddered even to contem- peculiar to all Slav peoples which finds
plate are not only described in latter-day it so hard to make sacrifices for the
novels and stories with artistic talent and common weal, either in the narrow or
undisguised sympathy, but they are the broader sense of the term."
associated with the highest of the new These are some of the solvents of Russian
ideals held up to the Russian nation. To society with the effects of which on con-
say that many of the literary productions crete men and women, and doubtless on
which characterise the revolutionary epoch the whole Russian organism, the rising
are public outrages on morals and religion generation will soon be confronted.
is to put the case with studied moderation. Happily there are also several powerful
The British public knows something of factors on the other side —
religious sec-
Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andre\'eff, but tarianism, partial revivals in the Orthodox
one may doubt whether it has ever Church, strenuous efforts by Russian
read the works of Artsybasheff, whose Lutherans, and even the reforming zeal of
,
" Sanyin " would have been ordinary citizens who, having cultivated
J^?"" ^ J confiscated by the police of the moral sense, would gladly rescue their
^^^^^ ^"*^^''' Austria, or Ger- youthful compatriots from the abyss that
^^ d ala
*
many; of Kuzmin, Sollogub, now threatens to engulf them.
Kamenski, and a host
of others. It From the Orthodox Church, with its
is only fairto add that many of atrophied organs, its demoralised schools,
the works of these writers are quite free and its good-natured, half-starving clergy,
from the taint of immorality. SoUogub's no miracles in the social sphere can yet be
" Little Devils " is a powerful story, and expected. The essence of Russia's religious
Kuzmin's verses are techniccdly perfect. —
creed one of the facets of the trinity of
But such tales, for instance, as " Four," which Panslavism was once composed
or " Leda," by A. Kamenski, or " Sanin," Ues in the life to come, the world beyond
RUSSIA IN OUR OWN TIME
the grave. Death is the starting-point vital ; the moment was critical; the choice
of everything worth knowing, worth of alternatives would be final. But nearly
possessing, and therefore worth striving everything turned out as the Austrian
for. Hence, strange though it may statesman had expected. Russia's defence
seem, death is the central point of the of her kith and kin was verbal. Bound by-
orthodox faith ; Ufe is dull, grey, repel- secret treaties to remain an inactive spec-
lent; it is only the sunset of existence tator of the incorporation of the Slav
that tinges eV3rything, not, indeed, with provinces, she accepted the inevitable.
its own splendour, but with the ineffable She could not well begin a diplo-
Russia's
glory of the world to come. It is matic campaign against a mea-
Doubtful
no exaggeration to assert that of all sure,however far-reaching, to
Future
Christian creeds and churches, there is which she had already deliber-
not one that contributes less to the ately given her assent. And the con-
equipment of its adherents for the stern dition of her army, as well as the state
life struggle here below than the contem- of her finances, agriculture, and industry,
porary Orthodox Russian Church. forced her to eschew a disastrous mili-
Panslavism, of which orthodoxy was one tary conflict, which would have been the
of the three bases, has thus been thrust sole alternative to any attempt at evading
from the foreground of the scene on which her treaty obligations.
Russia is now playing her part. Belief in From whatever angle of vision we con-
her heaven-sent mission among the effete template the Russia of to-day, we are
nations of two continents may still perhaps struck with the contrast between her
linger on in the breasts of the veteran boundless potentialities and the sordid
contemporaries of Khomyakoff and Aksa- reality, and with the vast distance between
koff, but it is no longer a stimulating or an promise and achievement, which are
active force in the community. Had it divided by a seemingly infinite abyss.
been otherwise, it would have aroused the One might aptly liken the Russian nation
nation in 1908. The anti-Slav policy then to a very complex mechanism, forged
struck out by the Austro-Hun- by some latter day Vulcan, and then
Thwarting the g^^.-^^ Foreign taken to pieces.
Secretary for
5*"'*^ . Affairs, Baron von Aehrenthal, Properly put together, set in motion,
Confederation
^j^^^ he annexed Bosnia and and guided by a genial engineer, it
Herzegovina, thwarted the scheme of a might prove one of the main factors m
Balkan Confederation, and buried the last the latter-day history of Europe and the
hopes of the Southern Slavs, would have human race. But of this there is no sign.
unchained an irresistible popular outburst. The pieces still lie scattered about, half
The Government, however firm its reso- corroded with rust, and the most opti-
lution to keep the peace, would have been mistic feeling they arouse in the minds of
driven to resist, and, if needs were, to Russia's friends who contemplate them
fight, as in 1877. For the issues were is a vague hope. E. J Dillon
.

TYPICAL RUSSIAN PRIESTS AND MILITARY OFFICERS


5315
LATER EVENTS IN RUSSIA
'THE revolutionary movement in Russia, M. Barck, the newly appointed Minister
•'•
so active in the nineteenth and in the of Finance, January 1914, made a special
early years of the twentieth centuries, point of the need for dealing with the evil
practically ceased after the failure of the of drunkenness,alluding to the "melancholy
risings of 1905 and the establishment of picture of populai weakness, household
the first Duma. But Liberalism continued misery, neglected business " as " the
to and is
spread, still influencing the inevitable consequences of an intemperate
urban populations of the middle-class, life." The Imperial rescript also added :
whilst in the factories unions and associa- "It is not meet that the welfare of the
tions have been formed by the workmen. exchequer should be dependent upon the
The policy of the Duma to improve the ruin of the spiritual and productive
educational opportunities of the great mass energies ofnumbers of my loyal subjects."
of the people was discouraged by the But noble words and excellent intentions
Government of the Tsar in 1913, but in on the part of the Imperial Government
spite of the official censure on the Ministry have, for more than a century past, too
of Education in that year, some advance commonly been divorced from relative
can be shown. In 1911, the total number of action in Russia to give confidence of any
elementary schools stood at 100,295, with immediate temperance reform.
6,180,510 pupils, while 80 per cent, of the Agrarian reforms, or at least agrarian
population were In the ten
still illiterate. changes, have been taking place since
universities of Kiev, Kharkov,
Kazan, 1909. The Imperial Ukase, ordained in
Moscow, Odessa, St. Petersburg, Saratov, celebration of the Romanoff tercentary in
Tomsk, Yunev, and Warsaw, about 40,000 1913, that, amongst other matters,
students were enrolled in 1913. $25,000,000 should be appropriated to
With the lack of education, and the found an inalienable fund for improving
unwillingness of the Government to attempt the lot of the peasants, and this expendi-
any great measure of national and com- ture is part of the Government's agrarian
pulsory education, drunkenness remains —
policy a policy directed at the abolition
an appalling curse to Russia. But as some of communal ownership and the establish-
slow improvement is visible in the matter ment of small peasant proprietorships.
of schools since the beginning of the Two other items in the Government's land
twentieth century, so there are signs that programme are (i) the removal, of small
:

drunkenness may be lessened by legisla- holders from thickly populated districts


tion. A Drink Bill was passed by the to districts favourable to agriculture
Duma and strengthened by the Upper where there are fewer people (2) the
;

House (the Imperial Council) in 1914 for settlement of peasants on valuable areas
the reduction of the drinking shops, and at present unoccupied, and yielding no
many petitions went up from numerous revenue to the State.
villages for the total closing of these places Although in the matter of elementary
of temptation, and for more aggressive education the percentage of girls in the
action on the part of the Government primary schools is only about 30, the
against the illicit drink traffic. The political and social outlook for women in
trouble is that the sale of spirits is a Russia has steadily widened with the
Government monopoly, and an important growth of the twentieth century. Women
source of imperial revenue. Moreover, the have been allowed to graduate in medicine
production of spirits is a powerful vested in Russia, and to practise as fully qualified
interest. Enormous sums are invested physicians since the Russo-Turkish War
in the cultivation of potatoes and rye for of 1876-77 but in 1914 they were still
;

the distilling trade, and in Russia, as else- excluded from the higher Civil Service and
where, this trade is not prepared to accept from the Bar, though permitted to study
legislation that will mean heavy losses to law and pass all the examinations that
those concerned in its maintenance. qualify for the legal profession. Teaching,
Hope lies in the possibility of fostering and employment in the lower branches of
and developing the use of spirits for heating the Civil Service and under the municipal
and lighting purposes, and the fact that councils, are the occupations of many
the production of mineral oil is insufficient women in Russia, while others find employ-
for these purposes, is some justification ment as trained chemists, architects, civil
for such a hope. The Tsar in his letter to engineers, surveyors, and electricians.
5316
II
EUROPEAN TURKEY.
POWERS GREECE AND
TO-DAY THE BALKANS
^M:

THE BALKAN WARS OF 1912-13


nrO understand the history of the political twentieth century. Taxes were largely
• reconstruction of the Balkan Peninsula farmed, and the abuses that the farming of
and the causes of the wars that brought about taxes always brings were conspicuous. The
that reconstruction, we must go back to peasant was often obliged to cut down his
the year 1908 and note how matters then date tree to pay the tribute demanded of
stood in Turkey and in the European States him. Trade suffered heavily, and towns

on her frontiers states emancipated from and cities once centres of prosperity
Ottoman rule in the nineteenth century. dwindled in population and sank into
The Sultan Abdul Hamid II. had reigned poverty.
since 1876. He had seen Bosnia and Herze- In Macedonia in 1902 came a great
govina taken under the protection of uprising against the misgovernment, and
Austria, Bulgaria become a practically the revolt of the Macedonians, who had for
independent state, and Crete given auton- years hoped to become part of a
omy. Starting with a movement in favour Macedonian greater Bulgaria, was ruthlessly
of constitutional government, he had soon Atrocities Stamped out by Turkish troops.
tired of that, and after showing some In 1903 Macedonia again was
soldierly qualitiesthe Russo-Turkish
in in revolt, and the revolt was suppressed,
War of 1877, ^^^ became a recluse, obsessed as before, with horrible results to the people
with fears for his own safety and dominated of that unhappy province. W^hole country-
in his domestic policy by this obsession. sides were destroyed. Disease and famine
As a ruler and administrator he had utterly followed, and hundreds of thousands, men,
failed, centralising the power in his own women and children died under the sword
hand, and then failing to come to a decision or from sickness and stai"vation. To make
on issues of first importance. Shut up matters worse in Macedonia, Greeks and
within the Palace of Yildiz Kiosk, refusing Bulgars were violently opposed, and their
to go out except to the most necessary rival bands engaged continually in mutual
"
religious services, Abdul Hamid brooded in slaughter. Revolutionary " Committees
fear over the violent deaths of earlier added their executions upon enemies to the
Sultans, and distrusting all his officials, let common stock of crime. From time to
the affairs of State remain unsettled ufitil time the Powers called on the Sultan to
he reasonably could attend to them. effect refonns in Macedonia, but nothing
Postponement and delay, delay and post- happened save the inevitable delay. In
ponement were the rule of the Porte, while Albania from time to time open resistance
Armenian massacres horrified Europe, and was offered to the Sultan's rule, and revolt
unspeakable outrages in Mace- and massacre alternated. But the Albanians
The
donia called for immediate re- were never really conquered by the Turks.
Sultan's
Under the rule of Abdul
dress. in the summer of 1908.
Thus things stood
Terror
HamidTurkey went into hope-
II., Anarchy, massacre, hopeless collapse in
less decay, and when the war came, went administration and growing weakness in
quickly to pieces. WTiile the Sultan was the army were the chief features of the
deciding whether or not bicycles should be Ottoman Empire. While in his palace of
permitted in Constantinople, the Tiu"kish Yildiz Kiosk, the Sultan still busied himself
ironclads were rusting in the Bosphorous. over a thousand and one trifles, becoming
While he was considering the regulations in his deadly fear of a violent death more
for a cafe chantant in Pera, the Powers and more pitiable and dangerous " He
were demanding reforms in Macedonia. trembled at his best troops," wiote a
All liberty vanished in Constantinople member of the Sultan's Court, " .shrank
under the most ingenious and the vilest from trusting his elder sons, his sons-in-law,
spy system. Free speech and a free press —
brothers-in-law who were worthy generals
were not to be thought of even in the —and the officers who had inclination to

5317

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


serve him strengthened by strong personal cope with fire should the crime of burning
and family interests, down the palace or any of the Sultan's
" For some months before the revolution numerous sleeping kiosks be malignantly
the troops had only blank cartridges for attempted."
their rifles. This step was taken from a fear It was at this time of fear and general
that cartridges fully charged might be used misery, in the summer of 1908, that the
against the Sultan himself. Likewise, all " Young Turks," fresh from Paris, where
the guns in the forts that could be turned they had formed an association, called later
against the Yildiz had been spiked. Elec- the Committee of Union and Progress,
tricity was laid on in the palace. But the accomplished their " revolution " in Con-
Sultan, fearing that it might be turned stantinople, which, for a brief moment
against him for regicidal purposes, had the promised, in the eyes of Europe, the
wires cut, and candles exclusively used. regeneration of Turkey. The revolution was
These lights were stiick on circular pieces carried out quite peacefully. Important
of cork that floated on wooden buckets of officers in the Turkish Army opened up
water. The water would be available to negotiations with the Young Turk leaders.
Their pay was in
arrears, they saw
their army being
ruined and their
country destroyed
piecemeal under
the rule of Abdul,
and they resolved
to make common
cause with the
reformers. Army
corps after army
corps was won
over to the Young
Turks, whose
headquarters were
at Monastir in
Macedonia, and at
Salonika, without
the Sultan appar-
ently getting any
inkling of what was
happening. The
Turkish governor
at M o n a s t i r
Hilmi Pasha
given the choice
of joining the re-
formers or being
shot, promptly
went over to re-
form, and then
departed for Con-
stantinople to ex-
plain to the Sultan
that the only way
to deal with the
revolution was to
ABDUL-HAMID OPENING THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT yiekl to it. Abdul
TJje early years of Abdul-Hatnid's reign were full of promise. In 1877, as shown in an earlier finding that all
chapter, he grranted a constitution, and in person, opened the new Parliament. But the
his elaborate pre-
Assembly was short-lived, reaction setting in and overcoming the liberty from which so much
was expected. In li»08, yielding to the pressuie of the reformers, the sultan granted another cautions for his
constttution to Turkey, and in December opened the Parliament elected by the people. own safety were of
53^8
KING FERDINAND ANNOUNCING DENCE BULGARIA
In 1878, at the Treaty of Berlin, the Powers of Europe created Bulgaria an autonomous principality
under
change,
the suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey and in 1908, when Turkey underwent such a marvellous
;

Bulgaria feared that the nominal suzerainty might be made a real one. To this she was unwilling to
consent, and in October, at Tirnovo, Prince Ferdinand solemnly proclaimed Bulgaria an
independent
kingdom, taking for himself the title of king.

no avail, that his army had failed him, and Mohammedans. Macedonia remained in

that without his army he was powerless, anarchy, whilst the efforts to bring
accepted the situation philosophically. He Albania into subjection resulted in the
gave in to the Committee of Union and devastation of that country. Abdul was
Progress, regranted the constitution he had formally deposed in May, 1909, and
cancelled, and allowed himself to become Mehmed V. proclaimed Sultan, but the
subject to the men who had planned and weakness and incapacity of the Govern-
carried out the revolt. ment were unlessened.
For a few happy days the highest hopes In the meanwhile, the Balkan States,
for a new spirit in Turkey were enter- Bulgaria, Servia and Montenegro, and
tained. In the fervour of the revolution, Greece were already beginning to make
universal brotherhood became the order preparations for the dismemberment of
of the day in Constantinople and in Turkey, for considerable alterations in the
Salonika, to vanish all too soon when map of Europe, and for the enlargement
disillusionment set in. The Committee of of their territories.
llnion and Progress had come from Paris The and economic progress made
civil

full of certain French notions of progress. in these states— largely unrealised in


The leaders were freethinkers and political Western Europe before the war must be —
freemasons, bent on establishing a cen- noted. Bulgaria, formerly a land of mas-
tralised democracy as rulers and ad-
; sacres, oppression, poverty, and wretched-
ministrators they were inexperienced and ness, had been transformed by 1908 into
utterly unable to meet the needs of an exceedingly prosperous state, and that
Turkey, and out of touch with the faith of despite furious internal political agitations.
5319
398
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Before 1878, there were not more than twentieth century. How much the change
sixty schools in the whole country, at the had been due to itsPrime Minister, M.
beginning of the twentieth century there Venizelos, can never be told, but it is
was an elementary school in every village, certain the debt is considerable. The
and a secondary school in every town of wretched rule of the Turks in Epirus, the
10,000 persons. Sofia, the capital, with sufferings of the Greek population in
its university and its streets full of busy Macedonia, and the desired union of Crete
and contented people gave proof of the with Greece were a constant spur to
_ new condition of things. But military activity, for clearly only by force
''**''**
. the glaring contrast between of arms could union with their kinsmen in

Balca
Bulgaria free and her neigh- these regions be established. ABritish
bour Macedonia, inhabited so naval mission, invited by the Greek
extensively by her kinsmen, under the rule Government, did much for the re-organisa-
of the Turks, was always present to the tion of the Greek navy, and French naval
Bulgarians. And there was still one drop officers gave valuable assistance. As for
of bitterness in the Bulgarian cup —
the the army, in a little more than ten years its
suzerainty of the Sultan. To end this character was changed as the war was to
suzerainty and release Macedonia, the prove. But the old, long-standing feud
Bulgarians gradually built up a strong with Bulgaria had to be ended before

modern army with an available fighting Greece could enter with any hope of
force of 380,000 men out of a total popula- success on a war for the liberation of
tion of 5,000,000. Epirus and Macedonia.
Servia was under a cloud for some years The revolution of the Young Turks with
after the murder of King Alexander and their Committeeof l^nion and Progress at
his queen in the royal palace, and the Constantinople, so far from bringing new
placing of King Peter on the throne by the health and strength to Turkey, simply
regicides in 1903. But the rural life of the hastened the break up of the Ottoman
nation was healthy and the peasantry Empire Europe, and brought
in
The New
prosperous, each man owning his own land curtailment of its dominions
Spirit
and each household free from famine and in Greece
in Africa. No sooner had
want. The one great ambition of the Abdul Hamid given his ap-
Servian people had been, since its liberation proval to the revolution than Austria-
in 1878, to make Servia a great kingdom Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and
by an alliance with Montenegro, and by Herzegovina, despite the Berlin Treaty of
absorbing the old Serb provinces of Bosnia 1878, and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria
and Herzegovina, and the province of proclaimed himself Tsar of his dominions,

Novi-Bazar a strip of land between and declared his country an independent
Montenegro and Servia. Austria de- kingdom. In 1910, Prince Nicholas of
stroyed these hopes, as far as Bosnia and Montenegro followed the example of
Herzegovina were concerned, but the rest Ferdinand, and also proclaimed himself
of Old Servia, including part of Macedonia, king. In the same year that remarkably
were still under Turkish rule, to be con- able man, M. Venizelos, the Prime Minister
quered by Servian arms, when Servia was of Greece, sounded Bulgaria as to a joint
strong enough to take the field. alUance for the pacification of Macedonia,
Montenegro was always a nation of and for the ending of the old hatred
warriors, from the time when an old between Greek and Bulgar. The weak-
remnant of the Servian nobility established ness of Turkey was demonstrated to all the
itself there in 1389 to escape world in 1911, when Italy seized Tripoli,
*
. the Turkish yoke. Prince and by March, 1912, Servia and Bulgaria
. g ' .Nicholas, its ruler, had never had formed an alliance, which was speedily
yielded to the Sultan, and his followed by the much needed alliance
daughters, married in the royal families between Greece and Bulgaria. Servia not
of Russia, Italy and Germany, helped to only wanted to bring the Serb population
maintain the goodwill of Europe to this in the district of Novi-Bazar and in
tiny state of 500,000 people. Macedonia under its authority, but it was
Greece had failed so lamentably in the also anxious to gain an opening on the
war of 1897, that few realised the advance Adriatic. Bulgaria, apart from the libera-
it had made, and the re-awakening of tion of Macedonia, was determined to win
national spirit within its borders in the Thrace and extend its borders to Salonika.
5320
KING FERDINAND JOINING HIS ARMY AT THE SIEGE OF ADRIANOPLE

KING FERDINAND OF BULGARIA CONFERRING WllH GENERAL IVANOFF ON THE


BATTLEFIELD
5321
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Greece was longing to wipe out the Bulgaria had 320,000 men of whom—
memories of the war of 1897, and to drive 100,000 were to assist her alUes in Mace-
the Turk out of Epirus. Montenegro was donia, while the rest of the army operated
always ready to strike a blow at its old in Thrace. Servia had 190,000 men for
enemy, and all four countries believed the conquest of Old Servia and a passage
they had much to avenge, and felt ready to the Adriatic. Montenegro had 37,000
to do battle with their common foe. men for the taking of Scutari and the
In August, 1912, relations were strained assistance of the Servians in Old Servia.
nearly to breaking point between Bul- Greece had 110,000 men for the conquest
garia and Turkey over the con- of Epirus and the iEgean Islands. Greece
*
_ dition of Macedonia, where the also possessed a navy, which kept the
^ unfortunate people were faring Turks from sending reinforcements to
,
eague
^^ better under the Young Macedonia through the ^gean Sea, while
Turks than they had fared under Abdul, —
the Turkish fleet such as it was was —
and between Montenegro and Turkey over constrained to stop in. the Dardanelles.
the oppression of Albania by Turkish The Bulgarian army was led by Generals
troops. Finally, at the end of September, —
Savoff and Dimitriev the former glorified
the Balkan League of Bulgaria, Servia, in the first war as the " Moltke " and the
"
Montenegro, and Greece was in working latter as the " Napoleon of the Balkans
order, and in all four countries troops were (and if Dimitriev failed in the second war,
mobilised, and active steps taken in readi- it was for much the same reason as
ness for war. In vain the Turkish Govern- Napoleon ultimately failed). But General
ment tried to detach Greece from the Savoff was in many ways but Tsar Ferdi-
League. In vain the Powers of Europe nand's deputy. The main army of the
endeavoured to preserve peace by impress- Greeks was underCrown Prince (later King)
ing the necessity of reforms in Macedonia Constantine, with General Sapundzakis
on Turkey, and by warning the Balkan commanding in Epirus. The best of the
League that no annexation of Turkish _ Turkish commanders were
territory would be permitted. Turkey Djavid Pasha, Zekki Pasha,
of the*
was as impotent as ever over Macedonia, . . Hassan Tahsin, and Mahmud
and Lord Crewe's solemn declaration in Mukhtar. The Servians were
the House of Lords (October 8) "in no led by Crown Prince George, and Generals
circumstances would the Great Powers Stefanovich and Yankovich. The Monte-
agree to any change in the status quo in negrins by Crown Prince Danilo, and
South-East Europ)e " was unheeded. (In Generals Martinovich and Vukovich.

within a month November 8 Sir
fact, — Victory was with the Balkan Allies from
Edward Grey was admitting that " No the first, and on every side the Turk was
one will be disposed to dispute the right of beaten. The Bulgarians swept all before
the Balkan States to formulate when they them on their march to Adrianople, win-
please the terms upon which they will be ning important victories at Selielu and
disposed to conclude peace.") Kirk Kilissi on October 22nd and 23rd.
King Nicholas of Montenegro began the The Servians gained an equally important
war on October 6th, and at once threat- victory at Kumanovo on October 23rd and
ened Scutari, while Greece proclaimed her 24th. and by November 2nd the whole
sovereignty over Crete. Servia and Bul- district of Novi- Bazar was in the hands of
garia, a week later, presented an ultimatum Servia and Montenegro, and the Turkish
to Turkey demanding the immediate estab- authority had given place to Servian Civil
. lishment of autonomy under Government.
ec ara ion
of
jTm-opean Governors in Mace- On November 5th came a decisive defeat
War
donia. On October 15th this of theTurks at Monastir by the Greeks and
ultimatum was rejected, and Servians and four days later Salonika
;

Turkey, having made peace with Italy, surrendered to the Greek arms, to be
withdrew her representatives from the claimed by Bulgaria as her property on
Balkan States, and the dogs of war were the following day. At the end of Novem-
loosed. ber Adrianople was closely invested and
As far as can be told, the military the Bulgarians had defeated the Turks at
strength of each country at the outset was Lule Burgas and were at Chatalja.

as follows : ^Turney had 198,000 men in But the Bulgarians were now over 200
Macedonia and 170,000 in Thrace. miles from their base, and were, owing to
5322
KING NICHOLAS OF MONTENEGRO WITH THE CROWN PRINCE OF SERVIA

^i_^. i

i^^^^p^^^^^^^K

^Hw^BP 3H
^^^H

GENERAL SAVOFF, THE BULGARIAN COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, WITH HIS CHIEF


OF STAFF
5323
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the utter neglect of sanitary precautions, in the hands of the Bulgarians. This
weakened by Winter was upon
disease. taking of Adrianople is probably the only
the land, proposals for an armistice were case in modern warfare of the capture of
welcomed, and on December 3rd an armis- a great fortress by open assault.
tice was signed between Turkey, on the It is estimated that at the armistice the
one hand, and Bulgaria, Servia, and Monte- Turks had lost 15,000, and the Bulgarians
negro on the other. Greece remained out- 10,000 men over the siege of Adrianople,
side the armistice and by means of her Apart from the capture of this important
fleet proceeded to occupy a city, the Bulgarians made little progress
^.* number of the ^Egean Islands. towards Constantinople, and the Turks
^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^°* ^^^y keipi fought with more energy in the defence
A "^isti c
Turkey out of the ^Egean Sea, of their capital than elsewhere.
it had carried Bulgarian troops to Thrace Janina was taken by the Greeks on
from Salonika, Greek troops to Epirus, and —
March 5th the main army directed by the
provisions to the Servians on the Adriatic crown Prince (now King Constantine), and
coast. The signing of the armistice saw brought round by sea from Salonika,
Thrace and Macedonia and Epirus in the cutting the defences asunder. The Turk-
hands of the Allies, save for the Turkish ish Garrison, under Essed Pasha, num-
garrisons in Adrianople, Janina, and bered some 30,000 men when they sur-
Scutari, all closely besieged. On the ques- rendered. The Greeks, in the midst of
tion of the fate of these cities turned mainly rejoicing at the success of their arms, were
the peace negotiations which followed the shortly to be engloomed. For on March
armistice. Bulgaria demanded possession i8th, 1913, King George, an exceedingly
of Adrianople and refused to hear of com- popular monarch, was assassinated in
promise. Constantinople became restive —
Salonika by a dipsomaniac to the great
at the thought of surrendering Adrianople distress of the nation.
to the enemy, and Kiamil, Sultan Mehmed Scutari was not surrendered till April
V.'s Prime Minister, was driven from office. 22nd. The Turkish commander, Hassan
Once more the Young Turks, with their Riza, who had put up a defence
F&ll
Committee of Union and Progress, effected which had cost the besieged Ser-
of
a revolution, Nazim Pasha being mur- c . .vians and Montenegrins thou-
dered in the process. The popular clamour sands of lives, was murdered
in Constantinople was for war rather than in the middle of February, and his place
an ignoble surrender of Adrianople, the had been taken by Essed Bey, an Albanian
armistice was fiercely denounced, and on chief, with aspirations to rule Albania.
February 3rd, 1913, war was again re- King Nicholas, as the siege drew to its close,
newed. was warned by the Powers of Europe that
In the second and last stage of the war he would not be allowed to incorporate
of the Allies against Turkey, hostilities Scutari in Montenegro, and on April loth
were restricted to the sieges of Adrianople, an International Squadron, under Vice-
Scutari, and Janina and the Bulgarian Admiral Sir C. Burney, blockaded the

advance on Chatalja fifty miles west of coast. In the meantime secret negotia-
Constantinople. Adrianople was the first tions were taking place between King
to fall. In spite of an active resistance Nicholas and Essed Bey, and on April
on the part of the besieged, marked by 22nd the latter capitulated, leaving the
frequent sorties, the Bulgarian troops, town with all the honours of war when
reinforced at the end of the armistice by a the Montenegrins entered. The siege of
large number of Servians and Scutari cost Montenegro nearly a third of
enewa
thousands of reservists, made its army, for the total casualties amounted

y^^^ their preparations for a grand to 10,000 men, but the Powers, decisive
assault on the city. The attack and agreed for once, insisted that the town
began early on February 24th, the must ijelong to Albania, about to be made
Servians pressing forward on the west, the an independent country, and on May 6th,
Burgarians on the north-east. The Turks King Nicholas withdrew his troops.
fought fiercely, but were hopelessly over- Before Scutari fell a second armistice
matched, and before nightfall on the next had been made between Turkey and the
day Adrianople capitulated. Shukri, the Allies, and on April 7th, the peace dele-
Turkish commander, with 50,000 men and gates again met in London, as they had
600 guns, surrendered, and Adrianople was done in the early truce in December.
5324
WILLIAM, THE FIRST MPRET OF KING FERDINAND OF BULGARIA
ALBANIA
5325

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Negotiations now turned on the question that its armies were more than a match for
of frontiers. Turkey had lost all territory those of Servia and Greece, was ready to
in Europe save a small area west of Con- decide by battle the question of the settle-
stantinople, and there could be no question ment of frontiers and the boundaries of the
on the part of the allies of any of that three kingdoms. The districts desired by
territory being once more placed under Bulgaria were in the hands of Servia and
Ottoman rule. By the Treaty of London, —
Greece who had aheady contracted a
May 30th, 1913, Bulgaria retained Adria- —
military alliance and it was evident that
D -•«• nople and Kirk Kilissi, and part their conquest necessitated aggressive
VKTMton
^f ^vestern Thrace Servia. Mace-
; action. But Tsar Ferdinand and his
Z, . donia to Monastir, including military staff rashly assumed that their
"' ^^ late allies (whom they held in contempt)
Old Servia Greece, Epirus,
;

Southern Macedonia, and Salonika Monte- ; would give way before a fierce onslaught,
negro, an extension of territory on the east and that this second war would quickly
and south-east. Albania from Scutariato end in victory for Bulgaria.
Chimara was declared an autonomous Speedy success was of the utmost im-
state —to the disappointment of Greece portance to Bulgaria. For Roumania had
and Montenegro, who had hoped to divide formulated demands for a rectification of
that country between them. The exact frontier between Silistria and the Black
delineation of frontiers on the east Sea, the Turks might at any time take up
between the Allies was not conclusive, and arms for the recovery of Adrianople, and
but a few weeks elapsed after the signing the Powers might intervene as they had
of this Treaty of London before war had done at Scutaria. If Bulgaria's claim to
again broken out in the Balkans, and now possess Salonika was the merest expression
the recent allies, but ancient enemies, of confidence in the power to take and hold
were at each other's throats, Bulgaria that city against Greece, the intervention
threatened by Roumania on the north, of Roumania for the enlargement of its
engaging with Greece and Servia for the borders at the expense of Bul-
territorial spoils of Turkey. _ ^ garia had no higher ground of
,

The intervention of Roumania en- y. justification than the belief that


couraged Servia and Greece, and finally its neighbour was too exhausted
forced Bulgaria, badly worsted, to make to make successful resistance. Roumania
peace. But the causes of this second war for years had been content to foster its
were deeper than the hostile attitude of trade and increase its population without
Roumania to Tsar Ferdinand. indulging in international disputes. Since
Very serious discontent existed in the 186 1 it had been an independent kingdom,
Governments of Greece and Servia at the and its King, Charles I., and its Queen
policy of Bulgaria in the recent war. (known in literature as "Carmen Sylva")
The success of the Bulgarian arms had both of German royal families, were
overshadowed in the European press the popular.
deeds of her allies, and the predominance But the Roumanian army had never
of Bulgaria was not only a source of been neglected, and while the population
irritation, but to Greece, it seemed, a had increased 50 per cent, in the fifty years
positive danger. Moreover, the original preceeding 1912 when —it stood at
stipulation had been that Bulgaria should —
7,248,000 the increase of the army had
send 100,000 troops to assist the Allies in also proceeded, so that it was ready to
Macedonia, and this promise Bulgaria mobolise 650.000 men when required. King
never kept. With the utmost Charles had adopted neutrality when the
Balkan
secrecy was the extent of the Allies were at war with Turkey, but he had
League
Bulgarian army in Thrace declared in his speech from the throne to
Dissolved
concealed from public know- the Roumanian Parliament, in December,
ledge, and while Bulgaria hastened to claim 1912, that Roumania was an important

Salonika which the Greeks had taken factor in the European Concert, and that
the fact that 45,000 Servians had gone to when " the questions raised by the Balkan
the assistance of Bulgaria in the taking of crisis come to be finally settled, her voice
Adrianople, was held of no account in the will be heard." The time had come. King
eyes of the conquering Bulgarians. So, at Charles decided, in July IQ13, when the
the end of May, Bulgaria, flushed with its voice of Roumania was to be heard in its —
triumphs over the Turks, and confident —
guns if needs must for in that month it
5326
THE BALKAN WARS OF 1912-1$

was evident that Bulgaria was making no Treaty of London, had calmly re-occupied
headway against her enemies. Adrianople and the surrounding country.
It was of the utmost importance there- Bulgaria had no armies to withstand
fore to Bulgaria, at the outset, to prove either Roumanians or Turks. Her ruler had
her superiority over Servia and Greece staked all on the hasty overthrow of Servia
before Roumania could come to their and Greece, and lost. A last attempt was
assistance and no less before the Powers
;
made on July 25th to defeat the Greeks at
should intervene. For, with the exception Semitli, and when, after two days' hard
of Scutari, the Powers had sanctioned spoils fighting, this failed the Bulgarians with-
to the victor. But when, on June 30th, the drew across the frontier. The Roumanians
Bulgarians under Dimitriev (Savoff had were now at Philippipolis on the south east,
retired from the the Turks were
command owing at Adrianople,
to differences Servia and
with the Govern- Greece were on
ment) attacked the west and
the outposts of south-west fron-
the Servians and tiers. Bulgaria
Greeks in Mace- invaded by
donia, they only Roumania, and
succeeded in surrounded on
driving them all sides, was
back to the compelled to
main armies, seek peace, and
and two days on 31st July an
later itwas the armistice was
Bulgarians who signed. Peace
were on the delegates met
defence. The at Bucharest,
Servians under and there, on
Marshal Putnik, August loth,
and the Greeks 1913, the Treaty
u nder King of Bucharest
Constantine, ended the war.
steadily ad- By this treaty
vanced, and the Bulgaria ceded
Bulgarians no additional terri-
longer fought tory to Rou-
with the spirit mania, south of
they had dis- Silistria, and re-
played against tained a portion
the Turks. In of Thrace with
vain the Bulgar- a coastline on
ians attempted the ^^gean Sea.
an invasion of
Sebah & Joailler
Turkey reso-
Servia, and MEHMED v., SULTAN OF TURKEY lutely declined
strove for some "to give up
signal victory that would give them Adrianople and adjoining country,
the
influence when peace was made. Servia in spite of the remonstrances of the Powers,
and Greece were too strong to be over- and Bulgaria was in no condition to begin
powered. a third war to regain her former conquests.
On July 4th the Roumanians were in No difficulties arose over the frontiers of
Bulgaria, and a week later had occupied Servia and Greece, both of whom had
Varna. By the 20th of July, Servians added substantial territories to their
and Roumanians were converging on Sofia, dominions. Bulgaria, to whom in the first
the Bulgarian capital. To make matters place had been all the glory of the war
worse for Tsar Ferdinand, the Turks had against Turkey, and who at one time
taken the opportunity of reasserting them- threatened, it seemed, Constantinople
selves, and in complete defiance of the itself, emerged from this second conflict
5327

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


with but slight advantage on its original was appointed to control the country and
position, and with all its former miUtary to determine the frontiers until a ruler
prowess eclipsed. could be found for its people. The in-
It is estimated that the total number habitants who number between 1,500,000
of casualties, killed, wounded, and death and 2,000,000, are hardy and independent
of soldiers from disease, amounted to no tribesmen, many of them Mohammedans,
less than 352,000 ; and this in two wars in spite of their oft-repeated revolts against
of very short duration. The Turkish rule, others Roman Catholics
Defeat
Bulgarians were the heaviest and Orthodox Greeks. The Albanians
of
sufferers, for their casualties proper, claiming descent from the con-
Bulgaria
amounted to 140,000. The Turk- quering soldiers of Alexander the Great,
ish casualties are put down at 100,000, are estimated at 1,200,000. The land de-
the Servians at 70,000, the Greeks at vastated by the Turks, ravaged by Mon-
30,000, and the Montenegrins at 12,000. tenegrins and Servians in the recent war
It is impossible to state the number of killed for the Albanians were in arms at the
and wounded with complete accuracy, but thought of being made subjects
The
these figures may be accepted as approxi- to King Nicholas or King Peter
New
mately and proportionately true. As to
Albania
— even now that it is independ-
the cost in money, it has been estimated ent has no immediate prospect
at the huge sum of $1,229,000,000. And of enjoying peace within its borders.
here again the heaviest drain was on Although it is mountainous, a good
Bulgaria, whose expenditure is figured at deal of grain is grown, and cattle
$450,000,000. Turkey comes next with raising is an important industry. The
$400,000,000, Servia with $250,000,000, chief towns are Scutari, population 30,000,

Th C t ^^^^^^ ^^th $125,000,000, and


Durazzo, Valona, and Koritza. The
Montenegro with $4,000,000. area of the country is about 12,000 square
^j
..
y^
The Powers, having decided miles, and extends from the Adriatic
from the first that Albania (Scutari to Chimara) to the valley of the
was to be an independent state, lest Black Drin. In November 1913, a Sove-
falling under Slav influence it should be a reign was found for Albania in the person
source of danger to Austria, or if Greek, of Prince William Frederick Henry of
a possible offence to Italy, an Inter- Wied. Proposed by the Powers, he was
national Commission, consisting of repre- willingly accepted by the Albanians, and on
sentatives of Austria-Himgary. France, his accession, in 1914,Albania was plainly
Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia, to all the world an independent state.

5328
EUROPEAN III

POWERS AUSTRIA-
TO-DAY HUNGARY

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IN OUR TIME


AN EMPIRE OF MANY NATIONAL-
ITIES AND CONTENDING RACES
By Henry W. Nevinson
C'ROM its history one can see that the one of the most beautiful and varied coast-
* monarchy of Austria-Hungary is not lines in the world, from the top of the
so much a result as a residue. It embodies Adriatic to the Mouths of Cattaro, and
no conscious purpose or intention, like still you are in Austrian or Hungarian
modern Germany. After its long and territory, for Austria stretches out an
varied annals we can hardly speak of its arm to reach the sea at Trieste, Hungary
growth, for it remains rather as a shape- does the same at Fiume, and
Mixed
less and almost accidental collection of the narrow length of rocky
Races in
pieces than an organic and vital whole. It shore and mountain, called
Austria
is still encumbered by the tradition of Dalmatia, is Austria's again.
former greatness in days when it stood This diversity of scene makes Austria-
before Europe as the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary one of the most beautiful and
whose monarch was equally the successor interesting parts of Europe for the tra-
of the Caesars and the representative of veller, especially as it is also one of the
God's temporal power here on earth. It least known. But the diversity of scene
would be hard for any empire to live up is even surpassed by the diversity of race ;

to such a part as that, and the memory of and though this also affords the traveller
an obsolete grandeur which could not be a further interest and charm, it adds con-
maintained has prevented the country siderably to the problem of government.
hitherto from developing along fresh lines In fact, it is the problem of government,
of progress. and without realising the diversity of race,
We can, indeed, hardly speak of Austria- it is impossible to understand what the

Hungary as a country at all. It lies contemporary history of the empire


sprawling in the middle of Europe, with- means. There are eight easily recognised
out natural limits or frontiers and it has
; races within the frontiers, and the list
no natural character of its own, though might be extended to eleven. Of the
the parts of the empire are in touch and
; eight at least five are not merely different
it possesses no colonies or foreign settle- from each other they are strongly
;

ments. Almost every kind of scenery may nationalist, and from time to time display
be found within its boundaries. In the violent hostility towards one or all of the
south-west are the Alpine peaks of the other races with whom they are supposed
Tyrol ; in the south-east the great ranges to share the glory and government of the
and forests of the Carpathians. North, same empire. That is the worst of an
in Bohemia, and south, in Bosnia, are empire which has not grown by natural
regions of pleasant hills energy from the inside, but has been thrown
Austri&'s
and valleys, interspersed with together bit by bit as occasion served, often
Varied
plains. The Alford, or central by the accident of dynasty or marriage. One
Scenery
flat through which the great remembers the well-known ironic line :

rivers of Hungary run, is one of the Bella gerant alii ; tu, felix Austria, nube.
largest plains of Europe, and the out- Or, in English :

lying province of Galicia, beyond the By let the wars be waged


others ;

northern Carpathians, is a vast plain of Thou, happy Austria, get engaged.


Russian character. As a complete con- Such marriages were successful in adding
trast to such scenes, you may pass down territory, not in adding power. To
5329

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
form a picture of the result, you have thought twice in describing Austria
might imagine small portions of the as a German Power, and it is naturally the
British Empire all clustered together in desire of the German-speaking population
the same country, so that English and to keep things as they were or to extend
Irish, French Canadians and Boers, New the German culture and influence.
Zealanders and Manxmen were living side But in recent years the Germans have
by side, without the sea to keep them seen themselves checked, and even driven
comfortably tolerant and apart. Such a back, not only by the Magyars of Hungary,
_, . variety of peoples, all dwelling but by the various branches of Slavs in
isunion
^^yj^ g^ small space ^Austria- — Bohemia and the lesser states, such as
Hungary is a little smaller than Styria and Carinthia. The surprise has
Erapfre
" " the State of Texas adds much — only intensified their Teutonism. Many
to a traveller's interest. Indeed, to have embraced the so-called Pan-German
the student of men, no part of Europe, ideal, which tries to regard the cause of
not even the Balkan Peninsula, is so full all the Teutonic peoples of the world as
of varied knowledge as Austria- Hungary. one, and would gather the Teutons, not
Almost every stage of European only of the German and Austrian Empires,
civilisation is found existing there in but of Russia, South America, South
full vitality — ^the scientific and highly Africa, including the Boers, and of Hol-
educated German of Vienna, the moun- land and Belgium into a single fold. A
taineer of the Tyrol, the gipsy of the Hun- favourite scheme of Pan-Germanism for
garian plain, the ancestral Moslem of some time past has been an extension of
Bosnia, the Roumanian descendant of old German influence throughout the old
Roman colonists in Transylvania, the pro- Turkish provinces to the port of Salonika,
gressive Czech of Bohemia, the unchanging or even by way of Constantinople itself,
Jew of Galicia, the unhappy Pole, and, where Germans already number some
finally, isolated almost in the centre of 40,000, to Asia Minor, and by a German
them all, unrelated to any of them, and ^ , railway to Bagdad and the
only very dimly related to far-off Turks
th'^A **t
* Persian Gulf. By this route
and Finns, stands the Magyar, surrounded f,
uerman
they hoped to find an outlet
t ^^^ r^
by Slavs of various names, and almost tor the German increase in
continually at strife with the Emperor of lands where they would not lose their
Austria, who happens to be also his own nationality, as they do in the United
king. In the whole Austrian Empire, States. At the moment events are
almost the only European stock which you against the scheme, but it is a thing to
will not find is the Austrian. It would be be remembered in estimating the prob-
hardly too much to say that such a being abilities of Austrian politics. It is the
as an Austrian does not exist. ultimate goal of the " Drang nach Osten,"
We may, however, use the word roughly of which we have heard so much.
still for the large German population For the time, however, these more
which forms the centre of Austrian society ambitious designs have been checked, and
and boasts itself, with some justice, the the Austrian German is fighting for exist-
most civilised and advanced of the many ence in his own country rather than for
nationalities. These Germans are the distant Pan-Germanism in the Balkans or
natural successors to the eastern province Asia Minor. For some ten years past he
of Charlemagne's old Teutonic Empire has been brought into sharp and continual
the East Mark, which warded off the Mag- conflict with Czechs, Magyars, and Ita-

Advanced ''

yars and they number some
u iL- j
lians, in turn or together. It is partly a
religious quarrel, and the cry of " Freedom
i.
0,000,000, or about a third
-J
.-,..,. .
and Civilised r a j. i-
• »

of Austria s population, and


1 1
from Rome " " Los von
— !
" Rom
is one —
something over 2,000,000, or of the party's watchwords. But many
about a ninth part of Hungary's. Till quite good Catholics belong to the movement,
la.tely no one would have hesitated to call too, and the conflict is, before all things,
them the predominant race. German was a matter of race or nationality. For some
the language, not only of the Court, society, years past the section that looks to
and literature, but of all official and legal Germany rather than Austria as its
business throughout the empire. It was national fatherland has been growing, and
taught in all schools and used in every allegiance to the Hohenzollern of Berlin
department of the army. No one would rather than to the Hapsburg is openly
5330

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IN OUR OWN TIME


expressed. To unite the German part of gathered round their old capital of Agram,
Austria to the rest of Germany is an live in violent protest against the domin-
obvious though futile device. But for the ance of the Magyars in the kingdom of
position of Bohemia, perhaps Bismarck Hungary, to which they belong. They are
might have tried to reaUse it. But he knew nearly all Catholic in fact, the name
;

that Bohemia made the thing impossible. Croat is used among the Southern Slavs
Probably an equal obstacle lies also in for Catholic just as the name of Servian
the very different nature of the South signifies Orthodox or Greek Church. They
German from the Prussian. For the South _ boast a fine history, claiming to
German of Austria, if less painfully edu- "
C h° a ^® ^^^ °"^^ Southern Slavs,
cated and disciplined to a certain kind of except the Montenegrins, never
Q^^
capacity, has far more freedom and charm subdued by the Turks. Indeed,
of nature, and far more imaginative power. they are the only Slavs in Austria- Hungary
Nor does his neighbour, the South German who have established some right to
of Bavaria, find life under Prussian leader- nationality, except -the Czechs of Bohemia,
ship exactly enjoyable. and, in quite recent years, perhaps the Rou-
So the Pan-German of Austria is now manians of Transylvania, who have become
standing in opposition to the chief forces an even more painful thorn in the side of the
at work in his country. Perhaps the Magyars, because there is always a danger
strongest, as well as the most recent, of thatRoumania may adopt their cause.
these forces is Pan-Slavism. It is a similar But of all the Slavs in the empire, the
movement, but less conscious, less wealthy, Czechs are by far the strongest and most
and devoid of organisation and practical advanced. Their civilisation is historic,
aim. It is a dream of distant unity, like and their nations long held a high place
the Russian movement of the same name in Europe. But the Germans have been
a feeling of common brotherhood rather their foes from the beginning, and the feud
than a policy with a programme. Cer- continues with violence to the present day.
tainly it has the strength of Till some thirty years ago there seemed
Th SI ^
numbers, for, taking the every chance that their nationality would
-1,
Weakened by
, . .
... ^V
Austria-Hungary monarchy asi
become absorbed under German language
Division
a whole, the Slavs probably and manners. The national movement
outnumber all other races by at least two began with the revival of the national
millions. But, as usually happens among language, as also happened in Hungary,
Slavs, they are weakened by division. The and is happening in Ireland now. It is
Czechs of Bohemia, the Croats, the Serbs, strange that a literary and academic
the Ruthenians, the Slovenes, the Slovaks, beginning should have taken so deep a
the Dalmatians, and the Poles, though all hold on the populace that German is now
of Slav origin, now in many cases form a language under a ban and the contest
separate nationalities, and even in lan- between the peoples is perpetual.
guage they are often unintelligible to each As long ago as 1886 Bohemia won the
other, though their languages are akin. privilege of special law courts and uni-
They are also divided by religion. The versities, together with the recognition of
great majority, such as the Czechs, the her language as official, though this right
Croats, and the Poles, are Catholic while; was again withdrawn in 1899, when the
the Serbs and many of the Southern Slavs Czechs were endeavouring to introduce
remain Orthodox, following the same rites Czech words of command into the army.
and doctrines as the Greek and Russian This feud against the Pan-Germans has,
Church. The Pan-Slavist ideal in Austria- .in fact, continued ever since,
Bohemia
Hungary is the formation of the empire into breaking out with especial fury
Demands a u
a kind of confederacy of states in which the ^. .
Ktngship
. m

1902, when
agam m ,

1904,
Slav would predominate. At one time, like ^^^ Vienna University was
all Pan-Slavists, they looked forward to a closed on account of it and the Germans
Slav empire under the suzerainty of Russia. retaliated by smashing up Kubelik's
But this ideal has been dimmed by concert-hall at Linz and again towards
;

the overwhelming defeat of Russia in the end of 1908, when martial law was
the East and by the cruel reaction proclaimed in Prague at the very time of
of her own government against liberty. the emperor's Diamond Jubilee. The
At the present time the Slav claims are Czechs now demand a restoration of
for separate nationalities. The Croats, the old separate kingship for Bohemia
5331
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
on the same terms as Hungary's king-
serious question, and on the questions
ship, and it is very probable the con-
of the tariff and the army the deadlock
cession will be granted by the coronation
lasted year after year. In 1900 the
at Prague either of the present old
emperor threatened to suspend the
emperor or of his successor. The esti-
constitution. In 1902 Kossuth, son
mated number of Czechs in the Empire
of the famous Hungarian liberator of
is about six million, or nearly
.

Hungary s 1848, and leader with Count Apponyi of


^ quarter
^ of the popu-
Disputes with ,• 1r A J.

the Magyar Nationalists, demanded abso-
. . lation of Austria proper.
lute separation, except for the bond of the
But more serious for Austria
crown. In the next year a complete
even than Bohemia's nationalism has
disintegration of the empire seemed prob-
been the prolonged disagreement with
able, and the Kossuthites insisted on the
Hungary.
use of Hungarian words of command and
We need not go back to the cruel the employment of Hungarian officers in
repression of Hungary under Heynau
the Hungarian regiments of the regular
after the revolutionary chaos of
1848, army, not merely in the Honved, or local
when the present emperor came to the
Hungarian militia, corresponding to the
throne ; nor to the restoration of the
Austrian militia, or Landwehr. The
constitution in 1861 ;
emperor conceded the
nor even
to the appointment of Hun-
" Ausgleich," or Com-
garian officers and the
promise of 1867, by use of national emblems,
which Beust hoped he but steadily refused the
had arranged a work use of the Hungarian
able system of unity in word of command as
separation. In 1897 the destroying the unity of
struggle was renewed, the army. So the dead-
chiefly on the Hungarian lock on the tariff and
demand for a separate army continued, the
tariff and separation in Hungarian Parliament
commercial affairs. It going so far in 1905 els
resulted in a complete to refuse taxes and
block in the constitution recruits. The emperor
existing between the two summoned the so-called
countries. Coalition to Vienna,
By that constitution but no terms could be
there is an
Austrian arranged. In the follow-
Parliament of two franz Ferdinand of Austria ing year, 1906, the
Houses the Upper The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the CoalitioU was allowed
House, largely heredit- throoe of the Austrian Empire was assassi- tO take office OU COU-
"ated by a Servian anarchist June. 28. 1914.
ary, and a Reichsrath of dition that it did not
elected representatives and there is oppose a measure for manhood suffrage,
;

a distinct Hungarian Parliament of a all males over twenty- four. This was
House of Magnates, chiefly hereditary, carried largely by the emperor's personal
and a House of elected representatives, in influence, acting through the premier.
which the Magyars have hitherto secured a Baron von Beck, an honourable statesman,
majority, though they are not a majority who also succeeded in ending the ten years'
of the population. Both Parliaments send quarrel over the tariff by a commercial
" Delegations " of sixty members each treaty with Hungary, in 1907. Under this
to sit alternately at Vienna or Buda- _ treaty, each state was granted a
pest, for the arrangement of the common ° * separate tariff; but Hungary
j^
financial burdens. The Delegations may was to pay 36 per cent, of the
Q J
vote together but they sit separately,
; expenses for war, defence, and
and do not debate together. The emperor- foreign affairs. A court of arbitration
king can personally veto all Bills passed for future disputes was also instituted.
by either Parliament and he appoints The question of the word of command
;

the Ministers himself, apart from the will in the army was held over, and was
of the majority. Such a system may not definitely settled till a later time.
obviously lead to a deadlock on any The Magyars are, in part, very much
5332
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IN OUR OWN TIME
occupied by the Slav movements directed they were not intended to work. Nothing
against them in Croatia and Transylvania, was further from the thoughts of the two
and by their own endeavours to retain a most interested Powers than a reformed
majority in their Parliament by one device and resuscitated Turkey. They were
or another under manhood suffrage. With only waiting for Turkey to rot till she
this object they framed a Bill in 1908 by dropped, and in the meantime they
which a fairly rich Magyar's vote will opposed any genuine reform on the
count as about thirty to one against the ground that the integrity of the Turkish
Slav peasant's. It is significant that in Empire must never be infringed.
the Austrian Reichsrath ^v^^^vvvm.
ft^'^--^'^^'^^ >vv^^^T
the first appeal to the
people under manhood
suffrage produced a Par-
hament of twenty-six
groups, the two largest
being the Social Demo-

in

crats 90, largely Jewish
tendency, and the
Christian Socialists — 65,
largely anti-Semites.
The year 1908 was for
many reasons one of the
most remarkable in Aus-
tria's history, and much
future history is likely to
spring from it. For some
years past Austria had
lacsssssss ,H.4^^ '>'^^g^^....^^»&'^^'^'^'>*^.» ms%sssm. m>^^^^^^H

THE HEART OF VIENNA


The real value of this
phrase was shown in the
early summer of 1908 when
Count von Aehrenthal,who
had lately succeeded Count
Goluchowski as Foreign
Minister in Austria, sud-
denly proposed to extend
the Austrian, or rather
Hungarian, railway from
the frontier of Herzegovina
through the Sanjak of
Novi Bazar to the Turkish
frontier town of Mitrovitsa.
By this line Austria would
at once open for herself a
A SCENE THE AUSTRIAN route to Salonika without
The Schottengasse and Wiihringerstrasse, two of the chief thoroughfares quitting territory UUder
in the above iUustration.
in Vienna, the leading city of Austria, are shown ^^^ COntrol till She
^^^ own
Turkey into entered Turkey herself. It was a daring
been watching the decline of
As proposal, but Russia countered it by sug-
apparent ruin with peculiar attention.
one of the " two most interested Powers," gesting another railway, from the Danube,
she had combined with Russia to impose through Servia, the Sanj ak and Montenegro,
various schemes of reform upon the sultan, to Scutari and the Adriatic, thus binding
especially in regard to Macedonia, where the together the Serb states and giving them
wretchedness and persecution of the popu- egress to the sea independent of Austria.
lations had become a scandal to Europe. To such a scheme, after her own pro-
assent with a
But the schemes of reform did not work ; posal, Austria, could only
5333

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


sardonic smile, and so the matter rested. extreme danger from the probability of
But suddenly all deep-laid plans and war, besides irritating Servia and Monte-
dark designs of Austria, as of other Powers negro almost beyond endurance.
regarding the Near East, were overturned There are nearly 2,000,000 Servian
by the Young Turk Revolution of July, Slavs in the annexed provinces. Less
1908, a revolution conducted with skill than half the population is Orthodox
and moderation, that won a brief and the rest being Catholics or Mohammedan
quiet impermanent success. Unhappily descendants of Serbs early converted by
success
, was just the last the Turks but all of them are Servian by
;

Th* "^'t a ^^^^S


that the two most race, descendants from subjects of the
.*
jj signs
interested Powers desired in old Servian Empire that was destroyed by
-puri^gy They had long looked the Turks at the end of the fourteenth
forward with apprehension to a terrible century. The annexation cut the Serb
combat in sharing out the Turkish Empire, race in half, and absorbed about a third
but it would be a still more terrible thing of it. Servia saw herself also cut off
if no one was to get a share. hopelessly from the sea and from her
The details of the arrangement are, heroickinsmen in Montenegro. The Ser-
naturally, obscure. We only know that vian army was at that time very small,
there were meetings between Baron von probably not more than 200,000 of all
Aehrehthal, M. Isvolsky, the Russian arms, though Servia had lately been
Foreign Minister, and Signer Tittoni, the purchasing new batteries from France.
Foreign Minister of Italy, and that in Austria, in the three previous years,
September, Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, had also spent very large sums in re-
an Austrian by birth and education, visited armament, and she could probably put
Budapest and was received with royal over a million men in the field, including
honours. On October 5th, Prince Fer- the Hungarian Honved. But her troop?
dinand, almost certainly at Austria's are admittedly ill-assorted and split up
suggestion, proclaimed himself tsar of an _ . , by nationalist feeling, and in
Servi& s , / -J. J
independent kingdom, owing no fealty to . year 1909 it seemed as
. the
P
Turkey and no tribute for Eastern Rou-
g J though Servia might declare
melia. On the following day, Austria war any day. At the worst she
formally annexed the Turkish provinces could only be absorbed into Austria, and
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she had form the nucleus of a great Servian
been allowed to occupy and administer by province, gradually becoming as inde-
the Treaty of Berlin since 1878. pendent as Hungary. At the best she
" The rights of our sovereignty," ran might bring Russia into the contest as
the proclamation, " are extended to Bosnia protector of the Southern Slavs.
and Herzegovina. Among the many cares In its ulterior aims of embarrassing the
that surround our throne, care for your Reform Party in Turkey by war and of
material and spiritual welfare shall not be restoring the sultan's corrupt govern-
the least." At the same time, a share ment, Aehrenthal's coup completely failed.
in the legislation was promised, together If there was a secret bargain between him
with equal rights before the law, and equal and Isvolsky, it certainly came to nothing,
protection for religion, language, and because Sir Edward Grey took strong
race. The Austrian troops which had steps to demonstrate Britain's friendship
been allowed to police the Sanjak of to the Young Turks, and the Pan-Slavists
Novi Bazar, a long, Turkish strip of land in Russia raised an outcry against any
lying between Servia and possible bargain which would secure some
nncxa n I
jyjQ^tenegro, were also with- advantage like the opening of the Dar-
01 Turkish , 11
^ . drawn, nommally as compen- danelles to the Russian fleet at the price
sation to Turkey. The conces- of betraying the Southern Slavs to " the
sion was valueless, for if those Serb states German." Isvolsky, it is true, addressing
on either side of the Sanjak were hostile, the Duma on Christmas Day, 1908, de-
Austria could not hold it and if they ; finitely refused to support Servia against
were friendly, she could re-occupy it the Power which had broken the Berlin
without effort. But by the annexation Treaty, but any future designs that
of the two provinces, Austria tore up the may have been plotted against Turkey
Treaty of Berlm, insulted Turkey, and were soon left in abeyance. Internal
exposed the Young Turk government to friction followed the annexation, especi-

5334
;

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IN OUR OWN TIME


ally on the question of concessions. No Moslems, began to leave the country in
international conference was held to give large numbers as soon as the Turkish
sanction to the arrangement, and Austria Revolution gave them hope of security
lost very heavily in her large Turkish trade on Turkish soil. There has always been
owing to the indignant boycott of Austrian great dissatisfaction because the recruits
goods by the Turkish people. In 1910 a from the provinces are taken to serve
constitution was given to the annexed their time in far-distant parts of Austria,
provinces appointing a Diet of 92 members. while troops of other nationalities are
It is possible that the annexation was in quartered among the Bosnian villages.
reality a further step towards the conver- Perhaps even stronger discontent has
sion of Austria into a Slavonic rather been aroused by the large numbers of
than German Power. At all events, that Catholic churches erected by Government
will probably be its result, and it is be- throughout the country, though not
lieved to have been favoured by the much more than 20 per cent, of the popu-
Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand, who had lation are Catholjc. Jesuits and Fran-
strong Slavonic sympathies. On the other ciscans are continually spreading their
hand, we must remember that, whatever propaganda, and it is an open secret that

' "^m

'

fl iiiltiMKSgiiiiiliiMi

THE HUNGARIAN HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT BUDAPEST


the Pan-Slavists may say, it is all of a they were encouraged by the Crown Prince-
piece with the familiar German " Drang Franz Ferdinand, who, perhaps, aimed at
nach Osten," and that the annexed converting Austria-Hungary" into a
provinces are already largely Germanised. Catholic Slav Power as a counterbalance
They are filled with German officials to the Orthodox Slavs of Russia.
all newspapers, except the German, are Thus, Germanism and Catholicism have
so rigorously censored that they often been thrust upon Bosnia and Herzegovina
appear with blank columns ; the forests, with almost equal persistence, and the
which are a chief source of wealthj are sold inhabitants naturally looked for protection
to German contractors many Slav schools
; to their kindred in the neighbouring
have been suppressed the Archbishop is
;
states of Servia and Montenegro, or even
an Austrian nominee, and even the Ortho- to reorganised Turkey, which they still
dox Servians refuse to accept the rites of claim as their suzerain. It must be
their Church from anti-national hands. remembered that when Austria was per-
The Bosnian Mohammedans, who num- mitted to occupy and administer by the
ber about 35 per cent, of the population Treaty of Berlin, she had to mobilise
and are Slav by race, though very strict 200,000 men, so strong was the opposition
339 5335
,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


of the inhabitants to a purpose which she instinct for discerning the right moment
called her mission, though the provinces to yield or to remain firm. far he How
had but recently freed themselves from was aware of his Foreign Minister, Baron
Turkish misgovernment. English trav- von Aehrenthal's, sudden action that
ellershave often pointed to the advantages convulsed Europe with apprehension in
of Austrian rule —
the police, the growing the autumn of 1908, we cannot yet
commerce, the excellent roads, and other say. The stroke was so unlike the
signs of advancement under Baron von emperor's habitual restraint and modera-
_. .
*
.
The Aged
K
allay, who administered the
•'
r .
tion that it encouraged the belief in his
temporary retirement from affairs and
.

provmces
^ •,
for twenty
'
years
emperor ;
Fr.nz Joseph
^^^ ,

great appearance of sue- his delegation of authority to his successor.


cess. But English travellers That report has been contradicted, and
generally take their information from the it is a pity that the probable end of a long
German-speaking officials, and it is also a and worthy career will be marked by the
common mistake of that race to suppose great European War which Austria's
that man lives by bread alone. The action chiefly contributed to bring
hostility to Austrian rule is at the present about.
time probably as strong as it was at the What will happen at the aged em-
time of the occupation in 1878. peror's death has long been a central
With Prague in open riot, the Italian problem of international politics. M.
provinces deeply disturbed, the Poles Milovanovitch, the Servian Foreign Min-
violently indignant at the treatment of ister, while protesting against Austria's
their countrymen by Austria's German attempt to shatter the Serb nationality
ally, Croatia and Transylvania restless by annexing the provinces, said in January,
under Magyar injustice, the Magyars 1909 " Austria-Hungary is not a Father-
:

themselves insisting on further demands land, but rather a prison of


p J
for independence, and with Bosnia-Herze- , .. numerous nationalities all panting
of the . ,, ™, J \- s>
govina in a state of siege, the celebra- P to escape. The description is
tion of the aged emperor's Diamond singularly apt. As I have tried
Jubilee, in 1908, could hardly be called an to show, the empire is hardly even a geo-
auspicious occasion. Yet, in all Europe graphical expression. Never was a great
there was probably no man more widely Power less homogeneous or more savagely
respected than Franz Joseph. It was torn by contending races. It is natural
not merely that he had reigned for sixty to suppose that with the departure of
years without open scandal. A man of the man who has so long held the
no great intellectual power or gift of component parts together, however
foresight, he had, within the rigid limits loosely, a general disruption will ensue
of Austrian Court life, devoted himself and the whole fabric of the empire
to the tasks that lay before him with an collapse. But it would be unwise to
obstinate tenacity that failures and dis- prophesy any such fate. Austria-Hun-
asters made tragic, but could not shake. gary has survived so long that in all
The mysterious death of his son and the likelihood it will go on surviving, if only
_. _
The Emperor s
, assassination of his wife cast by habit. Besides, a disruption would
1 ^ -

imply the isolation of many enfeebled


1 1

-
. a deep gloom over his private
-J
. life, while the loss of nearly nationalities.
Ij.
all his Italian possessions, the Patriotic as Czechs and Magyars and
annihilation of his forces by Prussia, and Serbs and Germans may be, when it
the collapse of Austria's old leadership came to the point they might very
among the German States, were public likely prefer to hang together rather
disasters that few dynasties could survive. than enjoy a short-hved separation at the
Yet neither grief nor disaster turned him cost of ultimate and perpetual absorption
from the fulfilment of duties which under the grinding imperialism of one o*"
destiny laid upon him, and long ex- other of their powerful neighbours.
perience had endowed him with a kind of Henry W. Nevinson

W^6
LATER EVENTS IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
IN' spite of much internal agitation over Czechs, Independent Czechs, Clericals,
^ the question of the franchise in Slavonians, and Serbo-Croats, Bohemian
Hungary, and of repeated turmoil m the Conservative Feudalists, Moravian Central
Hungarian Chamber, the dual monarchy party, Italians, and Roumanians the —
in later years had enjoyed an era of peace, main conflict for years raging between the
and the Emperor Francis Joseph I., Czechs and the Germans. Hungary, with
whose reign began in that year of revolu- its Reichstag (Upper House of Magnates
tions, 1848, had long outhved the troubles and Lower House of Representatives) has
that once beset his throne. In 1914 the also its own racial difficulties. Croatia
Emperor, then in his 84th year, had to and Slavonia, though part of the kingdom
suffer the loss of the heir apparent, Prince of Hungary, have their own Diet, presided
Franz Ferdinand, who, with his Consort, was over by a Ban, or Lord-Lieutenant, and
shot dead by a Servian assassin at Sarajevo 43 members of this Diet are
on June 28th. This crime was associated „ . sent to the Hungarian Reich-
ungarian
with the unrest prevailing amongst the stag, where, invariably, they sit
various races and kingdoms that made up in opposition. Another group
the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. in permanent opposition was the Independ-
How wide and numerous were these ence party, led by the late M. Francis
differences of race may easily be under- —
Kossuth a son of the revolutionary leader
stood when some statistics of 1914 are of 1848 —
whose death took place in May,
grasped. According to these statistics, 1914. These national parliaments have
the people of the dual monarchy included the fullest powers in internal matters, but on
in Austria 9,000,000 Germans, 6,000,000 questions of foreign policy and for the
Bohemians and Moravians, 4,250,000 organisation of the army and navy, the
Poles, 3,380,000 Ruthenians, 1,200,000 Delegations, or Joint Committee, of Austria-
Slovenes, besides smaller numbers of Hungary, consisting of 60 members, are
Italians, Croats, and Servians ; while in alone responsible. Three executive de-
Hungary there lived 10,000,000 Magyars partments are concerned exclusively with
(Hungarians), 3,000,000 Roumanians, the foreign affairs and finance of the
2,000,000 Germans, 2,000,000 Slovaks, dual monarchy and with the War Office.
1,500,000 Croats, and 1,000,000 Servians ;
Each state makes its own separate pro-
besides a certain number of Italians. vision for the imperial expenses, and the
With so mixed a population there is naturally proportion to be contributed is fixed by
considerable variety in religion. While mutual agreement, renewable every ten
the Roman Catholic Church embraces years. A Customs and Commercial Treaty
about 80 per cent, of the people of Austria, between Austria and Hungary, signed in
and just over half of the people of Hungary, 1907, and ratified by the ParUaments of
and its numbers are estimated at more both states in 1908,- renewed and confirmed
than 37,000,000, there are also 3,500,000 the agreement first made in 1867, whereby
of the Greek Church, over 4,300,000 the two states are a common territory for
Lutherans, Calvinists, and other Pro- commercial and Customs purposes, and
testants, more than 2,000,000 Jews, and in possess the same system of coinage,
Bosnia - Herzegovina 500,000 weights and measures. A Court of Arbi-
Kaeial Mohammedans. To a large tration for the settlement of differences
Differences extent the electoral districts for between the two states was also estab-
the return of members to the lished by this treaty. In spite of exten-
Lower House of the Reichsrath at Vienna sive emigration to America from the rural
are formed on the basis of race and as
; districts, the population of Austria in-
the franchise was extended in 1907 to creased from 27,496,712 in 1906 to
every male citizen who has resided for a 28,826,00 in 191 1, while that of Hungary
year in his district, and is not disqualified increased from 19,254,559 in 1900 to
by crime or poverty, the number of 21,030,000 in 1911. The total population
parhamentary giroups, in addition to the in 1910 was estimated at 51,340,603.
Social Democrats, who admit no racial Next to Russia, Austria-Hungary, with
distinctions and are international, includes its area of 675,887 square kilometres, is
German Liberals, National Liberals, the largest empire in Europe, though in
German Conservatives, Anti - Semites, point of population it is beaten by Ger-
Poles, Ruthenians, Young Czechs, Old many with its 65,000,000 people.
5337
THE KAISER AND KAISERIN RHVIEWING PRUbSlAN STAFF OFFICERS AT POTSUAM

GERMAN ARTILLERY ; n' ihh m AJ^n.\ <\/k' v. < on THE FRENCH FRONTIER, OCTOBER, I90S

FOOTGUARD RECRUITS REVIEWED BY THE KAISER: NOTE THE "GOOSE-STEP'

CROWN PRINCE, IN THE FOREGROUND, AS AN OFFICER OF THE IMPERIAL CUIRASSIERS


GERMANY'S GREAT CONSCRIPT ARMY : SOME SCENES OF MILITARY LIFE
5338
— —

EUROPEAN
POWERS IV
TO-DAY GERMANY

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME


THE EMPIRE'S PLACE AMONG THE WORLD
POWERS & ITS MILITARY & NAVAL STRENGTH
By Charles Lowe, M.A.
D Y far the most conspicuous and momen- another, after that of Rome, has been built
*-^ tous event of the nineteenth century up by a policy of blood and iron, surely it
was the rise of the new German Reich on is the British, for the long reign of Queen
the ashes of the Second French Empire. Victoria was one of almost continuous war
The victories of the great Napoleon will in one part or another of her world-
shine for ever in the pages of history, embracing dominions. It might easily be
though the results of those victories have shown that without this policy of " blood
all gone to dust. The Corsican was a man and iron " it would never have been
of tremendous, but of negative, power. He „ possible to point to the new
shook all Europe to its foundations, but ^^^^^^^ Empire as the most
UnUcrstat/s
out of its ruins evolved no new political momentous creation of the
of E ro ** e
structure to survive his own fall. He was nineteenth century. It was
essentially a destroying demon, while after the Franco-German War of 1870 this
Bismarck, on the contrary who was to — mighty empire took the place of van-
succeed him as the principal wielder of quished France as the leading, because the
one-man power in Europe proved the — most powerful, nation on the Continent of
genius incarnate of creation. Europe; for, after Sedan, the centre of
Napoleon had only escaped from Elba political gravity passed automatically from
and reached the Tuileries with intent to Paris to Berlin. Yet even now there are
make one more gigantic effort to crush but few Englishmen who have a clear and
united Europe when Bismarck was born just notion as to what sort of a thing
seven weeks exactly before Waterloo All — this new German Empire really is.
Fools' Day happening to be the birthday It may,therefore, be said at once
of the wisest man of his time. Little, that it is unique of its kind ; and that
certainly, did the Titanic Corsican then it is not an empire in the Caesarian or
think that, far away, in an obscure hamlet Tamerlanian, or Turkish, or Russian,
of the sandy Mark of Brandenburg, a man- or Napoleonic sense of the term. It
child had on that First of April been born, would be much nearer the mark to
endowed with the power of building up describe the German Empire as the
again what he had cast down, and of " United States " of Europe, with the
shivering his upstart dynasty to atoms. King of Prussia as their perpetual presi-
All the seas of blood which flowed at the dent, under the title of " Deutscher
, call of Napoleon had been shed Kaiser," or " German Emperor," for
-J ermany s " Emperor of Germany " he is not. That
^^ ^^-^ whereas the German
Imperial r^ ^ j
would imply sovereignty over the German
.

Empire stands, and promises


S rd 'ty
to stand, a solid result of the people, but William II. 's sovereignty is
three wars of 1864, 1866, and 1870, which confined to Prussia. It is for this reason
Bismarck found necessary to wage in that neither he nor his grandfather, the
order to unify the German people. Hence first kaiser in, not of, a united Father*
he has come to be known as the statesman —
land was ever crowned, as coronation
of " blood and iron," as if, forsooth, would carry with it the idea of imperial
made without eggs, or
omelettes could be sovereignty, which is not an attribute of
cemented without the sacrifice of
states the German Emperor. Nor are all Ger-
human life. If any empire more than mans the " subjects " of the kaiser, as
5339
. — ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


they are so often called. Every German in his own special HohenzoUern monarchy.
isthe subject of his own Landesvater, or The depth of popular ignorance on this
native sovereign. Thus the only immedi- head in England was revealed when the
ate " subjects " of William II. are his Duke of Edinburgh succeeded to the throne
own honest Prussians, while the Saxons, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, by the death of
the Wiirtembergers, and the Badeners, etc., his uncle, and when he was written of as
"
own similar allegiance to their respec- own having now " taken an oath of allegiance
tive rulers, but enjoy the superin-
all to the German Emperor, as if he had
_. _- .cumbent status and privilege
, become his imperial nephew's vassal.
The Kaiser s r /-• •

, J
of imperial German citizen-
i i.-
On the contrary, the duke became
p°'''*
ship. Another point to be just as much of an independent sovereign
noted is that the kaiser does in Germany as the King of Prussia
not receive from the empire a single himself, who is only " primus inter pares "
penny of his Civil List about $4,000,000 — among his fellow sovereigns in the Reich.
— which is exclusively Prussian, and aU. Outside of his own particular kingdom of
the ceremonial expenses entailed upon Prussia, William II., as German Kaiser,
him as emperor are drawn from his has no more power of interference in the
copious stipend as King of Prussia. The civil affairs, say, of Saxony, Bavaria,
imperial dignity is an honorary title in the or Baden, than the Khan of Tartary.
strict sense of the term, but the cost of Even in the Free Cities of Hamburg,
maintaining it is cheerfully borne by the Liibeck, and Bremen, the emperor cannot
kaiser- king's special Prussian subjects for step in to exercise the prerogative of mercy,
the honour of the family, so to speak, "et one of the symbols of sovereignty.
pour beaux yeux du roi de Prusse."
les To talk about the kaiser as a despot,
ignorance of these and other facts
It is an autocrat, an absolute ruler, an irrespon-
essential to a clear comprehension of the sible monarch, is not quite correct. The
subject that has caused the German truth is that both as King of Prussia and
Emperor to be represented as a kind of
Th e I united^ as
• • German Emperor WiUiam II.
Frankenstein monster, bearing no resem- -^ ^ constitutional sovereign
blance to any man or monarch in the ,J-T."' °»»
William II.
if of a peculiar kind. When
T- 1- 1 X << i.-
universe. It cannot be truthfully main-
1
Englishmen speak of consti-
tained that William II. is an absolutely tutional "government they mean govern-
autocratic ruler without any check upon ment by party, whereas the German
his powers. The best way of realis- conception of the same thing is govern-
ing his character as a sovereign is to ment according to a written constitution,
remember that the German Empire is but whether includes party see-saw or not.
it
the European analogue of the United The trouble with England's " glorious con-
States of America, a confederation of stitution" is that it is in the nature of a
twenty-five sovereign states of which — " lex non scripta," so that they never
three, the Free Cities of Hamburg, Lubeck, really know where they are whereas, the
;

and Bremen, are republics under the title — Germans always enjoy the immense ad-
of " Deutsches Reich," with the King of vantage of knowing, so that in cases of
Prussia, ex-ofiicio, as its perpetual execu- dubiety or dispute they simply have to
tive chief or president. Just as each State turn to the " Reichsveriassung." And
in the American Union enjoys its own the same remark applies to the Prussian
legislature for the transaction of purely constitution, the outcome of the revolu-
state affairs, so a similar system prevails tion of '48, when the respective powers
Germany, where each federal of crown and crowd were very carefully
Q many s in ,

g^^^.^ ^i^.^ its own bicameral defined though, on the whole, the balance
;

Landtag, for legislating


^^^*' ^^ of power is in favour of the king in his
Sovereign.
on affairs not reserved for right of absolute veto.
the Reichstag or Imperial Parliament. But as kaiser he has no such right, so
The Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, and that in this and some other respects, he is
Wiirtemberg, and the Grand Dukes and not so powerful as the president of the
Dukes of the other federal states are United States. The legislative body of
just as much sovereigns in their own the empire may
be said to consist of two
territories —
just as much " kings in their —
Chambers the Reichstag, or National
own castles," so to speak as the King of — Assembly, representing the German people
Prussia, with the title German Emperor, is and returnable by manhood suffrage

5.340
, ;

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME


and the Bundesrath, or Federal Council, Government remains in power whatever
representing the Federal Sovereigns and happens, seeing that the principle of gov-
Free Cities of the Fatherland. Each of ernment by party does not form part of
these Chambers has on some questions co- the administrative machinery of any
equal powers. The assent of both is German state. Only somewhat recently
essential to the passage of an imperial isthere any strong desire for it. Nationsd
law, and any Bill would be blocked by the security is of far more importance to
veto of either. Apart from these two Germany, as a sort of " besieged fortress "
bodies the kaiser himself, as President of ,„. _
Why Germaay
—tousethewordsof Moltke
the Union, has no power to veto an im- ^
Needs
.
c.
a strong
—„
,

j xu ui
.

than government by see-


.

perial law and as Prussian member of


;
j^ . * saw ; and the problem ever
the Federal Council he can only command before the German people
seventeen votes out of a total of sixty-one. and their rulers is how to combine the
It will then appear that, even in the greatest degree of national safety with
Federal Council, the Prussian president a workable degree of individual liberty.
might easily be outvoted on any question :
" Hemmed in," said Moltke, " between
as he was, for example, in the case of the mighty neighbours, we are of opinion that
Supreme Court of the empire, which was we require a strong monarchy." Moreover,
located at Leipzig instead of Berlin. A it cannot be doubted that Prince Biilow, on
Bill which is passed by the Reichstag and the eve of the General Election of 1907,
approved by the Federal Council becomes spoke the popular mind of the nation when
law whether the emperor, as King of he said that " no one in Germany desires a
Prussia, has voted for it or not and then
; personal regime, but, on the other hand,
the imperial president has no separate the great majority of the German people is
veto power, no choice but to execute the most emphatically against a party regime."
combined decision of the German people But while it is quite true that though
and German princes. But now a word the German people do not, as is so often
as to the Reichstag, or said of them, live under a personal regime,
unc ions
Asembly, of which,
jsjg^tional or anything like it, it is equally true that
T,•
t^ by the way, the members what may be called the personal power
are now paid, and which of the emperor is very great. In the
is often described as a mere " money purely civil and political field this power,
voting and law-assenting machine." as we have seen, is circumscribed by the
This has seemed rather close to the truth. written constitutions of Prussia and the
The power of the Reichstag to reject empire, and not often has the kaiser-king
measures placed before it by the Imperial ever sought to overstep or circumvent
Government is absolute in theory, but the limits set against his arbitrary will.
the Government has usually had its will. He cannot veto a measure which has
True, the kaiser, with the assent of his received the double approval of the
fellow sovereigns in the Union, may Reichstag and the Bundesrath he can-
;

dissolve Parliament, but so can England's not, without tlie consent of his fellow
king on the advice of his premier; and to sovereigns in the Union, declare an
dissolve a Parliament is not to dragoon it. aggressive war, and these sovereigns,
Dissolutions of the German Parlia- perhaps, might be expected to forbid their
ment have always taken the form of a executive president to precipitate the
plebiscite,a referendum, a direct appeal nation into a wanton struggle. Well,
from the party-torn representatives of the then, but what is the nature of the power
German people to the people themselves, that the kaiser so palpably
The Kaiser
and in nearly all such cases the reply has exercises ? The answer is
Master of
been decidedly in favour of the Govern- that he the representa-
is
Many Legions
ment. Power of purse is exercised as tive and spokesman of the
absolutely by the German Reichstag as by German people to other countries
the House of Commons, and the kaiser above all, that he is commander-in-chief
cannot put a new warship on the sea, or of the army and navy; and that this
add a single man to the German Army " Kaiserliche Herr " also claims to be a
without the sanction of the German people. " Kriegsherr," war-lord, or master of
The list of measures which have been many mighty legions. It is the flashing of
rejected both by the Imperial and Prussian the emperor's helmet more than of his
Parliaments is a very long one, but the crown which sometimes tends to dazzle
5341

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the eyes and bewilder the German nation, the manufacture of soldiers, and in this
and other nations as well. It is in his respect she easily surpasses all her rivals.
administrative capacity as " Kriegs- Of these soldiers she keeps a standing
herr " that the kaiser wields most personal army of about 600,000, which is just about
power within the empire ; while abroad double the strength of what it was a year
he is comparatively untrammelled
also or two after the Franco-Prussian war; and
in the domain of foreign policy. In both in time of war this force is raised to a first
fields the emperor is entitled by the fighting line of about two millions.
constitution to wield great personal When needed, Germany can put into
power, but he has strongly denied that he the field, from her reserves of various
sought to throw his sword into the scale kinds, a host of over five millions of highly
either against the civil rights of his own trained fighting men. Her standing army is
people or the general rights of man as divided into twenty-three army corps, all
involved in the peace of the world. _. _ as like each other as two pins
The Germans
Andthe sword of the German Emperor m respect of composition

, -i-
j-

andj
is 3. mighty one — .none more so. The J^ ' . ^.
Conscription
eihciencv, so that after a
,
•'
., ,
" German Michael," with his " mailed {_
stranger has seen the march-
fist," is perhaps the most formidable past of one of those superb bodies of men,
fighting man the world has ever seen ;and he may be said to have seen the whole
yet it must be admitted that he did not German army. It is, of course, a conscript
bare his blade for well-nigh forty years army, though its size is fixed by budget
following his last great set-to with the law, and hence it follows that, though all
Gauls beyond the Rhine. Whatever else Germans capable of beanng arms are liable
may be said about Germany, it must to serve, it is only the fittest who are
at least be conceded to her credit tha+, taken to the colours, seeing that the
with all her tremendous armed strength, number of available recruits always ex-
she was for years a bulwark of the Euro- ceeds that of the time-expired men.
pean peace. It would be outside the scope of a sketch
After her war with France, Germany may like this to detail the organisation of the
be said to have become an industrial state German arm.y suffice to say that it is a
;

as compared with the almost purely agri- machine which represents more brain-
cultural country which she was before; work than any other machine ever devised
yet her greatest industry is militarism by the wit of man, and that it is just as

Q^BMAHY'S PARLIAMENTARY BUiLDINGS IN BERLIN


5342
THE STATELY PALACE OF THE GERMAN EMPEROR AT POTSDAM
near perfection as any human institution some, but with the -vast bulk of the nation
can possibly be. the army is its most popular institution,
But, then, as to its cost? Do we not and its officers are readily accorded the
often hear of the frightfully oppressive leading position in society. In fact, the
burden of militarism under which the average German officer is the most ad-
German people groan as compared with mired type of the German man.
that of other nations? In fact the ex- But the worship of his uniform some-
penses of the German army were not so times leads to strange results —
^witness the
much greater in normal times than those case of an old gaol-bird, called Voigt, a
of the United States. One great differ- cobbler by trade, who dressed himself up
ence, of course, is the difference in pay. as a captain in the Prussian Guards, way-
The German officer is not expected to live laid a party of William II.'s finest soldiers,
on his pay, and the privates get almost and commanded them to follow him to a
nothing. " Ah, but then," exclaim the little town, Kopenick, near Berlin. The
critics of militarism, " apart soldiers obeyed like sheep or machines.
Cost of
from the actual cost of the Ger- At Kopenick, the cobbler-captain, saying
Great
Armies
man army in positive cash, just he was the agent of the kaiser, arrested
consider the blood-tax that has the burgomaster, and sent him and his
to be paid by its victims in diverting two lady under escort to Berlin, after which he
of the best years of their life from their coolly walked away with all the cash in
civil occupations, and thus sterilising the treasury, which he had previously
"
their productive labour ! demanded in exchange for a receipt. The
The answer to this is that what these feat would have been impossible in any
victims lose in one way they gain, and more other country save Germany, where there
than gain, in another. For they return to is a blind worship of every kind of uniform,
civil life far better citizens than ever they beneath which no one ever takes the
were before — imbued with discipline. trouble to look.
Orderliness, respect for authority, energy, This is one of the minor penalties of
improved physique, and other qualities being a "Volk in Waffen," a people in
which soon enable them to make up, and arms, but that is a condition of things
more, for the time, not lost, but devoted from which the Germans claim they can-
to the service of their country — a citizen's not escape if they would continue to be
first and highest duty. It is a great mis- secure of their national existence. It is
take to suppose that military service is just as essential for them to have the
unpopular in. Germany. It may be with finest army in Europe as it is for England to
5343
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


have the strongest fleet in the world. built and building in 1907, add 100 oi
Conscription is a sheer necessity for the the finest liners of the great German ship-
Germans and each country has its own
; ping companies, which are retained by
pecuhar needs and problems. As in the the Government as auxiliary cruisers in
case of individuals, what is food for one the event of war, and you will get some
may be positive poison for another, and it idea of the new and formidable phenome-
would be just as preposterous for England non which may be said to
William II.
to seek to obtrude upon the Germans have burst upon a startled
Creator
their own special form of constitutional- and apprehensive Europe in
of the Navy
ism as it would be absurd for the Germans the form of the Imperial
to insist upon England adopting their German navy. And here it may be
system of conscription. pointed out that while the army of the
The war of 1870 was exclusively a land Fatherland is only " German," its navy
war, and the swift, crushing victories of is " Imperial " that is to say, that while
;

the Germans had this peculiar, this the army is composed of contingents from

unique result that they may be said to the various states of the Union, each with
have put the French navy entirely out its own peculiarities and privileges, the

of action, seeing that it had to hurry off —


navy recruited from the seafaring popu-
all its best guns and men to help in the lation on the same conscript principle as
defence of Paris. But such
Why Germany ^ thing—such a victorious

the army is an imperial institution pure
and simple, and is much more of a rivet
^"' *
avy

walk-over on land is never to the unity of the Reich.
lijfeiy to occur again ; and The difference may be further accentu-
that was why, or at least one of the reasons ated by saying that while there is no

why, the Germans knowing that if ever Imperial Minister of War, there is an
.hey had to fight again they would have Imperial Chief of the Admiralty. In its
to do so on sea as well as on land — pro- present form the Imperial navy may be
vided themselves with a navy which M. said to be the creation of William IL., and,
Lockroy, French Minister of Marine, who if for nothing else, he will always be
was given special facilities for studying remembered for this achievement. To
it, pronounced to be the " best organised the eagle on the escutcheon of the Hohen-
in the world." As the rise of the German zollerns he may be said to have added
Empire was the most momentous fact of a swan. William I. taught Germany
modern times, so the most momentous how to march, and it remained for his
thing in the history of this new empire ambitious grandson to show her how to
was the creation of the German fleet. In swim.
1870 Germany possessed but thirty-seven " As my grandfather," the latter said,
war-ships all told, and a very miscellaneous " reorganised the army, so I shall reor-
job lot they were ;while now she has no ganise my navy, without flinching and in
fewer than about 260 various kinds of the same way, so that it will stand on the
battle-craft, built or building, including same level with my army, and that, with
several of the Dreadnought type. In 1888 its help, the German Empire shall
the navy was manned by only 15,000 reach the place which it has not yet
officers and seamen, and twenty years attained."
later the number exceeded 50,000. In Other utterances of the emperor show
1888 the ordinary naval expenditure was that he was the first of his race to grasp
only $12,500,000, by 1908 it had risen —
the meaning of sea-power the struggle
to $90,000,000 ; while the total sum to for which promises to be a marked feature
be devoted to the navy between 1906 and of the present century —
utterances such
1907 was voted at 166 millions sterling, as *' Our future lies on the water "
though supplementary Bills tend to in- " Germany, too, must have her place in the
crease these colossal figures. sun " " without the consent of Ger-
;

To the 260 war-ships of various kinds many's ruler nothing must happen in any

5344

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME
part of the world " ;
"
may our Father- increase the navy. The large naval pro-
land be as powerful, as closely united, and gramme of 1898, providing for seventeen
as authoritative as was the Roman new battleships, coincided
Germany's
Empire of old, in order that the phrase ^j^j^ ^^le Spanish-American
rea ui ^^s-\^^j.
'
Civis Romanus sum may be replaced by
' .
^j^ile soon after the
Frogramme
'
I a German citizen "
am " Neptune
'
; outbreak of the Boer War
with the trident is a symbol for us that we the Reichstag again voted, in 1900, some-
have new tasks to fulfil since the empire thing hke $500,000,000 for the carrying
has been welded together. Everywhere we out of a naval programme extending over
have to protect German citizens, every- sixteen years ; though on two subsequent
where we have to mdntain German occasions, 1906 and 1907, supplementary
honour that trident must be in our
; Bills in the direction always of bigger
fist." battleships were presented to Parliament.
and other utterances of his
These There was the less opposition to the
clearly showed that William II. had been immense Government demands in 1900,
bitten by the new-born pas- as the German public had been highly
The Kaiser's gj^j^ j^j. sea-power, though in irritated by the seizure of several of their
Passion for
this respect he was but acting mail steamers, and the unloading of them
Sea Power
as the spokesman of the vast at Durban in search of contraband an —
majority of his people. The voice of that incident to which the emperor thus alluded
people found vent in the creation of a in a telegram to the King of Wiirtemberg :
Flottenverein, or Navy League, which " I hope the events of the last few days
now numbers almost a milhon subscribing will have convinced ever widening circles
members, and which has an annual that not only Germany's interest, but
income of about $250,000 for the purpose also Germany's honour must be protected
of agitating in favour of an ever stronger in distant seas, and that to this end
navy. But even previous to the form- Germany must be strong and powerful
ation of that league the Reichstag, in on the sea also." At the same time it was
response to the same popular voice, had stated, not in the preamble, but in the
willingly voted 40,000,000 dollars for the memorandum of motives attached to the
construction of a sixty-mile long and Bill of 1900, that " Germany must have
twenty-nine feet deep canal between a fleet so strong that even for the greatest
Kiel Harbour and the mouth of the Elbe naval Power a war with it would have
a work which, begun in 1886 and inaugu- such risks as to imperil its sea supremacy."
rated in 1895, practically doubled the And then the fat was on the British
value of the German fleet by enabling it fire. For these words were regarded as a
to concentrate in either the North Sea clear warning, if not a threat, to England,
or the Baltic without incurring the various and there were many who then prophesied
risks of going round by Denmark. that a war between the two countries was
A few years later it was decided to only a question of time. For over a
deepen and broaden this Kaiser Wilhelm —
quarter of a century or from 1884-85,
Canal to admit of the passage of battle- when Germany, in spite of
Britain's
ships of the Dreadnought type. More- much irritating obstruction
Relations with^j.^^^
over, the Reichstag voted 7,500,000 England, first started on
ermany
dollars for the fortification of Heligo- ^^^ career as an oversea Power
land, which England surrendered to Ger- — the relations between the two peoples
many in 1890 in exchange for Zanzibar. had been anything but cordial, and during
Otherwise the Flottenverein under the — the Boer War their estrangement reached a
patronage of some of the' highest person- climax. But, truth to tell, there were
ages in Germany, including the emperor's faults and jealousies on both sides.
sailor-brother, Prince Henry played a — The German Empire was a poUtical fact
prominent part in preparing the public to which Enghshmen were long in recon-
mind for successive demands of money to ciling themselves, and there were but

5345
— ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


few who could lay their hands upon their there is not always perfect identity
hearts and call themselves its well- between popular aspirations and Govern-
wishers. These feelings of coldness and ment aims. The emperor himself dis-
suspicion were only intensified when avowed all deliberate hostility to England ;

Imperial Germany shot ahead and became while his chancellor, Prince von Biilow,
her most formidable rival in the world of was still more emphatic. Replying to the
commerce. " That England," so Bismarck charge of some Socialist speakers in the
once said, " looks on in some surprise when Reichstag, that the increase in the German
, we, her landlubberly cousins, navy was rightly regarded as directed
Germany s
su(j(jgnly take to the water too against Great Britain, the chancellor said,
is not to be wondered at." But December, 1905 " That we are pursuing
:

on °theXa
c ea
^^^ Germans had not merely no aggressive plans against Great Britain
taken to the water. In the opinion of I have said a hundred times. I have said
the Teutophobe alarmists, it was also a hundred times that it is nonsense to
their aim to wrest from England the trident father such schemes on us."
of Neptune and destroy her tyrannical To a Press interviewer some little time
supremacy on the sea. As one writer after, the prince said: "I admit that we
said : "A mighty longing for larger have made great strides in shipbuilding
sea power, a determination to brook for, likeother nations, we require a fleet in
no longer the overwhelming and resist- proportion to the extent of our commercial
less supremacy of England on the main, interests all over the water. But, as a
has seized upon the soul." matter of fact, our navy is still very small
But while thus striving to make en- in proportion to our oversea commerce
croachments on the sea, the Germans at the judging their relative dimensions by those
same time had not been neglecting the air, of other nations. To argue, however, that
and in the latter respect their most success- Germany thinks of ever competing with
ful inventor, Count Zeppelin, was hailed England for the mastery of the sea is
by the emperor as " the foremost man of tantamount to accusing us of
,

crmany s
his century." For his conquest of South ^jgj^ij^g ^q build a railway to
Africa, Lord Roberts received $500,000 the moon, including rolling-
g p
from a grateful country, and that is pre- stock, sleeping-cars, etc. It is
cisely the sum which was also voted to sheer nonsense, and I for one deplore that
Count Zeppelin by the German people for anybody should deem me capable of
his conquest of the air. The degrees of entertaining such a fantastic idea."
these two acts of victory were very differ- In the Reichstag also the chancellor
ent, but still the Germans were entitled to said : "In our construction of a fleet we
claim that they had advanced further on are not pursuing aggressive aims. We
the path of air-conquest than any other only desire to defend our own German
nation. Heine had sneered at them as a coasts, and to uphold German interests
nation of dreamers, whose thoughts were abroad. It is, moreover, the wish of by
always in the air, but his words had now far the greater portion of the German
acquired a wonderfully new significance :
people that we should not be defenceless
The F"rench and the Britons now lord it on land. on the sea. . . The saying, Our future
.
'

In the ocean the Britons are rooted ;


lies on the water,' is not in any way
To the Germans remaineth the region of air, pointed at other Powers. . . . We
have
Where they domineer undisputed. not the slightest intention of driving
With Count Zeppelin's achievements the another Power from the sea, but we have
The Possible
*^^' however, had now come ]ust as good a right to sail the seas of the

Con u St f when the most hot-headed and world as other nations have. That right
visionary among the Germans the Hansa had centuries ago, and that right
GrrrBrit°ain
began to regard their partial the new German Empire also possesses."
conquest of the long step in the
air as a Apart from all question of England and
direction of the possible conquest of Great her sea supremacy, it must be owned that
Britain, which would thus no longer enjoy Germany had reasons enough for justifying
the advantages of being an island if the herself in the eyes of other nations in the
sky could be darkened with aerial navies. building of a navy commensurate with her
But it is a far cry from Lake Con- population (63,000,000), the extent of her
stance to the chffs of England and, on the
; coast-line, the size and number of her
other hand, in a country like Germany, colonies, the volume of her marine trade

5346

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME


which is far superior to that of France England the blue ribbon of the Atlantic,
and her dignity as the leading Power on until this was recovered for her by a couple
the Continent. Where was the logic of Eng- of colossal Cunarders. The value of German
land grudging to Germany, with marine trade done with the British Empire alone
interests greater than those of France, a was over $545,000,000 annually. Besides,
navy at least equal to the French one ? Germany was becoming more and more de-
Surely every country may enjoy the right pendent on foreign supphes of food and raw
of determining the means and manner of its material for the industrial portion of her
self-defence ; but human
nature is a strange thing,
and often prompts to the
remark " Get animal est
:

tres mechant quand on;

I'attaque, il se defend."
Since the year 1848 Ger-
many has seen her coast
blockaded on three separate
occasions, including the war
of 1870, when she was
practically powerless at sea.
Again, in 1907, the value of
her sea-borne trade was
1,860,000,000 dollars. Of
this total, $1,470,000,000
was carried by German
merchant vessels of over

THE WARSHIP FRAUENLOB


people, and in the event of
those supplies being inter-
rupted, she would be faced
with a serious economic
crisis. would be difficult
It
withstand a Conti-
for her to
nental coalition unless she
could count upon a free sea,
and so for these, if for no
other reasons, it was impe-
rative for her to have a
navy commensurate with

her interests a navy which
nevertheless began to fill the
minds of Englishmen with
apprehension and alarm.
But the popular passion
GERMAN WARSHIPS : THE KAISER KARL DER GROSSE f^j. ggg^ power WaS stiU more
One of the greatest of Germany's ambitions to possess a navy that shall be
is
(Jggp^y rOOtcd The dcsirC
unrivaUed by any other Continental Power, and under the present kaiser, t, A;„„„l nnitv had hppn
William II., distinct advance has been made in this direction. The two war- lOr
national UUliy naa DCen
ships illustrated above, which are shown sailing through the great water- foUoWcd by an equally
way, the Kiel Canal, are typical examples of Germany's naval strength. s^j-Qjig Craving for national

3,000,000 tons register, valued at over expansion. For several years after the
$200,000,000, and manned by 60,000 sea- establishment of the empire, Bismarck
men. Ten per cent, of the world's com- and others worked hard at its internal
merce and 79 per cent, of German sea- consolidation —
witness, among other
borne trade was carried in. German things, the codification of all the con-
bottoms, while the hners of the Hamburg flicting laws of Germany, a gigantic work
and Bremen companies were the finest that lasting nearly thirty years, to which
crossed the sea, and had even taken from only German heads were equal. And no
5347
:

HISTORY OF THE ^ORLD


sooner had the imposing edifice of the ment officials employed to administer ths
Reich been fairly riveted within and protectorates without having first learned
without than the national energy began carefully the very necessary art of ruling
to seek an outlet in the creation of a native races. The brusque manners of
Germany beyond the sea. For years Bis- Prussian policemen and the brutal methods
marck had been indifferent, and, indeed, of some German drill - sergeants were
positively averse, to colonial adventure but ; unsuited to the black tribes of the
at last he could no longer resist a popular Kamerun and Damaraland. Rebellion
impulse which was rapidly was frequent, and even the German
Colonies
growing in strength. The re- army, which boasted itself to be the best
of the German
sult was that, within a year or in Europe, was for several years powerless
Empire
two of this new departure, in to put down a native rising in South-West
1884, Germany found herself included in Africa involving the loss of thousands of
the ranks of the colonial Powers, with German lives and millions of dollars.
territories in Africa, New Guinea, and the After this experience, shame and remorse
Pacific Archipelago aggregating an area overtook those Germans who had sneered
five times the size of her empire in Europe, at Britain's protracted struggle with the
though nine-tenths of this area is in Africa. Boers. Attracting few or no colonists in
To this, some years later, in 1897, Ger- the ordinary sense of the term, those
many added a ninety-nine years' " lease " German protectorates on the whole have
of a 200-square mile foothold at Kiaochau, never ceased to be a financial burden to
on the coast of China, whither the kaiser's the Imperial Government, and yet their
sailor brother. Prince Henry, was des- existence and the necessity of defending
patched as the menacing apostle of the them continued to be one of the chief
" mailed fist," with this sentence from his arguments in the logic-armoury of the
Majesty ringing in his ears " Imperial
: Chauvinists and the Pan-Germanists for
power means maritime power, and mari- the strengthening of the Imperial fleet.
time power and Imperial power are , These Pan-Germanists deserve
crmany s
mutually interdependent, so that one ^q^q ^j^^j^ ^ passing notice, see-
cannot exist without the other." fL»°pu.. ing *h3.t, in a sense, they play
rirsi riace
Germany may thus be said to have ^^^^ ^^^^ -^ German political
become an oversea Power without becom- thought which the advocates of a united
ing a colonial one in the British sense. Germany did during the period between
It was wittily and truly said that France 1815 and 1870. Their organisation, the
had colonies but no colonists Germany, ;
" All-Deutscher Verband," or Pan-German
colonists but no colonies while England
; League, corresponds to, and is the comple-
had both colonies and colonists. It was ment of, the " Flottenverein." According to
too late in the day, as indicated by the its statutes, it " has for object the revival
world's clock, when Germany entered the of German nationalistic sentiment all over
colonial field, for by this time all the the earth, preservation of German thought,
available waste spaces of the earth had ideals, and customs in Europe, and across
already been appropriated by other the ocean, and the welding into a compact
Powers, especially England. What she whole of the Germans everywhere." The
wanted was to found a new Germany, a official anthem of these Pan-Germans is
new Fatherland across the sea for the " Deutschland, Deutschland iiber Alles,
accommodation of those vast numbers of Ueber Alles in der Welt."
her surplus sons who had hitherto mi- In charging down on the French at
" Scotland for
V •
c k grated to America and other Waterloo, the Scots cried :

Anglo-Saxon lands but it ever " In charging down on the whole


_' * nIw soon became apparent that
; !
for'l
. . world after Sedan, the Germans shouted :

none of the African territories " Deutschland everywhere ! ''


Prince Biilow
which had now fallen to her were at all once gave the toast " The King first in
:

suitable for this purjjose. Prussia Prussia first in Germany


; Ger-
;

They were all sub-tropical, and fitted many first in the world " And, saying
!

only to be plantation, not agricultural, so, he pretty well expressed the creed of
colonies. Very small was the total number the Pan-Germanists. The emperor, too,
of Germans who went to seek their for- on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the
tunes in Germany's " colonies," and even Reich, delighted their hearts by declaring :
of these a large proportion were govem- " Out of the German Empire a world-

5348
— ; , '

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME


empire has arisen. Everywhere, in all Government had hitherto shown its
parts of the earth, thousands of our practical sympathy with the aims of the
countrymen reside. German riches, Ger- Pan-Germanists was to pursue a root
man knowledge, German activity, make and branch policy of Germanisation within
their way across the ocean. The value of —
the empire itself with the French of
German possessions on the sea is some Alsace-Lorraine, the Danes of Schles-
milliards of marks. Gentlemen, the serious wig, and, above all, with the Poles of
duty devolves on you to help me to link Prussian Poland, where, by a merciless
this greater German Empire close to the process of expropriation
Dangerous
home-country, by helping me, in complete ^^^ ^^j^^j. ^^^^^^ ^f ^q^_
and Unpractical
unity, to fiilfil my duty also towards ^^i^[q^^ the Slavs were
Dreamers
the Germans in foreign parts." placed under the Teutonic
But while thus voicing the splendid aims steam-roller. Otherwise, the Government
of the Pan-Germanists, the emperor h^ld aloof from the agitation of the Pan-
and his Government have never recog- Germanists as from the propaganda
nised their activity to the same extent of unpractical and dangerous dreamers,
as in the case of the " Flottenverein," though it has been said that what the
and for the reason that the propaganda professors think to-day will be espoused
of the " All-Deutscher Verband " is still by the practical politicians of to-morrow.
beyond the pale of practical politics. At the same time, it is well to remember
"
There are now over 80,000,000 of that both the " All-Deutscher Verband
German-speaking men in the world, and and the "Flottenverein" are rooted in
of these only 61,000,000 live in Germany the undeniable fact that the limits of the
itself. The rest are divided between present German Empire are too narrowly
Austria-Hungary, 12,000,000 Switzer-
; drawn for the size of its population as
land, 2,320,000 ;Russia, Baltic Provinces, well as for its importance and its aspira-
etc., 2,000,000 ;various other European tions. In fact, both these propagandist
countries, 1,130,000 ; United leagues may be said to incorporate that
r^osa s
g^aj-gg Q^j^f^ Canada, 5,000,000 restless spirit, that ever-growing passion
o eu onic
g^^j^]^ America, 600,000 Asia,
; for national expansion, that hungering
Utopians .r A i 1-
Africa, Australia, 400,000. after " fresh woods and pastures new,"
But how, then, do the Pan-Germanists which can scarcely fail to bring the Ger-
propose to bring all these widely-scattered man people into fierce struggle-for-life
Teutons into a common fold ? In what competition, if not, perhaps, into actual
respect does Pan-Germanism differ from conflict, with other nations.
Zionism, which aims at the repatriation Those nations have to reckon with the
of the Jews, or, at least, at their collection fact that Germany, which, up to 1884,
from all the countries of Europe and merely was a Continental Power, has now
agglomeration into a new Semitic nation become a Colonial one, and aims at also
with a Rothschild or a Hirsch for their being a "Weltmacht," or World-Power,
ruler ? Broadly speaking, the Teutonic in the sense that Great Britain is such.
Utopians proposed : "Without the consent of Germany's
First, an economic alliance with all ruler," said the kaiser proudly, " nothing
"
countries in Europe inhabited by Germanic must happen in any part of the world
peoples, such as Austria, Switzerland, — and thus he explained what is meant
Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. This by saying that Germany has become a
economical alliance to lead to political —
"Weltmacht" a Power that must be
union for defensive and offensive purposes. consulted before the other
crmany as
Secondly, the formation of a Central g^j-Qpgj^j^
^ Powers can come
Britain s , , •,
European Customs Union, aimed primarily „. to any agreement with re-
Rival ^ e
,
at Sea , 9 ^c
-^
/^l-
against England and the United States, gard, say, to Morocco, China,
and secondarily against Russia. or other oversea " spheres of interest."
Thirdly, the union of all the Germanic It was to lend emphasis to her voice

peoples Low and High Germans in — in such consultations, and protect her
one central Germanic Confederation. As dealings with the markets of the world,
part of this policy, Deutschthum across that Germany thought it necessary to
the seas was to be reclaimed. Out of trans- create a navy commensurate with her
marine Deutschthum a greater Germany interests as a "Weltmacht" a navy —
was to arise. The only way in which the which, though at first merely intended for
5349
:

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


coast defence, gradually assumed a over 200 vessels, with a tonnage of over
battleship build for offensive warfare if 725,000. In addition, there is a swarm
need be, and at last grew to such formidable of river vessels and tugs, with a tonnage
proportions that the British Government of nearly 150,000. The entire fleet is
of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, at valued at $35,000,000. Before the great
the second Hague Conference in 1907, European War there were fifty regular
felt compelled to propose to Germany passenger and cargo liners, calling at over
a mutual arrest of naval armaments and 300 harbours. In the United States alone
their restriction to the ratio of
,
the company employs 2,000 agents.
GcrmaDy s ^^^
^^ ^^^ j^ -^ needless to Furthermore, ships of the Hamburg Line
ISC rom
g^y ^^^^ ^Yii^ proposal was were trading in waters which until quite
over y
negatived by Germany on the recently were regarded as British preserves
ground of the inexorable " logic of facts." — for example, in Indian, Chinese, and
The truth is that Germany has become Australian seas, and even in the Persian
England's most formidable naval rival Gulf.
because she had in the meantime also be- According to a British consular report
come her most dangerous commercial rival. for 1906, the general economic improve
Her supremacy on the sea, which she had ment in Germany had continued steadily,
won at Trafalgar, was still undisputed ; and " attained a hitherto unprecedented
but, on the other hand, her monopoly of height." In " most trades the only sub-
the markets of the world had begun to ject of complaint was the scarcity of
crumble soon after Sedan. workmen."
Having vanquished the French in the The excess of Germany's exports over
field of war, the victors of Sedan set her imports grew rapidly. Dividing the last
themselves to outstrip the British at the twenty-five years into five-yearly periods,
arts of peace, and it was not long before the average excess of exports over imports
the cry arose in that country that they of manufactures, as shown in this return, is
were beginning to do so. Ten years after given for each period in the following table
Sedan, Germany adopted a moderate
protective tariff, and, whether as a con-
NET EXPORTS OF MANUFACTURES FROM
sequence or not, in a few years the UNITED KINGDOM AND GERMANY.
country became transformed. From being United
Germany
Excess of U.K.
one of the poorest of Continental states, - Kingdom Million £
over G. surplus
Million £ Million £
Germany became the richest, and, in
some respects, richer even than England. 1882-86 136-5 51-2 85-3
Let us take a few facts and figures. 1887-91 138-4 57-3 8i-i
In 1882, two years after the adoption of 1892-96 II0-5 57-5 53-0
protectionism, British shipping through 1897-01 II0-5 33-9
the Suez Canal was over 4,000,000 tons ; 1902-06 138-1 113-1 25-0
in 1906 it had risen to 8,500,000, or a trifle
over 100 per cent, increase. In 1882 Ger- Thus it will be seen that the lead of
man shipping was 127,000 tons in 1906,
;
$426,500,000 previously enjoyed by the
United Kingdom steadily dropped tiU
2,250,000, an increase of about 1,700
per cent. In 1882 England owned 81 per itamounted to no more than $125,000,000.
cent, of all shipping passing through the But corrected estimates tend to show that,
Canal in 1906 the percentage had sunk
;
as an exporter of manufactured goods,
to 63. In 1882 Germany owned only 2J Germany was within $75,000,000 of the
. per cent., but in 1906 this United Kingdom.
Shipping
^^^ ^gg^ ^^ ^^gj. jg pgj. ^g^^ It is on the strength of these official
figures that the Hohenzollern Empire has
Enterprise .^^ ^^^ Germans proudly
j^
in Germany
^^.^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ been pronounced by an expert writer-
of their shipping lines — the " Hamburg- Mr. Ellis Barker, author of
" Modern


America " became the greatest in the Germany "—to be at " present by far the
Germany
world, far surpassing the nearest of its wealthiest state in Europe.
British rivals in the extent of its opera- and the individual states composing it
tions and the number and tonnage of have a very large national debt, but against
its ships. The capital of the company that debt they possess very considerable
exceeds $50,000,000, its employees exceed assets. Of these the Prussian state railways
18,000, and its ocean-going fleet numbers alone, which earn a profit of from seven to
5350
— —
GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME
eight percent., would suffice to pay off the proper, but here at least it may be said
whole of the indebtedness of the empire and —
that its members formerly, in 1903,
of all the individual states." Another in- nearly a third of the whole electorate
dication of national wealth and prosperity are the men whom the emperor has re-
is the fact that between 1885 and 1905 peatedly denounced as "a band of fellows
the German state insurance societies paid not worthy to bear the name of Ger-
to about ig,ooo,ooo workers, male and mans," and " enemies to the divine order
female, about $1,280,000,000 on account of of things; men without a Fatherland."
illness, accident, infirmity, and old age. It was with the help of these
Socialists " Vaterlandslose Gesellen " that
In this connection be it remarked that
Routed at
no other country has attempted by legis- the Clericals, in 1907, threw
the Polls
lation so much for the welfare of her out a demand for $2,000,000
working classes as Germany. Under the for the perfection and development of
old emperor she took the lead in the Sputh-West Africa, and on this issue the
attempt to solve modern social problems Government appealed to the German
by means of state legislation, thus in- people, who were told that the new
augurating a sort of state Socialism in General Election was to decide whether
some beneficiary fields while William II.
; Germany was to remain merely a Great
also hastened to make his mark as a Power in Europe, or whether she was also
saviour of society by summoning an inter- to become a World-Power. The reply of
national labour conference, and in Ger- the people was decisive, and the Govern-
many itself full effect was given to its ment got a working majority. The
recommendations by a measure for the Socialists suffered a sort of debacle. They
amendment of the Industrial Code. returned to the Reichstag shorn of about
All this is true. Under Protection half their strength —
^with 43 seats instead
in consequence of it, as some maintain in ; of 82, although, out of a total of 11,262,800
spite of it, as others aver — Germany has —
votes the highest number ever yet given
c» t
Stronghold u grownto be the wealthiest in the empire — they had polled 3,259,000,
country in Europe. In the or only about 29 per cent., instead of
of Soci&l
opmion ofX many she
• • 1- • 1
_ is also their previous 32 per cent.
the best governed country in Nevertheless, the election was held to
Europe, in the sense that she enjoys a furnish clear evidence that the ambition
government best adapted to her special to make Germany a " Weltmacht " and
needs and circumstances yet one is con-
; an oversea Power was no longer confined
fronted by the puzzling facts that for every to the emperor, the " Fiottenverein,"
Socialist in England there are four in and the Pan-German League, but that it
Germany, and that social democracy, the had also permeated the great mass of the
party of extreme discontent, is stronger in German people. It was held to show that
Germany than anywhere else in the world. the working population of Germany had
At the election to the first Reichstag deliberately and emphatically endorsed the
in 1871 only three per cent, of the total economic policy which benefits the producer.
votes had been given to the Socialists, It was further held to prove that,
and by 1881 this percentage had risen however bad the general state of agri-
to 6-12 with a poll of 312,000. By 1890 culture in Germany, it was at least
the percentage had further bounded up decidedly better than in Free-Trade Eng-
to 1974 with a poll of 1,427,300 while ; land. The German people had begun
at the election of 1903 the percentage was to grow tired of a party which was in the
3171, or well on to a third of the whole „. ^ .
main one of mere opposition
—the having secured 3,010,771
Socialists
The Greed . ^-

and negation a party t
as in-
out of a total poll of 9,495,586 a per- — o . ,. ^
Socialists
nocuous as it was
c •i
noisy. The
J _ xu
Socialists now appeared in the
1
centage of 3771. Numerically, they were
thus by far the strongest of the eight or light of those who, the more they get, the
"
ten parties among which the 397 i^eats in more they want. "What do they want ?
the Reichstag are divided. Of these seats inquired the Birmingham brassworkers,
they only secured 82, but according to the when they went over to inquire into the
law of strict proportional representation condition of the German workman. " They
they ought to have had about 130. seem to have everything cheap, and we
The development of social democracy don't know what they are agitating for."
belongs to the history of the empire It was seen that the poor in Germany

140 5351

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


were not becoming poorer but richer. German of the empire has not yet pro-
Socialism was being overcome by social duced even a Klopstock, not to speak of a
prosperity. Its decrepitude was held to be Milton, and as for Goethes and Schillers
due to the fact that Germans are guaran- they are sadly to seek.
teed high wages by their tariff, that In an up-to-date " History of German
Germany is advancing with giant strides Literature," by Edward Engel, he pro-
in wealth, comfort, and prosperity, while nounces this to be " the first literature in
surrendering none of the noble ideas of the world," a judgment which can only be
duty, faith, and obedience upon described as springing from the madness of
A Period of which the old emperor and Bis- national self-conceit wilfully blind to the
Intellectu&l
marck built up the empire. In fact that a literature with a Shakespeare
Stagnation
the material prosperity of
fact, at its head can never be relegated to a

Germany side by side with, and partly second rank. And then, as regards France,
as a result of, her militarism, which supplied Germany has supplanted her as the
her trade, industry, commerce, and agri- leading, because the most powerful, nation
culture with labour at once disciplined on the Continent. The centre of political

and intelligent ^had begun to assume gravity has now been shifted from the
such proportions as to throw all the other Seine to the Spree. But Berlin is still far
phases of the national life into the behind Paris as a " ville lumiere," a centre
shade. Militarism and money-making of intellectualism, literature, art, and all
and materialism have absorbed all the the social graces and one capital can still
;

best energies of the nation, and left it thus securely smile at the clumsy efforts of the
comparatively poor and unproductive in other to add to the oak-leaves of a frowning
the various intellectual walks of life. Mars the laurels of an effulgent Apollo.
An American writer of German origin, Imperial Germany has now become a
Wolf von Schierbrand, is pretty near the " Weltmacht," but it has not yet produced
mark when he says :
" There is an a " Weltliteratur," or anything like it.
astonishing uniformity of mediocre ideas During the last thirty years the
.
ermany in
in modern Germany, with little of that j^^j^^^gj. qJ j^g^ books published
^
the Field of
daring flight of thought, that love of , .^
Literature
^ m Germany has,
• --

j
m round num-
, • j

from 10,000 xto



i_ r
speculative philosophy, little of that bers, increased
poetical sentiment, which the world was about 30,000 per annum, but very few of
wont to consider a special province of the these were ever heard of outside the
German mind. There has been at work Fatherland. It is useless for the Germans
a process of mental levelling down. This themselves to contend that this is more
prevailing sameness, this dearth of genius owing to the ignorance and indifference of
— ^although it cannot be denied that it is outsiders than to the comparative worth-
coupled with a great increase in hard lessness of their books, because literature
common-sense and a practical turn of is a ware, like any other commodity, which

mind can be traced all through German will readily find its level and its market
literature, art, and science of to-day. wherever there is a desire and it is a —
Since the close of the Franco-German War universal one among civilised nations
no really great poet, author, artist or to enjoy the newest masterpieces of the
scientist has arisen in Germany. Nearly human mind. In the field of literature,
all her great names antedate that war. Germany's imports far exceed her exports,
This, I believe, is in part owing to the and, indeed, the latter are almost nil.
influence of military training on the As between England and Germany, the
mind of the nation at the balance of literary trade is immensely in
Polities
formative period of life." But, favour of the former, and the same may
Before
apart from this, the mind of be said of France. Shakespeare alone is
Intelleet
the nation is absorbed in its far more frequently staged in Germany
material development, expansion, and
its than any other dramatist, native or
is far more concerned with the problems foreign. Imperial Germany has certainly
of politics than with those of intellect and produced some talented playwriters, and
art. It was the same with England during men like Sudermann, Hauptmann, Blumen-
her Civil War and Commonwealth period, thal. Von Schonthan, Heyse, Hirschfeld,
when her literature was only saved from Lubbliner, Halbe, and others but most of ;

being one exclusively of political pamph- them have sought their inspiration from
lets by a " Paradise Lost." But the the mysticism of Tolstoi, the pessimism of
5352
— .

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME


Ibsen, the pruriency of Paris, or the rowdy- display of historical statuary is known
dowdy romanticism of which Herr von to the caustic Berliners as the " Sea of
Wildenbruch, who may be described as the Marmora," but is well worth seeing for
Bard of the House of Brandenburg, is the all that. " This I can already tell you,"
most stiltedexponent. For the rest, the the kaiser said when feasting all these
German drama of to-day tends to be heavy creative artists after the inauguration of
in ethical, political, and other aims, at their work, " the impression which the
the expense of pure art. At the same time Avenue of Victory makes upon foreigners
it must be conceded that the theatre, overpowering; on all
The Kaiser ^^^^^^^
which is a subsidised institution in all sides a vast respect is mam-
German states, has an educational value tested for German sculpture.
A t*c 't*
. .

hitherto denied to the British people. It shows that the Berlin school
What has been said of the drama must of sculptors can hardly have been excelled
also be applied to fiction in general, and in the time of the Renaissance." But
also to poetry, of which the quality is if we take the emperor as our critical
almost in inverse ratio to the volume of its guide through the present realms of
output. History has always been a con- German pictorial art, the judgment is
genial subject in Germany, but few of her much less favourable.
historical writers have a style and of them
; The newest tendency is towards realism,
in general —
though there are some excep- as represented by the "Secessionists"

tions it may be remarked what Macaulay from routine and the old regime, from the
said of Niebuhr, that he was " a man who old and accepted schools of painting in
would have been the finest writer of his Germany. Drawing their inspiration from
time if his talent for communicating truths Arnold Boecklin, a Swiss by birth, these
had borne any proportion to his talent —
"Secessionists" who point to Lenbach as
for investigating them." In the field of an exponent of their principles in the domain
theology, Germany is far ahead of England of portraiture —
have aimed at creating a
, with its criticism and its de- new and distinctive school of German art,
' velopment of dogma in the light freed from the mannerism of the past
Pla!^**"'
of science, while the religious serious, sincere, truthful.
in Germany
of the nation might be
life This they aim at, and yet to the kaiser
summed up by saying that in no country they are an odious, degenerate race, whose
of Europe is there so much natural piety productions merit only proscription at
and belief in God, combined with so little the hands the Government.
of " If
church-going, as in Germany, especially civilisation," said the emperor, " is
among the educated classes. It is true going to fulfil its entire mission, it must
that the kaiser himself sets an example penetrate down to the lowest classes
of the straitest Lutheran faith but then; of the people. This it can only do when
his Majesty has, on countless occasions, art bears a hand, when art elevates,
committed himself to the doctrine of instead of herself descending into the
divine right, of his being the German gutter." As gutter- artists, the kaiser, in
vice-regent of the Almighty, " our Ally at his capacity of " Kunstherr," denounces
Rossbach," and he has had to live up to it. the " Secessionists." What his Majesty
Asserting himself to be intimate with wants is not realism, but idealism — as well
the counsels of the Almighty, the emperor in art as in literature, and even the present
claims to be no less acquainted with the tendency of the latter is in a direction fatal
canons of art, and hence it is interesting to reverence for traditional ideals, divine
to learn from him, in his capacity as _ right claims, and all the rest of
" Kunstherr," ermany
as distinguished from ^^ German literature is at
irs in
" Kriegsherr," that German sculpture is pj.gggj^^ jj^ 3^ ygj-y troubled,
ahead of the rest of Europe. Perhaps the transitional state, and there-
greatest museum of plastic art in Berlin fore it bulks not largely before the eyes of
is the open-air Siegesallee, in the Thier- Europe. But it is otherwise in the field
garten, which is now lined on both sides of science, where Germany easily holds
with two and thirty marble statues of his foremost rank. From their very nature
Majesty's heroic Hohenzollern ancestors, and mental composition the Germans are
as chiselled by the leading German far more fitted to shine as scientists than
sculptors under the general direction of —
as litterateurs ^their very language being
their chief, Reinhold Begas. This imposing against them in the latter respect and —
5353
! ; —
HISTORY OF THE VORLD
even their soldiering draws its strength difference between wissen and wollen,
and brilliancy from the fact that it is of between kennen and konnen. The general
the scientific kind. Scientific students tendency of education, military training,
from all countries, who used to crowd for etc., in Germany is to make machines of
illumination to France, now flock to men, and the thinking power of machines
Germany, where a world-wide reputation is not high.
was won for her by sons like Helmholz, Germany is far ahead of England in
Haeckel, Virchow, Buelow, Koch, Lan- technical education and yet, says an
;

genbeck, Tirkel, Czermat, expert : " It is not without cause that the
"mans
ggj-gmann, Bunsen, and a host best engineers in the world
J
'"^ Where Great ^^^
,°^f- .* of others. In fact, it may be ^^^ practically trained
of Thinkers -j j.i j ij- •
j.
said that science and soldier- Enghsh engineers, although
GermTn
ermany
ing are the only two things that a Briton their theoretical knowledge
may study better in Germany than in his is small as compared with their inferior

own country those two subjects, and also German competitor." According to the
music, in respect of which the Germans same authority " the chief practical value
retain their proud pre-eminence both as of the German schools consists, not in the
creators and performers, though Imperial knowledge disseminated, but in the dis-
Germany has not yet produced another cipline instilled. ... It cannot be too often
Wagner, whose genius was rooted in the and too loudly asserted that Germany has
period preceding the rise of the Reich. —
become great and powerful not through
As for the Press it may truly be de- her education as synonymous with know-
scribed as poor and paltry by comparison ledge, but through her discipline. National
with that of other nations lacking in inde- — co-operation, the co-ordination of all the
pendence, influence, enlightenment, and national forces, which is developed to
political power. A daily newspaper is by no a greater extent in Germany than in any
means so necessary to a German as it is to other country, has proved stronger than
a Briton, a Frenchman, or an American. individualism, which squanders the na-
In no country of Europe are there so tional forces in constant internecine
. few illiterates or so much book-learning warfare."
as in Germany, and yet the average War is anything but a civilising agency,
_ Englishman or American may
, and the Germans hitherto may be said to
ermany s
^^ ^^.^ ^^ ^^ ^ better educated have always been at war. The Germans
Educational ,,
man than ,i ^
the average German. have generally had to submit to the
o- - .
standard r\ £ r^
On a peace footing Germany s j.- >
devastation and depopulation of their
standing army is about 600,000 men ;
own country. It was a frequent remark
while the standing army of German educa- of Bismarck that Germany had not yet
tionalists of all kinds numbers no less than recovered from the effects of the Thirty
300,000. Germany has now twenty-two Years' War, which is said to have reduced
universities, which teach about 40,000 her population from 16,000,000 to less
students, or more than three times the than 5,000,000. And then her other
number of thirty years ago, so that she principal war waged within her own
is now suffering from academic over- —
borders the Seven Years' War the wars —

production what the emperor deplored with the French kings and Napoleon, and
as an ever-increasing and useless " pro- the campaigns with Denmark and Austria,
letariat of passmen." And all their pro- only afford us matter for astonishment
fessors are so omniscient. that the civilisation of Germany should
Gott weiss viel, be so high as it is. But her years' period
Doch mehr der Herr Professor of peace and material prosperity since
Gott weiss AUes, her great struggle with France has already
Doch er —Alles besser done wonders for her. The German race
Whileit may be owned that Germany is still almost original in its vigour;
is the most educated nation in the world, the Germans declare that the race is
it is, nevertheless, a long way from unique and say that its good qualities
being the same as best educated. To its bravery, piety, sincerity, intelligence,
cram the head does not carry with it that perseverance, energy, and idealism, only
development of character which is perhaps require the setting of a higher civilisation,
the primary, and certainly the higher, aim resulting from circumstances of a kindlier
of Enghsh education. It all lies in the and more emollient sort than ever

5354

GERMANY IN OUR OWN TIME
blessed it before, to make it the leading" and of making them see only the side of
nation on the Continent of Europe, and his nature he desires. Naturally different
the one most devoted to the arts of peace. men disagree concerning him. He claims
So far, the highest expression of the to be a lover of peace, and yet speaks of
German character, since the disappear- the " mailed fist " and of the bloody deeds
ance of Bismarck, is to be found in the which Germany will do. He glories in
man who had the tremendous courage to being a soldier and yet dabbles in art,
sign the warrant for his dismissal literature and music and claims to be an
William II., one of the most puzzling authority on all three. He is a realist and
individuals in his country's history. No an idealist in turn a realist in every-
;

two students of his character agree in all day affairs, but an idealist in art and
points. He has great power of fascinat- religion.
ing those with whom he comes in contact. Charles Lowe.

KLEBER SQUARE, STRASSBURG, WITH THE CATHEDRAL RISING IN THE BACKGROUND

5355
LATER EVENTS IN GERMANY
THEexpressed,
expectation,
that
so fully and
the decrease of the
freely however, affected the general adhesion to
Protestantism. For out of a total popula-
Socialist vote in 1907 was the beginning of a tion close upon 65,000,000 in 1910,
Socialist debacle, to be followed by the Protestants claimed nearly 40,000,000, as
disappearance of the followers of Marx against 35,600,000 in 1905, out of a total
from German politics was soon seen to be population of 60,000,000. The Roman
without any real foundation. In 1912 the Catholic Church in Germany in the same
General Election brought the Socialists period enlarged its membership from
back to the Reichstag in larger 20,327,913 to 23,721,453.
- *. numbers than ever. In that The steady and continuous increase in
ocia IS
year, for the first time, the the expenditure on armaments was empha-
Socialists, with no members, sised by the Defence Bills of 191 3. While
were the largest party in the Reichstag, and the Navy Estimates for that year showed
at by-elections in the years that followed, no startling advance, the Army Bills
additional victories were won, not only in raised the peace strength from 544,211 to
the Imperial Parliament, but in the 661,176, and added 4,000 officers, 15,000
Parliaments of Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, non-commissioned officers, and 117,000
Saxony, and Wurtemberg. In fact, the men to the Imperial Army. The changes
Social Democratic Party, with its multi- in organisation were to be completed in
tude of daily and weekly newspapers, 1915, and involved the huge expenditure
throughout Germany, and its perfect of between $260,000,000 and $265,000,000
organisation, continues to grow at the non-recurring, and $45,000,000 recurring.
expense of the Radicals and Liberals, and Altogether, the Budget for 1914 demanded
its only serious rival in the State is the $300,000,000 for the Army. No less than
Catholic Centre Party, which returned 5,400,000 fully trained men are available
90 members to the Reichstag in 1912, as for the field in 1915. An ugly feature of the
against 105 in 1907. The failure of expenditure on armaments in Germany
Bismarck's policy of repression is seen in was the charge made in the Reichstag in
both these cases, for the " Iron " Chancel- 1913, that Krupp's and other
Expenditure
lor did his best to crush the organisation of ^^^^ ^^^ ^j^^-^. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^
on
the Catholics as he exerted himself later whose business it was to bribe
Armaments
to destroy the rising power of the Socialists. officials in the EnglishAdmiralty
It yet remains to be seen, however, and the War Office in order to obtain secret
whether the Socialists could preserve their documents, and thereby gain advantage
unity should the Reichstag become a in competition over rival firms by the
governing body, for with the responsibility anticipation of orders. The charge was
of legislative power has gone discussion met by the appointment of a committee
and schism amongst the Socialists in most of inquiry, and following the report of this
European countries of importance. committee, a number of officers were
The large falling off in the membership brought to trial and convicted. Amongst
of the established Lutheran churches in those thus convicted were the Secretary-
Germany has been a remarkable fact for Superintendent of the Ministry of War,
many years. This decline has been most and two directors of the firm of Krupp.
noted in Berlin and in the chief cities of the The advance in manufactures in Ger-
empire, and has occasioned much com- many in recent years must not be over-
ment and discussion. Several reasons are looked. In 1905 the total value of exports
. alleged in explanation of the was nearly 1,500 million dollars, and of ex-
u eranism
j^^j^^gj. Qf persons who each ports to the United Kingdom 250 millions.
Q*V^\ year decline any longer to regis- In 1912 the exports were of the value of
ter themselves as members of $2,500,000,000 and the exports to the
the Lutheran Church, and the main grounds United Kingdom $350,000,000. When
seem to be (i) to avoid payment of a tax
: the growth of population in those years is
required of all such members (2) the
; considered, it is also to be noted that the
spread of rationahsm encouraged by the growth has been in the urban districts.
" higher criticism " of the German Pro- The number oftowns with more than
testant theologians. This decrease of 100,000 inhabitants went up from 41 to
membership in the State Church has not, 48 between 1905 and 1910.

5356.
m
EUROPEAN V
POWERS HOLLAND
TO-DAY AND
ii BELGIUM
I

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM IN OUR


OWN TIME
LIBERTY & PROSPERITY IN THE SMALL STATES
By Robert Machray, B.A.
A RE VOLUTION in Brussels, not at first
sight of a very formidable character,
in the history of the world.
tremely doubtful if this could have been
It is ex-

but symptomatic of a deep, widespread, said if they had remained united. The
pervasive feeling of dissatisfaction with religious antagonism would alone, in all
existing conditions, brought about in 1830 probability, have prevented it. Holland
a movement which, assuming a national is a country with a history of which any
aspect, resulted in the forcible dissolution „ „ ., „ nation might well be ^
proud.
Holland s Brave j, •t?,i ^ , ,

between Belgium and Holland.


of the union g rugg c ,or
. It IS a little country, yet
The Flemish people, who inhabited the Independence
^ ereat one. As is often
pomted out rtor the
.1

North of Belgium, belonged to much the


, t , 1
example
same branch of the great German family of mankind, the Dutch have fought through
as the Dutch, and might be supposed to several centuries a finer struggle for civil
have greater sympathy with them than liberty and national independence than
with the Walloons, who occupied the has been made by any other people.
south of the country, and were of closer The story of their long struggle against
kin to the French than to the Teutons. the might of Spain is so full of a stormy
But they were Roman Catholics, and the grandeur, an invincible heroism, a prodi-
Dutch, for the most part, belonged to the gal heaping-up of the elements which

Reformed Church in itself a pronounced are best and noblest in human character,
line of cleavage. Besides, the Dutch had not that the mere memory of them moves
been politic they had treated the Flemings
; the heart and fills the soul with passionate
with as little consideration as the Walloons. emotion. The expression, the " soul of
In fact, they had regarded aU Belgium as a people," is often used, though, perhaps,
inferior to Holland, and looked upon it not always quite accurately but if ;

as if it had been theirs by conquest. there is a people of whom it may be


If they had acted in a different spirit, said truly, it is of this people of Holland.
Belgium and Holland might have been And as the soul of Holland was in days
one country to-day. But the separation —
bygone, so it is to-day ^hard and proud,
took place soon after the rising in Brussels, money-loving and money-getting, no doubt
although the independence of Belgium at all, but above and beyond everything
was not acknowledged by Holland till nine instinct with the spirit of patriotism, for
years afterwards. Sometimes the union which no sacrifice can be too great.
_ . of countries has proved a great The supreme desire of the Dutch is to
benefit, as in the ease of Eng- preserve their independence, to have their
of"HolUnd
land and Scotland at other Holland their very own. It is this ideal
.
g c ^^.
gium ^-
;

j^gg their divorce has been which dominates their national life, and
followed by real good to both, and this is equally inspires the two parties, Liberals
what has happened with respect to Holland and Anti-Liberals or Anti- Revolutionists,
and Belgium. They are small states, yet which divide its political life. They have
they can show, area and population con- good reason for cherishing this ideal, and
sidered, a prosperity, a condition of general never more so than at the present time.
well-being, which can hardly be matched For, from the international point ol view,

5357
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the position of Holland was not a happy unprovoked armed annexation of their
one. There was the interesting question country by Germany, they dread the
of the succession to the throne— interesting employment of subtler methods, commer-
rather than difficult, for even if Queen cial and diplomatic, which would bring
Wilhelmina had had no child a successor about gradual Germanisation.
its And
to the throne could have been found in a again, a crisis in European history,
at
prince, with the blood of the glorious when the sacredness of treaties has been
House of Orange in his veins, who might shown to be a fiction, and a war has broken
be in sympathy with Dutch out between Britain and Germany, what
anger o
aspirations. The danger to guarantee has Holland that her territory
Independence
the independence of Holland might not suddenly be seized by Germany
goes much deeper than this. as a base for operations against Britain ?
The most marked feature of the history It is questions like this, arising out of the
of these first years of the century was the present international situation, that disturb
growing antagonism between Britain and Holland and cause great searchings of heart.
Germany. However much or little the The Dutch were never more determined
fact may be realised, the fact remained, than at the present time to preserve their
deplorable, menacing, incalculable as to identity as a people, and apart from the
result upon the world. The hope of all menace which hangs over them they go
men of good will was that a struggle might about their business at home and abroad
be averted. No one can regard the in their easy, immemorial
quiet, way.
question without the deepest anxiety ; but They remain, as they have been for many
the Dutch have special reason for fearing generations, great men of business ; their
its results for Holland stands between
; wealth and commerce now grow from
England and Germany. But it is not year to year they have got their vast
;

Britain that Holland has any need to fear. colonial empire well in hand, but their
The irritation produced in Great Britain money flows into many lands it was the —
by the expression of the pro-Boer sym- capital they supplied that in
Holland
pathies of the Dutch during the South large measure built the railways
the
African War has passed away, most fair- of the United States. Amster-
Peaceful
minded Britons feeling that the Dutch dam
is one of the banking
could hardly have acted otherwise than centres the world, besides being its
of
they did in supporting to some extent their diamond mart. The country, with its 2,000
kin. Britain has no wish that Holland miles of canals and 1,800 miles of railways,
should be other than independent for ever. presents a pleasing spectacle of well-ordered
But the same cannot be said with equal life, its own which differen-
with features of
truth of Germany. Holland holds the tiate from that of every other land.
it
mouth of the Rhine, the greatest German There is a spirit of peace, of rest, of
river

" the Rhine, the Rhine, the German quiet about it, especially in the interior,
Rhine," as the song puts it. There has long that is looked for in vain elsewhere. The
been a school of German political thought old order changes in Holland as in other
which maintains that the possession of the countries, but with a measured tran-
whole particularly of its outlets,
river, quillity all its own. Its windmills, its
is necessary to Germany, and never ceases level, highly cultivated fields, its dreamy
to urge that, seeing also that the Dutch homesteads, the picturesque dress of its
are of Germanic stock, Holland should be slow-moving, much-smoking peasants still
occupied by Germany. Holland, too, —
endure the delight of the contemplative
„ holds the great ports of Am- and such as love not the fret and fuss and
.
_"" sterdam and Rotterdam, argu-
- hurry of these times of ours, and the joy
' ° In its great cities, such as
Q erm&ny ments that further reinforce of the artist.
^.^^ German claim. With this The Hague, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam,
extended sea front, what might not the old-world atmosphere is scarce to be
Germany become Does not " manifest
! found save in some old houses and in the
destiny " point this way ? The bulk of churches in them the modern spirit pre-
;

Germans, it should be said, listen to these vails, as might be expected. Yet, speaking
flattering voices as if they heard them not, generally, the peace of the land is so great
but the Dutch are hearing them always, that nothing could have been more appro-
and are haunted by them. If they have no priate than the building of the world's
serious fears, for the time being, of an Palace of Peace, where arbitration takes
5358
EW IN LEYDEN, WHICH STANDS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE OLD RHINE

ROTTERDAM, THE CHIEF bHAPuR T OF THE NETHERLANDS

SCENES IN THE TOWNS OF THE NETHERLANDS


5359

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the place of war, in the midst of this people. No country has made greater strides during
Holland is a land of liberty. Though recent years than Belgium in wealth and
predominantly a Protestant country, any industrial development, thanks to its
Dutchman is free to worship God natural resources, but thanks also to the
according to his conscience. Commercially, fact of its neutrality being guaranteed
Holland believes in Free Trade, and has a fact of which the Belgians sometimes are
fattened upon it. Nothing, perhaps, gives inclined to lose sight. During the Franco-
better evidence of its prosperity than the German War, Britain prevailed upon both
fact that it has doubled its combatants to affirm afresh the neutrality
j^ p '
jj
. population since the middle of of this little country, which otherwise
^^* century. Its population is might have been affected very adversely.
Holland
now considerably over six mill- Under the aegis of the protecting
ions, in 1849 it was about three. Another Powers, Belgium had full opportunity
notable fact which witnesses to the same forself-development, and it must be
thing is that there is no poor rate in admitted that it took every advantage
Holland. Of course there are poor people, of it. No one could visit Belgium with-
but they are cared for, as a rule, by out being struck by its prosperity, whether
religious societies and private charities. as regards the purely agricultural section,
Its political system is simple. At the with its vast number of small holdings
head of the State is the sovereign; then there all in the highest state of cultivation,
are two Chambers for legislation. The mon- or as regards the manufacturing part,
archy is constitutional and hereditary the ; the centre of which lies about Liege, with
Parliament, known as the States-General, its huge ironworks and other highly
consists of a First Chamber of fifty members successful industries. And it must not be

elected for nine years one-third retire
— forgotten that infected as Belgium is with
every three years ^by the provinces and ; the modem spirit, it is a country with a
of a Second Chamber of 100 members, rich historic past still living and actual in
elected for four years by all male citizens such cities as Ghent and Bruges,
Franchise
of twenty-five and upwards who pay a and that, in the Ardennes, it
Liberties
direct tax to the State, or are householders, . „ . . can show scenes of loveliness
e gium
or own boats of twenty- four tons, or have ^^^ ^^^^ charm that appeal to
a salary of about $115 yearly, or show all. Its magnificent cathedrals, with their
evidence that they can support their splendid pictures, will always exercise some
families. This means that about one-third influence on Belgian life and character,
of the male citizens have votes. though not, perhaps, in the exact direction
For many years Dutch politics were its " Clericals " would prefer.
largely influenced by questions arising out Belgium came into existence, as has
of their colonial empire, but this phase has already been stated, on its secession from
passed away. Recently the most important Holland. By its constitution, framed in
measure passed into law is the Electoral 1831, it is a constitutional, representative,
Reform Law of 1896, which regulates the and hereditary monarchy, legislative power
franchise as mentioned above. The Dutch being vested in the sovereign and two
attach great importance to education, Houses of ParUament, the upper being
which is compulsory for children from six known as the Senate, the lower as the
to thirteen years of age. Their schools and Chamber of Deputies or Representatives.
universities are well organised ; their Several changes have been made in the
primary schools are practically free. The constitution with respect to the franchise,
Dutch are fine linguists, per- the last being introduced by the law of
Holl&nd's
haps because their own lan- December 29th, 1899. By this law the
Up-to-date
wp-io-oBie
rni2iPQ can take them but a little principle of manhood suffrage has been
Education ° u
way m

t-
Lurope or elsewhere. i
established, qualified, however, by the
It is quite a common thing for Dutchmen suffrage universel pluriel, and the pro-
of any position at all to speak fluently and portional representation of minorities
correctly French, German, and English. founded upon a somewhat complex system.
Belgium thought it enjoyed great ad- All citizens over twenty-five who have
vantage over its northern neighbour, for its lived for one year in any given commune
neutrality was guaranteed by the Treaty have one vote. But this is not all. They
of London, November 15th, 1831, by Aus- have an additional vote if, first, they are
tria, Russia, Great Britain, and Prussia. thirty-five years of age, married, with

5360
. ;

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM IN OUR OWN TIME


legitimate offspring, and pay a tax of five votes in the Chamber. It is thus apparent
francs ($i) to the State; or, second, are that the " Right," or Catholics, are
twenty-five years of age and own immov- steadily losing ground they draw their
;

able property to the value of $400, or have strength mainly from the Flemish pro-
a corresponding income, or for two years vinces, while the parties forming the
have received $20 a year from Belgian " Left " derive theirs from the Walloon
State funds or from the national savings provinces. The Catholics support
bank. But the Belgian can have yet religious education in the schools and
another vote if, being twenty-five years old, _. . universities, and the Church,
he possesses a diploma of higher education, pa-id by the State, is yet outside
Q ^ 1
f
or has filled some public or even private ^^^ Control. The Liberals be-
Education
position which implies this higher education long to the middle class and
No Belgian can have more than three the industrial portion of the community,
votes. Both Houses of Parliament are and are, as it were, between two stools.
chosen by this electorate. Senators are- The Socialists preach and uphold the
elected for eight years, most of them being doctrine of collectivism, and are strongest
elected by the general body of voters, and among the working classes. All parties
the rest by the provincial councils. The of the Left unite against the Clerical
Deputies are elected for four years, in the control of education. But the battle
proportion of one member to every 40,000 wages most fiercely, as for many years
of the population, and number 116, one- past, round the franchise. In 1904 M.
half of whom retire every two years. The Feron, the leader of the Left, moved the
members of Parliament are paid indemni- abolition of " plural " voting in favour
ties, and get free passes over the railways. of universal suffrage, but was defeated.
Though Belgium has of recent years In 1906 all sections of the Left combined
become an intensely democratic country, on a common programme, the two chief
it is still, as will have been seen, a long " planks " in it being reform of the fran-
_ . way from the " one man, one chise and compulsory education free from
^*^^^ " P'^'^ciple. Its present Church control. And the end is not yet.
^"*K o Id o f
St*rong
fj-a,nchise is the result of along Perhaps it should be said that almost
Socialism , ,• ,-., 9
and sometimes embittered the entire population of Belgium belongs
struggle which, apart from the Congo, to the Roman Catholic faith, but full
practically includes the whole political religious liberty prevails, all denomina-
history of the coimtry. For a lengthy tions receiving grants from the national
period after the foundation of the king- funds. The two racial divisions, Flemish
dom under Leopold I., power was held and Walloon, continue to be marked by a
alternately by the Clericgds, or Catholics, difference of language. Nearly 3,000,000
and the Liberals, or Anti-Catholics it was; in the north, the country of Flanders,
much the same during the first twenty speak Flemish only ; while rather more
years of the late king, Leopold IL But than 2,500,000 in the south, the Walloon
1886 saw the rise of a new party, that area, speak French only. About 1,000,000
of the Socialists, and it is this party which Belgians speak both languages.
has made Belgium democratic ; though it But it is the South chiefly that is indus-
did not become formidable much before trial, that has the greatest wealth, that has
1893, it has since become a great power in made, and is making, Belgium what it is,
the land. The state of parties may be and in the end it can hardly fail to establish
best shown by quoting the election returns its influence as supreme over the nationzd
for 1912, when the Chamber was increased Belgium life. In Southern Belgium the
from 166 to 186 members. The Socialists won A standard of education is, on
three seats and numbered 38, the Liberals Catholic the whole, higher than in the
lost two seats and numbered 43, while the Country North, as might be expected
Clericals came back with loi instead of 87 from the pressure of industrial competition.
seats. One Christian Democrat was returned The higher branches of education are well
as before. In the elections to the Upper provided for throughout the country
House, in 1908, the Liberals lost five seats, it is with respect to the primary schools
of which the Socialists gained three, leaving that the trouble comes. Primary school
the Catholics with 63 votes against the 47 education is compulsory in a way, but it is
combined opposition, or " Left." In
of the too much in the hands of the priests, who,
1895 the CathoUcs had two-thirds of the naturally, are more or less reactionary.

5361

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
But the chief fact in the contemporary 30,000,000. The Congo State was consti-
history of Belgium is its wonderful tuted a sovereign country under Leopold
industrial development ; this has been II. in 1885 by the BerUn Conference. It
helped by technical education, which is in was declared neutral, with free trade, and
an advanced state. the natives were protected under special
Belgium has now taken upon itself the rules — rules which, there is only too much
responsibilities of a great colonial empire. reason to believe, were not observed in
In 1908 the Congo Free State ceased to be actual practice.
independent, the sovereignty over it being As the Congo has been thrown open to
transferred from the King of the Belgians all the world, there is little ground now to
to the country. The area of the Congo suppose that there will be a continuance of
is estimated at 802,000 square miles, and the atrocities perpetrated on the natives
its population at from 14,000,000 to which shocked the conscience of mankind.

THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBURG


nPHE nowadays knows very
great world sovereigns of Holland, the older branch of
•'•
littleabout this small country, but the House of Orange, when Queen Wilhel-
rather more than forty years ago its name mina succeeded William III. Like the
was on the lips of everyone for after the ; Dutch, the " Luxemburgeois " have the
war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 fear of Germany before their eyes ; they
which resulted in the decisive defeat of the have no desire to lose their national identity
, latter and a fresh grouping to-
, in the German Empire, though they are
uxem urg s
gg^-j^gj. q{ ^^le German states willingly included in the German Zollverein
-, , . Aapoleon sought com-
III. for commercial purposes. Therefore, in
pensation to trance for the July, 1907, their Parliament, or Chamber
increased power of the former by attempting of Deputies, became a law unto themselves
to buy the Grand Duchy from the King of by solemnly declaring that the succession
Holland, who also was Grand Duke of should devolve on the reigning Grand
Luxemburg. Prussia, however, stoutly Duke's daughters and their descendants
resisted this scheme, and for a time the in order of birth, the Salic Law notwith-
" Luxemburg Question," as it was called, standing. This repeal of the Salic Law
filled the mind of diplomatic Europe with enabled the Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide
apprehensions of war. But the matter was to ascend the throne on the death of her
finally settled by a conference of the Powers father. Grand Duke William.
held in London in 1867, when it was agreed It isa very tiny state, this Grand Duchy,
that the garrison Prussia had for many its area being just a trifle under 1,000
years maintained in the city of Luxemburg square miles, and its population in the
should be permanently withdrawn from its year 1910 was 259,889. It is well governed
fortress, that the fortress itself should be by its Chamber which consists of fifty-three
dismantled and destroyed, and that the members, half of whom are elected every
Grand Duchy should henceforth become in three years ; it has no army to speak of,
every sense an independent and sovereign and its debt, mostly incurred in railway
State, with its neutrality guaranteed. building, is a mere bagatelle. It is a pros-
Another consequence, though not imme- perous little country, its mining and
diate, of this war was that a prince of the smelting industries bringing in much grist
illustrious House of Orange-Nassau, from to the national mill ; it is a happy little

whom Prussia had taken the Duchy of country, for its inhabitants, now that the
Nassau, became Grand Duke of Luxem- German spectre is laid, are well content
burg. His son, William, was the reigning with their lot ;it is a beautiful
oun ry
sovereign from 1905 till his death in jj^^jg country, especially the
appy an
February, 1912. A nice point arose as to northern half of it, which
**
the succession to the throne, for the Grand forms the south-east portion of
Duke's children Were all daughters, and. that lovely land known as the Ardennes.
according to the Salic Law, the Grand There is no more interesting or romantic
Duchy should pass away from his family city than the capital, also called Luxem-
at his death. It was by this law that burg, which is remarkable alike for its
Luxemburg had ceased to belong to the natural beauty and strategic importance.
5363 RoepRT Machray

LATER EVENTS IN HOLLAND AND BELGIUM


HOLLAND the existing franchise laws so that the
I7EW things have happened in the Nether- votes of all classes should be equal, and
* lands since 1909 to distract the the additional academic and property
inhabitants from their peaceful industry. —
franchises abolished has been the chief

An heir to the throne Princess Juliana interest since 1906 ; and 1914 saw the
was born on April 30th, 1909, to the com- Conservatives still in power and the ex-
mon satisfaction of the nation since the ; isting law unaltered. A general strike,
absence of any legal heir to the crown for no industrial end but solely for the
was regarded as a danger to the country. political purpose of obtaining universal
The general election of 1913 was of con- suffrage on equal terms, was organised in
siderable interest, because of the Tariff 1913 but it failed to accomplish its object,
;

Reform proposals on the part of the Con- chiefly because the Catholic trade union-
servatives. The result of the election ists declined to take part. The Government,
showed a quite definite opinion in favour however, so far recognised the significance
of retaining Free Trade, the Conservative of the strike by appointing a general
Ministry was defeated, and the new commission to consider the whole ques-
Second Chamber con- tion of electoral
sisted of 37 Liberals, reform.
18 Socialists, and 45 The reorganisation
Conservatives. Dr. of the army on the
Bos, the leader of the basis of universal com-
Liberals,was at once pulsory service, com-
invited by the Queen menced in 1909, and
to form a Ministry, was carried a step fur-
and he offered three ther by the law of
portfolios to the June, 1913. This law
Socialists. But the put the peace footing
latter, after consider- at 57,886 men, and the
ation, refused to war footing at 340,000.
accept any posts in Compulsory training
a Liberal Ministry, Was fixed at fifteen
on the ground com- months or two years,
monly taken by the according to the
Socialists through-- branch of the service,
out Europe, viz., with two later periods
that Social Demo- of training, each one
cracy cannot be month, and five years
identified w'ith any in the reserve. The
government alien or total expenditure on
opposed to collec- the Army for 1913-14,
tivism, and must ALBERT I.. KING OF THE BELGIANS
Was estimated at
wait till itself be- $14,000,000. In 1909-
comes a government. Dr. Bos, there- 10 it stood at $13,500,000. But it yet re-
fore,being unable to count on the sup- mains to be seen whether this increase of
port of the Socialists, felt constrained expenditurewill suffice to meet the demands
to give up the idea of forming a ministry, that follow universal military trainmg.
and M. Cort van der Linden became The prosperity of Belgium up to the
Prime Minister with a Cabinet of Civil beginning of the great war, ascribed to the
Servants. industry of its people and the high standard
of technical education, is evidenced not
BELGIUM —
only by the population seven and a half
KING ALBEFT succeeded to the crown milUons on 11,373 square miles but by —
of Belgium on the death of his uncle, the trade returns. In 1907 the impc«-ts
Leopold IL, December 17th, 1909. were valued at $755,000,000, the exports at
Politically the campaign for universal $570,000,000. In 1912 the imports were
suffrage — or, rather, for an amendment of $950,000,000, and theexports, $800,000000.

5363
THE HANDSOME PLACE NEUVE, WITH EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GENERAL DUFOUR

ANOTHER VIEW, SHOWING THE MONT BLANC KANGE IN THE DISTANCE

SCENES IN THE FAMOUS SWISS TOWN OF GENEVA


5364
EUROPEAN
POWERS VI
TO-DAY SWITZERLAND

SWITZERLAND IN OUR OWN TIME


THE FREEST COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD
By Robert Machray, B.A.
THEcoloured
general impression of Switzerland
is far too much by the notion
themselves, though from their point of view
it is no fault at all, but rather their way of

that it is an ideal country in which to playing the game. They do everything


spend a most delightful hohday, be it they can to encourage the belief that their
for a long or short period, whether the land is veritably the Playground of
season be summer or winter. Switzerland Europe, and so great is their success in this
undoubtedly stands for all this, but there e . effort that vast numbers look
*"
"^
is a tendency to forget or lose sight of the p ^y^™*"* on Switzerland as the land of
'
.

fact that it stands for much more. This *_ the charming tour, of the de-
urope
outside point of view, largely based in lightful holiday, rather than
England on such beguiling announcements as the country of the Swiss, one of the most
as " A Week in Lovely Lucerne for Five interesting peoples in the world, with a
Guineas, or a Fortnight for Nine," is civilisation more highly developed, from
scarcely, if at all, modified when the the political standpoint, than that of any
tourist finds himself actually on the lake other nation on the planet. With the
and sees its beautiful mountains around Swiss, business is business, and business
him or mirrored in its blue waters. with them takes on the form of the
Satisfied with his excursion and his admirable exploitation of that marvellous
experiences, he returns home, nor stops beauty with which Nature has so richly
to think of, far less ponder, the story that and abundantly endowed their land. So
lies behind all this enchantment. they give the casual observer the impres-
He has heard of Tell and the tyrant sion that they are a nation of innkeepers
Gessler, and the apple placed on the boy's and waiters who understand the art of
head and pierced by the shaft from the " running " hotels in the most perfect
father's bow he has heard, probably, of one
; manner possible, and that their sole aim
or two incidents in Swiss history of a rom- in to act as showmen to the wondrous
life is
antic sort but he catches scarce a glimpse
; natural attractions of their country.
of the truth that the smoothly gliding life In one of the most amusing books
of this land, no matter what aspect of it be of pure humour ever written, " Tartarin

considered social, educational, political, sur les Alpes," Alphonse Daudet makes
religious, racial or commercial is the— his hero, the inimitable Tartarin of
result of some seven centuries of conflict Tarascon, come to the conclusion that
and change. Indeed, it is a life so well the whole of Switzerland is the concession,
ordered, so sweet in the working of all so to speak, of a gigantic and enormously
parts of the machinery that goes to clever and capable catering company who,
complete it, so easy in its touch the — commercially, take the utmost advantage

expression " pressure" in this of everything at their disposal ^the rosy
What the ^^gg .g quite inapplicable on — peaks of the great mountains, the white
*^^ individual, whether citizen calm of the glaciers, the green slopes of the
no
n Tl-ear
eara
^^ ^^^ republic or stranger upland pastures, the deep blue of lakes,
within its gates, that our tourist is as the rolhng masses of cloud, the grandeurs
serenely unconscious of it as he is of the of sunrise and sunset, the pretty chalets
" gentle influence " of a star. —
and picturesque peasants all " worked
"
The be charged altogether
fault is not to to perfection, apparently for the benefit
to the tourist it must be laid, in large
; of the sightseer, but in reality in the
measure, at the door of the Swiss interests of the concessionaires, who
5365
—"1

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


have skilfully brought to their aid the forthwith to the strong and the hale. So
services of railways, steamers, guides and — the consumptive client takes a lower place.
the best hotels in existence, take them all This is not altruism but it is business
;

in all. This conceit is certainly a pardon- as an American might say. However,


able one, for the exploitation of Switzer- this is not to say that there is no place
land by the Swiss is very well done indeed. remaining for the consumptive, for there
Before passing from this phase of the are admirable sanatoria at his command.
Switzerland of our own time, a few facts Outside of them he is not " wanted
respecting the hotel" industry"
The ^
_. . as he used to be.
Great
Hotel
^^^ ^^ quoted. In 1880 Having said so much on this aspect
Switzerland possessed, in round of the Swiss, it is time to consider another,
Industry
figures, 1,000 inns with some which has already been suggested. This
58,000 beds in 1890, about 1,500 inns
;
little nation, with a population in 191
with 70,000 beds in 1900, nearly 2,000
; of 3,788,900, drawn from three races
inns, with 105,000 beds, representing a — German, French and Italian with —
capital of about 600,000,000 francs, or different languages and religions, has
$120,000,000. developed the most perfect example of
It must be remembered in this connection a pure democracy in being to be found
that the total area of the country is less than on the globe. This is what the ordinary
16,000 square miles, of which almost a third tourist does not know, for it does not
is unproductive. The profits of successful press itself upon him. Never was or is
hotel-keeping are notoriously large, and there a land in which government was
the stream of gold that pours into Switzer- and is so little obvious. There is hardly
land annually, and all the year round ^for — even a policeman to be seen, nor are
somewhere in Switzerland it is always the there any decorations worn by the citizens

" season " cannot easily be measured, — a small point, but on the Continent
but it must be very great ; though, of significant of much. In this typically
course, it varies from year to year owing democratic state there are no classes, no
to circumstances. For instance, the _ .^ , . caste, no nobility, no ex-
attractions offered by the Franco-British ^^^^^^^ privileges. Even the
th l" d""
Exhibition held in London in 1908 * president of this republic is
"f
sensibly reduced the volume of tourists not the head of the State in
into the country, as they did every- the same sense as is the President of the
where outside of England. United States or of France he is hardly
;

The Swiss are highly intelligent, par- more than primus inter pares, and his head-
ticularly as to getting the most ship, such as it is, endures for a year only.
money out of anything ; they have As has been well pointed out, the dread
a keen eye to the main chance. This of the supremacy of any single man is one
is especially true of their hotel-keeping. of the governing factors in the Swiss
As an example of this, there may be character. This is a country in which
noticed what has taken place with regard every man has as good a chance as another,
to their winter resorts, such as Davos, and though, to be sure, natural ability tells
other places of the same kind. Originally here as everjAvhere. All this has only
they were introduced to the world as come about gradually, and after long
specially suitable spots for the residence struggles, both external and internal.
of consumptives, and great numbers of But it remains nothing less than the most
those suffering from lung affections did extraordinary thing in the political history
_ . live in them with beneficial of mankind that this small state, with

Ah*r^*'*f
^'^s^^ts. But such
places are its mixture of rival races and religions,
. *i^.° no longer the exclusive abodes perched upon the mountains of Central
of such people. On the contrary, Europe, hemmed in on all sides by great
many hotels now announce that they will nations, should have become both in
not admit consumptives. So soon as the ideals and in fact the freest community
Swiss grasped the fact that Davos, and in the world. Something of this it owes
resorts like it, could be made extraordi- to the neutrality of the country, as in-
narily attractive as a field for winter dispensable to the general interest of
sports, such as skating, tobogganing, Europe, having been guaranteed by the
skiing, and so on, to the strong and Treaty of Vienna, 1815, something, also,
the hale, they turned their attention to the high state of education everywhere
5366
; — ;

SWITZERLAND IN OUR OWN TIME


prevalent, even elementary education complete religious liberty — on the patriotic
being excellent. But the explanation, in basis that Switzerland is greater and
the main, lies in the history and the dearer than any Church. Apart from the
character of the Swiss people, history and religious conflict, and more important as
chctracter acting and reacting on each determining the life to-day of the country,
other, as always. Though the story of is the political struggle. The chief parties
Tell and the apple be a myth, like other in the State are the " Right," or Con-
:

stories of a similar kind resolved into servatives, whether Protestant or Catho-


fictions in the crucibles of scientific re- lic ;the " Centre," or Liberals
The Great
search, it has a heart of truth which survives the "Left," or Radicals; the
Problem of "
all destructive scientific processes. It Extreme Left," or Socialists
stands for the Swiss character it ex-
;
the Swiss
—divisions of political belief
presses the soul of this people better than and opinion which now obtain more
anything else. When the Forest Cant6ns or less in all modern communities. In one
came together against the Hapsburgs and aspect the great question before the Swiss
the might of Austria, their struggle was for the last sixty years has been whether
for freedom —
the right to live out their lives Switzerland is to be one federal state or a
in their own way. Battle after battle did confederation of states cantons each of— —
they fight, and battle after battle did them a sovereign state the same question,
;

they win, consolidating all the while their in fact, which the Civil War settled in the
national character, which was based on United States.
patriotism, and fusing themselves inci- From 1848 to 1872, the main political
dentally more and more into one people. preoccupation of the Swiss was the
They were, and long were, great establishment of a federal state which yet
soldiers, and not in Switzerland only; left a large amount of self-government
as has been finely said, they were to the cantons, a problem which was
willing to sell their swords, but never their satisfactorily solved. The Federal State
freedom. The Helvetic Republic of 1798 is supreme in matters of peace and war,
_ . grew out of the old defensive
,
in the making of treaties, in army affairs,
™ league of the cantons, as posts and telegraphs, money issues, weights
-
P .. . oak from acorn. Present- and measures, revenue, public works,
day Switzerland, however, patents, and other matters that affect the
begins in that year of European unrest, country as a whole no canton can break
;

1848; but this beginning included all away from the rest, but still each canton
that had gone before in Swiss history. retains the power of making its own laws,
In that year the Swiss Confederation, apart from such subjects as appertain to
then consisting of nineteen entire and six the domain of the Federal government.
half cantons, was united for federal From 1872 to the the
present time,
purposes under a constitution. A re- dominant note in Swiss the politics is
vised constitution came into force in direct rule of the people as distinguished
1874, and continues, with little change, from government by elected representa-
in force at the present time. In 1900, and as expressed by what are styled
tives,
when the principle in elections known as the " Referendum " and the " Initiative."
" proportional representation " was before Under the Constitution of 1874, supreme
the country, the nation decided against it. legislative authority in the confederation
Since the close of the Napoleonic epoch is vested in two Chambers a State Council:

the struggles of Switzerland have been of 44 members elected by the cantons


entirely internal. There was, at the close two for each canton and one for
of the first half of last century, what may p°^ .
* each of the half cantons, irre-
eop e are
be called the War of Religion, in which gpg^,^ j^g qJ their size or popula-
the Protestants triumphed over the Catho- tion and a National Council of
;

lics, and caused the dissolution of the 167 deputies or delegates chosen by the
Catholic league known as the Sonderbund whole Swiss people by manhood suffrage,
and, forty years later, there was a fight one representative for every 20,000 of
between the rival Churches in the Italian the population ; these deputies are elected

canton of Ticino Tessin. But these are for three years. The two Ch ambers united
merely noted in this article to bring out form the Federal Assembly, which elects
the point that to-day Protestant and a Federal Council of seven members, who
Catholic live at peace there being— are not members of either Chamber, to
341 5367
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


whom is deputed the chief executive a very thrifty person, and manages to live
authority. The President and Vice- on wonderfully little. The French and
President are selected from the Federal Italian Swiss are more lively than the
Council, which sits at Berne, the head- German Swiss, who is apt to be a some-
quarters of the administration, and, by the what phlegmatic individual, but they are
way, the financial centre of the country. all as one man in patriotic feeling.
The Radicals have long controlled the In the matter of education the Swiss,
government. At the elections to the as Sir Horace Rumbold has put it, exhibit
_ National Council in October, a " veritable passion." The Constitution
A eguar s
jg^g
^ ^j-^^y y^Qte returned by a of 1872 made education free and com-
to National , • .. i .1
.

... lajge majority, but their power pulsory, though each canton makes laws
^ has been tempered by the voice for itself with respect to the way in which
of the people as given through the media education is imparted. All schools make
of the Referendum and the Initiative. gymnastics an integral part of their curri-
One of the astonishing things about culum, having in view the fact that the
Switzerland is that, though the Radicals gymnasium is the nursery of the soldier ;

are always in the majority at the elections, the schools teach manual labour and
yet the people have often rejected Radical industries girls are taught dressmaking.
;

measures, thus showing a certain innate A few words in conclusion should be


and invincible conservatism. As a matter said about the Swiss military system. In
of fact, the Conservatives, though in a a sense, and a very true sense, every Swiss
minority, constitute a very large propor- is a soldier. The hotel-keeper and the
tion of the population. By the Referendum waiter can handle the rifle ; their soldierly
any law passed by the legislature must be education begins with the gymnastic
referred to the direct vote of the nation training at the school, and continues in the
if a petition to that effect is presented by cadet corps. So excellent is this prepara-
30,000 citizens, or by eight of the cantons, tory work that Switzerland, protected, in
and the law must be altered, or even any case, by her guaranteed neutrality,
abolished, according to the result of the _, „, has no regular standing army,
wiss
plebiscite. The liberty of the people is ^^^ gj^g j^g^ ^j^g finest militia
still further safeguarded, and the power ... in Europe. So good is it that
J g
of the legislature curtailed, by the Initia- the new British Territorial
tive, which signifies the right of any System is largely modelled upon it. When
50,000 citizens to demand a direct popular the Swiss lad has left the cadet corps, he
vote on any constitutional question. joins the Auszug, or Elite, for some years,
Taken together, the Referendum and the next the Landwehr for a further period,
Initiative are the last and highest expres- and finally is drafted into the Landsturm.
sion of the democratic spirit, and furnish He has to put in so many days each year
an example to the rest of the world. with the colours. It is a real army, and
It must be admitted that these two its total strength is about half a million.
political principles, or devices, if the So much importance do the Swiss attach
phrase is preferred, have acted very well to it that one of the few changes in the
but it is manifest enough that they could country brought about by the Referendum
not be safely employed in a country where in November, 1897, is the increase in the
the mass of the people were not so highly number of days' service each recruit must
educated and intelligent as are the Swiss. put in, in his first year. In the cavalry
For instance, they could hardly the recruit now serves 92 days ; in the
expected to act well in Russia. artillery, 77 days and in the infantry, 67
P rr'^'t ^^ ;

p nvi.. eges When they were introduced into


. days, with repetition courses of 13 days
^^^ g^iss political system, many each year, instead of every second year.
of the Swiss themselves thought the result The recruit has been so well trained before
would be bad, but this has not by any joining the army that he makes rapid
means been the case. progress, and develops immediately into
A large part of the population follows a fine soldier. Not the least wonderful
agriculture ; there are 300,000 peasant thing about this wonderful little country
proprietors in Switzerland, the land being is that it maintains its wonderful army for
pretty equally divided amongst them, and a good deal under $10,000,000 a year.
all work very hard. The Swiss peasant is Robert Machray

5368
EUROPEAN
POWERS VII
TO-DAY ITALY

ITALY IN OUR OWN TIME


THE NEW KINGDOM VIRILE AND PROSPEROUS
By William Durban, B.A.
A GAIN and again the question has been yet it is, as we see it, even more redun-
^*- asked, what is the perennial charm of dantly fruitful than ever. Loveliness of
Italy, that land which reckons itself the aspect here blends with superabundant
special favourite of the sun ? The best fertility, the land overflowing with oil and
answer is that the secret of Italy's enchant- wine, from Chiasso, on the northern fron-
ment lies not in its atmosphere, delightful tier, down to Girgenti, on Sicily's southern
though the climate may be nor in its
; coast. The whole vast coastline is a delight-
antiquity, fascinating though its countless ful sea-front where oleanders, tamarisks,
historic relics truly are nor in its art,
; stone-pines, and countless
even though the whole peninsula is one * *" evergreen shrubs form a ver-
f*B
incomparable picture gallery but in that
; ^^"-^ frame for the variegated
d F^^tTt
cr 1 y
perpetual renaissance which gives irre- 1 ^^^ brilliant picture of the
sistible impression of constantly renewed interior landscape. topography is a
Italian
youth. The Italy of to-day has amazed study of Nature in everyone of her artistic
the world by its virility, its rejuvenation moods. This unspeakable beauty of the
since that memorable day, March 17th, whole country renders Italy more than
1861, when the new kingdom sprang into ever a favourite playground of Europe.
being with the proclamation of Victor Each successive year, increasing numbers
Emmanuel, "II Re Galantuomo," as king of tourists visit the Italian Alps,
of that " Italia Unita " which had been the dominated by Monte Rosa, the wonderful
dream of —
patriots ^a dream at last Dolomites, the Tyrolese valleys, the resorts
materialised by the policy of Cavour, the round Lakes Maggiore, Como, Garda,
fiery crusade of Garibaldi, and the enthu- Ticino, Orta, Lugano, and Iseo the ;

siasm stirred by Mazzini and Gavazzi. Etruscan hill-cities, described by delighted


The young kingdom is one of the Great visitors as occupying the most wonderful
Powers. Its people are the most prolific in region in the world the fairy villages
;

Europe, increasing even more rapidly than nestling in hundreds of nooks in the
the population of Russia, and pouring forth Apennine chain of hundreds of miles the ;

such streams of emigrants that in Brooklyn Lombardian plains, sheeted with blue-
alone is a colony of 60,000 ItaUans, with a blossoming flax and intersected by lines of
great quarter to themselves, while Argen- mulberry trees on which silkworms thrive
tina is rapidly becoming a South American by millions the Riviera, with its semi-
;

Italy. In every age Italy has renewed tropical vegetation the Venetian larch
;

its youth, but never with anything like forest of St. Mark, and the groves of
the splendid vigour displayed Vallombrosa the classic scenes of Baiae
;

_* ^ * during the present generation. and Capri, and the insular paradise of Sicily.
Y
* No other land so thoroughly With her head crowned with a diadem of
captivates the imagination with Alpine snow, Italy bathes her feet in the
a multitude of monuments grey with central waters of the blue Mediterranean,
age, but surrounded by all the evidences and her citizens draw an ever-growing
of youthful and irrepressible life in its revenue from crowds of seekers after health
most eager and strenuous demonstrations. and pleasure from lands near and far.
Though this favoured peninsula has been When, in the middle of the nineteenth
the subject of elaborate cultivation through century, Italy was welded into one nation-
all historic ages, and has from time im- ality, she was steeped in poverty. But, to
memorial supported teeming populations, give a quaint little illustration of the
5369
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
financial revolution that has been accom- as they call electricity, as shall help them
plished, whereas the English Christmas to reduce the import of coal from England.
markets used to be stocked with immense The electricity derived from the Alpine and
numbers of delicious little Italian maize- Apennine streams will, in time, yield enor-
fed turkeys, these are now missing, for mous wealth, for the number of useful falls
the simple reason that " the people are rich in Italy is 34,837. Electrical estabhshments
enough to afford to consume their own have turned many dull and idle towns into
poultry." That simple fact speaks volumes busy hives of industry, with rapidly in-
. of the change that has come creasing populations. This is the case at
g ^* °. about in material conditions. Maniago, near the fall of the River CeUina,
„ .. There is still much poverty, whose waters are now being used to carry
Regeneration •,.•,- ^ j
but it IS no longer general and i
torrents of life and light to Venice and to
deplorable. Italy has declared war on the other cities on the way to the beautiful
slum, and the change effected is marvellous. " Bride of the Sea." This colossal work
The social regeneration that began in cost 10,000,000 francs ($2,000,000) and
Piedmont has spread over the whole land. occupied 3,000 labourers in its installation.
At Turin a beggar is rarely seen, and The first trial of the great discovery of
in Naples, where, when Victor Emmanuel Ferraris was made in Rome by engineer
was proclaimed king, he found 90,000 Mangarini, who conveyed the force of the
professed lazzaroni, including criminals famous fall of the River Aniene at Tivoli,
of every grade, with thieves, loafers, and a classic spot, over the Campagna to the
drunkards, both beggary and squalor city. The magic light that at evening
have been drastically dealt with. Fifty illumines the streets and houses of Rome,
years ago the common people wer6 almost and the force that impels trams and
wholly unable to read. The new regime mechanism of all kinds, come from the
has reduced illiteracy, until now less than lovely cascade so admired by travellers,
one-third of the adult males, and one-half near which Augustus held his tribunal,
of the adult females are illiterate. Maecenas had the villa where
*
Notwithstanding that Italy lacks two j^* ^ he used to entertain Horace,
agni icen
indispensable elements, coal and iron, and is ^^^ ^^^ Emperor Hadrian built
ineyar s
compelled to spend every year $40,000,000 j^.^ magnificent rural palace.
on coal, so sturdy is her modern enterprise Italy is a land of agriculture, but this
that her native industrial companies have industry has passed through a crucial
1300,000,000 of paid-up capital, while crisis at the close of the nineteenth and
foreign companies have about half that beginning of the twentieth centuries.
amount. The manufacturing expansion in Methods were miserably bad, and a train
the north has been marvellously rapid. of diseases struck one ciop after another.
The output of the paper-mills has more The magnificent vineyards were terribly
than doubled in twenty years. One of the damaged by the peronospera and the
phenomenal advances has been in applied phylloxera, those parasites which passed
electricity. From Volta down to Marconi, into Italy from France, which in twenty
Italy has had a leading part in great years lost thus $2,000,000,000.
discoveries in electricity. It was an The silkworm disease, the orange-tree
Italian patriot, Antonio Meucci, who really bhght, and the fly that fatally perforates
invented the telephone Pacinotti con- ; the olives have simultaneously during the
structed the first machine for the applica- present generation inflicted immense mis-
tion of electro-magnetism and Ferraris ; chief. Men like Signor Solari and Signor
. achieved the magnificent dis- Bizzozero have revolutionised Italian farm-
/l"™? * covery of electric dynamic ing, as thoroughly as England's was revolu-
of Italian ,•'
.
^ aju
rotation, generated by means tionised in the eighteenth century. And as
In to s
of alternate currents. Pro- Italian emigrants love to return home after
fessor Righi, by his wonderful experiments a long absence, many of these have come
on electric waves, paved the way for Mar- back with the jirogressive ideas they have
coni's introduction of wireless telegraphy, acquired in America, France, or Switzer-
the most marvellous victory over time and land. In 1898 over 30,000 agricultural
space ever celebrated by science. And labourers returned and landed at Genoa
gradually the Italians are utilising the alone, and hundreds every year cross
immense hydraulic forces of their country the Atlantic for the great Argentine
for producing so much of the " white coal," harvest, where they are highly paid, and
5370
TWO VIEWS OF THE DESTRUCTION IN THE CORSO VITTORIO EMANUELE

SCENE IN THE TORRENTE CARTALEGNI RUINED CHURCH OF SAN GIOVANNI

IMPROVISED HOSPITAL IN THE OPEN AIR RUINS IN THE FINE VIA GARIBALDI

ME5S1NA AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE ON DECEMBER 28th, 1908


537»
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
then return to reap their own harvests. sunny clime, and also by spinning from 9
Small peasant farmers and labourers have the fine flax. The farmer not only
all alike awakened to the new order of gives to the landlord as rent half the
things."* "Village banks have entirely revo- produce of the podere, but also a stipu- i
lutionised the position of the peasants, lated number of eggs, hams, poultry, etc., \
who formerly could make no progress for while his wife or daughter, called the
want of capital with which to attempt massaia, or housekeeper, may, by agree-
small farming successfully. Signor ment, have to wash for the landlord's
Wollemborg, a Lombard village doctor household. The new prosperity
ecre o
who has since been Minister of Finance, ^^ ^j^^^agricultural community,
p' *
founded the first ItaUan village bank on ^^
the backbone of the nation,
rogress .^
the model of those which Herr Raiffeisen ^^^ ^^^ secret of Italy's
had established broadcast in Germany. marvellous recent progress, as the land
There are now nearly 2,000, with a is mainly an agricultural one. At the
membership of nearly 200,000. These beginning of the new century the atten-
institutions have rescued thousands of tion of the whole world was drawn
the diligent and persevering contadini, to a series of crucial labour troubles
or peasants, from the terrible grip of the in Italy, which had been coming to a
usurer. And likewise of late years the head for several years. A vast change
artisans and small shopkeepers have came over the condition and also the spirit
built up the huge organisation of the of the working classes during the last
People's Banks, with their capital -of decade of the nineteenth century, for
§25,000,000 and their yearly business of during that period great numbers of
$250,000,000, while §350,000,000 has been the peasantry became artisans, and thus
accumulated in the Private Savings Banks, a very great new industrial community
institutions very similar to the People's arose. But very quickly discontent was
Banks. The various banks lend money propagated amongst these by the spread
on very easy terms, and by their aid not only of socialism, but also of
immense new areas have been anarchist ideas. Disastrous and riotous
^ planted as vineyards or culti- strikes took place amongst masons,
fTh***R*
, .
* "' vated in other ways, with profit miners, and railway workers.
Labourers , . 1 ^z t
1
to the worker never before The peasants caught the contagion and
possible. The rural labourers have suc- organised a league, but this was im-
ceeded in working out their own salvation. mediately met by the formation of a
Out of the old sordid despair the contadini landowners' league. In Rome the masons
have been lifted into fair prosperity. employed on the monument to Victor
The favourite system of land tenure and Emmanuel II. organised a labour league
cultivation which still prevails is the and tried to compel every workman to
famous mezzeria. On this plan the estate join it, but parliament vigorously inter-
is divided into a number of poderi, or vened for the protection of the men who
fields, half the produce of which is retained refused to be coerced, and the leaguers
by the peasant who cultivates the soil, were defeated. The only important
and the other half goes to the landlord industry in Sicily besides agriculture
as rent. The poderi average about thirty- is sulphur-mining in the wonderful
nine acres each. The contadino's house " solfatara " district in the south of the
is on the podere, and is no mere hovel, for island. The miners, many of whom are
it provides ample accommodation for a very quarrelsome, given to the use of
large household. The agricultural system the knife and revolver, and
adopted provides occupation for the gambling, revolted against
Wo7kienon*°
peasant- farmer for the whole year without what were truly hard condi-
Strike
intermission, for on the same podere he tions in mines fearfully hot and
grows wheat, or maize, or rye, wine, oil, and reeking with poisonous sulphur fumes.
flax, according to the qualities of the soil. But when the marble quarrymen at
These labourers are exceedingly in- Carrara, far away in the north of Italy,
telligent, and they toil indefatigably, got up a sympathetic strike, they quickly
but with the utmost cheerfulness. The resorted to violence, forming armed bands,
women of the family rear silkworms which scoured the mountains and
and often make money by plaiting threatened to raid the town itself great ;

the beautiful straw produced in the alarm was caused amongst the peaceful
5372
ITALY IN OUR OWN TIME
inhabitants. Martial law was proclaimed, Premiers who have succeeded each other
the province was placed under the rule of since this century began Saracco, Pelloux,
:

General Huesch, and the wanton in- Zanardelli, Sonnino, Fortis, and GioUotti,
surrection was speedily quelled. Great are fresh in European recollection.
improvements have of late effectually In Italy, as the seat of the venerable
ameliorated the lot of the toilers, and the Papacy, religion and politics have for ages
Employers' Liability Bill has had an been inevitably entangled. But the separ-
excellent effect. It should be noted that ation of Church and State under Cavour's
_^ Italian s the Italian is a born engineer.
, administration, and the dissolution of the
The
jj^ inherits the Roman faculty vast number of convents, wrought a most
Genius for , - .x •
i-i-
_, . .
ngmeermg
for construction oi public radical revolution. The quarrel with the
^^j-j^g^ ^^^ many of the Vatican is still in process. The late Pope,
great Continental railways, the marveUous when he was Archbishop Sarto, of Venice,
Alpine tunnels, and our own Forth was esteemed for his simplicity of life
Bridge, were mainly made by operatives and his pastoral assiduity. But as Pius
from Italy. It is computed that there X. he was constrained by the Catholic
are always about 500,000 of these frugal Curia to assume the same attitude of
Italian workers scattered about Europe. intransigent Ultramontanism which was
There is an Italian quarter in every maintained by his predecessor, Leo XIII.,
great city in Europe whenever important and before him by Pius IX. But the
public works are being executed. struggle of late years has been not so much
Amongst this fascinatingly interesting between the Vatican and the monarchy as
people political problems are perpetually between the College of Cardinals and the
challenging solution. The typical Italian Modernists within the Catholic Church.
delights in litigation, and in these new days These ecclesiastical Liberals within Cathol-
of genuine constitutionalism he becomes icism had their head-centre in France ;

an ardent political partisan. The Italians but in Italy the famous Abbate Murri was
are a nation of orators, and their parlia- long engaged in a dispute with the Curia,
mentarians revel in rhetorical declamation. before Modernism was form-
Manhood suffrage was established by the '"J^"* **°
. ally condemned by the Pope.
Electoral Reform Act of 1912 only those — CK *h
Protestantism is compara-
who at the age of thirty have neither tively feeble in Italy. It is
performed military service nor learnt mainly represented in modern growth
to read and write being disqualified from by the young Chiesa Evvangelica, founded
voting. By this same act each member by the eloquent Padre Gavazzi in the
of the Lower House receives an annual middle of the last century, but in more
salary of $1,200. Parliamentary institu- ancient phase by the denomination which
tions are peculiar, for the Senate, or is the oldest Protestant communion in
Upper Chamber, is composed of members the world, the famous Waldensian Church,
nominated by the king for life on the which was born in the romantic valleys
advice of the Premier. Thus the legislation of the Cottian Alps, their home being
is exceedingly democratic, yet the people called by Michelet " that incomparable
feel that in emergency the Senate might flower hidden amid the sources of the Po."
be relied on to prevent reckless enactments. The missions of the Waldenses are
In the Lower House the proportion of dotted about all over Italy and Sicily, and
professional men amongst the deputies is of late years they have steadily multiplied.
extraordinary, for these constitute two- Monsignor Merry del Val, who was born in
thirds of the deputies. Only London of Spanish parents in 1865, and
Middle-class r i ^ •'

., . , a very few working-men have educated in England, has been a con-


Members of / • j i.v. u •

ever found their way into the


. .

p .. spicuous figure in Italy since 1907. This


Italian Parliament. Nor have dignitary was indefatigable in conducting
very many of the aristocracy been elected. the conflict between the Vatican and the
The members are mostly of the middle French Government over the Separation
class. Modern United Italy has produced Law, He visited England as Papal Envoy
a succession of really great statesmen, of on the occasions of Queen Victoria's
whom the nation is proud. The names of Jubilee and King Edward's Coronation.
Cavour, Sella, Ricasoli, La Marmora, He was created a cardinal, and succeeded
Minghetti, Depretis, CairoU, Crispi, Di Cardinal RampoUa as Papal Secretary of
Rudiiu will live, and the doings of the State.

5373

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


This exquisitely lovely land has in our accomplish refoiins in Macedonia. On
time suffered from the convulsions of the declaration of war the Italian Govern-
Nature more than any country has ever ment made it plain to all the world that
done in the whole history of the world. The hostilities were to be confined strictly to
closing weeks of 1908 will be marked in its Africa, and that no attack would be made
annals by the record of the earthquake on Turkish dominions in Europe or Asia,
which visited Calabria and Sicily, destroying and that no disturbance of the peace of
Reggio and Messina, wiping out Scylla, and Europe was contemplated. The capture
wrecking many other towns and of the town of Tripoli presented no great
Disasters
tillages. This appalling catas- difficulties to the Italian warships, but
Jf. trophe created unspeakable con- the conquest of the interior was another
"' ^ sternation throughout the world, matter. For the Arabs preached a " holy
for it was estimated that 300,000 lives war " against the invader, committed the
were lost. usual unspeakable atrocities of Eastern
Through all the struggles, difficulties, warriors, and were practically invincible
troubles, and vicissitudes of the brief on retreating a sufficient distance inland.
history of the young kingdom of United Italy formally annexed the province of
Italy the royal family have not failed to Tripoli in November, 191 1, but the war
win deepening esteem and affection. Thus went on without any change. The fight-
the republican ideal Mazzini seems
of ing was intermittent. The Sultan had no
forgotten. The nation was plunged into means at his disposal for any serious at-
impassioned grief by the tragedy enacted tempt to expel the Italian invaders his —
at Monza on July 29th, 1900, when the authority had long been merely nominal
beloved King Humbert I. was assassinated — and the Arabs were as powerless to
by the anarchist Bresci. His son and effect any reconquest of the -towns on the
successor, Victor Emmanuel HI., had as coast as the Italians were to enforce the
Crown Prince gained abundant popularity. capitulation of their enemies in the desert.
He and his wife, the beautiful Princess onques
Not until the Balkan League
Elena of Montenegro, are considered j^^(jg y^^j. q^ Turkey in October,
" the handsomest royal pair in Europe," -, . .. 1912, did the Sultan seek
"^° '
yet the king is the smallest of Continental peace with Italy, and agree
sovereigns, being only five feet three inches to the surrender of Tripoli and Cyrenaica
in height, while the queen is very taU, to the Italian Government. This new
so that when seen together they present North African addition to the colonies of
a most striking contrast. Throughout Italy stretches from Tunis and Algiers on
their marriage service the king stood, the west to Egypt on the east, and its
while the queen knelt on a cushion, and area of, approximately, 400,000 square
thus they were just of a height. " The miles is bounded on the south only by
only time she was able to look up at me," the Sahara. The population in 1913 was
says King Victor, quite good-humour edly. estimated at 1,000,000, mostly Berbers,
So immense has been his services already to with a considerable minority of Jews,
his country that he has been styled, and not while the town of Tripoli then numbered
without reason, " The Saviour of Italy." 40,000 persons.
Europe was startled in the late summer Doubtless commercial advantages may
of 191 1 by the announcement that Italy accrue to Italian business firms by the
had declared war on Turkey and had conquest of Tripoli, for a great trade
invaded Tripoli. For some time past partly a caravan trade with the Sudan
complaints had been made to passes through Tripoli and Bengali, but
^^^ ^°^*^ *^^^ *^^ Italian resi- political considerations were certainly not
Tainst
agains
^jgj^^g jj^ ^j^g town of Tripoli were overlooked when the annexation by force
*^ harassed by local misgovern- With
of arms was decided on at Rome.
ment and vexatious laws, to the serious France in possession of Morocco, Algeria,
interference with Italian commerce and and Tunis, and the British Protectorate
the considerable annoyance of Italian obviously a permanent institution in
business firms ; but no redress came from Egypt, Tripoli alone remained under
Constantinople, the Sultan and his ad- Ottoman rule in Africa and as it seemed
;

visers being naturally quite impotent to eminently undesirable to the Italian Gov-
deal with grievances in a province so far ernment that this last remnant of the
otf as Tripoli, since they could not even once mighty Turkish Empire should be
5374
ITALY IN Oim. OWN TIME
swallowed up by France, and as Italy led by Baruni Bey, who had been Tripoli's
had long wanted a strip of African terri- representative in the first Turkish Parlia-
tory on the Mediterranean, the best and ment at Constantinople, were in open
only plan appeared to be a war of con- revolt in 1913, and, though defeated in
quest. The war was long and costly in battle by the Italian troops, their resist-
human casualties and money expenditure, ance had been a heavy stumbling block
but it was approved generally in Italy, to the pacification of Cyrenaica.
only a section of the Socialists dissenting While the conquest of Tripoli has been
from the national verdict, and it had the the chief event in the history of Italy in
merit of bringing together, at least tem- recent years, it has also laid a heavy tax
porarily, old political antagonists divided on the conquerors. Italy looks for recom-
on the question of Church and State. pense for the drain of life and treasure
The Papacy and the Crown were never in a new and fertile province, a land
nearer together since the Union of Italy largely peopled by Italians, who with
than they were at the close of 1911. their characteristic industry and patience
Even when the Sultan had formally ceded may rebuild in Tripoli and on the shores
the last of his African dominions to the of the Mediterranean the civilisation long
King of Italy and war between the two destroyed. There is no reason in the
countries was officially at an end, peace nature of things why Italy should not
was by no means guaranteed to the con- populate Tripoli and make of that land
querors. The Arab tribes of the desert, a valuable and important territory.

THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO


/^NE of the minor events of the year 1907 republic." In those days it was more
^^ was the conclusion of a fresh treaty democratic, perhaps, than it is to-day.
of friendship between the Kingdom of The eight parishes of which the republic
Italy and the Republic of San Marino, and consists return sixty members to its Parlia-
in the arrangements and discussions which ment, called the Great Council twenty of
;

preceded this settlement, as in the treaty these representatives are drawn from its
itself, the republic, which has only an nobles, twenty from its townsmen, and
area of 33 square miles, and a population twenty from its peasantry ; two of them
well under 12,000, appeared as a sovereign are appointed every six months as Regent-
and independent state, although its Captains with executive power. There is,
separate existence is maintained solely by besides, a smaller council, which regulates
'

the benevolent protection of its big friend, all matters pertaining to finance, law,
Italy. Of all the numerous independent education and war ; its duties must be
states into which the Italy of the Middle tolerably light, for San Marino has no
Ages was divided, San Marino alone debt ; and, of course, it cannot go to war,
survives to the present day ; and as long though it has an army of about a thousand
as Italy, by a sort of good-humoured officers and men. Its capital, also called
forbearance, permits it to remain as it is, San Marino, has a population of 1,500,
so long, and no longer, will its name be and is situated on the top of Mount
seen on the roll-call of the nations. It is Titano, a termination in that direction of
situated some ten miles or so from the the Apennines. The government Palace,
historic Italian town of Rimini, and is to rebuilt here in 1894, is a fine edifice.
all intents and purposes as Italian as any There is much that is interesting and
part of the country. But it claims to be the picturesque about the town, and, indeed,
oldest state of Europe, dating its preten- about the whole of this small republic.
sions as far back as 855, though its inde- The meetings of the Council, with
pendence is of a much later date From the
. the " Noble Guard" in their fanciful
point of view of age, it regards the modern uniforms in attendance, partake of some-
kingdom as something of an upstart. thing of the character of a pageant instinct
It undoubtedly can boast of being the with the suggestion of old-world romance
smallest republic in the world. When the and charm. But it need hardly be added
devastating presence of Napoleon passed that nobody regards this little repubUc
over Italy in blood and flame, San Marino very seriously ; there is, in fact, a good
was spared. " Let it remain," said the deal about it which smacks of a Gilbertian
great conqueror, "as a model of a opera. Robert Machray
5375
"

THE ANGLO-FRENCH "ENTENTE CORDIALE

The "Entente Cordiale " between France and England, so strongly fostered by the late King Edward VII.,
has been further encouraged by King George V., who, in April, 1914, visited Paris, and, with Queen Mary,
was the guest of President Poincare. The presence of their majesties at the Opera in Paris tu company with
the President and Madame Poincarg is the subject of the above picture.

5376
;

EUROPEAN VIIl
POWERS TRANCE
TO-DAY

FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME


A SURVEY OF THE NATION'S
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE
By Richard Whiteing
WE among have followed the history of France
the nations of Europe down
ideal simplicity. The Senate, composed
of 300 members, will wholly represent the
to our own day. Where does this great principle of popular choice in the second
country stand at the present time ? degree when its few surviving life members
In regard to politics the answer is simple have passed away. The president is but
enough. France has established the the most eminent servant of the nation.
Repubhc alter more than a century of This is not to say that none but Repub-
effort, and has put it on the footing of the lican parties exist. There is a Monarchist
institutions that are taken as matters of party which, as Nationalist or
What^.i
,»rt
the n
course. This means, not that the present _
cpu
.

ic
Conservative name, u
i.-
m

harps on
system is free from the liability to error ^ string of military glory, and
^j^^
epresen.s
and to great economic and social change, keeps a kind of sentimental
^^^^
but simply that a reversion to either of hold on a section of the peasantry, and
the earlier forms, of monarchy or empire, makes some figure in the social life of Paris.
is unthinkable. For good or ill the old But the peasant proprietors in the mass
parties have, and can have, no hope of a are for the Republic, because they believe
governing majority. The monarchy is that it is for order and stability, and that
associated with the tradition of misery they have nothing to fear from it, and a
the empire with that of defeat and good deal to hope.
humiliation. The disasters of 1 870-1 had The urban masses, again, are bound to
precious results on the temperament of give ittheir support as the progressive
the people it is unhkely that the war
; movement in being, though the workmen
drum will ever throb again in France in any as a whole are overwhelmingly Socialist and
cause but the defence of her territory, or un- anti-capitaUstic. In the decisive election of
less, as in the case of the great European 1906, of some 9,000,000 voters who went
War, her obligations to an ally compel her. to the poll, nearly 6,250,000 cast their
The new political ideal is the welfare of votes for Republican or Socialist candi-
the nation as a whole, the making life dates, without counting another million
better worth living for every unit of the or so who represented Liberals well affected
mass of population. In his latest survey to the existing system. The poor remainder
of the whole situation, M. Jaures boasts stood for all the forces of reaction. The
that the country is now in full poUtical majority were all Republicans of one shade
_ democracy. In other words, the or other, whatever else they were not, and
^^ French people are at last in sole were ready to coalesce for the defence of
p y .

. . charge of their own destinies. Republican institutions.


J
The constitution has been The Sociahst section of the Republican
fashioned into a perfect instrument for the party now includes much of the highest
work in hand. Its provision of the second intellect of France, and exemplifies nearly
ballot ensures the predominance of the all the varieties of that school of politics
popular will the deputies are paid as
; throughout the world. The racial mind
servants of the State, not as servants of has a wide range, from the utmost poise
any section of the electorate. The suffrage and precision of scientific thought to the
is universal, and no man has more than most passionate enthusiasm for the idea.
one vote. The electoral machinery is of The Commune is the classical example.

5377
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
It was a system on the one hand, and, on Dresden. Bebel triumphed by carrying a
the other, a dehrium of utter self-sacrifice. resolution to the effect that Socialism
Its members died by thousands for a social should have a policy strictly independent
millennium. The outbreak would have of all other political parties, and should
ruined the democratic cause for ages in take no part in a " capitahst ". govern-
any other country in France it only gave
; ment. Jaures frankly accepted the vote,
the cause a set-back that has already and, by his submission to the idea of party
become but an incident of its career. discipline, did much to maintain his
The darkest hour found a man position, and to lead his very antagonists
"^^
capable of stemming the cur- to more practical courses. His followers
n'^^^- rent of disaster, and effecting are not a solid phalanx ;it is his proud,
the salvage of the proletarian though perhaps rather premature, boast
idea. This was Jules Guesde. He had that " outside of the united party" there
laid the causes of failure to heart, and he is none deserving of the Socialist name.
gradually taught his countrymen to aban- Jaures is still strictly a party man, and
don the old methods of sterile insurrec- he constantly uses his energies as a spur
tionary agitation, and to rely on organised to prick the sides of ministerial intent.
propaganda to a definite end. In the summer of 1906 he held another
He opposed the desperate measure of the Titanic debate with M. Clemenceau, as
general strike, and in due course achieved the head of the Government, on the great
the miracle of sending forty deputies to the question of the rate of progress in demo-
Chamber pledged to a Collectivist pro- cratic reform that still separates the
gramme, and to the saving idea of unity of labouring class of France from the middle
all sections of the advanced party in the class. There had been serious strike riots,
common cause. They were not, however, and the Government had been compelled
to co-operate with the Government ; they to intervene to preserve the peace. " Order
were to convert it to Socialism, and his is the Republic's first law," M. Clemenceau
union of parties was still to be only a union seemed to say. " Give us the
among the elect. The thought of common ' " f opportunity to be your friends.
Republic s
action with men who were Republicans, and ^^^ ^^^^ you want will come, if
First Law ,
•',
,, ,• ,

nothing else, was repugnant to his soul. only you have the patience to
Then came Jaures with the wider out- wait for it." He carried the point by a
look of a scheme for union among all the vote that expressed the confidence of the
supporters of the Republic. He was, and Chamber. " You are not the Almighty,"
is still, a professor of philosophy, and, as cried the defeated champion in a moment
such, a distinguished member of the aca- of petulance. "You are not even the
demic body and a servant of the State. Devil," was the retort.
A man holding that position in France In the elections of 1906 over 26 per cent,
must be deeply versed in the history of of those who went to the poll cast a
nations and the history of thought, and Socialist vote, yet this was regarded as a
the studies of Jaures had taught him that Socialist defeat. Socialism is powerful
practical persons with a sense of give and enough to influence legislation, though
take always win in the long run. He urged not to control it. It now elects mayors by
his brother Socialists to spread their doc- the hundred, and municipal councillors by
trines among the people in the old way, the thousand. Its chief supporters are
but meanwhile to work with the consti- found among the workmen, and the
tuted authorities, and in Parliament for " intellectuals " of the professorial group.
all that Parliament was worth. Trade Unionism in France, as such, is
The Butcher
^^ entered warmly into the rather " on the fence " in being not
^ * Dreyfus agitation, on the side frankly Socialist though in strong sym-
that ultimately triumphed, and pathy with the movement. It has long
he finally sent one of his lieutenants into been political and speculative in its
the government as member of a Ministry tendencies, and for a simple reason. Many
that contained the hated De Gallifet, of the benefits in higher wages and the
" the butcher of the Commune." like, which in England were the exclusive
This proceeding scandalised the Social- concern of such organisations, are, in
ists of Europe, and it led to a Titanic France, secured by the personal thrift of
debate between Jaures and the German the workman, and by the help of the
Bebel, at the International Congress of State. The French Unionists often prefer

5378

FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME


to save for themselves, and this leaves them eats " like a prince," both in quality
fancy free for the dream of a beneficial and in the quantity for his need. On
revolution which is to settle everything. this point the comparative statistics
Many of their comrades, however, are as to the prices of provisions in the two
still for the English method of trade funds countries which are published in England
for purely trade purposes — the raising of from time to time are wholly illusory.
wages, and the benefits. The first would With the French workman, two or even
make the unions a branch of a sort of three courses and dessert are not the
labour party, rejecting the co-operation of exception, but the rule. His
J,
all other classes but their own, and *f^ i » J children have the best of
and Contented , j Xi r
working by means of a class war. The
,

elementary, and often ot


Worke
others have the powerful support of the advanced education —
the
miners, the printers, the textile workers former entirely free, with free meals at
and the engineers. —
need and over and above this, free access
According to Miss Scott, the latest to magnificently appointed technical
historian of the movement, the only schools, where they may learn their trades.
important unions that are distinctly revo- The spontaneous help of his comrades
lutionary are those of the building trades. rarely fails him in misfortune. He is less
One of their spokesmen utters a warning frequently haunted by the spectre of a sub-
cry against " the development of a fourth merged tenth than his British brother ;
estate composed of trades economically indeed, that class is practically non-exist-
privileged, with the unskilled and unem- ent in France. " Wherever you go," says
ployed left on one side." It is no easy a recent observer, " you will find less
matter to arouse French enthusiasm for evidence of poverty, of idleness, of misery
any idea of a purely utilitarian character. than will force itself on your attention
The tendency is always to look before and almost anywhere else in the world."
after to the complete regeneration of the Thanks to all this, the French work-
F>ancc c
race. This tendency has hin- man is generally content to remain in his
^gj.^^ ^^le progress of French class. It is by no means, however, the
or man
Co-operation. It has attained content of acquiescence. His class hatreds
to nothing like the same rate of are strong, and, with his sense of equality,
development as the British movement he is disposed to have " no use " for the
even in the manufacturing branch, which bourgeoisie or for the aristocrats. In so
has always been peculiarly its own. far as he is a workman of the towns, he
The net result is that the French is generally socialistic and anti-capitalistic
workman has, on the whole, a better lot to the backbone. He belongs either to
than the British. He has more of the joy the French Working Class party, which
of life. His government, state and munici- is opposed to any sort of co-operation,
pal, does more for him, and takes care political or other, with society at large,
that he shall be abundantly supplied or to the Socialist Revolutionary party,

with simple pleasures seats in the shady which is disposed to accept such co-
thoroughfares for the summer evenings, operation in politics, on conditions, but
where he may smoke his pipe and see his in each case with a view to the final
children at play ; well-kept woods, forests triumph of equalitarian ideas. Finally,
and parks, where he may ramble on Sunday he hates war, partly on general principles,
with his wife and family ; cheapened but mainly because he hates the blood
services of tram and train —
all with tax of the conscription. Then, for the
ludicrously cheap holidays as the general balance of power in public
easan ry
result. If his hours of labour are longer, j^jpfg^jj-g^ theworkmen are'effectu-
ppose o ^^,
11

the pace is nothing like so hard. His home ^^^^ .^ electoral check
Socialism , -^
., .

life abounds in the solid and substantial by the peasantry, whose large
comfort of the neat and cleanly dwelling, share of the ownership of the land
the well-filled clothes-press and larder, gives them little liking for Socialism, and
the well-cooked meal, and the well- no taste for farming under the State.
stocked market as its source of supply. These are the more potent as a check,
For most of these blessings, no doubt, because they have all but completely
he has to thank his admirable wife, herself Republican idea. Successive
rallied to the
a product of the most careful cultures, Governments have wooed and won them
domestic, educational, and religious. He by standing firmly for the security of
5.379
;;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


property and for public order, and by crowd is at fault in the same way
making them objects of peculiar care in and in psychological moments every
other ways. Their technical schools for man's hand seems to be against his neigh-
farming, for instance, are on the same bour's coat-collar in the act of arrest.
high level as the schools for arts and crafts. For all that, the Republic is by far the
Liberty, EquaUty and Fraternity are strongest French government of modern
still the watchwords of the Republic, times if only for the classic reason that it
but the French are disposed to take them divides Frenchmen the least. The vast
«r 4 .not exactly in this order.
t.
and powerful middle class no longer
Equality is the passion of stands aloof. The people, in the con-
of tht
„ * k1 the people, and the goal of
• ventional sense of the term, are not and
epo ic
^^^ their strivings and of all never have been enough to make a
their hopes. Fraternity is a sentiment of governing system. The power may come
qnly less strength, but as yet it has got to them when they have all the qualifi-
no further than fraternity by classes. cations for it but by that time they
;

Among the workmen, for instance, the and the nation will be one. At present
sense of brotherhood is a positive affection the middle class, with its backing of the
of the soul, only to be realised by those moderates of all shades, is as strong as
who have lived in close touch with them ever in affairs and in knowledge.
and witnessed countless manifestations
its In all times the vast majority of the
of courtesy, charity, and active help. governed, as distinct often enough from
It is the same among the professional their governors of the moment, have
and the other classes who are the brain constituted a sort of natural force of
and nerve of France, and here fraternity conservation. They are at once eager
finds its strongest manifestation in the for change and fearful of its effects
strength of the family tie. The family and very inconsistencies serve to
their
constitutes a vast insurance society for determine the pace for progress, and to
the mutual guarantee of all its members compel a due regard to the
.

against the ills of life. Few fail to respond adjustments between old in-
p['f^°^^
to the appeal, even when the claim extends . *n'*i*i-
in Polities
terests and new claims. It may
r
the force oft
,
to cousinships of the remoter degrees. than j-x,
be no more J.I.
The whole scheme of collective well-being habit, but a force it is, for their mass
is that in emergencies no single member makes them the predominant partner in
of the " clan " shall have to stand quite politics. No party, however advanced,
alone. The uncle who looks after his can touch the actual experience of ad-
graceless nephew as a matter of duty, and ministration without swaying to the side
almost without expectation of gratitude, of this moderate norm, which represents
is a familiar figure of French comedy. the working mean between movement
This, in itself, with the obligations it and stagnation, and which exists by no
entails, involves a certain sacrifice of accident but by a law. When that central
liberty, since you can hardly have it both and all-powerful body swerves in momen-
ways^-dependence, and a perfectly free tary aberration to either extreme, pro-
course. Liberty, therefore, while it has gressive or reactionary, it begins to
made huge progress under the Republic, diminish in numbers, and to lose control.
is still hampered by intolerance. The A government of abstract justice and of
Press is free to the point of licence but ; revolutionary upheaval, if it could be
personal freedom, especially that of public established to-morrow, would pass like
-„ meeting, still leaves much to the dream of a night. The chronic in-
Weaknesses
,
j i j t^i•
r^
be desired. The Government, firmities of human nature would still
,

. .

'''^^^' assert their rights.


Gove'rnment !" 'f ff^f^^" !?'
fretful
IS and ^^^^i^S
meddlesome, is now in the safe keeping
The Republic
especially as it works through the agency of the whole nation. Like every other
of the police. It regulates strikes and government in the world, it will, of course,
public meetings to the point of exaspera- undergo enormous changes, but these
tion, and compromises the " order of the must be gradual, and must still con-
streets " by a fussy anxiety to preserve it. form to the law of human affairs. The
The ordinary prefect of police simply loses moderate man will ever be master in the
his head at the sight of two or three gathered long run. Much of the abuse of the
together for public discussion. The very "middle class" is due to the sense of
5380
THE INTERIOR OF THE SENATE IN THE LUXEMBURG PALACE

INTERIOR OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES

OUTSIDE AND INSIDE THE FRENCH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT


5331
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
their irresistible might. They captured person,and to put every idea in its place.
the old revolution, they have already The latter is his normal state, and it has
captured the new. In many respects produced his classic literature ; the former
France is fortunate in being rooted in has prompted him to all the revolts of
institutions that make for stability and reaction towards Romanticism, Naturalism,
social peace. Her wise laws of inherit- Idealism, and all the other schools that
ance provide for a beneficent diffusion are characterised so much by the final
of wcctlth throughout the whole of the syllable of their names. Ronsard, apart
_ . body politic. No man may from his services to the good govern-
" **'
leave all his property exactly ment of the language, came to bring life
People in
the World
as he likes. A
considerable and the joy of a free course in the beauty
share of it must go to his of nature. The rather miscalled age of
wife and children, and not to any one of Louis XIV. brought discipline, law and
them to the detriment of the rest. In this order our good bourgeois of the muse
;

way there is an automatic check on the was- now intent on a return to the pro-
growth of large fortunes, and a constant prieties. This mood ran its course until he
diffusion of wealth, which irrigates the made holiday again with the Romantics.
whole field of national well-being with a " Tempted of the Devil," wrote the wrath-
fertilising stream. ful Nisard, of Hugo the leader of the band,
There are few French citizens,, men or " he is begetting new schools every day."
women, who are without " expectations " It was not to last for ever. The rebels
of a kind. Consequently there is no huge in their turn came to repentance with
landless, moneyless class, filthy, feckless the Parnassian group. The poetic mind
and answering to the abject poor.
forlorn, is now once more in a state of lawlessness,
The flower and product of this system is or, at any rate, of unrest, which bodes
the national habit of thrift, which is an another return to the righteousness of form.
effect of wise legislation rather than a mere Banville, who succeeded Hugo as the
peculiarity of the national temperament. master poet of his day, was
Banville
Opportunity has made the French the still the Romantic movement,
the Successor
thriftiestpeople in the world. Having the - „ "*° but that movement chastened
means of saving, they naturally save. by its sense of the need of
This, and this alone, accounts for the flawless workmanship and of spiritual
enormous recuperative power of the nation restraint. His " Petit Traite de la
as a whole. " Whereas Great Britain," Poesie " was merciless in its insistence
says Mr. W. L. George, in his " France on the clearness, precision, and minute
in the Twentieth Century," " has but finish of detail so dear to the French
just recovered from the depression follow- mind. Leconte de Lisle was classic in
ing on the South African War, a com- spirit, call him what else you will, though
paratively cheap contest which did not a classic with a wider outlook on life
entail the destruction of a single English than the men of the grand period.
home, France, within four years of 1870, Sully Prudhomme, the next great name,
had regained her position, after paying has been called, and not unhappily, a
an indemnity nearly equal to our total' French Matthew Arnold in his sense of
Transvaal expenditure, and enduring six the good breeding of an Augustan ideal,
months' devastation of her soil." French and sometimes a Lucretius, or even a
literature is naturally best understood Darwin, of poetry. Coppee was the same
by a study of the French character, sort of man working in a medium of scenes

Th D ^^ which it is the necessary


ki
of humble life, a French Crabbe, touching
VI .
Nature of the
outcome.
"»?•. The Frenchman the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick-
r ,
-, .
Frenchman ^
,

t
,

has two natures


.
.

marked m i • .
m!aker, not as one of themselves, but as
contrast. In one he is the Puritan of a rigorous law of art.
the child of the joy of life^all impulse, Sully Prudhomme died but the other
whim, and go-as-you-please in the-otlier, ; —
day. Where is he now at any rate, in
he is the most staid, orderly, respectable regard to his status in this world ?
being in the universe. In the first he Before the breath went out of his body
follows the wayward law of his moods and an advanced school had come to regard
his intuitions in the other he is almost
; him as a fogey. It has yet to wreak its
the victim of a rigorous logic which com- vengeance on Heredia, the last of the
pels him to keep his mind as tidy as his Parnassians, for the crime of popularity.
5382
FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME
but no doubt he, too, will have his hour of Naturalist school of Zola, as a school, is
the wrong sort. His goldsmith's art in gone, but it has left abiding traces, most
the fine chiselling of the phrase has carried of them for good. The good ones are in the
their system to perfection and perfection
; direction of respect for the facts and of a
palls, tosay nothing of the fact that the faithful rendering of detail the bad, in
;

younger men are waiting, and that youth sheer pornography, though this is not
will have its day. the founder's fault. Bourget, though no
We are still with the Decadents, though Naturalist, in regard to the observation of
in new manifestations. Beaudelaire rules _ . the things of the flesh, follows
our spirits from his urn
so does Verlaine,
; ^^^^ method in regard to the
Fictio f
and it is estimated that at least a hundred Y jj *^ things of the spirit. There is
of his pages may reach posterity. They another trace of Zola in the fact
should do so, for he at least restored the that the new school is overwhelmingly
personal and the human note which had purposeful. In no former time has French
no place in the baggage of the Parnassian fiction been so much occupied with the
band. Mallarme, sometimes coupled with study of social facts. This is the main line
him as a neo-Decadent, is far inferior. of the new departure. Even the revived
It is now a riot of schools, if the word is study of local manners and customs,
not inappropriate to systems that are local types, is not free from the laudable
little more than exaggerations of the suspicion of a purpose of natural regenera-
personal note. Some sing the all-import- tion. If some still write in the old way,
ance of the ego, others the emptiness of for the pure love of story as story, and of
life. They pass across the illuminated character in and for itself, they form but
disc of popularity, from nothing into a minority, though a minority with a
nothingness again, like the figures in the right to their welcome.
cinematograph. The Polychromists, who The revival of religion has its apostles,
hold that the word is not merely the symbol but every one of them takes care to l.et
of colour, but the thing itself, are still to you see that he is a patriot rather than a
be found, though you have to saint. The wide, wide world is not for-
The Modern
look for them. The Realists gotten, and it has a school to itself, with
Poetic
yet honour Jean Richepin for Loti as its master. His work has the study
Movement
his "Chanson des Gueux," of foreign race types and exotic peculiari-
and another composition in which he has ties for its means, and a suggestion of the
written with much appreciation of the greater glory of France for its end and
Devil and all his works. Maupassant aim. That perfectly equipped writer has
shaped well in this school of verse at ever been the best of patriots and when
;

the outset of his career. he writes of " India without the EngUsh,"
Foreigners have largely influenced the we may easily divine his regret that Pro-
modern poetic movement. Maeterlinck vidence did not vouchsafe the blessing of
is perhaps the most distinguished case its being " with the French."
in point. But there is now a promising cult, The social studies embrace every variety
which places Whitman at the head, of of the genre. Most of them have this
Poe, Emerson and Thoreau as the four peculiarity, that they deal with groups
men of universal genius that America rather than with individuals, in the older
has given to the world. way. Where they are historic in their
The general result is that the old French setting, we have no longer the splendid
prosody, the result of centuries of critical personalities of the past, the heroes of the
labour, has gone all to pieces, and that its world movement through the
chief law — one word, one vote for signi- „ ** . ages, but, instead, the masses of
fication —has been repealed. Even the Studies in
Novels
'^ -

humanity, dim, but by no means


venerable figure of syntax has been plucked dumb, who are struggling
by the beard. Impression has taken the towards the light. Paul Adam and Paul
place of logic, assonance of rhyme. The and Victor Margueritte are the chiefs of
reaction will follow in due course, probably the school. Their books are of races and
in a new classical movement with larger nations, all in movement on the epic scale.
and more generous bounds. The fiction that has narrower limits of
The same tendencies are observable in place or time has made a new departure
French fiction. It is a time of unrest, but under the leadership of M. Rod, who is not
the outlook is most promising. The old a thinker only, but a man of letters, with
34* 53S3
.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


allthe restraints that belong to the French in literary power, and especially in
ideal of the character. The miseries of the eclecticism of style. He is the champion
people, the bankruptcy of faith, the inter- of the new ideas that seem pressing for-
necine struggle between capital and labour, ward to victory. They could hardly do
the self-seeking of the professional poli- without him, for in France, as elsewhere,
among his more striking themes.
tician, are the cause is often of less importance
M. De Vogiie has taken this last subject as than the skill of the advocate. His
the motive of his powerful work " Les " sober elegance, his neat Hmpidity " to —
A Writer Morts qui Parlent." For him translate perhaps too literally —
compel the
^^^ parliamentarians of to-day admiration of all. In a series of well-known
of National
^^^ ^^^ ^^^ delegates
" of the works of fiction he stemmed the torrent of
Romance ^
Convention
.•
m
a new part. He
• i. tr
prejudice in the Dreyfus case far more
is a polemist of great force, with a keen effectually than even Zola, to whom his
sense of actuality, which, however, does detractors have ever refused the title of a
not prevent him from casting a longing, man of letters.
lingering look towards the past. Rod, At any rate, what Zola did for the country
too, is not without this tendency, but at large Anatole France did for educated
he can see good in both sides, and opinion, which still counts for much in
sympathy is his dominant note. matters of taste. He takes a side in seeming
The note of sadness and of protest to take none, and to be wholly devoted to
against a too insistent present is found a detached and caustic observation of con-
again in much of the work that has pro- temporary ideas. " L'ile des Pingouins,"
vincial France for its subject, and par- one of the latest of his works, is also one
ticularly in that of M. Bazin, who stands of the best examples of his method, and
at the head of a school. M. Bazin has with that, unfortunately, of a certain super-
written novels of great power on the — fluity of coarseness that hardly deserves to
work -girls, on the exodus of the peasantry be called a defect of his qualities. He is
from country to town, on the religious ... a- precious asset of the cause of
persecution involved in the present quarrel
AA ..T
Novelist „
progress, smce most of the
r .1
i.

fth
between Church and State, on the problem Ki o L
New School I
writers who are most read stand
r ,r , . ,

of the lost provinces. The last, a mixture tor a sort of reaction against
of history, patriotism, and philosophy, the ideals of the popular party. It is
aspires to the dignity of a national romance, easier to get a hearing in that way, among
and as such it has been acclaimed by the —
the select few still large enough to make
most educated readers in France. But a considerable public of themselves.
their suffrages are not enough for this Maurice Barres is perhaps the most
writer. He has studied provincial life in widely read of the three. He writes, often
all its aspects with a success that has with a strong conservative bias, in all the
enabled him to realise the sane and sound genres, and he has identified them with
ambition of a wide popularity. Bordeaux is successive stages of his own development.
another remarkable writer of the same class. He is a patriot, an ardent " regionalist,"
The writers who are most read in France in his love of the character and colour of
are Paul Bourget and Anatole France, of provincial life, an historical novelist of the
the earlier school, and Maurice Barres of new school, in his keen sense of the nations
the new. Paul Bourget is now, whatever as makers of history, and his comparative
he was not in the past, the eloquent indifference to their masters of court or
apologist of marriage, of the authority of camp. He is also a psychologist of the
the family as a social organism, first order, with a deep insight into the
France's
of monarchy and aristocracy, souls of races, as distinct from the merely
Popular
and, above of religion.
all, individual growths. The newer tendencies
Authors
He brings to their support a of cultivated thought are to be found in his
delicacy and a suppleness of mind, and a pages, and especially in his strong insist-
perfectly equipped literary talent, which ence on the belief that no people can
compel the attention of many who have afford to forget its past. " Our individual
no sympathy with his views. conscience comes from the love of our
These, however, have their antidote country and of its dead."
ready to hand in Anatole France, that Is there no place, then, for the novelists
"august Nihilist pamphleteer," as some- who write merely for the love of character
body has called him, who stands supreme and of incident, and especially for the love

5384
PANORAMIC VIEW OF LVONS FROM THE PLACE BELLECOUR

THE IMPORTANT NAVAL HARBOUR OF BREST

CHERBOURG, AS SEEN FROM THE FORT DU ROULE

SCENES IN THE GREAT CITIES AND PORTS OF FRANCE


53S5

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of telling a story without any other peculiarity of modern France is that the
prepossession Assuredly, or M. Henri
? apostles of ideas tend more and more to
Regnier would not be read. He is a subtle express themselves in poetry, fiction, and
spirit born out of his proper time, which drama. They naturally wish to have a
was the eighteenth century, and prevailing hearing, and they find that the average
by the force of his irony and his wit, and reader prefers to take even his philosophy
especially of that variety of the latter in object-lessons. Some of them fare ill in
which is known as the "esprit gaulois." this attempt, and succeed only in showing
But the remorseless obligations that they have missed their vocation. Most
°^ ^^^ subject compel us to of the vital thought of France is enshrined
A^^ti
pos es o f
j.g^^j.j^ ^Q another class of in its fiction, and that fiction is so good
writers with a purpose the — because it is expected to be so much more
apostles of " feminism." The subject looms than the amusement of an idle hour.
largely in the literature of France, as In history there has been a change
distinct from the propaganda by the from the prophetic and picturesque
deed and by the platform to which it is and the essentially literary method of
almost wholly confined in England. Marcel Michelet to that of the minute and ex-
Prevost led the way with " Les Demi- haustive study of facts with the object of
Vierges " but, as a rule, the women have
; leaving them to tell their own story, or,
now taken the matter into their own hands. at best, of grouping them with a little
Their studies of passion leave little to malice aforethought. M. Sorel is the lead-
be desired, except sometimes a sense of ing representative of this school, and he
restraint and the freedom for which they
; may be described as the French Stubbs.
plead is less that of the representative M. Lavisse, and, above all, M, Fustel de
assembly than of the home and the heart. Coulanges, stand for the older and the more
Gerard d'Houville Madame de Regnier — attractive method. But their work is still
for her familiars —
writes with remarkable governed by a rigorously methodic purpose
literary power. Madame de NoaiUes fol- , and treatment, which at least
lows on the same side, and is much in ^^^^^ ^^ obtain its effects of
IS ory
Hiftor
vogue. With these are Madame de Coule- ^j_^^ picturesque by accident
vain, the author of " Eve victorieuse," and rather than by design. The last-
especially of " Sur la branche," and named, however, though it may annoy
Madame Marcelle Tinayre, whose " Maison him to hear it, is very much of a great
du peche " was one of the most widely writer. M. Gabriel Hanotaux may be said
read books of its year. to unite the two schools. His history of
All of these have not only something to contemporary France during the period of
say, but they have learrtt how to say it reconstruction that followed her last great
by the most serious reading in literature war is at once one of the most brilliant
and history. They differ from earlier and solid works of the time. Apart from
writers of their sex, and 6ven from George these, we have any number of writers of the
Sand, in having a distindtly feminine point memoirs in which the French have always
of view. They write as women, and not as excelled. M. Bourget has entered the
women who hope to be taken for men. domain of travels in a manner charac-
Such a method has its dangers and it ; teristic at once of himself and of the new
must be confessed that some of their school, with his quite descriptively named
feminine followers have run into the " Sensations d'ltalie." In criticism
grossest licence, as though to prdClaim —
philosophic and literary M. Brunetiere,
. •
• their independence of the
• though he has recently passed away, still
magma ion s
pj-gj^gp^ ^j^g^^ want of decency rules, with M. Lemaitre and M. Faguet.

L"t t
^^ want of sense. The late In philosophy and science proper the
Madame
Bentzon, thougli French are for the moment largely de-
woman to the finger-tips and a chanipion —
pendent on the foreigner exception made
of women, had in perfection the qualities of such names of the illustrious dead as
that must always go to the making of Pasteur and Claude Bernard. Darwin,
good literature, and especially reser^. Spencer, Buckner, Haeckel, Schopenhauer,
Imaginative work is not the all in all Hartmann, and Nietzsche call the tune.
of a literature. There are thinkers who The French drama shows precisely the
work for thinking's sake, as there are artists same tendencies as French literature. It
who work only for the sake of art. But the is given over almost wholly to the problem

5386
— ;;

FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME


and the social question. As M. Faguet French host in " His House in Order," and
has observed, there is in every agfe the has had his reward in the honour of
formula in vogue and, in a certain
; adaptation for the Paris stage.. And Mr.
sense, all the theatres of France have Barrie has made an attempt to extend his
ever, at any given period, played the empire in the same region. He would have
same piece on the same night, the same done better to begin with the " Admirable
sort of piece being understood. Crichton." The play so named, however,
In the eighteenth century the inevitable is rather German than British in its method
thing was a classic tragedy or a comedy of _^ j^ and something as much like it
so-caJledcharacter derived, not from the life, _ as one pea is like another has
Role of,
,

but from LaBruyere.. In the nineteenth


th St
V
,
^^^ been played
J /"
1
Germany. m

there was another variety of choice * The French move faster. In the
Hugo, with the alternative of Augier, art of acting, for instance, while we are yet
Dumas, or Sardou. To-day, in the drama agitating for a school on the old lines of
as in the novel, writers are pushing out in the Conservatoire, M. le Bargy is well on
every direction in search of the spiritual his way with a new method of rendering
interests and preoccupations of their time. the passions of the scene, which is founded
In the new comedy of manners, the lawyers, more directly on the study of nature.
the doctors, the financiers sit to the artist, The Theatre Libre and the Theatre
and not merely as individuals, but as Antoine are striking examples of the

members of a social group the " world " present methods of writing pieces, of
of Bench and Bar, the world of medicine, mounting, and of playing them, all im-
and so on. What playgoer of us all can mediately from the life. The less ambi-
"
have forgotten the "Business is Business tious Grand Guignol, and even the ama-
of Mirbeau in its English dress ? The teurish Theatre Social, must be mentioned
French stage, usually in advance, has in this connection, if only as signs of the
not been so closely in touch with the times. The French stage is, in some
realities of life for many a instances, gradually leaving the realism,
^^^^^ It is the spirit of Moliere, to which ours is yet but gradually working
thTFrench
jj
.. .who dared to plunge right into its way, for a symbolism which is still
the realities of his day, in bold true to the spirit of the universal quest
disregard of the conventions of the old in being a symbolism of the real. The
Italian comedy which then ruled the stage. names of Curel, of Portoriche, of Brieux,
There no more intrigue for intrigue's
is and of Donnay have yet to become house-
sake. The modern French dramatist has hold words on our side of the water
simply opened his eyes to what is going on but we shall hear more of them, no doubt,
around him, and has reaped his reward in in the course of the next quarter of a
no longer being reduced to " faire du century. M. Lemaitre, M. Lavedan, and
Scribe " or even " du Sardou " for a living. M. Rostand, in the higher ranks, have
The Enghsh are still, or were but yester- already been brought to our notice, and, no
day, in the old rut and, though they have
; doubt, aU the rest will come in good time.
escaped from Scribe, they are still hardly M. Rostand apart, no aspect of our
out of the toils of Sardou, with " The Scrap modern life is indifferent to the newer
of Paper " and " Diplomacy " as their most writers. They seek their subjects on the
successful pieces of the immediate past. stock exchange and the racecouise, in
When that truly eminent hand in stage- the religious conflict and the decay of
craft died, it was but as a writer who in faith, in the home, in public life, and in
his own country had survived his own Socialism as in all the reactions
school.But Mr. Shaw and Mr. Galsworthy, ff* J* — in fact,wherever men's hearts
with others of their band, have shown us the ^^^^ ^^^^ *^^ passions of
way n ers
Writ°rs™
to better things, especially now that their age. Criticism follows
the younger men have improved on one of them, as always does a bold and success-
it
their leaders by leaving themselves and ful lead and, where it still ventures to
;

their own personal idiosyncrasies of theory disagree, it has to find some less hack-
"
out of the cast, and by working purely in neyed term of derision than " problem
a medium of the actual concerns of their and " tract." The big battalions of the
day. Mr. Pinero, the only one of the playgoer are now with the problem and ;

veterans who is always marching on, caught naturally all is changed. The passion
up with at least the rear-guard of the for experiment, for the eternally new,

5387

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


not as a mere bid for notoriety, but as masterpiece of fancy and imagination.
"
research forward, as exploration, is equally Maeterlinck's " Pelleas and Melisande
characteristic of France in other arts. It was inevitable after that, with its " ideas
is especially so in music. The new school, of fatality, of death, its atmosphere
led by Debussy and d'Indy, with Bruneau, of sorrowful legend, its poor kings, poor
Charpentier, and Dukas as composers or — people, poor inhabitants of unnamed

as critics for captains of the host, are men lands whom fate leads by the hand "
for whom Wagner is already but a grey- fate and Maeterlinck. It is the music of
_ beard. They are as different
, people who do nothing, but feel everything,
ranee s
^he great German master whose souls are instruments on which
New School f j-o^^
,i .1 j • j • •

.
1^ in their methods and aims as
. Nature plays in all her moods.
he was from Gluck and they ; No wonder such a composer should
have come to regard both as follies of the ignore melody, with its beginning, middle,
past. "That animal Gluck!" cries De- and end its story, in a word.
;
" I have
bussy, "I know only one other composer been reproached," he says, " because in
as insupportable, and that is Wagner. my score the melodic phrase is always
Yes this Wagnei who has inflicted on us
; , found in the orchestra, never in the voice.
"
the majestic, vacuous, insipid Wotan ! Melody is almost anti-lyric, and powerless
"And what do you think of our Berlioz ? to express the constant change of emotion
He is an exception, a monster. He is not or life. It is suitable only for the song
at all a musician he gives one but the ; which confirms a fixed sentiment."
illusion of music, with his methods Debussy visited London in 1909, and
borrowed from and painting."
literature conducted several performances of his
The new school borrows from literature, own music. Vincent d'Indy, a French-
too, but only for the spirit, not for the man, but a pupil of the Belgian com-
method. Its art is sensuous, not to say poser Franck, visited New York, and
sensual, and dreamy, and it aims at the expounded similar views in a lecture at
rendering of states of emotion rather than . Harvard University. He met
Revolntion
of the emotions themselves. Debussy, for ^^^^ ^^ interested though not
instance, after learning his accidence at the enthusiastic reception
^'^ but
F h A t
;

Conservatoire, and winning the Prize of of note predicted that


critics
Rome there by an orthodox academic the future was with the music of the school.
— —
composition ^just to show he could do French art has undergone a thorough
anything he liked ^went straight into the revolution in the course of the last fifteen
work of his choice as soon as he had shaken or twenty years, with Claude Monet and
himself free of academic control. He had Rodin for its prophets, and Mauclair for
served in the army, hke every other its expositor. The last is the Boswell of
Frenchman, and he found his first call to both of these great men, and he has taken
something new in " the blend of sonorities " down their theories from their lips. The
produced by the barrack -yard call for common note of it all, in music as in paint-
" lights out " and the long-continued ing and sculpture, is the discovery that
vibrations of a neighbouring convent bell. there are new effects of Nature to render,
He sought to do in music what Verlaine effects not always dreamt of in the phil-
and Stephane Mallarme were doing in osophy of the modem classical schools.

poetry ^the latter especially in his "After- So the art of the day imports a revolt
noon of a Faup." The verse was imitative against the academical system in France,
of impressions of natural effects, and though not necessarily against the ancients.
-- . Debussy tried to render these
, Its aim is the more faithful rendering of
Music s
_ .^
Exquisite
.in music
iU
,, j ,,
1--

-j-",
i-
the same subiective
r
m

light. The new painters paint light on


P airyism
. manner.
. In the midst of a the presumption that there is really
dream," says Bruneau, " mur- nothing else to paint. For them colour is
muring violins rustle, and tinkling harps ;
but an effect of light, and they try to pro-
pastoral flutes and oboes sing and they ; duce it by the very methods of Nature.
are answered by forest horns," all in "an Their point of departure is the truism
exquisite fairyism " of general effect. that in Nature no colour exists of itself.
Rossetti next took his turn of inspirer As a reality pertaining to objects, colour
in chief with " The Blessed Damozel," is a pure illusion. It is simply an effect
rendered by the musician so as to of light in its impact on objects. The
give all the dreamy witchery of that light does not illumine the colour ; it

538S
SOLDIERS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
W8q
—a
HISTORY Ob THE WORLD
brings the colour in its train. Objects he seeks. Hence, when we are near them,
are of no colour or, rather, of all
; his pictures are apt to look quite un-
colours, as they absorb or reflect these intelligible, as an assortment of primitive
from light. The academic system starts colour stains without aim or purpose.
from the heresy that colour is some- But see them at the right distance, and
thing that can be laid on in compact this confusion subsides into a perfectly
masses, mixed for the purpose on the ordered work flooded with light, and
palette. Nothing of the sort it is ; therefore with colour, and abounding in
but an effect of far more art- true form and drawing everywhere
^^^ adjustments. The earher not in the drawing of outline, of
tUAlir

*p'*^f
masters had some instinctive which Nature knows nothing, but in
ain ing
pgj-cgption of this great truth, the drawing of colour, than which she
though they had not reduced it to a knows of nothing else. The revolution,
science. There are traces of it in Watteau, both in aims and methods, is extraordi-
in Ruisdael, in Poussin, and especially in nary, and is not to be made intelligible
Turner, Constable, and Delacroix. The by any description it has to be seen.
;

school is called Impressionist but ; To be fair to a man almost forgotten, it


Mauclair gives good reason for thinking dates at least from Couture, who, as any
that the noun chromatism might suggest of his pupils still living might testify,
an adjective more to the point. And since often painted in this way.
colour is but light, so light is but form in Degas, another great Impressionist,
every mode of definition. Why, then, shows the same solicitude for truth in
take the trouble to paint anything else, regard to figure and to movement. He,
since in this you have the all in all ? too, has the horror of the crude outline,
This is the principle of the revolt against and holds firmly to the belief that form
mere subject in the picture. Why
paint is but light and shade. He finds move-
history, or symbol, or anything else that ment, by preference, among the ballet
is so purely human and secondary in _ ... and he has painted them
girls,
its source ? Why
not paint what is aJone
S^hoo""*'" ^y ^^^ hundred in all the in-
real ? This passion for reality leads logic- .
p . cidents of the daily practice of
ally to the search for truth in mere their art. Here, we have them
human characterisation, for character is at their lessons there, waiting for their
;

but truth in one of its forms. If you turn ; and there again " on " in their
paint man, let it be man as he is, not as he fairyland of scenery, gauze, and coloured
should be in some fantastic theory of the rays. He is quite pitiless in his passion
ideal. Courbet must be mentioned here for truth. Sometimes his nymphs look
as a precursor, though the principle has hungry, sometimes even quite ugly —
been carried far beyond him by later men. lower depth, no doubt, in the professional
Claude Monet leads them all. His way —
inferno as they squat for repose, or
of painting a landscape is to take, say, a writhe in the tortures of the gymnastics
dozen canvases, and to devote each to one of their trade. But by-and-by we shall
particular aspect of the scene as the light see them in their appropriate setting,
marks the true hours of the painter's and then all defects of detail will be lost
day. So the one landscape, after the in the illusion of the perfect scene, as their
patient labour of many days, comes out tremulous contours play hide-and-seek
as twelve quite different scenes, accord- with the light from which they spring.
ing to their degrees of illumination. To Renoir, another great painter of the
plant yourself with but one Impressionist school, finds his favourite
^
°?* * canvas
. before a constantly contrasts not so much in light and shade
•'
Artistic ,

M th d changmg scene, and


J
m

pro- as in light against light, which is, after all,


tracted sittings jumble all its but the expression of the same truth for ;

effects together, is but the childishness of shadow itself, as artists know it, is not
art. Monet uses only the so-called jjrim- blackness, but only another degree of light
aries,though he is not very strict in the The school is a large one now. It has
definition of them, and he never mixes the passed its apprenticeship of calumny,
pigments on his palette to get a special poverty, neglect, and it influences all the
combination. He simply lays them on French painting of the day. It has pro-
in such a way as to produce by optical —
duced great illustrators ^Raffaelli, Forain,
suggestion the effect of the combination Renouard, and Cheret, who has done such
5390
FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME
wonders for the art of the poster. It is sincerities, ridiculous in its suggestion
now on its way to the nirvana of absorp- of the utter absence of the sense of effect.
tion into the light of its origin, to make The " Burghers of Calais " came later,
room for the incarnation of neo- Impres- as another revolt. The revolt might have
sionism in the artists of the PointilHst counted for little with the general
group. With these, the effects of hght, beholder, but the note of sincerity was
instead of being rendered as in Claude manifest to all. The mythical child of
Monet's work by irregularly disposed Nature might have judged the work and
blobs of colour, if one may use the phrase, . _ —
found it good the burghers
are obtained by a sort of mosaic of it, . ij"*iT**^ defiant in their dejection, de-
composed of small touches of equal size,
and of spherical form. This, in a way,
andj „ ^^
jected in their defiance, with
Bronze 1, , c
the hangmg lips of scorn and ot
ir

is an attempt to paint the very atoms despair. Think how such a subject might
whose vibrations produce the light itself. have fared in a studio of the Beaux Arts,
Rodin is Impressionism in sculpture ;
and we shall realise the immense advance.
and he, too, like the painters, works With the Balzac that came long after,
mainly for effects of light, and for cha- Rodin reached his present manner, which
racter, and so is in full revolt against the is but the old one perfected in the sense
academy. Yet he still proclaims his of character and freedom of handling, in
allegiance to the Greeks, who, he declares, the deeper leaiTiing of the relation of
managed their statuary on precisely the masses, and withal in the profound sense
same principles as his own. He is for new of the symbol, and of the majesty and the
truth in one word, and his new truth is greatness of life. He is now a sort of
that we do wrong to treat sculpture as a mystic sketching with the chisel as others
mere glorified study of still life. It is sketch with the crayon, a Dante, a Blake,
emphatically, even in its most statuesque a Maeterlinck, dreaming in marble or in
pose, a thing vibrating with movement, bronze. He loses himself now and then,
a movement that comes from but such misadventure is inseparable
o in s
^j^^ r
j
^j light on its differ
,

o _ from the finding of any new thing. He


Genius as s
ent masses. These, as they has enlarged the bounds of sculpture;
Sculptor
catch the ray, or lose it, form that is the main point.
a great harmony and the statue is to be
; Is this to say that he has destroyed the
wrought entirely to the end of the old idealism of the real classic schools or
harmony so obtained. even of the academies ? Nothing of the
For him there is no such thing as the sort. That was, and is, a real thing, too,
one view, sole and single, of a piece of in its search after one kind of perfection
statuary. It has to be seen in all its parts, of proportion, and of the perfection of
and to be judged by the entire disposition line. He has only shown that it has not
of its masses in regaid to the everlasting exhausted aU other possibilities of the
play of light. His *' Age of Bronze " was quest. The Laocoon, with its divinely
so much a conceivable thing of life, as restrained anguish and its perfect beauty
distinct from the merely inert thing of in distortion, is no less true to one concep-
the older school, that he was accused of tion of great art than Rodin's famished
having cast it bodily from his model, and Ugolino, with the light almost shining
he was compelled to take extraordinary through his ribs, is true to another.
pains to show that he had done nothing The point of interest in the new art of
of the sort. After this came the " John France is that it is one with the literature

the Baptist Preaching" ^marvellous again
Results of
in being experimental, and
in precisely the same way. It is a something beyond it, in the
Expenments ^^^^^
real man speaking to his fellows, and so ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ -^ ^^^
wholly absorbed in his message that the sense of life. Expression of
whole body of him is in utterance with character now
stands in the forefront, as
movements conformable to the working distinct from the expression of mere ideals.
of his soul. He is not thinking of how he All the reactions are still possible in all the
stands, or how he walks, for walking he arts ; and the next one in painting and
is, but simjjly of what he has to say ;and in sculpture may be in the direction of
the last thing of which he is to be suspected the old classic repose. The good of each
is the consciousness of what he is doing. successful experiment is that it still leaves
It is almost ridiculous in some of its some precious addition to the stock of
5391
. —
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


ideas. There is no finality in an57thing, So the war broke out, with the result ol
simply because there is none in the aspira- disaster after disaster to the clerical power.
tions of the human spirit. The legend of The teaching orders, which had a sort of
Eden is still a valid one we are ever ; monopoly of the elementary schools, were
trying to walk as gods. broken up. Much of the wealth of the
If France has been less active than of Catholic body began to go the old way of
old in science, as generally understood, confiscation, though a good deal of it was
it is perhaps only because her present saved by its confidential transfer as private
—^ quest is for science in all the property to the hands of the faithful.
c ^ uarre
^^^^ Everything in France The Church was disestablished, the State
Between Church ,
,,
t*^-
-^

turns on the religious ques- salaries to the priesthood were withdrawn,


andJ c.
State ^
, .^ °. ,^ ,, , , ,

tion it goes straight to the


; while a pension scheme, offered as a sort of
roots of the national life. In a sense there compensation for them, was rejected with
are only two parties in the country contumely at the bidding of Rome.
believers and unbelievers. All others The Protestants and the Jews readily
are merged in these. You are a clerical, accepted the new state of things, and
an agnostic, or an atheist, in the first place ;
undertook to make the support of their
the poHtical badge comes after, as it may. systems wholly a matter of private and
The quarrel between Church and State voluntary concern. The Catholics, against
dates from the Revolution to go no — whom these measures were really directed,
further back. The Church estates were resisted from first to last. But the
confiscated after the great upheaval, and measures were so acceptable to the
parcelled out among various owners, governing majority, ruling through the
mainly the peasantry. There was no ballot box, that all active resistance was
undoing that; but when Napoleon I. vain. Successive Ministries lived on the
came to restore the fabric of institutions, policy of suppression. M. Waldeck Rous-
he found a way out of the difficulty. He seau kept his Government together by
frankly recognised all the rehgions this means so did M. Combes,
;

Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish gave — th^'^G^


. and M. Clemenceau after him.
them the right to acquire fresh property, _
cep
.
ic
'
No matter what the state of
and paid the salaries of their priesthood ^^^ game in party politics,
from public funds as a sort of compensa- each held this trump card in reserve for
tion for the loss of their former income. emergencies, and won with it. Right or
The State acquired certain privileges of wrong, it is unquestionably the policy of
control in return, needless to mention here. the masses that hold the mastery in France.
This concordat, as it was called, worked Meantime the Church was not idle and ;

fairly well until our time. Then it was the war was transferred from politics to
found that the Church was in a way to literature. M. Rod has given us an in-
become as rich as ever by the offerings of teresting history of this new clerical
the faithful, and to take itself seriously reaction in his " Idees Morales du Temps
once more as the censor of thought. She Present." The movement found " the
was at the same time suspicious of popular classes " very much under the sway of that
government, and was held to be a secret genial sceptic, M. Renan it left them
;

agent of reaction. Hence came a revival largely in the hands of M. Brunetiere, the
of the old and ominous cry of " the Catholic devotee. Renan was scepticism
Republic in danger," and with it a absolute and self-satisfied, scepticism as a
determination to destroy the concordat, dogma, and sufficient to all the needs of
^ ™ to reduce Catholicism to the
status of a mere pious opinion,
the intelligence, if not exactly of the soul.
When his disciples began to look for some-
^ .

Reli * ion
^^^ ^° deprive that and the thing more, they found it in the pessimism
other faiths of all official of Schopenhauer. The reaction against
support. This policy was found to unite this doctrine, with its revolutionary im-
all the discordant elements of the Re- plications, led straight to the reverence of
publican majority. The popular party tradition as the convenient depository of
as its strength was measured by votes the results of human experience and the
was opposed to all religion, as such only sure guide. M. Brunetiere, a sort of
the professorial and the middle class pontiff of criticism and literature, boldly
generally were scandalised by the claims proclaimed Catholicism as at once a polity
of the Church to the censorship of ideas. and a system of faith. With this, the
5392

FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME
more cultivated thought of France reached by the Church to lay down his pen, or tn
its positive current and at the present
; write only in defence of ecclesiastical tra-
time of writing it has irresistible attractioii dition. The Abbe long protested against
for many minds. M. Bourget, as a thinker, the deliberate opposition of Rome to the
is of that school. M. Jules Lemaitre has whole rationalist and scientific movement
made a new departure and, while in-
; of the age. " Suppress," he says, " this
sisting on the necessity of the religious policy of ideas, and cease to attempt the
idea, has found its true source and its impossible." In saying this, however, he
authority in our " most distinguished ,
claimed to be a true son of the
sentiments." It reads like the end of a „ ?* * ..^ Church. So did the late Fr.
Methods ^ith
letter; it is meant for a
confession of
its Critics
J
,.-'
gii ^hose name is men-
J . ,, . ,. ,
belief. But the Uterary reaction is nothing tioned in this connection only
as compared with the solid force of custom to show that the movement of modernism
that makes for the old cult. The rnother was by no means confined to priests of
of the family in France is, as a rule, French nationality. He demanded not a
Catholic and pious, whatever the father brand new Catholic theology, but simply
may be and this in all classes, and in
;
one under the progressive influence of that
town and country alike. There are two to " spirit " of Christianity which was the
reckon with in marriage, and when one of original principle of life and growth.
them insists on the blessing of the Church, Rome, however, has dealt as roundly with
the other has generally to give way. these individuals as it dealt in the past
The children thus get their Catholic with the Galilean and all the other Churches
teaching, no matter who gives it to them claiming an organic life of their own.
the mother or the priest and they make— The philosophers, of course, have not
their first communion with all the modest been able to keep out of the melee. M.
pomp and ceremony that attend the rite. Goutroux, a member of the Institute, has
Many of the boys, no doubt, will grow up made an attempt at reconciliation in his
forgetful of it as they pass " Science et Religion." He tries to show
^ J^k" u through the workshop; with that the conflicting forces are not so much
the Church ^j^g .^jg -^g
g^g^^g ^^g ^^. concretes as tendencies, and that each is
of Rome 1 A J ^u
lost.
J.
And even among the- a complement of the other. They do
urban masses and the politicians, the very wrong to strive for victory; they should
ultras of infidelity often consent to have strive for harmony. He is entitled to be
their daughters brought up in the Catholic heard, if only for the breadth and range of
faith. One other tribute to the force of his survey, which includes Comte, Spencer,
custom must not be forgotten the : Haeckel, Ritschel, and William James.
churches are open still and as thronged as But the greatest of all the apologists of
ever, just as though nothing had happened. free thought is M. Guyau, who, in a series
Probably, if Rome could be induced to of brilliant works recently brought to a
abate half her claims to the absolute close by his death, has tried to sketch a
direction of the human spirit, her oppo- " morality without obligation or sanc-
nents would abate more than half their tion " —
to translate the title of his most
hostility. The conflict in its acute stage famous book. This, like much else that
is the result of a natural intolerance and appears in France nowadays, is an im-
of an incapacity for give and take, of plicit abandonment of all attempts to find
which neither side has the monopoly. a common understanding with revealed
All sorts of attempts were made, both religion in of its forms, and an effort
any
within the Church and without, to esta- to discover the basis of a new
blish a basis of agreement between the .
^'^. . faith in the nature of man.
gnos icism
disputants. The
French bishops, or 'pj^gj^j^own defect of agnosticism
many of them, lent a favourable ear to is its want of the categorical
schemes of compromise, but were over- imperative for conduct and for life. It is
ruled from Rome. The Liberal, or modern- negative at the best and a positive con-
;

ising Catholic party, represented not if cept is the only one that can afford a
exactly led by the Abbe Loisy, pleaded foundational base.
eloquently for a reconciliation with modern M. Guyau accordingly offers a formula
thought, and for an abatement of the for morals which asks no support from
Papcd claim to supremacy in this domain. revelation, from tradition, or from
But this writer was peremptorily ordered ecclesiastical authority, and which derives
5393
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


its idealfrom the realities of existence and forbids. In the voting masses of France,
its ethicfrom the constitution of man. His largely aKenated from all faith, with
point is, to put it quite briefly, that the whom the issue rests, the Church has
altruism which is our higher principle of encountered a power as implacable as
being is in no wise dependent on theology, itself. They, too, seem incapable of com-
commonly so called. It is just as much promise, and their infidelity is an aggres-
an essential part of us as the egoism which sive force. The same stern necessity is
is supposed to be the lower principle. It laid on both sides, and they advance to
_ , „ belongs° to man's nature, on the onset under the impulsion of fate.
Education -. •
j j •

.XI r- ij its expansive and dynamic The conflict now belongs, not so much
the D
*v
Bftttlefteld • ^
, , . ,, . ,
•'

„ ,. . side, as distinct from the to the history of a nation as to the history


of, Religion \ ,r
merely self -preserving in- of religion itself. Here, for the first time
stinct of the other part of him, and is a in the course of human affairs, is a trium-
force which carries with it the authority of phant majority determined to give form
a vital function. In this way he claims to and body to a new policy which is nothing
have solved the problem of egoism and less than the complete emancipation of
altruism, hitherto the philosopher's stone the human spirit from the religious idea.
of speculation, for the benefit of the It is a difficult thing to take a bird's-
moralists. We
could not, he argues, be eye view of a nation, more especially as
completely egoist, even if we tried. To the results must very much depend on
live is to spend ourselves for the good of the eye of the bird. France is described
others, and is at least quite as much a law as at the height of her greatness, or in full
of biology as to store and acquire for our decadence, according to the observer. Some
own good. Pleasure may be a consequence think that with her declining population,
of altruism, but it is not necessarily the heavy taxes, her disordered Budget, with
end. The end is the sheer necessity of its immense allocations for all sorts of
living according to the law the law of — fanciful schemes, and its annual estimates
our being, not of any deliverance from any of something like 800,000,000 dollars,
messenger or any mount of God. she cannot possibly long keep
riump an
In France, as in England, education is j^^^. place in the van of civihsa-
egionso
the battlefield of religion and one section
;
oug
^^^^^ Others rejoice in the
is eagerly in search of a system that may ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^j^^ Republic has
replace the teaching of the old faith. won the goodwill of all the nations but
Some think that moral teaching should be one, founded a huge colonial empire, and
given in the schools, others that it should enormously increased her trade with
be rigorously excluded from them. M, Britain and with the world. The present
Compere, a member of the Institute, and system is, at least, fully entitled to give
a general inspector of public instruction, itself the benefit of the doubt, and to boast
offers a complete treatise on education, of its contribution to the national pros-
intellectual and moral, in which all the perity. One thing is certain — the nation is
sanctions are derived from laws which are now quite self-governing for good or ill,
not religious in the conventional sense of and in the full enjoyment of the privilege
the term. Another writer, M. De Monzie, of suffering for her own mistakes.
who has held high educational rank, urges The dynastic conflict is at an end
the banishment from the schools of ethical the religious conflict alone threatens
teaching in every shape and form. " No —
domestic peace. It is serious that is not
more scholastic idealism," he says, " no to be denied. Both sides are to blame,
«• »
more lay instruction, no more for both have yet to learn the lesson of
°f moral catechism ; let us apply intellectual toleration.
Ch*^ h
iT'st
^^^ school and the school- But, commonly happens in such
as
teacher to their essential and cases, the one that wins least sympathy
unique function education." — So the from the beholder is the one that has the
war goes on, and Rome is still un- upper hand. The triumphant legions of
yielding as ever. It can hardly be other- free thought have everything to fear from
wise. It is bound by its traditional claim a reaction. A powerful minority of the
for uniformity, as distinct from unity, peasantry, with the women, who are nearly
and is perhaps too deeply pledged for the a majority of the whole people, will not
possibility of change. Policy might suggest patiently consent to be hindered in the
the wisdom of compromise, but consistency exercise of an old faith while a new one

5394
—;

FRANCE IN OUR OWN TIME


is still in the making. Religion is an driven by the force of circumstances to
institution, as well as amatter of private resist the clerical claim to supremacy in
concern, and it must naturally have education. The starting-point of this
immense claims on the veneration of movement of revolt was the law on the
millions of struggling souls. The United composition of the superior council of
States form a stronger Republican govern- education. The famous Article VII of that
.

ment than even France, and, with them, measure declared that no one belonging
religion is as free as the air. No doubt to a " non-authorised " religious congrega-
they are happily exempt from some of the s °"* I St t "* ^^°^
• should take part in the
peculiar difficulties of the sister polity. * management of public or free
France has had to disestablish a Church » «! education. At that time, the
Frenchwoman
1.
,,-
they never made the mistake of establish-
i
public schools were
i .t_
m

the
ing one. Confiscation, would seem to be an hands of over 30,000 members of a teaching
indispensable agency of government,. since brotherhood of the Church entirely free from
it has gone on all through history but it
; secular supervision. The new law brought
is still a two-edged sword whose cut is apt the lay teachers into the work, and estab-
to be quite as deadly in the swing as in the lished training colleges in each department.
"
stroke. There would be sound policy in France has not escaped a " feminist
sending the Church on her way contented, question, though her difficulties have not
even at the cost of pecuniary sacrifice, and reached the same acute stage as our own.
thenceforth in leaving her severely alone. One reason is that socially the French
In education the Republic has made woman holds a position with which she is
immense strides. The best teaching is now fairly satisfied. She keeps much more in
accessible to every citizen, high or low, her class, and shares the class sentiment,
according to the measure of his powers. and the class ideals. She is fully occupied,
The communal school has become a sort and with the substantial aid she gives her
of starting-point of social equality ;there —
husband in business and is expected to
France's
is no great distinction of classes —
give she escapes all risk of becoming
under its roof, and the humblest the inhabitant of a doll's house.
Educational
pass with little pecuniary diffi- This state of things can hardly be said
Strides
culty to the higher grades. to apply to the purely industrial classes.
The " Lycee," corresponding roughly to our Here we find that, while the women count
grammar and high schools, is incomparably something more than as one to two of the
superior to these in regard to its cost and men in numbers, they are paid something
to the technical quality of the instruction. less than as two to one. It was a pro-
Here, too, all classes study side by side. fessional humorist rather than a strict
Beyond these are the schools for the logician who pleaded that, although he
army, navy, engineering, and other speci- came to business later, he invariably went
alised callings. Beyond them, again, is away earlier than his brother clerks.
the university, equally accessible to all, The most satisfactory note of progress
but in practice mainly reserved for for the foreign observer is that the country
students of law and of the teaching pro- is now wedded to the idea of peace. It
fession, since the other estabUshments has not lost the old spirit of resistance to
provide for all ordinary needs. aggression, but it has unquestionably
The whole system has but one defect parted with the old love of fighting for
it still leaves a good deal to be desired in fighting's sake. The embarrassments of
regard to the culture of character. It is far the French Government in Morocco have
better than the English as a preparation reallybeen due far less to
for careers ;not so good as a preparation
w*^d% German diplomacy than to the
for life. But it is greatly improving in the * * °
extraordinary unwillingness of
p
sense of the educational value of sports the French people to enter
and games, though, in that respect, its into a war of adventure. The yearning
faults have been exaggerated. The British for peace is shown by the very excesses
system still aims at training a select class of the demand for it, for some fanatics
for the work of government and administra- would abolish the army altogether.
tion the French, with its strong equali-
; M. Jaures, however, who best represents
tarian bias, insists on giving a chance to all. the entire French democracy, has
Here, again, the religious difficulty has declared that a war in defence of the
been the lion in the path. France has been country would unite all Frenchmen able
5395
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to bear arms. He draws the line at Enough has been said to show that
aggression, and he would go so far as to France is strong, prosperous, bold in
compel all governments to submit dis- experiment in literature, science and the
putes to arbitration, at the peril of being arts, alive in every sense.
regarded as enemies of the human race. Richard Whiteing.

LATER EVENTS IN FRANCE


OERIOUS pohtical opposition from Royal- in place of pohtical action by legislation.
^ istsor Imperialists has long ceased France indeed the cradle of Syndicalism,
is
to threaten the stability of Republican and while the revolutionary tradition
Government in France, but the religious dates from the great Revolution of the
question and the social question remain eighteenth century, it is the France of
unsettled, and have been a source of recent years that has brought Syndicalism
danger to the internal peace of the to the front and made it a living faith
nation in the twentieth, as they were in the amongst thousands of workmen in France,
nineteenth century. The religious question Italy,and Spain.
has turned mainly on the education to Philosophically, Syndicalism insists on
be provided in the schools, and the anti- the ever-changing character of human life
clerical majority in the Chamber has and all its institutions, denies permanency
steadily supported the Government in in the social order, and insists that the
its policy of complete lay control. All future of society must be developed as it
the Socialist groups in France, however will on the break up of the existing fabric,
strongly opposed to the Government on and cannot be guided by the past or
other matters, agree with the Radicals foretold. On the last point comes the
in the demand for complete secular difference from the Socialist philosophy
education, and as the Socialists secured of Marx and his disciples, the Socialist
over a hundred members in the Chamber prophesying the coming ownership and
at the elections of 1914, and thus became direction of all collective industry by a
the strongest of all tne parties, the Govern- democratic State. Practically, the Syndi-
ment, relying on their support, safely con- calists enjoin industrial action in place of
tinued its campaign against the teaching political action, and look to the trade
of Christianity in the schools. In fact, unions to cease from taking part in politics
the anti-clerical policy has been the one and to devote themselves to becoming
policy the French Government has been guilds owning and guiding each particular
able to pursue without coming into conflict —
industry the old idea of Robert Owen,
with the Radical financiers in the Senate and in its peaceful form bearing fruit in
who so largely influence and control the co-operative enterprise.
direction of politics in France. At the But the real danger to society from the
same time, even so prominent an anti- Syndicalists, especially in France, where
clerical as M. Combes has suggested that revolutionary violence has a tradition, is
the time has come to call a halt in the the essentially anarchist doctrine at the
attack on religion, and more than one root of their propaganda. Proclaiming
public man has expressed a doubt whether the destruction of existing institutions as
the suppression of religion in the schools a necessity for the freedom of the labourer
is not responsible for the increase of from wage service, and insisting on the
juvenile crime in France. reality of " the class war " between capital
The social question has been aggravated and workmen. Syndicalism deliberately
indirectly by the anti-clerical campaign, encourages in France all attacks on the
for by the Government neglecting or property of capitalists that may diminish
failing to carry all legislation for social their possessions or alarm them into
reform, and concentrating on the struggle yielding to working-class demand. The
with the Catholic Church, the belief has strike, according to the Syndicalist, is a
gained ground amongst numbers of work- weapon of offence, to be sprung suddenly
men that Parliament is impotent to change on the capitalist, to be extended indefi-
things for the better where the working nitely and to culminate in a general strike
class is concerned. This belief is mainly of all labour for the coercion of the rest
responsible for the growth of revolutionary of the nation. The strike is also to be
Syndicalism, and the popular advocacy of accompanied by any damage to property
" direct action " by strikes and sabotage (sabotage) that may help to weaken the
5396
THE PRINCaPALITY OF MONACO
employer's position or arouse attention — ^given up in 1905 in favour of two years
in the country. — isnotable as a reply to the German
The Confederation Generale du Travail Military Laws of 191 1, 1913. In January,
has been more than once the exponent of 1913, M. Raymond Poincare, then Prime
Syndicahsm in France in recent years. Minister, was elected to the Presidency
The popularity of Syndicalism has fluc- of the Republic, and his accession to this
tuated. The Socialists increased their office was regarded £ls a victory for
strength in the Chamber at the General moderate principles and stable govern-
Election of 1914, and the trade unions of ment. The State visit of King George V.
Catholic workmen in France have also and Queen Mary to Paris in the spring of
added considerably to their membership. 1914 was an occasion of the friendliest
Besides the religious and social questions, demonstrations, and further evidence of
the passing of an Act in 1913, restoring the cordial friendship existing between
the three years' service in the Army France and Great Britain.

THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO


p
^^
EOGRAPHICALLY,
pality, with
this tiny princi-
area of eight square
its
reigning prince, Charles III., ceded his
rights over them tof France for nearly
miles, and resident population of some jC200,ooo. The present ruler. Prince Albert,
22,000, is at present an " enclave " of came to the throne in 1889, and in 1911
France, as the French Department of the established a National Council of 21
Alpes Maritimes surrounds it on all sides, members elected every four years by man-
except to the south, where it borders on the hood suffrage. There is also a Council of
Mediterranean. It may be said to owe its State. The principality consists of three
present political existence and independence towns —Monaco, Condamine, and Monte
to the goodwill of France, though its Carlo. It is through the last named that
language and traditions are Italian. In the Monaco is known to all the world, for
days of the French Revolution it actually Monaco simply means Monte Carlo, and
did belong to France, but its independence Monte Carlo simply means gambling.
was restored by the Allies in 1814, who, in Monte Carlo, which is a few miles from
,the following year, placed it under the Nice, the beautiful town on the Riviera
protection of the King of Sardinia. Up till sprang into notice with the building of its
1861 the principality included Mentone — —
famous or infamous Casino in 1858,
and Roquebrune, but in that year the though gambling had begun there two years

MONTE CARLO, THE BEAUTIFUL PLEASURE RESORT


5397
— —

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


earlier. In 1861 Charles III. granted a Prince Albert an annual sum of $350,000
concession for fifty years to run the place up to 1917, when the sum will be in-
as a gambling concern in a highly elaborate creased to $400,000 in 1927 it is to rise
;

way, the concession eventually passing into to $450,000, and in 1937 to $500,000.
the hands of a joint -stock company, taking Besides these sums, the company paid a
care at the same time to do everything that bonus to the prince in 1899 of $2,000,000,
was possible to add to the great natural and another bonus of the amount of
attractiveness of the site ; for there is no $3,000,000 in 1913. The company has a
doubt that Monte Carlo is one of the most capital of $6,000,000, and its shares are
charming and delightful spots in Europe, valuable. These facts are eloquent testi-
with an almost perfect winter climate. The mony that the " tables " pay their pro-
company, which is called the Society prietors, but nobody else, save the prince
Anonyme des Bains de Mer et du Cercle and a few others yet there is little or no
;

des Etrangers de Monaco, was given an diminution in the volume of gambling from
extension of its privileges in 1898, and this year to year. The truth is that the princi-
new contract does not expire until 1947. pality is a vast gambling hell, and it is
Practically the whole cost of the govern- this, and not its beauty, that mainly
ment of the principaHty is borne by this attracts to it many thousands of visitors
organisation, which, in addition, pays every year. Robert Machray

THE REPUBLIC OF ANDORRA


PERCHED amongst the high mountains consists of six parishes, each of which sends
of the Eastern Pyrenees, with one foot four members to a council ; the council
in France and the other in Spain, this small elect from themselves two syndics to preside
commonwealth —
for that term really
— over the destinies of the land. There are two
describes it better than republic ^has criminal judges, called viguiers (vicars), one
existed for something like a thousand of whom is appointed by France and the
years. Its area is no more than 175 square other by the Bishop of Urgel. A civil judge
miles, and its population about 6,000 it ; is also elected alternately by France and
has never been any larger or more popu- the Bishop of Urgel. The Andorrans, how-
lous ;yet for all this length of time it ever, remain indifferent to these symbols
has been an independent and autonomous of authority, and imperturbably preserve
state, undergoing practically no change their immemorial independence but of late
;

a fact which finds no parallel in history years the children of the better classes are
save in the somewhat similar instance of being sent to France for their education.
the Republic of San Marino, in Italy. It The postal and telegraphic arrangements,
is a patriarchal and even primitive little too, are under French control. On the
country, with only one good road through other hand, the money in circulation is
it, and that available only in fine weather, Spanish, and the language is Catalan.
the other means of communication being The people themselves are a cheerful
mere hill tracks more suitable for goats and sturdy race of mountaineers, chiefly
than human beings. The most exciting concerned with their flocks and herds
event which has occurred in Andorra when they do not happen to be engaged
since the days of Charlemagne, who is in smuggling, for which Andorra affords
said to have given it its first charter of unique opportunities. Taxation is, to
freedom, was its connection with France all intents, nil ; but a sum of $200 is
by a line of telegraph in 1893, an innova- paid for " protection " each year to both
tion to which not a few of its inhabitants France and the Bishop of Urgel, and the
were bitterly opposed. raising of this sum constitutes the main
Though independent, Andorra is under feature of the Andorran Budget. Perhaps
a sort of joint suzerainty of France, whose nothing could more clearly show just what
influence is steadily increasing in the the country is than to say that while the
country, and of the Bishop of Urgel, a first floor of its Palacio is occupied by the
Spanish ecclesiastic, in whose diocese it Council Chamber, the centre of its govern-
was once included ;the frontier of ment, the ground floor is a stable for the
Andorra is some sixteen miles from the horses of its executive and members
town of Urgel, in Spain, The republic of Parliament. Robert Machray
5398
EUROPEAN
IX
POWERS
TO-DAY SPAIN

SPAIN
IN OUR OWN TIME
THE NATION'S NEW ERA OF PROGRESS
By Martin Hume, M.A.
THEfound
revolution of 1868 in Spain, pro-
and disintegrating as looked it
postponing its convictions, both on reli-
gious and social problems, to the need
for a time, was almost purely political in for consolidating the throne of the child-
its direct results. The already recognised king by the support of Spaniards of all
right of private judgment in religion was, opinions. The attitude of the official
it is true, slightly extended, but in every Liberal party led finally to the formation
other respect the national life was barely of a strong new group of Democrats
affected by the violent outburst which pledged to far-reaching social reforms and
expelled Isabella II. from her throne and . . to antagonism to the influence
country. There was no radical change . of the clergy, but on each
J,.
effected in social relations, in the organisa- ^,, '"^vi.w occasion that this Democratic
tion and compensation of labour, in the
Alfonso XIII. ,


party led with J.1
i .

conspicuous

basis of taxation, or in the relations ability by Seiior Canalejas -coalesced with
between Church and State. the traditional Liberals under Senor Moret
The entire rearrangement of political for the purpose of forming a government,
parties, which was the principal outcome the coalition was unable to withstand
of the revolution, prepared the way for the strain imposed by divergent opinions,
far-reaching changes which are now mainly on the question of the Church and
operative or impending. The accession the conventual orders.
to the revolutionary ranks of the " Union The accession to effective kingship of
Liberal," or Moderate Liberals, ensured Alfonso XIIL, amidst the universal good-
the success of the revolt, but it also will of his people, did not to any con-
involved the disappearance of the party siderable extent alter the situation
itself as a separate entity and on the
; created and fixed by his wise and prudent
restoration of Alfonso XII., in 1875, a new mother during her long regency. The
division of political parties was prac- political parties alternate in power as
tically complete. The old purely Con- before, the real differences between their
servative party had disappeared as a respective policies in office being extremely
governing factor, and the new Conserva- slight, however democratic may be the
tives, who had brought about the restora- professions of the Liberal party when in
tion, were evolved as a separate political opposition, since both groups of politicians
group from the moderate elements of the have agreed to rule constitutionally and
revolution itself. Thus Spain turned her accept the principle of popular government.
back upon the past, and since then has Both parties, it is true, are equally
been governed by parties, which, whether ready to manipulate the elections in the
they call themselves Liberals, most unblushing manner in order to
Queen
Conservatives, or Democrats, secure power and office for themselves ;
Christina as
are all essentially Liberal in but to the people at large it matters little
Regent
their dependence upon popular which political combination rules them,
sentiment and their acknowledgment of since the effect in either case is practically
the supremacy of the national will. For the same. The main aspirations of the
many years of the long regency of country, indeed, are less towards political
Queen Christina, 1885-1901, politicians of than towards social change, as the people
both parties chivalrously abstained from have already lost faith, as a result of
action likely to disturb or excite the experience, in the efficiency of political
public mind, the Liberal party especially convulsions to remedy the ills of which

343 5399
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
they complain. In the meanwhile the and Ceuta. Unfortunately for her, when the
Socialist party in the country has in- Anglo-French agreement was signed on April
creased enormously, especially in Cata- 8th, 1904, recognising on the part of Great
lonia and Biscay, where the manufacturing Britain the future preponderating influence
activity is most marked and, as a
; of France in Morocco, Spain was unready
consequence, projected legislation, under and badly served diplomatically, and her
the guidance of either of the two great traditional interests were to a great extent
political parties, has mainly taken the ignored, as indeed were those of England.
..... form of Factory Acts, the limi- But the subsequent Act of Algeciras to
EsUbhshing ^^^.^^
^f ^^^ j^Q^j.g Qf labour, some slight extent recognised Spain's
^^^ restriction of the industrial right to take part in the civilisation of the
D *^ ° ftu** t Moslem country, by con-
employment of children, and neighbouring
other measures directed towards the social upon her jointly with France the
ferring
amelioration of the working classes. A mandate of the Powers to police the ports
remarkable instance of this is given by in the interests of the world generally.
the Act for the compulsory Sunday closing Spain has therefore had to sacrifice many
of all business establishments, except of her hopes and dreams in this direction ;
those devoted to the sale of prepared food, but it is evident that however much
and the legal enforcement of a weekly day French dominion may in time extend over
of rest in all trades. Morocco, the proximity and long-standing
In this both Socialists and Clericals have intercommunication between the latter
co-operated, although it forms a revolution country and Spain will ensure that the
in the traditional habits of the people, and predominating ethnological and civilising
has only been rendered operative at the cost element will be Spanish. Nor has the
of considerable friction. Another demand sacrifice been entirely without compensa-
persistently made by working-class politi- tion. The cordial friendship both with
cians, but hitherto unattained, owmg to Britain and France, cemented in the former
party dissensions, is the regulation of the . case by the auspicious mar-
monastic establishments with the object riage of King Alfonso XIII.
Sh^'buildrn^*
ip ui ing
of suppressing the unfair industrial com- ^j^jj g^^ English princess, not
Progr&mme r •

petition with regular workmen arising


,
only ensures, as far as is
out of the extensive manufactories carried humanly possible, Spain's own immunity
on by some of the conventual houses. from attack, but very greatly increases
The most striking change, however, in the probability of continued European
the position of Spain in the last few years peace The reconstruction of the Spanish
is to be seen in the re-entry of the country navy, destroyed in the Spanish-American
into active participation in the concert War, has in the opinion of Spaniards
of European nations. This had been tra- become a necessity of the new international
ditionally difficult, as the mutual jealousies importance of their country, and several
of France and Britain had usually stood proposals with that object have been made
in the way of a close co-operation between to successive Parliaments. The financial
Spciin and both of tnose countries simul- sacrifices necessary for the purpose, how-
taneously. The exigencies of European ever, prevented the adoption of any large
politics having drawn together Britain naval scheme until late in 1908, when the
and France, the principal obstacle to the difficulties were overcome and a large
resumption by Spain of an important shipbuilding programme was definitely
part in international politics was removed, adopted. On the fulfilment of this, in the
. and the situation, particularly course of three or four years, Spain will
pain an
the Moorish
^
regards Mediterranean pro-
"
, , ,ji « ^ i
once more enter into the circle of im-
_ . blems, was profoundly affected portant maritime Powers.
""'*"
thereby. It had been an article Although the agricultural and viti-
of faith with Spaniards for centuries, and cultural districts of the country are still
especially since their successful war with suffering much poverty and hardship,
Morocco in i860, that when the inevitable Spain has in several unexpected ways
break up of the Moorish Empire in North- greatly benefited by the loss of her great
West Africa should take place Spain must colonies in the West Indies and the
inherit a considerable share of the country Philippines, in addition to the relief
opposite her own shores, in addition to the afforded by the cessation of the drain of
places of arms she already held at Melilla men and money which had continued for so
5400
SPAIN IN OUR OWN TIME
many years in her effort to hold them, working classes generally in Spain is
The sudden disappearance of the protected deplorable to the last degree. This is
colonial markets for Spanish goods threw seen in many wa^^s, especially in the great
the Catalan manufacturers into a panic growth ot mendicancy, and in the con-
of fear for the very existence of their stant increase of emigration to South
numerous industries, but matters in this America, which is fast draining whole
respect have righted themselves in an districts of their best peasantry. The
extraordinary manner. The adoption of a number of emigrants from Spanish ports
protective fiscal policy, in 1892, by Spain in 1900 was 63,000, and in 1904, 87,300 ;

had caused a great increase of activity in whilst in 1905 no less than 126,000
Spanish manufactures for home and Spaniards abandoned their homes in
colonial consumption ; but it also resulted search of better conditions of life abroad,
in a restriction of foreign trade and heavy and in a recent voyage the present writer
liquidations, causing a depletion of" cur- saw sixty Spanish stowaways on a single
rency with the issue of quantities of small steamer. This poverty amongst the
paper money, the international exchange peasantry is contrasted sadly with the
being thereby raised to the ruinous rate enormous increase of luxury and expendi-
of thirty-three pesetas (;^i 6s. i^d.) to the ture of the higher classes in the towns, and
pound sterling, instead of twenty-five, especially in Madrid, owing in great
which was the par value. ^^^^P""""^-- measure to the return to
Although this entailed -^ Spain of rich colonials
.^^^^^K
great hardship upon .^^^^^^^K _^ when Spain lost her de-
those, including the ^^^H^B
Government, who had to ^^^^^^^^^^ ^n^ ,|^^^
*iiP pendencies, and also to
the large fortunes made
pay sums of money ^^^V jti^^S^Stl^^ by the manufacturers and
abroad, or who consumed ^^^^ '*-• '
/a ^^^^S^^ capitalists since the pro-
foreign goods, and it
|^ j^^^ibimmL^KL J M '^ tective tariffs were re-
made the cost of living ^^ ^^^^fcj^faigl^^ J imposed in 1892.
'

considerably higher than '''Jt^BB^^^^J~^t^BL Throughout the history


it had been, it greatly °^ Spain the predominat-
^^^^j^MW^ttS^SM
stimulated Spanish 'f^^A^^^^K^^^^m ^^8 desire of the people
manufactures, especially %J||^^HBl||l^|^^^^^ has been for continued
for export, since the low ^^^^^^^H^^^^^r separate provincial ex-
value the Spanish istence, and most of the
of ^^^^BBB^^^^
currency caused the pro- king alfonso and his heir unrest of the country
ductions of Catalonia The posthumous son of Alfonso xii., he was has had this desire for
and other manufacturing \^''ttS.:^sc%n^ini\'^^^^^^^ its origin. The demand
centres to appear very married Princess Ena of Battenberg in 1906, for Continued or in*
„v^ „ „ „ J and in the following- year the heir was bora j
Cheap when
1
compared creased local autonomy
i i j.

with their foreign gold value. In 1899, for was in times past the principal support
the first time in fifty years, the balance of upon which the hopes of the clerical Don
trade turned shghtly in favour of Spain Carlos depended; but in the last few
;

and in 1906 the exports considerably ex- years the cause of provincial home rule
ceeded the imports, the former having been for Catalonia, Biscay, Galicia, etc., has
1,018,387,000 pesetas (over $200,000,000) turned from Carlism, which is recognised
in value, and the latter 884,800,000 as a dying force, and has largely allied
( $180,000,000). Though this has produced itself to the advanced Socialist party. In
an improved exchange, and a return to Catalonia, where the demand for complete
the long projected rehabilitation of the autonomy has always been strongest, the
gold currency and equalisation of inter- cry for home rule, now almost unanimous,
national exchange, it tends in the near is bound up with the powerful provincial
future to bring its own antidote in a interest in maintaining a protective
restriction of exports as money values in policy for the whole of Spain.
Spain and abroad are the same. The Catalan party in the Cortes are
In the meanwhile, the purchasing united, active, and able, but they have
power of wages being much reduced, naturally against them the whole ol the
and the demand for the commoner representatives of the poorer agricultural

wines being diminished by the French provinces the greater part of Spain.
protective duties, the condition of the In the direction of literary activity
5401
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Spain has shown a remarkable change of stilllags behind that of other European
tendency in the last few years. The nations, although compulsory education
more serious writers are directing their was decreed as far back as 1857.
attention almost entirely to studies of The schoolmasters have always been
sociology in its various forms, with a view, wretchedly underpaid, and too often not
apparently, to discovering the causes and paid at all, by the provincial and town
remedies of Spain's continued adversity. councils, upon whom they depended, and
This constant introspection on the part of the compulsory clauses have been almost
Spaniards at the present time entirely disregarded. Recently, however,
^
f s pani"sh
^^ some extent provides a solu- a distinctly better spirit is being mani-
^.^^ ^^ ^j^^ problem they set fested in this respect, a special Ministry of
themselves. Whilst they are Public Instruction having been formed,
minutely discussing their national short- and the State having assumed authority
comings and peculiarities, other nations are over the schools. The present percentage
working whilst they are doubting and
; of total illiterates is about 65 per cent, of
despairing, other peoples are pushing ahead the population, as against 75 per cent,
in hope whilst they are waiting upon
; fifty years ago. The total cost of primary
Providence, others are forcing Providence education is not less than $5,000,000
to wait upon them. The national charac- dollars per annum, mostly falling upon
ter is a strange mixture of exalted idealism the local authorities, the whole country
and utilitarian worldliness, and it has being divided into ten educational dis-
become so much afraid of its own ideality, tricts for purposes of inspection and con-
which it calls Quixotism, as to shrink trol of the 25,340 primary schools, the
from enterprises that demand a measure number of scholars upon the books being
of imagination and faith in the fufure. 1,620,000, whilst the whole population of
A great deal of the listlessness which the country is approximately 19,500,000.
characterises Spanish life springs from this Spain still suffers from the lamentable
national lack of faith in action, unless the lack of enterprise of its rural
Madrid's
result to be attained is visible and imme- and provincial populations out-
Rapid
diate and although the sociological experts,
; side of the great industrial
Advance
who for the last few years have written centres of Catalonia and Biscay.
of little else in Spain, formulate many The land is still cultivated listlessly and
diagnoses of the maladies of their country, on methods long since obsolete elsewhere.
there is a general consensus of opinion that The area planted with vines is about
the main evil that afflicts the body politic 3,600,000 acres, the produce of which, in
is Spain's want of that ardent belief in her 1905, was 3,079,925 tons of grapes, yielding
own destiny which in the days of her 389,482,116 gallons of wine. The area
greatness constituted the secret of her under olive trees is about 3,250,000 acres,
success amongst nations. The introspec- producing on an average 39,500,000 gallons
tive note is manifested as much in the of oil; these two products, with mineral
works of the modern writers of fiction in ores and fruit, form the bulk of Spain's
Spain as in those of the professed sociolo- exports to foreign countries, England
gists. The school of romantic writing being now by far the largest consumer of
which flourished in the mid-nineteenth Spanish produce, and the largest supplier
century and drew its inspiration from of merchandise to Spain.
France and England has now disappeared, The change that within the last few years
and the modern Spanish novel deals almost has brought Spain once more into the
_ . , invariably, in an analytical and family of European nations of the first class
pam s
psychological spirit, with the has also profoundly affected the social life
Activity
contrast between the fervent of the capital. Madrid has grown enor-
religious belief of old Spain and mously both in size and population, the
the rationalistic tendencies of to-day, inhabitants now numbering nearly 600,000,
between the proud Spanish traditions of and some of the thoroughfares and trading
grave deliberation and the bustling establishments are as handsome as any
activity of the present age, between the in Europe. The attachment of the present
patriarchal conservatism of the soil and king for everything English, and the
.

the vociferous demands of labour for a due natural influence of an English-born


share of the richness and sweetness of life. queen, have greatly increased the adoption
The education of the people of Spain of English manners, fashions, sports and
540^

SPAIN IN OUR OWN TIME


taste amongst the upper classes, by members, representing one for every
whom the English language is being studied 50,000 of the population of the country,
very widely whilst the large number of
; the election being by secondary vote of
English visitors and the ever-growing boards elected on manhood suffrage in
relations between the two countries, are one-member districts, with the exception
already to a great extent leading Spaniards of 98 deputies, who are chosen by twenty-
of the middle class to adopt new standards eight large districts where minorities are
of comfort, well-being and hygiene. represented. The Upper Chamber, or Senate,
The last few years, moreover, especially consists of 180 elected members,
How the
since the accession of Alfonso XIII., and a lesser but indefinite number
Country
have seen a considerable diminution in the of nominated and ex-officio
is Ruled
social and political power of the clergy, members. Of the elected sena-
and Spain can at the present time in no tors, 130 are chosen by 49 provinces,
sense be called a priest-ridden country. the electoral body being co-opted from
In the great industrial centres, and the provincial councillors, town councillors,
particularly in Catalonia and Valencia, and largest taxpayers, whilst the remaining
free thought in religion to a great extent thirty elected senators are chosen by
accompanies the advance of political Archiepiscopal Chapters, universities and
Socialism, and a perfect freedom of expres- chartered learned and philanthropic
sion on matters relating to religion is societies.
indulged in. The Senators nominated by the Crown
The bulk of the population, nevertheless, must fulfil certain stringent conditions
in Castile and the south, are faithful in their of position, age, and annual income, whilst
observance of the dictates of the Church, those who sit by right are grandees of
and an unsuccessful attempt of the Liberal Spain, possessing an income of at least
Government in 1907 to pass a measure for 60,000 pesetas ($12,000) per annum
regulating the monastic orders led to the field- marshals, archbishops, sons of the
fall of the Ministry and the accession of sovereign, and the presidents of the
the Conservatives under Seiior Maura Councils of State, Navy, and War, and
. ,
to power. The number of re- of the Supreme Court.
pains
ligious houses now existing in The machinery of government is, as will
Kehgious
^j^g country is 3,253, of which be seen, democratic, as befits a nation
597 are for men, and the rest tor in which social distinction is less marked
women, there being still over 10,000 than in any other in Europe but the
;

monks and 40,000 nuns in the cloisters. invariable corruption of the elections, and
The relations between Rome and the the apathy of all those who are not
Spanish Church are still those settled by politicians, place in the hands of the
the concordat of 1851, and all attempts executive almost unrestrained power.
to rearrange them in a more liberal spirit That, as a rule, they do not abuse it
have before the strong Catholic
failed greatly to the detriment of the governed
feeling prevalent in the country and
still is due mainly to the tolerant democratic
Parliament Similarly, the scanty concession
. spirit which pervades all classes of
granted to Protestants and other non- Spaniards, and so long as the members of
Catholic religious bodies after the revolu- each political party can in alternation
tion of 1868 is still the largest measure of enjoy the privileges and profits of power
Uberty granted, non-orthodox worship there is no danger of any attempt at
being licit, but no outward sign or an- oppression of the people who pay. On the
nouncement of it being allowed. other hand, the mass of the
The constitution which rules the country t
*
» k
population go their way with
Lot of the
is still in substance that which was adopted j^.^^jg x&g-^s^ for poUticians of
paniar s
in 1876, after the restoration of Alfonso gj|.j^gj- persuasion, content if
XII., with some modifications of secondary the powers that be will improve the well-
importance. The main principle of this being of those whose hard lot it is to live
charter is contained in the formula : for ever on the brink of want, forming the
" The power to make laws resides in the great majority of the nation, ill-housed,
Cortes and the king," the Cortes consisting ill-paid, ill-fed, ill-taught, a patient, hope-
of two co-legislative bodies of equal power. ful and long-suffering people, who deserve a
The popular Chamber, or Congress of De- better fate than misgovernment in the past
puties, consists at present of 406 unpaid has brought to them. Martin Hume
5403
EUROPEAN
POWERS X
PORTUGAL
TO-DAY

PORTUGAL IN OUR OWN TIME


THE FATEFUL RISING AGAINST THE MONARCHY
By Martin Hume, M.A.
PORTUGAL of to-day presents a typical subject being that which appealed most
^ example of a state wherein, the repre- strongly to an overburdened, poor, and
sentative institutions being in advance of laborious agricultural people. In the
the general standard of enlightenment, a course of the struggle the sovereign was,
comparatively small class of politicians of necessity, brought into opposition
has been able, owing to the apathy and with the more advanced section of his
ignorance of the mass of the people, to subjects ; and, as a consequence, a very
corrupt and stultify a governing machinery powerful RepubUcan party steadily de-
ostensibly democratic. As happened in veloped, and the relations be-
Spain, the dynastic rivalry led to the grant- _"* ° tween the Crown and the
epu ic-
ing of a constitution on modern lines to jja^tion at large often became
Portugal in 1836 by Dom Pedro IV., strained, notwithstanding the
who immediately afterwards abdicated in persoucil popularity and earnest good
favour of his infant daughter, Maria da intentions of the king, Dom Carlos him-
Gloria, with his Conservative and Clerical self. The complete apathy of the mass of
brother, Dom Miguel, as regent. the population allowed the rival political
Such a combination could offer no per- parties to alternate in office mainly for the
manency, and the dynastic struggle that benefit of their partisans, and with little
ensued followed the same course as in regard for the public interest ; the late
Spain, the young queen representing the king, Dom Carlos, being made, with lack
parliamentary party, and Dom Miguel the of magnanimity, the scapegoat for each
reactionaries. As a consequence of the party in turn whilst it was in opposition.
finaltriumph of the former, the extremely His own patriotism and desire to serve
guarded constitution of Dom Pedro was the best interests of his country were
reformed on several occasions in a demo- unquestionable ; but his position became
cratic sense ; and, although the royal intolerable in view of the corruption of
prerogative was maintained in legislation the administrative and electoral machinery
and administration to an extent unex- by politicians, and the ungenerous attitude
ampled in other modern parliamentary of each parliamentary opposition towards
states, the ostensible form of government him. He had abstained from exercising
became in the end essentially democratic. to the full the powerful prerogatives he
Up to the year 1884 the House of Peers, possessed under the constitution, and
whose legislative rights were equal to interfered as little as possible with the
those of the elected Assembly, consisted acts of his administrators.
u
Un rimited
•* A
^'^tirely of nobles unlimited in He had acquiesced in the considerable
j^^jj^^gj. chosen for life by the extensions of the suffrage, and in the
Power of •
'

J J.U- _•
. p sovereign, and this in conjunc- strict limitation, and provisions for the
tion with the operative right of eventual extinction of, hereditary legisla-
veto by the king gave to the latter prac- tive peerages ; but, unlike other constitu-
tically uncontrolled power over legislation, tional sovereigns, he found the political
no matter how democratic the Lower House parties unwilling to present a bulwark
might be. The constitutional struggle between him and the popular discontent
therefore turned for many years past aroused by oppressive taxation and ad-
upon the attempts of Democrats to reduce ministrative corruption, for which he was
the royal prerogative over legislation, not responsible. Upon the king, most un-
administration, and &nance, the last justly, was cast the onus of unpopularity

5404
PORTUGAL IN OUR 0"^7N TIME
caused by the inevitable submission of unholy gains. Protest was met by prosecu-
Portugal to the British ultimatum with tion and further measures of repression,
regard to the encroachments in East Africa and the country was deprived of all pre-
in 1890. The accusation was levelled tence of representative government, both
against him that he had allowed his Anglo- in national and local affairs. The avowed
phil tendencies to override the interests of policy of Senhor Franco and the king was
his own country and when, as a sequel to
; to purify the administration and establish
this agitation, a dangerous Republican economy of the national resources, and
revolt was suppressed in Oporto early in j^. . the new broom swept with de-
1891, the king was again held personally T»'w
/** vastating effect into the dark
Debt to °j. ,, ,

responsible for the repressive measures corners of the government ser-


th St t
that followed, and for the delay in granting vice. Unfortunately, the main-
an amnesty to the revolutionaries. tenance of such an open violation of
The main source of discontent has national rights and traditions, however
always been financial. Portugal, being salutary this might be, entailed the keeping
in the main agricultural, is a poor country, of the armed forces in a good humour, and
and past mal-administration and present- money that was saved in one direction was
day jobbery have burdened the people squandered in another.
with a taxation out of proportion to their The Civil List, whilst ruthlessly reduced
means. It was found that however great in some of its items, was increased in the
were the promises made by politicians in aggregate to some $685,000, and the
opposition, no reUef to the taxpayer was indebtedness of the king to the State, a
afforded by either party when in power. sum of $770,000, was extinguished by a
In this respect, too, the king was made piece of financial jugglery which reflected
the scapegoat. The whole administration little credit upon either the sovereign or
was wasteful and corrupt but upon the
; the Minister. The great mass of the people
expenditure for the royal estab- had long since lost faith in the efficacy of
e oya
lighment most of the criticism political action to redress the evils of

r*-?' ^ A ^^^ directed. The. Civil List poverty and backwardness under which
^.riticiscd
amounted to about $560,000 they suffered the king personally was
;

per annum, and although this was com- genial, kindly, and popular, and, although
paratively modest for a nation whose politicians of all shades denounced the
annual revenue was some $65,000,000, it dictatorship in unmeasured terms, the
formed the basis for constant attacks upon country at large went on its laborious way
the sovereign and his family, who found without audible or visible protest against
it quite insufficient for their needs, and the deprivation of its liberties —
.liberties
the king had consequently incurred heavy which they recognised had not to any
indebtedness to the State. extent remedied the hard conditions under
The position had thus become intolerable. which the majority of the people lived.
The elective Chamber of Parliament was Attempts were made by the regular
unblushingly manipulated by both parties dynastic parliamentary parties to use for
in succession, and was representative only their ends the heir apparent, an amiable
in name, notwithstanding the existence of young prince, called after his great graud-
universal manhood suffrage limited only by father, the King of the French, Luis Philip,
the ability to read and write. The public and in his name to form a parliamentary
offices were crowded by idle parasites of cabal against King Carlos. The queen,
politicians, and the pension list was full also, a gifted and popular lady of singu-
of scandalous abuses. In these circum- larly noble character, was
Intrigues
stances a coup d'etat v/as effected by the understood to be opposed to
Agamst
Prime Minister, Senhor Joao Franco at ^j^g dictatorship, which she con-
* "^*
the end of 1906, with the co-operation of sidered endangered the stability
the king. Representative institutions were of the throne and the life of her husband.
suspended, and the king and his dictator The young Crown Prince Luis Philip was
declared that until an uncorrupted and in- removed for a time from the intrigues of
dependent parliament could be summoned the constitutional parties by sending
they would govern Portugal by royal decree. him upon an extensive tour of the Portu-
The bold step naturally aroused the guese African colonies, and after his
violent opposition and protest of all classes return to Portugal he stood aloof from all
of politicians, thus deprived of their attempts to estrange him from his father.
5405
HISTORY O? THE WORLD
Thus matters stood in January, 1908, apathetic, knowing, as they did, that the
when the royal family passed a few weeks king meant well by the nation, and that the
at the ancient Braganza possession of evils that he and Senhor Franco were
Villa Vi^osa, in the Alem-Tejo, east of endeavouring to remedy by unconstitu-
Lisboa " In their absence from the capital tional means were real and great.
the opposition to the dictatorship became It was in the waning light of early
more pronounced and active, especially evening when the king and queen, with
amongst the Republican party, always their two sons, Luis Phihp and Manuel,
ready to profit by the dissensions amongst landed at the quay on the Fra^a de Com-
the dynastic groups. --^The Press organs of mercio at Lisbon from the railway station
Senhor Franco, the 'dictator, announced on the other side of the Tagus and in an ;

that a widespread republican conspiracy open carriage they traversed the great
had been discovered, and a great number . . . square at a foot pace between
Assassination .it t- r xr j
of arrests of political opponents of the
1
lines of respectful and
o f K*^'^s *^ A
dictatorship were effected as a precau- loyal people assembled to
Crown Prince -^ .K
tionary measure on the eve of the king's The way ofx ^u
'ru
.

greet them. the


return to Lisbon, whilst on the day pre- cortege towards the Necessidades Palace on
vious to his expected arrival, January 31st, the face of the hills overlooking the river lay
1908, a decree was published suspending by the Street of the Arsenal, a somewhat
the personal guarantees, and declaring narrow thoroughfare turning sharply out
the right of the Government to imprison of the end of the Praga de Commercio
or expel citizens without form of law. towards the left. Just as the horses of the
The state of affairs was known to be king's carriage were about to take the turn,
critical on the day fixed for the arrival of a signal shot was discharged in the crowd,
the royal family in Lisbon, February ist, and there leapt from behind the pillars of
1908, but Senhor Franco was confident the arcade that forms the footway several
of being able to preserve order, as the army assassins, who precipitated themselves
and police were known to be faithful, and upon the royal family. One miscreant,
the great mass of the population were mounting the back of the carriage, shot

THE ASSASSINATION OF PORTUGAL'S KING, DOM CARLOS, IN THE STREETS OF LISBON


The dastardly act pictured in this illustration occurred on February 1st, lOOS, when the king was driving through the
Streets of his capital to the royal palace of the Necessidades. Seated in the carriage with the king were the queen, the
Crown Prince, and Prince Manuel, and when the fatal attack was made Queen Amelie heroically threw herself in
front of her sons.
. But her brave act was too late, as both the king and the Crown Prince had received fatai wounds.

5406
Dom Carlos King Manuel
The Crown Prince
THE MURDERED KING AND CROWN PRINCE OF PORTUGAL, AND THE EX-KING MANUEL
detestation of so dastardly an act, were
the king in the neck, whilst another shot,
him the spine, deaf to all appeals to them to rise against
which was mortal, struck in
and Dom Carlos sank bathed in blood upon the new king, a young sailor lad
of eighteen,

the floor of the vehicle. The queen, stand- whose unaffected geniality had already
ing and striking at the murderers, sought made him popular. But when it was said
to protect her husband and elder son at in Lisbon, the day after the crime, that
the risk of her own hfe, and, although the the shots that had killed Dom Carlos had
target of many bullets, she miraculously killed the repubhc, too, the prediction was
escaped. The heir-apparent, a youth of not fulfilled.

twenty-one, was mortally wounded by two coahtion Cabinet, chosen from mode-
A
shots, and died within a few minutes when rate men of all parties, was formed.
the carriage had been driven for shelter Franco for a single day only endeavoured
into the gates of the arsenal near by. A to stand firm by the aid of the armed
forces he had
conciliated but, finding
cry of horror and grief went ;

Fate^of the now everyone against him, he incontinently


^^ ^^ ^j^-^ unparalleled crime,
*^"*^ *
. and the murderers, or such of fled into hiding, and eventually to foreign
Assassms whilst the Government that re-
^^^^ ^g ^^^j^ be identified, lands ;

were cut to pieces by the police and the placed him abrogated most of the decrees
onlookers. The dynastic opposition of his dictatorship, and provided for a
parties, which had led the protest against prompt return to a constitutional govern-
the dictatorship of Franco, were as much rnent. Time alone would show whether the
dismayed as his friends at the turn of spirited but rash attempt of the lamented
affairs, since the agitation which they Dom Carlos and his minister to remedy
had stirred up had thus gone far beyond by unconstitutional means a great con-
their calculations or desires, and they at stitutional evil would bear fruit, notwith-
once raUied unanimously to the throne, standing the terrible crime that cut short
now to be occupied by Prince Manuel, the the experiment.
younger son of the murdered king. Portugal could hardly, after what had
The Republican party, the extreme passed, revert entirely to the bad old
members of which were generally accused system of party alternation of political
of the regicide, found no public support plunder ; but it was to be feared that,
to the crime. The populace, struck with as in the case of Spain, no great
5407
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and permanent improvement could be were disquahfied unless they possessed a
expected by legislative action alone. In small minimum private income. The
each case the statute books contain most of country, which covers an area on the
the enactments needed for the prosperity continent of 90,000 square kilometres
and happiness of a progressive state. — —
34,254 square miles with a growing
It is not the laws that are in faidt population of over 5,500,000, is divided
so much as the general lack of a sense for local government purposes into twenty-
of responsible citizenship and the lament- one districts, of which seventeen are in
able prevalence of illiteracy Portugal proper and three in the islands.
or uga s
^j^j(,]^ render possible a lax ad- These are subdivided into 306 arrondisse-
*
_ "^
ministration and corrupt eva- ments, and again into 3,961 parishes. A
esources
^-^^ ^^ laws of themselves good governor appointed by the Ministry presides
and sufficient. Portugal, though naturally over each district ;the arrondissements
a poor country, has nevertheless ample being also presided over by an administrator
resources to ensure the comfort and pros- appointed by the central government,
perity of its citizens, if the government aided in each case by elected councils.
were economical and honest. The people, Both in national and local administra-
especially in the north, where the land is tion the principal evil is the multiplicity
mostly held by peasant proprietors, live of underpaid and often corrupt officials
hardly, it is true, but not miserably. appointed in turn by rival political
They are laborious, frugal, honest and parties ; and the lower ranks of the
sober, and it is safe to say that when the judiciary are similarly afflicted, there
present proportion of complete illiterates being no less than 142 juizes de dereiio,
— 78 per cent, of the population, notwith- civil magistrates, besides the judges of
standing so-called compulsory education the high courts and court of appeal, in
— ^is reduced, as it might be consider- _^ ^, ,.
The
, additionto 809 elected justices
Nation s r j.i ^ -i, u •

ably, no peasants in Europe will have -jy. . of the peace, thus brmgmg
more of the elements of happiness at their ...gncu ure
up the number of judicial
command than the Portuguese. authorities to nearly a thou-
The revenue of the country steadily sand for a population not much larger
increased from $14,000,000 per annum in than that of London.
1889 to $28,000,000 in 1907 ; but the Possessing a climate unsurpassed in
wasteful finance and political corruption Europe for beauty and salubrity, and a
cause the expenditure to exceed the soil in many districts of great richness,
revenue in each recurring year. The the future wealth of the country must
funded debt grew with depressing regu- depend principally upon agriculture. The
larity from about $300,000,000 in 1896 methods of cultivation are still almost as
to $320,000,000 in 1905 ; and after primitive as in the times of the Romans,
a declared suspension of the payment of especially in the south, which is more
interest in 1892, an arrangement was backward than the north in all respects ;

arrived at with the Council of Foreign and the great need of the population is
Bondholders in London by which the that the national resources, instead of
service of the debt was to be managed being squandered, as at present, upon
by a council sitting in Lisbon, to whom unnecessary armaments and useless tcnc-
special funds were allocated to cover the tionaries, should be employed in promot-
three per cent, then being paid. The ing national education, improving means
poHtical constitution of the State before of communication, and lifting the burdens
the king was dethroned consisted of the from industries now sorely oppressed.
sovereign, whose veto upon legislative Of purely intellectual movement there
enactments was fully operative if notice is little of native Portuguese origin since
was given on his behalf within thirty the death of Herculano the historian and
days of the submission of a Bill, of a Almeida Garrett the poet. The novels
House of Peers consisting of a strictly of E9a de Queiros, which promised much,
limited number of nominated peers alone, have unfortunately ceased with his prema-
with a few hereditary survivals, the ture death, and beyond a few historical
elective element having been eliminated, and sociological studies there is now little
and a Congress of Deputies elected on produced by the Portuguese presses but
practically universal manhood literate translations of foreign works.
suffrage. The deputies were unpaid, but Martin Hume
5408
THE REPUBLIC OF PORTUGAL
FALL OF THE MONARCHY AND
REPUBLICANISM ON ITS TRIAL
THEpleaded
youth of King Manuel IL be may selected Senhor Braga for their mouth-
dehver
for his inability to piece, but the promised justice and
Portugal from a corrupt Government, morality were quickly seen to be as far off
but it did not save him the throne. In the as ever under the new regime as they had
two short years of his reign the Repubhcan been under the monarchy. The Provisional
movement became increasingly powerful, Government arranged for a general elec-
till in 1910 it was strong enough to over- tion in 191 1, and the formal endorsement
turn the Crown. The revolution of 1910 of the Republican Constitution. The
was accomplished with comparatively electors duly returned a republican
little bloodshed. The Army and Navy maj ority Senhor Braga retired into private
.

had their own reasons for discontent, and, life, having done the part allotted to him ;

led by the majority of their officers, and Dr. Manoel Arriaga, also a man of
went over to the Republic without letters, of the University of Coimbra, and
making any fight for the Monarchy. a gifted writer and eloquent speaker, was
The King, deserted by his troops, chose elected, August 191 1, first President of
flight in preference to the assassination the Portuguese Republic. Under the new
that probably awaited him, and thus Constitution of 191 1, two Legislative
exchanged the doom of his father for —
Chambers a National Council and a
a pleasant residence in England. The —
Senate were set up. All men over twenty-
Republican leaders then sought out Senhor one years of age who could read and write,
Theophi le or who main-
Braga, an ac- tained parents
complished and or relatives,
h i g h-m i n d e d were entitled to
man of letters, vote. But as
with the nearly three-
opinions of a quarters of the
French P o s i- population were
tivist, forprovi- illiterate, and
sional President; this in spite of
and Senhor the fact that
Braga accepted education is by
the post, and in law compulsory,
exalted speech the electorate is
promised a reign a good deal
of justice and Vasques smaller than in
an "austere THfeOPHILE BRAGA Dr. MANOEL ARRIAGA most European
Provisional President, 1910-11 Elected First President in 1911
morality " for countries where
the new republic. (It is remarkable that manhood suffrage prevails. And it is stiU
both the revolution of the Young Turks further narrowed by the exclusion of all
at Constantinople in 1908, and that in soldiers on the active hst, all resident
Portugal in 1910, were the work of men foreigners, naturalised Portuguese, bank-
inspired by the free-thought of Paris, rupts, and proscribed persons. The
and largely influenced by the political 'vholesale proscriptions of royalists which
freemasons of France.) President Braga's followed the revolution got rid of
sincerity has not been questioned, but a anj^ political danger at the election
literary philosopher with distinguished from the supporters King Manuel.
of
university attainments could be but the The payment of members of the
merest figure head of republican Portugal. National Council is 17s. for each sitting,
The- managers of the revolution in and magistrates, soldiers, priests and
possession of the Government, and with government contractors are not eligible
the authority of the army to enforce their for membership. The Senate is elected by
rule, impressed favourably the constitu- the Municipal Councils, and half its
tional governments of Europe when they members retire every three years. The
5409

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Senate and National Council together 1913, and provoked remonstrances from
form the Congress of the Republic which friends of Portugal in Great Britain.
elects the President, whose term of office At the end of its first three years of
is limited to four years. The President existence the Portuguese Republic was
must be thirty-five years of age thus — still threatened by the followers of King
making it impossible for fourteen years for Manuel II., but the menace of revolu-
King Manuel II. to seek election, as tionary socialism, and of anarchist propa-
Napoleon III. did in France after 1848 ganda by bomb and assassination, was a
and cannot be re-elected to the presidency a far greater danger. But with the army
second time. He chooses his ^linisters, at its back, the Portuguese Government
though the Ministry is responsible to cotild count on beating down all enemies
Parliament but he is forbidden to be
; within its borders, and the electorate could
present at debates in the National Council be —
so managed as it is managed in
or Senate. The Civil List of the President certain South American Republics that a —
is fixed at £3,900. Republican majority was returned to the
Onthe establishment of the Republic, National Council and the Senate. The
the Governmentat once directed its need for a stable and honest Government
activities against the Roman Catholic was strongly felt in Portugal in 1914,
Church, and in 191 1 a law was passed for especially the face of an increasing
in
the separation of Church and State. national expenditure and grave working-
Under this law the Government claimed class discontent. But political rivalries
all the property of parish churches and amongst various sections of repubhcans
religious orders, but allowed the use of have hindered the establishment of such
the churches to the clergy, and undertook a government, and time alone can show
to pay salaries to all beneficed priests, whether the Republic is capable of pro-
while all religious orders were to be ducing the public men the service of the
expelled. The enforcement of this law State demands.
was attended with grave disorders, and For the Republic is on its trial. It is
Catholic Royalists from time to time in in vain for its political champions to utter
1912 and 1913 attempted risings near glowing rhetoric concerning justice and
the Spanish frontier. The fact that the noble sentiments in favour of freedom
political leaders who were associated with while the prisons are overcrowded with
the corruption under the monarchy untried persons suspected of political
quickly hastened to profess adherence to offences. If the great mass of the working
the Republic was evidence that the class suffered under the corrupt and
Royalist cause could count on scanty arbitrary regime of the Monarchy, and
support amongst those who arranged the consented without a munnur to its over-
elections. On the other hand, it gave throw, they will be equally ready to
little hope that a new and better era had allow a restoration of monarchy on find-
been inaugurated in public affairs in ing the Republican Government no less
Portugal. The workmen in the towns, tyrannical.
organised in trade unions largely Syndi- Next to the problems of good govern-
calist and social-revolutionist in character, ment and wise social legislation, the
supported the political republicans at the problem of emigration has to be faced
first, but finding no improvement in by the Republic. The stream of emigra-
industrial conditions, soon went into tion fromPortugal, mainly to Brazil,
opposition to the Government, and in is a terrible drain on the industrial
1913 organised big demonstrations in resources of the country, and the Govern-
protest against Government policy. But ment in 191 3 expressed its concern at
the Government, by the aid of the army, what was taking place.
was able to put down these demonstra- But the best prevention of emigra-
tions, and the disturbances that accom- tion from a country not over populated
panied them, as it put down the attempted is good government, security of Ufe,
monarchist risings, and the prisons soon an assurance of personal liberty, and
held as many disaffected republicans as a sure means of livelihood. It is these
royalists. The horrible overcrowding in things the Portuguese people still

the prisons, and the large number of sought in 1914, as they had sought
prisoners arrested on suspicion and never them before the RepubUc displaced the
brought to trial became a grave scandal in Monarchy.

^10
1

XI
EUROPEAN
SCANDINA-
POWERS
VIAN
TO-DAY
STATES

THE SCANDINAVIAN STATES IN


OUR OWN TIME
LIFE IN NORWAY, SWEDEN AND DENMARK
By William Durban, B.A.
/^F the three Scandinavian territories, the romantic Nord fjords are amongst the
^^ it seems natural first to speak of Nor- most marvellous of these inlets on the coast.
way. No country is regarded with greater It is impossible to become acquainted
pride by its people than the glorious Norse with the Norwegian people without learn-
Land, on which, to describe its various ing to admire and even to love them.
attractions, a great variety of epithets They are to-day, as they have ever been,
has been bestowed. It is fondly styled by . simple and unsophisticated,
^
its loving sons " Gamle Norge " (Old ^ clinging with passionate fidelity
J
fS tt
Norway), for its civilisations claim a vii and attachment to the primi-
^
Villages
mighty antiquity. It is the " Land of the J.-
customs oft Tr
Vikmg ages,
,
1
tive
Midnight Sun," the " Land of the Vikings," are given to delightful hospitality, are
the " Land of Fosses," or stupendous indefatigably diligent, and are charmingly
cascades in immense number, and the courteous, with a natural refinement.
" Land of Eternal Snow." It presents with They are not " degenerate Vikings of
its wonderful fjords the most magnificent to-day," as some have attempted to
coast scenery in the world, and its moun- characterise them. There are hardly half
tains in imposing splendour approach the as many people in all Norway, with its
Swiss Alps themselves ; while its glaciers vast area of 124,000 square miles, as in
know no rival, except in Alaska. London alone, and of its population of
Its lakes are countless, and the sportsman 2,391,000 only about 400,000 dwell in
finds it a veritable paradise with its salmon towns so that the country is mainly one
;

rivers, its elk, wild reindeer, lynxes, bears, of scattered villages, dotted along the feet
wolves, foxes, grouse, and ptarmigan. of the fjords, or on the lonely wilderness
" Beautiful everywhere " is the frequent
! jelds, or in the clearings of the immense
exclamation of enchanted visitors. Roman- forests.
tic " dalen," or valleys, pine-clad moun- Norway has only 740 square miles of
tain slopes, and immense juniper-covered ploughed land, so that the actual agricul-
plateaux, like the wild Dovre Fjeld, are ture is comparatively insignificant. But
elements of indescribable beauty in the immense quantities of valuable hay are
whole landscape right up to the North cropped during the brief, summer on
hot
Cape. The grandeur of aspect of the great " saeters," or meadow farms
the Lofoten Isles cannot be surpassed. on the broad slopes. The Norwegian

The gigantic falls the Voringfoss, the landscape is two varieties slopes and
of —
Rjukanfoss, the Skejgedalfoss, the Vettis- precipices, and most ingeniously the people
a ura
foss, etc. — are tremendous adapt their pursuits to natural conditions.
torrents leaping
r &
from immense The greatest of all industries is, as might
Features of
heights into the grand fjords, be supposed, fishing for Norway has a
;
Norway
and some of these sublime coast of 3,000 miles, and the fishermen are
gorges run up into the interior between perhaps the sturdiest on earth.
the mountain precipices to distances of But the backbone of the population is
from 200 to 300 miles, carrying Atlantic bucolic, consisting of the splendid rustics
tides right into the far centre of the land. known as the " Bonder," or peasant
The beautiful Hardanger, the grand and farmers. Domesticity and social life in
gloomy Geiranger, the sublime Sor, and this wildest north are delightful, and the
541
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
people are as happy as any in the world. gratif5dng the national sentiment of his
The nights of the very protracted winter adopted subjects by honouring the vener-
are spent in study, in courtship by the able Norse traditions. On July 22nd, 1896,
young folk, in wood carving, in tending the he had married Princess Maud Alexandra,
sheltered cattle, in hunting game, in daughter of King Edward VII., so that
visiting, in sledging, and in the glorious the British and Norwegian royal houses
sports of racing on snow-shoes and of ski- are closely allied. The heir to the throne
jumping, in which recreation the athletic is Prince Alexander, born July 2nd, 1903,

, young Norsemen are the finest whose name was, on his father's accession^
j^
I t '^lT*'t
*
1
^^P^^ts existing. Many a fear- changed to Olaf.
^^^^ ^^^P °^ ^^^^ ^^ achieved It was a remarkable fact that though
Sta d d
from a height of 150 feet. The Nansen and Bjornson are Republicans in
social life of the people intimately mingles principle, as all the nation well understood,
with their fervent religious cult. As in they exerted a leading influence, through
all Scandinavia, the national Church is their speeches and letters during the
Lutheran, and the quaint and pretty separation and plebiscite campaigns, in
wooden churches are always filled, the favour of a King of Norway. Norway being
country sanctuaries on Sundays along the a land of peasants, the town life is not so
Hardanger and other fjords presenting a interesting as that of the country. Chris-
singular spectacle, for the costumes are tiania is a quiet and even dull metropolis,
truly picturesque. There are compara- but it is beautifully built, stands at the
tively few dissenters and though theo-
; head of its own lovely fjord, and is the
logical controversies are of course not centre of intellectual culture, being the
unknown, they are not acute. seat of a great university. By far the most
The intellectualism of Norway stands important town is Bergen, which is also
high. Indeed, the people proudly claim that the prettiest, a rare thing foi a busy
in proportion to the population they have commercial city. And Trondhjem, the
in our time produced more geniuses than ancient historic capital, is attrac-
The Drink
has any other nation. The names of Grieg, tive with its curious quaintness.
Trade
Nanser, Ibsen, Bjornson certainly suggest Vt"^ Deeply interesting is the opera-
orway ^-^^
influences that have of late years potently ^^ ^j^^ famous Norwegian
affected the thought of the world in poetry, company system for controlling the liquor
music, and geographical research. Ele- which is very similar to the Gothen-
traffic,
mentary education is universal in Norway. burg system in Sweden. Licences for the
The political conditions in Norway are sale of ardent spirits are entrusted to a
altogether unique, and have, since the dawn company formed, not for profit, but for
of the twentieth century, been cast by an the benefit ofthe citizens. The latest
abrupt and startling revolution into a legislation on the principle of local option
shape which has marvellously materialised gives all men and women over twenty-
the democratic aspirations of the people. five years of age the right to vote for the
Since the union with Sweden never exclusion of retail bar traffic in spirits
really satisfied the patriotic sentiments from the community in which they reside.
of the Norwegians, a constant agitation The profits of the companies, after the
was sustained for separation. The disso- shareholders have received five per cent,
lution took place by decree of the Stor- dividend, are distributed amongst objects
ting at Christiania on June 7th, 1905. of public utility, such as planting parks,
The overt cause of the rupture was a pro- sanitary improvement, industrial educa-
_ . tracted dispute between the tion, waterworks, sewers, libraries, theatres
epara ion
^^^ nations as to their foreign and other amusements, charities, and re-
^ip^o^^^tic representation. The ligious institutions. High duties are im-
and Sweden
late King Oscar of Sweden posed on the high-grade liquors imported,
refused to entertain the offer of the Nor- and has become very difficult for foreign
it
wegian crown to one of his own family, commodities. For-
distillers to sell theii
but the details for the repeal of the Union merly, in Norway and Sweden, all owners
were amicably settled by the Karlsbad of the soil had liberty to brew and distil,
Convention. A plebiscite was held, after and the result was that these countries
which the crown was offered to Prince had a per capita rate of consumption of
Charles of Denmark, who accepted it than that of any other nation.
spirits higher
under the title of Haakon VII., thus greatly Sweden, with its 173,000 square miles.
;

THE SCANDINAVIAN STATES IN OUR OWN TIME


and its hardy population of 5,521,943 is ties under central government super-
absolutely unique in its scenery and in the vision, and the salubrious climate and
manners and customs of its inhabitants. absence of overcrowding contribute greatly
The beautiful Gota Canal, a marvel of to the felicitous condition of the national
engineering the romantic lakes, of which
; health. The habits of the people, especi-
Wener and Wetter are fine inland seas ally during the last and present genera-
with noble spruce-clad islands the mag- ; tions, are exceedingly conducive to the
nificent forests the glorious Trollhattan
; conservation of their physique. The old
Falls the entrancing summer landscapes
; ,and disgraceful inebriety has
the grand mountains of Norrland the great — Ad*
^^ ^^^^ successfully fought by the

Arctic section with its noble rivers the ;
d
C ItuT* famous
" Bolag " control of
sweet pasture-lands of Svealand, the the drink traffic, known as the
middle region and the romantic seaboard
;
" Gothenburg System," already alluded
of Gotaland, the old southern territory of to in the reference to the modification
the Goths, form factors in the make-up of adopted in Norway. The people are
one of Europe's most interesting lands. intensely attached to their Lutheran
No nation is prouder of its metropolis National Church, in which nearly all the
than the Swedes have reason to be, for clergy are university graduates, their
Nature has given them an incomparable minimum collegiate course being five
site on which they have erected a superb years. The elective system regulates
city. Stockholm reigns easily without a the appointment of the prelates, for
rival as Queen of the Northland. Rising the clergy choose the bishops. Under
gently from the many islands of the little the late King Oscar IL, who died
archipelago between Lake Maelar and the on December 8th, 1907, Swedish royalty
sea, this city has been styled the Venice was identified with the most accomplished
of the North, but is, with its 342,000 culture, for that beloved monarch was one
inhabitants, palpitating with that modern of the most scholarly of kings.
life which fails to touch the King Gustavus V. married Princess
g
Victoria of Baden, a first cousin of the
f\ r It.
Queen of the ,
burg,
-^ .
,11. Gothen-
city of the Doges.
,

intersected by huge
u
German Kaiser. The union was very
VI *i.i
Northland J °,'
, c, j•
j
canals and doing a fine trade, popular, because she is a descendant of
reminds the visitor of a Dutch port, except- the old and revered family of Vasa. In
ing that its quays are boulevarded with June, 1905, the king's eldest son, Prince
trees. With her immense forests Sweden Gustavus Adolphus, married Princess Mar-
is the greatest timber exporting country in garet of Connaught. There are two other
the world. Having nearly fifty million acres sons, one of whom. Prince William, mairied
of forest area, covering close on half of the the Tsar's cousin, the Grand Duchess
and, she can and does contribute enor- Marie, in May, 1908. Sweden and Denmark
mously to the needs of other nations in took a very prominent part in arranging
this respect. But the most valuable re- with Russia and Germany the momentous
cent development is the manufacture of Baltic and North Sea agreements for the
paper from wood pulp. A great factory, preservation of the status quo in the
worked by the lovely Trollhattan Falls, Baltic, Britain and the Netherlands also
makes paper from pulp. The other chief sending delegates to the convention at
export is the famous Swedish iron. Most St. Petersburg. The Baltic Agreement
of the estates consist half of forest land, was signed at the Russian capital on
and saw-mills are ever at work in every April 23rd, 1908, and a parallel North Sea
section of the country. Through these Agreement afterwards at Ber-
TTie Land
grand woodlands of oak, pine, beech, and ^.^ ^^^ documents declared
birch run fine rivers, which are one secret ^. ^ that the nations concerned
g "**'
of the activity of the lumber trade, for were firmly resolved to pre-
they facilitate the floating in summer serve intact the respective rights of those
of the timber felled in the winter. countries over their continental and insular
The Swedes are fortunate in inhabiting possessions in the regions in question.
the healthiest country on earth, the death- Denmark, so often called by foreigners
rate being only i6*49 P^^ 1,000, the who have learned to love the country and
lowest in the whole world, and longevity its people " dear httle Denmark," has
is a national characteristic. Sanitation is special interest for England, because of the
assiduously attended to by the municipali- close affinity of the people of the two

5413
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
countries and the intimate alliance of their Three modest animals have mainly
royal families; A celebrated*letter written founded the modern prosperity of this
by Lord Nelson is enshrined in the interesting kingdom —the cow, the pig, and
archives of the Foreign Office at Copen- the hen. Denmark produces an immense
hagen. This missive is addressed to " The quantity of butter and cheese, bacon and
Brothers of Englishmen, the Danes." hams, and sells them with countless dozens
"
Naturally, the " Land of the Sea Kings of eggs to Britain and other neighbours.
must appeal to Anglo-Saxon hearts. Pro- Many of the Jutlanders, from starting as
verbially the little nations are swineherds, have become large dealers and
Denmark
the happiest, and Denmark, merchants. The nation has set the pace for
Rich and
one of the smallest, is one of the modern world in agricultural co-opera-
Contented
the happiest of all. Though tion. This applies specially to dairying.
she has been shorn of much of her out- There are over a thousand co-operative
lying territory, she has never lost her dairies in Denmark, with nearly 150,000
integrity, never having known subjuga- members, receiving milk from nearly a
tion, and so high a place does she hold in million cows. The State has done e vei y thing
the esteem of other nationalities, that the possible to promote the system. The aim has
representatives of mighty dynasties have been to secure a high degree of perfection in
been proud to enter into matrimonial the system of handling milk so as to ensure
union with the Danish royal family. cleanliness and a properly controlled supply.
A late King, the octogenarian christian This system is one of the romances of
IX., who passed away on January 29th, modern industry. And now, as a result of
1906, was often alluded to as "father- the encouragement given to the creation oi
in-law of half Europe." Denmark is a small holdings by the famous Act of 1899,
notable example of the way in which a there are fully 100,000 of these farms. The
little kingdom, surrounded by powerful Danish " small holdings men " are singu-
rivals, can be equally prosperous in her and
larly well-trained, capable,
p
smaller way. Her progress in our own c.^ ,. . and are steadily
enlightened,
Situation in 1 " * xv
time is a phenomenon which has astonished r» , becoming more so. Another
Denmark \^ n °. j
the world. This cold and bleak peninsula beneficent measure, passed
jutting into the North Sea, with its group shortly before the close of the last century,
of insular satellites, is the home of a was the Old Age Pension Act, received
people who have shown the world that a now by 2^ per cent, of the population.
little nation can become rich, contented, The present pofitical position in Den-
happy, and progressive. Year by year the mark is that of a broad, genial, practical
sturdy Dane is taking greater advantage of democracy, of which the king is the
the opportunities afforded by a fertile soil. popular figurehead. King Fredeiic VIII.
Copenhagen, the " Athens of the North," died in May, 1912, and was succeeded by
is a metropolis of which any nation might his son, Christian X., who fulfils his promise
be justly proud. Its population of over to reign in accordance with his father's
500,000 is year by year increasing, and the example. Political conflicts in Denmark
city grows in importance. Much of the are restrained by the moderation and
old town has passed away, and the aspect sturdy common-sense of the people, reforms
for the most part is modem. It is a city to being promoted in a democratic, progres-
linger in, and its very atmosphere enchants sive spirit, in spite of the efforts of the
the visitor, while its people are amongst Social Democrats to expedite extreme
the most courteous on earth. The famous radical measures. The fine system of

Vor Frue Kirke Our Saviour's Church is — national education is sustained under
_. _ , one of the sights of Europe, the joint influence of State, Church, and
The Country » j^^. j^
contains Thorwald- municipality, under the special super-
Pre-eminence
sen's majestic statue of the vision of the Minister for Church and
in Agriculture
Risen Saviour, with the Education, through local committees, in
marble statues of the twelve Apostles by which the clergy and magistrates play the
the same consummate artist. Copenhagen, chief parts. Education is elaborately and
being not on the mainland but on the perfectly organised. The municipal sch'^ols,
island of Sjaelland, on the Sound, pos- the Latin schools, and the high schools
sesses a unique charm from its wild and cover the whole land with a complete
romantic outlook on the northern sea. The network, and the opportunities are appre-
beautiful city is filled with treasures of art. ciated by all classes.
5414
2
;

THE SCANDINAVIAN STATES IN OUR OWN TIME


While in Denmark a tendency to develop Lagting after passing the Odelsting by a
manufactures has been noticeable in recent two-thirds majority becomes law on the
years, it was estimated in igi4 that 37-8 Royal Assent. The King has the power
per cent, out of the population still lived to veto any meaure, but if three successive
by agriculture, as against 31-5 per cent, by Stortings are against him his veto is auto-
manufactures, and 15 per cent, by com- matically removed. The growth of Socialist
merce and transport. The fact that about opinion, though very recent in Norway, is
five-sixths of the land is in the hands of as noticeable in that land as it is in other

small owners or peasants the law pro- European countries. In 1906 the Socialists
hibiting the amalgamation of farms into polled 73,100 votes and returned ten
.

large estates —may also be accepted as members to the Storting in ;

evidence of the important pare that „ ^ 1912 the vote had risen to
agriculture plays in the national life. . .
Advanee 128,455 and returned 23 mem-
, 'Vl -vt •
1 •

Attachment to the ideas and forms of bers. ihe Norwegians claim


political democracy in Denmark has been that their country has been more alert to
further demonstrated by the Reform Bill the needs of higher education and the
of 1913, which gave the Parliamentary demand of modern commerce since their
franchise to all men and women of 25 in the separation from Sweden. Yet the increase
country who were possessed of certain oi population has been very slight in the
modest residential qualifications. twentieth century. For in 1900 the total
In Norway, too, democratic principles of population was 2,240,032, and Christiania
Government have been steadily enlarged had 233,373 inhabitants in 1904 while in ;

in recent years, and in no European 1912 the total population was only
country is there greater political and 2,428,500, and in Christiania in that year
social equality between the sexes than in the inhabitants were 250,000.
Norway. The first Act in the direction In Sweden also the increase of popula-
of this equality was passed in 1888 when tion has not been startling. In 1905 the
the wife was given equal rights total population was estimated at 5,337,055
^^ex-equa y 1
^^j^ ^^^ husband as to their and in 1910 at 5,521,943. Nearly one-
Norway
common property, the right to half of this population was engaged in
own her own property separ- agriculture in 1914, and this figure includes
ately, and to have a separate income. The 298,000 owners and 50,000 tenants. Pro-
following year women were made eligible portional representation and manhood
for school boards. In 1894 they were suffrage were established in 1909 and
given the right to vote on the question of an Old Age Pensions Act was passed in
licensed liquor shops. In 1900 they 1913-
became eligible for juries. In 1904 they The reorganisation of the Swedish Army,
were admitted to full practice as lawyers, which began in 1901, has been steadily
and in 1907 they received a limited effected, but the great increase in military
parliamentary vote. In 1910 full muni- expenditure involved encountered strong
cipal suffrage was granted, and in 1913 an protests from the Socialists in 1914. The
Act was passed unanimously and without King of Sweden, in whom considerable
debate giving the parliamentary vote to executive power is lodged, has insisted
women on exactly the same terms as it on the importance of an armed nation, and
was given to men. So that in Norway the majority of his people have supported
every man and women over 25, not being him. The menace of Russia
a pauper, a bankrupt, or an ex-convict, * . has driven Sweden to tliis course
ussian
and having resided not less than five ^^^ ^j^^ Russians have not only
years in the country can vote at parliament- placed huge forces in Finland
ary elections and is eligible for a seat in and constructed military lines to the
the Storting or Norwegian Parliament. north of Finland, by depriving Finland
This Storting is divided after every of its old constitutional self-govern-
election into two bodies, the Odelsting ment, they have abolished the safeguard

and the Lagting the latter, chosen in the that existed when Finland was a free and
full Storting and consisting of one quarter friendly state. The Swedish Navy in 191
of the members, forming a sort of Second —
consisted of 92 vessels of war ^438 guns
Chamber. Any bill rejected twice by the — ^including 23 ironclads.

344

5415
5416
;: ;

EUROPEAN XII
POWERS THE UNITED
TO-DAY KINGDOM

yikMik^

UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME


A CONTEMPORARY SURVEY OF ITS
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
By Arthur D. Innes, M.A.
THE British Empire to-day a unique
is
phenomenon in the history of civihsed
until, 300 years
doms were united
ago,
under
the three king-
one crown,
mankind, differing in essential particulars and then, at intervals of a century, under
from every contemporary empire as from —
one legislature theoretically, at least, on
all that have existed in the past. In the an equality. Three hundred years ago,
course of 300 years the people of these the only over-sea territory possessed by
islands have taken possession of vast the people of these islands was the embryo
tracts of the earth's surface. The ancient colony of Virginia, which had existed pre-
empires held their conquests by force of cariously for years. The seven-
Britain's
arms, but in her great dominions on two teenth century saw a British
Colonial
continents the state has no garrison at all. expansion which was not itself
Expansion
Wherever Rome ruled, her government was permanent, because the colonies
of the military type practically it is only
;
then established afterwards broke away
in India that it falls under that category. from the mother country. But it also saw,
Neither her colonial nor her Asiatic on the one hand, the confirmation of British
dominion presents close resemblances to supremacy on the high seas and of parlia-
the empires of other European states, mentary supremacy in the British polity.
except so far as Russia in Central Asia In the eighteenth century Great Britain
and France in North Africa hold positions completely distanced all rivals in the
more or less analogous to our own in India. competition for colonial expansion, in
The states of which the empire is spite of the loss of the group of communi-
composed offer—subject to the ultimate ties which formed the United States, and
authority of the central state, to which this supremacy was confirmed by the

they stand in varying relations examples Napoleonic wars. In those wars Napoleon
.

of almost every conceivable type of polity himself chose commerce as the field in
absolute monarchies in India, where the which he would come to death-grips with
'
British raj itself is that of a racial the British, with the result that, after
aristocracy ; while all the greater colonies Waterloo, there was no competitor within
are democracies. Or, if we follow the measurable distance of them, and the lead
territorial method of classification, the thus gained was increased progressively
empire will supply England at one end with during the nineteenth century. During
federated countries in Canada that century, also, the colonial expansion
th^B^Vh ^^^ Australia, and at the continued the whole of one continent
;

„* ."' other with something not far was appropriated. In India the British
°^^"^
removed from the Greek idea passed from being merely the dominant
of the city-state in the Isle of Man power to being lords of the whole land
and in the Channel Islands. In the between the mountains and the sea and ;

course of this work we have watched finally the most valuable portions of the
England developing politically far in Dark Continent fell also under their domi-
advance of all Continental states, while nion. The expansion was accompanied by
Ireland remained a subordinate, half- a change in the internal polity. The supre-
controlled province, and Scotland held fast macy of parliament was unchallenged
to a somewhat lawless independence but the gradual extension of the electoral
5417
; ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


body transferred the control of parliamen- system, such as no other European Power
tary majorities first from the landowners possesses an immense lead in commerce
; ;

to the manufacturers and the middle an established maritime supremacy, both


class, and then from the middle to mercantile and naval the smallest of
;

the labouring classes. " regular " armies, outside of India, on


A further characteristic has to be re- the historic ground that no state has ever
marked on in order to understand the been able continuously to maintain both
position of the British Empire in the world army and navy in the front rank, while to
_ at the present day. Until the the British the navy has always proved
*' stadtholder of Holland became the more effective instrument both for
"mt^
* * ^'^
p king of England, these islands offence and defence. Further, this state
never played a part much more —
has evolved its own polity the system of
than insignificant in the struggles of Con- parliamentary government as an organic —
tinental states. In mediaeval times England growth, without revolution and without
had fought with France on her own account copying the institutions of other states,
later, still on her own account, she had except in occasional matters of detail
fought Spain, and later still Holland. whereas her own institutions have been
The new dynastic association with Hol- consciously adopted as models, though
land, coupled with her own dynastic with appropriate modifications, in the
question, forced her into the European constitution of most civilised countries.
arena ; but even then it was not the size Socially, as well as politically, her people
of her armies, but the genius of her great have been, and continue to be, distin-
general, Marlborough, and the wealth guished by the combination of a marked
which supplemented the exhausted trea- acknowledgment of class distinctions with
suries of her allies, which made her alliance exceptional facility in passing class bar-
valuable ; and, mutatis mutandis, the riers ; in other words, social ranks are
same principles applied throughout the recognised, but are not permitted to stiffen
whole series of wars which were finally , , ,, ^ ,
into castes, as they did stiffen
Intellectual
brought to an end in 1815. To divert the „ . ,^. in most -c
a.
European states. *. i.

Record of the tt
Hence hilabour
u >» j.
energies of her enemies she did not fight „....,,
British Isles
movements,
,,,, ^ , •
^
them on land, but helped her neighbours all the movements which are
to do so. For her own hand she fought apt to be labelled " Sociahstic " by those
them on the sea. who disapprove of them, are accompanied
It was only in the Peninsular War among the proletariat by a much less
that she took rank as a military power, virulent antagonism to the well-to-do than
and there she was only enabled to do so is frequently the case in other lands.
because Napoleon wanted the bulk of his In the intellectual field, the British Isles
legions for Moscow. Moreover, in the claim great names in science, both in its
same connection it has to be observed theoretic realms, such as Bacon, Newton,
that, with the possible exception of 1793, and Darwin, and in its practical application.
Continental interests have never been the In pure literature it is somewhat curious
motive of her wars. In nearly every case to remark that the greatest achievements
she has fought because the interests of of a people which prides itself on practical
France collided with her own in extra- common sense have been in the region of
European regions. With hardly a variation, imagination, of poetry, where it is not only
her rulers have systematically declined to insular prejudice that claims a supreme
intervene in foreign quarrels otherwise than position for Shakespeare. Like the Shake-
through diplomatic channels. spearian period, the hundred years which
,°n •!"? That rule has been broken, or is
. opened with the period of the French
of Britain s
jj.. m , ri • 1
serious danger 01 bemg broken,
i
Revolution were rich in great literary
* ^"^
only in one corner of Europe : names but it cannot be said that either
;

she would fight to prevent Constantinople in literature or in science the United


from falling into the hands of Russia. Kingdom in the twentieth century is
We may say, then, that viewing the showing any marked superiority to Euro-
United Kingdom of to-day as the product of pean and American rivals.
the forces which we have observed mould- Aspects of this empire external to the
ing its history, it forms the central state of United Kingdom itself remain to be
an empire whose distinguishing character- treated at length hereafter in this chapter
;

istics are an immense transmarine colonial we are concerned with the British Isles.
5418
^
'

THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME


The condition of affairs to-day is the trade that Free Trade was universally
product of the past, the outcome of organic acknowledged to be the cause of the ex-'
development and development means both
; pansion, and the advocacy of Protection
continuity and change. Can we, then, was regarded as at best a " pious opinion.";
analyse the elements which tend to change But it has not proved impossible eitherji
and to continuity respectively ? for European states or for America to|
In the nineteenth century the United develop manufactures on their own ac--^
Kingdom became the great, almost the one, count which can compete with British
manufactory and carrier of the world. goods in the market. It is, perhaps,;
Among the various causes of this supre- difficult to realise from the figures pro-;
macy, the most decisive is probably to be duced that her commercial ascendancy is
found in the Napoleonic wars ^partly — vanishing but the monopoly is hers no
;

because they devastated Europe and more and it is by no means clear that
;

drained off the best human material for the country will not attempt to recover it
fighting, instead of manufacturing while ; by a reversion to pre-Cobdenite methods.
the people of these islands were, compara- It is curious to observe that Germany's'
tively speaking, able to devote a much commercial advance in the last forty years

MEN OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS CONSTRUCTING A SUSPENSION BRIDGE


larger share of their energies to peaceful is often attributed with equal confidence to
pursuits ;
partly because the Berlin Decree her adoption of Protection for her manu-
practically involved that the British should factures. It is not probable that Tariff
either monopolise the carrying trade or Reform, if it does come, will ruin either
lose it altogether. British commerce or, alternatively, that of
Apart from the war, the British already its competitors, who at present rely on a
had a long lead in the carrying trade, and Protectionist pohcy. Perhaps from the
were in front of other countries in the deve- point of view of the historian, whose busi-
lopment of machinery and the application ness is largely with the analysis of causation
of steam. But the practical monopoly was the most remarkable feature of the economic
the outcome of the artificial conditions problem now dividing the country is that
created by Napoleon, and made it it was brought out of the regions of cloud-

supremely difficult for any other nation cuckoo-land into practical politics by the
to enter into competition. The develop- action of a single individual- -that but for
ment of the Free Trade programme by Mr. Chamberlain the merits of Protection
Sir Robert Peel and by Mr. Gladstone was would probably receive to-day as little
attended by so marked an expansion of public recognition as they did in that
5419
THE ROYAL IRISH VOLUNTEERS AT CAMP Gale and Poliicn

SOME TYPES OF BRITAIN'S FIGHTING FORCES


5420
SOME BRITISH SOLDIERS ON THE MARCH
5421

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


statesman's " Radical " days. Whatever find the military forces so well organised
sthool of economists prevails, it may be to offer resistance as it would on invading
prophesied that commercial ascendancy a Continental state. Parma in

will probably remain with England so Is England 1588, or Napoleon in 1805,


Liable to
long as she holds the maritime supremacy, would have found their vete-
Invasion ?
and will pass as soon as she loses it. That rans opposed by the same half-
supremacy is as yet unchallenged. The drilledand half-trained amateur soldiery
practical unaminity with which the doc- which formed the bulk of England's defence
trine of a two-Power standard Up to 1 9 14. But there is no more likelihood
Unchallenged
Mistress
^^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ jg ^^, of a Continental army getting the chance
«
of the Seas cepted— at least, as concerns of operating in England than there was in
the fleets of European states the days of Parma or of Napoleon. Wisely
—would be a mere absurdity for a country or unwisely, the nation is content with
not already in possession of a decisive that position ; or, at any rate, shows no
preponderance over any other, or lacking greater inclination than in the past to
the means to maintain such preponderance. adopt the alternative poHcy of uni-
There is no Power which dreams of chal- versal military service. It is at least

lenging the mistress of the seas single- probable that the recent reorganisa-
harided on her own element, though there tion — with modifications which experi-
is one which is popularly credited with ence of its working will suggest
having inherited Napoleon's pre-Trafalgar will produce the maximum of efficiency
programme. attainable under the purely voluntary
Have the conditions, then, so changed system.
that what Napoleon found to be imprac- As regards the security of Great Britain,
ticable —
a century ago what had been then, the historic position appears to be
almost unthinkable since the destruction of unchanged. But the United Kingdom is

the Spanish Armada— is practicable to- responsible for the defence of the empire,
day ? Fortresses reputed impregnable and here we must note that the conditions
have been captured through an unsus- to-day are not quite what they have been
pected entry before Wolfe scaled the
; in the past. The frontiers are not, as they
Heights of Abraham, Quebec seemed were, exclusively oceanic. In the eigh-
secure against any possible attack. The teenth century, the possession of America
chances that an attempt to invade Great and India depended entirely upon sea-
Britain would result only in the annihila- power when English supremacy on the
;

tion of the invader appear to be no less sea was decisively established, her rivals'
overwhelming than in the past but the ; successes in either continent could only be
condition of security is vigilance, as temporary.
the condition of successful attack is But now the advance of Russia in
secrecy. Central Asia has made possible a conflict
It can only be said that there is no which would have to be fought out on
present sign either that vigilance is lacking land ;and although the idea of a war
or that the secret concentration of an with the United States is scarcely less
invading force The historic
is possible. unnatural than that of a civil
Britain's ^g^j.^ ^j^g possibility, howevet
position is Now, as always, it
unaltered.
Place among 1 ,ii_ • j.-
is the fleet which makes invasion impos- remote, mvolves the question
the Powers
sible. Now, as always, a Continental of the defence of the Canadian
army operating in the country would not frontier. The conditions of British rule

5422
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME
in India demand the presence, under all Kingdom was cleared, in the eyes of its
circumstances, of a large white garrison neighbours, of the charge of fluctuating
within the peninsula. At the present time, between peace-at-any-price and blatant
indeed, nothing is less likely than a war jingoism. The Japanese War deprived
with Russia, except a war with the United Russian aggression of its immediate terrors,
States ; but either contingency would and the political reformation of Turkey
seem to call for military operations, as which astonished the world in igo8 mini-
distinct from naval, on a much larger mised the danger of an Anglo-Rusgian
scale than Britain has ever been involved quarrel over the Eastern Question. Hence
in previous to the great European War. English relations with the great Slav
As concerns Europe itself, as with the Power became most cordial. With France
defence of England herself, the historic England has reached a happy stage in
position holds. Any conceivable com- which the respective spheres of interest
bination Powers would hesitate to
of of thetwo nations have become so
challenge her by sea combined fleets ; definitely dehmited that no rational
have always proved even more difficult cause of quarrel arising is imagin-
to handle successfully than combined able, and a friendliness of feeling has
armies. But no Power would be greatly been developed which is . the best
perturbed by the prospect of a British possible safeguard against a sentimental
invasion. explosion.
The British alliance to-day, as in the Within its own United
borders, the
past, would be coveted where British Kingdom presents complex
a singular
subsidies would be desirable the aid of ; of nationalities. The Englishman,
British fleets would be useful, or the the Irishman, the Scot, and the Welsh-
hostility of British fleets would be feared ;
man, are each of them emphatic in
not for the sake of the battalions that asserting their distinct nationahty, though
could take the field. It is to be re- the Englishman is somewhat apt to over-
marked, however, that the mere fact of look the claim on the part of the other
British naval ascendancy is, and always has three when they are acting in conjun-
been, a source of irritation it is probable ;
tion with him,and credits their vices
that all Europe would regard any perma- to themselves, and their virtues to their
nent enlargement of her military organi- Enghsh connection. Except in the case of
sation as indicating not a defensive, but Wales, the distinction is historical rather
an aggressive intent, precisely as she than racial, for is not more
the Irish Kelt
was disposed to interpret the expansion emphatically Irish than are the descen-
of the German Navy. Britain is so dants of Norman, English, or
Britain's
free from aggressive desires that she
Complex
Scottish Settlers ; and the Scot
can hardly believe such charges to be Nationalities of the as much a
Lowlands is

made in good faith ; nevertheless, foreign Sassenach to the Highlander


nations find it exceedingly difficult to as the Englishman. England, wealthier,
believe that she has annexed so large a more fertile, more populous, if not larger
proportion of the globe merely in self- in actual area than the other three put
defence. together, has been the " predominant
Up to 1914, however, thanks largely to partner " ever since partnership of any
the consistency of a foreign policy, which kind exis'od but a difference in her
;

was maintained without regard to party historic relations with the three remains
for a quarter of a century, the United apparent at the present day. Scotland,
5423
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


an independent state for centuries, would make the establishment of the English
which successfully defeated repeated land-tenure a quite futile course. What is
attempts to subdue her, voluntarily justice from the tenant's point of view, is
joined England to form the single state of robbery from the landlord's ;and the
Great Britain, in 1707, under guarantees solution England offers is to impose upon
that her national institutions should not be both what she considers justice, and Irish-
altered. She has so far, at least, remained men do not. The solution offered by the
in the position of managing her own great majority of Irishmen is that they
concerns that it is recognised should settle the matter for themselves with-
What Wales
^ impracticable to introduce —
out English intervention that the " dis-
t ""r A material modifications with- tinctive treatment" should be controlled
fro^ iLDsiand
I

Q^t the assent of the majority by the Irish democracy, not by the English.
of her representatives in the Commons. The abstract justice of this claim appeals
Wales, treated to some extent as a the more readily to the foreign spectator,
subject province from the conquest by because under the existing conditions it
Edward I. till the accession to the English appears that, unlike the position of Scot-
throne of a Welshman in the person of land and Wales, the wishes of the Irish
Henry Tudor, in 1485, has formed an —
democracy that is, of the majority of
integral part of England since her admis- their parliamentary representatives — are
sion to full parliamentary representation apt to influence the judgment of the
in the reign of Henry VHI., but of recent majority at Westminster in inverse pro-
years has been claiming distinctive treat- —
portion to their intensity unless the Irish
ment on the ground that her people are happen to hold the balance between the
distinct from the English in race, customs, two great parliamentary parties. The
predilections, and to some extent language, process, however, of extending large
the Welsh tongue being still in popular use. powers of self-government to local bodies
The Irish position differs from that of the has recently been applied, in the hope that
Scots or Welsh. Nominally subject to the _ - . it may remove the urgency of
English Crown since the reign of Henry U., * demands for a separate legisla-
D "d f
It may be affirmed with
"^
Ireland was treated for centuries as a „ p 1
ture.
subject province in which English law was satisfaction that the virulence of
more or less enforced spasmodically, and popular Irish hostility to the Government
English government could hardly be has greatly abated, though the same can
described as definitely established till the probably not be said of the persistence of
beginning of the seventeenth century. the demand for Home Rule just as the per-
;

Before that time, and still more afterwards, sonal hostility between English and Irish
large appropriations of the soil to Protestant Members of Parliament has disappeared.
English and Scottish settlers, coupled with In any case, it seems certain that the
the political disabilities attaching to Roman increasing congestion of work in the

Catholicism the creed of four- fifths of the Imperial Parliament will make it more and

population kept the bulk of the people in more necessary for parts of that work to
constant hostility to the Government be delegated to local bodies, and it is not
which was intensified by the tyrannical use improbable that a solution of this difficulty
of their power by the Protestant oligarchy will ultimately be found in the recognition
through the greater part of the eighteenth of Nationalist — —
not Separatist aspirations
century. The Act of Union in 1800 by the establishment of Nationalist legisla-
theoretically placed Ireland on an equal tures with limited powers, insubordination
footing with England and Scot- to the Imperial Parliament. The practical
Ireland's
land in the United Kingdom, difficulties of evolving such a scheme are,
Place in
but the maintenance of the however, so great that there is no present
the Union
Catholic disabilities for another prospect of such a change being introduced.
quarter of a century intensified the hostility The political party in the Imperial
between the Catholic peasantry and the Parliament, which, under the leadership
Protestant landlord class. Hence English of Mr. Gladstone, committed itself to
and Irish agree in recognising the necessity approval of the abstract principle of
of distinctive treatment for Ireland, but Home Rule for Ireland, was retarded from
from fundamentally different points of view. taking active steps towards its realisation
For the securing of justice as between by the consciousness that such plans as
landlord and tenant the economic conditions had hitherto been formulated might create
54«4
TYPES OF BRITISH BATTLESHIPS
In this and the following pages we give a series of drawings illustrating
the leading types of vessels which constitute the strength of the British
Navy, including those of the much discussed " Dreadnought " class.

5425
5426
>-
>
<
X
o
Z
<

d
z
D
O
OS
O
UJ

O
u.

^ CO

i CO
'

UJ
I
^
5
> U
^
I
CO

5427
IMPROVED TYPE OF SUBMARINE, SHOWING FULL HEIGHT OUT OF THE WATER

SUBMARINES ATTACKING A WARSHIP WITH DUMMY-HEADED TORPEDOES

A No. 2 SUBMARINE OF THE HOLLAND TYPE


THE SUBMARINE IN NAVAL WARFARE
Photofi : Cocens and Stephen Crihb

5428

THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME
fresh causes of friction no less serious than even the king in Parliament can alter the
those they were designed to remove ;
course of the succession. The constitutional
while the demand for "Home Rule all struggles have been fought round the
round " had not hitherto been expressed question how far the Crown can act in-
by any portion of the electorate. The dependently of Parliament, by prerogative,
conception of the empire as a congeries of and sometimes how far Parliament can act
self-governing states, associated into feder- independently of the Crown.
ated groups according to their geographical —
The king in Parliament the Crown and
^i
The .T .. position, having as their apex
United. ^ r r j x iu

the two Houses of Parliament are the ulti-
j,. .
i
.or formal bond union the
of mate authority. For the sake of brevity we
^^^^n and the Imperial Parlia- shall use the term " Parliament " for this
the^Future*
ment, in which all shall be complete body, speaking of the Crown and

represented this conception has not yet the Houses when its component parts are
passed from the theorists to the practical referred to distinctively. The Houses would
politicians. If ever it does so, it may be be fully described as the House of Peers
assumed that the United Kingdom will be and the House of the Representatives of
transformed into one of the federated the Commons, the latter being alterna-
groups, like the Dominion of Canada or the tively spoken of as "the Representative
Commonwealth of Australia. House," or " the Commons." While
At the present day, however, the United Parliament is the ultimate authority, it
Kingdom has one Parliament only and ; discharges directly only a part of the
the Parliament of the United Kingdom sovereign functions. Moreovei, Parliament
is also the Imperial Parliament—that is to itself is subjected to a certain degree ot
say, that in conjunction with the Crown external control, partly because the mem-

not independently of it it is legally recog- bers of the Representative Chamber are
nised as the ultimate sovereign authority, dependent on the electorate for the con-
not only in the United Kingdom, but tinuity of their membership, partly from
throughout the empire. Whatsoever is done _ ^ . the influence of a pubHc
or ordained by the authority of the king »""""" opinion which may be ex-
/l
of the House ,
, i.u -i j.
in Parliament is lawfully done, and is legally , _
j.
ternal even to the electorate.
i.

of v/omraons t->, , -n u -a. j.


Thus, members will hesitate to
j.
binding in every portion of the empire
to which the ordinance applies. By this take in the House a line which will endanger
authority every colony or dependency of their seats at a general election an d a steady
,

the empire has received its present con- demand for the franchise by a solid body of
stitution, and might lawfully be deprived persons excluded from the electorate is toler-
of it, just as by the same authority ably certain to be met if its existence is really
murder might be legalised and playing indubitable. Of the three powers v^fhich,
bridge be elevated into a capital offence. united, makeup Parliament, the Commons' '

Its own commonsense and the moral House is theoretically predominant.


sense of the community set a practical limit The electorate h^s for half a century
to its powers commonsense forbids it to
; been constructed on a democratic basis.
exercise those powers in a manner opposed The House of Commons expresses the will
to the spirit of the constitution —
it will be of the electorate. The Peers and the Crown
in no hurry to repeat the blunder which must yield to the emphatically expressed
gave birth to the United States of America ;
will of the Commons, as also must the
but the law sets no limit and recognises Executive which is responsible to Parlia-
none. Such authority has always in Eng- ment though not directly conducted hy it.
. . land been recognised as residing
. That is the theory which locates the effec-
ofVin'^* Tnd
^^ ^^^ Crown and the National tive sovereignty of the United Kingdom
Parliament
^^^"cil, whether that Council with the democracy a theory which does
;

was the Saxon Witan, the not cdtogether correspond with the facts.
Magnum Concilium of the Normans and In theory, again, the British Constitu-
early Plantagenets, or the Parliament in tion has these two leading characteristics :

which the Commons appeared by their it distributes political power between


representatives. The authority of king the Crown, the aristocracy, and the
and Council acting together has never been people ; and it separates the exercise of
in dispute except by doctrinaire maintainers the three functions of sovereignty, the
of the divine and inalienable right of legislative, the administrative, and the
succession to the throne, who deny that judicial; while the necessary unity is

5429
LORD CHARLES BERESFORD SIR WILLIAM MAY
LEADING ADMIRALS OF THE BRITISH NAVY Ifi OUR OWN TIME
Photos: RuHcU. Dinham, Gale and Polden, and Russell, Soathsea

5430
— ;

THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME


secured bj' enabling the people in the long property and when the advanced party
;

run to dominate the Crown and the has a majority in the Commons, it has to
aristocracy, and the legislature to dominate reckon on the consistent antagonism of
the Executive and the Judiciary, The the great majority of peers to its projects.
people, it must be observed, means in At the same time, the House of Com-
any case only that portion, large or mons has lost its preponderance in Parlia-
small, of the whole community which ment. That preponderance was won
composes the electorate. from the Crown in virtue of the power of
The relative political weight of the Crown, the people it was assured as
;
e ower
the aristocracy, and the people, has varied peers so long as it
j^^g^jj^g^ ^j^g
of the House ° n-• ui 2.
very greatly with a general tendency to ^^^ practically possible to
f L
;
d
reduce first the preponderance of the Crown, bring pressure on the Crown for
which the Normans established, then the the creation of a sufficient number of peers
preponderance of the aristocracy, and then to convert a party minority into a party
to acquire a preponderance for the Com- majority. The mere threat to do so was
mons. It maybe said that for two hundred effective when the peers were a sufficiently
years the Crown has exercised not control, patrician body to feel that their social,
but only influence, greater or less according even more than their political, character
to the monarch's personality. The actual would be lost by the creation of forty
control vanished when a German king new peers. The creation of forty peers
of Great Britain found that his position would hardly affect the character of the
depended on the good will of a party over —
House to-day neither would it affect the
whose discussions his linguistic deficiencies party majority. To swamp the majority
made it impossible for him to preside. The would involve swamping the House, and
preponderance remained with the aris- would make the constitution of the Second
tocracy, because a large proportion of seats Chamber an absurdity. Hence, that
in the representative chamber was virtually method of compulsion could only be
in the gift of peers, although applied by a party determined either to
Relations of
^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ Commons abolish the second chamber or to construct
''^^"^'^ "'"'"^ "^^^^^^ *^^" it de novo on a basis already specified and
o fVrrn"menr
ar lamea
^^^ House of Lords. This accepted. On the other hand, the still older
ascendancy of the aristocracy disappeared method by which the House of Commons
with the Reform Act of 1832, which created —
enforced its will ^the refusal of supplies
a new antagonism between the Houses was efficacious only when the Commons
which has continually been intensified with were in opposition to the administration.
the democratising of the Commons. The effect is that the House of Lords can
The character, h9wever, of both Houses refuse to pass any measures distasteful to
has been so materially modified since that it, however emphatically endorsed by the

date that our conceptions of the character Commons, until it feels that its refusal will
of Parliament —
^largely derived from Burke ensure the decisive support of the electorate
— ^require readjustment. Exponents of to a specific measure for its abolition or
the constitution, so recent even as Walter reconstruction. Whereas it can always
Bagehot, wrote before the democratic count on the existence of a very strong
forces called into play by the second predisposition, in the electorate, in favour
Reform Act had had time to show how of a Second Chamber of some sort, a con-
they would operate. Until then the weight servative preference for the maintenance
of the electorate had still been controlled therein at least of an aristrocratic or
by the propertied classes, and though the hereditary element, and a dis-
peers had lost their pocket boroughs, a 5° *" tracting° division of opinion
of the House . .

large minority among them was still in among


,

- reconstructors as to a
p
accord with the advanced party in the practicable basis of reconstruc-
House of Commons. But that Reform Act, tion. Human ingenuity would never have
that " leap in the dark," has made that deliberately devised such a second chamber
advanced party much more advanced than as the House of Peers but it has the
;

it was before, since the electorate is no enormous advantage of being a natural


longef dominated by the propertied classes; growth, not deliberately devised at all
a fraction only of the peers is in sympathy and to dispossess it would be an experi-
with it, since its principles involve con- ment in constitution-making from which
siderable modifications in the theory of the political genius of the people of the
345 5431
a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


United Kingdom has an intense aversion. appointed by the Crown as the head, the
Thus, the constitutional position which Crown acting through Ministers. But the
the United Kingdom has reached to-day will of the people is expressed through
would seem to be this The House of Com- ParUament. Before the " glorious revolu-
mons —as we
:

presently see ^has a


shall — tion " of 1688 the king might, and very often
control over administration, and the peers, did, choose Ministers who were antagonistic
as a House, have none. The peers cannot to Parliament, and Parliament could get
carry legislation against the Commons but : rid of them only by the process of im-

T e eers a
they can set the legislative peachments, or by refusing supplies —
desires of the Commons at double-edged weapon at the best of times.
Check on Hasty
^^f^ ^^ j ^3 ^j^g ^O The problem was to secure harmony
Legislation ^ -i i_ iu 1
not thereby rouse the elec- between Parliament and the administra-
torate to an overwhelming determination tion ; which, in effect, meant the majority
to be rid of them at any price. They fulfil of the House of Commons and the admin-
the theoretical function of a Second istration. The solution was found in the
Chamber as a check on hasty legislation, selection of Ministers exclusively from the
but only when the legislation is democratic, party which had a majority in the
not when it is reactionary. Whether, and Commons and the actual selection was
;

when, the democracy will discover a satis- very soon transferred, on the accession
factory solution of the problem thus pre- of the Hanoverians, from, the Crown to
sented is becoming a somewhat acute the chief of the dominant party. The
question but it can only be said that no
; Crown, indeed, continued to exercise, on
solution hitherto propounded has com- occasion, the technical right of declining
manded anything more than the doubtful the services of cHstasteful Ministers and
acquiescence of any large body of reformers. of placing the selection in the hands of
In the legislative capacity of Parliament someone who was not the recognised
which we have had under consideration, leader of the majority but in practice that
;

the third element, the Crown, has ceased technical right was gradually
o ectiye
to have more than a formal importance. eUminated. The principle had
esponsi^i 1 y
The technical right of veto remains in the ^jj-g^^^^y j^gg^^ established that
of the Cabinet .,. •
.-'
,, ,
background, but no one imagines that it Mimsters themselves were
will ever be exercised, unless conceivably personally responsible for their acts,
in the case of some flagrant violation of and could not take shelter behind orders
constitutional practice by the Houses ^in — from the Crown and the further prin-
;

itself a sufficiently improbable event. ciple was gradually established that the
We come now to the relations between whole group of Ministers are responsible
Parliament, the Judiciary, and the Execu- for the acts of each individual Minister, a
tive. The Judiciary need not detain us system expressed by the phrase "collective
long. The judges became independent two responsibility of the Cabinet."
hundred years ago. A general guarantee of It became the practice that Ministers
fitness is provided by the fact that they are should be selected from members of one or
removable on an address to the Crown by other of the Houses of ParUament, in which
both Houses, but their independence is connection it is curious to note that there
secured by the corresponding fact that it was for a long time a dislike to their ap-
is only on such an address that they are pointment from among the Commons, on
removable. Their appointment rests the ground that, as the king's servants,
nominally with the Crown, actually with they would exercise a dangerous monarch-
„ , the Crown's legal advisers, and ical influence in the House. It required
How Jtiuff£s.

* security agamst grossly partisan an extended experience to show that their


*" appointments is assured by membership of the House increased the
,/ ^
^
. .
Appointed „,. .1 i_ i

the presumption that such- power of the House itself instead of


appointments would provoke retaliation. curtailing its independence.
The real seat of the Government of the The group of the principal ^.inisters
country is to be found only by examining selected by the chief formed the confi-
the relations between the Parliament and dential committee, which came to be
the Executive, in " party " and "cabinet" known as the Cabinet, meeting in secret
government, affecting legislation as well conclave to decide the course of the policy
as administration. The whole administra- which is to be adopted and the legislative
tion is controlled by officers technically measures which are to be submitted to
543a
— , —
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN OUR OWN TIME
Parliament. There is no technical bar, it general accord with the wishes of his
may be remarked, to the initiation of party ; and so
far it is true that the
legislation which does not emanate from Ministry or Cabinet, the executive body,
the Cabinet, but such legislation has very is appointed by the House of Commons
little prospect of being carried unless the. meaning thereby the pohtical party which
Cabinet choose to adopt it as a Govern- commands a majority in that House. Yet
ment measure so that practically and
; the real control of the House over the
normally the initiative lies with Ministers. administration is limited. The system
In a sense, however, the control of
Th S t ^'^ ^^ workable only on the basis of
Ministers lies with the House of Commons, ^^^^^ government, the hypo-
of Party
because if it is dissatisfied with their ^ thesis. that there are two
uovernment
conduct, it cari demand their resignation mam parties, to one or other of,
, . .
,

such a demand formulated by the House of which all minor groups will attach them-
Lords would either be ignored or met by selves with some consistency. It is pos-
an appeal to the Commons for a vote of sible under the system for a Ministry to
confidence. It has not hitherto been carry a series of measures, no one of which
admitted that a Ministry supported by has the actual approval of an actual
the representative Chamber can be dis- majority of members. If one of those
missed by the peers but it could not
; measures is defeated, the Ministry will
venture to defy an adverse vote in the resign, and the Opposition will assume
Commons, since, inter alia, Ministers are the government. A group of members
human enough not to be anxious to retain who dislike one measure but are bent on
office they are deprived of salaries. On
if a second, will give their support to the
the other hand, the Crown, though having first rather than have the second shelved
the .technical authority to dismiss a by the resignation of the Cabinet. Another
Minister or a whole Ministry, would not group will reverse the process and the ;

venture fo do so without being absolutely Government will successfully carry both


sure that its action would be measures, though each would have been lost
*" * endorsed by an early appeal to if the reluctant supporters of the Govern-
»,.

Resigns
the electorate. In practice. ment had given their votes exclusively on
therefore, it is to the Commons the merits of the particular measure.
that Ministers are responsible, and the What is true of the House of Commons
Commons have the power of dismissal. Up is still more true of the electorate. The
to a certain point it is the Commons, also, electorate chooses its party, not its specific
that have the power of appointment. An measures. Trie prospect of Tariff Reform
adverse yote in the Commons on a funda- or of Local Option, of Land Reform or of
mental question will compel Ministers an Education Bill, may decide which party
either to resign or to advise a dissolution. shall predominate in Parliament but the ;

In the former case the retiring chief electorate does not endorse beforehand all
recommends the Crown to " send for " the measures which that party may see fit
the official leader of the Opposition, to adopt before another General Election.
who holds that position by the choice of Different projects may be the decisive
his party, which now is presumably factors in the choice of different constitu-
on the hypothesis that the House is com- encies which unite to bring the same party

posed of two parties in a majority, or can into power and it is possible that neither
;

command at least the provisional support project has the direct approval of a majority
of a majority. In the second case, the of constituencies, or of a majority of mem-
Ministry remains in office till it meets

_. , . bers, and may yet both be part of
ecisive
with an adverse vote in the new Parlia- ^j^g avowed programme of the
ac ors a
ment, when it will resign, and a new Ministers whom the victorious
Elections n j. •

Ministry will be formed by the leader


i.
party will support in passing
of the Opposition. In either case the both. It may be noted in passing that the
Minister who constructs the Cabinet is the resignation of the Cabinet does not
man' whom the party which commands a necessarily involve the formation of a
majority has chosen as its leader. If he Ministry from the Opposition. If it is the
does ..not command a majority, he will outcome of dissensions within the Cabinet,
accept office only with a view to an early the leader of the revolt, or someone in
dissolution. The Minister will construct sympathy with the revolt, may be given
his Cabinet, and select his colleagues, in the opportunity of reconstructing the
543.^
INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. AS SEEN FROM THE THRONE

INTERIOR OF THE CHAMBER, LOOKING TOWARDS THE THRONE


GREAT BRITAIN'S UPPER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT
5434
INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE. LOOKING TOWARDS THE STRANGERS GALLERY

INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE, LOOKING TOWARDS THE SPEAKERS CHAIR

SCENES IN THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS


5435
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Government. But the fundamental fact is and an untravelled attorney in charge of
that the House of Commons will not India or the Colonies. Experience teaches
formally attack Government measures or that the practice has very high merits,
-administration merely because it dis- but it is supremely paradoxical.
approves in particulars, so long as it sees The second point is that the whole
in the defeat of Ministers the prospect only system rests on the theory that one or
of an alternative Government, of which other of two parties can always com-
it disapproves more strongly in general. mand a majority in the Commons. Yet
„ Hence we arrive, not at there is nothing in the nature of things to
p ar * the predominance of the ensure that this shall always be the case
y ys em
;

j^Q^gg ^f Qommons aS a on the contrary, a third party has been in


whole, nor exactly at a pre- existence for many years, and once at least
dominance of the Cabinet, but at a balance neither of the two great parties could have
between the Cabinet and the majority conducted the Government while the third
of the party from which it is drawn. party refused its support. A fourth party
Unless some such vital question arises has already come definitely into existence ;
as Home Rule or Tariff Reform, the it can no longer be regarded as in any way
minorities of the party will support the certain that one party will be able to
majority, and the majority will support command a majority of the House.
the Cabinet. The Cabinet can go its own It will be necessary for two, or possibly
way so long as the threat of resignation for three of the parties to come to
will keep its majority solid ; but the terms of alliance, and the programme,
Cabinet cannot defy a majority which is or part of the programme, of a small
ready to demand its resignation if it does minority may be forced on Ministers as
so. But beyond the House of Commons the condition on which their own par-
there is the House of Lords, which can ticular programme can be carried through.

render the legislation though not the Our point is that democratisation seems

administration nugatory so long as it ... to tend of itself to the multi-
ri ain s
does not endanger its own existence by so pjjcation of parties, and the
"^
doing. The peers have been not infre- th^V'^t'
multiplication of parties tends
quently threatened, but threatened men to produce legislative deadlock
live long. It cannot well be maintained in and extreme instability of administration.
the circumstances as expounded that a And it appears at the present moment by
supremacy can be definitely located. no means improbable that the group of
The will of the majority of the House questions here indicated may be rendered
of Commons is not necessarily, at least in additionally complicated at an early date
particulars, that of the electorate. The by the appearance of the women's franchise
vote of the majority does not necessarily in the spiiere of practical politics.
express the wish even of that majority. Nevertheless, we may take heart of
The Cabmet is powerless unless it can grace, Britain's political constitution has
command that vote, and the vote itself always and everywhere presented an
may be rendered nugatory by the peers. abundance of paradoxes and inconsisten-
It may be seen that the system is cies, which ought by rule to have prevented
decidedly remote from any logical ideal, progress by locking the machinery yet
;

and this will be further emphasised by two the machinery has never been brought to
considerations. The first of these is the a standstill, nor have the works been kept
structure of the Cabinet, which conducts going by destroying the old machinery to
administration. The logician replace it with a brand-new article. It
Paradoxes
would set an expert at the head Has always been found possible to adapt
in the State
^ . . of each Department of state
Departments ,, ^ the old machinery to the new work it had
, j
the system provides m
• i
each a to do and we may confidently expect
;

board of expert advisers, but sets at the that the process of adaptation will con-
head someone who, as often as not, is tinue, the machinery will still work with
entirely without experience in the work out revolutionary reconstruction, and the
of that department. There may be a population of these islands will not cease
bookseller at the Admiralty, a meta- yet awhile to hold a foremost place among
physician at the War Office, a war- the free nations of the world, of which
correspondent at the Board of Trade, a nations not a few will be the brothers of
country gentleman in charge of Finance, the British Empire. A. D. Innes
5436
The Prime Minister, Mr. H. H. Asquith, introducing tlu- Home Rule Bill in the Session of 1914,

LATER EVENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM


THE preceding chapter has explained was their common practice to reject, or
the working methods of the British revise drastically, important Bills sent up
Imperial Parliament here we may rightly
; by a Liberal Ministry. It was in vain
sketch the application of those methods to that Liberal peers were created in large
certain problems in recent years. The numbers from 1830 to 1909 by every
relations of the House of Commons and Liberal Prime Minister with but few —
the House of Lords had long been unsatis- exceptions the receipt of a peerage sent the
factory when a Liberal Government was in recipient over to the Conservatives. In
power, for the simple reason that while 1909 a crisis was reached when the House
the Lords invariably passed any Govern- of Lords rejected the Finance Bill, which
ment Bill when Conservatives held office, it Mr. Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the
5437

'HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Exchequer, had seen safely through the two Houses, and on the failure of these con-
Commons. Now questions of national
all ferences Mr. Asquith again appealed to the
finance were from of old in England the country at a General Election December, —
spe^mli province of the House of Commons, —
1910 and was once more returned to
and' to" admit the right of the Lords to power, this time with a coalition majority
interfere' in any way with financial mea- of 122. The Parliament Bill was at once,
sures seertied to the Liberals a dangerous in 191 1, re-introduced and passed through
precedent'. SThe House of Lords rejected the House of Commons, and in August the

the:Finance Bill on the ground Lords accepted it, Lord Morley formerly —
General
Election
of its- revolutionary character —
Mr. John Morley announcing that if the
on November 30th, 1909, and Bill was rejected " his Majesty would
I9I0
Mr. Asquith appealed to the assent to the creation of peers sufficient in
country early in January, 1910, at a numbers to guard against any possible
General Election. The result of this combination of the different parties in
election brought the Liberals back with — opposition by which the Bill might again
their allies the Irish Nationalists and the be exposed to defeat."

Labour party with a maiority of 124 To preserve the Upper House from the
over the Conservatives the main issues
; addition of 500 new Liberal members, the
of the election having been the Lords' Conservatives agreed to let the Bill pass,
veto over House of Commons Bills and though it meant an end to their long
Mr, Lloyd George's Budget while the
; exercised veto over Liberal legislation.
Conservatives had put forward Tarift The full effects of this Parliament Bill were
Reform as a counter programme. In not seen May, 1914, when both the
till
April Mr. Asquith brought in his Parlia- Home Rule (for Ireland) Bill and the Welsh
ment Bill for the restriction of the veto of Disestablishment Bill passed through the
the House of Lords. By this bill the House of Commons for the third time, and
House of Lords was disabled from re- were sent to the Lords in the knowledge
jecting or amending any financial measure that their by that
rejection
Lords'
sent up from the Commons, and it further House could no
longer delay
Veto
declared that any Bill that had passed the their passage
into law. Thus
Ended
House of Commons in three successive the Home Rule Bill and the Bill
Sessions, and had been sent up to the Lords for the Disestablishment of the Church in
at least one month before the end of each Wales, after a delay of twenty years from
Session, having been rejected by the Lords the time of their first acceptance by the
in each of these Sessions, should become House of Commons, were ensured a place on
law without the consent of the House of the Statute Book. This bill for the Dises-
Lords on the Royal Assent being declared, tablishment of the Church in Wales was a
" provided that at least two years shall measure for dispossessing the Church of
have elapsed between the date of the first England of its property in the Welsh
introdudtion of the Bill in the House of —
speaking counties while leaving the actual
Commons and the date on which it passes ecclesiastical buildings to their present
the House of Commons for the third time." occupiers and making provision for present
The Bin also limited the duration of Parlia- —
incumbents and placing that property
ment to five years. The death of King in the hands of the secular and local
Edward VII., in May, 1910, and the authorities. As the majority of the Welsh
accession of George V., had a moderating members of Parliament had for over twenty
intiuence on the dispute, for the leaders on years been advocates of this disestablish-
both sides were averse from in- ment, and as the Nonconformists in Wales
**
volving the new King in a grave were a particularly active body in politics,
V.A a VII
constitutional controversy be- the Liberals, on their principle of respect-
*
fore he was fairly settled on the ing the rights of nationalities, felt obliged
throne. Conferences took place between to pass such a measure. If there was but
Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Birrell, little enthusiasm for Welsh Disestablish-
and Lord Crewe representing the Liberals, ment outside the ranks of Liberal Non-
and Mr. A. Chamberlain, Mr. Balfour, Lord conformists, there was still less interest in
Cawdor, and Lord Lansdowne representing the opposition to the proposal, save
the Conservatives, in the summer and amongst members of the Church of
autumn of 1910, with a view to arriving England. The passing of the Home Rule
at some basis of agreement between the Bill did not promise a final settlement of

5438
LATER EVENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
the Irish question. For in 1912 that spend a portion of their funds
ditions, to
section of the Ulster population which is on —
purposes an expenditure
political
aggressively Protestant and violently hos- deemed illegal by certain judges a few
tile to the Roman Catholicism of the years earlier.
majority of the rest of Ireland began a The question of Parliamentary votes
vigorous campaign against Home Rule. for women, which had been discussed from
Led by Sir Edward Carson, M.P., a dis- time to time with academic interest since
tinguished lawyer, the Ulster Unionists John Stuart Mill's advocacy in 1870,
signed a covenant, of September 28, 1912, suddenly became acute shortly
that they would not recognise an Irish ** ** after the return of the Liberals
.

Parliament if it were established in Dublin.


^ to power in 1906. By con-
Although the Government asserted they siderable majorities a Women's
had taken every precaution in the Suffrage Bill passed the House of Com-
drafting of the Home Rule Bill tb ensure mons in 1910, 1911, and 1912, but on each
protection of a Protestant m.inority from occasion the Government refused to allow
possible hardships at the hands of an Irish any facilities for the further progress of
Parliament with a Catholic majority, and the measure, Mr. Asquith announcing
while both Mr. Asquith and Mr. John that a Reform Bill would shortly be
Redmond, the leader of the Irish Nation- introduced by the Government and that
alists, expressed a willingness to meet the such a bill could be amended by a women's
demands of the Ulster Unionists, Sir suffrage clause. When this Reform Bill
Edward Carson and the covenanters con- was about to be introduced, in January,
tinued their campaign, and organised a 1913, the Speaker stated that such an
large body of volunteers for the purpose of amendment would be out .of order, and
resisting by force of arms all attempts at the Reform Bill was dropped. While the
coercion. In this declaration of forcible great body of supporters of women's
resistance they were supported by the suffrage continued to conduct their agita-
EngUsh Conservatives, but the tion on strictly constitutional lines, a
Thc
Liberal Government ignored comparatively small but extremely des-
Ulster
the enrolling and drilling of perate society, known as the Women's
Covenant
Ulster volunteers until May, Social and Political Union, led by Mrs.
1914, when the landing and distribution of Pankhurst and her daughter. Miss Chris-
a large quantity of arms for these volun- tabel Pankhurst, adopted what were
teers convinced Mr. Asquith that the cove- called " militanr" tactics. These tactics
nanters were in earnest in their determina- consisted at first in deputations to Parlia-
tion to resist the authority of an Irish ment, which were refused admission, and
Parhament in DubUn. In order to avoid resulted in many hundreds of women
any violent disturbance in Ireland and being sent to prison. In 1911 and 1912
to prevent the possibility of civil war, Mr. window smashing, first at Government
Asquith, though he denounced the impor- offices and then at important West End
tation of arms as an outrage, not only shops, were carried out. In 1913 and 1914
refrained from all prosecution of Sir the attack on private property was ex-
Edward Carson and from all attempts to tended, and empty mansions, racecourse
interfere with the drilling of the Ulster stands, and other erections were burnt to
volunteers, but promised that before the the ground.
Home Rule Bill became law an Amending The chief difficulty in the way of
Bill should be introduced for the purpose women's suffrage becoming law was the
of allowing those counties of Ulster that opposition of Mr. Asquith to
The While the
desired to be exempted from the authority the
,, proposal.
"Militant
of the Irish Parliament to contract out of majority of the Liberal and
Campaign
Home Rule. Besides Home Rule and Labour parties supported the
Welsh Disestablishment the Liberal claim for the Parliamentary enfranchise-
Government was responsible for an Act —
ment of women a claim also supported
passed in 191 1 setting up for the first by many Conservatives, including Mr.
time in Great Britain a system of national Balfour —
the Liberal Prime Minister
insurance, and, in addition to a large remained its steadfast opponent, and
number of other laws enacted since 1910, the loyalty of his followers prevented
the House of Commons passed a bill their pressing for legislation in the
allowing trade unions, under certain con- matter.
5439

\
5440

aiTHE BRITISH EMPIRE*!


FROM EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY
ITS EFFECT ON WORLD HISTORY
By Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G.
THE EMPIRE IN THE MAKING AND THE
WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF TWO CENTURIES
DEFORE considering in detail the evolu- This early and generalised type of
*-' tion of the British Empire, and the humanity, which some anthropologists
effect of that empire on the British people think should be classified as a separate
and on the world at large, it may be as well species of humanity, was, at any rate, near
to glance at the elements which have the basic stock of Homo sapiens before
formed the present tribes of English and this last became differentiated into the
Keltic-speaking people of Great Britain ^"^S'^O) Mongol, or Caucasian
M f th
and Ireland, who from the point of view . sub-species. The Man of Nean-
J,"^

of the extent, population, wealth, and g . derthal, I believe, bore a strong


civilisation of their empire in Europe, resemblance to the lower types
America, Asia and Africa have been up to of black Australians of to-day, and these
the present the first among ruling races. last offer considerable analogies in skull
The people now inhabiting the British form and in culture to the early
Islands are, so far as mvestigations go palaeolithic men of Britain. Whether
in history, archaeology and palaeontology, man continuously inhabited the British
the result of many layers of humanity, peninsulas during the changes of climate
belonging in the main to the white, which marked the Pleistocene period, with
or Caucasian, sub-species, which have its glacial interludes of Polar conditions,
inhabited England, Wales, Scotland and is not yet clearly established. The recur-
Ireland for the last hundred thousand ring cycles of extreme cold which covered
years or so. Man, of a Neanderthaloid Scotland, Northern England, and the
type, that is to say, a creature resembling greater part of Ireland with an ice sheet
most, of all existing races, the black may have killed out the Australoid
Australians or the Veddahs of Ceylon, men of the Early Stone Age or these ;

probably entered England when Great latter may have gradually accustomed
Britain, and even Ireland, were eccentric- themselves to the cold and have survived
ally shaped peninsulas attached to more genial conditions.
The First
by isthmuses one to the other Or the Palaeolithic people, with their
Inhabitants
and to the north of France projecting brows, retreating foreheads,
of Britain
and Belgium. A calvarium long arms and shambling legs, were per-

upper part of the skull has been exhumed haps exterminated not by climatic changes,
in Sligo, North-west Ireland, and is now but by the inrush of the fiist definitely
in the British Museum of Natural History, " white " people of the Caucasian stock.
which offers some resemblance to the These, it is surmised, were more or
Neanderthaloid crania found in Belgium, less akin to the Iberian people of Medi-
the Rhine Valley, and the Carpathians. terranean Europe, Western (and far

5441

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


North-eastern) Asia and North Africa world. Hordes of Germanic people
white men with dark hair and brown eyes. occupied England and Eastern Scotland,
Then parts of Europe, and perhaps Great coming from Scandinavia and the Western
Britain, were invaded by a round-headed and North-western parts of modern Ger-
people, probably of Asiatic origin, who many. Denmark and Norway between the
seem to have brought with them a greater ninth and thirteenth centuries must have
number and variety of domestic animals and contributed quite two millions of immi-
improved arts. Mongoloid tribes of short —
grants tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, but
„ . .heads, or long - headed also occasionally tall and dark-haired
-,. T,. J types like the Eskimo, may (from Denmark, where an anterior Iberian
1 hree Thousand "^
^
Years Ako
, ,

have reached Great


^
^ , ,


people had left its traces) to the popula-
Britain from the north-east tion of Eastern England, Eastern and
across the ice sheet, and have penetrated to Northern Scotland, the Isle of Man, and
Ireland. The Iberians of prehistoric days all the coast regions of Ireland.
probably spoke a language allied to modern The Norman Conquest brought in its
Basque or to the Berber tongues of North train and as its results several thousands
Africa. Some three or four thousand years of Frenchmen —
tinged with Norse blood.
ago the islands were conquered and over- The French kings of England, the
run from the East by the first Aryans Plantagenets, planted many colonies of
long-headed Northern Europeans, with red Flemings from Belgium, or Germans
or blond hair and blue eyes; early Kelts, from the lower Rhine also occasional
;

in fact, who grafted their Aryan speech settlers from South-west France. A few
on to the Iberian stock, and so brought into Spaniards came and remained with Philip
existence the Keltic languages of the two II. of Spain, or were stranded on these
very distinct modern branches Scoto-Irish — shores as prisoners during the wars of the
(Goidhehc), and Welsh (Brythonic). sixteenth century. Gipsies had crossed
This amalgam of people the earlier — over to England at the close of the fifteenth
tribes of which resembled very much, no century and had rapidly pene-
ri am s
. ,

doubt, the modern Ainos of Japan, the Crated, several thousand in


Lapps of Northern Europe, the Auver- number, to the wilder parts of
yft
a «ri
°'t
y
gnats of Central France, the Finns, and £g^g^ Anglia, the Welsh Border-
the modern Belgians warred, inter- — land, and Lowland Scotland, contributing
married, compromised, and co-existed in a picturesque attenuated element of the
innumerable tribes under petty chieftains, Dravidian to a populace mostly pink
quite outside the history of the civilised and white and blond-haired.

Mediterranean world though not out of In the wonderful Tudor period, the
touch with its commerce —
until some five sixteenth century, the great race move-
hundred years before Christ when the ; ments which had colonised these islands
coasts of Southern England may have ceased for a time and Britain, having
;

been reached by Phoenician trading ships, reached maturity, was ready to send
who later brought back some news of its superfluous and, above all, its ad-
Britain and even Ireland to the Greek geo- venturous sons to seek new homes and
graphers of Alexander's day and kingdom. found new nations. It is true that in
Then came
the extension of the the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Roman Empire, the invasion of England there came a few thousand French

by Caesar because the Brythonic Kelts refugees from religious persecution in- —
made common cause with their Gallo- valuable as individuals and that in

;

_, , Belgian kinsmen and the the nineteenth century there has been
t>eginning of the historical an immigration of Germans, of Jews
Invasion of
. . period in Britain. Still, the from Eastern and Northern Europe, and
J, '^^ ***
islands continued to receive, of Italians. —
These aliens ^most of them
and not to export, humanity. In the desirable, a few undesirable though not —
centuries that followed the Roman Con- reaching to the sum
total of a million,
quest a few Irish missionaries, or British still have made and will make their mark
refugees, found their way into Northern on the future type of the British popula-
France, where the Bretons constituted tion, especially in the towns. But for
the first of British colonies. But the the purposes of our survey it may be
islands of Great Britain, Ireland and Man stated that the colonisation of Great
still attracted colonists from the outer Britain and Ireland ceased at the end of
5442
— —

THE STORY OF BRITISH EXPANSION


the fifteenth century and that at this
; the period that immediately followed the
period began the wonderful outpouring extension of Roman civilisation in Britain,
of energy which was to create not only —
the Irish who, though they were never
the largest empire that the world has ever actually under the sway of Rome, had
known, but probably the biggest con- become, through the Church, one of the
geries of states under the rule of one most Romanised peoples of Western
monarch that the world will ever know —
Europe had been stirred by a strange
until the complete federation of mankind spirit of adventure, which first took the
under one earthly head is accomplished. form of missionary travels in
This resume of the race elements in the
,

,
Irel&nd
.,
Soj.ijt-« i/^
Scotland, France and Germany,
.

ea anng
British Islands has been necessary in ^^^ ^j^^^ linked on with
Pioneers t,^ ... ,.
order that we may arrive at some appre- Norse maritime discovery so ;

ciation of the type of humanity, which that from Ireland came one of the first
has conquered and colonised the British mysterious hints of a New World beyond
Empire. It is a breed retaining strains the Atlantic. It is doubtful whether
of the Iberian, even of the earliest of the the seafaring monks or fishermen of
prehistoric peoples of Northern Europe, Western Ireland ever reached the North
but is nevertheless an amalgam in which American continent, even by following
the blond Aryan type predominates; the the Norse route to the Faroes, Iceland,
type which is chiefly associated at the Greenland and Newfoundland but it ;

present day with the speaking of Low does seem possible that the Irish may
German dialects. To this group English have sailed south-westwards past the
belongs. The people who founded the coasts of Portugal to the Azores or Madeira,
British Empire in the days of the Tudors or even as far to the north-west as the
and Stuarts were mainly Teutonic and once larger island of Rockall. Their
Scandinavian in descent, though tinged more than half legendary adventures
with the Iberian in the seamen of Devon deserve mention, since they became the
and Cornwall. The British germ that inspired the English and
Founders
colonisers and adventurers Welsh raiders of the Plantagenet centuries
of the British
Empire
of the fifteenth, sixteenth, with the idea of oversea discovery.
seventeenth, and eighteenth The Danish and Norwegian invaders
centuries were almost entirely drawn from of England were colonisers of the most
Southern Scotland, England and Wales. successful type. They were looking for
Ireland during these centuries was itself a homes beyond the inclement lands of
" champ d'exploitation " on the part of the —
Scandinavia inclement under ancient
ruthless ancestors of the larger island, —
conditions and they brought to the
though occasionally in the seventeenth Anglo-Saxon civilisation of Alfred much
century some hundreds of rebellious Irish knowledge of Northern geography.
were deported to the West Indies. Through these, and through the civilised
It was not until the nineteenth century Franks of France, Alfred, the Saxon king
that the union of Ireland with England of Southern England, was linked up
however unjustly it was brought about (Rome helping) with the Byzantine Em-
threw open to the sons of Ireland all the pire and there is an actual tradition of
;

advantages of the British Empire. Since Alfred having despatched, in 883, Sighelm
then, during the nineteenth and the of Sherborne as a pilgrim, via Rome, to
first few years of the twentieth centuries, the shrine of St. Thomas, in " India."
the Irish, proportionately, have done Though Sighelm may have got no further
more in colonising the daughter states of than the Nestorian churches
ng an s
the empire and in administering India ^^ Mesopotamia, still even a
Commerce j- :i^
and the Crown colonies than the people journey xto tIndia was quite
wi•th V enic •

of Great Britain. pQggjj-)jgbefore the


jjj ^jjg (Jays
England was the first amongst the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks had
raised
arbitrary sub-national divisions of the barriers of fanaticism between Christian
now United Kingdom to think of colonis- Europe and Mohammedan Asia.
ing. This movement began after the Commerce brought the England of the
European revival of learning, known as Plantagenets into touch with Venice
the Renaissance. As already mentioned, Venice which had already revealed to
however, the English were not the first the world, through such travellers as
colonisers to leave these islands ; for in Marco Polo, the existence of Asiatic
5443

. HISTORY OF THE WORLD


kingdoms, islands and peninsulas as far Spaniards; and when, disdaining further
as China, Sumatra and Java. Venetian foreign pilotage, they started forth in their
maritime explorers turned their attention own bottoms, guided by their own naviga-
to the discovery of Ultima Thule, possibly tors and financed by their own capitalists,
as the result of some news having reached they did not for the moment turn their
Venice of the Norwegian settlements in attention to America, but devoted them-
lands across the Northern Atlantic, also selves eagerly to the West African trade.
because of the important fisheries in the As I have related in other chapters,
_ . . far North-west. In Plantagenet it was the longing for pepper, the desire
*^"^^^' ^owever, the British lust to make money by carrying slaves, and
of^MariHme
° *" *™* for conquest and colonisation finally the thirst for gold, that drew the
was slaked by the attempts British to West Africa during the reigns of
to conquer and settle Scotland, Ireland, Edward, Mary, and Ehzabeth. At first
Northern and Western France. The idea the British adventurers hired themselves
of maritime adventure did not dawn on as mariners to the Portuguese, and so
the English people till after the Wars of found out their way to the Guinea coast.
the Roses and the establishment of the Later, they would engage a Portuguese
Tudor dynasty in fact, until the very end
; as captain or supercargo. But by the
of the fifteenth century. Even then the year 1554 they were sufficiently sure of
mass of the people thought of no such themselves to undertake an all-British
thing. The impulse was first given by venture to West Africa under the com-
the far-sighted though stingy monarch, mand of Captain John Lok, with whom
Henry VII., the father-in-law of an travelled Sir George Barn and Sir John
Aragonese princess, through whose lela- York. The two ships under Captain Lok's
tions he had heard of the conquest and command visited the coast of Liberia and
settlement of the Canary Islands and reached the Gold Coast in 1555. In 1585
Madeira, and of Spanish, Portuguese, and 1588, Queen Elizabeth issued two
Majorcan and Genoese adventures along D oya p a t ron patents, or monopohes, for
I
the West Coast of Africa. ^^.g^^jg ^j^j^ ^^le Atlantic coast

To the court of Henry VII. came an E "^ r * h T ^ d ^^ Africa. The earlier dealt
adventurous but disappointed Venetian with Morocco; the second
mariner, John Cabot, whose famous with the region between the Senegal and
son, Sebastian, was probably born at the Gambia. A third charter, or patent,
Bristol. In the minds of this and other issued in 1592, covered the Guinea coast
Venetian navigators may have lingered the between the River Nunez and, approxi-
semi- legendary voyages of Nicola and mately, the Sherbro district.
Antonio Zeno in the fourteenth century The transportation of negro slaves
perhaps founded on Norse traditions from West Africa to the West Indies
which led them to habitable lands on the —
and Spanish America first undertaken
other side of the North Atlantic to the by Captain (afterwards Sir John)
Vineland (Rhode Island), where grew wild —
Hawkins in 1562 initiated the British
grapes in profusion. Henry Tudor com- into the wonders, the wealth, and the
mitted himself as grudgingly to maritime attractiveness of these lands of the Gulf
discovery as did the father-in-law of his son, of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Ferdinand of Aragon. John and Sebastian Though they never lost their grip on, or
Cabot, however, led British crews to the their interest in, the West African coast,
discovery of Newfoundland and other the national enterprise of England during
_ points of North America, with the last third of the sixteenth century and
*' *'.
„oyages o
no very immediate results. But the hundred years that followed was mainly
^^^^^ ^^le Englishmen of Devon directed to the New World. Whilst Eliza-
iscovery
^^^ Cornwall, of London, beth was on the throne they snatched at
Bristol, Pembroke, Cardiff, Swansea, many an isolated city, here and there at a
Poole, Southampton, Tilbury, Lowestoft, promontory or an islet. But though they
and Yarmouth built better and bigger possessed inconceivable daring and cour-
ships in imitation of, or under the teach- age, they had not the means or the national

ing of, the Norman French who, in all force with which to hold on to their con-
probability, had sailed to West Africa as quests. Elizabeth, before the unsuccessful
early as the middle of the fourteenth cen- attack of the Armada, feared to take any

tury the Dutch, Venetians, Genoese, and direct government action for the founding

5444
THE ACQUISITION OF NEWFOUNDLAND BY SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT, IN 1583
In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a soldier and navigator, received from Queen Elizabeth a charter for discovery, to plant
a colony, and be governor ; but, owing to the difKculties which beset him. it was not till 1583 that he achieved his
Eurpose, taking possession, in the queen's name, of the harbour of St. John's, and two hundred leagues every way for
imselC, his heirs and assigns for ever. The illustration shows Sir Humphrey among the rough fishermen and sailors.
From the drawing by R. Caton Weodville

5443
" ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


of British colonies which might give all too truly, through Pope, emperbr,
umbrage to Spain, but had no wish unduly knightly orders and the descendants of
to check British maritime adventure so crusading kings, that Turkey was blast-
long as it cost her nothing but documents, ing civilisation and wrecking the fairest
messages of good will, or gilded figure-heads. portions of the Mediterranean world.
Accordingly, Sir Humphrey Gilbert By 1579, Thomas Stephens, a Catholic
— an elder stepbrother of Raleigh, who priest of New College, Oxford, afterwards
had distinguished himself by his valour in rector of the Jesuits' College at Salsette,
^^^ ^^ ^^^ wars for the sub- near Bombay, had visited India, and by
Cih rt'
Ill F t d

jugation of Ireland received a his letters home had excited a great

Ex" d'ti s ^^S^^


charter for the discovery interest in England
in the commercial
and colonisation of lands beyond possibilities of trade with the Far East.
the seas in North America " not already —
Trading adventurers thanks to Turkish
in the possession of any other Christian —
protection in spite of Hispano- Portu-
prince." This was granted in 1578, but guese opposition, had reached India over-
the expeditions, financed mainly by Gilbert land in 1583. By 1600, the English East
and Raleigh, proved to be ill-starred. Even India Company had been incorporated
before the first of them started, a certain by Elizabeth's Royal Charter as " the
Knollys, who should have served under governor and company of merchants of
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, treated his com- London trading to the East Indies."
mander with insulting contumely, alleging Early trade relations with India had
that he, Knollys, being of the blood royal grown out of Elizabeth's alliance with the
by descent, could not be invited to dinner Turk, and followed an overland route
by Gilbert, a simple knight. through Egypt or Syria but it was obvi-
;

The defection of Knollys crippled the ex- ous that they could only be continued on
pedition, which, though it reached the coast a grand scale and at great profit by taking
of Virginia, left behind a poorly equipped the all-sea route of the Portuguese round
little colony to be starved out or killed by the West Coast of Africa, the
Indians in the course of twelve months. Sir
th^E. *^*I
C^P^ of Good Hope, and
d*
Humphrey Gilbert made a fresh attempt in Q Madagascar. The Dutch
1583, on the return from which he was mariners led the way in 1596,
drowned at sea, his vessel foundering during and from 1601 onwards the great sea route
a gale. In the interval between the two was followed in preference to that of the
expeditions Raleigh, with his characteristic Mediterranean and Red Sea. The Dutch,
optimism, concluded that his brother would after three years' undisturbed mono-
found a great state which, in anticipation, poly of, the Indian trade, 1596-9, had
he named Virginia, a name which was raised the price of pepper against us
to be revived and permanently affixed from three shillings to six, or even eight,
to the map twenty-four years later. shillings a pound. This was the immediate
.

As a matter of fact. Sir Humphrey cause of the foundation of the first (and
Gilbert was an unsuccessful Columbus. chartered) East India Company.
Like Columbus, he had great ideas, Although the Stuarts have been much
but he was no coloniser or administrator. and justly censured by historians for the
Gilbert was really bent on discovering defects of their home policy and the deceit
a trans-American route to India. India, which characterised their foreign dealings,
as I shall show later, was behind most they cannot be accused of indifference
men's ventures at this period as the to the creation of an empire abroad
_ ultimate goal in all oversea indeed, in this respect they showed them-
_"* adventure. The idea of a selves mucli more im})erial than the
- .chartered company to deal vaunted Elizabeth, cautious and mean as
with the trade of India arose she was in her dealings and ventures. It
at the end of the sixteenth century, born was really under James I., the be header
of Elizabeth's notion of monopolies. Com- of Raleigh, that the transmarine empire
panies had been formed to trade with the of the British Crown was actually founded.
Levant and Turkey that Turkey which
; The first and oldest colony, so far as con-
had opened up friendly relations with the tinuous possession goes, is the West Indian
Virgin Queen, to the great, and perhaps island of Barbados, taken by an expedi-
legitimate, disgust of the Catholics of tion in the ship Olive Blossom, in 1605,
Southern and Western Europe, who felt, though not really occupied till 1625.
5446
THE BRITISH IN BERMUDAS: SIR GEORGE SOMERS WRECKED ON THE ISLANDS IN 1609
One South Virginian Company, Sir George Somers sailed in 1609, with a body of
of the chief promoters of the
settlers, and was wrecked on the then little known islands m South America called after Juan Bermudez._ In the
name of King James I., he took possession of the islands, which he at once colonised, and died there in 1610.
From the drawinsr hy R. Caton Wood%'il!c

346 5447

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


The next oldest is the state of Virginia, pirates off the modern British colony of
definitelyfounded in 1607 by the building Malacca ; and Baffin was killed at the
of Jamestown on May 13th of that year. siege of Ormuz, when an
allied Anglo-
The Bermuda Islands were accidentally Persian force took that island from the
rediscovered and occupied in 1609 the ; Portuguese. Owing to the death of Prince
Bahamas in 1629. In 1606 an important Henry, the work of the nascent Hudson
charter was granted for the eastern coast- Bay Company was not vigorously prose-
lands of North America, between North cuted for some years, though the growing
_ . , Carolina, Maine, and Nova whaling and fur-getting industries kept
Britain s
g^^^-^ j^^^ allotted a
to British interests in these regions alive.
Earliest t r j
-, , .
1
London company .
of adven- So much for Jacobean America; the
Colonies .
u
xu •

the regions
turers between i.
Asiatic enterprise of the British people under
34° and 38° N. Lat. to the Plymouth ; thesame monarch was simply marvellous.
Company of Devonshire, the area bounded In 1603 a factory had been founded at
north and south by the 45° and 41° of Bantam in Java, near the exit from the
N. Lat. while the intervening space was
;
Sunda Straits. By the following j^ear, the
to be open to the operations of either British had got possession of the Banda
company. It was this hesitancy about the and Amboina Islands on the very verge
fate of the North American coast between of New Guinea, a foothold from which they
38° and 41° which made it easier for the were dislodged by the Dutch in 1623
Duiigh to come in a little later 1609-1621 — by that " Amboina massacre " which so
— and create a colony on the site of New long rankled in the minds of the Enghsh,
York. A portion of Newfoundland was and was only atoned for under the reign
first settled in 1623 in that year, also, was
; of Cromwell. In 1606, James granted a
first occupied the httle Leeward island of licence to a company of merchants to
St. Christopher, which was to be the point of trade with Cathay, China, Japan, Korea,
departure and the rallying place of so much
British colonising enterprise in the West

and Cambaya probably the first time
that Japan and Korea were ever
p
Indies during the seventeenth century. „°, "f "?*f mentioned in any British official
In 1610, Henry Hudson, a navigator document. Ihis China com-
the British
who, two years previously in the Dutch pany came to grief very rapidly
service, had sought vainly for a direct through its leading commander. Sir Edward
sea-passage to China round Siberia or Michelborne, turning pirate in the Chinese
across North America, was despatched seas. In 1612 the East India Company
by a strong joint-stock company, in which founded by Elizabeth had established a
Prince Henry of Wales interested himself, post and fort at Surat, near the coast of
to search for the China passage and inci- Western India.
dentally to annex territories of value. The Portuguese objected violently to
Hudson penetrated through the Hudson this infringement of their monopoly
Straits —
really discovered twenty years they had already fought with a British
earlierby John Davis into Hudson's Bay. — fleet in 161 1 and been worsted —
and at-
A
mutiny on board his ship on his return tacked the British trading fleet off Swally,
caused him to be cast adrift by his crew at the mouth of the Tapti River in 1615.
in the Hudson Straits, and he was never The result of a terrific naval battle was
more heard of. But his work of explora- an absolute victory for the British, whose
tion was continued by William Baffin and right to navigate the Eastern seas was never
other EngUsh seamen-adventurers in the afterwards seriously contested by the
_^ „ , of, three succeeding years. The Portuguese. This victory, coupled with
The Fate j u- m.
_ Q ,,
marvellous energy and ubiquity the diplomatic mission despatched by
-^.
Discoverers
of Ehzabethan and Jacobean James I. under Sir Thomas Roe, 1615-
i-^ j ,, •

seamen are exemplified in the 1618, to the court of the Mogul em-
fate of John Davis the great Arctic — peror, Jehangir, obtained for the British
explorer and discoverer of the Falkland company a special and an officially

Islands and William Baffin, the discoverer recognised position in the dominions of the
of Baffin's Bay and Western Greenland. principal ruler of the Indian peninsula.
Davis was one of the officers serving under In 1609 the right to trade at Aden had
the piratical Sir Edward Michelborne in been obtained from the Arab sultan of that
the Malay Archipelago (China Chartered place, and thenceforth British ships entered
Company), and was himself killed by Malay the Red Sea, and in 1618 established a
5448
ADRIFT IN li . Ml uSON STRAITS: THE FATE OF A FAMOUS NAVIGATOR
"^"y nudson, a famous English navigator, who had in vain sought for a direct sea-passage
to China round Siberia or across North America, was despatched, in 1610, by a joint-stock
company to search for the China passage his crew rising against him in mutiny, he was cast adrift
;

with his son in a small boat in the Hudson Straits, named after him, and never heard of again.

T

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


British factory at Mocha. A post was Crown to deal with the organisation of
founded at J ask, on the Baluchistan the new American territories. In the
coast of the Gulf of Oman, in 1619. This West Indies, Antigua, Nevis, Anguilla,
once more roused the ire of the Portuguese, and Montserrat were colonised mainly —
who were already on bad terms with from St. Christopher, and farther backstiU
Persia by their occupation of the islet of in time from Bermuda —
and a charter was
Ormuz and their overbearing demeanour issued to the Earl of Carlisle for certain
in trying to close the Persian Gulf to all islands in the Caribbean Sea, among them
-. -
Ormvz Lost^ but Portuguese trade. The Dominica. In the East Indies a foothold
. ..
T^ •,•
British
,
— u
no better in ij.
com- was obtained at Surat, which was displaced
"^^rcial ethics in those days later by Bombay, in 1614. Madras was
PortuEuese
appeared to Persian ideas as founded in 1639 Hugli, the forerunner of
;

less grasping in their ambitions, and, at Calcutta, in 1642 and an attempt, after-
;

any rate, as a rod with which to chastise wards abandoned, was made in 1647 to
the overbearing Lusitanian. British and establish a rival East India Company's
Persian forces combined, and Ormuz was depot on the coast of Madagascar.
taken from the Portuguese. The British Jamaica had been eyed for half a century
received as a reward the right to levy by British adventurers as a prize which
customs and to trade at the port of might be one day snatched from Spain.
Gombrun, near Bandar Abbas, in 1622. They had become familiar with some of its
In 161 1, the East India Company conditions by carrying thither negro slaves
founded a post at Masulipatam, near the for sale they realised that the Spaniards
;

mouth of the Kistna on the east coast of had practically exterminated the native
India, and shortly afterwards a similar inhabitants, that not having found
post at Vizagapatam. Agencies, com- minerals they had lost interest in the
mercial and political, were founded at island, and further that many of their
Agra and Patna in 1620. Relations with negro slaves had rebelled and taken to the

Siam there was an English post at the -,.
Charles . „
mountains. Accordingly, two
II.
tu ,,j >> j •

Siamese-Malay state of Patani as early _ .unauthorised raids were


as 161 1 —
Celebes, the Moluccas, and Java
B* •id*'*"^*
made on the island in 1596
ripened rapidly till after the Amboina and 1624. Both were repulsed
massacre. By 1623 the Dutch hacj expelled by Spanish valour. Cromwell, however,
the British from the Malay Archipelago took advantage of a breach of relations
and the Far East, which they did not with Spain to send to the Gulf of Mexico a
re-enter till the late eighteenth century. naval expedition under Admiral Penn and
In 1618, James permitted or encouraged General Venables to seize the large island
the formation of a chartered company of Hispaniola. Failing in this object the
to trade with the Gambia River on the expedition occupied Jamaica instead.
West African coast, the charter being Under Charles II. the empire attained
based on an old patent, 1588, of Queen a notable expansion. In North America
Elizabeth. Although neither this company the Dutch Colony of New Netherlands,
nor its immediate successors were suc- with its two towns of Manhadoes and New
cessful —indeed, by 1664 they had lost Amsterdam, was acquired and turned into
/^8oo,ooo — yet these enterprises commenced
under James I. laid the foundations of the
the English territory of New York. By
the close of Charles II. 's reign, the nucleus
British West African dominion. James I., of the original thirteen states of New
therefore, unworthy of regard as he may England had been constituted Caro-
:

be in some aspects, was., the lina (North and South), Virginia, Mary-
founder of the British land, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New
Founder' of'the '^^^
Empire. Under his unhappy Jersey, Delaware, New York, Connec-
British Empire
successor, despite home ticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New

troubles i^artly because of them empire — Hampshire. In 1670, however, Charles II.
building still went on. The State of Massa- laid the foundations of a much vaster
chusetts, in North America, was founded expanse of empire by granting a charter
in 1620, and Maryland in 1632. The to Prince Rupert and seventeen others,
charter of the London company had incorjiorating them as the " governor and
been surrendered to the Crown in 1624, com])any of adventurers of England
that of the Plymouth company in 1635. trading into I^iidson's Bay." This was
These surrenders made it easier for tj*e« the outcome of the voyages of Davis,
5450
ORIGIN
To Francis Ddy, an officer of the East India Company, belongs the honour of founding Madras. In 16;?8he was sent to
India by that company to select a better site for their headquarters, and from the Raiah of Chandragiri he purchased a
tract of land five miles long near the settlement of St. Thome, and thereon he built a factory and a fort, which he
called Fort St. George, by which name Madras, which sprang from this small beginning, is still officially named.
From the drawing by R C^ton Woodville

5451
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Hudson, and Baffin, already alluded to which might avail to secure a free passage
and the grant of this charter by Charles II. into and out of the Mediterranean. When
resulted in the creation of four-fifths of Charles II. was raised to the throne,
British North America. The company Louis XIV. of France, for mysterious
thus founded exists; its charter
still in — reasons of his own, decided to employ the

one form or another did not finally ex- sea power of Britain to support the
pire till 1859, and the bulk of its immense Portuguese monarchy against Spain.
private territorial possessions was not He arranged the match between Charles
finally incorporated in the lands and Catharine of Braganza. Taking
jj
Canadian people till 1870.
of the advantage of this overture, the British
"d^B "•*•'* h
^ In India, the island of Bombay Ministers of the day were shrewd enough
to satisfy the national longing for control
and the mainland settlement of
Salsette had been acquired in the dowry over the Straits of Gibraltar by exacting
of Charles II. 's queen. In West Africa as part of the princess's dowry the city
a new charter started afresh the British and territory of Tangier.
settlement at the mouth of the Gambia. Having gained possession of this foot-
In 1672, the broken company of hold on the coast of Morocco, the govern-
British merchants trading on the Gold ment of Charles II. showed itself too
Coast received a charter which created a frivolous, too wanting in statecraft and
new known by its short title
association, Imperial foresight to retain it. Had they
as the Royal African Company. The acted more wisely as regards the Moors,
outbreak of the Dutch War enabled the it is possible that the history of North
British forces to oust the Dutch from a Africa might have taken a very different
number of strong places where they, in and a most surprising course. But, dis-
their turn, had supplanted the Portuguese. heartened by the difficulties, and weakened
Thus were obtained the fortified posts of by the frightful bureaucratic corruption
Dixcove, Sekundi, and Accra, the begin- which then prevailed in the departments of
nings of the modern colony of the Gold _ . . ,
public supplies, the Ministers of
Coast which is now nearly as large as the g . Charles II. abandoned Tangier
J
joint area of England and Scotland. in 1684. Then it was that other
Gib It
All this time British trade with the British statesmen or sea-
Mediterranean was steadily growing. captains fixed their eyes on Gibraltar as a
Cromwell had made Great Britain a naval more tenable position. The idea remained
power in that inland sea, so that her dormant until 1704, when advantage was
ships were actually able to threaten the taken of the War of the Spanish Succession
coast possessions of the grand duke of to seize and garrison Gibraltar. This step
Tuscany and the Pope, who had coun- was one of the most remarkable ever taken
tenanced attacks on British shipping by in the history of the world, and may rank
Prince Rupert, and to chastise most in lack of moral justification with the
effectually the Turkish pirates of the Napoleonic descent on Egypt and the
Barbary States. With Morocco there British seizure of Aden in 1839. Beacons-
were occasionally war-like episodes, but, field's romantic acquisition of Cyprus
curiously enough, British intercourse with might have been classed with these
that last independent fragment of the episodes as among the great strokes of
Arabian caliph's dominions had been of a empire-building, had it not, by the subse-
more friendly and commercial character. quent trend of British public opinion,
Nevertheless, the Moorish rovers not in- been rendered a policy of non sequitur.
. ,frequently harried British In the course of the eighteenth century
pain 8
ships engaged in the West the increasing hostility of the Turks
° African trade. Spain, through towards even British travellers passing
B rUaVn"
her vassal Portugal, which through their Levantine dominions, made
then held Tangiers and Ceuta, constantly overland communications with India so
attempted to close the Straits of Gibraltar precarious and profitless that increasing
to British ships, and thereby interfere with attention was turned to the all-sea route
British trade in the Levant. Therefore, as round the Cape of Good Hope. Just as the
early as the middle of the seventeenth Levantine and the West African trade led
century, there were vague longings on the them to seize Gibraltar, so the development
part of the British to obtain some foot- of commerce with India, China, the Malay
hold in or near the Straits of Gibraltar Archipelago, and the great and small
5452

THE STORY OF BRITISH EXPANSION


islands of the Pacific just coming within off. The idea, however, like that of Gib-
their ken, made a foothold at the southern them, and when the French
faltar, never left
extremity of Africa a matter of the greatest troops invaded Holland, in 1794, the
importance to the now unified kingdoms of British Government, in 1795, with the
England and Scotland. somewhat chary permission of the Prince of

An attempt in 178 1 as unjustifiable in Orange, established itself in Dutch South
actual morality as the seizure and retention Africa and although for a few years the
;

of Gibraltar —
was made to snatch the Cape forces were withdrawn, just as the cat
of Good Hope from the Dutch. The islands allows the crippled mouse a
of Ascension and St. Helena —
Ascension was
Estlui'shed
s a I e in
^^^^^^ ^f illusory freedom,
not definitely occupied till 1815 St. Helena
; s -^^1806 they made another
South Africa j ^ u . j
has been permanently in British possession descent on these regions, and
since 1673 —
discovered by the Portuguese, came there to stay. The eighteenth cen-
and held intermittently by the Dutch, had tury, however, not only saw at its close the
been intermittently occupied by the establishment of the British at the south
British Navy or the East India Company. —
end of Africa an establishment which
To the latter, in fact, St. Helena was of the inspired the great Portuguese traveller-
highest importance as the resting place of administrator of Mozambique, Dr. Lacerda,
its during the eighteenth century,
fieets in 1796, with the remarkable prophecy of
and longing eyes were cast on the French the ultimate Cape-to-Cairo ambitions of
islands of xMauritius and Reunion, which —
the British people but in its early years
to some extent lay midway between the witnessed the effectual foundation of
Cape of Good Hope and India. Anglo-Saxon North America, by the
During the last half of the seventeenth extension of the British colonies from the
century, the greed of territorial acquisition North Atlantic seaboard to the Missis-
in West Africa, Eastern Asia, the South sippi, by maritime explorations of Van-
Atlantic and the West Indies, had brought couver Island and Oregon, which sufficed
Great Britain into violent con- to stop Russian descent from Alaska, and
_ * **^. flict with the equally rapacious Spanish ascent from California, and finally
Possessions , , ^ •

f H II d ^^
^*^ ' ^^ enterprise-com- by the conclusion of the great stniggle
pared - to - means goes, more between France and Britain for predomi-
wonderful country of Holland. The nance in North America.
British secured a hard-won victory over Newfoundland, the first aim of British
the Dutch in the long run, not because aspirations across the Atlantic, became
they were braver or more skilled as fight- definitely a British colony in 1728, though
ing- seamen,but because they had a by previous settlement it was more justly
largerand richer motherland from which French. The French colonies of Canada
to draw their supplies. Holland, however, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick,
had previously plundered the Portuguese which then bore the prettier name of New
to a magnificent degree, and, even with —
France ^were ceded in 1763 Nova Scotia ;

what she had to give up to the British in had been acquired in its entirety in 1758,
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, together with Prince Edward's Island ;

was still mistress of possessions in the Vancouver Island was not settled till 1843.
West Indies, South America, the southern Vancouver Island having been redis-
extremity of Africa, Ceylon, Bengal, covered by Captain Cook, and ear-marked
Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Java, and as a future British foothold on the Amer-
Borneo, with a kind of lien over the ican Pacific, the close of the eighteenth
scarcely known continent of Australia. - ,,. , century saw the main out-
Outlines of t j.l /- j-<•
t\
During the latter part of the eighteenth ^. _ .. lines of the Canadian Domi-
tne Canadian j 1 1 t^i
-
tt 1 >
century circumstances forced Holland into _ . . nion laid down. The Hudson s
llomimon
Bay ^,
r, ^ j t> j- /^
a position of quasi- alliance with France, Chartered Trading Com-
some of the circumstances being the terri- pany, with its four forts on the shores
torial ambitions of Great Britain. Putting of Hudson's Bay and its far-reaching
forward the plea that the Dutch settle- explorations, had established a prescrip-
ment of the Cape of Good Hope served as tive claim to all Arctic and sub-Arctic
a refuge and a rallying-point for hostile America except the coast of Alaska. Sir
French ships, the British Government Alexander Mackenzie, the Stanley of
attempted by two surprise attacks in 1781 North America and a servant of the
to seize Caps Town. But they were beaten Hudson's Bay Company, travelled overland
5453
BRITISH SEIZURE OF JAMAICA IN 1655 AND THE SINKING OF TUl S
With sealed orders from Cromwell, in 1654, a fleet of sixty ships, commanded by
Adnmal 1'' ,t
4,000men under General Venables, left Portsmouth on an expedition, and, sailing for
West ladies, captured Jamaica
the
But havmg failed to carry out their orders, Penn and Venables were committed to the Tower on their return.
From the drawing by K. Caton Woodrille

5454
>;<: I , IslTION OF GIBRALTAR: SPANISH TROOPS MARCHING OUT
T ;: > ii;i! ;• Ilia 1 inring: theWar of the Spanish Succession, Gibraltar was taken, On July 24th, 1704, by
a combined English and Dutch by Sir George Rooke, who raised the British flag and claimed the town
fleet, commanded
in thename of Queen Anne. The above picture shows the Marquis de Salines marching out with the Spanish troops.
From the drawing by R. Caton WoodviUe

5455
,HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to the Pacific coast in 1789-1793, first some of the unfortunate dispossessed
sighting the Pacific Ocean at Cape Menzies, —
Acadians of Nova Scotia and, finally, the
opposite Queen Charlotte's Islands. attempt to seize Buenos Ayres during the
Vancouver Island is supposed to have French alliance with Spain, the existence
been sighted by Sir Francis Drake just of the struggling American Republic of the
two hundred years before Cook, in sixteen united states must have seemed
1578. It or the opposite coast of to the Britain of the eighteenth century a
Oregon was christened by Drake " New factor of merely local importance, not
Albion." The island was more more serious in a project of universal
definitelyplaced on the map American Empire than the intermittent
"Vuniud
by Juan de Fuca, a Greek sea- independence of the Transvaal was in the
States
captain in Spanish employ, scheme of South African dominion.
in 1592. Cook's exploration of its coasts During the eighteenth century England,
led to no immediate settlement. It was in her colonial enterprise, had been power-
Captain George Vancouver, R.N., in fully reinforced by the sister kingdom of
1792-1794, who really laid the founda- Scotland. the union of the two
Since
tion of British political rights to this crowns, Scotland of the Lowlands had
important island. The Hudson's Bay thrown herself energetically into oversea
Company did the rest, 1821-1843. adventure. It is true that the English
The revolt of the United States in 1777 Government spitefully enough had baulked
did not perhaps make such a great impres- the attempt of the Scots —
in 1698-1699
sion at the time on the British mind, be- — ^to on the Isthmus
establish themselves
cause it seemed the mere alienation of a of Darien, there perhaps to found a
portion of the Atlantic coast lands it had ; Central American State but the bitter-
;

the immediate effect of making the British ness resulting from this was soon for-
still more rapacious and energetic as gotten, and Scots and English, without
regards Canada. Had this revolt not much national distinction, flung them-
occurred and been successful, it is quite . selves energetically into the
possible that British energy might have t>uilding up of a great British
th^'fi'vIS h
languished and France have been allowed,
e
mpire
n (jon^ij^ion in the West Indies and
from her tiny footholds of St. Pierre and Northern South America. At
Miquelon, and from her great possessions the close of the seventeenth century Britain
of Louisiana and New Orleans, to build up had only possessed in the West Indies
once again a French empire in North Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, and
America. What Britain lost in the New three small islands of the Leeward group.
England States she more than regained by But by the end of the eighteenth
founding the Dominion of Canada, which, century Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent,
in her intentions and aspirations, even Grenada, Tobago, and Trinidad were
before the expiry of the eighteenth cen- added by conquest from France or Spain,
tury, extended from the Atlantic to the while intermittently Cuba was held, at-
Pacific, and dwarfed the contemporaneous tempts were made to take the great island
ambitions of the United States, baulked as of Hispaniola, the foundations of a British
they were by a Spanish Florida, Texas and interest in Honduras and on the Nicar-
California, and a French Mississippi. aguan coast were laid, and a swoop was at
With their thoughts bent on the dis- last made on Guiana, with perhaps a
covery of a north-west passage which notion of extending that dominion later
would establish an all-British route across on over the adjoining Spanish province of
. ,America to China, and the Venezuela. So, far from the eighteenth
menca s
intention to seize the analogous century marking the defeat and retro-
rugg inx
southern maritime route from gression of the British in the New World,
epu ic
Atlantic to Pacific marked by — it might more fitly be styled the American
the British exploration of the Straits of century, the second of the four great
Magellan, the occupation of the Malouines, eras of the British Empire, three finished
or Falkland Islands, in 1765, already half- and the fourth commencing. The nine-
occupied and settled by France in 1763, teenth century has been par excellence the
when the celebrated Bougainville, the age of Asian Dominion. It is quite
great French navigator of the Pacific possible that the Asiatic Empire has
whose name is for ever commemorated by reached its apogee in extent, if not in
a lovely flower, settled on West Falkland population or power. The twentieth
5156

THE STORY OF BRITISH EXPANSION


century may possibly witness the African derived enough information, no doubt
culmination. But in the years between from Malay seamen on the coasts of New
the death of Queen Anne and the Peace of Guinea, to forecast dimly the locality and
Amiens the grandest struggles, the greatest area of this southern continent, " Groote
gains, and the keenest ambitions were Zuidland," which was soon afterwards
centred in the New World between the definitely named "New Holland," Staaten
Straits of Magellan and the Arctic Ocean. Land being at the same time styled " New
The desire to know more about the Zealand." In 1689 and 1699 the pirate-
Pacific coast of North America, on which aru t n explorer William Dampier

Russians were beginning to encroach from rw. AiTla? paid two visits to the North-
Cook did for
Eastern Siberia, while the power of Spain west coast of New Holland,
the Empire
was obviously waning, led the British and brought back some ac-
Government to send out Captain Cook to count of its peculiar peoples and products.
the Pacific Ocean via the Cape of Good But nothing like systematic exploration
Hope and the Malay Archipelago, and or definite discovery was accomplished in
thus led to the definite discovery of these directions until the three voyages
Australia, New Zealand, and most of the of Captain James Cook, 1769-1777, re-
Pacific archipelagoes, and, finally, at the vealed the actual coast of South-eastern
end of the eighteenth century, in 1788, to Australia, and the definite outline of New
the establishment of a British settlement Zealand. Cook also placed on the map
on the coast of New South Wales a. settle- such archipelagoes of the Pacific as had
ment which was to be the germ of a vast not been already made known to the
Australian Commonwealth, destined to civilised world by the Spanish, Portuguese,
grow some day into mighty nationalities and Dutch navigators of the sixteenth
of Anglo-Saxon stock. Spanish, French, and seventeenth centuries.
and Dutch navigators of the sixteenth and British exploring enterprise in these
seventeenth centuries had surmised the regions between the Western Pacific and
jj.iscovery
existence to the south of New the Indian Ocean had been bafiled during
o
Qufnea and the Malay Archi- the early eighteenth century by the
thc Australian , j. •
j
Q .
i
pelago of an island-con- rivalry of the Dutch and French. They had
tinent, variously named in been obliged to fight France- for pre-
imagination Greater Java or even " Terra dominance and a fierce though
in India,
"
Australis." The actual name " Australia unofficial warfarehad been waged with
was applied in the first instance to the Holland to keep the Dutch out of Bengal.
largest island of the New Hebrides group by By the middle of the eighteenth century
Quiros in 1606, in the belief that it was the the French had completely lost any
promontory of a great southern continent. chance of building up a great Indian
Luiz Vaez de Torres, second in com- empire, but the Dutch, defeated in Hindu-
mand of the Spanish exploiing expedi- stan, still clung to Ceylon, and successfully
tion led by De Quiros, the discoverer competed with the British in Java, Suma-
of the New Hebrides, as they were tra, Borneo, and the Moluccas.
afterwards named, had passed through The eighteenth century decided the
the "Torres Straits," discovered, and fate of India, possibly for several
aptly named, New Guinea, and had centuries to come; but, compared to the
" felt " the proximity of the real " Terra present Asiatic dominions, British rule
Australis." His indications were followed in Hindustan was by no means universal,
up ten, seventeen, and twenty-two years and it had but a slight foothold on
later by the Dutch navigators Hertoge ... the Malay Peninsula (Island of
Britain s
and Carstenz, who actually located points pj^^^^g, acquired 1786), and in
and named features of the North and .
J.. the Malay Archipelago, Natal,
in India
West Australian coasts. p^^^ Marlborough, or Bencoolen,
In 1642, the Dutch navigator, Abel in Sumatra, and a doubtful tenancy of one
Janszen Tasman, skirting the western or two islets of£ the coast of Borneo. But
coast of Australia, penetrated so far south at the end of the eighteenth century,
that he actually discovered Tasmania, which, for a logical sequence, one must
which he called Van Diemen's Land, after place at the Peace of Amiens, in 1802,
the then governor of Java; and New the British Empire, scattered and patchy

.Zealand " Staaten Land." Tasman, on as it was, had almost the outline —
the
his return to the eastward of Australia, —
skeleton of the empire of to-day, and was
5457
BRITISH TROOPS MARCHING THROUGH THE SWAMPS OF BRITISH GUIANA
This colony, on the north coast of South America, once a Dutch trading outpost, was held by the British from
1781 till 1783; they agrain held it from 1796 till 1802, and from 1803 till 1814, when the present colony was formed.
From tbedraarlng by R Caton Woodville

5458
SIR GEORGE siM^bUN hblABLISHING HIS FIRST COUNCIL OF SETTLERS IN 1835
architects of the present Canadian Dominion, Sir George Simpson had the
ment of the Hudson s Bay Company in Canada, and the rise of British
menlnf?h".^Hn!rfc'in-'^^R°=^^r^ entire manage-
Columbia was contemporary with his administration.
From the drawing by R. Caton Woodville

5459

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


vastly difierent from the empire over which had made every preparation for reoccu-
Wilham III. was ruUng in 1702. At that pation, and had made that reoccupation
date this monarch, if he had called for a a matter of certainty and legality by the
map of the British Empire beyond the seas, establishment of her sea power and an
which he probably never thought of doing, understanding with the Prince of Orange.
would have noted a few English "planta- In America she possessed the whole of
tions," or settlements, on the Atlantic sea- the vague and vast territories of Canada,
board of North America between Boston, which were at any rate conceived of,
_ . -
Bntam s Over-
. , New York, and the Savan- under the charter of the Hudson's Bay
^^^ j^-^^^ q^^^^ ^^^^^ Company, as stretching from the Atlantic
Seas Dominions • , „^ .i ^•, •

^" clumsy writmg across the to the Pacific besides the West India
200
Avv Years Aeo /^
1 ears ^^|£i7 * 1 1 111
;

Caribbean seas would have Islands already owned, she had seized and
reminded him that James I. had given has since retained Dominica, St. Lucia,
a charter for the Bermudas, that Charles I. St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, and Trini-
had permitted the settlement ol Barbados, dad, and had established a lien on the
that Cromwell had annexed Jamaica, coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua.
and that under Charles II. most of the British Honduras began in the seven-
British Leeward Islands had been acquired. teenth century as the fortified establish-
In Southern Asia he would have noted the ments of piratical British traders and

Island of Bombay an undoubted British timber — mahogany — cutters. Though
possession. There should also have been frequently attacked by Spain, and fre-
marked on the map factories and forts quently ceded to Spain by England, the
more or less identical with political foot- British settlers held on steadfastly till,
holds^-at some point on the coast of in 1786, a definitely British administration
Sind, at Surat, Broach, and Ahmedabad, was established. She had occupied
in Western India at Calcutta, Tegna-
; British, French, and Dutch Guiana. Far
patam, Vizagapatam, Madras, and Masuli- away towards the southern extremity of that
patam, on the eastern side of the Indian continent the British Govern-
The French
Peninsula while in the interior there were
;
Ousted
ment had already earmarked
agencies at Agra and Patna. Along the the Falkland Islands, but had
from Egypt
shores of the Persian Gulf there were been repulsed in its attempt to
factories at Basra, Bandar Abbas, and seize Buenos Ayres. In the Mediterranean
Jask and,
; despite Dutch hostility, we held, legally or illegally, Gibraltar,
the East India Company still held on Malta, Sicily, and the Ionian Islands,
to trading posts at Bantam, in Java ;
while British naval and military action
Macassar, in Celebes and Achin, in
; had just turned the French out of Egypt.
Sumatra. On the West African coast Here an almost unconscious intimation
the Royal African Company possessed had been given of. an intention some
forts at the mouth of the Gambia, and day to occupy that halfway station
along the Gold Coast, from Dixcove to towards the growing Indian Empire. In
Accra, and at Whyda, on the coast of East Africa, Britain had opened up rela-
Dahomeh. The East India Company, more- tions with Abyssinia and Zanzibar, as
over, had seized the island of St. Helena. also with the tribes of South Arabia and
That was the extent of the British the Persian Gulf. In West Africa her
Empire in 1702, at which time Ireland still forces had occupied the French colony of
lay a depopulated, desolate, half -conquered Senegal, and strengthened the hold over
country which was being settled on the the mouth of the Gambia. As the first
Tu VI -1 63.st and on the north by Pro- result of British anti-slavery enthusiasm,
^""^^^"^^ English, Welsh, and the colony of Sierra Leone had been
Surrrnder"
urren r
gcotch Settlers. Scotland her- founded. The forts along the Gold Coast,
Cape Colony ,, j •

self was a separate kmgdom,


j. 1
already mentioned, continued to be
acknowledging only partially the direct garrisoned by the Royal African Chartered) (

rule of William III. The Isle of Man Company. Even at the close of the
was a feudal kingdom under a British eighteenth century Great Britain was
noble the Channel Islands were semi-
; beginning to think about the Niger, the
independent piratical settlements. At upper course of which river had, in 1796,
the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, Great been discovered by the Scottish explorer,
Britain, it is true, had nominally sur- Mungo Park, in the direct service of the
rendered Cape Colony to the Dutch, but British Crown. British trade with West
5460
THE STORY OF BRITISH EXPANSION
Africa at that time had extended to the the Pacific and right up to the Arctic
rivers which form the delta of the Niger, Circle and the eastern limits of Alaska ;

and even to the mouth of the Congo. while the political dominion of Canada
In 1796, as already mentioned, the great (British North America) reaches to the
Portuguese traveller. Dr. Jose Lacerda, had Polar regions, and comprises nearly half
predicted that the British would attempt the North American Continent. In the
to found an empire stretching from the warmer regions of the New World, vague
Cape of Good Hope to Egypt. If Mungo British rights on the coast of Central
Park discovered the main course of the _ . . America at Belize have grown
River Niger, another equally distinguished ^^^^ ^^^ definite colony of
U d th
Scot, an explorer of really advanced British Honduras, while the
British F1&
scientific attainments, James Bruce, had, Colony of Demerara, taken
in 1768-1773. rediscovered and definitely over from the Dutch, has become the large
mapped the course of the Blue Nile from State of British Guiana, 90,260 square
Abyssinia to Egypt. He was despatched miles in extent. In the far south, the
on this aim by a British Secretary of State, Falkland Islands have been definitely
Lord Halifax, and there is little doubt organised as a crown colony, and the
that this journey provoked a special British aegis has been thrown over the
British interest in the affairs of Egypt. large island of South Georgia, annexed by
In Asia the British possessions in 1802 Captain Cook in 1775. These possessions
included a general sway over Hindustan were definitely occupied and administered
between the Himalayas on the north in 1833, because of their importance to
and Cape Comorin on the south, between the whaling industry in the South Atlantic.
the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Indus Within the limits of Europe, though
River on the west. The actual posses- they have given up the islet of Heligoland
sions in India of the Honourable East off the German coast, they have acquired,
India Company at this date over which for all practical purposes, the large island
. it ruled directly were Bengal of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
J. xpans ft
^^^ ^^^ Bombay J and Madras
The Ionian Islands, which France snatched
of one .
r ,1

Century
provinces; a portion 01 the from the dying Republic of Venice, en-
Central and North-west Pro- joyed a British Protectorate in every
vinces; parts of Rajputana. Indirectly the sense of the word for sixty odd years,
company controlled the affairs of Oudh, and were then made over to the King-
Haidarabad, and Mysore. They had even dom of Greece. Malta, already occupied
during the eighteenth century taken the in 1802, and had been definitely ceded to
first political step towards establishing the British Crown in 1815.
British influence over Tibet ; their political On the continent of x^sia, the large red
explorers had penetrated through patches of British dominion (through a
Afghanistan to Bokhara, and had chartered company), which gave to Great
acquired some influence at the court Britain the practical control of the
of Persia. In the Malay Archipelago they peninsula of Hindustan, have grown in a
replaced the Dutch in Java and Sumatra, hundred years to the existing Indian and
as also at various points on the Malay colonial empire in Southern Asia. This
Peninsula. In North Africa, though there begins almost in Africa, on the far west,
was no actual foothold, nevertheless, by with the port of Aden, the islet of Perim
Nelson's victories and the British occupa- at the mouth of the Red Sea, and the
tion of Malta, they were so predominant in island of Socotra off the North-east
Tunis and Tripoli as to exercise a kind of African coast. It extends
suzerainty over those Turkish feudalities. v!- .K
eastwards through the British
Rule in the
At present the British dominions have protectorate over the Aden
"*"
attained an enormous area, even com- hinterland and protectorate, or
pared to what they were in 1802. In —
sphere of influence ^established by treaty
North America the small colonised areas — ^over the whole south coast of Arabia to
of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New the vicinity of the Persian Gulf. The
Brunswick, Upper and Lower Canada, south-west coasts of that inlet and the
Ontario, and the few forts of the Hudson's Bahrein Islands are a British protectorate,
Bay Company, have grown into a belt of and in common with the Arabian regions
continuous colonisation and cultivation already referred to are attached to the
extending from the coast of Labrador to vast Indian dominions, which begin on
5461
5462
347 5463
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the west at Baluchistan, near the entrance other European Power on the African
to the Persian Gulf. By the recent continent, and include the occupation of
agreement with Russia, the South-east Egypt, the administration of the vast
Persian coast commanding the entrance Egyptian Sudan, the protectorates or
into the Persian Gulf is a British sphere colonies of Uganda, East Africa, Somali-
of influence. From Baluchistan the land, and Zanzibar, the protectorate or
Indian Empire extends continuously sphere of influence of British Central
eastwards to the frontier of French Indo- Africa between the Great Lakes and the
China, and northwards to Zambesi, and all British South Africa
World-Wide

Tibet a portion of which is from the Zambesi to the Cape of Good
nauKc u.
RftQge of
actually British
British Power . r i x

/-j.
and to
i* •
Hope, and from the outskirts of Damara-
Afghanistan, a Central Asian land to the Portuguese province of
state in very close relations with the Mozambique. In West Africa there are
British Empire. Ceylon has been acquired the territories of Nigeria, which extend
from the Dutch, 1796-1815, and British from the delta of that river to Lake Chad
influence now reigns supreme, directly and the borders of the Sahara Desert ^a —
or indirectly, over the whole Malay much enlarged colony and protectorate of
Peninsula from Burma to Singapore. —
the Gold Coast ^some 82,000 square miles
The northern third of the island of in area —a protectorate over the hinter-
Borneo is also under British protection. land of Sierra Leone, and both banks of
In Australasia, and in the archipelagoes the lower course of the Gambia River.
of the Pacific, the gains have also been The British Empire may not even in

enormous a third part of the vast island our time touch its apogee of extent,
of New Guinea with the adjacent archi- and indeed if it be wisely governed and
pelagoes of the Louisiade and the Solomon directed so as to enlist with it, and not
Islands, the whole inland continent of against it, the sentiments of the backward
Australia, the large islands of New races, it may develop into a league of
Zealand, the clusters of Fij i and of Tonga, . peace and mutual co-opera-
the Gilbert, Santa Cruz, Ellice, Phoenix, o *x.. °™'f*^ tion of still more surprising
South African ta *
Union, Fanning, Maiden, and Hervey It mav come to
j.
^ - . ..
Confederation
vastness.
1 1 i- , 1

group, and a lien over the New Hebrides. include an educational pro-
The last quarter of the nineteenth tectorate over Southern Arabia and the
century witnessed enormous accretions shores of the Persian Gulf, an alliance,
to the British dominions in Africa. Up to almost feudal, with Abyssinia, Afghanistan.
1875 the British had possessed and built Tibet, and Siam it may assist Australia
;

up, since 1806, the colony of the Cape of to arrange with France and Holland on
Good Hope about as far north as Kim- equitable terms for extended sway over a
berley, and the then small colony of Natal, small portion of Dutch New Guinea and
founded 1824-18 42. There remained of the New Hebrides archipelago. In
unclaimed areas between Natal and Cape Africa, the coming South African con-
Colony, and there was no hold over federation of Boer and Briton may eventu-
Zululand, the Orange Free State, or the ally include the cognate German state
Transvaal. On the West Coast of Africa of South-west Africa and it may also,
;

there was a patch at the mouth of the by arrangement with Germany, link
Gambia, and a few patches on the coast of up the Uganda protectorate with the
Sierra Leone, a strip of coast country north end of Tanganyika, and thus
between the Volta River and Assinie on the establish the last link in the Cape-to-
Gold Coast, and the little island Cairo route.
^^ Lagos, once a great head- Or, if it increases in such directions as
f B "f K
quarters of the slave trade. In these, it may shrink in others, yielding
Africa
the Atlantic Ocean we possessed here and there a little to France in Western
the islets of Ascension and St. Helena ;
Africa, to Germany an islet or two in the
in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius and the West Indies, or an establishment on the
Seychelles. That, in 1875, was the utmost Persian Gulf. But for the most part it is
extent of British Africa. more likely that these extensions or round-
By 1909 these patches and strips have ings off of the British Empire will be
grown into colonies, protectorates and balanced by their standing out of the way
spheres of influence which now in their of other ambitions in Eastern Europe
united bulk exceed the possessions of any and Nearer Asia, or in the Congo basin.
5464
THE CONQUEROR'S GIFT TO LONDON

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR GRANTING A CHARTER TO THE CITY OF LONDON


From the Paiiititm in the Royal Exrhaiige by Seymour I.ucas. R. A.

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
II G.C.M.G.

BRITISH TRADE AND THE FLAG


THE PIONEERS OF COMMERCE
AS MAKERS OF THE EMPIRE
TTHE causes and motives which have pro- Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. In
• voked the creation of this vast empire the nineteenth century the causes of
have been numerous and sometimes con- empire extension were more complex.
flicting. The first incentive and the last Commerce, exploitation, the possibilities
have been the desire to find profitable of mineral discoveries were no doubt the
markets for trade wherein British products most powerful inducements to extend the
or manufactures could be exchanged for area of British occupation and;
Factors
foreign wares sufficiently valuable to meet increasing social pressure in
in Empire
the risks and expenses of sea-transport. „ .... England and Scotland, and
"^*
Coupled with this has been the desire misery in Ireland, brought about
to grab at whatever good things might such a rush of colonists for the vacant
be going in the way of animal, vegetable, healthy lands in America, South Africa, and
or mineral wealth not already in the pos- —
Oceania some 16,000,000 persons in the
session of a nationality strong enough to last hundred years (of this number about
defend it. Then the restless, dissatisfied 5,000,000 left between 1815 and 1850)
or persecuted, and even the criminals as its history had not yet known, the
have hoped to find a happier and less movement being enormously aided by
trammelled existence in regions beyond the development of steam navigation.
the British Isles yet under the British But there was a third factor at work in
flag. Honest commerce, eager greed for empire-building from the very beginning
gain, naif love of adventure, and the search of the nineteenth century to its very end :
for marvels —
these were the provocative —
sentiment a sentimentality almost sar-
impulses which drove daring seamen, donic in some of its manifestations.
merchants, and soldiers of fortune beyond In the seventeenth and eighteenth
the seas of Britain to new worlds, new centuries forts were built and colonies
hemispheres, and strange climates during founded on the West Coast of Africa for
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. the purpose of carrying on the slave trade
In the seventeenth century there was in an efficient manner in the nineteenth
;

superadded the desire to flee from religious century Britain seized important vantage
or political oppression; in the seventeenth points, annexed orprotected enormous areas
century real colonisation took place. in order to suppress the trade in. slaves.

But'in that which followed the eighteenth The eagerness of commerce to go in
— the dominant impulse once again was front of the hampering restrictions of a
commerce and the rapid making of wealth regular government led to the creation of
in exploitable lands. This was the centiu^y —
chartered companies and chartered com-
of the slave trade's greatest development. panies have always ended in the foundation
Emigration
The first familiar instance of of colonies, dominions or empires —
in the
emigration for religious free- seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
for Religious
Freedom
dom is that of the 102 centuries. Greed of gain was coincident
dissidents from the Church of with the glamour of India. India has been
England who emigrated in the Mayflower, in the mainspring of the empire, the magnet
1620, and founded Plymouth, U.S.A. The which has drawn men by such strangely
first Quakers arriving in North America, devious routes that the pioneers have
1652-1666. were hanged, flogged, or halted by the way, have started off at a
expelled but from 1671 to 1681 hundreds
;
tangent on other quests, or have become
came to America and colonised New involved in the solution of other problems
5465

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


widely separated from those of Hindustan. fighting power into the Red Sea. Even
The search for a quick sea route to Abyssinia and the vaguer Ethiopian and

India through North America analogous Zanzibar regions were " looked up " at the
to the Magellan Straits on the south beginning of the nineteenth century because
led Sir Humphrey Gilbert across the Atlan- of the bearing their alliance might have on
tic, to found that Virginia which was occu- a life-and-death war between France and
pied twenty-five years afterwards and Britain for the lordship of Southern Asia.
which was the germ of the United States If the overland route led to an increased
of America. The same stimulus interest in Egypt and the turning of the
e ay» o
jg^ ^^ ^^^ journeys of Frobisher, Red Sea into a British lake, what was not
". Davis, Baffin; and the last- the effect of the Suez Canal ? It made a
J, n erpnse
^^^^^^ ^^^ actually killed in an British occupation of Egypt a matter of
attempt on the part of the East India national necessity, a foregone conclusion
Company's ships to found in the Persian to all but short-sighted British statesmen.
Gulf that British sphere of influence on the This last came about in an odd manner,
approach to the Indian markets which has and at an unexpected juncture, and by
only become an accomplished fact in the degrees dragged her into the Sudan as far
twentieth century. Drake's attempt to as the Congo water parting, and compelled
find the Pacific outlet of these northern in time the annexation of Uganda. Indian
Magellan Straits, this water route across affairswere by this time much mixed up

North America ^which, after all, does in commerce with those of Zanzibar.
exist, only it is too much in the frozen Consequently, with the flanks of Egypt to

zone to be of any use ^led to the discovery be guarded, no other Power but British
of Oregon and, three centuries later,
; must occupy Mombasa already, for —
the same motive of research on the part Indian reasons, declared a British strong-
of Captains Cook and Vancouver brought —
hold in 1823 or the main route to the
about the rediscovery and annexation Nyanzas and the Upper Nile. Hence arose
of Vancouver Island. g .the. vast British possessions in
.

Failing to find an easy way across the p. . Eastern Equatorial Africa. By 1898
North Atlantic to the marvels of Cathay Afrfca*
^^^ -^9^^ ^^^ fortified harbour
and the Middle East, the diplomacy of of Aden had grown
into a protec-
Queen Elizabeth was directed to an over- torate or sphere of influence over the whole
land route through the Turkish dominions. of the south Arabian coastlands, including
As this proved insecure and uncertain, the Kuriya-Muriyan Islands, from the
attention was turned towards the sea Straits of Bab-el- Man deb on the west and
route round Africa. This led in time to the frontiers of Oman on the east. From
the acquisition of Tangiers as a calUng- similar motives also has arisen the British
place, to the settlement of St. Helena, protectorate over the Bahrein Islands in
the seizure of Gibraltar as an alternative the Persian Gulf. In South Africa she
to Tangiers, the occupation of the Cape of could not occupy Cape Town and remain
Good Hope, and of Mauritius. indifferent to questions of European colo-
Bonaparte, thinking to strike at Britain nisation and to the welfare of the natives
in India, where she was wealthiest and within three hundred miles of the Cape
weakest, landed in Egypt, and may be said Peninsula. So, in time the British flag crept
to have opened the overland route. From along the south-east coast till it conflicted
the days when the French capitulated and with Portuguese claims at Delagoa Bay.
quitted Egypt, England could not take The Mediterranean route to Egypt,
her eyes or thoughts off that moreover, required other calling stations
„"*. country. The splendid private
. than (iihraltar. Minorca had once been
Britain in
gj^^gj-pj-isg of Lieutenant Wag- British, but it lay rather off the direct
^^^ horn having started the overland route to Egypt moreover, it belonged to
;

route in 1837-47, ^^ connection with the Spain, and Spain had become her ally.
newly introduced steamer traffic, Great Sicily would have been too large to retain
Britain found herself compelled to occupy and control. Napoleon had indicated just
Aden, in 1839, at the soutliern exit of the what was required then in seizing Malta.
Red Sea, and ultimately also Perim Island. It was easy to succeed him, for the Maltese,
Bonaparte's action in Egypt, indeed, had who had little or no affection for the
far-reaching results he could never have corrupt rule of the Knights of St. John,
foreseen it brought Great Britain as a
: voluntarily offered the sovereignty of their
5466
BRITISH OFFICIALS INSPECTING THE CISTERNS A BUILT IN
The story of how Aden came
1700 bc
into possession of the British
is one of s^ st. In l^:i7 a British sliio was
passengers being severely maltreated by the Arabs. On the Bombay
^'^^":- t''^,.<^'-«^,^a"d
d^m^nnlf Y Governm^nf
burfhe ^"'^'"^*'
fhi place
^1,
T!,rW?,h ri;^rfc°"' '^^°
i"'^7u^°"'
*Hf '!i'*^"-
^^'-^i'Jt" '"al'e compensation and to sell the town and port to
administered the government, declined to implement the bargain, and in BrS
conseouence
the was reduced bv a naval and military force on January Kith, KS:!9. Aden, which then
portion of the Bombay I^residency, was fortified and garrisoned, became an outlthi^
and its ancient wTter tanks were partialty reftS
From the drawing by R. Caton WoodriUe

5467
— —
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
little archipelago to the King of Great desire which arose for spiced food, and
Britain. Beaconsfield believed he was especially the strenuous demand for pepper.
completing the chain of naval stations and It was the desire to obtain unrestricted
military halting places on the Mediter- quantities of pepper which not only
ranean route to India by adding Cyprus, founded the East India Company —and
with the intention that a British dominion thereby the British Indian Empire —but
over Syria and a railway thence to the which first drew Britishers to West Africa :

Euphrates valley and India should follow. first pepper, then slaves, then gold.
„ .^ . Whether his successors were
, Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sandal-wood,
Britain s •
r ii_ •

'^i^r ^^ preferrmg the sea silks, muslins, indigo, ivory, pearls, gums,
Ex and"
Toute, Via the Suez Canal and carpets, and precious stones, were among
Emoirc"**
the Red Sea, time alone can the other principal Indian products which
show. The affairs of India involved us, attracted the attention of European mer-
commercially first, and then politically, in chants from the fifteenth to the eighteenth
those of China. This necessitated military century. The rock formations of India were
and naval stations in Chinese waters. believed to be excessively rich in precious
Hence the acquisition of Hong Kong and stones down to quite recent times. But
eventually of Wei-hai-wei. From the this natural wealth was exaggerated by
desire to prevent a Russian descent into Arab writers and credulous Europeans.
Tibet and Mongolia, and thence a march Golconda, little more than a suburb of the
towards the Himalayas in fact, a Russian — modern Haidarabad, whose Mohammedan
dominion over the Chinese government ruler was one of the first Indian princes to
arose the Japanese alliance, with all that give the British company a trading con-
it may yet entail. Singapore was required cession, was not so much a place that
to safeguard the sea route between China produced diamonds as a centre for
and India the occupation of the Straits
; diamond- cutting, such as Amsterdam has
Settlements has led to a sphere of exclusive since become. The sandstone region of
influence over all the Malay Peninsula and ,
the Northern Deccan certainly
J
a protectorate over the northern coastlands produced diamonds indeed, in
V St ;

of Borneo. Burma has been annexed to of'wealT ^^ sixteenth century the


obviate any other intrigues or ambitions Emperor Akbar received an
in that quarter while, at the risk of war
; annual royalty computed at ;^8o,ooo from
with France some years ago, Siam has the diamond mines of Panna, in Bundel-
been maintained as a buffer state. khand, on the northern edge of the ancient
India has been the chief pivot of British island of Southern India.
foreign policy from the closing years of These mines are still worked, but are now
Ehzabeth'sreignto the rapprochement with of inconsiderable importance. Emeralds
Russia in 1907-1908: that Russia which to a limited degree, rubies, sapphires, cats'
was discovered commercially in the reign eyes, and other precious stones, were to be
of Edward VI. by British maritime adven- obtained from India or the adjacent
turers who were seeking for a north-east countries, besides which the accumulation
passage to India. The principal attraction of the labour and wealth of forty centuries
which India and the Indian trade had for had amassed in this wonderful peninsula
British minds in the Tudor period lay in the matrix of the human —
race a vast store
its production of spices and pepper. It is of wealth in gold, and precious
silver,
true that many of these spices were actually stones and this possible plunder was one
;

derived from distant parts of the Malay of the most potent attractions to Portu-
^ Archipelago or from Ceylon, guese, Dutchman, Englishman, and
Commerce A ^ ,

Frenchman to found an empire over these


.1 w .• r but
the Motive of
these regions were con-
. r,t j- , i.
_, .sidered part of India in a patient, placable, thrifty, toiling millions
xpans n
generalised statement, and as of Aryanised Dravidians.
some of the Southern Indian ports were The pearl fishery was certainly one of
depots in the spice trade between Arabia, the inducements to occupy Ceylon, one of
Persia, and the Farthest East, the confusion the most notable additions to the British
was very natural. It would be an interest- Empire in the early nineteenth century.
ing study in human history to discuss the Eighty years later, the ruby mines of
diet of Western and Southern Europe in the Burma accentuated the impatience felt
later Middle Ages and down to the sixteenth at the ineptitude of the native Burmese
century, and discover the reason of the government and its intrigues with France
5468
THE BRITISH IN CYPRUS: THE BASHI BA20UKS EVACUATING THE ISLAND
-
In terms of the Anglo-Turkish Convention, devised at the Berlin Conference, Cyprus was occupied by the forces
o*
ureat Britain on July 10th, 1878. The island is now administered as a Crown colony by a high commissioner.
From the drawing by R. Catoa Woodville

5469
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and Italy. Rubies and teak forests pre- at war with the Boers, but his colleagues
vailed to decide the immediate political must have found it difficult to preserve
fate of Burma. The location of gold in solemn faces as he uttered those memor-
Australia and New Zealand came too late able and rather pathetic words of a weary
to be a provocative cause in the annexa- statesman of lofty ideals, aloof from the
tion of those islands, a deed already vulgar rush for wealth and a little ashamed
accomplished from other motives ; though of his yoke-fellows' greedy jingoism.
it is quite possible that the early discovery Yet to Continental critics never must
of copper in Australia may British hypocrisy have seemed so need-
Gold the
have rendered the Imperial lessly patent. Of course she wanted the
Creator of
Government more determined gold-fields, and the territory too but
;
Colonies
to secure for Great Britain the for the gold, would Jew and Gentile,
exclusive political hegemony over Austral- Briton and German, American and French-
asia. Gold, however, was the creator of man, Indian, Greek and Portuguese have
British Columbia, which otherwise might flocked into the prematurely named
have slid from the feeble hold of the South African Republic, or have decided
Hudson's Bay Company into the possession — —
rapidly ^and truly ^that the unadul-
of the United States. Conversely, gold in terated government of uneducated and
the Yukon valley and sealskins from greedy Boers and a few peevish reactionary
Alaska have been the principal reasons why Hollanders was not good enough for very
the American Government has taken the modern, clever, hard-working settlers,
attitude it has in the settlement of the who wanted the best type and the least
North-western frontier of the Canadian obstructive of existing governments that—
Dominion, so resolved not to allow of Great Britain ?
Canada to achieve her natural destiny —
But for gold and diamonds and mis-
and extend to Bering Strait an event — sionaries, of whom more anon —
the hinter-
which I predict will some day come to land of South Africa might still be the
pass by friendly arrangement. undisputed appanage of Boer
^"
Diamonds in South Africa, discovered J
. and Zulu there would be no
;

'" no
amid the sterility of the Orange Free railway to the Zambesi ;
s" th'Af
State borderlands, suddenly changed the British Central Africa but ;

attitude of tolerant indifference towards there might also be, by this time, the
the fate of the South African hinterland outline of a great German colonial empire.
into one of eager unscrupulousness. Ad- Possibly Afrikander children now born
vantage was taken of the uncertain nature and getting ready for school may, in their
of the Orange State boundary [and of old age, say it was lucky lor the fate of
native claims, which were assigned to the great South African nation that the
Great Britain, to extend the British aegis passing wealth in precious metals and
over all the known diamondiferous terri- ——
precious stones perhaps by that time no
longer precious induced Great Britain
tory. This opened up the route to Bechu-
analand and thenceforth to the Zambesi. as a government, but more through a few
Britain let the Transvaal go back to in- British individuals, to lay her hands on
dependence in 1881, and even waived her South Africa from the Vaal and the
suzerainty in 1884. In 1886 the Johannes- Orange rivers to the Zambesi and Tan-
burg and Barberton districts were found ganyika. Her intervention, though it may
to be rich in gold. The attitude of the have been influenced by temporary greed
British Government towards the Transvaal of gain, has moulded a great nationality,
« •• », . immediately changed, or.
. the future united states of South Africa,
South Africa s x ^i •
1

more strictly speakmg, was an analogue to the fusion of Frenchman,


Alt f
_ ,^*Vf J changed for it by^ the rise to Scot, and Englishman which will some
Gold-Fields
and power oft r
,p, ,
wealth Cecil
\
day form the great Canadian nation.
Rhodes, and his British, German, French The desire to obtain an ample supply of
and Afrikander business associates, who, mahogany, logwood, and rosewood with-
between 1889 and 1905, controlled and out paying toll to Spain created the
dominated the British Government. Lord British colony of Honduras. Gold and
Salisbury, in the sad autumn of 1899, may diamonds, again, enlarged the boundaries
have spoken for himself in disavowing the of British Guiana. Palm oil drew the
attraction of the gold-fields as being the British Government into a protectorate
reason why England found herself over the Niger Delta and Old Calabar.
5470
BRITISH TRADE AND THE FLAG
Cloves were not without their influence first race in Europe or anywhere else
on the fate of Zanzibar. Tin made it to pursue whales on the open sea and
possible to develop the resources of the attack them with harpoons. No doubt, at
Malay Peninsula and impossible to brook first the exploit most desired was to
the ingress there of any other Power. The drive the whale on shore. The Basques
cultivation of the sugar-cane attracted us seem to have had the monopoly of this
to the West India Islands. pursuit from the ninth to the middle of
.Codfish and lobsters have imparted an the sixteenth century, when the whalebone
interest in the fate and prosperity of New- whale of the North Atlantic
"**
foundland which might otherwise have •
th
^^^ become almost extinct.
been lacking cotton possibilities in
;
'a
4* « Latterly, the Basque
indeed,
Nigeria are making a chancellor of the fishermen had been wont to
exchequer less grim on the subject of pursue their search for whales as far as
subsidies for railway construction, Newfoundland, and with the growing
especially with the happy results of the demand for oil and whalebone the British
Uganda railway before his eyes ; the seamen had taken up the same quest,
chance of cotton-growing in the Zambesi hiring frequently the Basque pilots and
territories was the motive in the minds harpooners to assist them. When Henry
of the Ministry which despatched Living- Hudson returned in 1607 from his first
stone and Kirk to what is now British search for a North-west passage, he
Central Africa. The charter of the Hud- spread the news of the enormous quan-
son's Bay Company was the eventual tities of whalebone whales and walruses
outcome of Frobisher's voyages of nearly which were to be found in these Arctic
a hundred years before, when Frobisher seas. The result was that the Arctic
and Queen Elizabeth, his patroness, Ocean between Greenland, Labrador,
believed he had discovered ore containing Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla was
gold on the verge of the Arctic circle. thronged for twenty or thirty years with
_, For more than three centuries British whaling ships, a pursuit which not
oun ing o
commentators referred to this only added to her stock of hardy, resolute
Hudson s Bay •
-, , j i •
u j.
idea as a strange delusion, but seamen, but increased British interest in
^ mpany
^^^ discovery of gold in the the regions of Arctic America.
Yukon valley shows that Frobisher and In the middle of the seventeenth century,
Elizabeth's Italian metallurgists may however, whaling was almost abandoned
not have been so very much in error. on the part of the British, owing to the zeal
Frobisher may have picked up gold- with which it had been taken up by the
bearing rocks on the shores of " Meta Dutch, who became as quarrelsome and
Incognita," or Baffin's Land, and the as jealous of any competition as they were
inhospitable regions of Eastern Arctic in the equatorial Spice Islands.
Canada may yet become as valuable Repeated attempts were made in the
as are those of the North-west. early eighteenth century to revive the
The Hudson's Bay Company, how- whaling industry of Britain in the northern
ever, was formed under Charles II. seas, and in 1725 the South Sea Company
more with the object of discovering endeavoured to promote the search for
and dominating a water route to the —
whales whalebone, introduced into Eng-
regions of China and India across North lish industries a hundred years before,
America. But the company soon found having become an increasingly important
its raison d'etre and its claims for military article —
by offering a subsidy. The matter
and diplomatic support in the vast was eventually taken up by
overnmcnt
numbers of fur-bearing mammals which the Government, whose boun-
swarmed over Arctic and temperate North ^^^^ granted to whaling ships
a mg Sh'ips
Wh"i"*^*
America. Canadians of to-day owe to j^^^ created by 1749 the first
the bear, fox, wolverene, lynx, marten, Scottish whaling fleet, sailing from Peter-
musquash, and mink, the political unity head. In the second half of the eighteenth
of their vast dominion. Nor have century the spread of learning and the

whales toothed and toothless been — love of reading caused an increased
without their influence on the develop- demand for lamp-oil and candles. Wax
ment of the empire. The Basque was too expensive, tallow too evil-smeUing ;

people of Northern Spain and South- palm oil and other vegetable fats for
west France seem to have been the candle-making had not yet entered the
5471

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


scope of commerce. The voyages of Anson Napoleonic Wars caused them to be
and Cook had drawTi attention to the forgotten, for theirformal cession by
abundance of sperm whales in the south Spain was not followed by any attempt
seas. In 1775 the first British whahng at British settlement other than the chance
ships entered the Pacific round Cape visits of whaling ships. So much so, that
Horn or tlirough the Magellan Straits, in 1820 the new republic of Buenos Ayres
The pursuit of the sperm whale laid claim to the Falkland Islands, and
Discovery
in the Southern seas, and the established a colony on the site of the old
of Falkland ,, , r
g^^^^h ^'^° O^ world-com- French settlement at Port Louis.
Islands
merce on the east and west As no protest was made by Great Britain,
coasts of South America, drew the atten- the islands might have lapsed into an appan-
tion of navigators of several nationalities age of a South American republic had it not
to the Falkland Islands, situated off the been that they had become a rendezvous
coast of Patagonia, so near to the for American whaling ships from the United
extremity of South America. States, and the masters of these ships
These islands had been discovered by fell out with the newly established Argen-

John Davis, the Arctic explorer who was tine authority. American war vesselsseem
killed on the coast of Malacca in 1592, to have intervened in the quarrel, and
and again by Sir Richard Hawkins two between them the Argentine settlement was
years later. In 1598 the indefatigable destroyed. Then the British Government

Dutchmen ^led by Sebald de Wert awoke to the importance of this forgotten
paid them a \nsit and named them the outpost, with the result that the British
Sebald Islands. In 1690, or a little after, flag was again hoisted in 1833.
they received the name of Falkland The whaling industry flagged some twenty
Islands from Strong, a British captain. years afterwards, and was succeeded by
In 1763 the French attempted to found a the pursuit of the fur-bearing sea-lion. But
colony on Berkeley Sound. But by this for many years subsequently the Falkland
time the Spaniards of South America Islands have been valued, not as a resort
considered that these islands came within for whaling or sealing-ships, but as a wool,
their jurisdiction, and they expelled the tallow, and mutton producing colony, in
French by force. In 1761 they had been which a very vigorous white race is
annexed by Commodore Byron on behalf springing up which may some day play a
of England on the ground of their having part in the -politics of South America.
been discovered by Davis, Hawkins and The whaling industry also
Whaling's
Strong ; but the Spanish Government caused the annexation by Cap-
Service to
contested the British claim as vehemently tain Cook in 1775 of Soxith
as the French attempt, and prepared to
the Empire

Georgia, a large island the size
go to war on the subject. Nevertheless, of Cheshire —in the South Atlantic, about
in 1771, the British claim to the islands 950 miles to the E.S.E. of the Falkland
was recognised by Spain in a formal con- group. Whalers have also caused the an-
vention. Either they proved to be of less nexation, or the retention, of numerous tiny
importance to the whaling industry than archipelagoes in the Pacific, and of Tristan
was cxixTtcd. (ir the distractions of the d'Acunha in the South-east Atlantic.

OTAL POPULATION. NUMB. ,IGHTY-ONE, OF TRISTAN D'ACL


5472
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
III G.C.M.G.

THE SLAVE TRADE AS A FACTOR IN


COLONIAL EXPANSION
SLAVERY UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG
AND THE SUPPRESSION OF THE EVIL
'T'HE earliest and strongest inducement The Portuguese had anticipated the
^ to acquire territorial possessions on the question before the New World had been
West Coast of Africa was the facility for discovered. Indeed, the theory of slave
carrying on a trade in slaves with America. labour had been in vigour in the Medi-

The search for pepper cardamoms, grains terranean world from a most remote
of paradise, the seeds of the Aframomum period, and had received a considerable

plant was a temporary allurement and
; „. fillip during the Crusades
there was always the trade in gold-dust ^^*^ ^^^ consequent wars be-
f *M°"

K
between Assinie and the Volt a River. p. tween the Moslems of North
But although "Guinea gold" was ex- Africa and the Christians
ported to England steadily from the time of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.
of Charles IL onwards, it was never in Moorish pirates captured Christians, fair
such large quantities as to give a serious and dark, from ol^ the coasts of tlie Medi-
bias to Imperial policy. The rivers and terranean and Western Europe, from
estuaries between the Senegal, Gambia, Ireland to Greece, and the captives were
and Sierra Leone, together with a small then set to work to row the galley, build
portion of Liberia, Hwida, Dahomeh, and the mole, raise the fortress, decorate the
Benin : these were the principal resorts palace, and make themselves generally
of British slave-traders during the sixteenth useful in employments not always palat-
and seventeenth centuries. In the eigh- able to the free Moslem.
teenth and nineteenth the trade spread It was the great desire of the Christian
to Lagos, the Niger Delta, Calabar, to do likewise, a desire which only began
Kamerun and Congo. The rapid con- to have its fulfilment when Spaniards and
quests of the Spaniards and Portuguese Portuguese first conquered the Moors
in Central and South America had, within the limits of their own peninsula
in the course of fifty odd years, revealed and then victoriously carried their cru-
one negative quality of the New World. sading confhct into Morocco. Prince
These lands, rich with obtrusive Henry the Navigator did not discourage
mineral wealth, endowed with magni- his Genoese, Majorcan and Portuguese
ficent timber, a hundred useful vege- adventurers from making slaves of the
tables, and many delectable birds Moors on whom they could lay hands
and beasts, were either very sparsely in their exploring expeditions. But they
populated with indigenous races of man, soon detected the difference in servitude
or the Indians had not the requisite between Moors and Blackamoors, though
toughness of fibre to withstand the generically the two were lumped together.
hellish slavery to which they The captives brought back from the
Spanish
were subjected by the con- north of the Senegal River were found to
Rulers in
. . quistadores. So that, by the be of noble stuff, to whom slavery meant
middle of the sixteenth century, heartbreak. The black people, trafficked
the problem which is now exercising in by the very Moors themselves to the
many minds in the development of south of the Senegal River, were ideal
tropical Africa worried the Spanish servants, accepting readily both the
rulers of America where was the
: Christian faith and a mild form of domestic
labour force to come from that could service. In fact, historically, it was the
toil unremittingly in a tropical climate ? captured Moors who obtained their own

5473
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
freedom by offering to show the Portu- America, Imperial or Viceregal, for the
guese where they might obtain slaves supply of cargoes of West African slaves,
of the material required by them or Moors, as they were still called.
As soon as the British seamen of Bristol, The ventures proved profitable to the
Devon, London, and East Anglia began to English, and so satisfactory to the
venture far afield in sailing ventures under Spaniards in the West Indies that the
the instigation of Venetian navigators, supply continued to be carried on even
they were very curious as to the regions during periods when Spain and Britain
from which the Portuguese
. were officially at war. Hawkins, having
iscovc
obtained spices and muscular enriched himself over a business in which
.. , black servants and even in the ; he saw no more iniquity than has been
Advenlurers ,. , r t-
j j
discouragmg days oi Edward felt by many a nineteenth century pur-
VI. and Mary L, when much of English veyor of Kanaka, or negro contract
capital and enterprise were fettered by labourers, was knighted by Queen
religious troubles and the throttling hand Elizabeth, and assumed as his crest a
of Spanish diplomacy, merchant adven- " demi-Moor in bondage."
turers set forth to discover West Africa The British trade in slaves from the
for themselves. West African coast might have progressed
At first seamen shipped with the much more rapidly and prosperously be-
Portuguese and kept their own counsel till tween 1560 and 1660 had it not been for
they returned or, later, some Portuguese
; the rivalry and ambition of the Dutch,
commander, unfairly treated at home, The inhabitants of Holland and Friesland
would come to England to find a market for are so near akin to English in blood and
his knowledge. The excessive jealousy and language, have so many of their virtues
hostihty of the Portuguese towards any and faults that we need not affect sur-
other adventurers in the West African prise that a country, small indeed, but
field were somewhat tempered where the nearly as large as the England that counted
English were concerned by Portuguese in the days of Elizabeth, when
J. arvc us
rivalry with Spain, and the feeling that in Wales and much that lay to the
Achievements ,, < t
• 1

the struggle that was coming, Portugal, to riorth of Lmcoln were savage
f H 11 d
avoid absorption by the power of Spain, and sparsely populated, should
might find assistance in an alliance with have achieved the marvellous things it
the Moreover, in spite of re-
English. did in the seas of Africa, Asia, and America
ligious differences, which did not really during the time when its people were
arise until the reign of Elizabeth, and of fighting on their very thresholds against
a dog-in-the-manger policy as regards over- all the power of Spain and Austria. Such
sea adventure, there had been from the surprise at the achievements of big-
twelfth century onwards the growing up minded men out of a tiny country savours
of an unwritten alliance, even of written of a complete ignorance of history. What
pacts, between Angevin England and Holland did is as wonderful, but not more
Burgundian Portugal. so, than the staggering first successes of
It may even be said that prior to Portugal or the civilisation of Greece.
the sixteenth century the rulers and the The Dutch, finding that they were
aristocracy of Portugal and England twice as good at ship-building, ship-
were much more nearly akin in blood, sailing, and ship-fighting as the Portu-
ambitions, and even speech, than they guese, who had become the subjects of
are to-day. The influence of Portugal —
Spain the Spaniards, except the small
^ . on the historical development
. Basque population in the north, were
W t Af
^^ ^^^ British Empire has been indifferent navigators —
grasped at trans-
Slaves
^° important as to excuse this marine empire everywhere with a greed
disquisition. By the beginning admirable in its stupendous character.
of Elizabeth's reign, though the Portuguese They intended to conquer the whole of
did not like the entry of British seamen into Brazil, and wished to supplant Spain in
the West African trade, they did not treat Venezuela and the West Indies. At one
this intervention with such hostility time they took nearly all Angola from
as might have nipped it in the bud. the Portuguese, and even made an attempt
Consequently, Sir John Hawkins, as he at the subjugation of the Congo kingdom.
subsequently became, was in a position They usurped the place of the Portuguese
in 1562 to tender to the Spanish rulers of in Senegambia—'the island of Goree in the

5474
SLAVERY AND COLONIAL EXPANSION
haxbour of Dakar to this day bears the to put it more fairly, as soon as Dutch
name of a small island off the Friesland enterprise slackened, the British turned
coast, and on the Gold Coast. They the temporary trading stations estab-
occupied the island of St. Helena, dis- lished at the mouth of the Gambia, in
covered and named by the Portuguese, the estuary of Sierra Leone, and on the
and probably by their maritime attacks Gold Coast, into permanent fortified posts.
checked any intentions on the part of In fact, under Charles II., James II., and
poor paralysed Lusitania to occupy the William III., the British Empire in West
Cape of Good Hope. They several times „ Africa began mainly with the
took away the island of Mozambique intention of supplying black
in SI*
from the Portuguese, occupied and named .
J.
slaves to the sugar-growing
Mauritius, and exterminated the Dodo. West Indies, where, under
They conquered the coasts of Ceylon, Cromwell, Britain had obtained a splendid
established themselves in Eastern India installation by the conquest of Jamaica.
and ousted the Portuguese flag from By 1670, she not only desired to obtain
almost every part of the Malay Pen- contracts for supplying Spanish America
insula and archipelago, where it had with negro labourers, but she required
been so proudly hoisted and so cruelly them in thousands for her own American
maintained by the almost superhuman possessions. Sugar was bemg planted
valour of the great conquistadores. everywhere in the more tropical of the
Imitation has constantly been the West India islands, and tobacco in Virginia.
sincerest, if most unconscious, form of There was a growing demand for rum
flattery on the part of the British. made from sugar. We were approaching
During the Saxon period they copied the two centuries, the eighteenth and
the religion, arts, manners, customs, and nineteenth, which, amongst a thousand
costume of the Prankish Roman Empire. other remarkable characteristics, good and
From before the Norman Conquest they bad, will probably be known in the
had begun to watch and perspective of history as the centuries of
Brit&in the
imitate the Flemings, Picards, distilled alcohol :the two hundred odd •

Pupil of
^r^" Nations
VI *• and Bretons. Every fashion years in which civilised and uncivilised
Other
m
. , .1 < t^
dress that came from Italy
. 1
man attempted to poison himself and his
ran with a rapidity, astonishing without progeny, body and mind, with rum, gin,
a coach or carriageable road, through brandy, arrack, kirsch, absinthe, schnapps,
England up to Edinburgh. and whisky. Rum, the aguardiente of the
From the middle of the fifteenth to the Spaniard, got a good start in the infamous
end of the sixteenth century British sea- race, and vastly promoted the cultivation
men sedulously copied in shipbuilding, in of the sugar-cane, thus causing the British
the art of navigation, and in the use of to establish at least fourteen slave-trading
nautical terms the maritime enterprise of depots on the West Coast of Africa during
Italy, Portugal, and Spain, while during the eighteenth century, and Liverpool,
the seventeenth century they devoted the London, Bristol, and Lancaster to
same spirit of assimilation to all they maintain between them a fleet of nearly
could learn from the Dutch. Indeed, it two hundred slave-ships.
was not until the second half of the In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht imposed
eighteenth century that England began on Spain the transference from Dutch to
to teach other nations. —
British merchants in the syndicate or
Therefore, where Venice, Genoa, combine, as it would now be called, Queen
Portugal, and Holland led in matters of ,

ri ain s

Anne had a fourth share of the
maritime discovery, and later in the slave contract for the annual supply
trade, Britain followed unquestioningly. .
" ry
of 4,800 negro slaves to the
In the last-named pursuit she had gp^j^jgj-^ Indies. This privilege
anticipated the Dutch, but towards the was to last for thirty years but for some
;

close of the sixteenth century the Dutch good reasons the Spaniards repudiated
took the lead, and kept it for some it when it had only run for twenty-six.
fifty years. It was a Dutch ship that For this and other "wrongs" the British
brought the fkst supply of negro slaves Government declared war on Spain. The
to British North America, Virginia, in 1619. long War of the Austrian Succession that
As soon as she began to get the upper —
followed ^and later, the Wars of the Family
hand of the Dutch in maritime warfare, or. Compact and of the American revolt—
5475
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
stood in the way of the resumption of the supplies needed by the modest manu-
purveying of slaves to Spanish America factories of cotton goods at London,
in British ships. The Spaniards obtained Nottingham, and in Lancashire were
them through the French and Portuguese, obtained from Cyprus, Asia Minor, and
and finally made arrangements with Por- the West India Islands of Barbados,
tugal for the cession of the West African Anguilla, and St. Christopher. But a
.

island of Fernando Po and an establish- simultaneous provocation to the con-


ment on the African mainland at Corisco tinuous retention of slave labour in the
. Bay, so that Spaniards could United States arose from England itself.
Negroes in
^^ their own slave - buying From 1750 onwards a series of
the British
Colonies
and running. But this was —
splendid inventions Kaye's fly - shuttle,
little loss to the British slave- Hargreave's carding - engine and "spin-
traders, because, as the eighteenth ning-jenny," Arkwright's spinning-frame,
century advanced towards its middle, mule, and throstle —revolutionised the
the British-American and West Indian cotton industries of England, the whole
colonies became more and more pros- history and development of Lanca-
perous and in need of labourers. shire, whither cotton manufacturers were
In the closing years of the seventeenth being removed from London because of
century rice from Madagascar had been the greater cheapness of labour and the
introduced into South Carolina, and pecuhar qualities of the Lancashire
rapidly became an article of profitable climate, and even the social fabric of
culture in the sub-tropical states of England. Cotton spinners, American and
British America, provided there was a West Indian merchants became enormously
sufficiency of negro labour. Between wealthy and influential, and their sons
1700 and 1776 about 2,000,000 negroes entered Parliament. Thus were founded
had been conveyed to the British colonies the careers of the great Sir Robert Peel
of Eastern North America by British and of Gladstone. These wonderful develop-
ships, and in this same period quite _ ments of British industry caused
Growth of,
^.
J J £
^^ enormous demand for the
J.I.
600,000 to the British West Indies
C
— 1,000,000 before the century's close.
th
Ind St
tt
^^^ material. It was before the
With the American revolt the slave- days of steamships, though the
market, in what were now the United machines with steam power invented by
States, was practically closed to Great James Watt applied to cotton spinning
Britain. Moreover, coincidently with this were the origin of the application of
revolt arose the first determined movement steam - power to locomotion ;and the
against slavery in North America. The sailing voyages from Turkey through a
Quakers, who played such a great part in war-devastated Mediterranean, were too
the settlement of the original States of uncertain as a means of a large and con-
New England, had from the first disap- stant supply. In the West Indies the area
proved of slavery. The State of Pennsyl- under British control suited to cotton
vania practically abolished slavery within cultivation was too small. As soon as
its limits in 1776, and Vermont in 1777. the war with the American colonies could
Slavery, in fact, would have never been be brought to a conclusion, a trade in
recognised by the constitution of the cotton, cultivated by slave labour, sprang
United States but for the insistence of up between the United States and Liver-
Georgia and South Carolina. It was pool so enormous as to preclude for a
possibly cotton which gave a ninety years' long while any serious movement on the
, ,
extension to the institution American side for the abrogation of the
Jmencas ^^ slavery in America. slave status.
°'"'"'
'^^^ cultivation of cotton, But the prohibition of the foreign slave
StateT
curiously enough, though trade by the United States in 1794- 1808,
the best wild cotton-plants are indigenous and the similar prohibition by Britain in
to Southern North America, did not begin —
1808 strengthened by the provisions of
in Georgia and the Carolinas until 1770. —
the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 effected a
After a few miscarriages of samples at great improvement in the position and
Liverpool, in 1764, it became an astonish- happiness of the slave in America and in
ing success. Previous to this discovery of the British West Indies. Hitherto the wast-
the special value of the climate of Georgia age oflife had been terrible. There were
as a cotton-producing country, the small about 800,000 negro and mulatto slaves
5476
2'S
C.S.-ti o

"-• It M

5477
HISTORY OF THE ^^ORLD
in the British West Indies in 1791, but it stronghold of the slave trade. British
required annual drafts of about 30,000 intervention in the affairs of Nyassaland
to maintain the labour force at its sufficient was largely the outcome of Livingstone's
quota. In 1780 there were about 600,000 denunciation of the Arab slave trade.
negroes in the Southern United States. British missionary propaganda was in the
This figure had risen in 1790, under the first place the only motive in Bechuana-
stimulus of cotton-planting and increased land and Central Zambesia.

demand for slave labour perhaps also
to a more careful census —
The same may be said for the be-
ginning of British interest in Uganda,
e- X « ., . . to
g .. .. . 757,000. By 1000 it exceeded in all probability antedating the anxiety

for the Negroa million, of whom, however, concerning the sources of the Nile
more
than 100,000 were water-supply and the irrigation of the
already free. By 1820 there were 233,000 Northern Sudan and Egypt. Philan-
free negroes in the United States, to whom — —
thropy of a rather sickly kind started
the ordinary franchise of free citizens the creation of British commercial and
was practically denied. The embarrass- political claims over the Lower Niger, and
ment thus caused was met by the ranged public opinion behind the vacillat-
foundation in 1822 of Liberia, on the ing British Government of the 'nineties
West Coast of Africa, to receive back in — it would equally have stood behind them
Africa the descendants of freed slaves in the 'eighties —
in the last century, when
whom America rejected as voting citizens. Lord Kitchener was allowed to under-
Great Britain had already felt this take the reconquest and resettlement
difficulty of conceding political rights to of the Egyptian Sudan. In no region
the freed slaves of the West India Islands, of the British Empire was philanthropy
and further had to find homes for the more justified in urging on a conquest
loyalist negroes who had fought on the than in these regions of the Central
British side during the American War of Nile valley. The uprising of the bastard
1777-1783. These had first been moved Arab element in this region
British
to Nova Scotia then they were con-
; was in all truth a revolt in
Influence in
veyed to London, and finally to the favour of the reinstitution oi
the Sudan
Sierra Leone peninsula, which had been the slave trade in its most
acquired by a philanthropist chartered extravagantly cruel and infamous aspects.
company for the repatriation of negroes. The Mahdi's revolt had blasted and
The foundation of the future Colony and depopulated a region of the earth's
Protectorate of Sierra Leone, in 1787- 1792, surface which, under proper administra-
was the first episode in a new order of empire tion, should have been the home of popu-
building sentiment or sentimentality was
; lous tribes of dark-skinned people engaged
henceforth to rank with other more prac- in rearing large herds of camels, cattle,
tical reasons for annexing countries, large asses, horses, goats, and sheep, and in
and small, to the British Crown. cultivating millions of acres of wheat or of
The alleged philanthropic origin of date palms.
some of her possessions is an explanation, Its previous government by Egypt
which, down to a few years ago, would had been undertaken first of allon
have called forth the snort or the sneer a purely slave-trade basis, and secondly
from home or foreign critics of the empire. as a sjxjculation very much on the
But although Great Britain is rightly lines of King Leopold's rubber empire
famed for keeping an eye on the main on the Congo. The British conquest,
g . chance in her Imperial policy, occupation, and reorganisation of the
it is a fact that several of Sudan has been a very great gain
in Imperial
her investments in Africa and to civihsation and human happiness.
Policy
Asia in their origin have been Whether such a verdict shall be pro-
undertaken for motives of sincere philan- nounced on all other extensions of British
thropy, and not with the immediate rule is discussed in greater detail in this
prospect of gain. Thus, Sierra Leone was survey. But it is noteworthy that many
first started as a chartered company, and a British conquest, in order to excite the
then grew inevitably into a crown colony. philanthropic motive in the British people,
Lagos was conquered and annexed in has been preceded by a blackening of the
186 1 because it remained obstinately a character of those about to be conquered.

5478

THE
Hv^m
^^^fllli'll"'^
3ii^i^^j BY SIR
BRITISH
if i^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^1 HARRY
^^^HBI'-^^^%h^ ^^^^H ^P^)
EMPIRE
IV ^mmm
^Q Ho JOHNSTON,
G.C.M.G.

COLONIES GROWN FROM CONVICT


SETTLEMENTS
EFFECT OF THE OLD TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEM ON THE EMPIRE'S EXPANSION
A NOTHER inducement to acquire over- American States, the northern West Indies,
**• sea possessions should not be over- Australia or Tasmania, the transported
looked, as it has contributed powerfully, if at developed in many cases into healthy,
first unhappily, to the formation of British happy, virtuous, prosperous fathers, or
and French colonies from the early part of mothers of sturdy colonists, themselves to
the seventeenth to, in the case of Britain, the be the ancestors, perchance, of such as
last half of the nineteenth century the trans- : shall found the mighty independent states
portation of criminals or political prisoners. of the future. Some of
Two Sides
The fact that several of her proudest, the finest of Australian
of the Australian
most prosperous colonies began in this citizens, I have been told,
Picture
way, or were reinforced in population by can trace descent
their
these means, she need have no scruple from stalwart Enghsh poachers, whom the
in admitting or regret in recording, for in iniquitous game laws of a pre- Victorian
all the period of English history previous Britain condemned to transportation.
to the reform of the criminal laws in Similar poachers nowadays, unprosecuted
1826, 1832, 1837, persons not hanged, or mildly punished, might develop into
drawn and quartered allowed to survive — successftd and very respectable professional
their trial —
could not have been so very cricketers, football players, or golfers; or
wicked, since the death penalty in those enter the army, rise to be sergeants-major
days was frequently imposed where now or inspectors of police, and endow their not-
three months' imprisonment would be sufficiently-grateful country with families
considered ample to meet the require- of ten to twelve healthy children.
ments of justice, to say nothing of the There was, of course, another side to the
enormous frequency of false witness, of picture in Australia, and, above all, in
miscarriages of justice, wherein a humane Tasmania. A proportion of the convicts
judge or Minister would give the prisoner were really wicked men and women, and
the benefit of the doubt by sentencing the partial liberty they attained on
him or her to transportation for the en- reaching the southern hemisphere enabled
forced colonisation of new lands. them to spread their wickedness like a
Given the shocking social condition of subtle moral contamination. The special
England and France in the eighteenth and and isolated penal settlements in New
early nineteenth centuries, this plan was South Wales, Tasmania, Norfolk Island,
really a blessing in disguise. The wretched Moreton Bay, West Australia, became
criminal, often more sinned against than according to writers oi that and a later day,
_, .. sinning, was removed from a rut
, in pamphlets and in novels

" terrible
Essenti&ls j- i i- ^r
1 • 1

^ j r social disqualmca-
hopeless cesspools of iniquity." But the ex-convicts
m Empire 01
. -. .
.. ^^ ^
from mcessant temp- and ticket-of-leave men became prosperous
BuildinK ' ^
tation to run counter to local and outspoken citizens it has been stated
:

laws, to a region where muscle, pluck, in reports on the transportation question


endurance, resourcefulness the brigand's — that by 1835 some of the New South Wales
instincts, moderately
curbed were the — ex-convict citizens possessed incomes of
essentials required in empire building. between ;^20,ooo and £40,000, derived
At home he or she would have eventually from houses, lands, ships, cattle, and land
ended a miserable career on the gallows transport. They advocated on the platform
or in the workhouse prison. In the and in the local Press views that were
348 5479
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
described as " unprincipled," but in many vigorous half-breeds. Convicts were also
respects seem nowadays merely Socialism sent to Jamaica, Nova Scotia, the Ber-
of a respectable and accepted type. The mudas, Barbados, and other islands of the
vicious members of the penal settlements British West Indies. But with the revolt
mostly died out from their evil courses and of the American States, the transportation
left no offspring to perpetuate their moral of British law-breakers across the Atlantic
obliquity. For the rest, the open air, the came to an end. The simultaneous revela-
sunshine, great spaces, necessity for tion by Captain Cook of the vast Australian
„ ri am s
. . ,
physical exertion, effected a territories suggested a far better outlet for
bodily and mental purifica- the energies of those unhappy convicts in
o icy o
Transportahon
tion. The Australia and Tas-
, ., . ^- ,i
whom the great philanthropist Howard
mania of the twentieth cen- was forcing his fellow citizens and govern-
tury bear no more traces in their 4,200,000 ment to take an interest.
wholesome people of the sorrows, tor- The first fleet of convict settlers left
tures, crimes, and privations of a certain England for New South Wales in 1787,
section of the original colonisers than do and, after a voyage of seven months, landed
the modern New Englanders, who are in its consignment on the site of the modern
part descended from a similar recruitment. Sydney in January, 1788. In the same year
Penal colonies or settlements of outlaws another convict station was established at
or mutinied soldiers were not unknown in Norfolk Island, about 400 miles to the
the polity of ancient Egypt, the Greek or north-north-west of New Zealand. In
the Roman worlds, and here or there in 1804 the first settlement was effected in
legend and in history are quoted as the seed Tasmania, when 400 convicts, many of
of subsequently prosperous communities. them Irish political prisoners, were estab-
In the evolution of the British Empire the lished on the site of the modern Hobart.
pohcy of transporting law-breakers to lands The next year the Norfolk Island convicts
beyond the sea was foreshadowed by the were removed to Tasmania, and estab-
Vagrancy Act of Elizabeth's reign, on the lished on the banks of the Upper Derwent.
strength of which her successor, James I., „ . . Asearly as 1832, however, pro-
directed that " a hundred dissolute per- Q rimma I s in tests began to reach England
• • •

sons " should be sent to Virginia. In 1660 ^^^^ ^^^ reputable section of
and 1670, Acts of Charles II. prescribed the Australian society against the
transportation of offenders against the principle of transporting thither the
laws, which then included many who were criminals of Great Britain. There had
merely " lewd, disorderly, or lawless always been alongside the deported prisoner
persons," or who were dissidents in of the State a steady influx of free colonists.
rehgion and from this time onwards men
; Some of these came to Australia with a
and women were regularly drafted to the view to farm, by means of cheap convict
plantations in New England. labour and no doubt by this association
;

In 1718, an Act of George I. ordained that of white and black sheep, not a few among
criminals guilty of grave offences, who the latter regained their former s]:)otless-
escaped the death penalty, were to be ness of fleece. It is at any rate certain,
farmed out to labour-contractors for trans- though enough emphasis has never been
port to the American colonies. The con- placed on this happy fact, that a propor-
tractors were thus enabled to sell the labour tion of nearly, if not quite, half the convicts
of these white slaves — men at about $50 a sent out to Austraha found their way back

head and women at $40 or $45 for what- into the life of decent, self-respecting men

Fatc of
^^^^ ^^'^"^ ^^^ judge had and women.
attached to their transportation, It must also be remembered that be-
th Wh*t
Slaves ^^y ^^^^ seven to fourteen years.
'
tween 1800 and 1820 a large number of
At the end of that period the the prisoners were political Irish rebels
:

labourer became free, theoretically, and or English rioters, fighters for freedom
although in many instances, no doubt, a merely, and often high-minded, pure-
wicked master kept his " convict " at work minded men. On the other hand, after
beyond the term of his sentence, in many the first reform of the terrible English
others he became a free colonist Ion? before criminal code in 1826 and 1832, the persons
or settled the question himself by running deemed to have merited transportation
away to the backwoods, or joining the were more certainly thorough -going law-
Indians and becoming the father of breakers than under the former and harsher
5480

COLONIES GROWN FROM CONVICT SETTLEMENTS
laws. So it came about that all the the sending out annually of a limited
respectable elements of Australian society number of British convicts. The proposal
— from whatever source recruited matters was eagerly accepted by the British
not, for their lives and exploits were Government in 1849, 3-t a time when they
sufficient testimony to their character were placed in a very awkward dilemma
struck at the dumping of any more con- by the outbreak in Cape Town against the
victed criminals on Australian soil. Their landing of convicts. Accordingly, trans-
protests were endorsed by their judiciary, portation of criminals was resumed
and after 1840 no more state prisoners Australia-wards, and the
e ys em
were sent to the eastern half of Australia. prisoners, released on
A good many of the irreclaimable
of Transportation
.....
iij.fi
ticket-of -leave
t
for
.1
the
AbolishedJ
convicts of New South Wales and Queens-
, . .

most part, were sent


land (Moreton Bay) were removed to annually to Fremantle and Albany until
Norfolk Island, which continued to-be a 1865. Many of these so-called convicts
convict station till 1854. Tasmania received were little more than boys from the
all the output of British convicts until reformatory prison at Parkhurst, Isle of
1846, when, in consequence of protests Wight. But later the Imperial Government
from its Government, the supply was began to develop a plan of regular penal
stopped until 1848. Then it began again, establishments in Western Australia for the
especially with regard to Irish and English using up of British criminals in the mass,
Chartist political prisoners. This was in and this contemplated procedure offended
1850, when an attempt to land 250 con- the growing national pride of Australia.
victs in the previous year at the Cape of Moreover, it was complained of by the
Good Hope provoked almost an insurrec- colony of South Australia, which had never
tion. After 1850 no more convicts were been associated in its foundation with con-
sent to the beautiful island of Tasmania, vict immigrants, but which now witnessed
which, in 1825, had been thrown open to a permeation of its settlements by escaped
free emigrants. In Tasmania the worst criminals from West Australia. In 1865,
features of convict colonisa- therefore, the system of transporting
rou esome
^^^^ were certainly manifest. convicts to Western Australia, or to any
Convicts T,, J i J J
.

in
_ .
Tasmania
The mdentured or assigned region beyond the limits of Great Britain
who were subjectedj
. . , , i
crimmals,
.l
and Ireland,came to an end for ever.
to but little supervision, frequently There nothing to gird at in this
is
escaped into the bush, and between 1804 record. Transportation was a plan which
and 1830 the island was terrorised by in the circumstances of the time, of home
bushrangers. This precipitated trouble institutions, and colonial needs, served a
with the black indigenes, whose treat- purpose that in the main was beneficent.
ment, active and passive, at the hands At any rate, whether or not unpleasing to
of British officialdom will always be one British pride, it must be ranked among
of the blots on the empire's record, from the principal causes which led to the
the point of view of science as well as colonisation of North and South Carolina,
philanthropy. The worst type of convicts Virginia, and Massachusetts of Jamaica,
;

were herded at the penal settlement of the Bahamas, and the Leeward Islands ;
Port Arthur, on Tasman Peninsula, under of Australia and Tasmania.
conditions graphically described by the But for the need to find a dumping-
late Marcus Clarke in his powerful novel, ground for offenders against the criminal
" His Natural Life." laws or for political prisoners, Australia and
Western Australia had been founded as _ . . Tasmania would have be-
Colonies
a colony in 1829, but for many years it . , come t->
. French1.
possessions no
;

languished in growth owing to the superior


tt France
^°"^^ ^^^ Zealand as well.
attractions in rapid fortune-making offered France, with the gold and
elsewhere in the island-continent. It copper of Australia and the magnificent
needed cheap labour above all for the climate of New Zealand as baits for
development of its resources, so that when French emigrants, might have played a
the other states of Australia were indig- very different part in the world's history.
nantly repudiating the principle of convict It is curious to reflect on the partly for-
immigration, the legislature of the Crown gotten causes and personalities of this
Colony of West Australia actually pro- movement towards Australia. After the
posed to the Home Government, in 1846, middle of the eighteenth century there
5481

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
were British Ministers who took an interest Gibraltar; others, with more sardonic
in science lor the mere love of knowledge. intent, the Gambia River, where the
Lord Halifax, in 1768, had despatched climate was reported to kill one in six
James Bruce, British consul in Algeria among the Europeans landed there. But
and Tunis, to Egypt, to discover the source Mr. Matra espoused the suggestions of
of the Nile. In the same year, partly Sir Joseph Banks that the beautiful
through the influence of the same Secretary country of New South Wales should receive
of State —
who died in 1771— Captain James a British settlement ; and afterwards
Cook was sent with a small shaped his plans so as to incorporate Lord
^^^^^ expedition to the South Sydney's suggestion that the Botany Bay
a w** d
r**!*" Seas to observe from the longi- colony should comprise a scheme for the
*f A
tude of Tahiti the transit of transportation of large numbers of convicts.
Venus. On his homeward ourney he
j dis- Mr. Matra seems to have been a Corsican,
covered, or re- discovered, New Zealand and the relation or descendant of a Corsican
Australia. His landing at Botany Bay, near patriot who sometimes fought with, some-
Sydney, at the beginning of the Australian times against, Paoli, in the Corsican
autumn, when there was a renewed out- struggle for independence which preceded
burst of leaf and blossom under the the French Revolution by twenty to thirty
influence of the rains, caused him to give, years. Matra had become domiciled in
on his return to England in the summer of England, and, as far as can be ascertained,

1771 besides the reports of his scientific never was in Australia, but merely became
staff, among whom wasSir Joseph Banks interested theoretically in that country's
—such a glowing account of the beauty possibilities and in colonisation generally.
and wonders of Australia as fascinated the Lord Sydney, as Sir Thomas Townshend
attention of arm-chair geographers in and later as a peer, was at the Foreign
England. Amongst this type of useful Office between 1782 and 1791.
and enthusiastic students was a Mr. Matra, Then, owing to the disgust occasioned
afterwards British Agent at Tangiers, who by the issue of the American War, the
had access to the ear of Lord Sydney, the Ministry of the colonies had been abolished
Minister then in charge of Colonial affairs. and the oversea possessions of Great
The philanthropist John Howard, in Britain were dealt with by the Foreign
1777-1779, had been agitating for prison Department. Matra, with his
The Birth of
reform. The American colonies were now knowledge of French and
British
closed as places to which criminals could be Italian, was useful to Lord
Australasia
transported. The prosperous West Indian Sydney, no doubt in Mediter-
Islands rejected this labour material, not ranean questions. His own chief pre-
half so useful as ne^o slaves where, then,
; occupation at this time, 1783, seems to
was a harassed admmistration, just awaking have been to found a new home for the
to the impulses of modem philanthropy American loyalists. Lord Sydney's aim was
largely created by the Quakers— to send to select a suitable portion of the globe for
the wretched beings it was too humane to the reception of transported criminals.
slaughter and too ignorant to reform ? From this curious conjunction of plans and
Some suggested a penal settlement at enthusiasms sprang British Australasia.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES RECEIVING BLANKETS FROM THE GOVERN MhN i

5482
BY SIR
HARRY
JOHNSTON,
G.C.M.G.

THE WARS OF THE EMPIRE,


JUST AND UNJUST
HOW OVERSEAS DOMINIONS
BRITAIN'S
HAVE BEEN EXTENDED BY FORCE OF ARMS
AND THE LOSS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES
TTHE participation of England in the Cru- Ireland, and Man into a single great power
'•
sades, and, indeed, all the wars carried with a central government. Until that
on by Norman, Angevin, and Plantagenet could be brought about in deed, if not in
kings outside the English realm, with the word, there could be no motive, no security
exception of the conquest of Ireland, for an empire beyond the seas of the British
Wales, and Scotland, can hardly be called Archipelago. The first wars of the empire,
wars for the foundation of the British „ therefore, were those which the
Empire. The campaigns of Henry II.,
th^T^"** *f
Gorman and Angevin kings,
Richard I., the first three Edwards, Henry it VI incited by the Pope, with his
the Normans j . , .,
-^
.V xtt ^
V. and VI., were undertaken as the desire to unify the Western
attempts of French princes to reign in Christian Church, undertook for the sub-
France, while their work in the Crusades jugation of Ireland and Wales. For
was really a lingering vestige of the Imperial purposes, the conquest of Ireland
Western Roman Empire, a continuance was sufificiently achieved in the reign of
of that work of Rome which was really Henry II. The Danes had largely prepared
resumed after the Saxon interregnum. the way for the English. They had
For a brief period after the Anglo- slainthe last Keltic king of all Ireland,
Saxons had done much to destroy Roman Brian Boru. Ireland was then, as now,
civilisation in Britain, Ireland may have composed, in a different proportion, of
been more civilised and prosperous than much the same racial elements as England,
England or barbaric Caledonia. Were it Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
not, however, for the vestiges of an It is probable, however, that at the time
undoubted and very beautiful art, the of the Norman invasion Danish was a good
early mediaeval civilisation of Ireland deal spoken on the coasts of Ireland, and
might be questioned, seeing how much from that to the English of Henry II. 's
invention and exaggeration have accumu- period was no very difficult step. But it
lated in the monkish legends. [Students was really the Roman Church that kept
of this part of British history would do Ireland under English control until such
well to read " The Elder Faiths of Ire- time as the English infiltration had grown
land," by W.H. Wood-Martin; and "The toe strong for a national resistance.
Making of Ireland and Its Undoing," by > Vales had been brought into the English
Mrs. Alice Stopford Green.] W'ith the heg-^mony at the conclusion of the reign of
influence of the Romanised Edward I. Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and
Roman Franks on the Saxon courts, Danish influence combined, had, between
Civilisation in
B ritain Roman civilisation soon 700 A.D. and the reign of Robert Bruce,
raised its head again in the settled the question whether Scotland was
realm of the Anglo-Saxon from Edinburgh to be an independent Keltic kingdom with
to Southampton, and the new English a predominant Keltic language, or a
civilisation began to infiltrate Iberian country ruled by the English speech, by
Wales and Cornwall. The necessary pre- Roman and Norman ideas of law and
liminary to a British Empire abroad was custom, although for two centuries more
the political consolidation of Great Britain, she remained a power more often hostile
5483
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
than friendly. The Isle of Man had come the seeds of Imperial desires. England
within the English sphere of influence in was prompted to found an empire by giant
1344 and 1406, when it had ceased to be minds of Venice and Genoa, who, eager to
ruled by a Norwegian dynasty, and had take their inspirations to any monarch with
been finally wrested from intermittent the power of executing them, and often
Scottish occupation. The Hebrides and thwarted or maltreated by Spain or Portu-
outer islands of West Scotland were gal, came to England, and attracted the
secured from Norway, and, later, from —
inchoate desires of this people emergent
_ „ independent rule by the— from civil wars, safe at home, and fer-

,.
Scotland s <(t
. .
j
Lord c ^i. t
of the Isles
>> •_
1 „£—
^in 1264
.

menting with the new learning 'towards
^^^ ^^
°^ .* and 1427.
Shetlands
The Orkneys and
were also pledged
the discovery and conquest of lands
across the Atlantic Ocean.
by Norway (Denmark) in 1469 as the The first war undertaken for an empire
security for the dowry of Margaret of beyond the shores of Britain did not
Denmark, who married James III. The occur till the early part of Elizabeth's
pledge was never redeemed. Thus the reign, and then for a long time it was an
kings of Scotland, mainly by war prowess, unofficial war, waged by gallant men whose
between 844 and 1470 brought the entire status was little superior to that of pirates.
mainland and adjacent islands of North Drake and his comrades, incensed by the
Britain under one rule, and in 1603 united attempts of the Spanish monarchy to
it with the Crown of England, Wales, retain all America within the limits of a
Ireland, and the Channel Islands, and the Spanish monopoly, boldly attacked the
suzerainty over Man. colossus in detail, and by surrendering to the
Though the nominal independence of greedy Elizabeth much of the wealth thus
Scotland continued until the fusion of the acquired, escaped being hanged as pirates.
two crowns in the person of James VI. (I.), But after their exploits had provoked
Scotland had no Imperial policy of her own the despatch of the Spanish Armada,
after the Battle of Flodden Field, except Elizabeth took a bolder line.
The Bold
the unfortunate Darien expedition of 1698- She afforded a somewhat
Line of Queen
1700 to the Gulf of Uraba at the southern Elizabeth
churlish and treacherous
beginning of the Isthmus of Panama, assistance to the struggling
and did not actively participate in the people of the Netherlands, and waged a war
Imperial schemes of Britain till after the —
here against Spain not by any means
Act of Union in the reign of Queen Anne. —
crowned with honour which was probably
It was likewise not until the middle of the intended, if she saw her way clear, to add
eighteenth century that Irishmen born in the Netherlands to the dominions of the
Ireland are found taking any prominent British Crown —
still claiming the kingdom
part in colonial expansion. of France. The Dutch,after the dis-
The war-worn Henry IV. had dallied graceful behaviour of Leicester, were by
with Imperial projects of trade in the no means minded to pursue their original
Mediterranean, and had even received invitation to Elizabeth to become queen
embassies from the Moors of North Africa ;
over the Low Countries. Outraged at the
but his death at the early age of forty- treachery displayed by Elizabeth's generals,
seven cut short his plans of expanding they resolved to lean on the House of
English influence. The eighty years of Orange and its German connections, and
turmoil that followed distracted men's to pursue an independent and even a rival
thoughts from any questions but those of course to that of England.
_^ ^ England, Scotland, France, and This divergence of paths between the
^^rgundy. Thus the great people speaking two Low German dialects
o mpena
of Im trial
gtirrings of the Southern Eng- in the deltas of the Rhine and the Ems,
lish— for at first all Imperial and the people speaking another language
enterprise came from south of the latitude of the same stock in Great Britain,
of Lincoln —
towards oversea adventure and Scotland and Eastern Ireland, was to
acquisitions did not make themselves felt culminate seventy years later in some of the
till the reign of Henry VII. The growing toughest of the colonial fights, and reverbe-
relations of trading Britain with the Low rated to its last echo, it may be hoped,
Countries, with Venice, Portugal, and the in the South African War of 1899-1902.
Hanseatic towns, which became very James I. probably permitted rather than
marked in the reign of Edward IV., sowed encouraged the foundation of a British
54S4

THE WARS OF THE EMPIRE, JUST AND UNJUST


Empire beyond the sea, firstly because it was materially strengthened. As regards
was difficult to check the impulses in Spain, which was covertly harassing the
that direction which had grown up under British settlers in the Bahamas and
Elizabeth, partly because these enter- Leeward Islands, who for their frequent
prises were encouraged by his gallant raids on Hispaniola and Jamaica no
eldest son, Prince Henry, who died untimely doubt deserved such reprisals, Cromwell
in 1612 and lastly, because the pro- sent an expedition, 1654-1655, under

;

moters of these colonial schemes had only Admiral Penn the father of the founder
to bribe James's favourites to get what
Jamaica
of Pennsylvania —
and General
charter they desired. James's own colonial Seized by the
Venables to Barbados. At this
or Mediterranean wars were unfortunate, island they opened their sealed
English
and resulted in no advantage. He be- orders, and found they were
headed Raleigh to please Spain, and to attack and occupy the large island
because Raleigh had discovered no gold of Hispaniola. Besides the 4,000 soldiers
or silver mines in Guiana. they had on board, they were to recruit a
Cromwell's first colonial war was with further force from among what we should
Holland. The effect of the massacre at nowadays call the convict settlers of
Amboina in 1623 of a number of English- Barbados, and were further to take up

men and their followers nine Englishmen, more fighting men at St. Christopher,
one Portuguese, nine Japanese, and about With 10,200 men they proceeded to

ninety Malays in order that the Dutch attack the port of San Domingo in a most
might retain the monopoly of the spice blundering fashion, and at length were
trade, had taken some time to reach beaten off by the Spaniards and the
England, but had never been forgiven or results of great sickness among their men.
forgotten. Internal troubles had prevented Ashamed —
or, rather, afraid —
to face Crom-
the exaction of any indemnity until the well with no better results than this
establishment of Cromwell's power in 1652. repulse, they proceeded to Jamaica, never
very strongly garrisoned by Spain. Their
^ romwe s The Dutch had taken full ad-
,

vantage of the paralysis of seizure of the island, in May, 1655, met


^^tV^^n * V England at home between .,.-*
1630 with but a feeble resistance on the part of
° ^ „
and 1052, Pnnce ^
on the Dutch . .

Rupert aidmg the The folk who seemed


Spaniards.
on behalf of Charles H. to chase British most annoyed at the arrival of the British
ships from the carrying trade in the Medi- were the negro slaves of the Spaniards who
terranean, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. had replaced the exterminated Arawak
They had, of course, added to their Indians, slaves probably brought to
offences in Cromwell's eyes by receiving Jamaica originally in British vessels.
an envoy from Charles II. after the death These fled to the mountains, and long
of his father. Therefore, in 1651, the remained recalcitrant to British rule.
Commonwealth Parliament devised the A small proportion of these descendants
extraordinary Navigation Act; which of the Spanish slaves claim still a certain
obliged all colonial or Indian produce independence and peculiar privileges of
to be carried to Great Britain in British their own in the bush country of
ships only, or foreign goods to be brought Eastern and Western Jamaica. The
in ships of the country producing those Spaniards nicknamed runaway negroes
goods. Thus they dealt a severe blow who took refuge in the interior mountain
at the Dutch mercantile marine, which had ranges " Cimarrones," from " Cima," a
become the common carriers of the world. mountain peak. This term was shortened
They wished also to check the free and corrupted in West Indian
ng an s
use of British fisheries by the Dutch English into " Maroons." This
Unscrupulous .° .
o, u •

fishermen, and demanded as a royalty - . attack on a Spanish possession


the tenth herring of every catch. They also in a time of peace, and when a

required which was less defensible Spanish ambassador had been accredited
that the Dutch should salute the British to Cromwell and to the Parliament for the
Fleet first whenever the two squadrons purpose of arriving at a settlement of all
met in the Channel. The results of the outstanding disagreements, and even of the
naval war which broke out in 1652 were conclusion of an alliance between the two
very favourable to Britain, and the nations, can only be described as a dis-
position of the British in the East Indies honourable and unscrupulous action which,
and on the east coast of North America if it had been committed against England

5485
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
by Spain, British historians would never nations were at peace with Europe.
have ceased denouncing. As it is, I cannot This went on until the latter part of the
find a word of disapproval in the work of eighteenth century, and had for its
any British historian only expressions
; general purpose the expulsion of the
of regret that the drunken squabbles of Dutch from Bengal and the driving away
the leaders of the expedition caused it to of the English from Ceylon and the
fail humiliatingly in the original purpose Malay Archipelago. An example of one
entertained by Cromwell —the conquest of these local wars was the arrival in 1759
V ^^ Hispaniola. After this out- of a Dutch flotilla in the Hugh to assist
\ A
rage Spain declared war. Crom- Mir J afar to turn out the victorious
Tw**^
Clive and Colonel Forde turned
W'th S i ^^^^ ^^^
already (1655-6) English.
despatched a British fleet to fiercely on the Dutch and captured or
the Mediterranean under Blake simultan- destroyed the whole flotilla. During the
eously with the expedition under Penn and eighteenth century it was France rather
Venables to the West Indies. Blake was to than Holland that had to be fought for
punish the Barbary rovers for their attacks the extension of the British Empire in
on British shipping, and to strike terror into America, the Mediterranean, and India.
the courts of Tuscany and Rome for their Use was made of the War of the Spanish
having given harbourage to the recusant Succession at the beginning of the
English war vessels, the remains of Charles eighteenth century to seize Gibraltar and
I.'s navy, under Prince Rupert. Minorca. The holding of Gibraltar had
Blake threatened to bombard Leghorn, been once or twice suggested as the alter-
but finally agreed to accept from Rome and native to the surrender of Tangier in
Tuscany an indemnity of £60,000. He 1684, and the question of a secure harbour
then proceeded to Algiers, but the Turkish of refuge at the outlet of the Mediterranean
dey of that country promised reparation. had become more urgent to British naval
The dey of Tunis refused satisfaction, so policy after the defeat of Sir George
the castles of Goletta and Porto Farina _. Rooke by the French oft Cape
were battered by Blake's artillery and the ^* ^'' Vincent in 1693, and the
c' *ab
shipping they protected was destroyed. .*'y'!j. .
^ capture of the British merchant
Tripoli was afterwards threatened, but fleet from Turkey, and, later,
submitted. Blake followed up the during the subsequent operations of
Spanish declaration of war in 1656 by Admiral Russell off Cadiz. But the
blockading Cadiz and burning a Spanish actual capture of Gibraltar was effected
treasure fleet at Santa Cruz (Teneriffe, rather as a side issue, and not entirely by
Canary Islands). The alliance with
. British valour.
France which followed the outbreak of In the third year, 1704, of the war. Sir
war with Spain led to the capture and George Rooke was despatched with a
retention of Dunkirk by the English. force ofGerman and English soldiers
Dunkirk was then a town of the Spanish under the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt to
Netherlands. In 1658 Charles II. sold seize Barcelona. Here, however, they
the place to Louis XIV. for £200,000, were repulsed by the Spaniards, who
which he spent on his mistresses. held the place for the Bourbon King
In 1664-1667 the war with Holland was Philip. They, therefore, sailed back to-
renewed, owing in part to Charles II. reviv- wards England, but on their return sur-
ing the Navigation Act of the Common- prised Gibraltar, which was not expecting
wealth. But hostilities were further any attack. The importance of Gibraltar
provoked by the unfriendly was, at all events, not yet fully realised,
Unofflcial
attitude of the Dutch towards though at the Peace of Utrecht, signed
Warfare in the
the newly founded Royal on April nth, 1713, it was, together with
Far East
African Chartered Company, Minorca, ceded to Great Britain by King
which was attempting to establish itself on Philip of Spain. Five years afterwards,
the Gold Coast in order to take a share in the Prime Minister, Lord Stanhope,
the slave traffic and in the export of gold. thought Gibraltar of no consequence,
Out in the Far East, indeed, there was and proposed to retrocede it to Spain
constant bickering between Dutch and in order to pacify Cardinal Alberoni.
"
English, and many a spell of " unofficial Minorca, the second largest of the
warfare between their land or naval Balearic Islands, had been captured by an
forces occurred sometimes when the two English force under General and Admiral
5486
IRST FOOTING IN EBEC
Making his fusL
C

vuyage to Canada in 1603, Saii..>^. ... u..«...^.^... ;„...-^^-. ^,_„;,


.. . , —
_„--j,_-utly became
French governor of Canada. In 1629, he was compelled to surrender Quebec to British adventurers under Admiral
Klrke, but the captured territory was restored to France, peace having been arrived at between the two countries.
From the drawing by R. Catou Woodville

5487
:

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Stanhope in 1708. It remained as a British acutely hostile. The quarrel really cen-
possession 1756, when it fell to a French
till tred on a very important principle. Were
attack after the defeat of Admiral Byng. the British settlers to .be allowed by
At the peace of 1763 it was restored to France to penetrate across the Ohio
Great Britain, again lost to the Spaniards River, and thus break through the ring
in 1782, seized once more by British arms of French forts and claims of sovereignty
in 1798, and finally restored to Spanish rule stretching from the St. Lawrence to the
in 1803, the British deciding to retain Malta Mississippi ? If the British accepted this
a.s an alternative "padlock" confinement, then Anglo-Saxon America
f
^^^ Mediterranean.
^"^ The would at most have been limited to a
^rsoulh
* ^"
c results of the War of the small portion of Eastern North America,
Company o
Sea
Spanish
o i
Succession 1702- — and perhaps to Newfoundland, which had

1713 also strengthened the British posi- been ceded to Britain at the Peace of
tion in the Hudson's Bay territories, New- Utrecht in 1713 ;though it is doubtful
foundland, and in the West Indies; and whether the victory of the French (in a
by the Treaty of Utrecht the " Asiento " for struggle which reached its climax in the
the supply of slave labour to Spanish British attack on Quebec in 1759) would not
America seemed to the eager British to have ended in the eventual supremacy of
carry with it the right or the excuse to France over the whole of North America.
evade the jealous Spanish monopoly of This American war began unofficially
trade with South America. On such a in 1754 by skirmishes and serious fights,
pretext as this the South Sea Company in which George Washington, at the age
was founded to trade with the Pacific of twenty-one, was engaged, between
coasts of Spanish America. British and French colonists and regular
But the powerful Prime Minister of soldiers along the Ohio River and by
;

Spain, Cardinal Alberoni, had no inten- naval combats and raids between British
tions of allowing this misreading of the and French naval forces off the coasts of
rights obtained under the Asiento. His Newfoundland and in the
esu s o
hostility was accentuated by the inter- British Channel. In those pre-
the Seven j
ference of George I., in 1718-1721, with the
Y w . , i
telegraph days an unacknow-
i

disputes between Spain and Austria as to ledged state of war could con-
the division and allotment of Italian tinue, in a condition strongly resembling
territories. The ill-feeling smouldered for piracy, for more than a year before it was
years, breaking out in 1727 into a four thought necessary to issue a formal
months' Spanish siege of Gibraltar, a declaration of belligerency.
siege which led to assistance being afforded This war, declared in 1756, lasted until
to the British by Morocco, and to the it involved Spain, besides Prussia, Russia,
beginning* of friendly relations with that and Austria, and became the " Seven
empire never since interrupted. Years War " of the " Family Compact."
In 1739 war was definitely declared on Its results, ratified by the Peace of
Spain, the war of " Jenkins's ear," over FOntainebleau, or Paris, on February loth,
the interpretation of the Asiento, and was 1763, led to most momentous issues
not brought to a close until 1748. During to the establishment of a vast Anglo-
this war —
largely concerned as it was Saxon —
North America France only
with the defence of the Netherlands and retained the two little islands of^ the New-
Rhineland against the ambitions of foundland coast and a small portion of
France, and the counter attempts of Western Louisiana, and Spain gave up
_
, France to restore the Stuart
Famous
all territory east of the Mississippi to —
Anson
V
s
R a
dynasty
, .

— no additions were
j j-i-
the empire of British India through the
»J*^^ "."f made to the British Empire; victories of Clive and Eyre Coote to the
;

but the raiding voyage of enlargement and consolidation of that


Commodore (afterwards Lord) Anson Prussia which was to grow into the great
round the world again drew British modern empire of Germany to the
;

attention to the possibilities of the Pacific British acquisition of Senegal, which first
containing unexplored lands of value. turned her thoughts towards the Niger ;

The peace signed at Aix-la-Chapelle in and, lastly, to the beginnings of British


1748 was of brief duration. The terri- Honduras and the acquisition of Dominica,
torial ambitions of France and Britain in St. Vincent, and Tobago in the West Indies.
North America were already becoming The Seven Years War, that began in
5488
THE WARS OF THE EMPIRE, JUST AND UNJUST
1756, moreover, was remarkable for a British colonies, forming in time one of
fighting element on the British side which the best elements in the British Empire,
has never since been absent from her land physically and mentally.
forces in times of need —
the Highland regi- In 1763, France ceded to Great Britain
ments, the " Berg-Schottische " that de- all the French possessions in North
lighted and surprised the King of Prussia America except Louisiana. Canada was
when they served with Hanoverian, Hes- thus united to Newfoundland, the thir-
sian, and Brunswick soldiers to defend the teen colonies of New England, and to the
electoral dominions in Western Germany. 1M. u Floridas. Three years af ter-
The .t.
Mother j i.i- ci " a
It was the idea of the great Pitt, derived the Stamp Act was
j.
wards,
from a suggestion made eighteen years
Co tr ^ t ^'
^^u V
W passed by the British Parlia-
With America ^ ^^.. ,. ,,,
earlier by a Scottish statesman, Duncan ment. 1 his assertion of the
Forbes, to enlist in the British Army for principle that Britain might tax her
foreign service warlike Highlanders, who American colonies without their giving
only eleven years before had been consent to such contributions either by
invading England under Charles Edward. elected representatives at Westminster,
From this time forward dates the com- or at any provincial assembly of their
plete fusion of Scottish and English own, produced serious disturbances in
interests in the conquest and adminis- Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and
tration of the British Empire. other of the New England " provinces " ;
Attention should also be drawn to the and, although the Stamp Act was repealed
very important part played in all the in 1766, and in 1770 all the American
Imperial wars of the eighteenth century, Imperial import duties were removed, with
from 1704 to the struggle with Napoleon, the exception of the duty on tea, this last
by the German soldiers taken into British was insisted on in a way which brought
pay. It must be remembered that in the the conflict between Mother Country and
early eighteenth century there was prac- colonies to a head. A state of war with
tically no standing army in Great Britain, the colonials began in 1775 with the Battle
merely a militia. A good deal of Lexington, near Boston.
n .
ain s
,

was done at
^^ British fighting France joined in this unhappy war in
Wars on Sea x ^17 j •

, , Warfare
sea. was carried on 1778, after the capitulation of Burgoyne's
and, Land a
m

America much more by 1 1.


troops at Saratoga. French money, men,
armed colonists than by means of im- and the diversions caused by the French
ported British soldiers. Some thousands of Navy, which took away from Great Britain
British soldiers were enlisted for the wars several of the recently acquired Windward
carried on by Marlborough, the Duke of and Leeward Islands, ultimately decided
Cumberland, and George II. in Flanders the American struggle in favour of the
and the Rhenish Provinces but a large
; colonial forces under George Washington,
proportion, also, of the troops under British Gates, Sullivan, and Greene. But for the
generals were Dutch, Hessians, Hano- French, it is highly probable that Sir
verians, Westphalians, Brunswickers. Henry Clinton, who succeeded Sir Wil-
Even under Queen Anne, Hessians, com- liam Howe as chief in command of the
manded by their ownprince, were subsidised British forces in North America, would
to do the work of the British Army and ; eventually have got the better of the
we have already noticed that it was with colonists, who money, stores,
lacked
a force of this kind, largely composed of and munitions of But the
war.
Germans and commanded by the Prince ultimate result would have been much
of Hesse, that Gibraltar was captured. the same. During the Na-
Franceand
When George I. and II. were on the throne, jgonic wars the United
German troops were not only employed States, as they became from
^^ ^^
Erianl*^'""
with British subsidies to defend Hanover, 1776, would probably have
but were imported into England, used in effected a completion of their indepen-
Ireland, and sent over to America, just dence, and might by then have won over
as in the latter part of George III.'s reign the French Canadians, and not have left
they were employed to garrison South to Great Britain any foothold on the
Africa. Men thus employed seldom re- North American continent.
turned to Germany. They usually married Spain, smarting from the losses she had
English or colonial wives, and, when dis- sustained at the Peace of Paris in 1763,
banded, remained in or migrated to hastened to join France in attacking
54S9
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
England over the American question. She the French; abandoned all stipulations
devoted her efforts chiefly to the great concerning the non-fortification of Dun-
siege of Gibraltar (1780-1782) and to kirk, and ceded to France the West India
recapturing Minorca, in neither of which Islands of St. Lucia and Tobago, besides
enterprises she succeeded. Nevertheless, several posts in Eastern India.
at the end of the war in 1782. England In 1790-1794 there was nearly an out-
retroceded to Spain the Island of Minorca break of war with Spain over the question
and the two Florida provinces in North of Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, in
America, thus renouncing, in reality the question whether the British
" *^
- Florida, one of the most im- territories of Hudson's Bay and the
ea ousy o
pQj.^g^j^^ gains of 1763. Russia Canadas should have a Pacific coast. Spain
showed marked unfriendliness had already occupied California (called
in 1780, combining with Denmark and by Drake New Albion) Russia, under
;

Sweden in the League of Armed Neutrality. Catherine II., was establishing fur- trading
Holland went farther and declared war. stations in Alaska. Alaska was discovered
At this period the Dutch were much under in 1721 by the Danish navigator Behring,
French influence, and were bitterly jealous in the employ of the Russian Government.
of the British successes in India. The Emperor Paul, in 1799, issued a
The reply to the Dutch declaration of charter to a Russian fur-trading company
hostilities, besides the destruction of to occupy Alaska. Spain was desirous of
Dutch shipping in home waters, was the extending northwards along the Pacific
despatch in 178 1 of a powerful squadron coast until she met the Russian flag.
under Commodore Johnstone to seize She dreaded the proximity of the English.
the Cape of Good Hope. Owing to the The expeditions of Cook in 1778, and of
treacherous communication of the British Vancouver in 1791-1792 excited her appre-
plans by a spy the French Government hensions, and perhaps for this reason as
was enabled to forestall Johnstone. He much as others she was willing, as soon as
was attacked at the Cape de Verde . ...^. the first horror of the French
Additions T-> i- 1 X • •

Islands by the great French Admiral Revolution was over, to lom


to D
..
Britain s „
. . ,

r .1 •
1
Suffren, and his squadron was seriously jj
. . France in 1790 in the renewed
crippled. Suffren then went on to South war against Great Britain.
Africa, and landed men at Cape Town to In 1793 was the beginning of those
assist in driving off the British, whose long Napoleonic wars which lasted, with the
second attempt, in 1782, likewise failed. very brief interval of the Peace of Amiens,
After Lord Cornwallis had capitulated till 1815, and which enabled Great Britain

to the French and Americans at Yorktown to add to her dominions Heligoland,


in October, 1781, this war of seven years' the Ionian Islands, Malta, Cape Colony,
duration drew to a close, and was con- Mauritius, the Seychelles, Ceylon, Guiana,
cluded by the Peace of Versailles in Janu- Trinidad, the remainder of the Windward
ary, 1783. It is true that during 1782 the Islands, and British Honduras; besides
siege of Gibraltar had been brilliantly ter- Minorca, Java and Sumatra, Senegal,
minated by the heroic bravery and enter- the French West Indies and Cayenne,
prise of the besieged force under General and the Island of Reunion all of which ;

Elliot (Lord Heathfield), and that Rodney were restored at the Peace of Amiens or
had smashed the French fleet under De at the Congress of Vienna.
Grasse in the West Indies but this war of ; Attempts to capture the Canary
the American revolt nevertheless imposed Islands, Uruguay and Buenos Ayres had
severe losses and humiliations failed, last-named, undertaken in
the
' *.
. on the British Empire, and it
. . 1806-1808. causing much disappointment
_.
""''
.
''
is difficult to understand why in England. The value of temperate South
the settlement at the Peace of America as a horse and cattle-breeding
Versailles is alluded to by British his- country had already been appreciated.
torians with complacency. As a matter of The monopolist policy of Spain had for
fact, it has been so far the most serious generations disgusted and alienated the
set-back that the empire has sustained. Spanish and Portuguese colonists, and it
Besides the recognition of the independence was believed that the road lay open for the
of the thirteen states of New England, creation, through Uruguay and Buenos
she retroceded the Floridas to Spain. Ayres, of a j^ossible British empire over the
She gave up Minorca ; restored Senegal to non- Portuguese part of South America,

5490
THE SURRENDER OF MAURITIUS TO THE BRITISH IN IMO
Formerly called the Isle of was discovered by the Portuguese in 1507, it being at that time without
France, Mauritius
inhabitants and unknown to Europeans. name was changed on coming into the possession of the Dutch in 1598;
Its
they abandoned it about a hundred years later to the French. The British captured it from the French in 1810, and
when hostilities ceased, in 1814, the nolding of the island by Britain was one of the provisions of the Treaty of Paris.
From the drawing by R. Calon WoodviUe
5491
" —

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


But though the South American Spaniards towards us in Bengal, Java, and the Spice
had been alienated from their selfish metro- Islands had never been forgotten or for-
pohs and its new Napoleonic dynasty, they given. Their dogged tenacity and colonis-
were still sufficiently Roman Catholic ing genius in South Africa, which may
to loathe the supremacy of a Protestant some day be paralleled by the work of the
Power, of a nation which still oppressed its Scottish planters in Nyassaland —the
own Catholic subjects in England and Scottish and Dutch
are singularly alike
Ireland. Therefore they showed such a showed Great Britain of what vital im-
dogged resolve to resist to the portance Cape Colony might become to the
• death that in 1809 the British Mistress of India as a half-way house for
*B 't'h
„. . forces under General Whitelock the provisioning and repair of squadrons
^^ finally abandoned the attempt and as a home for British emigrants.
to conquer the city of Buenos Ayres, and The strength and the situation of Trinco-
withdrew from South America, a result mali, in Ceylon, and the menace to India
which covered Whitelock with altogether which it would prove in French hands de-
undeserved obloquy. cided the British to seize Ceylon in 1795-96.
With these exceptions, by the end of the They also took possession then or later of
Napoleonic wars the outlines and starting the Dutch settlement in Java and Malaya,
points of the British Empire of to-day The morality in these actions was no worse
in America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania than that of the Dutch who, 200 years be-
were pretty clearly indicated. From the fore, had taken advantage of poor little
fact that we have had no " colonial Portugal being in the grip of Spain to rob
war with any European or American her of nearly all her oversea possessions,
Power since 1815, that date becomes some of which the British sea-eagle has
an important landmark in the history made the Dutch osprey disgorge, though
of the British Empire; but to some they were once in the pouch of the Portu-
extent in Imperial warfare the division guese gannet. No colonial war has been
between ancient and modern should rather n ... . ,
waged with a European
Britain s long o -
be placed at 1763. Up to that period the ts x
t->
.
* Power since 1815. But war
Immunity from
share in the conquest and defence of ^^^ ^^^ extension or mainten-
Coioniai Wars
the empire fell almost entirely on Eng- ^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ empire has often
land and Wales, and more on the navy been so close that ultimatums have been
than on the army. After that date, first tendered, though subsequently replaced in
Scottish and then Irish soldiers took a diplomatic tail-pockets. Wars between
notable part in the land warfare of Great France and Britain over colonial questions
Britain, while the Army as a whole began or ambitions in the Eastern Mediterranean
to play a great part in Imperial conquest or Pacific Ocean were very near in the
and maintenance. Indeed, since 1815, the 'forties of the nineteenth" century. At
role of the Navy has been almost entirely that period, also, began an embittered
a subordinate one, an unknown quantity. feeling between the nascent power of
It has been there to serve as a the United States and successive British"
means of safe transport for the army administrations relative to the growth
and as a warning to other Powers not to of Canada and of British ambitions in
interfere and not to transgress on British North America. Several times the
claims, and as an effective security against questions of the Oregon frontier and the
their attempting to do so. The Napoleonic amount due to British Colum-
of seaboard
wars, so far as Great Britain was con- bia brought about discussions with the
_ . cerned, began with the murder
. government at Washington.
p . . oi Louis XVI., and with the There were also questions as to the
4. n » k
ebullition of the French Re- northern frontier of Maine, which projects
One Dutch ... j •- j
public and its propaganda inconveniently into eastern Canada. The
outside the limits of France. But they great Russian possession of Alaska was
were waged very soon for directly Imperial bought by the United States in 1867
purposes. Statesmen of that time saw more to annoy Great Britain than for
the enormous advantages Great Britain any other reason, and long before the
might derive from the general upset of existence of Klondyke gold was suspected,
affairs contingent on the French Revolu- or seal-skin jackets had become the
tion. The position of the Dutch had reward of virtue or the solace of vice.
long excited British envy. Their attitude But for the threats of the United States,
5492
THE WARS OF THE EMPIRE, JUST AND UNJUST
Great Britain would now be in occupa- was some menace of trouble with Spain
tion of Haiti and a good deal of towards the close of the 'fifties over
the disorderly republic of Venezuela. the question of Morocco, which had just
The Crimean War, as to the wisdom or been invaded by a Spanish army (1859).
unwisdom of which we cannot as yet Great Britain for a long time regarded
pronounce a definite decision, was only Morocco as a possible protectorate, and
slightly colonial, in the idea which as a means of controlling access to and
prompted Great Britain to defend the egress from the Mediterranean. During
rotten empire of the Turks. „ .^ . the 'sixties of the last century,
,
Drit&in s o
The Turk was still the suzerain of Egypt, p ..
i_ .1. /^
when the Suez Canal was, 1
m

and Egypt, through the British-established spite of the predictions of


for War
overland route, was becoming the main road the late Lord Palmerston, ap-
to India. What, in those days of absolute proaching achievement, the British Govern-
non-scruple regarding " native " rights, ment wobbled between a policy that should
withheld Great Britain from accepting keep Spain and France out of Morocco and
the proposal of the Emperor Nicholas that one which should give Great Britain a
she should annex Crete and Egypt, and definite share in the control of Egypt.
in return offer no objection to a Russian The next menace of war on Imperial
occupation of Constantinople, it is difficult causes was again with Russia, when the
to understand; unless statesmen of those internal disorders of the Turkish Empire
days were so far-sighted, an assumption furnished a pretext for the Russo-Turkish
which it is not easy to deduce from their War. A seriously directed Russian
memoirs, as to feel that the abandon- attempt to occupy Constantinople would
ment of Constantinople to Russia would certainly have precipitated a ^ght in
mean a future overwhelming impact of 1878. As it was, the Russians, the
the Russians against the British Empire collapse of whose mihtary power against
in India. It may have been an impression Japan was foreshadowed by their defects
that France would resist a outrance a of army organisation in 1877-1878, drew
_ . British Egypt. Yet, not long back from a struggle in which they would
^^terwards, the Emperor Na- Lave had no ally, and Great Britain
W -.
'
Eff t
poleon himself proposed that received as compensation for the
on Europe f, j i_^ *^ ht
;f6,ooo,ooo sterling she had spent in war
i
t ranee should occupy Morocco,
Sardinia (Italy) should take Tunis, and preparations the lease of Cyprus, and a
England Egypt. Neither can this reluct- vague protectorate over Asia Minor,
ance be ascribed to a period of Imperial which she subsequently abandoned.
lassitude, for whilst Russia was suggesting Again, in 1884-1885, the danger of war
the division of the Turkish Empire with Russia arose, this time over the
Britain was absorbing vast territories safety of the Indian Empire. This was
further east. the slow-match of Russia's revenge for her
In the opinion of the writer, the general enforced departure from Constantinople.
policy of the Crimean War was right, so The great success, administrative more
far as any war can be right, since it imposed than military, which had attended the
a pause on European ambitions. Both extension of the Russian power over the
Turkey and Egypt obtained a respite, Mohammedan sultanates in Central Asia
during under wiser sovereigns,
which, inspired ambitious Russian soldiers with
these important Mohammedan states the belief that they might similarly lay
might have developed firm and progressive hands on Afghanistan, and from this point
governments. Probably we shall one day of vantage win over the people
Extension
see Constantinople the capital of a free of India to a preference for
of Russian
and civilised Balkan confederation, in the supposed easy - going
Power
which the Turk, regenerated in his civil Russian as a ruler in place of
estate, will play a leading part, in close the vexatiously interfering, moralising, edu-
alliance with the Bulgarian, Roumanian, cating Britisher. But Russia's belief and
and Greek states —
a new quadruple interest in the matter were half-hearted.
alliance whose compact strength will Already, in 1885, her ambitions were
contribute to the maintenance of the returning towards Asia Minor and ex-
world's peace and the restoration of tending over Tibet and the Chinese
civilisation to the lands of the Mace- Empire. Famines and plagues had begun
donian and Byzantine Empires. There to take the gilt off the Indian gingerbread.
5493
; .

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Russia was so splendidly unattackable Bismarck had iiidicated the nth parallel
over the matter of the Central Asian of south latitude as the ne plus ultra of
khanates that she worried Indian oihcials British extension from the Cape north-
about Afghanistan more pour le plaisir wards, and he or his successors had hoped
du t(iq\iinage than for any greater purposes. to secure Uganda and much of the Congo
Moreover, she was already feeling her way State for German expansion. This and
towards a French alliance, and knew that that rapprochement, this and that con-
this annoying intervention in Afghanistan sideration, not forgetting the serious Arab
_ .„..., would ,. effectually stop r the revolution in German East Africa, checked
Great Britain s -^
j.i
imm 2di ate reconq uest of the
.

the German lust of empire over savages.


,
i.
„ .

Differences t- •
c^ t- ^

with France
.

EgYPtian Sudan. From But as the German mind ruminated over


the close of the 'eighties of the distribution of the spoil which followed
the last century British relations with the great European rush for Africa, a
France in regard to Egypt, the extension of bitter feeling was engendered against the
French domination over Nigeria, and French British. Partly to humour this, partly
aggression on Siam, brought her almost to with an idea that it might lead to some-
the deliverance of an ultimatum in 1893. thing, German Imperial policy dallied with
She was probably then nearer to war a Boer alliance. It was felt instinctively
with France over Imperial questions than that under their skins, Boer and North-
even some five years later over the question west German are singularly alike. If the
of Fashoda. France, however, knew better Boers could not stand alone against
than to go to war with Great Britain over England, they might throw in their lot
affairs on which she was always ready with the future of Germany, and become
to compromise. She knew that she had no the nucleus of a great German-speaking
chance against the British Fleet. On the dominion in the south of Africa. Hence
other hand, she was equally aware that the intrigues with the Transvaal which
since 1884 a new factor had come into the provoked the foolish Jameson Raid on the

colonial field that Great Britain nourished
Q part of the passionate Rhodes,
,

a deep-seated dislike to Germany for having J


.^. and in turn the rash telegram
ousted her from the Kameruns, taken of the German Emperor. But it
p J
Damaraland under her very nose, and is doubtful, if all the secrets of
snatched at other portions of South Africa the chancelleries were known, whether there
wrested from Great Britain a vast East has been any serious menace of war with
African dominion, previously controlled Germany over colonial questions since
by the potent personality of Sir John 1890, so far as the direct interests of
Kirk, founded a German state on the flank Great Britain are concerned. There has
of the Gold Coast threatened the Lower
; been much more danger of an Anglo-
Niger and occupied or bombarded Pacific
; German conflict over the position of
archipelagoes which were only not British France. Britain, in order to settle herself
because it had not been thought worth definitely in Egypt, " gave " Morocco to
while to hoist the flag. France knew that France, in the calm way in which we
Great Britain did not wish to push her too nations of higher culture, and consequently
far, lest a Franco-German alliance should greater power, direct the fortunes of the
menace the British position in Egypt. backward or savage peoples. Germany
So, between 1893 and 1899, France at that time {1904) was giving her Imperial
gave in on this point, and on that principle, policy an altogether different bent.
and Britain surrendered some undefined Disappointed of dominion over Africa,
p claim, swallowed some dis- choked off the conquest of China by the
n appointment, or abandoned a uprise of Japan, temporarily diverted
Between the '^^
. II.
.
a n j '

^^S^^ project. All danger from American enterprise by the ominous


Powers
of a conflict between the two hints of the United States, she decided
Powers on questions of colonial policy dis- that the line of least resistance lay in the
appeared with the withdrawal of Marchand direction of the Balkan Peninsula, Con-
from Fashoda, and the dropping of any stantinople, Asia Minor, and the Persian
intention on the part of Great Britain to Gulf. For the moment, owing to the out-
maintain the independence of Morocco. come of the war with Japan, Russia was
All things considered. Great Britain had helpless. France and Britain —
France, for
got the better of Germany over the rush —
some reason, most of all barred the way
for empire in East and Central Africa. to Constantinople. Italy viewed with

5494
THE VARS OF THE EMPIRE, JUST AND UNJUST
marked disfavour the unavowed German might have preferred to indemnify her-
scheme, the Drang nach Osten. France was self by the occupation of Tibet and a
the pivot of this new alHance for the protectorate over Central China rather
temporary preservation of the Turkish than by going to war with Russia. It was
Empire. France was the easiest hit at. Germany, to a very great extent, that
Thence arose the emperor's visit to nipped in the bud her plans in regard
Tangier, the open threat to France, and to Tibet, and perhaps most of all as re-
the nearest approach until then to an gards Central China.
armed conflict by land and sea between It was by no means certain whether, in
the forces of Great Britain and those of spite of her benevolent neutrality during
the German Empire, allied certainly with the Spanish War, the United States would
Austria-Hungary. This happily averted have given England any backing in Jegatd
struggle would have been a colonial to Chinese protectorates or spheres of in-
war, for it would have originated in the fluence. Consequently, finding this policy
Egyptian question. led to danger, the British Government
As regards Russia, it is doubtful whether revived the idea already suggested by
Britain has ever been on the verge of war Lord Rosebery of an alliance with Japan
with her over Imperial interests since the as a means of holding Russia in check and
Afghan settlement of 1885. She was preserving the balance of power in China.
annoyed, exasperated, bothered by the The outcome of the Japanese alliance
Russian designs on Northern and Western may have momentous results, not, per-
China. But had those designs been pushed haps, in all directions palatable to Great
to annexation of Chinese territory, and had Britain. These, however, are best dis-
Japan been powerless to resist, England cussed under another hradintr.

PIONEERS Ol- bMPIRE : THE HOME OF A BRITISH SET I. THE SOUTH


349 5495
549^
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
VI G.C.M.G.

BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST


EXPANSION OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE
AND THE OPIUM WAR WITH CHINA
"VY/E have so far dealt with the wars surrendered Tangier to the Moors ; and
^^ undertaken against or narrowly although they afterwards indemnified
averted with nations of white men in themselves by snatching Gibraltar from
connection with British imperial interests. Spain, still, there is no unjust war to be
Wars of conquest waged with races that laid to their charge in Morocco. The next
were black or yellow have been numerous fighting with native peoples of non-
since the middle of the eighteenth cen- European race took place in India seventy
tury. The wars with other Europeans yssrs afterwards. Here British
I d* th
were unmoral rather than just or unjust. g. . merchants found themselves
J
** **^*
Both parties quarrelled about the property ^^ ^^^ most splendid, thickly
f M
of a third party, or lands that belonged inhabited part of Asia. China
to nobody worth consideration. in her best provinces might vie with
But the imperial wars waged in Africa India in density of population, and in her
and Asia have often been unjust, though total sum of inhabitants ; but the glory
there were instances of doing evil in order of China was pale before the art, the
that presumed good might follow. On the science, the history of India, and its
American continent and in Australia the magnificent physical endowments of fauna
population has been too little in opposition and flora. India should be placed first in
to the incoming British settlers to have the list of the world's countries, for she
provoked any conflict worthy of record is almost certainly the birthplace of man.
as a " war " but the case has been
;
But the India of the middle eighteenth
otherwise in New Zealand and some parts century was an empire to be had for the
of India, Burma, China, and South Africa. taking. The Mohammedan power, which
Putting aside the conflicts of colonists had begun with the irruption of Arabs,
with American Indians in Eastern-north Afghans, and Tartars in the eighth and
America, the first imperial war with eleventh centuries, had crumbled to feeble-
non- Europeans and non-Christians was ness. The power of non-Mohammedan
the conflict against the Moors round peoples and principahties had revived.
Tangier conducted by British regiments There was no universal national spirit in
in the reign of Charles II. This fighting, India. Each big or petty prince was as
however, was not altogether unjust. The ready to ally himself with the power of the
Portuguese, two and a half centuries European for his own advantage as, in
before, had taken Tangier from the the days before 1870, each kingdom, duchy
_, . Moors, and transferred it by or principality of Germany was ready to
angler
arrangement to Great Britain, take part with France against the power
. „ probably because if Portugal
.. . of Prussia or Austria. The wars waged in
to Britain f
had notf done so ^i
, ,
t»t
the Moors India by the East India Company during
would have taken it from her, as they had the eighteenth and the first half of the
taken other Portuguese posts on the nineteenth centuries were in a measure
Atlantic coast of Morocco. Seeing, how- wars waged with Indians against Indians.
ever, that the position in Morocco could As Sir William Hunter remarks in his
only be maintained as the outcome of a great work on the Indian Empire, " the
practical conquest of that state, the British won India, not from the Moham-
British withdrew from the struggle and —
medans the Mogul dynasty but from —
5497
— —

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


the Hindus." In the early part of the gore, and two or three other trading
eighteenth century the Mogul Empire, stations were restored to France, after 1761
founded by the House of Timur, the she had ceased to count seriously as an
Tartar, in 1526, was falling to pieces under Indian power. The British were now face
the attacks of the reviving Hindu power. to face with the crumbhng Mogul Empire
Though Arabs, and soon afterwards — itself in the throes of a death-struggle
Afghans, had invaded North-west India with the new Mahratta power and its
between 711 and 828, Mohammedan rule independent or semi- independent Moham-
P . over Northern India did not
. medan feudatory states, no other European
of Hind
t>6Si^ until the year 1000. For nation intervening. Prominent among
Power ^^^ hundred years afterwards these independent Moslem princes, the
there were constant compro- descendants of former governors, of wazirs,
mises with the many millions of Hindus, under the Moguls, was the Nawab of
whose religion co-existed valiantly alongside Bengal, Suraj-ud-Daulah.
mihtant Mohammedanism. Down to the He succeeded his grandfather in 1756,
establishment of universal British domina- and immediately afterwards quarrelled with
tion, there remained Hindu kingdoms and the English of the Calcutta settlement. His
dynasties which had never been conquered capture of Calcutta, in 1756, and the
or ousted by the Afghans or the Moguls. episode of the " Black Hole " need not be
But in the middle of the seventeenth further described here. Calcutta was
century a very definite revival of the recovered by Clive soon afterwards. Clive
Hindu power began in South-west India, —
had first distinguished himself in 1751
in the hilly country to the south and west in surprising and afterwards defending
of Bombay. This was the confederation of Arcot, a native stronghold in the Madras
sturdy Hindu peasant farmers, cavalry Presidency. The series of surprising bold
armed with spears, to be known subse- actions in Southern India on the ])art of
quently as the " Mahrattas," apparently a the British had for result the complete
corruption and shortening of Maharashtra. breakdown of the French career
The Mahrattas' power was built up by a " " of conquests. War having been
succession of warrior kings beginning already declared against France,
with the great Rajput adventurer Sivaji.
m"l***"
.
India r-^ j j
Clive proceeded up country and
j. 2

The power of this dynasty over the whole seized the French post of Chandamagar.
Mahratta confederation passed, early in the This action led to Suraj-ud-Daulah and
eighteenth century, into the hands of a the French making common cause. At

Brahman prime minister the Peshwa the Battle of Plassey, in 1757, Clive,
and became hereditary in this form. with 1,000 British troops, 2,000 sepoys,
The French, under Dumas and Dupleix, and eight guns, defeated the army
governors of the French settlement of of the nawab, which consisted of 35,000
Pondichery on the coast of South-east infantry, 15,000 cavalry, and 50 cannon.
India, had started the idea of interfering Moreover, Suraj-ud-Daulah had with him
in the internalwars of nizams and nawabs, some fifty French artillerymen.
rajahs and wazirs. This had been carried This victory founded the British empire
on with such success by Dupleix himself, over India. After several other fights with
and by the Marquess de Bussy, that a con- the French and Dutch, and a series of
siderable tract of Eastern India between battles with the nawab's forces, terminat-
Bengal and Madras had been made over to int( with the decisive victory of Sir Hector
the French by the Nizam of Haidarabad, Munro at Baxar in 1794, Clive was able to
. .. p and the French had become bring a good deal less than a quarter of
. the dominant power in Deccan India under British control, direct or in-
Southern India. But by direct. In 1765 he became governor of
tirFrench ^"f
1701, m consequence of the Bengal, and took the Mogul emperor under
brilliant military operations of Robert the chartered company's protection.
Clive, Colonel Forde, and Sir Eyre Coote, Warren Hastings, who succeeded Clive
and the extraordinary lack of support as governor-general, lent British troops
afforded to their agents by the French to a British ally, the wazir of Oudh, in
Government, there was scarcely a French order to check the invasions of the
fla? flying over any portion of India. Rohilla Afghans, who were attempting
Although at the Peace of Fontainebleau to intrigue with the Mahrattas against
(1763) the sites of Pondichery, Chanderna- the Mogul emperor and his feudatories.
5498
BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST
British interference from Bombay in Wellington) at Assaye and Argaum, in
Mahratta affairs —the promotion of a the Deccan, and those of Lord Lake at
British candidate for the throne of the Aligarh and Laswari, in the removal of the
Peshwa —
precipitated the first struggle
with the Mahrattas. This began in 1778
Mogul emperor from the control of the
Mahratta confederation to that of the East
with Goddard's brilhant march across India Company, in the British control over
India from Bengal to Gujerat, which Delhi and the North-west Provinces, and
province, the last home of the lion, he con- in enormous territorial gains in Eastern
quered almost without fighting. One of . India.
, Unfortunately, it was
atn s
his subordinate officers, Captain Popham, followed by a disastrous retreat
captured brilliantly the rock fortress of ^^ ^^^ British forces and a re-
in Indi
Gwalior, which was restored finally to the pulse of Lord Lake at Bhartpur,
native prince, Sindhia, in 1886. In the .
during the war with Holkar, a member of
following year, 1779, the British forces the Mahratta confederacy, in 1804-1805.
were defeated at Wargaon, and the first The Ghurka or Nepalese Wars of 1814-1815
Mahratta War ended with the mutual ended by a peace being signed, after the
restoration of all conquests, except Salsette victories of General Ochterlony, near the
and Elephanta Island, both near Bombay, capital, Khatmandu, the terms of which
which were retained by the British. confined the Ghurkas to their present
The two powerful Mohammedan states territory, recognised the British control
Df the Deccan and Southern India, over Sikkim, and secured for the Indian
Haidarabad and Mysore, next assumed a administration the hill stations of Simla
towards the aggressive
hostile attitude and other Himalayan tracts, and the
British. Warren Hastings managed to faithful alliance of the Nepalese people.
detach the Nizam Haidarabad and
of In Central India robber bands, rising
minor Hindu princes from this league, and here and there to the dignity of predatory
the British strength was mainly directed states and known as the Pindaris, were
, against Haidar Ali of Mysore, ruining settled commerce and agriculture
apo eon s
^j^Qgg ^q^^ Tippu Sahib, was by their raids. They were partly formed
c cmc o
^^ prove one of her most for- by the debris of the Mogul Empire, and
gyp were to some extent supported by the
jjjj(jg^|^jg enemies in India. The
Mysore army had conquered nearly all the Mahratta confederacy in their guerrilla
British establishments in South-eastern warfare. They were finally crushed, and
India, except the actual town of Madras ;
their leaders killed, imprisoned, or won
but by persistent fighting all these posses- over to allegiance by an army of 120,000
sions were won back by 1784. The second men wisely collected by the Governor-
Mysore War began in 1790, conducted by General, Lord Moira, Marquess of Hastings.
Lord Cornwallis. By this time diplomacy The reason for this overpowering force
had arrayed on the side of the British was the threatening aspect of the Mahratta
the important forces of the nizam and of confederacy. This attitude resolved itself
the Mahratta confederation. Tippu Sahib, into a rising —
the third and last Mahratta
therefore, was partially conquered, and his War— in 18 17. The Battle of Mehidpur
kingdom was reduced by one-half. (1817) and the magnificent defence of the
He was also made to pay a war indemnity sepoy garrison of Sitabaldi enabled the
of £3,000,000. Enraged at this, he com- British administration to break up, once
menced a correspondence with the French and for all, the Mahratta confederacy,
Government, and his letters inspired and to make territorial arrangements
Napoleon with the idea of seizing Egypt in the Bombay
Presidency
Mahratta ^^^ -^
and attacking the British in India. The Central India, which
Croniederacy , j xi.- j T>t.
have lasted to this day. The
i j. j.
naval exploits of Nelson ruined that „
Broken up
,
, j i r .. •

scheme, and in 1799 the British, under the peshwa, or president, of this
Governor-General, Lord Mornington (Mar- great Hindu league surrendered and went
quess Wellesley) and General (Lord) to live near Cawnpore on a pension of
Harris, fell on the isolated Tippu and cap- £80,000 a year. His adopted son was
tured his last fortress, Seringapatam, in the notorious Nana Sahib, who, in the
the defence of which Tippu was killed. Indian Mutiny of 1857, avenged on the
The second Mahratta War. of 1802-1804, bodies of English women and children
resulted, through the victories of Sir the rage and disappointment he felt at
Arthur Wellesley (afterwards the Duke of not being allowed to succeed to all the
5499
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
emoluments and privileges of his patron This disaster was avenged by the re-
and adoptive father. Coincidently with markable marches across Afghanistan of
the rise of the British power in India Generals Pollock, Nott, and England.
proper, the Indian or Burmese states Coming respectively from Jellalabad and
of Assam, Chittagong, Ava, Bhamma, Kandahar, they met at Kabul, and there
Arakan, Pegu, and Tenasserim had come blew up the bazaar and recovered the
under the supreme control of the new prisoners. They afterwards left Afghani-
Burmese dynasty of the Alaung-paya stan to its own devices and the rule of
(Alompra). Elated with his Dost Mohammed. In the following year,
c wo
y^Q^Qj-igg over quasi-Hindu states 1843, Sind was conquered by Sir Charles
urmes
j-j^^ Assam and Tipperah, the Napier, the crucial battle being that
Burmese monarch of Mandalay of Miani, in which a British force of 2,600
permitted or encouraged his soldiers or men defeated 22,000 Baluchis. The battle
subsidiary chiefs to raid into territories of Miani was a glory to the British arms
more distinctly British. The eventual and the discipline of the Indian army.
results were the first Burmese War of The little force under Sir Charles Napier
1824-1826, followed by the annexation —
consisted of 400 British soldiers mainly

of Assam, Chittagong, Arakan, Tavoy, Irish ^of the 22nd Regiment under Colonel
Mergui, and Tenasserim and the second
; Pennefather. The 2,200 Indian troops
Burmese War, of 1852, which further added included some Bengal cavalry. The bayo-
to the Indian Empire the delta of the net in the strong arms of the Irish, the
Irawadi, leaving only to native rule two magnificent ride of the Indian cavalry
provinces of the short-lived Burmese against the cannon of the Sindi army, the
Empire — Upper and Lower Burma. accuracy of the British artillery, and Sir
In 1839 took place the first invasion of Charles Napier won the day against an
Afghanistan. On the face of it this action enemy of almost dauntless bravery.
on the part of Lord Auckland might seem In 1845, the Sikhs, governed by a com-
foolhardy and a reckless courting of need- mittee of generals since the death of Ranj it
less difficulties, except that Britain, ever ^, _ Singh, annoyed at the British
The Great \t r c j j
since she became responsible for the main- annexation of Sind, crossed
M f ffh
tenance of peace in India, has been forced
I d'^^^A rmy
* ^^^ Sutlej and invaded
at intervals to oppose the Afghans, from gj.j^jgj^ India. They were
Warren Hastings' loan of British troops defeated in the bloody battles of Mudki,
to attack the Rohillas in 1773 to the Firozshah, Aliwal, and finally Sobraon.
Mohammed border warfare of 1908. Lord A British protectorate over the Punjab
Auckland endeavoured to place a prince followed. But, two years later, the Sikhs
, — —
Shah Shuj a friendly to the British on rose again, and the second Sikh War began
the throne of Afghanistan, because the with the terrible Battle of Chillianwalla, in
usurping ruler of that country. Dost which the British lost 2,400 officers and
Mohammed, was endeavouring to regain men, the colours of three regiments,
Peshawar, then in the power of the Sikhs, and four guns. But less than a month
and was entertaining suspicious relations later the conclusive victory of Gujerat
with Russia and Persia. destroyed the Sikh army and made it
The installation of Shah Shuj a in 1839, possible to annex the Punjab.
after several battles, in which the British In 1857 broke out the great mutiny of
were successful, meant the garrisoning of the Indian army. In 1806 a mutiny of
Jellalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar by the native troops had occurred at VeUore
_. British troops. Two years in the Madras Presidency, which had
. *lf'
..*'.
to British
later two of the principal British commenced with a terrible slaughter
I-.- 1 a-
political olncers were assas- of British soldiers, had been suppressed
P
sinated, the Kabul garrison with the sternest reprisals, while dis-
attempted to retreat, and 4,000 British content was afterwards appeased by
and Indian soldiers with 12,000 camp- concessions. The effects of this rising
followers perished. had been to some extent neutralised
Only one survived to reach the by disbanding the more tainted portions
garrison of Jellalabad. The British women of the Madras army. In 1824 another
and children and a few sick officers mutiny nearly broke out in Bengal over
had been detained as hostages by the the first Burmese War. The Hindu
Afghans, and, on the whole, well treated. soldiers declared it would break their caste

5500
'

BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST


to cross the open sea, and eventually the at the qualities of officers and men in that
had to be compounded by march-
difficulty heroic handful of British troops which twice
ing them all the way round by the northern relieved a Lucknow besieged by thoasands
shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is not of well-armed fanatics; in those 8,000
necessary here to review all the causes of men that fought their way inch by inch
the great mutiny of 1857-1858, which for through the high, red walls and narrow
a time partially extinguished British gar- lanes of a murderous Delhi defended by
risons and power in the kingdom of Oudh 30,000 desperate, drug-maddened sepoys,
and in a portion of North-central India. , better trained in the actual
It was in the main an insurrection of ^^^^ °^ ^^^' Perhaps, than the
of^uTc Sikh
angry soldiers, who had some real and iH-educated English, Welsh,
Soldiers
some imaginary grievances. But it was Scottish, and Irish soldiery
conjoined with the fury of the dispossessed who, by sheer force of character and
princes or princesses and nobles of Oudh strength of arm, became their conquerors.
and Jhansi and the treacherous enmity of But in reviewing the history of this time
the adopted son of the last peshwa of the of stress one must admit it was not only
Mahrattas, Nana Sahib. Also there was men born in the British Isles that crushed
much Mohammedan fanaticism and regret a revolt of savage sepoys and frantic people.
for vanished glories at the court of the India might have been temporarily
aged Mogul Emperor at Delhi. lost to her but for the co-operation of
The credit for the military operations the splendid Sikh soldiers, men whose
which suppressed the mutiny, and the valour to the British cause was in no
dangerous national rising which it was way inferior to the heroic behaviour of
beginning to create, lies with Sir Henry the British soldiers on their mettle.
Lawrence, who defended the Residency at She received the loyal assistance of the
Lucknow, and so detained the rebel forces great Mohammedan kingdom of Haidar-
of Oudh ; SirHenry Havelock and Sir abad, which had the effect of keeping
James Outram, who saved Southern India out of the area of
crocs
^j^g slender garrison after disturbance. At the same time the inde-
of the Indian t j xu o- r^
> ^^

j^ . Lawrence s death Sir Colin ; pendent state of Nepal sent a force of


^
Campbell (Lord Clyde), who Ghurkas, under Sir Jung Bahadur, to assist
rescued the Lucknow forces under Have- in restoring order in Northern India. A
lock and Outram and finished the recon- small war with the Himalayan state of
quest of Oudh and Rohilkund Nicholson, ; Bhutan took place in 1864. With that
the never-to-be-forgotten hero of the siege exception, there was peace in India until
of Delhi and Sir Hugh Rose (Lord Strath-
; 1878. Then once more the affairs of
nairn), who defeated the principal native Afghanistan compelled attention.
general of the mutiny, Tantia Topi, who Russia had despatched a mission to that
recaptured Jhansi and who finished the country, which had been received with
insurrection in April, 1859, i^ the wildest ostentatious honour. To have acquiesced
)ungles of Central India. Probably the in this situation would hr.ve been to give
greatest of all' these dauntless soldiers, tacit permission to Russia to win over the
and certainly the most picturesque, was country of Afghanistan to her influence,
John Nicholson, of Delhi. to make of it, perhaps, a vantage-point
Nothing has so much justified the from which the invasion of India might
abnormality of India being governed by be attempted with the Afghans as allies.
a hundred thousand warriors and officials Britain had nothing to offer Afghanistan
from islands five thousand miles away in but the somewhat barren
the North Sea as the conduct of the
" privilege of isolated indepen-
***
British soldiers of all ranks, the British
P
..^ dence in a sterile land, with
officials, from governor-general to Eura- a climate of ferocious extremes.
sian telegraph clerk, during the stress of The British arm had been interposed ever
the Indian Mutiny. One may at this since 1773 to shield India from those devas-
distance of time see and regret the stupid tating Afghan raids which have inflicted
blunders that provoked the mutiny, and deep and shocking wounds on her civilisa-
put one's finger to a nicety on the precise tion since the days of Mahmud of Ghazni.
measures which might have nipped the Gradually, by British diplomacy or feats of
mutiny in the bud but once the catas-
; arms, Afghan rule was pushed back across
trophe has occurred, one can only marvel the Hindu Kush and the Suleiman Hills.
5501
— •

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


And there it would have been left region led to an outbreak in 1891 in the
unmolested but for Russian ambitions adjoining state of Manipur, which was
turning India-wards in the thirties of the put down without much difficulty. In
last century. In 1878 a British army 1888 an expedition had to be sent
entered Afghanistan and rapidly occupied against the Hazara Pathans to the north
Kandahar and the roads leading to Kabul. of Peshawar ; and in the same year
Sher Ali, the amir, fled to Turkestan and British authority was asserted over the
died. His son was then recognised in his important iittle state of Sikkim, which
. stead, after a treaty, which separates Nepal from Bhutan, which has
practically placed Afghani- been under British influence and protection
l^triVuUh since 1815, and which the Tibetans —
„ ..
. Stan under British protection.
Protection i-, ^i v x x o^
But the history of 1839-41 inspired, perhaps, both by Russia and
repeated itself almost exactly, except for —
China were endeavouring to conquer.
the disastrous retreat. The British Envoy The definition of the frontiers between
and Resident at Kabul, Sir Louis Cavag- British India and Afghanistan in 1893 and
nari, and his insufficient escort were the enforcement of its results amongst the
attacked and massacred, Sir Frederick turbulent border tribes led to the pro-
(Lord) Roberts occupied Kabul with a tracted Tirah campaign {i895-i898)against
British army, and the new amir, Yakub the Waziri, Swati, Mohmand, and Afridi
Khan, abdicated. tribes, and the clans of the Zhob valley
Abd-ur-Rabman was then recognised between Quetta and the Indus. There
as amir over two-thirds of Afghanistan, was also some fighting in the north-west of
and the remainder, with Kandahar as a Kashmir (Ghilghit and Chitral). Kashmir
capital, was erected into a separate state. is an important country in whose govern-
But in 1880 a severe defeat was inflicted ment the British had taken a more direct
on a British force at Maiwand, between interest since the approximate settlement
Kandahar and the Halmand river, by Ayub of the various frontier questions of
Khan, a younger son of Sher Ali, and an _ . ,Afghanistan, Russia, Chinese
ussia s
Afghan prince who in this contest played "Puj-kestan, and Tibet. In this
the part of national hero better than the campaign, the work of which is
•'*T*b"t*
Russian pensioner, Abd-ur-Rahman. only half-finished, the British
The position of the British in Afghani- lost 1,050 men killed and missing, not to
stan in 1880 was retrieved by the splendid mention over 1,500 wounded ; while the
march of Lord Roberts from Kabul to cost amounted to over ^3,000,000. The
Kandahar, which led to the total rout of prosecution of this frontier war was
Ayub Khan's army outside the precincts accompanied or preceded by some ominous
of Kandahar. This place was subsequently signs of disaffection amongst the peoples
abandoned by the British and reoccupied of North-west India.
by Ayub Khan. Then followed a conflict Russia had again been intriguing with
between Abd-ur-Rahman and Ayub, which religious notabilities in Tibet at the
left the former master of Afghanistan beginning of the twentieth century,
until his death, in 1901, and led to Ayub's partly, no doubt, to embarrass Britain,
honourable captivity in India.
In 1885 the last Burmese War took — —
whose alliance with Japan projected or
accomphshed was barring her way in
place. It was really the advance of a China. It was decided, rightly or wrongly,
very strong expedition under General to put an end to these anxieties which
Prendergast up the Irawadi River to form a pendant to those of Afghanistan,
_. . Mandalay, which met with no and to force on Tibet the assumption of
f th
opposition worth noting. The intimate diplomatic relations with British
jj
real .Burmese War broke out India not far removed from a protectorate
afterwards in a prolonged and — China, the recognised suzerain, being
gallant resistance to British occupation unable or unwilling to restrain the Tibetans
on the part of the so-called " dacoits " from entering into relations with Russia.
bands of irregulars commanded or inspired The expedition of 1904 started in March,
by Burmese nobles or princes. The dis- and was obliged to fight its way, more or
tinct tribes of the Kachins and Shans took less, to Lhasa, which was entered on
part in the four years of desultory fighting, August 3rd, 1904. Here a treaty was
which scarcely came to an end until 1889. made, fixing a war indemnity, arranging
The feeling of unrest produced in this for future commercial intercourse, and

5502
BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST
giving some recognition to British rights that Herat was believed to be the key of
over the Chumbi valley, which projects India, and Persia was regarded as being
into British India as a wedge between merely the stalking horse of Russia. All
Bhutan and Sikkim. The British Govern- these anxieties have been set at rest by
ment decided to submit this treaty to the the Anglo- Russian Convention the British
;

sanction of the Chinese Government, and sphere in Persia suffices to maintain an


the latter, incited by the German Minister orderly control over the Persian Gulf.
at the court of Peking, refused to agree to Between 1795 and 1801 the island of
the conditions imposed on the Tibetans. Ceylon, so far as its coastal regions were
Practically no results remain of the costly concerned, was occupied by
expedition to Lhasa, except a thoroughly
The n
Tu
Q^^ .
/-.Ox-
•*• t
British
Great Britain as a war prize

accurate geographical survey of Southern taken from Holland, a country


of Cc'^ton"'
Tibet. A treaty has been recognised by then in the possession of France.
China, but it is a colourless document. The British had been partly assisted in
To some extent, however, the Tibetan these operations by the forces of the king
question has been settled for a long time of Kandy, the representative of the
to come by the 1907 convention with extremely ancient Singalese dynasty. This
Russia. If this convention is faithfully monarch, however, died in 1800 without
adhered to, it will obviate any danger to leaving direct issue.
India from the direction of Tibet. Interior Ceylon was, like so many Oriental
In the year 1908 frontier warfare was countries, really governed by a powerful
resumed on the Afghan borders with the Minister, the adigar. The British governor
Zakka Khels on the south-west, and the of the coast districts interfered in the
Mohammedans on the north-east, both matter of the succession with a view to
sections of hostile mountaineers being aided securing substantial advantages for his
unofficially by an Afghanistan no longer own Government. An expedition to Kandy
efficiently controlled by the firm hand of an was undertaken, and a small garrison left
.J
- Abd-ur-Rahman Khan, but at that capital — 200 British troops and
p ^ *r
1 reachery and
.influenced by the fanatical 500 Malays, under the command of
,• ,-, , ,, -'t-
Rapacity
dislike to the Jiuropean con- Major Davie. But in those days the
ceived by the younger brother climate of the forest regions of Ceylon was
of the present amir, Nasir-Ullah Khan. extremely unhealthy to Europeans, and
To some extent Afghan hostility has been the bulk of Major Davie's English soldiers
neutralised by the recent Anglo-Russian were incapacitated by sickness. Then they
Convention, and a war with Afghanistan, were attacked by overwhelming numbers
followed by a permanent conquest of that of Sinhalese, and at last obliged to capitu-
land, which has been the source of so late and retreat. The terms of the capitula-
much woe to India, would present no tion were not observed by the cruel king
serious difficulty to the Indian Govern- of Kandy, who gave orders to massacre
ment if the policy was one that commended the entire party on the banks of the
itself to the views of the intelligent Mahaveliganga, three miles from Kandy.
majority of Indian Mohammedans, who, Scarcely a single member of the force
if they read accurate history and profit survived except Major Davie, who was
by its lessons, must by this time be weary taken back to Kandy, where he dragged out
of Afghan treachery and rapacity. a miserable existence for another seven
Passing outside the political limits of years. This massacre of the Mahave-
the Indian Empire, the other wars in Asia liganga was not avenged by
Atrocities
undertaken by the British Government ,.. ^.
of the King
.1°
the governor,
'^
,. ..,
u
whose ^•
i-
policy
r^
m •

against native powers may be noted as


T>j >

connection with Major Davie s


f K d
follows. In 1838 an armed demonstration abandonment had been most

against Persia by the despatch of a
— reprehensible. Consequently, the king of
British expedition to the Persian Gulf ^was Kandy, encouraged by this absence of
rendered necessary because of an attempt reprisals, sent armies to attack the coast
on the part of the Persians to take Herat. possessions of the British. His forces were
For the same reason, in 1856, Great Britain repulsed, and a truce was arranged which
declared war on Persia, and seized several lasted for several years. But the king of
ports on the Persian Gulf until the restitu- Kandy gradually became ferociously cruel
tion of Herat to Afghanistan was effected. towards his own Ministers, nobility and
The reason of these stern measures was people, besides causing native merchants
5503
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
— British subjects to — be mutilated or to Birch's murder, was banished to the
killed outright. His own
people rose Seychelles Islands, another sultan being
against him in 1815, and invited and recognised in his stead. This effective
facilitated a British occupation of Kandy, piece of fighting sufficed for the assertion of
which took place unopposed. The king the Pax Britannica on the Malay Peninsula.
was captured and sent as a pohtical The East India Company began to trade
prisoner to Vellore, in the Madras Presi- with the north of Borneo in 1609. At the
dency, where he hved until 1832. The end of that century they had transferred
^ ey on s
. occupation of the interior of
, their attention to the south side of the
Ceylon seems to have been island, whence they were driven away by
J.
.. characterised by some tactless the Dutch. In 1762-1775, the East India
procedure which offended the Company obtained a concession of the
people's religious prejudices. In addi- island of Battambang from the sultan
tion, the chiefs and priests were rendered of Sulu, together with Labuan and the
inimical at the diminution of their power territory which is now known as British
and emoluments. Consequently, in 1817, North Borneo. A treaty was also entered
a serious insurrection broke out in the into with the sultan of Brunei. But the
eastern provinces of Ceylon, which it people as a whole did not welcome the
took two years of hard bush-fighting British, as the presence of Europeans inter-
to suppress. Two other insurrections fered with their wide-spread piratical
occurred in 1843 and 1845, caused by operations. The British were attacked and
the imposition of taxes. their posts demolished. The Dutch also
In 1810, a British expedition, under Sir were driven away.
Stamford Raffles, landed in Java and The establishment of Singapore, how-
attempted to wrest that island from the ever, in 1819, once more drew attention to
Dutch. At the same time other British the northern regions of Borneo. Trade
expeditions seized the Dutch islands of was opened up with the sultanate of
Amboina and Banda. The Dutch, how- Brunei, which then included nearly all the
ever, fought fiercely near Batavia, though northern regions of Borneo,
mmerce
they were ultimately defeated, and sur- g^cept the extreme north-east.
rendered the island, which was restored Unfortunately, all this region
by*pfrtus
to Holland eight years afterwards. was, on its coast line, the seat
In 1826, British commerce with the of a vast piratical organisation, in which
Malay Peninsula and Sumatra having not only Malays, natives of Borneo (Sea
suffered much at the hands of pirates Dyaks), and Chinese were engaged, but
coming from the Malay state of Perak, and also Arabs. These pirates preyed on the
especially from the Perak River, it was extensive commerce which passed through
arranged that the Pangkor and Sembilan the China Sea. They were becoming a public
Islands should be ceded to Great Britain nuisance, and even a danger to European
as a base for naval action against the pirates. trade with China. This was noted by a
These settlements, somewhat enlarged, retired official of the East India Company,
are now known as the Dindings. In James Brooke, who, wounded in the war
1873-1874, the large Malay state of Perak with Burma, was travelling to China for his
was brought into closer political relations health. Brooke visited parts of Borneo and
with Singapore Government, and agreed to the Malay Archipelago, and regretted that
accept a British resident. The official such rich regions should be infested by
appointed to this post, Mr. J. W. Birch, these pirates, many of whom took to
-. was, however, murdered, with piracy because they had nothing else to do.
- * *^ the connivance of the Malay Having inherited his father's property,
B •
h d
sultan, in 1875. A punitive ex- Brooke resolved to fit out an expedition of
pedition, composed of British his own and visit Borneo. He reached the
and Indian soldiers under General Sir present state of Sarawak in 1839, and
Francis Colborne, divided into two columns found the uncle of the sultan of Brunei at
and crossed Perak in several directions, war with a rebellious officer turned pirate.
defeating the native forces in four or five Brooke's intervention gave victory to the
stiff engagements, warfare in this land of Brunei Government, and for this service
dense forest being peculiarly difficult. the title Rajah of Sarawak was con-
of
Perak was in the end thoroughly subdued, ferred on him (1841-42). For aix years
and, in 1877, the sultan, who was accessory Brooke, on land and sea, co-operated with
5504
.

BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST


the British naval forces under Captain end, and there was a considerable develop-
(afterwards Sir Harry) Keppel in attacking ment of British commerce with China on —
the Borneo pirates, who, it was found, really the part of British Indian subjects, among
derived much of their strength and supplies —
others which necessitated the establish-
from the town and bultan of Brunei. ment of a superintendent or commissioner
Eventually the town of Brunei was bom- at Canton to watch over the affairs of the
barded by a British naval force, while the British merchants, a superintendent who
sultan's army was routed by Brooke. The became the precursor of the present highly
sultan himself was restored to his throne , organised and efficient Consular
after agreeing to give no more harbourage
jec ion
Ob''^*t'
Service. The hostility of the
to pirates. At the same time he sold to the ^Q British commerce
(^j^jj^ggg
British Government the little island of was largely due to the im-
Labuan as a base for naval operations in portation of opium in large quantities from
those waters. Sir James Brooke not only India. The Chinese officials, especially in
by degrees extinguished piracy along the the south of China, were becoming
north-west coast of Borneo, but he also, awakened to the serious effects of the abuse
with extraordinary bravery and resolution, of this drug on Chinese manhood. They
put down a Chinese mutiny and rebellion wished to prohibit its introduction alto-
instigated by Chinese pirates in 1857. gether. In other directions they brought
He subdued two other risings, but since pressure to bear on British traders.
his death, in 1868, the peace and stability The latter, through their superintendent,
of North-western Borneo have not been agreed to surrender to the Chinese com-
seriously menaced. The British North missioner of Customs at Canton 20,283
Borneo Company, founded in 1882 as a chests of opium, which were forthwith
government over North-eastern Borneo, destroyed. They also bound themselves
has had to subdue several insurrectionary to deal no more in this drug. Apparently,
movements, under a leader named Mat however, the semi-independent govern-
Saleh, between 190 1 and ment of Canton gave no compensation for
n ain s ,

iqo6. British trade relations this voluntary surrender of opium, and


Trade Relations <,, /-i
. _.
. With Chma began early
• , 1
m

took advantage of the superintendent's


the seventeenth century by conciliatory behaviour to inflict further
James I. chartering a company for the disabilities on British trade and even
exclusive commerce with the regions offer gratuitous violence to British ship-
beyond the Malay Peninsula. But this ping. The Home Government considered
charter lapsed, and later on the trade that the British merchants had a right to
monopoly with China was acquired by the import opium at any rate, that the other
;

East India Company, whose commercial actions of the Cantonese officials were insup-
relations with China, though very limited, portable. Accordingly they sent a British
were not much troubled by unfriendli- fleet to China and a small military force.
ness till the advent to power of the War was declared in 1840, and in
warlike Emperor Kin-lung. This monarch that year the Chusan Archipelago, to the
strengthened the Chinese hold over Tibet, south-east of the mouth of the Yang-tse-
and marched an army of 70,000 men into kiang was occupied. In 1841 the forts
Nepal in 1792, the Chinese penetrating to guarding the entrance to the Canton
within sixty miles of the British outposts. River were stormed and captured, and
At the same time the emperor allowed the the island of Hong Kong was seized.
agents of the East India Company to be The Canton viceroy then agreed to
badly treated by the viceroy and other _^ _ cede Hong Kong and to pay
officials Canton.
at Consequently, it
The Opium

.

° •, , r r^
an indemnity of £1,200,000, ^
was deemed wise to send a special envoy . . -,. . These terms were, however,
to open up diplomatic relations with repudiated by the Imperial
China, and Lord Macartney was despatched Government at Peking. The war there-
with a special mission to Peking, arriving fore continued. Sir Hugh Gough occu-
there in 1793. But neither he nor his pied Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Chapu,
successor, Lord Amherst, in 1816, could Shanghai, and two other coast towns.
obtain any alleviation of the severe He was about to take Nanking when the
disabilities imposed on European traders. Chinese emperor sent commissioners to
In 1834, the East India Company's make peace. The treaty concluded by
monopoly of the Chinese trade came to an Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842 provided not

5505

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


only for the cession of Hong Kong, but fitable intercourse with foreign nations.
also for the throwing open to foreign trade Yet Britain, after coquetting with the
of the ports of Amoy, Fuh-chau-fu, Tai-ping revolt, proceeded to lend officers
Ningpo, and Shanghai, and the payment — Charles George Gordon from the Royal
of an indemnity of about £3,500,000. Engineers, first and foremost — and support

——
The original cause of the war the claim for its suppression, and the renewed fixing
to be able to trade in opium ^was an in- on the necks of the Chinese people of that
defensible one, of which Britain has since Manchu yoke from which the more Intel
_ „
TheFohcy
felt ashamed ; but the results ligent were trying to free themselves.
^^ ^-^^^ forcible opening of In 1856, the Chinese viceroy or com-
€.* rM.- China to European commerce missioner at Canton seized, on an accusa-
SavedJ China xl u
have, on the whole, been the tion of piracy, a sloop or " lorcha " from
, i 1 i.u

salvation of that vast empire from falling Macao whose captain was a British sub-
into complete senile decrepitude. But ject. It is very probable that the Arrow,
the Imperial Government at Peking as this vessel was called, was up to no good,
for two centuries the curse of China but the Chinese commissioner, Yeh, seems
did not appreciate the cruel kindness of to have been technically in the wrong.
Britain. It had yielded to urgent force ;
Sir John Bowring was then administering
now it wished to have as little as pos- the government of Hong Kong and in
sible to do with the red-haired barbarians charge of British interests in China. He
and their Indian subjects. Russia was a decided to deal energetically with the
different matter; the frontiers of Russia incident of the Arrow, and requested
began westwards and northwards where the British admiral on the station to bom-
those of China left off. Russia, therefore, bard Canton. This took place in 1857.
was entitled to have a diplomatic repre- Lord Elgin was despatched to China with
sentative at Peking. As to France and a strong force to act as British plenipo-
England, they were small nations of sea- „ tentiary. He was diverted
n ain an
.

pirates unworthy of a place at the court from his immediate object


of the emperor. Russia, no doubt, in
France as Allies
.
Q,.
1,1 ^i
by the outbreak ofr the
i ^i

revenge for the Crimean War, encouraged mutiny in India. The troops
this attitude of disdain. he brought with him proved a most welcome
On the other hand, a great revolt had reinforcement to the British in Bengal.
taken place in Central China, which was Lord Elgin, however, reached Canton
eventually headed by Hung-Siu-tsewen, towards the close of 1857, and succeeded
who proclaimed himself as Tin Wang, in capturing the commissioner or viceroy,
first emperor of the Tai-ping dynasty. Yeh, whom he sent as a prisoner to Cal-
This was an uprising which, one would cutta, where he eventually died. In 1858:
have thought, might have appealed to all France joined Great Britain in demanding
the generous instincts of Britain as the redress from China for injuries suffered
champion of hberty and reform. The by French subjects and in requiring that
recent Chinese emperors had been so a French representative should be accepted
shockingly licentious that their moral at Peking. At the close of 1858 the Treaty
depravity had affected the tone of public of Tientsin was negotiated. This treaty
morality. The Tai-ping revolt was greatly was to have been ratified by the emperor
a protest at the iniquities of the imperial early in 1859 ; but when, in June of that
court. Then, too, Hung-Siu-tsewen was year, the British and French representa-
a Christian, to all intents and purposes. tives attempted to proceed to Peking under
U
The behaviour of himself and a strong escort, their expedition was
.
^ .
, his followers was admirable. stopped before it could land, and the
liberal-mmded measures British lost three gunboats and 400 men
China
vastly encouraged foreign com- in the action which followed at the
merce at Nanking and Su-chau. Above mouth of the Peiho.
all, the movement was a Chinese one, and Lord Elgin and Baron Gros returned in
might have led to the re-establishment i860, and at the head of a very strong
of a national Chinese dynasty in the place force occupied Peking. Here the cele-
of the Manchu Tartars, whose rule has, brated summer palace was destroyed by
latterly, at any rate, done so much Lord Elgin's orders, an action which has
to arrest the growth of Chinese intellectual been deplored as an offence against the
development and friendly, mutually-pro- canons of art. Lord Elgin, however.
5506

BRITISH CONQUESTS IN THE EAST


could think of no other means of abasing mand of Field- Marshal von Waldersee,
Chinese imperturbabiHty, which was pro- but the British Government discounten-
longing the negotiations, and, which was anced any unnecessary coercion of China.
more serious, the sufferings of the English The acquisition of California, by the
prisoners who had been treacherously United States in 1848, led that branch of
seized by the Chinese in very bad faith. the Anglo-Saxon power to desire com-
The Treaty of Tientsin, however, was mercial expansion across the Pacific. In
ratified in i860, and from 1861 onwards 1853-1855 a naval expedition under Com-
Great Britain, France and other European _.
e
Q pen mander Perry was sent to J apan
Powers, besides Russia, have been repre- ^^ force that country to enter
sented at Peking by diplomatic Ministers. in J *** a
^^^^ commercial and political
The third occasion on which Britain has ° relations with the United States.
found itself at war with China -was in After some display of force Commander
the last year of the nineteenth century. Perry succeeded in his famous mission one —
The war between China and Japan, of the turning points in world-history. In
concluded in the spring of 1895, had the year 1858 advantage was taken of
exposed the seeming helplessness of China. Lord Elgin's presence in the Far East for
After intervening to modify the terms the conclusion of a treaty between the
of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in favour British and the shogunate of Japan
of China, Russia, France and Germany ratified by the mikado in 1864 which —
began to ask for concessions, leases, or obtained for Great Britain the same
admissions of spheres of influence and ; (limited) privileges as those granted to
Great Britain, not liking to be left in the the United States.
cold, required her share. Out of this But these concessions were detested by
Chinese scramble she came successfully, the military caste of the Samurai, by many
with considerable additions to the pros- of the Japanese nobility, and by the
perous little colony of Hong Kong, and mikado himself when he came to hear of
the leasehold of Wei-hai-wei. them. Indiscreet behaviour on the part
ma ,
s
of British traders provoked one or two
j^ ^^^^^ ^j^g course of events
Spirit
between 1895 and 1900 was outrages with loss of life. Finally, in
Aroused
thoroughly Chinese in its con- 1863, a British naval force, under Admiral
trariety. Britain and the other land- Kuper, appeared before Kagoshima and
hungry European Powers had its annexa- demanded redress for grievances from
tions first and its war afterwards. The the shogun. Failing to receive this.
national spirit of China was aroused, at any Admiral Kuper reduced Kagoshima to
rate in the foreigner-hating Manchus of the ashes and destroyed three war steamers
north, and early in igoo it broke out m of the Japanese. This action brought to
the renewed murder of missionaries and reason the Satsuma chieftains but there ;

native Christians, and finally in orders to was another potentate acting indepen-
the foreign representatives at Peking to —
dently what time the titular Emperor of
leave the country. Japan lived sequestered in his huge harem
Not wishing to trust themselves to the at Kioto —
and firing indiscriminately
tender mercies of the Boxers, as the on foreign shipping passing through the
unofficial allies of the reactionary party straits of Shimonoseki. This was the
were called, the foreign legations prepared Daimiyo, or Lord of Cho-shu or Nagato.
to stand a siege in their " town- within- a- After a preliminary chastisement at the
town" in Peking. The British, Japanese, hands of the United States, France and
Russian, American, and French authorities . Holland, he, as he still declined
P
from their various Asiatic possessions foreign shipping to
In°e3urse ^° ^^^^^
despatched an urgency relief expedition, ... , enter the inland Sea of Japan,
with Japan ^^ j i
i .

the British section of which was com- was attacked by an mterna-


manded by Sir Alfred Gaselee. tional squadron under the command of
Peking was entered first by the British. Admiral Sir Augustus Kuper in September
It was found that of the 500 civilian, -October, 1864, and utterly defeated on
naval and military defenders of the land as well as on the sea. The shogun's
different legations, 65 had been killed, and government agreed to pay an indemnity
131 were more or less severely wounded. of about $3,500,000, and from that time
When this trouble was over, the 20,000 onwards no serious hindrance was put in
German troops arrived under the com- the way of foreign intercourse with Japan.

5507
o -fart a
Ifl C c t/1

o oo:>
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
VM G.C.M.G.

BRITAIN'S CONTESTS IN AFRICA


AND THE PACIFIC
THE LONG SERIES OF VICTORIES IN
THE PROCESS OF EMPIRE-BUILDING
TV/ARS of the empire undertaken against accompany the definite estabUshment of
^ the natives of Africa, apart from the Sierra Leone settlements, while prior
conflicts in which it was really fighting to the annexation of Sierra Leone the
European nations, may be said to have British Chartered Company, which was to
begun with Admiral Blake's chastisement found a West African Utopia for freed
of the Tunisian sea rovers of Goletta and slaves, had engaged in a good deal of
Porto Farina in 1656. In those days, Tunisia fighting with the turbulent natives of
was a kind of dependency of Turkey, Bolama (Portuguese Guinea), who did not
having been recovered from the possession at all relish having an anti-
The First
of Spain by Turkish and renegade Moslem slave-trade colony founded on
of the
adventurers in the employ of Turkey their sea front. But the first
Kaffir Wars
during the last half of the sixteenth Imperial war with the black
century. Blake had also threatened man was undertaken in 1809 and 1811-1812
Algiers and Tripoli and the SaUi rovers
of when, in order to defend the rights, or, at
Morocco. The occupation of Tangier in any rate, the claims, of the Dutch colonists,
succession to the Portuguese entailed such 20,000 Kaffirs were driven by British
constant fighting with the Moors that the soldiers away from the " Zuurveld," and
new possession was deemed unprofitable, across the Great Fish River to its eastern
and was surrendered to Mulai Ismail, banks. This was the first in the long
sharifian sultan of Morocco, in 1684. The series of Kaffir wars which was to culmi-
effective punishment of the piratical nate in the capture of Ulundi in 1880,
Algerine state by Lord Exmouth and the and of Buluwayo in 1893.
Dutch, in 1816, has already been described. In 1818-9, the second Kaffir War broke
In 1808, the British Government, having out. It originated in an internecine feud
thoroughly awakened to the importance of between two rival Kosa Kaffir chiefs,
Egypt as a half-way house to India, and Gaika and Ndiambe. [Kosa is written by
having regretted the easy terms which had some South African authorities Xosa, the
allowed the French to withdraw, and a "X" expressing a side click. Another
more or less Turkish Government to take Kaffir name is often written Gcaleka, the
their place, attempted, on a rather feeble " c " expressing another cKck. Likewise, the

pretext, to land in Egypt, with the obvious " C " in Cetewayo (Ketshwayo) is a click.
intention of never withdrawing. But The present writer prefers to render all
their landing was opposed by these words with the gutturals, K, G, or
Britain in
the self-made governor, Mo- Qj. For some reason the Cape Government
Conflict with
the Negro
hammed with such spirit
Ali, sent soldiers to enforce the claims of the
that the attempt was baulked defeated rival, Gaika. The British force
and not renewed till seventy-four years crossed the Great Fish River, and then, in
later. England came into serious conflict revenge, the Kosa warriors under Ndiambe
with negro oVer South African
the entered the colony and besieged Grahams-
questions. Petty skirmishes no doubt haa

town. The Kaffirs were, of course, defeated,


occurred between the soldiers in the and their frontier was pushed farther to
employ of the Royal African Chartered the east, to the Keiskamma River. The
Company and the natives of the Gold land in between the two rivers was to
Coast. Some show of force also had to be regarded as neutral ground, though
5509
,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


actually belonging to the British Crown. handed over to the tender mercies of the
The Keiskamma, as a matter of fact, —
Kosas. In 1846-1847, war the fourth
had been the original boundary between Kaffir War —
broke out again, provoked by
Kaffir and Hottentot. the Kaffirs themselves. At its close the
In course of time certain Kaffir chiefs former province of Queen Adelaide was
were permitted to settle on this neutral reconstituted under the name of British
territory; then they were ordered to move Kaffraria. In 1850 began the fifth Kaffir
off again. For this reason, or more pro- War, chiefly with the Gaika clan of the
„ „. bably because the Kaifirs Kosa Kaffirs living in the Amatola
.. thought they could drive the Mountains. It extended far and wide over
on the .,°
,
-'
j.\,
ij. -u

War- ath ^^^^ "^^^ away altogether by the eastern border districts of Cape Colony,
attacking in force, 12,000 of and was marked by not a few disasters.
them crossed the eastern frontier of the One of these was not directly con-
colony in December, 1834, ^^^ ^or a fort- nected with the Kaffirs, though it added
night carried all before them, killing the to the. general uneasiness and dislike with
white colonists, burning and destroying which the war was regarded at home.
their homesteads and farms, and turning the The troopship Birkenhead foundered in a
district between Somerset East and Algoa gale off Simon's Bay, and sank with 400
Bay into a desert. The raid had from the soldiers and many seamen on board. By
white settlers' point of view been abso- 1853, General Cathcart had captured all
lutely unprovoked, and there were loud the Gaika strongholds in the Amatola
cries for vengeance from Boer, German, Mountains, and had deported the Kosa
and British colonists alike, nor did the Kaffirs from that district, which was after-
missionaries attempt to defend the action wards settled by Hottentot half-breeds,
of the invading Kaffirs. Colonel Smith, and became known as Grikwaland East.
afterwards to be known as Sir Harry In 1856 a terrible delusion seized on the
Smith, drove the Kaffirs back beyond the Kosa Kaffirs through the crazy teaching of
Keiskamma, and then beyond the Kei «•
Kosa «- « a " wizard " who had
Kaffirs r
received
/-i •
_.,...
,

River. This was the third Kaffir War. a smattermg of Christian


Deluded by , ,. ° , • •
u i
The Kosa Kaffirs then sued for peace. "W* d" teaching at a mission school.
Their new frontier was drawn at the Kei He predicted the coming of a
River, and the land between the Kei and millennium, in which the Kaffirs would be
the Keiskamma was created a new pro- reinforced by their dead chiefs returning
vince of the colony, and named after to earth with many followers, and further
Queen Adelaide. But within this new assisted by the Russian soldiers of the
province all the Kaffirs who had taken no Crimean War. But to secure this millen-
part in the raid were allowed to remain, nium, the existing cattle and crops must
and, in addition, grants of land were given first be destroyed. This teaching led to a
to the Fingo tribe, who had been enslaved terrible famine, for the deluded Kosa
and ill-treated by the Kosa. Kaffirs slew their cattle and cut down their
But this settlement, approved alike by crops of growing mealies. The unhappy
the European settlers and the missionaries, people were obliged to emigrate to the
was set aside by the Colonial Secretary extent of nearly 100,000, some 25,000
in England, Lord Glenelg, and Queen dying of starvation. The restless move-
Adelaide province was restored to the ments of these desperate men among
Kosa Kaffirs, while Sir Benjamin D'Urban, more settled tribes brought on the sixth
the governor, was recalled. This unwise Kaffir War, in 1858. After the war,
action laid the seeds of much large numbers of Fingo Kaffirs settled
Trouble
future mischief. It was one of in British Kaffraria, and some of the
with the
the causes which sent the best Kosas returned thither or found a home
KafHrs
of the Dutch farmers out into in the adjoining new Transkei province.
the wilderness to carve out homes with Others migrated into Pondoland.
their right hands and their guns — rifles had In 1851 and 1852 there were fights with

not come into general use independent the Basuto (Viervoet and Berea), the first
of the vicissitudes of a dual government of which was a defeat for the British, the
wherein the man on the spot might have second a drawn battle. In the last instance
his policy reversed heedlessly by the man General Cathcart, after conquering the
at home. The Kosa Kaffirs were not Kosa Kaffirs, had attempted to seize Thaba
satisfied, and the Fingoes found themselves Bosigo in order to compel the Basuto
5510
THE FOUNDERING OF THE BRITISH TROOPSHIP BIRKENHEAD ON FEBRUARY 26th, 185»
The disaster illustrated in the above picture occurred during a gale off Simon's Bay, South Africa, and will ever be
memorable for the heroism exhibited in the face of death. On board the ill-fated steamship were nearly 500 officers and
Ben, who stood calmly awaiting their fate while the women and children were saved. The then King of Prussia caused
:he splendid story of iron discipline and perfect duty to be read aloud at the head of every regiment in his kingdom.
From the painting by C. Napier Hemy, by permission of M«w»fv Henry Grares & Co.

55II
350
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
king, Moshesh, to come to terms, the to intervene, either to save the trekking
Basuto having been attacking the Griqua Boers from extermination by the enraged
Hottentots and Boer trekkers. The Basuto, or later to save the Basuto from
issue was not a defeat to the Basuto, but being wiped out by the land-hungry Boers.
Moshesh wisely came in and agreed to a Between 1836 and 1840 the emigrant
peace which has never since been broken, Boers, whom Lord Glenelg's foolish policy
so far as the Imperial Government is con- — —
among other causes had driven out of
cerned, though the Basuto had somewhat the eastern parts of Cape Colony, had
^1. e iv serious conflicts with the brushed aside the Northern Basuto, de-
The Seventh ^
. ,
/- i /^•

Cape Colonial Government


i j.
m feated the Matabele hordes of the southern
V tf War
117 1870-1880,
'^ conflicts which Transvaal, and broken the Zulu power in
Kaffir .11
were eventually solved j u
by 1
Natal. As regards Matabele and Zulu, im-
their coming under direct Imperial control. partial history will probably say that they
In 1877-1878 occurred the seventh and got no wors.e thaa they deserved. They
last Kaffir War. After the terrible famine were treacherous, cruel, devastating, and
and migration of 1856-1857, a portion of the not much earlier comers in the Bechuana
Galeka clan of the Kosa Kaffirs, under the countries than the Boers themselves. As to
celebrated chief Kreh, or Kareli, the son of the Swazi, a northern section of the Zulu-
Hintsa, who had surrendered to the Kaffir group, they were partially protected
British after the Kaffir raid of 1834, had by the Transvaal Boers from Zulu cruelty.
been allowed, in 1865, to settle on the coast But in regard to Sekukuni, the govern-
of British Kaffraria with the Fingoes and ment of the Transvaal behaved badly.
other Kaffir tribes behind them. They Sekukuni ruled over a section of the
increased and multiplied, and in 1877 they North-eastern Bechuana in the country
turned round and fought the Fingoes. The just south of the Upper Limpopo. The
British Government intervened, and the Transvaal Boers from the early part of the
chief Kreh was deposed. Fighting spread sixties were constantly seizing Sekukuni's
into the colony, and was joined in by the land or people, and ignoring
Gaika clan under chief Sandile. This war e .^ a'^'^- his rights. This chief estab-
South African i- j
was brought to a close in 1878 by the death „.
IS ory
1 1 • ir.

lished himself strongly


,
m
of Sandile and the flight of the aged Kreli. ^^^ Zoutspanberg Mountains,
The impartial historian of South Africa and after 1870 the Boer Government of
must admit that though many good Pretoria launched against this unhappy
qualities are inherent in the Boer people, people bands of conscienceless adven-
a scrupulous consideration for the ante- turers ; one of the cruellest of these was
cedent rights of the negroes is not to be an ex-Prussian officer, Von Schlickmann,
attributed to them. In their eyes the whose atrocities were a disgrace to the
natives had no rights, though, at the same Boer name and will be a permanent blot
time, they were not harsh if Hottentot or on the history of South Africa. But
Basuto, Bechuana or Zulu were willing Sekukuni held out so stoutly that he wore
to serve for board, lodging, and occasional out the energies of the Transvaal State.
blankets and Cape brandy. But wherever As the Boer dealings with the Swazis had
the Boer ruled he carried on a native policy, drawn down on them the animosity of
as regards land and products, so like that the Zulus, it was feared by the Imperial
of King Leopold on the Congo as to make Government that the mishandling of native
one think that in this respect the king of affairs in the Transvaal might set going a
the Belgians may really have borrowed vast negro revolt against the white man. So
- . his native policy from Dutch Sir Theophilus Shepstone was despatched
„°*" **'*
Soon after the
traditions. with a few military officers and twenty-five
»." ". discontented Boers left British mounted police to investigate. He took
^ territory, because the British the bold step of annexing the Transvaal.
Government would not evict native tribes The British had taken np great share in
legitimately settled on the soil in favour the fighting against the Zulu monarchy
of incoming white men. The pioneers which had won Natal for the white man's
3f the Orange River territory and the rule. Tho Transvaal Boers had done that
founders of the Transvaal State fell out and had also installed Panda as king of
with the warlike Basuto, the southern- the Zulus in place of the bloodthirsty
most tribe otf the wide-spread Bechuana Dingane. In 1873 the British Government
stock. The British forces had repeatedly had been represented at the installation
5512
CONTESTS IN AFRICA AND THE PAaFlC
of Cetewayo as successor to Panda. The Kambula, and Ulundi and the king,
;

limit of the recognised Zulu kingdom Cetewayo, was captured and sent into
then, on the west, was the Tugela River. temporary retirement. Sekukuni, of the
Of course, the colony of Natal contained Northern Transvaal, was then tackled and
hundreds of thousands of Zulu-speaking finally disposed of, while the Swazis were
natives, but these, for the most part, had also brought under control. Between
been long dissociated from Zulu rule. 1879 and 1893 there was peace, except
In the North-west of Natal, however, mere police operations, between the
there was the Hlubi clan, originally Britishand the natives of
In Contact
refugees from Zulu and Basuto lands. South Africa. British atten-
with the
These people, under their chief, Langali- tion was concentrated on a
Matabele
balele, began to show themselves turbulent struggle for supremacy with
in 1873, and had to be brought to. order the Dutch-speaking section of the white
by the despatch of a small military force. community. A British advance towards
The operations against the Gaika and the Zambesi began in 1887-1888, a
Galeka clans of the Kosa Kaffirs in 1877- movement which brought her into con-
78 sent a thrill of racial sympathy and tact with the Matabele power.
disturbance through Natal and Zululand, The Matabele were a section of the Zulus
and probably decided the ill-informed whom internecine quarrels had driven from
king of the Zulus to make a determined Zululand and Natal into the Southern
fight for Kaffir independence and dominion Transvaal. From this territory, where they
before the white man grew too strong. It had supplanted the Bechuana stock of the
must be remembered that there is very Bantu, the Matabele were driven by the
little linguistic difference between Kaffirs Boers beyond the Limpopo. The Matabele
and Zulus. Kaffir is an entirely artificial in their turn, from 1840 onwards, became a
name. simply an Arab term meaning
It is predatory people, and made themselves
" unbeliever," which was applied to the masters of the lands between the Limpopo
pagan Bantu along the South- and the Zambesi. They enslaved more or
"""^
east African coast by the Arabs,
. less the pre-existing Makaranga, Mashona

Z°M** d ^^^ ^y them transmitted to the and kindred tribes of Nyanza stock, and
Portuguese, Dutch and English. were a sore affliction to the more peaceable
Sir Bartle Frere saw the coming danger Bechuana on their western flank.
to Natal, and resolved to forestall it by Cecil Rhodes and his pioneers, however,
calling on Cetewayo to disarm, after had to deal with the Matabele as the
giving him full satisfaction in regard to effective masters of the country between
territories in dispute between the Zulus the Kalahari Desert and the Eastern
and the former Republic of the Transvaal. Portuguese dominions. Various far-reach-
No answer was received to the ulti- ing concessions were purchased from the
matum. On January 22nd, 1879, the greedy Matabele king, Lobengula, who was
British troops under Lord Chelmsford not very particular as to what he sold,
entered Zululand. The opening of the because in his own mind he had determined
campaign was marked by two striking exactly what the white men should do and
incidents. The capture of the British what he would withhold from their scope.
camp at Isandlhwana, the " Hill of the But in Dr. Jameson he had a masterful
Little Hand," with a loss to the British person to deal with. Jameson had accu-
of 800 white and 500 negro soldiers and
; rately gauged the Matabele strength, and,
the defence of Rorke's Drift, on the Buffalo in a short but very brilliant campaign, con-
River, under Lieutenants Chard and ducted by himself and Major
,

Bromhead, and 120 British and Colonials Forbes, and by Colonel Goold
*

Adams — on
Brilliart"""
against 4,000 Zulus, flushed with the *
. behalf of the
J, ampaign
victory of Isandlhwana. Another episode —
Imperial Government Bulu-
of this war, which has raised it in the wayo was captured, and Lobengula driven
interest of world-history far above towards the Zambesi, where he afterwards
other Kaffir wars, was the death of the died. Out of a force sent in pursuit of
Prince Imperial on a reconnoitring expe- Lobengula, a party of thirty mounted
dition. This sad event materially altered men under Captain Allan Wilson was cut
the course of modern French history. off from the main body and killed by the
Zululand was conquered finally by Matabele after a heroic resistance. The
August. 1879, ^^ th^ battles of Gingihlovo, Chartered Company's administration,
5513

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


which followed that of Lobengula, was not the granting of self-governing constitu-
in respects quite wise, and "''scontent
all tions to the different states of the future
arose among the natives, Mashona as well South African Confederation. In 1815 the
as Matabele. After the unfortunate issue Dutch farmers had risen against the
of the Chartered Company's armed entry government of Lord Charles Somerset
into the Transvaal, the Matabele rose because it interfered with their summary
against their white rulei \ and though they treatment of the natives; but they were
never succeeded in taking Buluwayo or surrounded, and laid down their arms at
„ any other fortified post, they the place since called Slachter's Nek. In
t^^^ .r inflicted much damage and spite of their surrender five of them were
°'^^ *
j^ some on the British
loss of life hanged for high treason, an act inexcus-
settlers. Rhodesia was not ably harsh on the part of the tyrannical
finally restored to order until the year 1897. governor. Lord Charles Somerset, whose
Since the great South African War of name for the value of his work is too
1899-1902 there has been a certain amount much commemorated in Cape geography.
of unrest among the natives south of the Dissatisfaction with Lord Glenelg's
Zambesi, more especially among the fatuous intermeddling and with the, often
Hottentots on the German borders, the well-founded, accusations of British and
Basuto, the Kaffirs of Natal, and the Zulus. Moravian missionaries as to maltreatment
This has been caused by a multiplicity of of natives, impelled the migration north-
excitants. The movement originated with wards and eastwards, beginning in 1836,
certain American negroes of the Ethio- of large numbers of Boer farmers. This
pian Church, a form of Christianity which led to their wresting the Orange Free
was to treat the interests of thv black race State from the Basuto, the Transvaal
as quite distinct from those of the Cau- from the Matabele hordes of Umsilikazi,
casian the spread of education, which
; and Natal from Dingane and the Zulus.
imparted an honest pride and capability Apart from the unfortunate rising of
to Christianised Hottentot and Kaffir .so — _
oer an
Slachter's Nek, Boer and Briton
that dull, stupid, violent government at ^^^^ came into armed conflict
the hands of German or British-Colonial jj? ^ over Natal. The port of Durban
J,
officials or army officers became intoler- had, it is true, been originally
able the resentment felt by Zulus and
; colonised by British and Americans but
;

Natal Kaffirs at the alleged filching of their the mighty power of the Zulus had been
land lastly, the abundance and cheapness
; first broken by Boer valour. After the
of rifles and ammunition during and after emigrant farmers had made themselves
the Boer War; all these were reasons, masters of the country now known as
apart from a general awakening of the Natal, the intolerable shilly-shally of the
negro, why movements towards turbu- home Ministers began. This was the
lence and independence necessitated much cause in the past of many a war, large and
vigorous police work in 1906-1908 small, and was the result of the old prin-
almost amounting to warfare .on the part — ciples of party government and the placing
of British and Colonial troops in Western of incompetent or ill-educated men for
Bechuanaland, Natal, and Zululand. short and shifting periods at the head of
Amongst " native " powers which the great departments of state. Slowly, im-
British Empire has had to fight in South perceptibly, this system has changed in
Africa must be enumerated the Boers of —
favour of a trained bureaucracy a rule
Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange State, and of the permanent official, who shapes the
—. _ the Transvaal.
, This was a policy which his temporary parliamentary
"
vigorous, emphatically "white chief endorses and adopts as his own.
Dislike *f*
the BrUUh
^^^^ °^ splendid physique, The Natal " War " of 1842 resolved
compounded for the most part itself into a night attack by the English-
of men of Flemish or Dutch descent, men of Durban on the Boer position
mingled with some proportion of French (which failed), and a siege of Durban by
Huguenots and German immigrants. the Boers. This siege was raised by the
The resident Boers, as distinct from the arrival of a British expeditionary force. The
officials of the Dutch East India Company, Boers retired, and, a commissioner arriving
never liked the British intrusion from the from England in 1843, terms were arranged
day of the first landing of British troops at by which the Boers had a free hand to
Simonstown on July 14th, 1795, down to the north of the Drakensberg, whither
5514
5515
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


the bolder spirits betook themselves. whereby Sir Charles Warren, with a force
After well-nigh intolerable vacillation, of 4,000 men, marched up into Bechuana-
contradictory proclamations, flag hoistings land and suppressed the infant republics
and pullings-down, treaties with native of Stellaland and Goshen, and substituted
chiefs or hybrid adventurers, restraining for them the British Protectorate of
and loosing of the justly exasperated Bechuanaland, which was ultimately ex-
Boers, the British Government of the tended to the Zambesi. Zululand was
Cape declared the present Orange State annexed, and ultimately, in 1887-1898,
^. _ to be British territory in 1848. Amatongaland also. The southern and
p. . This action was resented by the western boundaries of the Orange State
emigrant Boers, with Pretorius had, by a piece of rather sharp practice,
Rebellion
at their head. They rose been chpped and defined in 1869, 1871, and
in rebellion, but in meeting Sir Harry 1876. From 1898 a final duel between the
Smith —one of the great names in South British and the Boers for the overlordship
African —
history they met one of their of South Africa became inevitable. The
own kidney. After a severe fight, the Boers were resolved to expand, the British
Boers were defeated at the Battle of determined to compress them within
Boomplatz, and Pretorius and his men treaty limits, and even to strangle them
fled across the Vaal River. in their own homes.
The recognition of the Transvaal as an First came about the unofficial war, the
independent state in 1852, and of the abortive raid of Jameson at the head of
Orange River Territory in 1854, are the Chartered Company's forces into the
episodes in the relations of Boer and Transvaal in December, 1895. Then ensued
Briton which have been described else- four years of preparations on both sides.
where. No further armed conflict with the Those of the Boers were directed to steady
Boers occurred until December 20th, 1880. armament and training, with results which
In 1877, the Transvaal Republic, in certainly " staggered humanity " those ;

great difficulties over its conflict with the ,j,. ^^ ^^^ British to sounding
-J t
natives, had been somewhat summarily -jy.
.^ France,Russia, Portugal, Italy,
annexed by Sir Theophilus Shepstone on America, and perhaps Germany

S th Af
behalf of the British Government. This as to their attitude in the
measure was most unpalatable to the event of a South African War. The
mass of the Boer farmers under the leader- outbreak of this long contemplated
ship of Kriiger, Pretorius, and Joubert and
; struggle was precipitated by the two
they never ceased petitioning against it. allied Boer States delivering an ultimatum
At length, encouraged by the British on October 9th, 1899. It is not necessary
lassitude which had followed the Zulu here to recount the incidents and fluctua-
War, they rose in rebellion, and after tions of this great and lengthy contest
the British defeats at Bronker's Spruit, it is sufficient to record that the war began
Lang's Nek, and Majuba Hill, obtained with a series of British defeats, retreats, and
eventually the recognition of the inde- besiegements in fortified cities or camps.
pendence of their republic, with only Then came Lords Roberts and Kitchener,
slight modifications, modifications which and their march right into the heart of the
were pared away to a transparency by the Orange Free State, and thence by a series
Convention of London in 1884. Though of successes, which went far to damp any
this convention established more or thought of European intervention, to
less clearly the boundaries of the Trans- Pretoria, Lydenburg, Komatipoort.

Ex ansion ^^^^' *^^


Boers did not hesitate By the autumn of 1900 the Orange River
the'*"im°of ^^y —more than the British Republic and the Transvaal had been
the Boers

would have done to trespass annexed to the British dominions, and
beyond these limits as far as President Kruger had fled to Europe. Most
British forbearance would allow, and pro- persons now thought the war at an end, but
posed to themselves, on the one hand, to the Boers managed to keep up a guerrilla
seize and monopolise the road to Central warfare for eighteen months longer, thus
Africa, and, on the other, to conquer securing for their countrymen far better
Zululand and thus attain access to the and more honourable terms of peace than
sea. To stop both these movements an would have been granted in the autumn
important armed demonstration was of 1900. As military leaders, De Wet,
made by the British Government in 1885, De La Rey, Botha, Kemp, Lucas Meyer,
5516
CONTESTS IN AFRICA AND THE PACIFIC
and other Boer generals covered themselves horses and cattle could not live, and there
with glory, and taught the world new European settlers could not thrive. It
lessons in warfare. But in the meantime was a land of droughts and floods, of ice
Central South Africa was being ruined. and sunstroke, of barren steppe more hope-
These same men who fought so well would less than the Sahara, of thorn jungle, and
not carry on a hopeless struggle after the of man-eating lions. So far as anyone
offer of reasonable terms. To the great therefore is to blame for the unjustness
relief of all concerned, a peace was ratified of the Kaffir wars, it is the Dutch or Afri-
on May 31st, 1902, which has left no sting War Forced
kander colonists, who first
behind it to either party in the struggle. picked a quarrel with the
The Orange State, under a slightly different natives, and then dragged the
th Z 1
name, and the Transvaal continue to British Government into the
exist as self-governing communities ready settlement of that quarrel. Whenever the
to take their part as equals in any future treatment was just towards the native
confederation of South Africa, with Cape it provoked a rising, a secession, or, at

Colony, Natal, and Rhodesia. any rate, a severe disaffection amongst


The question of war between the white the white settlers.
and the black man in trans-Zambesian It is true that in 1879 Sir Bartle Frere —
Africa is, I fear, not finally laid to rest. a great and far-seeing viceroy— having
Contemporary and later historians have annexed the Transvaal, largely because
frequently described this, that, or the of the Boer mishandling of native rights,
other Kaffir war as an unjust one. There forced a war on the king of the Zulus.
is no doubt that Britain som_etimes fought The alternativo was to wait until the Zulu
over a wrong issue, but there is equall}^ no power, a little stronger, a little more reck-
doubt in the mind of the present narrator less, launched itself on the colony of
that the British power has been a great deal Natal, drowning it in blood, as Cetewayo's
more anxious to do the right thing and grandfather had done, pitiless alike to
^void injustice in its fights with white and black, for no one has ever
Th R '

_ ^ ^ , the great Zulu-Kaffir congeries


Treatment of , °
been so cruel to the negro as the negro.
the Ki
it »•
Natives
of peoples
,^ ^..
,

m

.
.1

. .
?,
the southern
.
,,
The Chartered Company's war against
prolongation of Africa than the bastard Zulus of Lobengula, the
it has shown itself elsewhere in the lands descendants of the hordes led northwards
of Black and Yellow. In the first place, by Umsilikazi or Mosilikatse, has been
South Africa during two-thirds of the arraigned as unjust, except when argued on
nineteenth century was not regarded as the basis of the Parable of the Talents.
an extraordinarily valuable acquisition. Lobengula and his Amandebele indunas
The Dutch colonists, it is true, were desired to keep the white man out of the
perfectly ruthless in regard to displacing, country as much as they could, except as
dispossessing, killing or enslaving the an ivory hunter or purchaser, or possibly
black races that had preceded them. as one who should find minerals at his own
They were no more scrupulous in this risk and expense and hand over a handsome
respect than the English who settled on royalty to the king and his courtiers, who
the Atlantic coast of the United States, would spend it on the purchase of more
the Spaniards in South America, the oxen, more wives, and more guns and
Portuguese in India, or the Dutch in gunpowder, with which to carry out more
Malaya. They, the Boers, were " God's extensive slave-raids to the north. The
chosen people" the yellow or black Hot-
; Chartered Company had not interfered
tentot-Bushman, or Kaffir, was a heathen, with the natives' rights over
ar ere
with no more claims to consideration than ^^^ land, nor had they at-
Company and ,j - j.- e
the beasts of the field, and both alike .
21 tempted any assumption of
were shot down by the deadly accu- governing rights. They were
racy of the Boer marksman. But British —
genuinely anxious ^the present writer can
missionary enterprise was early afoot in testify —
to avoid any quarrels with the
South Africa, and, as I have said before, Matabele, partly, to cite no higher motive,
the country was not thought particularly because they had greatly over-estimated the
worth taking away from its black in- fighting strength and capabilities of the
habitants. No
minerals of importance Matabele. The quarrel really arose over the
had been discovered prior to the diamond position of the indigenous tribes, Mashona
revelation in 1869. In many districts and Makaranga, who were treated by the
5517
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Matabele as their slaves. The Matabele responsibility for the West African settle-
theory was that if the white men wished ments, though these were amongst the
the Mashona or other of subject
their earliest attempts at empire beyond the
tribes to work for them as porters, British Channel. The forts and settle-
labourers, or guides, their services must ments were held somewhat intermittently
first be purchased from the Matabele by chartered companies. But in 1824 thi.
chiefs. The Mashona and their congeners —
governor of Sierra Leone the Gold Coast
had been waiting for the white man's ports were brought under the Sierra Leone

Wars with
advent to shake off the Zulu government from 1821 to 1850 Sir —
yoke which had lain so heavily Charles Macarthy, was forced into a
the
Matabele
on them since about 1845. conflict with the Ashanti people in order
Often, when pursued or plagued to defend the coast tribes who were under
by the Matabele, they would fly for refuge British protection. He was killed in war-
to one or other of the white men's forts, fare (Ensimankao, January 14th, 1824),
and they were frequently followed by the and the British Government was obliged
Matabele and brought back. One or two to avenge his death and re-establish
episodes of this kind, though ending in British authority; this was the first
bloodshed, were smoothed over by the Ashanti War between 1827 and 1831.
company's officials the Matabele warriors
; A short war with Lagos in 1851 was
became more and more daring, and at last the result of an attempt to put down the
a stand had to be made. In July, 1893, slave trade. On this pretext, and also to
a Matabele army entered the township avenge wrongs done to British merchants,
of Victoria, and attacked the Mashonas the Dahomeh coast was frequently block-
residing there, slaughtering many before aded or bombarded during the third
the company's police could intervene. A quarter of the nineteenth century, and
fight between the Matabele warriors and punitive expeditions were undertaken in
the mounted police ensued, resulting in the Niger delta, 1886-1906. and the Congo
considerable loss of life to the Matabele, „ . estuary, 1875. The transfer of
and inan open war with Lobengula's yf * ". .the Dutch possessions on the
forces, which ended in the Chartered Com- ... Gold Coast to Great Britain en-
pany becoming the government of the land tailed another war with Ashanti
in the place of these raiding Zulus who in 1873-1874. This was the first occasion
had preceded them by forty or fifty years. on which West African warfare was taken
In the second Matabele War, which seriously. Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had
followed in 1896, it is true that the Mashona distinguished himself as the commander
joined hands with their former oppressors, of the Red River expedition in Central
but the discontent which provoked this Canada, commanded a British force of
war was largely caused by the company about 10,000 men, 2,400 British, and the
having employed an oppressive Matabele remainder negro soldiers, which, together
police, which, in a different uniform and with native auxiliaries under Sir John
with a new authority, continue to plunder Glover, entered Kumasi and imposed a war
the unfortunate tillers of the soil. indemnity which was never completely
The foundation of the colony of Sierra paid. Ashanti was only finally conquered
Leone, in 1787-1807, for the purpose of after two more expeditions (1896-1900).
repatriating liberated slaves led to very It is now directly administered by the
little trouble with the natives till Sierra British Government, and has consequently
Leone had been about eighty years in increased very considerably in prosperity.
_ existence as a British colony, The action of France about the sources
'°l1 ^ ij mainly because little attempt
on the Gold j -o x- V of the Niger, beginnine in the early
Q was made j.
to exercise British 'eighties of the last century, obliged the
authority beyond the Sierra British Government to concern itself about
Leone Peninsula and certain islands on the hinterland of Sierra Leone ; and the
the coast duly purchased from the native various attempts to impose British influence
owners. The same may be said in regard over the warlike Temne and Mende peoples
to the Gambia. But as early as 1824 entailed a number of armed expeditions or
trouble arose on the Gold Coast with the small wars, such as the Yonni war in 1886,
powerful native kingdom of Ashanti. in what is now the rather considerable
As related elsewhere, the British Crown territory of the Sierra Leone Protectorate.
had shirked as much as possible any direct These culminated in a regular rising of the
5518
CONTESTS IN AFRICA AND THE PACIHC
Temne and Mende peoples, owing to the the Nigerian Sudanese the Mohammedan —
imposition of a hut tax, in 1898. The Nupe, Fulbe, Hausa peoples under a general
complete subjugation of the colony —
Fulbe suzerainty hordes of cavalry per-
which followed, coupled with the build- meated with Mohammedan bravery. These
ing of a railway across a portion of the peoples in those days were possibly egged
hinterland, brought about the most on to try conclusions with the British
extraordinary changes in the prosperity company by its French and German rivals,
of the natives. Sierra Leone is now one who, in the first place, resented the British
of the best governed, most prosperous, •• appropriation of Eastern Ni-
B h
and generally successful of the British ^eria, and in the second, disUked
Rule in the
possessions in tropical Africa. Similar
Sudan most of all that the govern-
attempts to open up the hinterland ment of the country should be
of the Gambia, and to protect commerce entrusted to a commercial company.
along the British banks of that river, The company had to face the situation,
likewise occasioned a few armed expedi- conquer the amir of Nupe, and impose peace
tions against the Mandingo or Fulbe sultans by a show of force on the Fulbe sultan of
of the interior. The last of these was the Sokoto. The expedition of 1897, practically
expedition against Fodi Kabba in 1900. led by George Goldie, was to all intents
Sir
In the hinterland of Lagos, in the Ibo and purposes organised by the British
territories of the Niger Delta, there were Government, and was commanded by
punitive expeditions, enforced conquests Imperial officers. It achieved its object
of natives who would not let the Britisher after one or two pitched battles, but ran
or his native subjects alone. These occurred the narrowest risks of failure and disaster
mainly between 1885 and 1905, including owing to the difficulties of transport once
the expedition in 1897, wliich rapidly it quitted the navigable waterway.

conquered the blood-stained kingdom When the company was succeeded


of Benin, a feat thought to be almost by the direct rule of the British Govern-
impossible owing to the physical ment, Sir Frederick Lugard found it quite
Conquest
jjjfl^culties of reaching Benin impossible to cry halt until, with the forces
° . through leagues of forest-swamp. under his command, led by Colonel
•geria
g^^ amongst notable exploits Morland, he had conquered the Fulbe
of warlike enterprise on the battle-roll power and established British rule over
of Britain, nothing in this direction the great Hausa cities of the Central
equalled in importance of achievements Sudan. These campaigns of 1902 and 1903
the conquest of Nigeria. As usual, the were remarkable for the extent of ground
British Government had turned over to a covered, the relatively small fighting force
chartered company of merchants the first at the disposal of the British, and the
responsibility of laying the foundations of effect of the victories. It would be too
the Nigerian Empire. The original attempts soon to say that the Moslem peoples of
of 1841 and 1858 to establish something Eastern Nigeria will never again raise the
like a British protectorate or control over standard of revolt but the surest way of
;

the banks of the Niger had failed through turning their thoughts to better things,
the frightful mortality which attacked the the cheapest way of maintaining the
naval expeditions. The Lower Niger was hold over this important region of Africa,
justly regarded then as a region so is by the building of railways. As re-
impossibly unhealthy that it could not gards wars in North-east Africa within
profit the British Government as a means the memory of living men, the first
of reaching the Nigerian Sudan. to record is the somewhat
The Quixotic
As related elsewhere, the foundations Abyssinian
quixotic Abyssinian expedi-
of modern British Nigeria were laid ^^°" ^^ 1864-1868. Of all the
Exxpeedition
1
ion
by Captain Goldie Taubman. afterwards episodes in the history of the
Sir George T. Goldie. The Royal Niger British Empire, this will seem the most
Company, which he founded, soon experi- difficult to explain. Its analogue in its
enced, however, enormous difficulties in wars of the first class with European
carrying their charter into effect. It was Powers is the Crimean War. Some well-
relatively easy to keep order amongst the meaning but over-zealous missionaries had
savage cannibal negroes along the banks offended the usurping monarch of Abys-
of the Niger and navigable Benue but;
sinia, Theodore. This curious personality,
immediately beyond these regions were who, like his immediate predecessors for
5519
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
about seventy years back, had begun to khedive. The motive was absolutely not
get into touch with the civihsation of the any desire to acquire more territory, but
outer world by commerce carried on in reality to save the Suez Canal from
through Indian traders, had invited to his falling under the exclusive control of
court mechanics or industrial missionaries, France, of Turkey, or of a new Moham-
and then, if he were capriciously displeased medan nationality, fanatical and successful,
with them, would hold them as his which might be arising under the some-
captives. A British consul of Levantine what stupid colonel of artillery, Ahmad
or Armenian extraction, Arabi. Britain had seen between 1835
Theodore, the
ggig^^^ed for his knowledge of and 1840 a great military power arise
/.^ '"5. Arabic and Amharic, was in Egypt, which had conquered nearly
of Abyssinta , , > .1 .

sent these captives


to get the whole of Arabia, had wrested Syria
out of Theodore's toils by negotiations. from the Porte, and, unchecked, might
But Theodore, who was more than half a have re-created from an Egyptian base
crank, and who had proposed marriage to a vast Mohammedan empire. It was
Queen Victoria upon hearing that she was quite possible such a thing might occur
a widow, but had received no reply to his once more, with Arabi in the place of
proposal, kept back the consul, too. Ibrahim, the son of Mehemet Ali.
In a less sentimental age it might have The British occupation of Lower Egypt
been questioned whether, as Great Britain was followed by the downfall of Egyptian
had at that time no desire to interfere in rule over the Sudan, the futile despatch
the affairs of North-east Africa, she was of Gordon, and the too-late expedition
warranted in spending several millons of in 1884 sent to extract Gordon from a
money, and perhaps in all about a thou- besieged Khartoum. Here, again, there was
sand lives, in trying to rescue a few no other motive than the desire to retrieve
misguided Europeans who had accepted Britain's honour, much as there had been
allrisks in going to the court of a barbarous in the case of Abyssinia. Nothing was
monarch. But there was the question of _ ,desired less at that moment
the British envoy, Mr. Rassam, and British *^^" ^^® addition to the British
prestige in the Eastern world. j^f
* \t
Delth
.
* Empire of the Egyptian Sudan.
Khartoum t.i ^ x 1x j-j.- . i'.
So 16,000 (mainly Indian) soldiers, and I he too-late expedition, only
some 15,000 non-combatants, marched j ust too late, was recalled from its natural

through the mountains of Abyssinia till impetus to avenge Gordon by complica-


they had released the captives and cap- tions with Russia in Central Asia. Little
tured Magdala, the last stronghold of collateral wars had been carried on with
Theodore, who committed suicide. Then, the fierce Hamitic tribes of the Nubian
after furnishing their principal native ally. Desert between the Red Sea coast and, the
Prince Kassai, of Tigre, an Abyssinian Atbara, but the British and Egyptian
prince of less doubtful lineage, with the forces were withdrawn to Wadi Haifa and
means of aspiring to the throne of the walls of Suakin, and for some years
Ethiopia, the British forces marched back confined their efforts to repelling the
again to the Red Sea. In this achievement attacks of the Dervishes.
they were in far better circumstances than The deliberate attempts at conquest
the Italians thirty years later, for the of the bastard Zanzibar Arabs, descend-
British protestations that they desired ants of the fierce Omani seamen and
no territorial acquisitions were believed, merchants, whose assaults on the Zanzibar
and the mass of the Abyssinian people coast had extinguished the power of the
B "f h ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^® ^^ ^^^ British Portuguese in the eighteenth centUry, had
. against the misconduct of the steadily pushed inland, and had developed
"^^*^' though talented, usurper. the slave trade to such an extent that they
in^sLynt
British soldiers were not to set had scandalised the British public through
foot in North-eastern Africa again for the revelations of Livingstone, Speke,
fifteen years. Then, in 1882, a British Grawt, Stanley, Thomson and others.
force was landed at Port Said under Sir Ideas of empire had come to them, and
Garnet Wi»lseley of Ashanti, who was to they had determined to found vigorous
become Lord Wolseley of Cairo. Here the Mohammedan slave states in Central
immediate objective was the subjugation Africa, But they knocked their heads
of Arabi's revolt and the reassertion of the —
against harder ones the dogged Scottish
power of the legitimate ruler of Egypt,, the pioneers of Nyassaland. It was with the
5520
CONTESTS IN AFRICA AND THE PACinC
African Lakes Company at the north end number of steamers which called at
of Lake Nyassa that the war broke out first Aden on their way to and from India.
between European and Arab for the Therefore, as far back as the early 'fifties
possession of Central Africa. Trade had a of the last century Great Britain, by
little to do with it. The Arabs had begun means of official and unofficial explora-
to interfere between the native seller and tions, was taking a marked interest in the
the European purchaser ; but it is only fate of the Somali coast. During the
fair to state that sheer horror at the period of Imperial lassitude coincident
atrocious cruelties of the Arab slave raids _ J - with the 'sixties and early
precipitated the fight on the part of such it. r *• 'seventies. Great Britain looked
'
the Egyptian ,,
. ,
on with a shrug off the
^.i
agents of the African Lakes Company as p
the late Monteith Fotheringham and the shoulders whilst Egypt, which
still living Moir brothers. The African at any rate, in our eyes, was better than
Lakes Company hastily called for volun- France for such a purpose, attempted to
teers, and enlisted amongst others a make herself mistress of Somaliland.
Captain Lugard, bent on East African When the Egyptian power fell, however,
adventure, and a hunter of big game, with the annihilation of General Hicks's
Alfred Sharpe. The one became the army and the death of Gordon, it was
subjugator of Nigeria and the province of necessary to do something, or else the coast
Uganda, and the other is still governor of opposite Aden might be jointly occupied
the British Central African dominions. by France and Italy. So the very oddly-
But the Arabs were too strong to be sub- shaped protectorate of British Somaliland
dued by a rabble of undisciplined blacks came into existence, and, needless to say,
officered by five or six brave English or the attempts of the British to become
Scotch. A drawn battle was practically responsible for law and order on the
the result. The slave-traders had to be Somali coast dragged them much against
attacked nearer to their base before the their will into an equal responsibility for
_ Arab power could be dealt with
. the disorder of inner Somaliland.
B**t"h*"*
effectually at the north end of A mad mullah, a robber-fanatic, be-
p . . Lake Nyassa. It fell to the lot
. ginning as so many of these Moslem
of the writer of these chapters leaders have done, in a very prosaic way
to head this next movement, which culmi- as a disappointed store- keeper or a
nated in 1895-1896 by the defeat and death market gardener whose crops had been
of all the Arab leaders, and the definite ravaged by locusts, and who in a vague
establishment of British dominion up to way has attributed his grievances to the
the south end of Tanganyika and the shores incoming of the British government,
of Lake Mweru. A little campaign against drew to a head the dissatisfaction of
the power of the Angoni Zulus, who had the turbulent Somalis at seeing their
invaded Nyassaland in the early part of misgoverned country somewhat rigidly
the nineteenth century, completed such administered by the yellow soldiers and
conquests as were necessary to establish white officers of a Christian empire, or
a British protectorate over the whole of an empire synonymous in their eyes with
British Central Africa from the upper an interfenng Christianity. Had the
waters of the Zambesi to the Portuguese African policy been wisely directed at
possessions east of Lake Nyassa. the time, the mad mullah, beyond repelling
The British establishment at Aden, his attacks on settlements near the coast,
which was rendered necessary by the would have been fought by a railway
opening of the overland route to India -^ . instead of by armies of negro
pcra ions
through Egypt and the Red Sea, brought ^^^ Indian soldiers gallantly
the British power into contact with the «^^*^ II t led by British officers into the
Mad Mullah ^, •' ,

Somali coast. There had been British thorny deserts over an area as
envoys to Ethiopia and Shoa as far back large as England, in attempts, that were
as the closing years of the eighteenth to a great extent vain, to grasp the
century. The coastlands and a good mobile enemy by the throat. Troubles
deal of the interior of the Somali country began in Somaliland in 1898. The opera-
produced sheep, goats, camels, and even tions against Sayyid Mohammed, the
oxen, besides other commodities which " Mad " mullah, now no longer regarded
were required to feed the British garrison as mad, commenced in 1901 and did not
at Aden, and also the ever-increasing terminate until 1904. In 1905 Sayyid
5521
i

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Mohammed was recognised politically by a naval expedition a small Swahili sultan-
Italy and Britain as a native ruler over ate on the Ozo River. The question of
a defined sphere with access to the coast. slavery and the slave trade lay at the
So much bravery and endurance were not bottom of this disaffection against
entirely thrown away the Somalis re-;
British rule. When these troubles were
ceived a drastic lesson. But in the light appeased came rumours of more serious
of later wisdom we now realise that the disturbances further to the west, in the
millions which this little war cost Great Uganda Protectorate.
-.. , ,Britain might have been far
, Sir Frederick, then Captain, Lugard
ivi ising
j^Qj-g profitably and conclu- had imported into the Uganda Protec-
torate, in the days when it was no more
fR ai"I ways sively employed in the construc-
^.^^ ^^ ^ railway. Perhaps this than a sphere of influence, a number of
lesson has been brought home to the empire. Emin Pasha's Sudanese soldiers. These
In Nigeria, in Sierra Leone, in the hin- men were brave, but they were emphatic-
terland of Lagos, the policy of railway ally Mohammedans, and with a few of
building has now been thoroughly under- them the old Arab dislike to the rule of the
stood. It is realised that a railway is the Christian still lingered. Their first easy
best investment of British Imperial money victories in keeping order in Uganda in-
in these and other undeveloped countries. spired them with a contempt for the pagan
It is true that the construction of a railway or Christian negroes of that region. They
cannot be undertaken without a force to also had legitimate grievances in regard
guard the railway workers but it is far ; to the manner in which they had been
easier to advance from the secure base handled by one or two officers in command.
as the railway progresses, and the process Addsd to this source of trouble was the
requires a far smaller armed force than extreme dislike on the part of the king of
risky expeditions on a large scale into the Unyoro and his counsellors and the king
unknown. The trouble in all African of Uganda to the imposition of British
warfare is not the fighting when it comes control. The mass of people in
u iny o
to close quarters, but the question of Uganda, and their local chiefs
Sudanese i j - .

transport in a roadless country. If you g ... or headmen, on the contrary,


rely on native porters, they are relatively strongly desired a British
defenceless, and may bolt at the first protectorate, and were opposed to their
appearance of the enemy if on beasts of
; disreputable monarch on many grounds.
burden, mules or camels, they may be But the first attempts to crush the
stampeded, maimed or killed by an enemy mutiny of the Sudanese soldiers provoked
used to making such procedure the first a formidable rising of the Banyoro and
thought in warfare. On the other hand, disaffected Baganda. The British force,
the railway inspires interest, curiosity, mainly consisting of Indian soldiers and
amazement, and suggests the very sweet thousands of Baganda " friendlies," got
thought of profitable commercial relations. the better of the mutineers in several very
It offers well-paid work for vigorous men, bloody engagements, and finally the two
and a certain market for all native supplies. kings of Unyoro and Uganda were cap-
Not long after the Arab question was tured and deported from East Africa.
settled in South-central Africa in 1896, The Uganda mutiny ended, so far as
trouble was brewing in the equatorial serious fighting was concerned, in 1899, ^'ut
regions of Eastern Africa. Echoes of the a few further engagements with the rem-
revolt against the Germans in Swahili nant of the Sudanese followed, and in 1900
. Africa amongst the so-called there was trouble with the Nandi moun-
.
"g"*. Arabs or Arabised negroes had taineers. In all these contests it was
. spread to the British territories —
obvious the writer naturally speaks as
J..
at the back of Mombasa. Here —
an eye-witness that the bulk of the
was wont to resort an Arab prince who natives of all races and tribes of the large
was by many Moslems of East Africa British Protectorate of Uganda were with
regarded as the rightful occupant of the the British in their attempts to introduce
Zanzibar throne, the descendant of an decent government and profitable com-
Arab dynasty that had been replaced by merce. Had it not been so, it would have
the Sayyids of Oman. Sidi Mubarak required a force of 10,000 soldiers and an
stirred up trouble for the British. More- expenditure of ten millions of money to
over, it had been necessary to conquer by reduce these lands to obedience. As a
5522
CONTESTS IN AFRICA AND THE PAaFIC
matter of fact, they were pacified by a of thekingdom of Siam. British inaction
force of some 400 Indians and 3,000 was mistaken for indifference or cowardice.
native soldiers, commanded by British The marvellously rapid way in which
officers and non-commissioned officers. the French had opened up connections
Moreover, an important remnant of the between the Atlantic coast and the Mu-
Sudanese remained faithful throughout bangi River, the great northern affluent
to the British Government. of the Congo, and between the Mubangi
After the British Government advised and the regions of the Shari and Lake
the khedive of Egypt to withdraw his Chad, inspired them with the
P
troops and officials to Wadi Haifa or the J^^^,.^. idea, enhanced by the similar
Expedition r xi -r. i •

walls of Suakin, about the year 1886, no . _, successes of the Belgians


^^^ advancing from
further steps of a warlike nature were the Congo,
taken for the reconquest of the Sudan. that the power of the Dervishes was either
The task was tacitly postponed till a more greatly exaggerated or was on the wane.
convenient opportunity. Meanwhile, the They found that they could enter the
present sirdar and governor-general of south-western regions of the Bahr-el-
the» Sudan, Sir Reginald Wingate, was Ghazal by friendly understanding with
steadily collecting information through the Niam-Niam sultans, and so they
one of the best organised intelligence conceived the idea of opening up direct
departments in the world. trans-continental relations between the
Emboldened by this silence, after the Gulf of Guinea, Abyssinia, and Somali-
mahdi's death, when the Khalifa Abdallah land, thus carrying a band of French
succeeded to supreme power, a fierce attack influence right across Africa from sea to
was made on Egypt but the Anglo-
; sea. It was known to the British Govern-

Egyptian army that is to say, Egyptian ment, and was noted in a historic speech
soldiers fortified by an admixture of British by Sir Edward Grey, that a French expe-
non-commissioned and commissioned dition was advancing to the Upper Nile.
_^ „ .
The Rebel
officers
,
j ,
— assisted
j j u
by British Italy, in the meantime, was aspiring to
_, _. cavalry and commanded by conquer and acquire the whole of Abys-
^ ap ure - General (Lord) Grenfell, sinia. Her hopes were shattered at the
inflicted on the Dervishes at Battle of Adawa, in 1896. The imagined
Saras, about thirty miles to the south consequences of this disaster at the time
of Wadi Haifa, a defeat so overwhelming were probably exaggerated in the mind of
that it checked once and for all any the German Emperor, who strongly urged
further aspirations of the khalifa for the the British Government to retake the
reconquest of the world. The battles and eastern portion of the Egyptian Sudan,
skirmishes with Osman Digma, between and thus distract the Dervishes from
1884 and 1897, round Suakin and in the joining forces with Abyssinia, and sweep-
Eastern Sudan, had no such conclusive or ing the Italians into the Red Sea.
effective retort but the enemy here was
; Fortified by this hint on the part of a
worn out by continual defeats, and Osman potent personage, whose moral support in
Digma abandoned the struggle and repaired Egypt counteracted the threats of French
to the khalifa's army on the Nile in 1897 hostility, the British Government sanc-
to oppose Kitchener's main advance. He tioned the advance to Dongola, long
was subsequently captured in the hills prepared by Sir Herbert Kitchener, and
behind Tokar, in January, 1900. carried into effect with a method,
How long this stage of waiting and accuracy, punctuality, and economy which
preparation would have continued it is filled the British Government
France
difficult to say, had not the cooclusion of ^^j_^ admiration, and encour-
Ketires from
the drama been hastened by the action of ^^^ -^^^^ ^^^^^ -^ x^g-SS^ to a
^^^
France and the misfortunes of Italy. similar advance on Khartoum.
French rancour against the British occu- This, indeed, followed in the year 1898
pation of Egypt continued to increase as a necessary consequence of Dongola.
during the early 'nineties of the last cen- It was the only way to prevent a French
tury. It was envenomed by the opposi- annexation of the Egyptian Sudan. Om-
tion offered on the part of the British durman and Khartoum were retaken on
Government to a French annexation of September 2nd-3rd, 1898, and the episode
Eastern Nigeria, and perhaps by the of Fashoda followed. France bowed to
barrier erected against the absorption the verdict of the stricken field, and
5523
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
withdrew. But the and some of
khalifa reprisals. The usual muddle took place in
his principal lieutenants remained at
still dealing with the great war of 1860-70 in its
large. They had withdrawn into that first stages, and before it came to a final
ominous thorny desert of Kordofan, where end a good number of British soldiers and
Hicks's army had been lost and the — settlers had lost their lives. But, as might

Sudan with it in 1883. So long as they be anticipated, it resulted in the definite con-
remained at large, gathering again re- quest of the Maori also in more conscien-
;

actionary forces for the attack, there tious settlement of their land questions.
_ could be no rest for the British
onquerors
No colonial war of recent years has
governor at Khartoum. Con- taken place in any British American
p * c J sequetly, the third and last possession but in 1865 there was a serious
Eastern Sudan ^ ^ j
;

campaign xi
• •
j.i
that regamed the danger of a wide-spreading negro revolt
Sudan for civilisation was entered upon by in the island of Jamaica. The somewhat
Sir Reginald Wingate, to the great anxiety panic-stricken and illegal actions taken by
of those who were watching afar off. A Governor Eyre and the officers under his
success, in its way as triumphant as that command cost that otherwise excellent
of Kitchener, settled the question once and colonial official his career.
for all. In the battle of Om
Dubreikat The revolt in Upper and Lower Canada
on November 25th, 1899, the khalifa between 1835 and 1838 entailed a good
Abdallah and all his emirs were killed. deal of stiff fighting. It was finally ex-
Colonel Hunter and Colonel Parsons, tinguished by the evident determination
between them, had conquered the whole of the British Government, through the
Eastern Sudan, from the Blue Nile to work of such able administrators as the
Kassala, in September, 189S but this ; Earl of Durham and Lord Sydenham, to
region required a small punitive expedition endow the Canadas with a complete and
as late as 1908. The great cattle-breeding popular form of constitutional govern-
tribe of the Dinkas has elicited more than ment. In 1870 the revolt of the French
one display of Anglo-Egyptian force, and half-breeds in the Red River district, under
the N am-Niams of the Western Bahr el Louis Riel, entailed a military expedition
Ghazal likewise. commanded by the present Viscount
The only " native " wars in Polynesia Wolseley, then a young colonel. But
sufficiently important to be chronicled Louis Riel reappeared fifteen years later,
have been those which took place in New and defeated a body of Canadian
Zealand in two periods, from 1845 to * * mounted police and volunteers.
jj*
J**
1848, and from i860 to 1870. The ,
* f _. This success rallied round him
.

indigenous New Zealand Maori population, the still recalcitrant element


of Polynesian origin, was certain, sooner of French haU-breeds and pure blood
or later, to come into conflict with the Indians. But a body of over 5,000
British colonists. Documents were drawn Canadian militia soon overcame Riel's
up, and received the crosses of unreflecting resistance. He was
captured, tried for
chiefs who thereby had disposed of large murder — ^he was
practically an outlaw,
areas of communal land without realising having fled from justice after the murder of
the after effects. The unscrupulous actions Thomas Scott in 1870 and hanged at—
of the l^uriiiMi'an settlers were met I1 Regina in November, iSS^.

±% QQ!^4^4&^^- ^
~i
r
i

^itii
{
i

M
n
5524
BRITISH HAUSA TROOPS STATIONED ON THE GOLD COAST
mi 2m^
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
VIII G.C.M.G.

THE FIGHTING FORCES OF THE


BRITISH EMPIRE
NAVAL ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE TIME
OF KING ALFRED TO THE PRESENT DAY
'T'HE British, or more strictly speaking, Elizabeth had put two of her ships ana
^ the EngHsh Navy began in the time of several thousand pounds into the business.
Alfred as a means of counter-attack against This unofficial war between England and
the Danes, and continued afterwards as a Spain, provoked by the Spanish and
collection of armed merchantmen. After Portuguese monopolies of trade and com-
the Norman conquest and under the munications between Europe and America,
Plantagenets it served as a method of Africa, and India, was continued by
attacking Ireland, Scotland, France, Drake's piratical expeditions of 1572-1573
Flanders, and Spain. But as a means to _ and 1577-1580, in the course
,

the end of founding a great empire be- p. .of which he attacked and plun-
.

yond the seas it only began in the ge .. dered the Spanish settlements
J
time of Elizabeth. Even then there were of Santo Domingo, Florida,
" Queen's ships " and the vessels of Cuba, and, most wonderful of aU, Peru.
private adventurers whose proceedings He sailed round South America, attacked
were either licensed or winked at by the the Spaniards on the undefended Pacific
sovereign, and who were only to be dis- coast, and then, first of all leaders of men,
tinguished from common pirates in that so far as we know, completed the circum-
their hostile actions were usually limited navigation of the globe. Magellan, the
to the property of such nations as were Portuguese navigator, died in the Spice
at war or on bad terms with England. Islands after discovering the Magellan
The first of such sea-fights under the Straits. His ships, not he, completed the
national flag was the battle of an English first voyage round the world. In 1585,
fleet under Sir John Hawkins and Sir when Spain and England were at last at
Francis Drake against the ships of the open war, followed Drake's Carthagena
Spanish viceroy off San Juan de Ulua, expedition, and in 1587 was the raid on
on the coast of Mexico, in 1567. This Cadiz, in which he destroyed or captured
ended in a decisive victory for the British, eighty Spanish ships which were employed
and was the beginning of the long series of in preparing for the great Armada.
attacks on Spanish America, which con- The exploits or outrages of Drake were
tinued down to 1808, and even found their among provocative causes of the dis-
echo in the United States' war against Spain patch of the great Armada which was
En "^ d'
1
°" account of Cuba and Porto effectually to subdue this nation of Pro-
£j^i.j
Rico. This particular fight at testant pirates in the Northern seas.
Sea Fiehts ^^^ Juan de Ulua arose over The resistance offered to this mighty
the desire of the English to Spanish fleet may be justly regarded as
carr5, on a trade in African slaves between one of the earhest glories of the Enghsh
Guinea and America in defiance of Spanish Navy, but we should also not forget
monopolies of commerce and privileges. that it was equally Dutch valour which
Sir John Hawkins had begun the slave rendered the purposes of the Armada

trade under the indirect permit a sub- impossible and saved England from ex-
concession from Genoese and Portuguese periencing at the hands of Spain woes

concessionaries of Spain in 1562, and it such as England herself had inflicted on
had proved so profitable that Queen Ireland. Frobisher, Howard of Effingham^
5525
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Drake and Hawkins, tackled this enormous was confined pretty much to home waters
and clumsy fleet of sixty magnificent —to the shores of Scandinavia, Holland,
vessels as soon as it had entered the France, Spain, and Portugal during the —
British Channel, and followed it resolutely Middle Ages, and the first great swoops
to the Straits of Dover. Here, whilst the of discovery and conquest under the early
Spanish naval commander-in-chief was Tudors were made at the instigation
awaiting the arrival of the Duke of Parma's of Venetian, Genoese and Portuguese
army for England, which was to sally out pilots or captains just as under the later
;

_ from the Flemish and Dutch Plantagenet kings the English marine
• seaports in shallow vessels, learnt much from the Flemings and the
th S h
Dutch mariners Dieppois. But by the time of Elizabeth's
ArmaT*^" the brave
blockaded the coasts and —
accession the English equally with the
deltas of the Netherlands, and prevented —
Dutch were the hardiest navigators and
the Spanish soldiers from putting out to the boldest sea-fighters in the world.
sea. During this hesitancy an English Thenceforth, though they were not too
sea-captain, probably Winter, thought of proud to learn new methods of naval

the splendid idea really originated some construction or of maritime warfare from
years earlier by an Italian engineer, Giam- Holland, Spain, France, Genoa, or from the

belli of sending fireships to drift with Algerine pirates, the English needed no one
wind and tide into the midst of the to show them the way into strange seas,
huddled and anchored Armada. This for Yior, in the long run, could any other navy
the first time scattered the Armada. The prevail against them. They fought and
decisive engagement and the complete rout beat the Portuguese off the coasts of Africa,
of the fleet took place next day. though the India, and the Persian Gulf they ;

chase was continued on the part of the Eng- withstood the mighty ships of Spain in
lish to as far north as the latitude of 56°. English and Irish waters, off the coasts of
The next great naval exploit was the Spain and of the Mediterranean, in the
capture of Cadiz in 1596, by Essex, Raleigh, Gulf of Mexico and the Carib-
Effingham, and Howard, followed by a _ . j^* bean Sea along the Pacific
raid on Spanish shipping in the Azores
/e™i a
c<^3.sts of South America, amid
Archipelago. Then for a time Spain and ^ ^ the Spice Islands, and the archi-
England were at peace. The next enemy pelago of the Philippines. They won
to be encountered on the sea was Holland. final victories over the Dutch at the close
An English fleet under Monk, commissioned of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
by the Lord Protector Cromwell, defeated turies —
since when, for unexplained causes,
the Dutch off the North Foreland in* Holland has ceased to be a first-class
1653, and destroyed much Dutch shipping —
naval power and closed their chequered
in the Texel. but generally successful duel with the
All this warfare with Holland, like that French Navy by the battle of Trafalgar.
with Spain, arose over the question of America fought with equal valour and
commercial monopolies in the Colonies address, but with infinitely smaller re-
and the Eastern seas. Admiral Blake sources, in the war of 1812-1814, and since
proceeded to the Mediterranean in 1656 then, happily, has been at peace with us.
and bombarded Porto Farina and Goletta Turkey received an occasional drubbing in
on the coast of Tunis, to punish the the Eastern Mediterranean or the Red
dey of that Turkish principality for Sea between the seventeenth and the early
attacks on British shipping. In 1657 nineteenth centuries. The Barbary rovers
Blake's fleet won a victory were finally settled by Lord Exmouth's
England's
Glory in
x^.wj, .u
over the Spaniards at Cadiz.
rj.^^
bombardment of Algiers in 1816. Since
glory of the navy has been 1806 Great Britain has held the world's
a peculiarly English one, and championship on the open sea. And the
perhaps accounts for the predominance of glory till that date lay chiefly, though
England over Ireland and Scotland. The not entirely, with men of English birth.
Scandinavians, who colonised the coasts In 1692, Admiral Russell defeated the
of Ireland and Scotland, did not implant French in a great naval battle off LaHogue,
there as strong a lust for a seafaring life as and thus baulked a most serious attempt
they did all round maritime England, from on the pflrt of Louis XIV. to restore the
Berwick to Penzance, and from Dungeness Stuart dynasty under conditions which
to Lancaster. Of course, English navigation would have materially crippled the British
5526
THE FIGHTING FORCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
Empire beyond the seas. The British Navy 1794, upset the plans of the French Republic
co-operated with an Anglo-German force in for the invasion of maltreated, disaffected
the capture of Gibraltar in 1704. In 1718, Ireland. In the battle of Camperdown, in
as a consequence of the War of the Spanish 1797, Admiral Duncan destroyed the effi-
Succession and the disputes over Italy, Sir ciency of the Dutch fleet, which was then
George Byng fought a successful battle under French orders, and in the same year
which practically destroyed the Spanish Admiral Jervis rendered a similar service
fleet off the coast of Sicily. in regard to the naval force of Spain off
In 1747 Admiral (Lord) Anson, Com- TV D •*• Cape St. Vincent. The year
The British
1.
^o xt ^
1 >
modore Fox, and Admiral (Lord) Hawke, M rk
• ^79° s^-^ Nelson s marvel-
1,

inflicted tremendous naval defeats and victory over the French


to Na oico
losses on the French Navy between Cape battleships and transports at
Finisterre and Belle He, thus cutting off Aboukir Bay, a defeat which hopelessly
France from intervention in the West crippled the French plans for the permanent
Indies and North America. In the war of conquest of Egypt. A detachment of the
1756-63, the- British Navy accomplished British Fleet under Sir Sydney Smith, by
many noteworthy feats which atoned for its watchfulness along the Syrian coast and
the feebleness displayed by Admiral Byng its defence of Acre, rendered impossible
over the relief of Minorca. It prevented all what otherwise might have still taken
chance of reinforcing Montcalm in Canada, —
place a conquest by Napoleon of the
or Lally in India. Lord Hawke in 1759 empire of the Nearer East. Similarly, the
destroyed the main portion of the French naval action of the British off Valetta
fleet off the mouth of the Vilaine on the coast made it possible for the Maltese to expel
of Brittany. In 1762, Lord Albemarle the French from their island. The same
and Admiral Pocock led a naval force force prevented Napoleon's soldiers from
which attacked and captured Havana, and capturing Sicily and Sardinia.
practically the whole island of Cuba in the
; Calder's victory over Villeneuve off Cape
same year Admiral Cornish Finisterre in the late summer of 1805,
The Navy in
^^^ g-^ William Draper,
^ sail- followed by Nelson's never-to-be-forgotten
thc War with
America
ing from Madras, achieved the achievement of Trafalgar when the naval—
same result with Manila and strength of Spain and France was ruined
the Philippines. Both these expeditions till the close of the Napoleonic wars fitly —
enriched the war-chest of the British closes this amazing record of victories with
Government with several million dollars. a crowning grace so splendid, so complete,
The great War of American Indepen- that for one hundred and four years no
dence was, in its earlier stages, marked by sea Power or group of Powers thought it
singular ill-success on the part of the wise to challenge Britain's supremacy. To
British Navy, which proved unequal to the Nelson, more than to any other hero on
task of preventing the transport of large the roll of fame, the British owe the
bodies of French troops to America, and extent, the stabihty, the wealth, and the
failed to beat or evade the French, or to happiness of their empire.
seize the Cape of Good Hope as a return From 1805 to 1914 the British fleet
blow to the Dutch for joining the coalition. fought no action of vital importance, and
But, in 1781, Admiral Parker, in the battle had, consequently, no striking victory to
of the Dogger Bank, administered such a record over the Great Powers of the world.
severe punishment to the Dutch fleet as If the navy had no chance to add to its
disabled it for the remainder of the war. laurels after 1S14, except in the bombard-
In 1782, Rodney defeated the Comte de . ,
ment of Russian forts in the
Br tain s Fleet
Grasse off Dominica, in the West Indies, g^j^j^ ^j^^ interference with
and thus checked the very serious depreda-
the Mainstay
,,. p
t u j tt-
urkish and Egyptian
. i
1

i.-
squad-
j
of the Empire 9^^ ^ r P* 1
tions which the French were making on rons over questions of Greek
British possessions and commerce in that and Egyptian independence, the chastise-
quarter. Nevertheless, this period of the ment of Arab, Malay, Chinese and negro
eighteenth century (1775-1785) witnessed slave-traders, and the capture of piratical
the greatest ascendancy of French sea South American warships its existence and
;

power. The British naval supremacy was readiness for action have been the chief
never so seriously threatened as between mainsta}^ of the imperial forces. Without
1770 and 1892. Lord Howe's victory off this overwhelming fleet she could never
Ushant on the " Glorious First of June," have restrained France from fresh descents
3S> 5527
FLAGSHIP OF THE ENGLISH FLEET AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH ARMADA

THE ROYAL PRINCE: A WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF JAMES L

BRITISH SHIPS OF WAR IN THE TIMES OF ELIZABETH AND JAMES I,

55aS
THE ROYAL GEORGE: TIME OF GEORGE II. II CbNTURY MAN-OF-WAR

1. !

1'
.^ '
#/
v^
1

/'
'*'<<-^^>
'

N
**>^- 1

^^^^
H.M.S.
1^^^^
^
""immui^miSt

AGAMEMNON, THE FIRST SCREW HAriLEbHiP


s
*m^'mMiM iPMMJii p^^^

' . «„
}

t)^
Fj

^
.ri-
'

SPI

bRJTlSH NAVY
'^

FAMOUS FIGHTING SHIPS, WITH THE VICTORY IN RIGHT FOREGROUND, OFF SPITHEAD

BATTLESHIPS OF THE GEORGIAN AND EARLY VICTORIAN PERIODS


5529

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


on Egypt and S3nia in the middle of the archipelago and Hong Kong, destroyed
nineteenth century, Russia from occupying the Bogue forts which protected the
Constantinople or Peking, Germany from entrance to the Canton River, and even-
armed intervention in South Africa, tually enabled British land forces to
Portugal from annexing Nyassaland, or occupy Canton, Amoy, Shanghai and
Turkey from resuming her sway in Egypt other coast towns. In the second Chinese
or absorbing the Imamate of Oman. But, War, the navy again occupied Canton
as before stated, it has always been behind after a bombardment. It also co-operated
^^^ land forces to ensure in the attempt to force the river access
Ch k"
their victory sooner or later. to Peking in 1859-1860, and in suppressing
the^Ai"***
d:— - Nevertheless, in this record of the Boxer revolt in 1899-1900.
achievements mention might The navy, in 1863 and 1864, conducted
be madeof the various actions of the navy to a successful issue the only armed
in the building up of the empire since 1815. conflict with Japan. The dangerous
In 1816, when the anxiety of the Napo- Malay pirates of Borneo and the China
leonic struggle was at an end, it was Sea were dealt with between 1840 and
decided to put a stop once and for all to 1857. A naval expedition, under Admiral
the insolence of the Algerine pirates. Sir William Hewett, cleared out the pirates
Since Blake's appearance in the Mediter- of the Congo estuary in 1875. Piracy in
ranean, they had been chary of interference the Persian Gulf has also been suppressed
with British shipping, but they still inter- by the patroDing of British war-vessels.
fered with the Maltese and the Ionian From 1826 until 1885 a detachment of
Islands, and continued their piracies along her navy watched the east and west
the coast of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. coasts of Africa to suppress the slave
Thousands of wretched Maltese, Greeks, trade. A heavy toll of deaths from fever
and Itahans were life-long slaves of the and climatic causes has been exacted
Turkish rulers of Tripoli, Tunis, Bona, and from the west coast service, while on the
Algiers. Lord Exmouth was proceeding to east not a few lives have been
attack Algiers, after freeing the Christian ^^^^ ^" *^^ attempts to board,
oMhr"'°''
slaves of Tunis and Tripoli without c, -, . inspect, or capture Arab slave-
Slave Trade J ^ r\ 11 J.1
recourse to force, when he was joined by daus. Occasionally, on the
a small but efficient Dutch fleet under west coast, the measures taken to stop the
Admiral van Capellen. Together the sale and export of slaves have risen to the
British and Dutch smashed the fortifica- importance of small wars. Thus, the
tions of Algiers, and destroyed the dey's roadstead of Dahomeh was blockaded for
warships, besides exacting ample repara- seven years from 1876 to 1883. Lagos,
tion for past injuries. a great slave- trading stronghold, was
In 1827 the British, French and Russian bombarded in 1851. Out of opposition to
Fleets destroyed the Turco-Egyptian war the slave raiding and trading, which were
navy under the Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha ruining interior Africa, arose the desire to
in the Bay of Navarino or Pylus, south- combine a practical, honest commerce
west coast of Greece, with a view to with philanthropic police work. It was,
establishing the independence of Greece. therefore, attempted in 1841, and later,
Then ensued a long spell of peace on the in 1856-9, to open up the Lower Niger
seas, scarcely broken, if at all, by the and Benue. In the first of these expedi-
police duties of the British Navy on the tions the Royal Navy and naval officers

West Coast of Africa where steam vessels played a considerable part, while the
„ . . ,
were first employed in 1827 second was also under naval supervision.
j^
. ™ the Malay archipelago, the Gradually the navy, conjoined with a
•4U f-u-
with
'
China ,
West Indies and the Pacific. consular service, came to police the whole
„ 1.1 r^ •* t-i ^i

t
Niger Delta and the Kamerun.
j.
In 1840, the ntish Fleet in the This
Mediterranean bombarued and captured state of affairs grew in the latter part of
that Acre which Napoleon could not take ;
the nineteenth century into the British
but this was when Britain was endeavour- protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Before
ing to force Mehemet Ali, the viceroy of this protectorate possessed a properly
Egypt and vicarious conqueror of Syria, organised police force, British war vessels
back into his subjection to the Porte. inflicted salutary punishment on the
During the first conflict with China, eagerly commercial but very bloodthirsty
British naval forces occupied the Chusan negroes of the Niger Delta, There were
5530
TME FIGHTING FORCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
naval expeditions to deal with the of ever increasing vigilance among the
turbulent people of Opobo (1887-1892), many Pacific and Papuan islands under
the cannibals of Brass (1895), while an independent chiefs or British protection.
expedition mainly naval, conducted with It has, since 1870, protected the South
remarkable skill, under circumstances of Sea Islanders against unscrupulous
the acutest difBculty, put an end for ever Europeans or has chastised them for un-
to the blood-stained rule of Benin (1897). provoked acts of aggression against each
Gunboats and naval detachments have other or against the white man. Lastly,
also maintained or restored order on the in that nobler war, the fight
cicnce
Gambia and up the Sierra Leone rivers. a.gainst ignorance, that struggle
In Eastern Africa the navy has played Th N *^^ ^°^ ^^^ disinterested gains of
a considerable part in the operations pure science, the British Navy
( 1891-1895 against the slave-trading Arabs
) has for the last 150 years played a notable
and Yaos of Nyassaland. Zanzibar was part. In 1768, Captain James Cook sailed
bombarded in 1896 when the reactionary for the Pacific in H.M.S. Endeavour (only
party among the Arabs wished to place 370 tons), in command of a scientific
on the throne a candidate who was not expedition to observe the transit of Venus
the recognised heir. Earlier than this, in across the sun's disc. The astronomical
1895, a naval expedition succeeded after observations were completed at Tahiti, and
an exceedingly tough fight under difficul- Cook then directed his course for the
ties of swamp, forest and scrub, and scarcely known southern continent, re-
native ferocity —resembling the expedition discovering New Zealand on the way.
to Benin —in conquering the little indepen- The botanists and zoologists on board
dent Swahili sultanate of Vitu, which had his ship had the privilege of first collecting
so long defied attack from Muscat or and bringing back for the enlightenment of
Zanzibar Arabs, Germans or British. European science specimens of the extra-
The navy during the whole nineteenth ordinary fauna and flora of Australia.
,century has policed the Red In 1773, the first directly naval expedi-
e avy s
g^^^ ^^^ GnU of Aden, and the tion sailed from England for the Arctic
. c* . adjoining coasts of Somaliland regions, though seamen in the service
to »!.
the State j o xi a 1 •
1
and bouthern Arabia, ad- of the Crown had figured much earlier
ministering chastisement, when they in this field of research. Captain Phipps,
could be got at, to Arab sheikhs and R.N., procceeded as far north as 80° 48'
Somali tribes. It has more than once N. Lat., with the ships Racehorse and
intervened to maintain the Imam of Carcass, beyond Spitzbergen. Since then
Muscat on the shaky throne of Oman. the share of the British Navy in Arctic
Its services during the Egyptian War discovery has been so gigantic as to be
of 1882 were mainly the bombardment of impossible of description in a few sentences.
Alexandria and the control of the Suez Among many great names on the roll of
Canal. It contributed a contingent to Arctic exploration may be mentioned Sir
the Gordon relief expedition of 1884-1885, John Franklin, Sir John Ross, Sir Edward
and intervened effectually to prevent the Parry, Sir George Back, Admiral
Dervishes from capturing Swuakin. F. W. Beechey, Sir Leopold McClintock,
In the New World, since 1814, its Sir R. J. McClure, Captain Austin, Sir
services to the empire have been mainly R. Collinson, Sir Edward Belcher, Sir
limited to supporting the civil arm at Albert Markham, Sir Clements Markham,
times of ebullition and threatened revolt —
and Sir George Nares all of the Royal
among the negro population of the West Navy, in one category or
Indies and British Guiana or to exacting
;
*" Between them, and
ai^other.
in the
reparation for injuries to British commerce with the valuable assistance of
R oya N avy
1
or British subjects on the part of the im- ^^^ Hudson's Bay Company,
pulsive governments of Central America. served by such men as Hearne, Mac-
Off the south Peruvian coast, H.M.S. Shah, kenzie, Simpson, Dr. Rae, and Sir John
of the British Navy, in 1877, P^i^sued and Richardson, they laid down on the world's
sank the rebel gunboat of Peru, the Huas- charts the greater part of the coast-line
car, which had turned pirate on a large scale. of North America and its huge annectant
In Oceania the navy has never yet islands between Bering's Straits and the
fought a great battle, but for a hundred coast of Labrador. The Antarctic regions
years and more it has maintained a police were first explored by Captain James Cook,
553^
HISTORIC TYPES OF THE SCOTS GREYS, THE OLDEST CAVALRY REGIMENT
5532
1775 \J35 1X4 9

HISTORIC TYPES OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS, ONE OF THE OLDEST REGIMENTS


5533

;
; —
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
in 1773, in two ships of the Royal Navy, the Crimean —
War not including Turkish
H.M.S. Resolution and Adventure. Captain irregulars, —
Bashi-Bazouks amounted to
James Ross commanded the greatest 16,559 soldiers —German, nearly 10,000,
naval expedition directed towards the South Swiss,and Italians. Until the close of the
Pole, that of 1839-1843. And the last ex- Crimean War the British Government did
plorations of these regions English and— not hesitate to fight its land battles by
Scottish, 1903-1904, 1908- 191 2 -^have been means of foreign mercenaries. Plan-
conducted by officers of the Royal Navy tagenet kings accomplished much of their
(Captain Scott and Lieu- conquests of England, Wales, Ireland,

TK H*IS t ortc
tenant Shackleton). In 1821- and of Scotland with French, Gascon,
oyage o
1822, Lieutenant Beechey, Flemish, Burgundian troops though Henry
;
H.M.S. Beagle -r, -kj
R.N., surveyed xu
j 1
the coasts VIII. was all English in his armed force.
and ruins of the Cyrenaica, then, as now, Mary I. employed Flemings and Spaniards
one of the least known parts of Africa. abroad. Elizabeth more than once relied
A landmark in the history of human entirely on English valour for her incursions
knowledge will always be the voyage of into the Netherlands and the American-
H.M.S. Beagle, in 1831-1836, with Darwin Spanish dominions, and also for her
as surgeon and naturalist. Captain W. F. ruthless and destructive conquest of
Owen's great surveying voyages (1822- Ireland. James I. supported his colonial
1827) all round the continent of Africa seizures with English soldiers, a large
and Madagascar were truly remarkable in proportion of whom were what we
their enormous additions to geographical should now call convicts.
knowledge. For the first time in history, But in the times of the Stuarts the —
Africa was correctly outlined in detail in early Stuarts especially— feudal instincts
almost all the intricacies of its coasts were still alive. Great nobles were still, to
in the depths or shallowness, the rocks, some extent, the rulers of shires or of
shoals, sandbanks, deep channels, and smaller districts. When James I. or
creeks of its harbours, estuaries, river- Charles I. " sold " or bestowed
mouths, bays, gulfs, and lagoons. ^^ chartered any West India
N t° 1

Owen's voyage was the forerunner of Army island or North American


a general survey of the whole world of state to an English earl, baron,
waters by the British Navy. There is not a or marquess, that nobleman in person or
mile of coast in the known continents and by deputy would proceed to arm and equip
islands of both hemispheres which has not, a niunber of lusty and adventurous young
at some time or other, been surveyed and men from among his tenantry or hangers-
sounded by a British ship. The charts of —
on Irish, as well as English and Welsh
the Hydrographical department of the and these became the first fighting force
British Admiralty are in use all over the against interlopers, against Caribs, Arawaks,
world as works of standard reference. Mohawks, or Choctaws. Courtiers and peers
The four years' scientific researches who were financially interested in the East
carried on by the staff and crew of H.M.S. India Company furnished likewise the few
Challenger (1872-1876) were epoch-making fighting men, not actually sailors, who
in their results. All the great oceans were were required for the defence of the
examined as to their depths, currents, company's small forts, to defend which,
temperatures, fauna (especially the living later, large native armies of sepoys and
creatures of profound depths), and the Eurasians were employed.
conformation of their floors the formation
; It was really not till the struggle between
_ „ of coral islands was examined king and parliament during the middle of

e *^r-
• the action of the sun's rays on the seventeenth century that the English
in Scientific ^ i i- 1 -^

^^^ water was studied nor was national army came into being and this
Rese h ; ;

the ethnology of the Pacific growth was to some extent checked after
Islands overlooked, and the ornithology the Restoration. But under Charles II,
the petrels, gulls, and pelicans of the — two of the regiments of Lifeguards (Cold-
ocean wastes, or of oceanic rocks and atolls. —
streams the Coldstreams were the last
The Imperial army in its personnel and vestige of Cromwell's and Monk's standing
recruitment has not always been as —
army and ist Lifeguards) began, which
English or as British as the navy. For have been extended and continued as a
example, the Foreign Legion recruited by corps d'61ite to the present day and in
;

the British Government for service during this reign the first regiments for foreign

5534

THE HGHTING FORCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE


Service, the ist and 2nd Tangier Regiments, but when it came to embarking on board
cavalry and infantry, " Kirke's Lambs," ship to leave for foreign parts, desertions
nowadays known as the ist Dragoon were numerous among the miUtia. More-
Guards and the Queen's, or Royal West over, the period during which feudal ser-
Surrey Regiment, were recruited, at first vice could be claimed was limited, so
mainly from amongst the rascaldom of that the English kings who carried on war
London and Dublin. William IIL em- in France were obhged by degrees to pay
ployed a large number of Dutch and the soldiers whom they engaged to accom-
Danish soldiers in his fight for the British -,. c»
.
J- pany them. Edward III.
First Standing f Y 1 /- 1 •

Crown, and
some time after
for his . landed an army near Calais
coronation kept his Dutch Guards in 1346 which consisted of
in
London.
m England
.
r- A
I
'i 1 t- i- 1
In he really conquered
fact, about 25,000 English, 4,450
Ireland — and thereby retained England .Welsh, and 1,100 Irish. Their daily pay
with foreign soldiers. ranged from Sr.6o for the officers of
I. and George II. brought Ger-
George highest rank to six cents for the English
man regular soldiers to England, and, soldiers. The Welsh, being less skilled in
although these were eventually sent back archery, received only four cents a day. This
to Hanover, the principle of recruiting was the force which won the battleof Crecy.
German, mainly West German, merce- But, except for companies of archers,
naries for service as, and with, the British halberdiers, and showy men-at-arms, who
Army abroad continued until 1857, having formed part of the sovereign's household
commenced under Queen Anne. To these and were a guard about the palace, there
German legions, their most faithful, un- was no standing army in England until the
complaining service, their unswerving time of Cromwell's protectorship. Then
loyalty and unstinted bravery, the British there was a public force of 80,000 men.
Empire owes much. As elsewhere related, WTien Charles II. came to the throne
they became in many individual instances this had become in the main the army
„. . the salt of her early colonial under Monk which practically suppressed
* *•
*•'*'
^^orts in America, South the Rump Parliament and gave the throne
T A
.V T J Africa, and Australia. There to Charles. Nevertheless, the king made
the Tudors ,.'
,
^
was no standmg or profes- haste to disband it, only retaining out of
sional army in England for home or foreign all this force the Coldstream regiment,
service until the middle of the seventeenth which became the Coldstream Guards, the
century. There was a militia, and in oldest regiment in the British Army. He
feudal days and under the Tudors nearly also received back to English service the
all the vigorous males of the community Scottish soldiers who had migrated abroad
of all ranks of life were trained to arms of after the downfall of Charles I.
some kind instead of wasting their time on After Charles II. 's marriage, however,
fruitless athletic sports, the survival in it became necessary to raise a limited body
some cases of actual crude efforts to attack of troops for the occupation and garrison-
or defend. The serfs, peasantry, and ing of Bombay and Tangier. Men were
mechanics learnt to use the bow, wield the recruited, therefore, from the wilder and
pike, sling the stone, discharge the rude more reckless remainder of Cromwell's
musket. They were the infantry. The army to form the Bombay Fusiliers after- —
gentry, successors of the knights, were the wards known as the 103rd Regiment the —
cavalry, who wielded sword or battle-axe. first regular troops of the Crown main-
This cavalry came in time to include tained in India, and the two Tangier regi-
the enfranchised yeomanry, "the upper
The Army

ments one of cavalry (the ist
middle class " of to-day. When a war, Royal Dragoons of to-day) and
of
internecine or foreign, was toward, the king the other infantry (Queen
Charles II
called on his barons, and they in their turn Catherine's Regiment, after-
on the lesser authorities below them, to wards the Queen's or the Royal West
furnish from out of their serfs or tenantry Surrey). When Tangier was restored to the
the requisite number of " men-at-arms." Moors these regiments were brought to
And thus an army was gathered together. England, and formed part of the regular
But it was less easy to do this for foreign standing army, which at the end of
service. Men would have come forward Charles II. 's reign amounted to a total of
readily enough to fight within a few days' 16,500 men. James II. raised this figure
or even weeks' march of their own homes ; to 20,000. Much of this army went over
5535
HISTORY OP THE WOtlLO
to AVilliam TIL after his landing, but for 78,000 militia, and 347,000 volunteers.
a long time he preferred to surround his In 1822 the standing army, home and
person with Danish or Dutch soldiers, foreign service, was only 72,000 in strength.
whose fidelity he could trust, and Ireland By 1866 this total had risen to 203,500.
was conquered by him in 1689 by an army At the present day the regular army of
composed of Dutch, Danish, and English the United Kingdom consists of about
regiments, besides contingents from the 252,400 officers. and men, of whom some
Ulster Irish. Twenty British regiments 20,000 are non-combatants. Of this total
-, .accompanied Marlborough to about 126,000 are stationed in India (which
- Flanders on the outset of his has 80,000), and in the crown colonies,
^ *^™Z. marvellous campaigns, cam- protectorates, and in South Africa.
has Grown u- u '
paigns which won colonies
i •

Since the Crimean War, where European


and the outlines of empires as their ultimate soldiery has been necessary to the situa-
results. In 1689 William succeeded in tion the troops have been recruited mainly
getting the Mutiny Act passed, which, in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland,
renewed every year, makes the mainten- Man and Channel Islands, Malta, Canada,
ance of a standing army legal, and subjects Australia, and South Africa. Slowly, un-
it, through its finance, to the constitutional willingly, the truth is being realised that
control of the Houseof Commons. before long the United Kingdom and all
Under Anne increasing bodies of regular its white daughter-nations must submit
soldiers were sent out to defend the Amer- to the yoke of universal, compulsory
ican colonies and West Indies. By 17 13 military service if they are to hold together
the British Colonial Army in America the empire won mainly with mercenaries.
amounted to 11,000 men. The Home As a nation the English have
Army at this period was about 70,000 of The Prospect
always dishked extremely the
arms. After the Peace of Utrecht this °
all . . idea of state Socialism. In-
Conscnption
force was disbanded, all but about 8,000, dividuahsm has in all things
to which George I. added some regiments been the guiding principle. So they have
of German Guards. rebelled at all effective arrangements of
In 1759 the 39th Regiment was raised militia, volunteers, and citizen armies.
and sent out to India to assist Clive and But by one expedient after another,
the forces of the East India Company. In cautious statesmen are bringing the coun-
1793 the Home Army on a peace footing try nearer and nearer to the option of con-
was only 17,013 men. In 1803, on a war scription or abdication as a ruling power
footing, it had risen to 120,000 regulars. beyond the limits of the United Kingdom.

A DETACHMENT OF CANADIAN NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE

5536
pUTPOSTS^EAiPIRE
Being a series of photographs taken in
widely distant parts of the British Empire,
selected for the purpose oT illustrating
the diversity of the countries and climes
over which the British flag is flying.

35a 5537
IN THE SEYCHELLES; SCENE IN THE ISLAND OF MAHE

BRITISH ISLANDS IN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS


5538
'1

TOWN AND PORT OF ST. GEORGE'S. IN THE BERMUDAS

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AT BRIDGETOWN, IN BARBADOS

SCENES IN BRITISH ISLANDS OF THE WEST ATLANTIC


5539
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, SHOWING THREE OF THE TEN EUROPEAN RESIDENTS

CAPE BATHURST IN THE PARRY ISLANDS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN

WHANGAWA BAY IN THE CHATHAM ISLAND

BRITISH TERRITORY IN THE FAR NORTH AND SOUTH


5549
~ I

GENERAL VIEW OF HONG KONG AS SEEN FROM BOWEN ROAD

BHOTI ENCAMPMENT IN THE FARTHEST NORTH-WEST OF INDIA

SEA-COAST AND MOUNTAIN OUTPOSTS OF THE FAR EAST


5541
i

ASCENSION ISLAND, WHICH IS "RATED AS A BRITISH MAN-OF-WAR

TRISTAN DACUNHA: "EDINBURGH," THE ONLY SETTLEMENT ON THE ISLAND

PITCAIRN ISLAND. I .TS OF MUIINi-. IHK BOUNTY

LONELY ISLANDS OF THE OCEAN WHERE THE BRITISH FLAG FLIES


5542
"1

BAFFIN'S BAY, SHOWING NORTHERNMOST INHABITED HOUSE IN AMERICA

ALBERT HARBOUR, ALBERT LAND, IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

POINTS OF BRITISH TERRITORY IN THE FROZEN NORTH


5543
BRITISH TRADING CENTRES IN THE SOUTH SEAS
5544
— ;;

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
IX G.C.M.G.

COMPOSITION OF THE EMPIRE


THE VARIED PEOPLES UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG
THEIR CUSTOMS, LANGUAGES AND RELIGIONS
'"THE British Empire should be divided territories of Northern Nigeria the South ;

••
into two distinct sections —
that which Atlantic islands of Ascension, St. Helena,
is governed from London, and that which and Tristan d'Acunha British Central ;

governs itself. The first is the special Africa, including Nyassaland the island ;

appanage of Great Britain and Ireland, of Mauritius and its dependencies, the
and the second is rapidly differentiating Seychelles Archipelago the protectorates
;

into a series of independent states of Zanzibar, British East



daughter nations managing their own
Territories
Under the
Africa, Uganda, and Somali-
affairs, political, fiscal, commercial, with land the vast Empire of India,
;
British Flag
little or no concern for the requirements stretching from Aden and
and interests of the metropolitan kingdom. Perim at the southern entrance of the Red
They are bound to it in some vaguely Sea and the large island of Socotra, off the
filial way bound to it mostly at present
; Gulf of Aden, right across Southern Arabia
by finance, by a remarkable community to the Persian Gulf and Eastern Persia to

of race-feeling except possibly in those Baluchistan, and thence through India
rare sections where the nationality of origin proper to the frontiers of Siam and French
and mother tongue were different by the — Indo-China the island of Ceylon and
;

use of the same language, the same the Maldive Archipelago the Malay ;

irrational weights and measures, the same Peninsula from Burma to Singapore (the
literature and art, the same religious beliefs Nicobar and Andaman Islands belong to
and prejudices, and by the acceptance of India) and the northern third of Borneo
the same sovereign head. The the island and peninsulas of Hong Kong,
Britain's
countries of the first section, the leasehold of Wei-hai-wei, in Northern
Vast Inner
Empire
outside Great Britain, Ireland, China the Solomon Islands, the Fiji
;

Man, the Channel Islands, and Archipelago, the Tonga group, and numer-
the small Mediterranean possessions, are ous other islands and islets in the Pacific.
inhabited in the main by yellow, brown, or In the New World, Jamaica, the Ber-
black men, essentially non- European in mudas, Bahamas, Turks, and Caicos
race, religion, civihsation, and languages ;
islands British Honduras, the Leeward
;

and Windward Islands, Barbados, Tobago,


'
those of the second section are white men's
'

lands," where the preponderating mass of Trinidad, and the large colony of British
the population is in origin of the white Guiana and the Falkland Islands.
;

European stock, mainly Anglo-Keltic, The second section, or Outer Empire,


and where the climate and conditions are comprises, or will comprise before long,
of a nature to permit of the white man Newfoundland and the vast dominion of
raising a vigorous progeny, which shall Canada; the commonwealth of AustraUa,
become the real indigenes of the land. the dominion of New Zealand

The first section the Inner Empire Possessions
in the
and British South Africa up to
—includes, outside Great Britain, Ireland,
Outer Empire
the Zambesi. The last, how-
Man, and the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, ever, must, on the whole, be
Malta, and Cyprus; the control of Egypt, and treated stiU as belonging to the first
the protectorate over the Anglo-Egyptian section. The Falkland Islands possess most
Sudan the Crown colony of the Gambia,
; of the conditions requisite to enable them
the Crown colony and protectorate of to enter the category of the second section
Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast Colony, in course of time. There is no native race
Lagos, and Southern Nigeria, the vast whose interests require to be safeguarded

5545
a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


by the Mother Country the colony is now
; marriage and property, the maintenance or
self-supporting. only a question of
It is otherwise of a State Church. In fact, they
waiting till the population of this wind- are the complete masters of the destinies,
swept but healthy dependency as large — down to the smallest detail, of the
as Wales, if its area includes the unin- peoples dwelling within this first category

habited South Georgia reaches a suffi- of Imperial possessions. Their inhabitants
ciently large number for it to be granted as have no independent diplomatic national
complete powers of self-government as representation in London similar to the
Newfoundland. Considerable agents-general of the daughter nations
The r
-,. ^
Future ;

powers ofx self-government


ir
the Crown colonies and protectorates are
j.
,

^^^^ady in the possession represented in the metropolis by the


South Africa ^^^
of British Guiana, Barbados, Crown Agents, a branch of the Colonial
Bermudas, and Jamaica. The future of Office ;the 300,000,000 of India and its
Guiana may, if the European population dependencies are represented by the India
increases considerably, lie rather in the Office ; Egypt, the Egyptian Sudan, and
same direction as that of the dependencies Zanzibar by the Foreign Office. All
of the second section —
greater independ-
ence of its government from the strict
treaties with foreign Powers affecting the
fiscal or commercial interests of these lands
control of the metropolis. of the first category must be negotiated
On the other hand, although it is certain through London.
and inevitable that British South Africa The United Kingdom acts practically as
from the Cape up to the Zambesi will some paymaster, as ultimate treasurer, to all
day be a completely self-governing con- the Inner Empire, except perhaps to India.
federation of states, eventually including Even the Budget of India must in a sense
German South-west Africa and Portuguese be submitted to the inspection and
South-east —
Africa as independent of criticism of the India Office, because the
direct control from Great Britain as is United Kingdom is, in the eyes of the
Canada —that consummation cannot be .J.
India wT J
Under
world,
j •
responsible
"^ ,
for
r t
the
j-
completely effected till the position, „ .,.
.
British
Wisdom or unwisdom of Indian
,.
r. -, .
,
claims, and rights of the aboriginal peoples "^^^c^- India IS governed
Government
have been settled to the satisfaction of by the Viceroy-in-Council, but
Great Britain, their present protectress and that viceroy can at any moment be
guardian. Consequently, in some aspects, removed by the king on the advice of his
at the present day British South Africa responsible Ministers of the British Cabinet.
does not altogether come within the The wishes and opinions of the British
second category of enfranchised daughter Government, to the veriest detail, are
nations. She is not as yet entirely mistress conveyed to the viceroy through the
of her own destinies. Secretary of State for India, who is aided
It is very important that we should by an advisory council. It is on this
realise the distinctionbetween these two council that India might well be repre-
categories. England is no longer directly sented, not only by retired Anglo-Indian
responsible for what goes on in Canada officials, the value of whose opinion is
and Newfoundland, in Australia and New deservedly recognised, but by natives of
Zealand, in Cape Colony, Natal, the India, representatives, more or less diplo-
Orange River State, and the Transvaal. matic, of Bengal, Burma, Haidarabad,
On the other hand, the citizens of Great Mysore, Rajputana, of the Parsees, the

Britain and Ireland ridiculously enough, Sikhs, and the Punjab Mohammedans —
_ . , allow no Imperial representa- consultative body, at any rate, if not of the
mpires
^^^^ ^^ -^^^ ^^^ ^^^ Channel innermost council at present.
inancia
*"
jgj^j^^jg —
support alone the finan- At the time of writing the Treasury of
cial burden and the defence of the United Kingdom, that is, the British
the Inner Empire in the Mediterranean, taxpayer, finds annually about £800,000
Tropical Africa, Arabia, India, Malaya, in grants-in-aid to such Crown colonies
Hong Kong, the Pacific archipelagoes, and protectorates as cannot make both
and Tropical and South America. They ends meet in balancing their revenue and
lay down the law, more or less, as to expenditure. Besides this, occasional
the fiscal and commercial policy in special grants out of British funds are
those regions, the relations between the made to such West Indian or African pos-
different human races, legislation affecting sessions as are temporarily overwhelmed

5546
, ;

COMPOSITION OF THE EMPIRE



by unlooked-for disasters earthquakes, Africa. As a matter of actual fact, even in
famines, fires, floods or droughts. these great self-governing states the Mother
Private British benevolence, directly in- Country is often invited to select the
stigated by royal or municipal authority, persons to be appointed to most of the
transmits from time to time to India higher posts in the civil service, armed
almost as much money as, spread over forces and marine. An unwritten rule
the years, is paid by the Indian taxpayer directs that in the postal service the
to the British Indian Civil Service. More- higher officials shall be selected by St.
over, all these Imperial possessions within Martin's-le-Grand that great
the first category can borrow money
Th M* k"•"'1*' medical
;

-.f A I
of Colonial
appointments
^^ ,, shall
u j^n j r , •

for their public purposes far more cheaply nUed up on the advice of
Appointments
in the world's financial markets because of the Royal Society, the Crown
their connection with the United King- Agents, the Royal College of Surgeons or
dom, which not only controls such incur- Physicians, or the Army Medical Depart-
ring of indebtedness, but stands as the ment that the curators of museums, or
;

eventual guarantor of the borrower. of zoological or botanical gardens shall be


Lastly, for both categories of empire recommended by the British Museum or
the British people of the United Kingdom Kew ; judges and lawyers be selected
keep up a magnificent fleet and a standing from the British Bar bishops and ;

army for foreign service, and a Diplomatic chaplains from the Anglican Church
and Consular Corps. It is true that customs controllers from the British
Australia, New Zealand, Cape Colony and Customs Service commandants of police
;

Natal contribute small subsidies to the from the British Army, and port officers
cost of the navy, but at present these from the British Navy.
subsidies are so small that they make no In this way, and in spite of local
appreciable difference to the annual patriotism and that natural local clannish-
financial burden. No country outside Great ness which, unchecked, leads to the evolu-
_^ e „ eep Britain and Ireland, except tion of separate nationahty, the veins of
p ^^^ Indian Empire, makes —
the empire its principal arteries, at any
n •»• k A
Brihsh Army
any
^.
contribution towards the
r , r ,,
rate —are kept flowing with British blood.
cost oi the army or oi the Perhaps, however, it would be a happier
Diplomatic and Consular Service. The simile to say that as yet a British brain
Indian Empire pays for the 80,000 British directs the trunk and members of the
soldiers serving in India, for the Indian British Empire.
Council sitting in London, and for a The total land area under the aegis of
proportion of the cost of diplomatic —
the British Empire including the Siamese
and consular representation in Turkey, portion of the Malay Peninsula, the British
Persia, Siam, etc. sphere in Persia and in South Arabia, also
In the states of the first category no Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan is approxi- —
commissioned appointment of any im- mately 13,138,900 square miles; without
portance is made except from London, these last additions the area is 11,437,486
and by the sovereign acting through the square miles. Of this sum about 3,140,900
officers ofthe British Government. In the square miles belong to the Inner Empire,
states of the second category all appoint- and 9,998,000 to the outer or mainly self-
ments to the public services arc made by governing division 6,058,669 square
;

the sovereign through his local repre- miles lie within the temperate or Arctic
sentative, as advised by the local respon- regions, and 7,080,231 within the tropics.
sible government. Therefore, although the , About 1,700,000 square miles
,

Colonial Office and Crown Agents, the r," u\\ of land in British North
Foreign Oifice, India Office, War Office, -, .
K.
Uninhabit&ble . v x xto suchu
America are subject
ry
Admiralty, Board of Trade, Trinity House, arctic conditions as at present
Office of Works, and other government these regions are either uninhabited, or
departments may possess the power of merely maintain a few thousand Eskimo.
filling all posts of any authority or emolu- About 150,000 square miles of British
ment held by Europeans in India, Tropical Arabia, 100,000 square miles of British
Africa and America, Malaya, China, India, 200,000 square miles of British South
Ceylon, and the Mediterranean, they Africa, 600,000 square miles of Egypt and
possess of right no such patronage over the Sudan, and one-third of the area of
AustraUa, New Zealand, Canada, or South —
AustraUa say 1,000,000 square miles are —
5547
;;
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


at present uninhabitable by reason of the while there are approximately 1,213,000
lack of rainfall and consequent sterility. Malays (including the Siamese Malay
These, however, are adverse conditions States) 4,000 Veddahs
; 3,500 Negritoes
;

which the energy and works of man can (Malay Peninsula and Andaman Islands) ;
abate, and even eventually cause to dis- 66,000 Black Australians 550,000 Papuans;

appear. It is far more difficult, however, to and Melanesians 100,000 Polynesians


; ;

grapple with the remains of the last Glacial 120,000 American Indians and 15,000 ;

Period —
holding North America and
still Eskimo. In British America there are
„.,,-. Northern Asia in its clutches 1,901,000 Negroes and Negroids, and in
British Areas
.
^u j
than *to draw —
up j.u
the rain

Africa some 37,500,000. Of the African


water of the Miocene and
. Negroes who are British subjects or
p pa ions
J
piiocene,stored for ages under under British control or supervision,
the surface formations of Australia, and about 29,000,000 are pure negro (Guinea,
therewith create a verdure which of itself Sudanese, Nilotes, and Bantu) 8,500,000 ;

attracts and precipitates the fickle rain. are Negroid (Arab hybrids, Hamites, Somali,
Roundly speaking, when all deductions Gala, Fulbe, Mandingo, Hima, Creole half-
for present uninhabitability are made, we castes) and 30,000 areHottentot-Bushmen.
;

are left with 9,400,000 square miles of land Under the British flag somewhat im- —
under the British flag, which at present sup- perfectly protected thereby in some cases
ports a population of about 405,000,000. — are the lowliest in development of all
The proportion of population to area existing human races, and consequently
varies greatly. That of the United the most interesting to students of an-
Kingdom (area, 121,390 square miles —
thropology Veddahs in Ceylon, Australo-
population, 44,100,000) is 342*5 to the Papuans, Andaman and Malayan Negritoes,
square mile that of Malta and Gozo
; South African Bushmen, and Equatorial
(area, 117 square miles; population, Pygmies. The same flag covers what
206,690) is i,766'8 to the square mile
of India, from Baluchistan to Siam (area,
i>766,5i7 square miles population, about;
;

-in
some believe to be the handsomest oeople
ypes o
Beauty m the
the world to-day English
^^^
i i_
Irish

^

—who seem to have -

297,000,000) is I79'5 to the square mile ; „ . .


Dominions
acquired
^ by
,
some mysterious
-' -'
,
of Australia (area, 3,065,120 square miles ; process of transmission or 01
population, 4,479,840) is only i"3 to the independent development the physical
square mile of the Canadian Dominion
; beauty of the old Greeks, possibly because
and Newfoundland (area, 3,908,300 square they, like the extinct Greek type, are more
miles ; population, 6,216,340) is i*6 to the purely Aryan in descent than the South
square mile ; of Trans-Zambesian South and Central or extreme Northern Euro-
Africa (area, 1,091,770 square miles peans of to-day. This physical beauty
population, 7,015,200) is 6*4 to the square is equally shared by the men and women
mile ; British Central Africa (Nyassaland of Canada and New Zealand, if the ideal
and North-east Rhodesia area, 150,000 : sought for is to be white of skin.
square miles; population, 1,274,000) is If, on the other hand, a dark skin is not
6*4 to the square mile. held to diminish beauty of bodily form, then
In the West Indies it is 131 to the square unquestionably in no part of the British
mile ; in Ceylon, 141 in British Malaya
; dominions are there more handsome men,
(less the Siamese Malay States and Borneo), from the sculptor's point of view, than
55 ; in Hong Kong, 1,121 ; Northern among certain types of Nilotic negro or
Nigeria, 62 Southern Nigeria, loi
; ; Negroid, Bantu, or Fulbe. But amongst
^.. _ Mauritius and Dependencies, almost every group of negro peoples
453 Zanzibar, 245 Gold the women are still in an ugly stage of
U dtr ' ;

i.'*-**'^ D
British Rale
Coast, 12 ; and New Zealand,
1 physical development. On the other
hand, in North-western India may be
, ,
nearly 9 (area, 104,750 square
miles population in 1906, 936,309). Of the
;
seen some of the handsomest human
total 405,000,000, 62,350,000 belong to the beings in the world, women as well as
white or Caucasian race (say, 56,464,000 men, if the monotony of the yellow-
Germano-Kelt, and 5,886,000 Mediter- brown skin and the sleek black hair can
ranean, Iberian, Greek, Arab, Jew, be accepted in lieu of the blue-grey iris,
Persian, Eurasian and Quadroon peoples) the golden-brown hair, and ivory-white,
282,000,000 to the dark Dravidio-Caucasic pink-tinted skin of the better-looking
stock about 14,500,000 to the Mongol type
; types of England, Ireland and Scotland.
5548
;

COMPOSITION OF THE EMPIRE


As regards the range of intellectual while their husbands go burdened with
development, the British Empire can offer chignons or natural perruques. Perhaps
the same extremes as in bodily beauty or 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 men, Africans and
ugliness. There are Pygmies, Negritoes, Eastern Asiatics, affect the closely shaven
or Bushmen, who barely know how to skull, in close proximity, it may be, to
originate fire and who are still living other millions of males sworn never to
in the age of stone implements, or the clip theirabundant locks, or obliged by
still earlier phase of the bamboo splinter, custom to wear the yard-long hair in in-
the natural club or twisted branch, the _ convenient, unsightly pigtails.
undressed stone or pebble, the fire- ^^^^ these or other milhons
of Different
sharpened stake, the palm or fern-rind Peoples
^^^beard is obligatory and
bow-string. There are negro peoples on sacred with others it is scrupu-
;

the British verge of the Congo forest, or lously shaved or pulled out with tweezers.
in the southern basin of the Benue, whose Some, like the old and dying generation
ideas of preparing food by cooking are of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal,
mainly limited to partial putrefaction. grow long finger-nails (Gibraltarese, Mal-
Cannibalism still prevails in parts of tese, and Chinese), to show,
Malays
British Africa, Australasia, British Guiana like the unconscious snobs they are, that
but the eating of human flesh, though they have never done manual labour.
repulsive to our modern ideas and extinct in Others wear their nails down to the quick.
England since, let us say, 500 B.C., and in Two hundred millions at least of British
Ireland since 100 A.D., is not necessarily a Indians, British Africans and British
sign of low mental development. Never- Arabs keep their nails and hands and feet
theless, Great Britain is the political exquisitely manicured and pedicured, nails
guardian of at least a million professing clipped and clean, toes cornless ; others,
cannibals at the present day. She is also like a proportion of the middle and lower
the tutrix of another million Africans, per- classes of the metropolitan state, say
«... .^ haps a few Negritoes, Austral- 20,000,000 of English, Irish, Scottish,
Britaia the •
j n a •

^ ,. asians, and Guiana Amerm- live all their lives long with dirty nails,
,-, ...
of C&nnibals
dians,
^ '
who are
^ .
absolutely
J filthy and deformed feet, and hands not
naked, no knowmg
more fitto be grasped by a squeamish person.
shame in lack of body-covering than the Ninety-two millions of British subjects,
beasts of the field. Another 20,000,000 or or wards of the empire, practise circum-
so, in Africa, America, Malaya, Australia cision as a religious or a mystic rite about ;

and Oceania, take little interest in clothes 1,000,000 of British Africans and some
as a source of aesthetic delight, but adorn 50,000 black Australians pass beyond this
and vary the monotony of an exposed harmless custom to elaborate mutilations de-
skin by the arts of cicatrisation, tattooing, scribed in works of technical anthropology.
plastering, rouging and dyeing. Some push About 10,000,000 out of the 44,000,000
the predilection for ear-rings to such an population of men, women, and children
extent that the ear-lobes hang down in in the British Isles are scrupulously clean
great loops of leather to the shoulders. as to their persons about 250,000,000 are
;

Others ring the septum of the nose or the same in India ; personal cleanliness
insert large discs of wood or shell or ivory is the prevailing characteristic of the
into the upper or lower lip. Quite 20,000,000 negro, of some Arabs, and of the Malays
also think it more comely and convenient and Polynesians. It is fortunately a
to knock out the upper or lower incisor strong point with the Neo-British in
teeth or to file the teeth to a sharp point. Canada above all, in AustraUa,
Nearly a hundred million stain their teeth . „ . . . New Zealand, and some parts
orange-brown with
nut. Aboutbetel
g " llj"gl*
of South Africa. As regards
^^^ '
ten million women and men in Scotland of Hindus,
food, 223,000,000
and England prefer to lose their front Burmese, and Tamils,
Shans, Singhalese,
teeth or have them permanently blackened are mainly vegetarian and subsist on
with premature decay sooner than appeal sorghum, millet, and wheat flour, rice,
to the resources of modem dentistry. butter, sugar, pulse of many kinds, pumpr
A million women in the Eastern and kins, melons and European vegetables, the
Equatorial regions of British Africa think egg plant, cucumbers, onions, coco-nuts,
it womanly and becoming to live bald- dates, mangoes, and other tropical fruits.
pated, their heads continually shaved, A million and a half of British Chinese live

5549
'

^^^^r
m™
AN AFRICAN ZULU GIRL

P
" ;.'^ —
V
- ^1'
AN ENGLISH BEAUTY

^K ^H
1

1 1 r

H J 1 fa
A FRENCH-CANADIAN GENTLEMAN A CENTRAL AFRICAN DANDY
Photos Valentine.

RACIAL CONTRASTS UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG


. Martin, and U. N. A.

5550
A NUBIAN NEGRESS SUDANESE OF UPPER NILE WOMAN OF EASTERN SUDAN
I'lioto of Vcddah by Drs. Fritz and Sarasin

DUSKY BEAUTY AND UGLINESS UNDER THE BRITISH FLAG


5351
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


more or less omnivorously, but probably mites (white ants), locusts, beetle-
make rice the staple of their diet. The grubs, and the caterpillars of certain
Mohammedan natives of India, the pagan moths are greedily devoured by millions
and Malay natives of Eastern Asia, avoid of negroes in British Africa from the
pork if they are strict Mohammedans, Zambesi to Lake Tanganyika, and the
but otherwise are fond of all kinds of Blue Nile to the Gambia.
meat and fish. The Sikhs of North-west Fish, potatoes, pork, geese, tea, milk and
India delight in eating pork, mutton, and whisky are the principal ingredients of Irish
^. goat, but share with the Hindu diet fish, mutton, mOk, whisky and oat-
;

* *^^ horror of touching the sacred meal the staples of the Scottish peasantry
the O
* ^^* ^^^ British, Neo-British, milk, pancakes of wheaten flour, pork, pota-
Sacred
Malays (substituting buffalo toes, cheese, cream, whisky and cider nourish
for ox), Masai, and other tribes of Equa- the sturdy Welsh countryfolk; bread,
torial East Africa, and to a certain extent cheese, beer, tea, cider, beef, bacon and fish
the South African negroes also, are very form the average sustenance of the English
fond of beef. Throughout the Moham- peasantry, a wholesome diet varied in the
medan Mediterranean, African and Ara- towns with an endless variety of tinned
bian regions subject to Britain, the sheep stuff. The Maltese live chiefly on fish,
is the most common meat provider ; and, pork, goat's flesh, stirabout made of wheat
of course, mutton is almost the staple of or maize flour, olives and olive oil, fruit,
the Falkland Islands, England, Scotland, onions, cheese and wine. The diet of the
Wales, New Zealand, Australia, and parts Cjrpriote consists of much the same as the
of white South Africa. Goat's flesh is foods of the Maltese, less pork.
much eaten at Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, The Egyptian fellahin use bread or
and throughout tropical Africa. Camel's porridge made from the flour or groats of
fiesh is a favourite meat in Somaliland, sorghum, wheat, maize and millet as the
British Arabia, and Baluchistan. groundwork of their daily food. They also
Pork is not only eaten rapturously by eat mutton, goat's flesh, pigeons,
Varieties
the refined and lordly Sikh, but by many butter from buffalo and cow
of
low-caste or pagan tribes in India. It p. p . milk, dates, rice, vegetables of
is said even to be indulged in by the many kinds, and coarse sweet-
Sennaar Arabs, who have in the Eastern meats made of honey or molasses, flour
Sudan an indigenous type of wild boar. and olive oil. The grains and vegetables
Wild and domesticated pigs are also eaten cultivated are wheat, rice, maize, sorghum
in the non-Mohammedan parts of North- and millet ;
pulse of several kinds,
central and West Africa. The pig, as we cucumbers, gourds, melons and onions.
know, is almost the national animal of Their principal drink besides water is
Ireland it is a good deal favoured by the
; coffee, and for the Christians or the lax
Maltese. Jambon d'York was at one Mohammedans, arrack, a spirit made
time a compliment paid by the French from rice, and the less heady " palm
cuisine to the pigs of the English Mid- wine," the sap of the date palm.
lands. And, again, in the Malay Archipe- Rice, of 250 varieties, is the staple of
lago, Papua, and all the Oceanic Pacific all coastwise India, Burma and the Malay
islands, pork is the people's favourite States, also of British China. But wheat
meat. Here, also, they eat dried shark, is largely grown over all North-west India
and the hundred and one edible sea-fish also barley (upper valley of the Ganges),
of the coral-reefs and blue lagoons. Dogs sorghum or great millet ever5rwhere below
are eaten in Hong Kong and the mountains, spiked millet (pennisetum),
p J
" ragi "
^6i-hai-wei, in some of the (eleusine), in Southern India,
Wh'^F* d
Pacific islands, and in Equatorial and paspalum and two kinds of genuine
P
Africa. The Eskimo subjects
of the British Empire live on walrus and many

or Italian millet panicum. There are also
oil-seeds used for food —sesamum,
seal meat, and whale blubber ; those of rape and linseed, and ten or eleven kinds

Tristan d'Acunha on amongst other of peas and beans (cicer, phaseolus,

things the eggs of penguins and petrels. dolichos, cajanus, ervum, lathyrus and
The Indians of British Guiana will eat pisum). Many of these Indian grains
jaguar, if they can succeed in killing and pulses are of ancient introduction into
the American leopard, besides all the tropical Africa, where, with maize, they
other wild animals of the woods. Ter- form the sta,ple of the peoples' vegetable
5552
— ;;

COMPOSITION OF THE EMPIRE


food. Noindigenous African grain or Old Man of the Mountain, whose adherents
bean cultivated
is almost the only
; were the original " Assassins." The
vegetables in native dietary indigenous to Buddhists, including the enlightened
that continent are the "yam" (dioscorea, Jains of India, under the British flag
also found in India), and the coco yam number about 14,000,000. They are
(colocasia), and a number of plants with found chiefly in Ceylon, Bengal, Sikkim,
edible leaves like spinach. Manioc, so Burma, Bhutan borders, the Northern
much eaten in negro Africa, is the same Malay Peninsula, and Hong Kong. About
as tapioca, and has been introduced from .. 210,200,000 natives of India,
J
Brazil. Manioc is also much grown in p. Ceylon, and Indian colonies in
Malaya, and Worshipoers ^^^^^ ^^^
British this region, with tropical America
Borneo, the home of the sago palm.
is follow the religion of Brahma
The colocasia yam, really the tuber of (Siva, Vishnu) in varying forms and sects.
an arum, under the name of taro, is the The Parsees of India, some 100,000, are
principal vegetable food of New Guinea worshippers.
still fire Alarge proportion
and the British Pacific islands. of the Polynesians and Melanesians on
The citizens or the wards of the empire British Pacific islands, of Indians in the
profess almost every known form of dominion of Canada, and the Caribs in
religious faith. There are, first of all, British Honduras and the Windward
about 63,252,000 ostensible Christians Islands, are Christians.
namely, 44,000,000 in the United Kingdom Those that are not still follow vague
403,000 in Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus ;
fetishistic faiths, usually including a belief
732,000 in Egypt and Sinai 3,000,000 ;
in a Supreme God of the Sky, in ancestors
in the Indian Empire 17,000 in China; living again as spirits, in demigods and
5,000 in Borneo ; 40,000 in the Pacific demons personifying natural forces and
islands 920,000
;
in New Zealand diseases, and in magic, magic being under-
4,400,000 in Australia 1,200,000 in ; stood to be undefinable, empiric energy
. British South Africa, St. Helena, acting often through material means or
Kchgious
^^^ Nyassaland; 300,000 in resident in a natural object, or in one which
Uganda, East Africa, Zanzi- has been shaped by man's hands. These
mpire
th*'Em*tr
^^^^ Seychelles and Mauri- so-called pagans really practise vague,
tius; 175,000 in Sierra Leone, Gold unsuccessful religions closely akin in all
Coast, and Southern Nigeria 6,100,000 ; their manifestations to the great stereo-
in British North America, and about typed faiths of the more cultured races.
2,000,000 in the British West Indies, The languages of the British Empire
Honduras, Guiana, and the Falkland are indeed multiform. Scarcely any
Islands. Of these Christians, to quote great acknowledged family of human
approximate round figures only, about speech is unrepresented within the limits
11,147,616 belong to the Roman Catholic of its aegis, except the Basque, the
Church 10,880,000 to the Anghcan
; Japanese, and the languages peculiar to
13,000,000 to the Free Churches Pres- — the Caucasus Mountains.
byterian, 6,200,000 ; Baptist, 1,500,000 ;
Of the Aryan languages 56,810,000 in
Methodist - Wesleyan, Congregational, the United Kingdom, Canada, the West
Society of Friends, etc., 3,500,000 Indies, and British Central and South
255,000 to the Orthodox Greek Church America, Australia, New Zealand, the
580,500 to the Nestorian and 610,000 ; Pacific islands, India, Mauritius, and
to the Coptic Church leaving about ; British Africa, speak English. The living
26,000,000 of men, women, and children . Keltic tongues, Irish, Manx,
undefined as to their actual sect in the A?"n* u' w Gaelic, and Welsh, are still
of the British j u v, o i
Christian Church. ^ ^
J, mpirc
. used by about j.
1,811,000 people
The British flag shelters about 290,000 .^ Wales, Ireland, Scotland
Jews, of whom 196,000 dwell in the United and Man, 1,955,000 use the French language
Kingdom, 26,000 in Egypt, and 23,100 in the Channel Islands, the Quebec, Ontario,
in South Africa. There are 88,000,000 and Manitoba provinces of Canada, in Trini-
Mohammedans in the British Empire dad, Mauritius, and the Seychelles, besides
and its feudatory states, mostly belonging the large extent to which French is used in
to the Sunni division, but also including Malta and Egypt. Spanish is spoken at
the Khojas of India, who follow the Aga Gibraltar and in Trinidad. Portuguese in
Khan, a hierarchical descendant of the a rather dialectal form is much spoken by
353 5553
a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Eurasians in parts of India and on the which is closely allied to the Annamese of
coast of Ceylon, also in British Guiana. French Indo-China. In the middle of
Italian is a good deal employed in Malta Assam is the isolated Khasi language of
and in Egypt Greek in Cyprus, Egypt,
; uncertain affinities, spoken by about
and the Egyptian Sudan. As regards the 100,000 hill people. Another isolated group
Indo-Aryan languages, Persian, with is the Kolarian of Eastern and Central
Arabic, is the language of the British India, the language, in many dialects, of
sphere in South-east Persia, besides being the Santalis, Mundaris, Savara, Kurku, etc.
, the literary language of much The Malay language is spoken by about
" '.** of North-west India; about 1,600,000 of British or British-protected
-, ' 1,000,000 speak Baluchi, and
. peoples the Malayo-Polynesian languages
;
Vernaculars ,^ a x u '

t» i
from New Guinea to New Zealand, by
, j.
1,300,000 the Afghan or Pushtu
dialect Sindhi is the speech of over
; 100,000 the Melanesian languages by
;

3,000,000 in the Sind province. The another 200,000, and Papuan by 350,000.
languages or dialects descended from Sans- In the heart of the Malay Peninsula
krit, which have become the vernaculars there may still be lingering isolated Negrito
of two-thirds of India proper are Hindi languages there is certainly a Negrito
;

(87,240,000 people), Bengali (45,000,000), speech in the Andaman Islands. A possibly


Marathi (19,000,000), Punjabi or Gurmukhi Negrito dialect is still preserved by a small
(17,000,000), Gujarati (10,500,000), Uriya section, some 2,000 or 3,000, of the Veddahs
(10,000,000), and Pahari or Nepalese of Ceylon (Rhodiyah). It would be interest-
(1,300,000), besides Kachhi (of " Cutch "), ing for the ethnologist to compare carefully
Kashmiri, Konkani (Malabar), and Singh- the fragments of Negrito speech in
alese, this last being spoken by nearly Southernmost India, Ceylon, tlie Anda-
2,500,000 in Ceylon. mans, the Malay Peninsula, with the
The Uro-Altaic languages, which cover Papuan and Melanesian families, and
the north-eastern parts of Asia from the further with what little is recorded of the
Baltic shores and Lapland to Bering _ _ language of the extinct Tas-
e an u
Straits and China, and which include the 'Yhe diverse, but
j^g^j^j^j^g
outlying sub-groups of Turkish and perhaps distantly interrelated,
f*Ai"**^**
Hungarian, are only represented in the languages, in two very distinct
British Empire by the much Arabised groups, of the black Australians are
speech of the modern Turks, which is still spoken by about 66,000 savages and
to some extent spoken in Cyprus and — semi-savages still lingering in Australia.

very little in Egypt. In British Africa we have still repre-
The Dravidian and allied groups are sented by living speakers the wonderfully
wholly confined in their present range to interesting Bushman-Hottentot language
British India, where they are spoken by group, so extremel«y unlike any other
about 65,000,000. The Tibeto-Burmese human speech of the present day by its
group of at least twenty languages fur- intercalation of noisy clicks among the
nishes the speech of something like normal consonants and vowels. There are
11,000,000 of people in Northern Nepal, perhaps, 5,000 (British) Bushmen, and
still,
Sikkim, Bhutan, Garo (part of Assam), 25,000 Hottentots alive to perpetuate this
Tipura, Naga, Manipur, and Upper and primitive phonology.
Lower Burma. Northern and Eastern The Bantu languages of Africa are
Burma (the Khamti and Shan states) and spoken by about 11,000,000 negroes in
the upper part of the Malay Peninsula are British, South, Central, and Eastern
_ . covered by the Siamo-Chinese Equatorial Africa besides a few " Semi-
;
inese
group, which in its great Eastern
Subjects of p ' ,^,. ,'
p , , ,
Bantu " of the eastern parts of British
« .; . branch (Chmese) is spoken by Nigeria. The languages of the Anglo-
some 2,000,000 ofr n
^
Britain u •.• 1
British sub- Egyptian Sudan, Uganda, and East Africa
jects in the southern Malay Peninsula comprise the Nilotic family, about
and Singapore, British Borneo, Hong Kong 4,300,000, ranging from the western
and Wei-hai-wei, to say nothing of the parts of the Bahr-el-Ghazal to Masailand,
useful Chinese sojourners in British near the Indian Ocean ; the unclassified
Columbia. The deltaic region round Krej and Bongo groups, and heterogeneous
Rangoon and the isolated patch of Palung Sudanian congeries (Niam-Niam, Mang-
in Upper Burma are populated by people battu, Mundu, Madi, Lendu, Momvu, etc.).
speaking dialects of the Mon language, In the north-western parts of the Egyptian
5554
;
;;

COMPOSITION OF THE EMPIRE


Sudan is the isolated Nubian family of lan- Somali in nearly all the coast lands of the
guages, and the For and Maba of Darfur. Red Sea, and all the non-Arabic-speaking
In Northern Nigeria there are the distinct tribes between Kordofan and Abyssinia
Kanuri speech of Bornu, the unclassified by the closely allied Gala and the other
dialects of the lake-dwelling Buduma, the non-Sem.itic Ethiopian dialects north and

great Hausa language spread as a trade east of the Nilotic negro domain. Hamitic
medium from Lake Chad to the inner dialects are also spoken in Southern
Gold Coast, or spoken as their native Arabia and in the island of Socotra.
_. . tongue by about 15,000,000 of The Semitic languages are represented in
Dominance °,
northern c
j
. . budanian negroes, the British domain by the Maltese language
Musgu to the south-east of such Hebrew as is preserved in use by Jews
j^ "'' g **
.
*^
Hausa, and the semi-Bantu in the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and
dialects, such as Ghari, of the Benue basin, Aden and by the Arabic of Egypt, British
:

north and south, down to its confluence Arabia, Zanzibar, and the Persian Gulf.
with the Niger. The Nupe speech is the In British America the Eskimo language
dominant language of Central Nigeria, and is spoken by the sparse inhabitants of the
to the west are the Borgu dialects that are frozen shores of the Arctic Ocean between
related to far-oif Ashanti, In Southern Alaska and Labrador. Of the American
Nigeria there are the languages of the Indian language groups, not much more
and Yoruba
Igara, Igbira, Ibo. Jekri, Ijo, ;
clearly interrelated than the African
and the Efik group and the semi-Bantu languages, the following are represented
languages of the Cross River basin. Dotted on British territory The Thlinkit in
:

over much
of British Nigeria is the Fulbe the north-westernmost part of the coasts
language, the range of which extends', - and islands of British Colum-
with many gaps, for a distance of nearly ^^^
f*B^ v^h'
*^^ Haida of Vancouver
'

2,000 miles across Africa from the Senegal ^. . Island and British Columbia
River to the borders of Wadai and Darfur. the Athabascan, Tinne, or
The dialects of the Gold Coast belong in Dene of all the central and northern parts
the main to four groups, the Chwi or of the Canadian dominion between the
Ashanti, the Ga (Akkra), the Mosi, and Rocky Mountains and the eastern shores
Teme. The languages of Sierra Leone are of Hudson's Bay the Algonkwin, Chip-
;

particularly interesting, and belong to the pewa, or Kri, " Montagnais," of Central
Mandingo family of Western Nigeria, and and Eastern Canada (using Canada
to the prefix and concord-using Temne in its widest sense), also in Labrador,
and Bullom families. The languages of Northern Quebec, and once in New
the Gambia are very little studied by a Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfound-
Britain which has possessed the Gambia land the Huron
; (Iroquois) of On-
for 200 years. They come under the Felup, tario and southernmost Canada; and
_ Wolof, and Mandingo groups. the Dakota, Puan, or Siu, found -still in
V^ *". The Libyo-Hamitic language the southern parts of Saskatchewan and
Dialects
family of North and North- Manitoba. Then there are the Maya-
east Africa is represented by Kiche group on the interior borders of
such wandering Libyans of the Sahara British Honduras the speech of the
;

as find their way into the dominions Caribs still lingering in a somewhat mixed
of the sultan of Sokoto, and by the type on the coast of British Honduras
Libyan-speaking inhabitants of the Siwah and in the West Indian island of Dominica
and other oases on the western outskirts of and existing far more numerously in the
Egypt by the remains of Ancient Egyp-
; maritime regions of British Guiana ; and
tian in the form of Coptic by the dialects
; the Guiana group, divided into the sub-
of the Beja and Bishari. the Danakil and groups of Arawak. VVapiana, and Atorai.

SCENE IN BRANI, IN THE RECENTLY ACQUIRED BRITISH TERRITORY OF THE MALAY STATES

5555
HOUSE OF KEYS ISLE OF MAN : MEETING OF THE TYNWALD COURT

MINOR PARLIAMENTS OF GREAT BRITAIN


555(>
;

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
X G.C.M.G.

GREAT BRITAIN'S INNER EMPIRE


THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE VAST
POSSESSIONS OF THE BRITISH CROWN
IT is not necessary to delineate here but subject to the British Government
* the elaborate system of partially repre- in London, directly or through the vice-
sentative government in national affairs, roy of India or the high commissioners
or wholly elective administration of local of South Africa or of the Straits Settle-
provincial matters which prevails in Great ments, as regards their foreign policy,
Britain and Ireland. It is sufficient to and perhaps subordinated in some other
point out that the Upper House in the „ . . . directions. These are The :

Legislature differs from all the similar , „ khediviate of Egypt (area,


.
Influence in \ .^ ^^ -i
institutions in the daughter nations and 400,000 square miles) the petty
the Sud ;

colonies in that it is composed of hereditary Arab sultanates to the north-


legislators. Elsewhere the members of east of Aden and along the south coast of
the Upper House, or Senate, or Legislative Arabia (area, about 100,000 square miles)
Council, if they are not elected by the the sultanate of Muskat and the trucial
people, are appointed for a term of years chiefs in South-east Arabia and along the
or for life by the king-emperor, or by his Persian Gulf (area, 110,000 square miles) ;

representative, the viceroy, or governor. the British sphere in South-east Persia


Nowhere else in the empire does this (area, 122,500 square miles) ; Baluchistan
principle of hereditary legislators obtain ;
(area, 78,530 square miles) ; Afghanistan
nowhere else would it be tolerated but (area, 250,000 square miles) the sultanate ;

in the Homeland, so tolerant of institu- of Johor (area, 9,000 square miles). Per-
tions which have outlived their usefulness. haps to these should be added the
The Isle of Man has a Council of Public sultanate of Darfur, in the western part
Affairs, nominated by the Crown, and a of the Egyptian Sudan, with an area of
House of Keys, which is a representative about 50,000 square miles. Afghanistan,
assembly of twenty-four elected members. except in regard to its foreign policy, is
The term of sitting for this House is seven an absolutely independent country, and
years, and the suffrage is based on a pro- none of its statistics are included in this
perty qualification. survey of the British Empire.
The island of Jersey has a lieutenant- The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is divided
governor and a bailiff, who is a kind of into thirteen provinces, the governors of
president of the legislature appointed by which are all British officers of the Egyp-
the Crown. The legislature consists of tian Army the sub-governors of districts
;

twelve jurats and twelve rectors of are Egyptians. The six principal judges
parishes elected by the people for life, are British the kadis, who deal with
;

and twenty-eight constables, mayors, or Mohammedan law in matters of succession,


deputies, elected for three years. Guernsey marriage, andendowments,
charitable
, .
Independent
^
. and Sark, and also Aldernev, are MohammedanEgyptians or Sudanese.
j i- i .

ci« 4 •
41.
states in the
are under one lieutenant- The governor-general over the whole of
1 J. 1 .

« ...
.
r
British Empire
governer,
° • but have two this vast area, including supervision over
, .
^ ,
, .
, . ,
separate legislatures, which Darfur, is jointly appointed by the British
consist of jurats, rectors, and sheriffs, and Egyptian Governments. He legislates
elected indirectly, and delegates and by proclamation. The sultan of Darfur
deputies elected directly by the ratepayers. is practically independent in the manage-
Within the far-flung net of the British ment of the internal affairs of his country,
Empire are a number of states practically but he is required to pay an annual
independent as regards their home rule. tribute to the Sudan Government. The
5557
DOUGLAS, THE BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF THE ISLE OF MAN
Frith

Anglo- Egyptian Sudan is entirely separate actual British possessions or protec-


"
from the internationalised " capitulations torates are : The British sphere in
area of Egypt or other parts of the Turkish South-east Persia, from Bandar Abbas
Empire ; foreign consuls must be first to Gwattar, and inland to Kerman
approved by the British Government and Birian, governed by the Shah of
before they can receive an exeauatur. Persia, with British consuls at Bandar
Egypt, until 1915, was unaer Turkish Abbas, Kerman and Malik Siah (Seistan)
suzerainty. The present Sultan rules to watch over British interests and
over a country of 400,000 square miles subjects ; and, in addition, the port of
in area, of which only about 13,560 Basidu on Kishm Island and the port of
square miles are at present inhabited, J ask on the Mekran coast, under the
in close and peculiar relations with direct management of the British Indian
Great Britain. Nominally, the Sultan Government the Bahrein Islands, on the
;

rules through a Ministry composed of southern side of the Persian Gulf, ruled
seven members, plus a British financial by an Arab sheikh under the control of a
adviser. But since 1883 there have British political agent.
been the beginnings of representative There is also the quasi-independent
institutions. These are a legislative imamate of Oman, under a sultan, or
council— which is a consultative body, sayyid, whose dynasty began as a sort of
prince-bishopric at Muskat in the middle
partly elected, partly nominated, quali-
of the eighteenth century. Great Britain
fied to pronounce opinions on the Budget

and on all new laws and the General and France are mutually bound to refrain
from an exclusive political control or
Assembly. This last consists of the
annexation of the sultanate of
seven Ministers, the thirty legislative Britain's
Muskat, but force of circum-
councillors, and forty-six popularly elected Kuria Muria
stances has compelled Great
members. Islands
Britain, through the Govern-
The General Assembly, however, has
no power to legislate, but can in a ment of India, to take the leading advisory
part in the direction of the affairs of Oman.
measure control all new taxation of
These are managed almost entirely under
a directly personal character or con-
the advice of a British consul and political
nected with land. The territories of
agent at Muskat. The Kuria Muria Islands,
the Persian Gulf which are within
off the south coast of Oman, actually belong
the British sphere of influence or are
5558

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INNER EMPIRE


to Great Britain, and their affairs are super- these regions of Southern Arabia there are
vised from Aden. From Soham to Masirah numerous Arab sultans and sheikhs who
Island, the government of Eastern Oman govern their people with as little inter-
is carried on, more or less, by the sultan ference as possible on the part of the
of Muskat, but the coast regions to the British, whose own direct rule does not
west as far as the Turkish frontier at Al extend over more than the island of Perim,
Hasa constitute what is called Trucial the town and port of Aden and its hinter-
Oman, a region in which the numerous land, about 9,000 square miles, and the
How British P^"y ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^" Kuria Muria Islands.
coerced bythe British power The empire of India, whose outlying
Arabia
in the Persian Gulf into an spheres of influence in Persia and Arabia
is Governed
agreement not to molest each we have just been considering, is divided
other or the sultan of Muskat.' Law and into the following types of government :

order in a general way are maintained in There is, first of all, British. India i.e.,
all these regions of the Persian Gulf, and the districts actually annexed-to'tfie-British
justice is administered to British subjects, Crown, with a total area of 1,097,901
by a British political resident residing square miles, and the following provinces :

at Bushire, on the south coast of Persia. Bengal, Eastern Bengal and Assam,
British Arabia, not connected with the Burma, Madras, the Andamans and
geographical or political systems of the Nicobars, Bombay, Punjab, North-west
Persian Gulf, is managed by the political Frontier Province, British Baluchistan,
resident, the virtual governor and com- United Provinces of Agra and Oudh,
mander-in-chief, at Aden. This official Central Provinces, Berar and Coorg.
depends at present on the Government of A number of small principalities within
Bombay. He supervises the affairs of the these provinces are ruled to a certain
Aden Protectorate and the island of extent by their native rajahs, or by Moham-
Perim ; those of the island of Socotra medan chiefs ; but, for the most part, this
and its adjoining archipelagoes the coast
; vast area is administered directly by
sultanates of Makalla, etc. ;the Kuria British officials in all the principal
Muria Islands, and the Oman coast as and responsible posts, and by native
far east as the island of Masirah. Within officials in all the subordinate positions.

THE PROCLAMATION OF LAWS ON THE TYNWALD HILL IN THE ISLE OF MAN


5559
— ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Then follow the feudatory states of the Bhopal, under a female sovereign, the
Indian Empire Haidarabad (area, 82,698
: begum), and Indore, a Mahratta state under
square miles), ruled by the nizam Kash- ; the maharajah Holkar three in the
;

mir and Jamu (area, 80,900 square miles), Bombay Presidency, the largest of which is
ruled by a maharajah Baluchistan (area,
; Cutch, whose ruler is known as the
78,530 square miles), ruled by the khan of rao five .in
; the Madras Presidency,
Khelat and a few small independent of which might be specially mentioned
princes ; Jodhpur of Rajputana (area, Travaniore, the southernmost portion of
34,963 square miles), ruled by a maha- British
India, whose maharajah rules
rajah Mysore (area, 29,433 square miles),
; over 3,000,000 people one in
;
Rule
ruler, a maharajah ; Gwalior (area, 25,041 the Central Province, Bastar
in India
square miles), the largest Mahratta state, (area, 13,000 square miles)
under a maharajah (Sindhia) Bikanir, a
; Kuch Behar, in Bengal Hill Tipura, on
;

Rajputana state (area, 23,311 square miles), the borders of Burma Rampur and
;

under a maharajah jaisalmir and Jaipur,


;
Garhwal, between Agra and Oudh four;

both Rajput states (respectively, 16,062 Sikh and three Rajput states in the
and 15,579 square miles), the first ruled by Punjab and the interesting little Tibetan
;

a mahalawal, the second by a maharajah ;


principality of Sikkim. In addition to
Bahawulpur, in the Punjab (area, 15,000 this list, there are numerous small areas
square miles), governed by a nawab. administered by minor princes, much on
In addition to the list of big feudatory the lines of the smaller German duchies.
states with areas of 15,000 square The total area of feudatory India is
miles and over, there is the old 690,272 square miles.
Mahratta state of Baroda, governed by For the administration of British India
the maharajah gaikwar, which has only there is the Viceroy, who rules despotically
an area of 8,226 square miles, but which as the Governor-General-in-Council, sub-
ranks first on the list of feudatory states, ject to the orders of the king-emperor,
and has a royal salute of twenty-one guns. as transmitted through the Secretary of
There are eight minor states in Rajputana ;
State for India. The expenditure of the
live in Central India (including the inter- Indian revenues in India and elsewhere
esting little Mohammedan principality of that is to say, the annual Budget of the

GENERAL ADEN, A STRONGLY FORTIFIEi ON OF BRITAIN


5560
VOLCANIC SCENERY AT ELPHINSTONE INLET IN THE GULF~OR IWtT

a cable station was once established on Telegraph I s^^^^^ m the place only from November March
till ;

others went mad and the remainder fled. fe?cL'llf


th'e fe^^roTnd frTe^^^^^'^^ii, ^^^^l^ttsT^^J^
Viceroy's government—is controlled by foreign affairs of the Indian Empire,
the Secretary of State and the Council which include dealing with the feudatory
of the India Office, who thus, in a manner, and allied states within and without
act as a kind of selected parliament to the hmits of the Indian Empire, are
discuss and determine by a majority of under the special superintendence of
votes how the revenues of India shall be the Viceroy, One of the government
spent. It is on this board of financial members of Council takes charge of the
control— the India Office Council— that it finances of India, another of revenue and
has been suggested elected or selected agriculture a third is the military member,
;
native-born Indians should sit to represent charged more especially with army supply;
the views of native-born Indians at head- a fourth supervises the Public Works, a
quarters on matters of Indian fifth the Home Office and the Legislative,
Vicerov'a
Council
"nance and taxation. The and a sixth commerce and industry. Each
of Seven Governor- General is assisted of the nine departments of state has a
in his government of India by special secretary at the head of it. In-
a council of seven members appointed by cluding the Viceroy, there are only eight
the Crown through the Secretary of State " Ministers " in the Executive
Council.
for India. These councillors hold their There is further a Legislative Council
appointment ordinarily for five years, nominated by the Viceroy, consisting of
and constitute practically a Cabinet of not more than sixteen members, or seven-
Ministers to carry on the Viceroy's govern- teen with the addition of the lieutenant-
ment. The seventh member of Council, governor of Bengal. This Council has
for some reason called " extraordinary,"
power, subject to certain restrictions, to
is the British commander-in-chief
over make laws for all persons within British
all the king-emperor's forces in the India, for British subjects within the
all
Indian Empire. He is practically Minister native states, and for all Indian subjects,
for War in the Viceroy's Council. The or protected subjects, of the king in any

5561
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
part of the world. The members of this with the matters of the province, and are
Council are nominated by the Viceroy subject to the sanction of the Governor-
under the provisions of Viscount Cross's General. None of these legislatures may do
Act of 1892, a clause of which makes it more than discuss the financial statements
possible for the Viceroy to introduce the of the supreme and local governments,
elective principle into the nomination of and ask questions about them. They may
some or all of these legislative councillors. not propose resolutions or call for any
We have here a door already provided, by votes on the subject of finance.
, ... which the new measures of The metropolitan state of Bengal, and
"* representative government will all the other provinces of British India, are
m*1k* a
J J
.. be prudently introduced into under governors, lieutenant-governors, or
India. The Legislative Council, chief commissioners. With the exceptions
which includes the members of the Execu- only of the governors of Bombay and
tive Council, holds its sittings in public, Madras, who are appointed by the king
and the text of the Bills to be discussed on the recommendation of the British
must first be published for general informa- Government, outside the ranks of the
tion through the government " Gazette." ordinary service, all these great executive
Further, no Bill, as ^ rule, is brought posts are filled from the Indian Civil or
before the Viceroy's Legislative Council Political Service. The Viceroy nominates
which has not first been subjected to and the Crown appoints the lieutenant-
the criticism of the several provincial governors, and the Governor- General in
governments. The wide development of council appoints the chief commissioners.
the British Indian and vernacular Press Each Indian province is divided into
ensures the fullest publicity for the text of divisions under commissioners. These,
all new measures, and the national voice of again, are split up into districts, which
India to some extent thus reacts on its form the unit of administration. At the
government, for there is no hole-and- head of each district is an executive
corner legislation, and the Viceroy's _. . officer,
. styled " collector,"
Divisions .<
Council, before placing any new law on inagistrate." or "deputy-
of Indian °. .
,, u > x-
the Statute Book, is well informed as to p commissioner,
. who has entire
its popular reception. control of the district and is
Among the Viceroy's nominated council, responsible to the governor or chief
natives of India probably predominate in Commissioner of the province. Associated
numbers over the unofficial British mem- with or subordinate to the collector are
bers. Of these last there are generally deputy- collectors, other magistrates, or
representatives of commerce, of the Bar, assistants.
and of railways. This supreme Legislative " The main functions of the collector-
Council might undoubtedly be much larger magistrate are twofold," says Sir William
— the maximum of sixteen, as it is, is not Hunter. " He is a fiscal officer, charged
always attained it might include repre-
; with the collection of the revenue from
sentatives of the larger feudatory states, the land and other sources he is also
;

of the principal religions, of native law, a civil and criminal judge, both of first
medicine, commerce, and industry. To instance and in appeal he is the
;

a certain extent, also, the elective principle representative of a paternal, and not of a
might be prudently and gradually intro- constitutional government. Police, gaols,
duced. Since these lines were written, education, municipalities, roads, sanita-
Lord Morley's far-reaching measures for tion, dispensaries, the local taxation, and
representative government in the Imperial revenues of his district are to
Lord> m< .
Morley t j-
. India u
have met most^ ofr ^i_
j.
these him matters of daily concern. He is
ntf i!**^
Difficulties
difficulties and have attempted expected to make himself acquainted with
X 1 .1
A J XL
to solve them. As regards the every phase of the social life of the natives,
great provincial administrations, there and with every natural aspect of the
are legislative councils in Bengal and the country. He should be a lawyer, an
Central Provinces, in Burma, Eastern accountant, a surveyor, and a ready
Bengal, the United Provinces of Agra writer of state papers. He ought to possess
and Oudh, the Punjab, Madras, and no mean
knowledge of agriculture,
Bombay. The acts of these provincial political economy, and engineering."
legislative councils, on which there are There are at present some 260 districts
invariably native members, can only deal in British India administered by these
55O2
, —
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INNER EMPIRE
collector-magistrates. In some cases there taxes, enact by-laws, make improve-
is a collector and a magistrate, the two ments, and spend money ; but the sanction
functions being occasionally separate. It of the provincial government is necessary
is scarcely necessary to point out that before new taxes or new by-laws can
these invaluable officials are drawn from be enforced. Very naturally, the vast
the far-famed Indian Civil Service, the majority of the members of these munici-
finest Civil Service in the world, entrance palities are Indians, and this experiment
into which is no longer a matter of in self-government is being watched with
patronage, but through open competition. „ . great interest by those who
xpenmen
The collector is the mainstay of the j^^p^^ little by little, to induct
British Government in India. British
valour won India in the first instance, and
^
bovernment
.

1111^
the natives of India into the
harmonious, capable, and honest
regained it after the mutiny but the wise,
; administration of their home government.
incorruptibly j ust behaviour of the Ci vil.Ser- For rural tracts there are district and
vice, from its reconstruction in 1853-1858 local boards which are in charge of roads,
to the present day, has done more than schools and hospitals. Gibraltar, a Crown
any feat of arms to retain the allegiance colony, is little else than a garrison town
of the masses among the 200,000,000
of directly governed natives of India.

nearly two square miles in area governed
autocratically by a military governor and
The people of the feudatory states are a civilian colonial secretary.
governed by their native princes in most Malta, Gozo, and Comino are an archi-
cases, through a machinery of Ministers pelago of three islands and two islets in
and councils, similar in degree to that of the Central Mediterranean (117 square
British India, except, of course, that the miles in area ;
population, 206,690).
employes are all natives of India. In most The governor, always a military officer, is
cases justice between British Indians on assisted by a lieutenant-governor (civilian),
the territories of the feudatory states is an executive council, and a council of
. . administered by the resident or government consisting of eleven official
J..

th^N t' ^S^nt of the Governor-General, members, including the governor, and
Princes
^^^ resides at the court of each eight elected members. The governor has
feudatory prince, and advises a right in case of necessity to legislate
the latter in such of his affairs as call for by order-in-council.
attention. No feudatory prince has the Cyprus is still theoretically a Turkish
ri^t. to make peace or war, to send possession. By agreements concluded
ambassadors to other feudatory princes with the Porte between June and August,
ork;o external states, or tp keep an armed 1878, the island of Cyprus was handed over
foibe above a number agreed upon. to Great Britain to be administered
moreover, no Europeans may reside at entirely free from Turkish control, until
thfeir courts without the sanction of the Russia restored to Turkey the fortress of
supreme government. Chiefs who oppress Kars and other parts of Armenia acquired
or ftiisgovern their subjects, or who waste as the results of the Russo-Turkish War
their revenues, or are unnecessarily absent of 1877-78. At the present time the
from their states, are sharply taken to island is governed by a high commissioner
task but in normal circumstances they
; on the lines of a Crown colony. There is
are very little interfered with, and it is a an executive council consisting of the
matter of no dispute that at the present chief secretary, the king's advocate, and
day several native states are as well the receiver-general ; and a legislature
and more cheaply governed than the parts _ . of eighteen members, which,
of India under direct British government. _" ". besides the above-mentioned
u e in
At the present date there are 760 towns ^j^j.gg officials, comprises the
^''"**
in British India large and important chief medical officer, the regis-
enough to possess municipalities that have, trar-general, the principal forest officer, and
under the Local Self- Government Acts of —
twelve' elected councillors nine Christian
1883-1884, been accorded an elective and three Mohammedan. The voters are
character. The majority of the members all male Turkish or British subjects, or
of committees are elected by the rate- foreigners who have resided at least five
payers. These municipal bodies have the years on the island and are payers of land
charge of roads, water supply, drains, taxes. The council may be dissolved at
markets, and sanitation. They can impose the high commissioner's pleasure, and
5563
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
cannot sit for a longer term than five years. of Singapore and Penang, though their
Ceylon is administered by a governor nomination must be confirmed by the
aided by an executive council of five Crown. The governor of the Straits
and a legislative council of seventeen Settlements is also high commissioner
members, comprising nine officials and for the Federated Malay States, which
eight nominated unofficial members, who fact carries his commission right up to
represent in their personalities the Singha- the confines of India and Siam, and for
lese,Mohammedan, Eurasian and British Brunei, in Central North Borneo and is
;

elements in the population. For purposes also consul-general for the protected
of general administration the island is countries of Sarawak and North Borneo.
divided into nine provinces, presided over —
The Federated Malay States except
by government agents who are the —
Johor are administered by state councils
equivalent of the Indian collector. These composed of the native sultan, a British
in their turn are assisted by subordinate resident, a secretary to the resident, and

THE COUNCIL HALL IN THE GOVL VALETTA, MALTA

British, Eurasian and native officials. selected native (Malay) chiefs and Chinese
The Maldive Islands, 500 miles west of notabilities. A British resident-general
Ceylon, are governed by their own here- under the control of the high commis-
ditary sultan and a cabinet of seven sioner supervises the general affairs of the
ministers. They are under the general Malay Peninsula. The state of Johor
supervision of the Ceylon Government, to remains outside this scheme of adminis-
whom the sultan is tributary. tration. Its sultan governs the territory

The Straits Settlements Singapore, of Johor through native ministers and
Malacca, Penang, Labuan Island, Christ- headmen, but entrusts all his foreign
mas Island, and the Cocos Islands are — relations to Great Britain. The same
governed much on the lines of Ceylon by arrangements prevail in Sarawak, a large
a governor, with executive and legisla- Borneo state ruled by an English rajah.
tive councils ; except that of the un-


In Brunei, the country 3,000 square
members of council two may be
official miles is governed by a British resident
nominated by the chambers of commerce with the co-operation of the sultan and

5564
S. B. Barnard, Cape Town
A SITTING OF THE CAPE PARLIAMENT: THE LATE CECIL RHODES IS INDICATED BY A X

SESSION W. Waters, Fij'


THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF FIJI IN J.

PARLIAMENTS OF BRITAIN'S OVERSEAS DOMINIONS


5565
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
native ministers. British North Borneo is limited to the islands of Zanzibar and
is administered by a governor, practically Pemba, though the sultan, or sayyid, is
appointed by the Crown, and a court of still the theoretical sovereign over the
directors sitting in London. The territory coast strip of British East Africa. The
is divided into ten provinces, and is government of Zanzibar is carried on by

administered as in Sarawak much on — the sultan through a British Prime
the lines of a Crown colony. In Sarawak Minister and native officials, judges, etc.,
the rajah is assisted in the work of but under the supervision of a British
. government by a nominated agent and consul-general, who also have
council of seven members. The exclusive jurisdiction over all British
th^'r""^*
'''
, *, colony of Fiji has a governor. subjects or foreigners not the subjects of
Islands J 1 ^.
i- 1 •

executive and legislative coun- Powers having special treaty relations with
cils but six members out of eighteen are
; the sultan's government. The Somaliland
elected by the non-native settlers, and Protectorate is administered simply by a
two are native representatives nominated commissioner and commander-in-chief.
by the governor. The native population British East Africa (area, 177,100 square
(Fijians) —
over go.ooo in number are — miles) has a governor and commander-in-
accorded a large share of self-government. chief, and a heutenant-governor an exe- ;

This is arranged for by village and cutive and a legislative council. This
district councils, meetings of chiefs, and last consists of eight official members
a native regulation board, which has the and three (nominated) unofficial. The
governor as president and four European territory is divided into seven provinces
and thirteen native members. The under provincial commissioners, who
native legislation of the board must have twenty-six collectors under them.
receive the sanction of the legislative The Uganda Protectorate is ad-
council before becoming law. ministered by a governor and com-
The Fiji Islands are divided into seven- mander-in-chief, but there is at present
teen provinces under the control of , no council. The Uganda
gan a s
European or native commissioners. The Province and portions of the
governor of Fiji is also high commissioner „ ,. Western Province (Toro
. and An-
Parhament ,, ,
^
, ,

for the Western Pacific, and as such kole) are under native govern-
controls the native governments of Tonga ments, except as regards jurisdiction over
(which kingdom has a legislative as- non-natives of the province or British or
sembly), the New Hebrides (jointly with foreign subjects. These native govern-
France), the Gilbert Islands, British ments are carried on under British super-
Solomon Islands (area, 8,357 square miles), vision, and the British governor alone has
Santa Cruz Islands, Maiden Island, etc., the power of life and death. There are
etc. He is also assisted by resident five provinces. In the native kingdom of
commissioners and deputy commissioners. Uganda there is a native parliament, or
The Crown Colony of Hong Kong is lukiko, the deliberations of which assist
administered by a governor, an executive the king, or " kabaka," of Uganda (at
council, and a legislative council of the present a minor) and his ministry in their

usual type eight official members and government of the kingdom of Uganda,
six unofficial. Of these last, four are a state of great antiquity.
nominated by the Crown, and one is The territory once called British Central
nominated by the chamber of commerce, Africa, north of the Zambesi, is now
one by the justices of the peace. Wei- divided into the protectorate of Nyassa-
-,. . hai-wei, in North China, is ad-
, land and North-east and North-west
,
J
by a commissioner,
ministered Rhjdesia. The first-named is adminis-
by ordinance.
legislates tered by a governor and commander-in-
WeYiri-wei }^,^«
1 he territory is leased by chief, an executive and a legislative
China on an uncertain term, and includes council, the latter consisting of nominated
the walled city of Wei-hai-wei and an and official members whose legislation is
area outside of about 283 miles. Over subject governor's veto.
to the This
this last the administration is mainly virtual colony is divided into thirteen
carried on by native headmen under the districts under the charge of residents,
supervision of the British commissioner. first, second and third class. North-east
The native government of the sultanate and North-west Rhodesia are governed
of Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa, by administrators and magistrates in the
5566

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INNER EMPIRE


service of the British South Africa legislative assembly of 69 members, all
Chartered Company. Lewanika, king of freely elected by the
registered voters in
the Barotse, has still a considerable the 69 existing electoral divisions. The
amount of autonomous power over his franchise is limited to " white male
own subjects. North-west Rhodesia comes British subjects," and the qualification is
within the purview of the South African a minimum of six months' residence in
high commissioner North-east Rhodesia
;
the Transvaal. The registration of voters
is subject to some supervision by the takes place biennially. The duration of
governor of Nyassaland, who, by arrange- „ . the assembly is a maximum of
. .

ment, supplies the armed force for the five years, if not dissolved earUer
Y
country's defence.
Colon** ^y *^® governor on the advice
The court of appeal from the courts of ^ of his ministers. Members of
Nyassaland and North-east Rhodesia lies the are paid a maximum
legislature
in Zanzibar that of North-west Rho-
; of annually. The languages of
£300
desian justice in Cape Town. As time goes discussion are English and Dutch, but
on, North-west and Southern Rhodesia the language of record is English. Pro-
will probably take their places in the vision is made in the Transvaal Constitu-
great South African Confederation, while tion for the safeguarding of the landed
North-east Rhodesia and Nyassaland will and other interests of the native negroes,
become once more fused under their which in a great measure atones for the
original British Central Africa,
title of denial to them of the franchise.
and a great negro state
will constitute The constitution and government of the
under direct British management. Orange River Colony resemble very closely
The Seychelles Archipelago is admin- those of the Transvaal. The number of
istered by a governor, and executive members of the legislative assembly is at
and a legislative council, the last con- present thirty-eight, elected by registered
sisting of nominated members, three voters. Basutoland, between the Orange
official and three the governor
unofficial, State and Natal, is a great negro reserva-
_ having an original and a tion, of which the high commissioner of
eprescn a ivc
(,g^g^jj^„ vote. The island of South Africa is governor. The territory is
. ^ ... Mauntms has an area of 705 governed by a resident commissioner
in Mauritius ., ,\ -^
square miles and a popula- under the direction of the high com-
tion of 378,000. The government is missioner, who has exclusive jurisdiction
carried on by a governor, who is assisted over all persons not native Basutos. To
by an executive council composed of the these Europeans, Asiatics, or foreign
commander of H.M. troops, the colonial negroes, numbering in all scarcely more
secretary, the procureur-general, the than 1,000, justice is administered by
receiver-general, the auditor-general, and seven assistant commissioners who are
two elected members of the council of also magistrates. The 347,000 Basutos
government. This last is almost equivalent are ruled by their own chiefs subject to
to a lower house of legislature. appeals to the British magistrate's court.
It consists, besides the governor and Natal, with which the native territories
eight ex-officio members, of nine members of Zululand and Amatongaland and the
nominated by the governor and ten former Transvaal district of Vrijheid are
members elected by the people on now amalgamated, is ruled hy a governor,
a moderate franchise. So that the a responsible ministry, a legislative

Mauritians rapidly becoming a people council, and an elective legislative as-
of Hindu, Negro and Chinese race sembly. The members of the
e u mg
possess the beginnings of a representa- legislative council are sum-
tive government. The small island de- °N* t I
nioned to act by the governor-
pendencies of Mauritius are governed by in-council. They sit for ten
magistrates appointed by the governor. years, and at present are thirteen in
The Transvaal is the youngest of the number. No one can be summoned to
self-governing colonies. It has a governor, this " senate " unless he is the proprietor
who, in this instance, is also the high of at least ;f5oo worth of immovable*
commissioner for all South Africa. He property within the colony. The fran-
governs constitutionally through a chise for the election of members of the
legislative council (which is to be ulti- legislative assembly is limited to the
mately an elective senate) and a male sex, is apparently granted without
5567

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


considerations of race or literacy, and per annum) and a standard of literacy
is only qualified by the possession of ability to write one's name and address.
immovable property of the minimum The suffrage is still limited to males, but
value of /50, or by paying rent for such no race, colour, or religious distinction
property of at least £10 per annum, is made in the distribution of the franchise.
or having resided at least three years Members of both houses are paid
in the colony, and possessing not less at the rate of £1 is. a day, with about
than £96 income per annum. The same £60 extra for travelling expenses.
qualifications apply to member- Local government (divisional councils,
j^
^
Negroes
ship of the legislature.
^ .
in „ ., , °
,
The municipalities, and village-management
, ,, ,

a^ssembly sits for not more than boards) of an elaborate and efficient type
Zuluiand
four years. Members of the is fully developed over Cape Colony and
legislature are not paid, unless they are the included district of British Bechuana-
ministers,but receive a travelling allowance. land. The Bechuanaland Protectorate
The province of Zululand is almost stretches between the northern parts of
entirely occupied by native negroes. Only Cape Colony and the Zambesi, with an
an infinitesimal part of its area one- — area of 275,000 square miles, and a popu-
thirtieth —has been taken up by non- lation of 129,000 negroes and 1,000 whites.
natives. One-fifth of the area of "old" It is governed as regards the natives by
Natal set aside as a native reserve,
is six native chiefs, the most im.portant of
besides large areas that have been bought whom is Khama. As regards Europeans
by negroes from the government. and internal or inter-tribal affairs the ad-
In this and other respects the negroes of ministration is directed by a resident
Natal seem to have been very well treated commissioner, government secretary,
by the Colonial Government but the ; assistant commissioners, magistrates, etc.,
means administering justice among
of under the general direction of the high
them, and the extent to which their commissioner for South Africa. The
interests are represented in the Natal _ area of Southern Rhodesia is
. ,
Rhodesia s
Parliament, seem to require improvement. J48575
,~ '-^'^ s ^are
^ miles, the
Limited ,. ,
„^o '

The negro territory of Swaziland, on P . .JLuropean population is 14,010 ;

the eastern side of the Transvaal (area, and the native population,
6,536 square miles population, 85,000
; 639,418. The country is governed by
negroes, 900 whites), is governed by a the British South Africa Chartered
resident commissioner under the direc- Company, through an administrator, an
tion of the high commissioner of South executive council of six, and a legislative
Africa, much on the lines of Basutoland. council sixteen members.
of Seven
Cape Colony is the premier state of members out of these sixteen are elected
South Africa, and by far the oldest self- by registered voters on a franchise which
governing colony in Africa. It has pos- appears to be limited to European resi-
sessed representative institutions since dents. The executive and legislative
1853, but the present form of government councils sit for three years.
through responsible ministers only dates All laws passed must be submitted for
from 1872. The system, of course, starts sanction to the high commissioner of South
with a governor, who receives no less Africa, under whose control is placed the
than ;f8,ooo a year, and who rules with military police. The high commissioner
the advice of six ministers. There is a is represented locally by a resident com-
legislative council of twenty-six elected missioner. For administration Southern
_. „ . members, who sit for seven Rhodesia is divided into two provinces
The Premier ,, ,.^ ,. , •

g J
years, the qualification being and eight districts. Native affairs are
c »u Ainea
*» /2,oooof immovable, or /4,ooo managed (under the administrator) by
South ^r

,1
of movable property.
1
The ^^W a department of state and thirty-one or
house of assembly consists of 107 elected thirty-two native commissioners. All legis-
members, and lasts (unless dissolved lation and land questions affecting natives
earlier) for five years. The qualification are especially under the supervision and
for the exercise of the franchise for the control of the high commissioner.
election to both houses, and for sitting The little island of St. Helena, in the
in the house of assembly, is the possession Atlantic, is 47 square miles in area, and
of personal property (not tribal) worth at has a population of about 4,000. Its
least ;^75 (or salary of not less than £50 affairs are managed by a governor and an
5568
ADMINISTERING JUSTICE TO BRITISH SUBJECT PEOPLES
354 5569

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


executive council. The island of Ascension for theSea Queen's capital and the Syrens'
is administered by a naval commandant pied-a-terre.It was more than that in
under the Admiralty. Southern Nigeria the realms of fancy, having been chosen
has a governor, lieutenant-governor, and by Shakespeare for the scenes of " The
colonial secretary, an executive of seven Tempest." Instead of this it has been
official members, and a legislative council of turned in the course of centuries into
ten official and four nominated unofficial an important naval base on the North
members, two of whom are negroes. The American station, with dockyard, victual-
^
Negro „.
colony is divided into three ling establishment,and coaling station.
Kings ••'
j u x j. i.

in Northern
P^ovmces and about twenty There are 360 small islands in the group,
Nigeria
districts, administered by three and only about twenty square miles of
provincial commissioners and a habitable land, with a population of 683
large number of district commissioners. whites and 11,000 blacks or half-castes.
Northern Nigeria is governed by a high com- The governor over this microcosm is the
missioner without any executive or legis- officer in command of the troops, and he
lative councils. The fourteen provinces is assisted by an executive council of six
are supervised by ninety-nine residents members, a legislative assembly of nine
and assistant-residents. A large amount both these are appointed by the Crown
of North Nigerian territory is directly ad- and a house of assembly thirty-six —
ministered, so far as natives are concerned, members —elected by the people. The
by negro or negroid kings and rulers. franchise is dependent on the possession
The colony of the Gold Coast has a of freehold property of not less than £60
governor, an executive council of four, value. Members of the legislature are
and a legislative council of five official paid eight shillings a day for attendance.
and four unofficial nominated members, Representative institutions in the Ber-
of whom one is a negro. There is a depart- mudas date from 1620. The constitution
ment and a secretary for native affairs, of Jamaica, granted in 1662, was, like
and Ashanti and the northern territories that of Bermuda, more suited to a

are governed under the Gold Coast . . , large country than a small

governor by chief commissioners, pro-
amaica s
n arge
island, though Jamaica has
vincial, and travelling commissioners. ^^ ^^^^ ^^ 4,207 square miles
Sierra Leone, for administrative pur- and a population, mainly
poses, is divided into a colony of about negro, of 830,261. But the ancient con-
4,300 square miles and a protectorate of stitution was surrendered in 1866, and,
28,110 square miles in area. Both are after several changes and enlargements,
under the administration of the same now stands thus :

governor, colonial secretary, and general The governor rules with the assistance of
staff; but as regards the colony along the a privy council of not more than eight in
coast the governor is assisted by an —
number mostly officials —appointed by
executive council of five members and a the Crown a legislative
; council of the
legislative council of five official and four governor, six members, ten
ex-officio
unofficial nominated members, of whom nominated and
fourteen elected. The
two are negroes. The protectorate is legislative council may not sit more than
divided into five districts, which are ad- five years without being dissolved. The
ministered by district commissioners, a franchise on which these fourteen repre-
good deal of power over the natives being sentatives, as well as the members of the
still left in the hands of the native chiefs. parochial boards, are elected is regulated
„ . In the Gambia Colony the by a small property qualification, residence,
Bermudas x 1 << >> 1 1 1
, . actual
. colonial area is only rate-paying, and British nationality.
an Important , . ,- , y 1
about 09 square miles, and is Matters of local administration in
Naval Ba
ruled by a governor, execu- Jamaica are carried out by fifteen elected
tive council (three members), legislative parochial boards of fifteen parishes, into
council (six official, three unofficial nomi- which the whole island is divided. The
nated members, one of them a negro). Turks and Caicos Islands are a de-

The protectorate 3,911 square miles is — pendency of Jamaica, with 5,287 inhabi-
administered by the governor through tants, the former group being administered
a number of travelling commissioners. by a commissioner and a legislative
The lovely little archipelago of the board appointed by the Crown. The
Bermudas Wcis really intended by Nature Cayman Islands are likewise administered
5570
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INNER EMPIRE
by a commissioner under the supervision As Barbados is exceedingly prosperous,
of the governor of Jamaica. The Bahama this elaborate machinery of government
Islands have a governor, an executive is apparently worth while. Trinidad and
council of nine, a legislative council of Tobago, with an area of 1,868 square
nine, and a representative assembly of miles and a population of about 273,898,
twenty-nine members elected on a small have no representative institutions.
property franchise. The total area of Tobago Island is simply a district of
this group is 5,450 square miles. Trinidad, under a district officer. The

The Leeward Islands area, 701 square _,. „
The Prosperous
two islands are under the
miles ;
population, 128,000 have a— ...
Island
, , .,,
rule of a governor, with an
,. ° 1 r •

governor, a federal executive


council ,-, .. .
. executive council of six
of Trinidad , , 1 1 x-
nominated by the Crown, and a federal members and a legislative
legislature of eight nominated and eight council consisting of the governor, ten
elected members. These last are elected other and eleven unofficial
officials,
by the unofficial members of the local members nominated by the governor for
legislative councils of Antigua, Dominica, five years. The large and prosperous
and St. Kitts-Nevis. The Leeward island of Trinidad is divided into sixteen
Islands are divided for purposes of local counties, and these are administered by
administration into five presidencies the : nine district officers. It is therefore entirely
island groups of Antigua, Montserrat, St. without representative institutions.
Kitts and Nevis, Virgin, and Dominica. The colony of British Honduras, on the
The three first-named and Dominica mainland of Central America, is adminis-
possess local executive and legislative tered by a governor, an executive council of
councils, the members of which, official five members, and a nominated legislative
and unofficial, are nominated. The Virgin council of three official and five unofficial
Islands have only an executive council. members. It is divided into six districts
There is an administrator for St. under district commissioners.
Christopher, etc., and one Guiana, on the mainland of
British
Advanced
for Dominica, and com- Northern South America, is a relatively
Government in
missioners for Montserrat large possession, over 90,000 square miles
Barbados
and the Virgin Islands. The in area, with a population of 307,000, the

Windward Islands area, 524 square largest elements in which are negroes and
miles ;
population, 175,587 have — a East Indians. The administration consists
governor, who usually resides at Grenada, of a governor, an executive council of
an administrator for St. Lucia, and an eight members, two ex-officio, six nomi-
administrator for St. Vincent. In each of nated, a Court of Policy (legislative
the three islands there are executive and council), and a Combined Court, which
legislative councils, the members of which deals with finance. The Court of Policy
are nominated. In all the legislative is composed of seven official and eight
councils there are unofficial members. elected members the Combined Court
;

The island of Barbados has an area of consists of these fifteen members of the

only 166 square miles a little larger than Court of Policy (which is a purely legis-

the Isle of Wight and a population of lative body), and, in addition, of six elected
under 200,000, but it goes far beyond any financial representatives. Thus the Com-
other West Indian colony in representa- bined Court comprises fourteen elected
tive government. It has a governor all to unofficial members and seven officials. The
itself, an executive of four members functions of this Combined Court are to
besides the governor, an executive com- u »British
•*• t consider the estimate of expen-
fiow J., J u iu
mittee partly elective, a nominated legis- Q. diture prepared by the governor
lative council of nine members, and a . ^ .in executive council and to de-
is Governed .,

j
house of assembly of twenty four mem-
.

termine the ways and means to


bers. The last-named are elected annu- meet it. This court alone can levy taxes.
ally by the people on a low property fran- Thus, in the possession of this Combined
chise. The executive committee has Court, with a preponderating unofficial
almost the functions of a responsible majority of seven elected representatives,
ministry. The non-elective element con- the voting inhabitants of British Guiana
sists of the four members of the House come nearest of all the British possessions
of Assembly appointed by the governor in Tropical America (except Barbados)
to serve on the executive committee. to a government of popular control. But,
5571
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


though there are no specific principles of registration. The number of registered
race exchision, the quaHfications for electors at present out of a population of
membership of the legislature and the 307,000 is about 3,100. Only about 130
franchise for electors at present render square miles of British Guiana are under
it difficult for non-Europeans to control cultivation. There are two municipalities,
the country's destinies. with mayor and town council George- —
The qualification for election to the town and New Amsterdam and local —
Guianan Court of Policy consists of (i) government is further provided for by fifty-
N ownership of 80 acres of land, half of which four village and country district councils.
must be under cultivation or (2) owner-
; The Falkland Islands have an area
ship of immovable property of a value not (excluding the uninhabited South Georgia,
less than £1,562 los. ; or (3) ownership or 1,000 square miles) of about 6,500 square
possession under a lease for twenty-one miles, and a population of about 2,100.
years and upwards of a house or house and They are administered by a governor, an
land of the annual rental value of ;(^250. executive council of four officials, and a
The qualification for a financial representa- legislative council of three officials and
tive is the same as for a member of the two unofficial appointed by the Crown.
Court of Pohcy, with the important addi- Before passing on to consider the sta-
tion that such representative must also tistics of other parts of British America,
possess a " clear annual income of £300 we might note the following points about
arising from any kind of property not the possessions in the West Indies and
mentioned in any other property qualifica- Bermudas, Honduras, and Guiana. The
tion, or from any profession, business, or ... , _ total white population of
Mixed Races t, -j.- t_ ,•
1 \ -n a ™
trade carried on in the colony." British (mainlj'), Portuguese,
U d th

The franchise which elects these four- d'^w'^ n
British Flag
French, and Spanish descent
^ V andj
. '

teen members of the legislature is either IS 62,300. Negroes


" county " or " city." Its restrictions mulattoes amount to about 1,550,000
are not very severe, being either ownership natives of British India, 210,000 (chiefly
or tenancy of cultivated land or houses, in Guiana, 110,000; Trinidad, 87,000;
or a minimum income of not less than and Jamaica, 13,000); Chinese, 1,500;
£roo (coupled with residence), or payment aboriginal Amerindians (in British Hon-
of twelve months' taxes of not less than duras, Dominica, and Guiana, about
£4 3s. 4d., combined with not less than 11,000) mixed races, compounded of negro,
;

six months' residence prior to date of East Indian, and Amerindian, 10,000.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE NEW DOCKS AT SIMON'S BAY IN SOUTH AFRICA


5572

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
XI G.C.M.G.

PARLIAMENTS OF THE OUTER EMPIRE


CANADA AND AUSTRALIA AND THEIR
ADVANCED SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT
'X'HE vast Dominion of Canada (nominal only with direct taxation within the
*• area, 3,745,574 square miles, though province, provincial loans, the manage-
only about 2,000,000 square miles are really ment of provincial lands, provincial and
habitable) is perhaps the portion of the municipal offices, licences, public works,
British Empire that is most independent education, and general civil law. They
of Great Britain. Canada makes no contri- also possess concurrent legislative powers
bution, direct or indirect, to the Imperial with the Dominion Parliament on ques-
fleet or army but she shares with Great
; tions of agriculture, quarantine, and
Britain the rule of tlie king-emperor, and immigration. All their Bills require the
admits an appeal to the Judicial Com- assent of the lieutenant-governor, and may
mittee of the Privy Council, which is almost „ ^. -be disallowed within one year
Functions of
by the Governor-General. -Vl
i,. /^ -^ ,
expunged from the Australian constitution. 41. r» • •
the Dominion ,-/
The
-n •
j
The rule of the king is delegated to a Parlia t
Dommion Parliament deals
1 1 u.

Governor-General, appointed usually on with all questions except those


the advice of the British Cabinet. But this specifically delegated by the constitution
governor, once appointed, enjoys greater to the provincial legislatures, and may
independence than any other delegate of even negotiate commercial treaties with
regal authority, and directs the govern- foreign Powers or other self-governing
ment of Canada more like a constitutional portions of the British Empire. But all
president elected for five years than a Bills passed by the Dominion Parliament
nominee of the British Colonial Office. He require the assent of the Governor-
is assisted by a Privy Council, chosen and General, and may be disallowed by the
nominated by himself. Representing the king-emperor within two years.
king, he rules with the advice of respon- The Senate consists of eighty-seven
sible ministers, through a parliament of • members, nominated for life by the
Senate and House of Commons. Governor-General. Their qualifications
The Dominion of Canada is divided at are (i) Having attained the age of thirty
:
;

present into nine provinces and a terri- (2) birth or residence in the province for
tory ( Yukon) . The unorganised remainder which they are appointed (3) the posses-
;

of the far north and east is administered sion of at least $4,000 worth of property.
through the Home Office of the Dominion The members of the House of Commons
Ministry. With the exception of the Yukon need no property qualification. They
^ territory, each province has a must be British subjects, born or natu-
fully-equipped local govern- ralised, and twenty-one years of age or
^^°^^'^"JJf;'^
p
*''* ""^

ment 1 ieutenant- governor, upwards. A member cannot sit for both
responsible ministry, elected a provincial legislature and the Dominion
legislature. In the case of Quebec and Parliament. Members are elected by
Nova Scotia the local parliament consists ballot —
on a male suffrage suffrage has
of —
two houses a Legislative Council not been granted to women in Canada
equivalent to a senate, and a Legislative which is very wide, practically manhood
Assembly . All the other provinces have a suffrage in Ontario, Manitoba, British
Legislative Assembly only. Columbia, and Prince Edward's Island,
The Dominion Parliament has much Saskatchewan and Alberta a small ;

greater and more comprehensive powers property limit in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and
than the Senate and Congress of the United New Brunswick. Since 1898, the decision
States. The provincial legislatures deal as to the suffrage for election to the

5573
;:

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Dominion Parliament has been left to the term for each elected assembly is four
provinces to decide according to local years. The majority in each assembly
views. Senators and members are paid elects the ministry which is to serve as the
senators, $2,500 per annum ; members, a governor's executive. Local government
maximum of $2,500 per session. A parlia- — except for the Municipal Council of
ment may not last longer than five years. St. John's— is almost entirely directed by
Local government throughout settled the ministry and government depart-
Canada is admirably and fully developed ments at headquarters (St. John's).
by rural, village, town, city, and county It is interesting to note that in differ-
councils. The colony of Newfoundland, with ences between the Dominion ParUament
the adjoining coast strip of Labrador, is and the provincial legislatures an appeal
not part of the dominion of Canada, but an to the Judicial Committee of the Privy
independent government under a governor Council resulted in a satisfactory settle-
and responsible ministry. There is an ment. Appeals still lie from the Supreme
Executive Council of nine ministers, over — —
Court created in 1876 of the Canadian

THE CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS IN SESSION W. J. Toiiley

which the governor presides a Legisla-


; Dominion to the Privy Council of the
tive Council of eighteen members, nomi- United Kingdom. If this could become and
nated for life by the Governor-in-Council remain the final court of appeal for the
and there is a House of Assembly of thirty- whole empire it would do more than any
six members, elected by ballot on manhood other measure to bind it together. But
suffrage. There is a property qualification the British law-lords and the national
for members of a minimum value of $2,500, indifference to pomp and show, combine
or a yearly income of $500. A payment of to hinder the creation of an ideal Supreme
$120 is made in each session to each Imperial Court of Appeal out of the
legislative councillor, and of $200 or $300 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
—according —
to distance of residence to
" Such a court," said Sir Edward Clarke
each member of the House of Assembly. some time ago, " should be strong in its
The session seldom lasts more than three constitution, dignified in its ceremonial,
months in each year, and the maximum and even splendid in its surroundings.
5574
THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF VICTORIA
SCENES IN TWO OF AUSTRALIA'S HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
55^5
— — —

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


so as to command the respect and touch free. The electoral franchise is conferred on
the imagination of our brethren beyond men and women alike since 1902. Every
the seas." " The Judicial Committee of man or woman, being a natural-born or
the Privy Council," said a morning paper naturalised subject of his Majesty, above
recently, " which is the final court of twenty-one years of age, having resided
appeal for thQ citizens of the Greater one year in the state, and three months
Britain, is one of the curiosities of our legal in a particular electoral district, is qualified
system. It occupies a bare, barn-like as an elector, and is entitled to one vote
^ ... room in Whitehall ; its mem- only. Local government in New South
J
bers drop m casually and sit Wales is fully provided for through the
.
Australia
. ..around a horseshoe table shires and municipal councils.
.1 i-

n • •

in their ordinary walking In the state of Victoria there are gover-


clothes, and there is not a soUtary symbol nor, lieutenant-governor, a Cabinet or
of the dignity one would naturally expect Executive Council, a Legislative Council
to see associated with a tribunal of such (thirty-four in number), and a Legislative
imperial importance and world-wide Assembly. Members of the Upper House,
jurisdiction." or Legislative Council, are elected for
The Commonwealth
of Australia did not six years. Their qualification is the posses-
attain to completion as a unified organisa- sion of an estate of the net annual minimum
tion until twenty years after the Canadian value of ;^50 for one year prior to the
Dominion, by the inclusion of the great election. Electors of the Council must be
North-west, assumed its present unity and in possession of property of the rateable
comprehensive national force. The act value of ;^io, if freehold, or £1$ if derived
creating a Commonwealth of Austraha from leasehold ; unless, that is, they are
came into vigour on January ist, 1901. graduates of a British or colonial university
The commonwealth the sixconsists of or students of the Melbourne University,
states of New South
Wales, Victoria, ministers of religion, certificated teachers,
South Austraha, Queensland, Tasmania, ,,. , . , lawyers, medical practi-
Victoria s ,. ' re c
and Western Australia the little ; -, ^
, , , tioners, or oincers of army or
Complete Local .
, 1 j
islands of Norfolk and Lord Howe
.

^ navy; in such case they need


.

governed by New South Wales and the — no property qualification for


territory of Papua, administered by the the election of senators. The members of
commonwealth government. All the six this upper house are not paid. The Legis-
states have governors appointed directly lative Assembly, which, like most of the
by the Crown i.e., on the advice of the Australian lower houses, sits for three years
British Cabinet; but the lieutenant-governor only, unless dissolved earlier, is composed
of Papua is appointed by the Governor- of sixty-five members. Neither these nor
General of the commonwealth, on the their electors require any property qualifi-
advice of his Ministers. The governors of cation. There are the usual provisions
the six states may correspond direct with as to being a British or naturalised
the Colonial Ofhce, but must supply the British subject. Members of the lower
Governor-General with copies of their house are paid £300 per annum. The
despatches. franchise for the election of members
The constitution of New South Wales com- of the lower house is practically the same
prises a governor and lieutenant-governor, as that described for New South Wales,
a Legislative Council of not less than except that it is limited to males.
twenty-one members (actually fifty-six). Local government in Victoria is very
appointed for life by the complete, and is carried out by means of
The Constitution
Crown; and a Legislative municipal and shire councils. For election
of N w
South'wales
Assembly of ninety elected —
to these councils by the ratepayers
members. The Assembly the suffrage is extended to women. In
sits for three years, unless dissolved sooner. South Australia, the Legislative Council
Each of the ninety constituencies only consists of eighteen members elected on
returns one member, and each member is much the same terms as in Victoria,
paid £300 a year and, like the members of except that the members elected must be
— ;

Council ^who are not paid any salary in at least thirty years of age, and have
theircapacityof legislative councillors can — resided in the state for at least three years,
travel free on all government railways and while the property limit of the council
tramways, and send their letters postage suffrage is shghtly higher, and there is no

5576
I>ARUAMENTS OF THE OUTER EMPIRE
exemption therefrom for the classes of A good deal of the state is divided into
professional men as in Victoria. This shires (rural districts) and municipal areas
suffrage, Hke the others, is conferred (cities, towns) —
670,255 square miles in
equally upon women. The House of As- all —and over theselocal government,
sembly consists of forty- two members imder elected councils, is fully enforced.
elected for not more than three years. Tasmania has a governor, deputy-
Qualifications and suffrage are similar governor, and the same type of executive
to those of Victoria, except that the and legislature as the other Australian
suffrage is also extended to women. states. There is a maximum of eighteen
Members of both houses are paid a members in the Legislative Council. This
salary of ;f200 a year whilst they serve. body is elected for six years. No property
Local government is carried on through qualification is necessary in either house,
thirty-two elective municipal and dis- but there is a very small property quali-
trict councils in the settled regions. fication attached to the Senate franchise,
In Queensland there is apparently no though, as in Victoria, this is not asked for
lieutenant-governor. The members of in the case of university or professional

IHE TASMANIAN HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY IN SESSION


the Legislative Council (forty-four) are men. Members of the House of Assembly
all nominated by the Crown for life, and (35 in number) are elected for three years,
are unpaid. The Legislative Assembly the quaUfication being as described for
comprises seventy-two members elected South Australia, on the usual adult (male
for a maximum period of three years, and and female) suffrage. The only persons
paid at the rate of £300 a year. There is who may not sit in the legislature of
no property qualification for the members Tasmania are judges of the Supreme
of either legislature. Court, paid officials of the Crown (except
The franchise is granted to all men and responsible ministers), or contractors to
women, born or naturalised British subjects, Government ;neither may any member
from the age of twenty-one years, after of the local legislature here or elsewhere
twelve months' residence in the state, pro- in Australia be at the same time
vided they are not insane, have not been a parliamentary representative in the
criminally convicted or, in the case of men, Commonweath Parliament. The local
have not been guilty of wife-desertion. government of Tasmania is entrusted to
5577
— —
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
elected municipal and rural councils. West alike, universally on the principle of one
Australia has a governor and lieutenant- man one vote that the terms of duration
;

governor, a Legislative Council of thirty of the elected lower houses are invariably
members, and a Legislative Assembly of limited to three -years, and that there is no
fifty. The councillors are elected for six excluding property qualification attached
years, and the members of the Assembly for to either membership or suffrage for the
three. The quaUfication for a councillor is lower houses of legislature.
(i) to be not less than thirty years old; The federal government of Australia
p ar ..i^men ary (2) a resident in the state consists of the king (represented by a
j^^ ^^ least two years (3)
''^' a governor-general), a Senate, and a House
Qualifications
«, . . ,..
m
-p. •-• 1 1 £ •

Bntish subject or five-years


.
;
'

of Representatives. The Governor- General


West Australia t j ,i_- •^t'i ,

naturalised subject. Ihe is assisted by an Executive Council of


franchise for the upper house is conferred ministers who are, or who must become
on persons of both sexes over twenty-one, within three months, members of the
British subjects, resident in the state six Federal Parliament. There are 36 senators
months, and possessing a freehold estate of a who are elected for six years, and receive
clearvalueof£ioo,or the usual proportionate £600 a year each, unless already holding
equivalent in leasehold, rent or ratepaying. salaried posts as ministers, or salaried
The qualification for members of the officers of the house.
lower house is that they should be Members of the House of Representa-
male British subjects over twenty-one tives are elected for three years (unless the
who have resided in the state for twelve house is dissolved sooner), and are paid at
months ; or, if naturalised for five years, the rate of £600 a year. There are at
then their residence must be at least present 75 representatives, but the num-
two years. The franchise for the lower bers fluctuate in each parliament in
house is granted to any man or woman relation to increase or diminution of the
above twenty-one provided they are —
British or naturalised subjects when they —
population. The number of the senators
may be increased or diminished
» , ..,
Australia s It,

r x u 1
have resided at least six months in the i.
in the future, but always on
P . J
state, and whilst they are actually resi- the lines that no original state
Q .

dent in the district at the time of their shall have less than six senators
claim. This condition about residence at nor more than any other original state.
the time of claiming the vote is waived The qualifications for senators and
for those who have a small property representatives are identical twenty-
:

qualification. As throughout the rest of one years of age, to be an elector, or


Australia, no elector has more than one entitled to be to be resident at least
;

vote for the lower house. three years in Australia ;to be a British
Members of both houses are paid ;f200 a subject born, or a naturalised British
year and travel free on government railways. subject of five years' standing. The
Local government in Western Australia federal franchise for election in both
is entrusted to municipal councils elected houses is universal adult suffrage (male
by the ratepayers, and to a number of and female), on the usual terms
public institutions apparently depending twenty-one years of age and upwards,
on the Executive or the Legislature British citizenship, and a minimum of
boards of water supply and sewerage (not twelve months' residence.
a very happy conjuncture !), road boards, The Canadian legislature has been
and local boards of health. The ad- commended because it left practically no
«7t. ».r ministration of Papua con- loophole for dispute as to the competency
Where Women r • i-, _ , ,

J.
. sists of a lieutenant-governor of the Federal Parliament. The subjects
^"^ ^^ Executive Council of on which the provincial parliaments could
the's'^ ff e
six members (officials), and legislate were clearly stipulated, and the
a Legislative Council composed of the Federal Parliament was empowered to deal
Executive and three unofficial members with all else which did not infringe the
appointed by the governor. prerogatives of the British Crown. In the
So much for the provincial administra- Australian Legislature, the case is reversed.
tion of Australia. It will be observed that The scope of the Federal Parliament is
in every state with responsible govern- defined in thirty nine articles, and the
ment, except Victoria, the suffrage is powers of the state governments are
granted on equal terms to men and women not otherwise limited. Disputes on the
5578

J
PARLIAMENTS OF THE OUTER EMPIRE
interpretation of the federal constitution ties andcounties, road districts and town
will have to be referred to the new High Court districts, river drainage, water supply
of Australia, which is to be an appellate, boards, etc. The qualifications for
as well as an original court. An appeal to electors are ratepaying, residence, or the
the final decision of the Judicial Committee possession of property. Municipal fran-
of the Privy Council from the decisions of chise is equally extended to women From
.

the High Court, or from those of the this purview of the forms of government in
Supreme Courts of the federal states, may every part of the British Empire and sphere
only be carried out on a certificate to be of influence, coupled with
Great Britain's
granted by the High Court at its own dis- a knowledge of the institu-
Advanced
cretion. The Federal Parliament under- r» t.L
Daughter KT *•
Nations
tions of the British Islands,
., .,, ,
iu ^ iu
takes to legislate for, and to control, the it will be seen that the

naval and military defence of Australia, countries with the most modern and ideally
its trade, taxation, public debts, loans, perfect type of constitution are Australia
postal service, census, and statistics, and New Zealand next, and only inferior
;

currency, banking, marriage, divorce, old because it still denies the franchise to
age pensions, immigration, emigration, women, is Canada. The states of South
railways, regulations dealing with insol- Africa are not far behind, but some of
vency and corporations, departments of them are fettered by considerations of race
state,foundation of a state capital, etc. etc. questions and restricted franchise. The
The dominion of New Zealand has an Mother Country is still behind the more
area (including all island groups attached advanced daughter nations in the solution
to its administration) of about 105,249 of several social problems and the simpli-
square miles, and a population of nearly fication of administrative machinery.
950,000. Its government consists of a India lacks an admixture of the native
governor and commander-in-chief, an element in her highest councils. Trinidad
Executive Council of Ministers, a Legis- is thought by some to be too purely
lative Council of 45 members, and a House official in its government. Gibraltar,
of Representatives of 80 members, includ- Northern Nigeria, Uganda, and the
ing four Maories. The extreme duration Egyptian Sudan are administered auto-
of membership in the upper house is cratically without executive or legisla-
seven years the House of Representatives
; tive councils. Gibraltar, of course, is little
sits for three years, unless previously else than a garrisoned fort in Uganda
;

dissolved. Members of the Council are there is a highly developed representative


paid £200 a year, representatives £300. native administration, and a good deal of
Councillors are appointed by the governor, Northern Nigeria is still governed in parts
representatives are elected by the people, by native princes.
the qualification for the last-named being The sultan of Zanzibar governs despotic-
that of an elector. The franchise is granted ally through a ministry of English and
....
Maories m
to all men and women of
-r- . ±
Arabs, but in constant touch with the
^ 7 I j« European race over i.
twenty- feelings and interest of the populace the ;

r. , one years of age who have despotism of the petty Arab sultans in
resided at least one year m Aden territory, Socotra, the Hadhramaut,
the colony and three months in the Oman, and Bahrein is tempered by the
electoral district. For the election of the advice of British residents. The rest
four Maori members every adult Maori can of the inner British Empire is not with-
vote who resident in the district for
is out some measure of elective or popular
which the Maori candidate is standing. representation in its councils, and the
As regards local government, this also full measure of popular government in
is elective on the part of the ratepayers. Barbados and the Bermudas seems to
Tlie dominion is divided into municipali- have induced quiet and prosperity.

STABROEK MARKET AND THE STELLINGS AT GEORGETOWN IN BRITISH GUIANA


5579
IN THE ROCKIES: ELBOW RIVER VALLEY AND THE THREE SISTERS

THE NUWARA ELIVA MOUNTAIN IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON

MOUNTAIN RANGES IN GREAT BRITAIN'S OVER-SEAS DOMINIONS


5560

I

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
XII G.C.M.G.

THE SINEWS OF EMPIRE


THE RESOURCES. EDUCATION. AND
DEFENCES OF GREATER BRITAIN
•"THE British Empire not only includes- great waterfalls those— which David
* that extraordinary diversity of human Livingstone discovered on the Zambesi.
races enumerated in another chapter, Fate has entrusted for a time to its charge
but it is equally diverse in its physical — and it is to be hoped Britain will be
geography, fauna, flora, and climates. —
worthy of the stewardship a large share
It contains deserts such as hiay be found of the world's wonders, and many choice
in Southern Egypt, Southern Arabia, „ . ._ , examples of terrestrial
West-central India, and Australia, wherein J"**"'*^"«*' lovdiness. At the same
Share of the ^-^^ ^
it may not chance to rain more than once ^^ ^^^ ^^^^
World s Wonders j
productive regions ofx xv.
j.-
in seven years. It includes regions of the
mountain and forest like Assam, where world are under its sway. Even the
the annual rainfall is the highest known seemingly unproductive, such as those as
about 300 inches per annum. are well nigh locked in the grasp of the last
It extends to the South Pole and the Glacial Period or scorched by the sun of the
North Pole, and possesses territories Sahara Desert, are found to be rich in
within the equatorial belt in Africa, East- —
minerals in gold, nitre, or precious stones.
ern Asia, and South America. It takes The gold of Spanish America and Cali-
under its aegis the highest mountains in the fornia did much to increase the world's
world, the loftiest peaks of the Himalayas, wealth in that metal, but not so much as
and other such notable mountains as has been obtained in the last sixty years
Ruwenzori, Elgon, Kenya, Mlanje, and the from Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand,
. Drakensberg in Africa, Mount South Africa, British Guiana, India, and
oun ains
jj-Q5^Qg jj^ Cyprus, Mount Sinai West Africa. There is silver also in Canada.
_. . in Eastern Egypt, the moun- Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
°^^"
tains of Penang and Perak in Copper is obtained from Australia, from
the Malay Peninsula, the Australian the arid South-west Africa and Northern
Alps, the New Zealand Alps, Roraima and Southern Rhodesia, from Canada and
of British Guiana, the Blue Mountains of Newfoundland and some day, no doubt,
;

Jamaica, the Cockscomb Mountains of will be obtained from the Egyptian Sudan.
British Honduras, and the Rocky Moun- Tin, once the principal attraction to
tains of Canada, these last unsurpassed in ancient explorers of the British Islands,
splendour of scenery anywhere in the and still much mined in Cornwall, is now
world. Nor as providers of inspiring land- found to be singularly abundant in the
scapes need the mountains of Scotland, Malay Peninsula, and is also obtained from
Ireland and Wales, the hills of Shropshire, Australia and Northern Nigeria. Coal, the
Derbyshire, Gloucester or Monmouth, great product of the United Kingdom itself,
Somerset, Devon, and Sussex be left out ^^ ^^^^ ^°^^ worked profitably
s th Af" •

of the record of the empire's scenic jj.**. in Australia, New Zealand,


beauty or health resorts. Canada, India, Borneo, Natal,
D' d
Great Britain controls half of the basins the Transvaal, Rhodesia, and
of the Niger and the Zambesi, and the Cape Colony, Petroleum is found in
sources of the Congo the Nile, from its
; Burma, Canada, and (in a more bituminous
twin fountains to its mouth, is wholly form) in Southern Nigeria, Barbados (West
within the British sphere. It shares Nia- Indies), and Trinidad. Diamonds of a
gara with the United States, and owns ex- good second quality abound in South
clusively its only rival among the world's Africa to such an extent that the trade has
5581
SHOWING DOCKYARDS
to control their output. Of a better quality capital at a foolish rate and making no
are those still found in India and in British provision for a future supply. The terri-
^iana, and perhaps in Australia. Austra- tories of the Canadian Dominion to the
lia is rich in opals. Opals, rubies, sapphires, north of the fifty-second degree of north
and emeralds come from India. But I latitude are, together with Siberia, the great
think it will be found as the civilisation fur-producing regions of the world.
of the world progresses that the so-called Hence are exported the skins of beavers,
precious stones will deteriorate in value. foxes, martens, stoats, otters, lynxes,
There will be a market for them where wolves and bears, which provide such a
they can be used industrially, as is the large proportion of the world's fur coats,
case with the diamond, but as mere orna- muffs, trimmings, and carriage rugs. The
ments the educated world will be growing Canadian Government, however, might
too sensible to spend money on them. It well consider whether measures should not
will prefer the pure and cheap beauty of be taken to restrict the output and preserve
flowers and the sensible warmth of furs. many valuable species of fur-bearing ani-
As regards this last accessory to an mals from complete extinction. This
artificial life, the British Empire is still problem in regard to the skins of the sea-
exceedingly rich, though it may be ques- lions, exported from the Pacific coasts of
tioned whether it is not gobbling up its Canada, has already received attention.

THE IRRIGATION WORKS AND PUBLIC RESERVOIR AT HAIDARABAD, IN INDIA


5582
THE SINEWS OF EMPIRE
India contributes thousands of tiger, the world, together with cattle for hides,
leopard, bear, deer, and antelope skins meat, and draught purposes. Somaliland,
annually. Australia sends a certain the Egyptian Sudan, and British Arabia
proportion of the so-called opossum fur will also become great camel-breeding
(the soft, woolly pelts of the phalanger). regions. This is already the case with
South Africa forwards a diminishing num- —
much of West Central India in which
ber of karosses made of the skins of red magnificent one-humped camels (drome-
lynxes, foxes, jackals, and springboks. daries) are found. In far North-western
West Africa exports leopard and monkey India and in all the regions of Central
skins; East Africa the hides of lions, Asia adjacent thereto, and, more or less,
leopards, cheetahs, and jackals. under British influence, there is the
But passing from the pelt that is used " Bactrian " two-humped camel, still wild
for its beauty and heavy fur, we may in Tibet. This is an exceedingly useful
enumerate the more essential product of beast for transport, and furnishes valuable
mere leather. Ox, antelope, and zebra hair for weaving fabrics and for felting.
hides are an export of growing importance —
In this region also is the yak a wild and
from the territories of Uganda and East also domesticated species of ox, which has

OREST IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS


Africa, and enormous numbers of hides are an extravagant development of hair along
sent to the leather markets from India, the tail and sides of the body. The yak may
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. bear some relation in origin to the bison.
The wool and hair products of the The bison, alas once abounded in Southern
!

British Empire are a most important item. Canada, but is now nearly exterminated.
Australia and New Zealand are largely —
Australia and British Arabia later on,
given up to the breeding of sheep for — Somaliland, Nigeria, and parts of the
wool as well as meat. Cape Colony and —
Sudan Ireland and Great Britain will
other parts of South Africa are breeding produce between them sufficient horses for
Merino sheep, and, above all. Angora goats. the needs of the empire and for all climates
The great industry of the Falkland Islands and purposes. If less attention were
is sheep and sheep products — wool, tallow, given to racing as an odious form of
meat. It will probably be found that gambling, mixed up with so much that is
Somaliland and a good deal of the Egyp- disreputable and fraudulent, and greater
tian Sudan will take prominent places in encouragement were given by the state
the future as countries furnishing goats' to honest horse-breeding for honest pur-
hair, sheep's wool, and meat to the rest of poses, Great Britain ought to be able to
5583

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Supply herself with all the horses she easternmost parts of Sierra Leone contain
needs, and not have to import any from the pygmy hippopotamus of the adjoining
Belgium and Hungary. As regards the Liberia. Somaliland, the Egyptian Sudan,
domesticated birds produced by the British Central, and British East Africa,
different sections of the empire, Canada is and the hinterland of the Gambia are
going ahead with her fowl-breeding, not marvellously rich in antelopes, giraffes,
prevented, as are the people of England and three types of buffalo. The kangaroo is
and Ireland, by the ridiculous cult of the almost entirely a British subject. He may
fox, which checks the maintenance of so have a few arboreal cousins living under
many poultry farms in the home country. the Dutch and German flags.
In this direction the United Kingdom Practically speaking the British ensign
lags behind its possibilities as a country for covers all the marsupials of the world,
the breeding and rearing of choice poultry. except the opossums of America and the
India raises large quantities of peafowl, cuscus of the Malay Archipelago, or the
Chinese geese, and domestic fowls of various rat-like Coenolestes of Ecuador. Britain
breeds. The rearing of turkeys on a con- possesses specimens of every species of
siderable scale zebra and wild
has lately made ass, and has but
progress in Aus- some day to ex-
traUa and New tend its political
Zealand, and influence over
even on a portion Tibet to throw
of the Gold Coast its segisover the
in West Africa. only remaining
In all the southern wild horse. The
regions of Cape tapir of British
Colony and Guiana and the
Natal poultry is tapirof the Malay
usually very suc- Peninsula are
cessful, and may both citizens of
before long be the British Em-
made an article pire. Many a
of export. The wonderful parrot
ostrich farms of or lory, a pheas-
South Africa are ant, horn-bill,
so famous that plaintain-eater or
they need no sunbird is en-
description. The tirely " British
"
wild fauna of in its range. The
the empire is, or
should be, one of
rildSTSSd —
lyre-bird one of
OIL-WELLS AT YANANGYET, IN BURMA the Small WOn-
its glories, for
, „ . . ders of creation
Great Britain at present controls the is a fellow-citizen of Australia with the
fate of some of the most interesting, kangaroo, though not yet accorded that
wonderful, and beautiful creatures still rigid protection it deserves. As to the
living on this planet. Its political botanical wealth, it is stupendous.
limits include the Polar bear of Arctic The British flag waves over the grandest
Canada and the okapi of the SemUki forests of the world, temperate and tropical.
forests ; the lion, tiger, and elephants The pines and firs of Canada, the oaks and
of Africa and Asia. beeches of England, the mahogany of British
The white and the black rhinoceroses are Honduras and British Guiana, the Kauri
still allowed to exist under the British flag pine of New Zealand, the eucalyptus and
in nooks and corners, and one or two game acacia of Australia, the teak of India the •

reserves, where the British sportsman ebony, the incense trees, the khayas of West
(and his American, German, and Russian Africa the junipers and giant yews of the
;

friends) has not as yet succeeded in ex- East African mountains and the sandal-
;

terminating them. The hippopotamus is wood and bamboos of the Malay Penin-
still a nuisance to navigation in most of sula ;the orchids of Burma and British
the African rivers. It is possible that the Guiana, the roses of England and Canada,
5584
CRUDE NATIVE METHOD OF WASHING THE RUBY-LADEN GRAVEL

THE EUROPEAN MINING MElHODb IN THE SAME PLACE

NATIVE AND BRITISH METHODS AT THE RUBY MINES OF MOGOK IN BURMA


5585
355
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the vines of South Africa and Austraha, sufficiently useful education to receive
the wheat of British North America, the governmental assistance. There are also
wheat of India and New Zealand, the majiy government technical schools for
bananas of the West Indies and of West teaching carpentry, metal work, etc.
Africa, the oranges of Jamaica and of New Under the Ministry of Education there
South Wales, the sugar of Barbados and of are 143 elementary schools for Moslems,
Queensland, the apples of New Zealand and thirty-four primary schools, four secoHdary
Canada, the mangoes and mangosteens schools, ten special and technical schools
„ . of India, the apples, plums,
. , for dealing with agriculture, art, engineer-

v" 't'bi * peaches of South Africa, which ing, teaching, etc., and eleven professional

W**lth ^^^ some day going to be colleges (medicine, law, military, veter-
amongst her principal articles inary science, engineering, teaching, etc.).
of export to a fruit-loving world the oil- ; In addition there are also 305 first-class
palm of West Africa the rubber from the ; schools maintained by foreigners, notably
same region, from Ceylon, and from the by Americans. There is the great useless
Malay Peninsula the tea from Assam,
; Moslem university of Al Azhar, near
Ceylon, and Natal coffee from Nyassa- ; Cairo, still wasting human time and
land, Uganda, and Sierra Leone cacao ; marring the intellectual progress of modern
from the Gold Coast, Jamaica, and Trini- Egypt by an antique, fanatical, unscientific,
dad rice from India and West Africa.
; unpractical style of teaching.
These are a few of the items to be recounted Education in Egypt owes a debt to
in the tale of vegetable wealth. It is a Britain mainly on account of its patience
subject for serious consideration that the and energy in pressing on the Egyptian
rule of the British king as directed and Government the need for rescuing know-
advised by his numerous legislatures all ledge from the strangling grasp of Moham-
over the world should control such an medan fanatics. But it also owes much
enormous portion of the world's food recognition to the memory of Mehemet
supplies. In the time to come which no — Th s d "^^ ^^^ great-grandson,
^^^

'

living reader of this history may see food ^ ^ Ismail Pasha also equally to :
Government ., , ^,- , •
-^

may be more valuable than the so-called


.

personal intervention of
Ed t'o
precious metals and precious stones. the late khedive and his father
The educational establishments of the Tewfik. And last, but not least, to
British Empire, besides those of the private Mohammedan generosity and to
United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, the missionary efforts of America.
consist of the following. Gibraltar has In the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan there are
thirteen government-aided elementary fifteen elementary Arabic schools, and six
schools. In Malta there is a university, secondary. These government schools
founded under the rule of the Knights of are practically secular, and Christian as
St. John in 1769, with four faculties, and a well as Moslem children are educated
lyceum, or public school, for boys, besides there. There are two industrial schools,
two government secondary schools for besides that which is attached to the
boys and for girls, 167 Elementary schools, Gordon College, and three training
four technical and art schools, and seventy- colleges for teachers. Gordon College it-
one private educational establishments. self at Khartoum includes a department
In Cyprus there are two Boards of for the education of the Sudanese in law
Education to regulate (a) the Christian and the other subjects required by them
and (b) the Moslem schools of the island. for entry into the civil service and also ;

These consist of four Greek high schools, a high school for boys to be taught
*-j J and a Greek
" gymnasium," or engineering, surveying, English, etc.
ci *
g . university
J
one Moslem high ; Very little seems to be done for the
school, two similar Armenian- education of the Arabs or Somalis at
J Q
Christian establishments (high Aden or in British Somaliland practic- —
schools boys and girls), a third
for ally nothing, in fact nor are missionaries
;

Armenian school conducted by monks, encouraged to work there, owing to Moham-


and three schools for the Maronite Chris- medan fanaticism.The same is the case
tians are also state-aided. Of the 526 in the Persian Gulf and in Baluchistan.
elementary schools, 178 are Moslem. In India only about 16,500,000 people
In Egypt there were, in 1907, 2,761 out of a total population of 297,000,000
Moslem elementary schools, imparting are able to read and write in any language.
5586
NATIVE WORKMEN FILLING RAILWAY TRUCKS WITH PITCH

;r loading at the
t
»"» ' ««<y •«•

NATIVES DIGGING THE PITCH

ONE OF THE WORLD'S WONDERS: THE PITCH LAKE AT LA TREA. TRINIDAD


55«7
—;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Only about 25 per cent, of the boys ever high schools, three high schools for both
attend school, and only 3J per cent, of the sexes, and two high schools for young
girls. The best educated region is Bengal. people of European parentage. On the
On the whole, the Hindus are better edu- leasehold of Wei-hai-wei there are four
cated than the Mohammedans.
There government schools teaching English, one
are five universities —Calcutta,
Madras, private school for European children, and
Bombay, Lahore, and Allahabad. There numerous Chinese schools.
are 185 colleges, among which is the Mayo In Mauritius there is the royal college,
College for the education of the sons of with two preparatory schools, and there
princes, 115,869 government or govern- are a training college for teachers, sixty-
ment-aided schools, including 1,664 train- seven government primary schools,
ing and special schools for the instruction eighty-eight state-aided schools, and one
of school teachers and the teaching of assisted Mohammedan school. Educa-
many technical subjects. There are cation is gratuitous but not compulsory.
numerous government schools of art. The Seychelles Archipelago, with a popula-
There are also 42,604 private and charitable tion of 22,000, maintains twenty-seven
schools. Of the colleges, twelve only are primary assisted schools, the Victoria
for the education of women, for whom also secondary school for boys, two Catholic
there are 112 training schools, and 11,256 secondary schools, one for girls, and an
primary, secondary, and private schools. efficient infants' school. There are two
In Ceylon, which has a total population government scholarships of £50 a year.
of 3,578,333, there are 590 government In Cape Colony there is a university
schools, and 1,785 private schools. (Cape Town), and there are five colleges
There is a royal and 3,750 schools,
college and a primary and
government secondary. In
training college, Zanzibar, and
besides several in the various
English high Crown colonies,
schools. Less protectorates,
than half the and spheres of
population is influence of
illiterate — a great Tropical Africa,
contrast to India. except the Gam-
In the Straits bia and Sierra
Settlements, the Leone, education
sultanate of is mainly in the

Johor, and the hands of the dif-


Federated Malay ferent missionary
States there are societies, and is
about 245 schools entirely confined
of all degrees to the natives of
maintained by Africa. In Sierra
the British or the Leone the edu-
native govern- cational estab-
ments (210 in lishments are
the Straits excellent. There
Settlements). is Fula Bay
The educational College, a first-
establishments class institution
of Sarawak and there are seventy-
North Borneo five primary
are almost schools, seventy-
entirely main- four secondary
tained by mis- schools, four
sionary societies. Mohammedan
Hong Kong has schools, and a
seventy primary college at Bo
schools, two girls' ^ PLUMBAGO MINE AT KURUNEGALA, IN CEYLON
Photo, Morgan Crucible Co. in the interior
5588
A TIN MINE NEAR KWALA LUMPUR, THE CAPITAL '""""' "^ '^
OF SELANGOR
for the sons of chiefs. In the Gambia
there secondary. There are said to be three
are six elementary schools under missionary
Bermudan Rhodes scholars at Oxford.
management which receive state aid. There In the Bahamas the government schools
is also one secondary school. number forty-six, together with twelve
Onthe Gold Coast, in proportion to its that receive state aid and forty-nine
size and wealth, education is not
much unaided. All this for a population of
fostered by the government, and were it
only 60,000 promises well for the advance-
not for the work of the Swiss Basle
ment of the Bahamas.
Mission—which for thirty years has In Jamaica, with a population— mainly
flooded West Africa with enlightenment black— of about 830,000, there are 687
and education of a most practical, indus-
government schools, three training colleges
trial character— the Gold Coast
natives for teachers, and a high school at
would contrast disadvantageously with Kingston.
There are also a large number of endowed
the rest of British West Africans. There
high schools, industrial and technical in-
are seven government schools
in the stitutions. Seven elementary government
coast regions of this colony and
140 schools are maintained on the Turks and
assisted schools. There are no govern- Caicos Islands dependent on Jamaica.
ment schools in Ashanti. In Southern In the Leeward Islands, to a population
Nigeria education has of late been taken
of 134,000, there are 115 primary schools,
in hand by the government with vigour six secondary, an agricultural college,
and success. There is a high school at and
an industrial school. In the Windward
Bonny, another at Old Calabar, and a
Islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, and St.
grammar school at Lagos. In addition, Lucia there is a population of 372,000
there are thirty-one government primary ;
and there are 118 primary schools, one
schools (four for girls) and sixty-nine
grammar school in Grenada, and an agri-
assisted schools. A Mohammedan school cultural school in St. Vincent. Barbados
has been opened at Lagos.
has a population of 197,000, and main-
In the Bermudas, where there is a popu-
tains 166 primary schools, five secondary,
lation of nearly 18,000, there are
five three high schools, and Codrington
schools for the children of the soldiers
and College, affiliated to Durham University.
sailors, tM'enty primary schools, and ave Trinidad and Tobago together have a
5589
— — ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


population of 328,000. There are 250 schools, an industrial school, and 250
government
schools,
schools, many
a queen's royal college, and a
private
by missionaries.

schools maintained partly state aided
The education in
Roman Catnolic college. The Central Bechuanaland is entirely conducted by
American colony of BritishHonduras has the London Missionary Society and the
a population of 41,000 and forty-one Dutch Reformed Church.
primary schools, together with five In Natal there is a European population
secondary schools. British Guiana, in of about 95,000 Asiatics,
; 112,000
_ c I Northern South America
. negroes, 945,000. For the European chil-
Camp Schools , r , ,

1 j.
• r 11
41. J has a ^
1
population
^ 01 about dren there are 295 government or state-
in the Falkland , ,

307,000, 220 schools re- aided primary schools, two government


Islands
ceiving state aid, and a high schools in Durban and Pietermaritz-
government college in Georgetown. Besides burg, two government art schools, 167
this, the local government affords certain government or government-aided schools
means te natives of the colony to pursue for negroes, and twenty-eight government-
a university education in England. aided schools for Indian children. There
In the Falkland Islands, near the are altogether forty-five schools entirely
southern extremity of the South American managed by the government and 469 that
continent, there is a population of about receive state Education, though
funds.
2,100, and there are five permanent much encouraged, is not compulsory.
schools one —
Roman Catholic ^besides — In the Orange River Colony education
an excellent system of camp schools, since 1905 is practically compulsory. The
with travelling schoolmasters. Education European population is about 145,000.
here is compulsory. There are about 170 primary schools, three
In the little lonely South Atlantic island residential high schools (one for girls), a
of St. Helena there is a native population training school for teachers, and the Grey
of 3,500, for whom nine schools are main- University College, nearBloemfontein. Two
tained, partly at government expense. ^ mpu sory
. hundred and ninety thou-
So much for the education of the Inner sa.nd inhabitants entirely of
Education in t- ii t^ • •

Empire that of the self - governing


; ..
T, European origmm the
, Trans-
daughter nations is as follows
Cue 11
M rftOSVAAl 11* 1*11
vaal have their children s
)

The dominion of Canada has an approxi- education attended to at 502 primary


mate population at the date of writing of schools. There are about twelve schools
8,000,000. Her nine provinces and Yukon specially provided for children of mixed race,
territory maintain 20,570 schools public,
high, and for secondary education. There
— and there are 209 schools for negroes. There
is a normal college for the training of teachers
are, in addition, many private schools. and a Transvaal University College. Educa-
There are, further, thirty colleges, mostly tion for Europeans is compulsory. The
gathered round eighteen universities. Edu- whole character of the educational measures
cation is compulsory throughout Canada. passed by the first Transvaal parliament,
The population of Newfoundland and in 1906, is essentially modern and efficient.
Labrador is about 233,000 at the present In Southern Rhodesia there are private
time. There are 881 public and secondary schools for European children at Buluwayo
schools and three colleges, supported or and at Salisbury, but of necessity the
partly supported by state funds, but entirely European population of the three Rho-
managed by the local Anglican, Roman desian provinces (about 16,000) is at
Catholic, and Methodist churches. Edu- present mainly adult. The education of
^ ^ . cation does not appear to
, the great Zulu- Kaffir race in vSouth Africa
"^^ be compulsory. In Cape has received in general a great impulse from
Sc'hooU
° '
*^
Colony there a popula-
is the Lovedale Institute of the Free Church of
an o eges ^.^^ ^^ more than 580,000 Scotland Mission in Eastern Cape Colony.
whites of European descent, of whom The commonwealth of Australia, includ-
nearly 145,000 are illiterate. The total ing Tasmania and Norfolk Island, has a
population is 2,500,000, and education total population of European race of

not compulsory is state - provided in about 4,150,000. For the general and
some 3,750 primary and secondary primary education of these there are 7,362
schools and in five colleges. There is government or state-provided schools,
an examining university in Cape Town. and 2,284 recognised private schools. New
In Basutoland there are four government South Wales has the University of Sydney
5590

I
DESOLATE SOUTH AFRICA: TYPICAL KAROO SCENERY

A SAND-BLOWN GRAVEYARD IN THE DESERT

DESERT SCENES IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE


5591

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and the Technical College, which last gives munity is provided at the cost of the
instruction in agriculture, among other community, and is directed by the school-
subjects. There are schools of art in most of boards of Suva and Levuka, and carried on
the principal towns. Education is compul- by two government schools at these places.
sory. Victoria has a university at Melbourne There are also three good Roman Catholic
with three colleges, a school of mines, schools at Suva and Levuka. A govern-
and seventeen technical colleges. Educa- ment native high school has been estab-
tion is compulsory, and it is said that only lished for some considerable time at
. , , 2 per cent, of the population is
. . Nasinu, near Suva, where an excellent
Australasia s .„r x /-v. i j j .

_. . ^. , ilhterate. InQueenslandeduca- higher education is offered to the native


Educational ,•
J
... .
'I •
i
tion IS not yet compulsory.
» ,

A Fijians and the children of the Asiatic


university is about to be estab- settlers (Indian coolies, mostly).
lished at Brisbane. In South AustraUa, The Wesleyan and Roman Catholic
which has a population of nearly 385,000, missions provide entirely the primary
education is compulsory, but it is said that education of the natives (Melanesians and
nearly 17 per cent, of the people are Polynesians) throughout the Fiji and
illiterate. No doubt, under this head are Rotuma Islands. The Wesleyans also
included the few thousand Chinese and conduct the education of the natives of the
aborigines. This state has a university at protected kingdom of Tonga. Missionaries
Adelaide, and maintains a training college of the Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Anglican,
for teachers. In West Australia education and Roman Catholic Churches also preside
is compulsory, and only 3 per cent, are said — without any grant or state assistance
to be illiterate. Tasmania has a university —
whatsoever over the education of the
at Hobart, two schools of mines, and two thousands of natives of the British pro-
technical schools. Education is compulsory. tected Gilbert, Solomon, and Santa Cruz
Little Norfolk Island, under the manage- Islands in the Equatorial Pacific.
ment of New South Wales, has one efficient The total number of armed men ready
government school for its population for —
war service the standing armies,
European and Melanesian of nearly 1,000. — J.
. 1st Reserve, colonial volun-
The dominion of New Zealand has a of the British
*^^^^ "^ constant training and
population of about 890,000 whites, 48,000 thoroughly efficient, also the
Empire
Maories, 2,570 Chinese, and in its dependent military police —
of the British
archipelagoes 12,340 Polynesians. Educa- Empire before the great war amounted to
tion is compulsory. There are 1,847 public about 926,000, including the British Re-
primary schools, 308 private schools, 28 serves, Channel Islands Militia, Honourable
secondary schools, seven school of mines, Artillery Company, and permanent staffs
four normal schools, five principal schools of of militia, etc., but not the English Militia,
art, and 11 industrial schools, besides 104 Imperial Yeomanry, or Territorial Army.
schools for Maories. There are colleges Of these, in the first place, should be
at Dunedin, Christchurch, Canterbury, and mentioned the regular (professional) army
Wellington for specialist education, and of the United Kingdom, amounting to
these are affiliated to the university of 216,018 combatants of all arms, and 31,348
New Zealand at Wellington. non-combatants. This army was distri-
The territory of Papua (British New buted thus 115,148 in' Great Britain, and
:

Guinea) governed by the Australian


is about 15,000 in Ireland 3,809 at Gib- ;

Commonwealth. It has a population of raltar 7,099 in Malta and Crete


; 123 in ;

under 900 Europeans, almost all adults. Cyprus 76,155 in India 1,000 in Ceylon
; ;
;

_ The native population of 5,719 in Egypt and the Sudan 1,500 at ;


Europeans t, •
^ j
3,101 at Hong Kong and Wei-
x-
,
Increasing
Papuans
.
^ is estimated at Singapore ;

in Fiji 400,000.
t>i i
Their education IS

m hai-wei 16,213 in South Africa


; 18 at ;

the hands of the London Mis- St. Helena 1,309 at the Bermudas
;
547 ;

sionary Society, the Roman Catholic in Jamaica and about 726 in Mauritius.
;

Society of the Sacred Heart, the Church The total colonial contingent was over
of England Mission, and the Methodist 40,000, but a few years ago there were
Missionary Society of Australasia. 50,000 British soldiers in the colonies.
In the Crown colony of Fiji, the Canada before the war had a military
European population is steadily increasing. force on the footing of active service, in-
It numbers at present about 3,300. cluding military police, of about 3,000, and
Education for this section of the com- an active militia of about 51,000. Australia
5592
DUTCH CHILDREN AT SCHOOL IN BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA
J
EDUCATING THE YOUNG SUBJECTS AND CITIZENS OF GREATER BRITAIN
5593

THE SINEWS OF EMPIRE
maintained a tiny permanent army of 1,329 Rhodesia can at short notice put in the field
officers and men, and a partly-paid trained a good fighting force of at least 5,000 volun-
militia of 15,445. Including volunteers, teers, mostly mounted. The Egyptian
rifle-clubmen, cadets, and a reserve of army in Egypt and the Sudan consists of a
officers, the commonwealth has a potential force of 19,010 rank and file, including 121
army of 84,000 men. The six Australian British officers. Egypt pays an approxi-
states, moreover, maintain a force of about mate £150,000 a year towards the cost of
10,000 mounted pohce, first-class irregular the British army of occupation. Malta
soldiers in war time. New Zealand also has maintains a respectable contingent the —
a permanent militia of 341 artillery and en- Royal Malta Artillery (446), the King's
gineers, and a regularly drilled volunteer Own Malta Regiment (war strength, 2,258),
force of not less than 18,000, notwithstand- and the Malta Mihtia Submarine Miners
ing 700 mounted police. Cape Colony (63). The Maltese Government also pays
besides the imperial troops stationed in the £'5,000 to tlie Imperial Government as a

G. R. LdiUUcrt
OPENING OF THE FIRST STATE RAILWAY IN THE MALAY PENINSULA

colony maintains a respectable armed military contribution. Ceylon pays about
force : 705 Cape Mounted Rifles, 1,734 £70.000 for its Imperial garrison, and
Mounted Police, and a body of 5,835 volun- maintains in addition an efficient volunteer
teers in regular drill. Natal has an armed force of 2,333 officers and men.
force— mounted police, mounted rifles, India has a magnificent army of 160,000,

naval gun corps, and trained militia of including British officers, a military police
about 6,430 men. She also subsidises rifle of 56,887, a volunteer force of 34,000
associations (5,774 officers and men) and Europeans and Eurasians, and contin-
cadet corps (3,471). The Transvaal and gents furnished by the feudatory states

Orange State together maintain the South of 20,189, a total force apart from the
African Constabulary, an efficient force of Imperial garrison of 76,155, for which
2,700 officers and men. In addition, the India pays Britain about £1,395,000 annu-

Transvaal maintains a well-trained volun- ally of 271,076 officers and men. The
teer force, mostly ex-soldiers of 10,000 men. Straits Settlements, besides their Imperial

5595
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and Indian garrison, for which they pay, the Gold Coast volunteers (1,056 officers
have a very efficient volunteer force of and men), partly paid, and maintained
about 770 Europeans, Eurasians, and more or less on a war footing.
Chinese. The Federated Malay States The local soldiery or military police in
have a smart little army known as the the West Indies and Tropical America,
Malay States Guides British officers, — apart from the British garrison in
Sikhs, Pathans, and Malays, 2,665 ^^ ^1^- Jamaica, consists of the 2nd battahon of
The local military forces of British the West Indian Regiment in Jamaica
_ South Africa, from North- (500 officers and men), and 800 militia,
° ^^^^ Rhodesia to Cape besides a very efficient constabulary (1,753)
B •f\*'^
'T •
A» Colony, have already been
1 • modelled on that of Ireland, and, as a
Tropical Africa , •'L j 11 -1. r
described likewise those of ; matter of fact, officered and sub-officered
the Egyptian Sudan. Mauritius is garrisoned by officers and men chosen from the Royal
by a small detachment of British troops, Irish Constabulary. In Barbados there is
formerly as many as 1,394, towards the a police force of 315, and measures are
cost of which the colony paid annually being taken to raise and maintain a small
£27,000, but now reduced to about 726. colonial force of mounted infantry.
The rest of British Tropical Africa is In the Bahamas, Leeward and Windward
divided into two great sections. East and Islands there are small forces of civil
West. The Eastern section comprises the police. In Trinidad there is a constabulary
colonies or protectorates of Somaliland, of 652, and a volunteer rifle corps of 352.
Uganda, British East Africa, Zanzibar, British Honduras maintains a constabu-
and British Central Africa Nyassaland — lary of 100, and a volunteer light infantry
and North-east Rhodesia. This section corps (mounted and unmounted) of 260.
is defended by a regiment of negro British Guiana either fears no foe, within
soldiers known as the King's African
' or without, or is very shy of disclosing its
Rifles. *0f this at present there are five arrangements for the maintenance of
battalions. No. i to 6 (No. 5 is at present . ,
public order, for no particulars
mpirc s
non-existent). The ist and 3rd batta- ^j.^ extant as to its mihtary
Fighting „„j ^._ T,!,^ .^
lions are in East Africa and Zanzibar, and police. There are said
Strength
the 2nd in Central Africa, the 4th in to be militia and volunteers
Uganda, and the 6th in Somaliland. to the total number of 240. The Falkland
At present the total number of King's Islands support a volunteer corps of 98.
African Rifles under arms is 2,700. The total of the forces, therefore, for
In East Africa there is, in addition, a offence or defence throughout the empire
military police of 1,800 under 35 British
officers in Uganda a constabulary of
;

ready for immediate action professional
army, military constabulary, volunteers
1.060 in Zanzibar, 500 in Nyassaland, or militia in constant training and

; ;

200. There is also a corps of 160 Sikh available for immediate service is
soldiers from the Indian Army stationed about 926,300, of whom approximately
in Nyassaland. In the West African 560,000 are white, and 366,000 belong
section the indigenous regiment, so to
- to the coloured races —
Indian, Egyptian,
speak, is the West Africa Frontier Force. Negro, Mulatto, Malay, Chinese and Poly-
This is stationed in the Gambia Protec- nesian.
torate (126 men), the Sierra Leone Behind this force there are as yet
Protectorate (470 men), the Gold Coast undefined potentiaUties which at present
hinterland (2,175 men). Southern and take the place of that actuaUty so neces-
_^ p Northern Nigeria (5,266 men). sary to the safety of the British Empire,

B 'r'h*' ^" addition there are the West throughout all parts of which (in the
West Africa A^"^^"
Regiment and the ist opinion of the present writer) compulsory
battalion of the West India military service on the part of all males,
Regiment, besides artillery, engineers, etc., more or less between the ages of 19 and 40,
at Sierra Leone (2,612 officers and men in should be an article of the constitution of
all). The Gambia maintains a military every country under the British flag,
police of 80 men ; Sierra Leone, 240 ; most of all in the Motherland. Compulsory
Gold Coast, 621 Southern Nigeria, 980 ; ; service in the militia is now a law of the
and Northern Nigeria, 1,180. Lastly, state in New Zealand (it is projected in
there should also be counted with the Australia), in Canada, in Natal, and in
effective forces in British West Africa Cape Colony.
5596
5597
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
XIII G.C.M.G.

BRITISH EXPANSION IN EUROPE


AND THE STEADY PROGRESS OF
EGYPT UNDER BRITISH CONTROL
"VV/H AT effect have the estabhshment and France, Rome, the Netherlands, Frisia,
'^ growth of the British Empire had Western Germany, and Italy. Her
on the world outside the limits of Great nearest political and racial colonies,
Britain and Ireland ? beyond her strict geographical limits, were
In Europe, the ethnological results of the Channel Islands. These were at first
the extension of British rule beyond the not so much colonies or conquests as the
Irish and English Channels was inconsider- „ last vestiges of the Norman
Peoples of,
,
u- u u J J
able down to about twenty years ago in ; .u r^i. power which had conquered
the Channel f-
I

England in 1000. ^,
,j ^/- •
,^/ ,
short, down to the time that the other . . The Channel
J
great nations of the White world applied Islands had been peopled
themselves in all seriousness to the from quite a remote antiquity by types
foundation of empires beyond the seas. of the different races that overran the
They then began to adopt many British North of France, with which, indeed,
ideas, words, games, notions in art and Guernsey and Jersey were almost con-
industry, clothes, furniture, and sport. It nected by sandbanks and fords of shallow
is true that in horse-racing, railways, steam- water at the beginning of the historical
ships, the training of children, farming, period. They were taken possession of
and agriculture we had engendered and named from the ninth century
original concepts and inventions expressed onwards by Norse rovers from Norway,
in idiomatic Anglo-Saxon, and these had ami consequently came to form part of the
spread the British influence of jockeys, Duchy of Normandy, of which, politically,
_ engineers, governesses, stock- they are the last remnant.
"
, men, and gardeners throughout These Normans mingled with the pre-
Influence -^ *%,, , ^ °
.. . trance. Western Germany, ceding Iberian and Aryan Romanised
Italy, Russia, Tunis, and Egypt; Kelts. Down, therefore, to about the
also that the success of the constitutional reign of Elizabeth, the Channel Islanders
government had for at least 150 years were scarcely distinguishable, anthropolo-
turned the eyes of all reformers and political gically, from the Normans of Northern
theorists towards England. France. But in the sixteenth and seven-
But down to twenty years ago it was teenth centuries the political troubles in
rather France that set the fashions in all England caused a number of English
departments for all Europe than the to settle in Jerseyand Guernsey, and the
Anglo-Saxon. This "British" influence complete detachment of all the Channel
abroad is at least one quarter Ameri- Islanders from the Church of Rome in the
can. It is so difficult to discriminate middle of the sixteenth century added to
nowadays between what notions and the separation from Norman France. In
ideas are started in the United States ^1. rM. Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey,
1
The Channel ,0
and what have their origin in British, , , c
. J and Sark A, 1L
the people, almost
1 i

Islands Secede ,, . f- , 1 1

Canadian, Australian, South African, or P J.


Without exception, belong to
British- Indian brains, that for the purpose the Anglican Church, and
of this reviev/ the British and American here alone is the Liturgy of the Church of
Empires must be held to be one. England rendered in French. It is some-
England started by borrowing her what surprising that this adherence to the
dominant language, her culture, indus- national Church has not been rewarded by
tries, ideas, science, architecture, religion, the institution of a bishop of the Channel
niiers, laws, weapons, and cooking from Islands (they are under the See of

55QQ
HISTORY OF THE M^ORLD
Winchester). There are, moreover, the use of the French language ; but all
learned societies in Jersey and Guernsey these parts of the world have retained
which conduct their proceedings in French. the Roman Catholic forrn of Christianity.
From the eighteenth century onwards the So far as language, prejudices, mode of
islands have been garrisoned by detach- life, and all that goes to the making of a
ments of British troops, and not a few of people is concerned, the Channel Islanders
these soldiers or sailors from the British of the present day —
in spite of the hundred
fleet have subsequently married and settled miles of sea that separate them from
down in the Channel Islands, whither —
England are more closely knit up with
also during the last hundred years English her in sympathy than are the people of
families have resorted for permanent half Ireland. They coiild never be made
settlement because of the delightful cli- French citizens except by the continuous
mate, lovely scenery, low cost of living, appUcation of force, just as, in all proba-
and educational advantages. The use of bility, the inhabitants of Northern Lorraine
the English language is spreading year would ever resist the attempt to coerce
by year over a larger area in these islands. them into German citizenship, or the
As it is. Aid"'' • - iilmost entindv Germans of the Baltic provinces willingly

CASTLE CO- ;j OF GL\

English-speaking. In Guernsey only remain subjects of the Russian Empire.


about a quarter of the population is now Gibraltar, after two hundred years of
unable to speak English, while another British occupation, has had singularly little
quarter can speak no French. The local effect on the people of Spain and Portugal,
language is very different from literary beyond the neutral zone, which restricts
French, and is the old Norman speech the intercourse of the British garrison on
that was introduced into the island after this square mile and seven-eighths of rock
the Conquest. In Jersey the same thing with the people of the Iberian peninsula.
is taking place, if anything more markedly. The British soldiers and officials for two
In Jersey, however, if not always in hundred years hav-e freely intermarried
Guernsey, the official language is literary with the Genoese and Spanish women, the
French, which, by the way, is as illogical as descendants of the original inhabitants of
making Italian the ofhcial language of Malta. Gibraltar when the British took possession
"
Probably here alone in the whole world is of it. The resulting " Rock Scorpions
the service of the Church of England vary considerably in type and social
rendered in French. Other portions of the status. Several of the most beautiful
globe have been peopled by the French and and accomplished women of the world
acquired by the British, and yet retain during the nineteenth century have been
.5600
-mm
k^
^ '^^,0^^|HH
.i

Hi
L^"

*.*'• f

"•'iSm

'^^
r%.

.."^*^.-^1^/^^ ^- ^***i5i|^""'

'^^^^Siis.w
^
.4|B

mm
^^^^^^^^
' -. ^if *
**^-z!^^
^ 1
,
*<,
•^lifefe; '

MONT ORGUEIL IN JERSEY, SHOWING THE ANCIENT CASTLE

GUERNSEY'S PRINCIPAL TOWN: VIEW OF ST. PETER PORT AND HARBOUR

THE HARBOUR OF ST. HELIER, THE CHIEF PORT OF JERSEY

SCENES IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS


356 5601
A POPULAR PROMENADE, SHOWING PART OF MOORISH CASTLE ON THE HILL

GIBRALTAR: A VALUABLE POSSESSION OF GREAT BRITAIN


')602
OTHER SCENES IN THE FORTRESS TOWN OF GIBRALTAR
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of Gibraltar birth and descended from the the part of Maltese people, who
the
unions of British officers with Spanish largely by their own
personal efforts and
ladies. But these have married officials bravery expelled the French garrison,
in the army, navy, or diplomatic service, though, of course, they had been assisted
and have soon passed away to spheres of in this task by Nelson's overthrow of the
influence beyond Gibraltar. There is a French forces at sea. Fearing lest they
-,, , . .considerable Jewish element might not be able to maintain themselves
The Jewish
g. m
• .1 i i
the shopkeepmg class, and
i j
against future attacks on the part of
it is these who, together with the France, and disliking very much the idea
*G'b It
descendants of English soldiers of reverting to that Neapolitan sovereignty
and Spanish women, form that type of from which the islands of Malta and Gozo
" Rock Scorpion " that may be met with were withdrawn by Charles V., the Maltese
nowadays so frequently Morocco, Al-
in people offered their country to the King of
geria, Tunis above Malta, and the
all, Great Britain and Ireland. Europe con-
Ionian Islands. At one time there were firmed this choice at the Congress of 1815.
quite a number of Gibraltarese in the Under England's rule the Maltese have
regency of Tunis, attracted thither by the prospered exceedingly. Magnificent public
favourable conditions enjoyed by British works have been constructed in the island

BRITISH TROOPS IN MALTA: THE MAIN GUARD AT VALETTA


commerce down to 1898. The regency of of —
Malta Gozo has not been so well
Tunis was at onetime very near becoming a —
attended to and under the aegis of the
owing to the influence
British protectorate, British flag the Maltese have founded
that radiated from Malta and the friendly flourishing colonies —
here 30,000, there
relations between the beys of Tunis and 20,000, in another place 10,000 —
in Algeria,
the British naval officers which followed Tunis, Tripoli, Barca, and Egypt, and even
on the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. In in Crete and elsewhere in the Levant. The
the curious struggle that went on, under Maltese in Algeria tend more and more to
the surface, between France, Britain, and adopt French nationality, de-
M&Ita's Great
Italy for predominance in Tunis, Gibraltar riving therefrom considerable
Prosperity
Jews were generally the men of straw used t/""*""^''..
Under
.
orilftin
commercial advantages, and
,.
/- , >i

t- 1
by theseconflicting influences in their finding perhaps in the l^rench
attempts to acquire landed property or nation a more courteous foster-mother
other stakes in the country. than Great Britain has been to them.
The British acquisition of Malta was " His mother was a Maltese, you know,"

not it is sometimes necessary to remind is the sneering phrase that I have often

red-hot Imperialists a conquest, but the heard from a British officer in the army or
result of a voluntary and graceful act on navy or in the Colonial Civil Service iu
5604
MARSA MUSCET, SHOWING THE STRONGLY BUILT FORTIFICATIONS

SCENES IN MALTA. BRITAIN'S CROWN COLONY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN


5605
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
reference to some more or less distin- The Ionian Islands, indeed, were at last
guished man in the employ of the British the only reiuge of Greek culture from the
Ciovernment. "He says she was an sickening barbarism of Turkey. It is
Iialian countess, but she really was nothing possible that but for the British occupa-
but a Maltese, I can assure you." Why it tion of these Islands, Greece would never
should be in any sense derogatory to be have aspired to or have recovered her
born a Maltese the present writer is at a independence, would never have possessed
loss to understand. The population of a base from which she could organise
„ . . these islands is considerably
. resistance to the Turkish yoke.
-, ..
Occupation
M
.-,?
mixed in origin it is true, but
c
^^ derived from very noble
vi
Sentimentality fortunately swayed the
nations of Europe in favour of Greece in
of It

from the best of the
sources the first half of the nineteenth century ;

chivalry Aragon, France, England,


of yet it is doubtful whether the spark of
Germany, and Northern Italy or if it ; Hellenic nationality in Greece itself could
be of a brunette type, then from a splendid ever have been revived and fanned into a
Mediterranean stock which goes back in powerful flame but for British encourage-
origin to the Phoenicians. ment emanating from the Ionian Islands.
At one time it was thought necessary to Nor, had this occupation not taken place,
treat Malta on very military lines but ; it could those Greek houses of commerce
has gradually been borne in on the British have arisen to a secure atfiuence and have
Government that the military and civil developed such a large Anglo-Hellenic
departments should be to some extent trade as now exists in Western Asia Minor
separated, and the time may come when nor at Costantinople.
Malta may have a civilian as governor, Curiously enough, Greeks are happier
or even why not ? — —
a Maltese noble or —
governed by Greeks even if they be
eminent citizen in that position ? But less well governed —
than by intelligent
though the connection with Malta has been foreigners England would feel it in the
!

marked by episodes bad taste that of a same way if the Germans occupied the Isle
seems peculiarly British and yet not an — The Ionian
of Wight. They would prob-
ancient, but quite a modern trait in the ably do a vast deal to im-

race the main results of the British occu-
Islands
Under Greece
prove the service on the Isle
pation of Malta have been of enormous of Wight Railway, and carry
benefit to the inhabitants of the two out much needed public works in a
islands. There has been definitely created masterful manner, besides endowing the
a Maltese people, destined to play a very island with better schools than those
notable part in the commercial develop- which are given at present. Yet— illogical
ment of the Mediterranean. and ungrateful though they might be
If England, as the garrisoning race, — the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight
should mend her manners, the Maltese would probably prefer to remain under
might at the same time cause an impartial or to return to the control of the British
history of Malta during the last hundrt-d Government rather than become citizens
years to be drawn up and published, and of the Germ*an Empire.
thereby realise how much indeed they Consequently, Great Britain acted wisely
owe in gratitude to the acceptance in yielding to the wishes of the lonians
by George III. of kingship over Malta. that they might come under the sove-
The British protectorate over the Ionian reignty of Greece. Nevertheless, anyone
Islands did much the same for the Greeks who has visited the island of Corfu, if he
_ ,of Corfu as for the mixed races be of British blood, cannot but admire the
^^ ^^^^' French, and Italian magnificent public works which have been
^Iir
c »s Hsh
«»
origin in Malta. It certainly carried out on that island, and ask himself
spread acquaintance with and whether the material prosperity of that
use of the English language amongst the group might not be far higher than it is
(ireeks of the Levant. Many a Greek at present were the supreme administra-
commercial house now of world-wide im- tion in the hands of honest Anglo-Saxons.
portance arose from the British occupation There is little doubt, however, that the
of this archipelago, which, until the on- continued retention of this protectorate
slaught of Napoleon Bonaparte, had would have involved England in disagree-
belonged to Venice since the time it was able European complications, and cer-
detached from the Byzantine Empire. tainly would have ended by offending the
5606
VENDOR OF GOATS' MILK A MALTESE LADY PRIEST IN CLERICAL ATTIRE

COMMON STREET PORTER A SELLER OF SWEETS A BRAN-SELLER

TYPICAL CHARACTERS OF THE ISLAND OF MALTA


5607
— --

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


growing power of that kingdom.-of- Italy, _ well-Jiigh .-perfection. In this case, in
with whom England desires to be connected Cyprus, the Turk is very often simply a
by every tie of affection and interest. Yet, Mohammedan Greek. Actually, in Cyprus,
having lost the Ionian Islands, which gave in Crete, in Bosnia, and in many parts of
her^ certain hold, a useful garrison in the the Balkans and Asia Minor, there is no
eastern half of the Mediterranean, England racial difference between the good and the
yearned for some alternative possession. bad employe, the honest and dishonest
The feeling burrowed underground through merchant, but merely a question of religion.
-,, the tortuous channels of the As a master, the Mohammedan has been
official mind, and emerged at hitherto narrow-minded, intolerant, unpro-
in'^Brh'' h
Hands ^^^ **^ ^^^ surface through gressive, and financially corrupt as a ;

the romantic action of Lord servant, under an employer of the North


Beaconsfield in 1878 in acquiring the European type, a more admirable type of
— —
leasehold the practical possession of the faithful, quiet, industrious public officer
island of Cyprus. Several times before does not exist. The British occupation
and since Great Britain has coquetted of Cyprus, together with the joint occu-
with the idea of acquiring Crete, more pancy of Crete, produced this effect on
especially on account of the im- the Mediterranean peoples : that it de- •

portance of Suda Bay to a great -


veloped the Turk in the right direction,
naval Power. But for- unpublished— per- whether or not it is producing a wholesome
haps only spoken, and not "'written^— effecfupon'the Greek.
warnings from other European Powers that But the occupancy of Egypt, though it
the addition of Crete to Cyprus, or, as was should properly be treated of later on in
once or twice contemplated, the substitu- connection with African questions, has
tion of this much more valuable island for in a sense knit England up with the Greek
the half-barren, altogether harbourless world of commerce to such a degree that in
Cyprus, would mean the overflowing of weighing the future relations of the Greek
the cup of bitterness and the declaration of peoples with the British Empire
ree s as
war, Crete might now by some fiction or ^j^^ peevishness of the Cypriotes
I ne rs
another be under the British flag. As it ^^jj^^ ^^ unheard. No nationality
Commerce 1 /-, j r
is, its destiny will be inevitably to form has pronted so enormously
part of an enlarged kingdom of Greece. by the British conquest of Egypt and
In Cyprus much the same effect has been of the Egyptian Sudan, or even of East
produced by British rule as occurred in the Africa generally, as have the Greeks.
Ionian Islands magnificent public works
: Since England started somewhat blindly on
sometimes carried out without any re- this Imperial movement which has led her
gard to picturesqueness or respect for inevitably on the path from Cairo to the

valuable historical remains anabsqlutely Cape, Greek adventurers of commerce
honest, painstaking administration, the have marched pari passu with the British
saving, just in time, of the native forests, forces, military and naval.
and with them the climate, which has been There are Greek merchants as far south on
rapidly deteriorating under Turkish rule the East Coast as Delagoa Bay. They pene-
from one sufficiently moist to maintain an trate to Mashonaland and to Uganda while ;

exuberant vegetation to conditions of on the coast of Somaliland they are more


almost waterless sterility ; on the other, numerous than any other Europeans not
the ingratitude of the Greek, due, it is of the official class. Khartoum is de-
alleged, to the exclusion of G reeks from most scribed as being a Greek city. Greeks and
of the posts under the British Government. Maltese form a kind of middle-class in
Strangely enough, England re- Egypt, between the indigenous Arabs and
Where the
lied for local support in Cyprus negroes on the one hand, and the foreign
Turks are
Preferred
not on the Greek, but on the officials — British, French, and Italian —on
Turkish element in the popu- the other. The servants of the Suez
lation,and preferred much more to Canal Company, below the highly paid
employ Turks than to engage Greeks in posts, if they are not Maltese are Greek.
the public service, assigning as the reason British intervention in the affairs of
that the latter were not honest and could Egypt and of the Egyptian Sudan, in
not be depended on for steady work while
; common with that of France, really dates
as a servant, a public servant, under an from Napoleon's invasion of 1799. The two
honest and capable employer., the Turk is countries see-sawed as to their influence

5608
;

THE BRITISH EXPANSION IN EUROPE AND EGYPT


over the viceroys of Egypt. France Empire. With what results ? Her ex-
instigated the exploration and conquest travagant debt has now been reduced
of the Upper Nile, and French officers trom ;^i03,969,020 to £95,833,280, in addi-
accompanied and historiographed the first tion to which reduction there is a general
expeditions despatched up the Nile by reserve fund of £11,055,413 her popula- ;

Mehemet Ali. tion has risen from 6,814,000 to nearly


The British soon sent consuls to Khar- 12,000,000 her cultivai)le area from
;

toum, who drew thither other explorers and about 4,000,000 acres to 6,500,000 ;

big-game hunters, who in time turned forced labour is abolished the rights of
;

into governor-generals or other officials in the peasants are absolutely secured


Egyptian pay. French engineers con- justice is pure and prompt education ;

structed great canals, their masterly work enormously advanced canals infinitely
;

i'SSESSION OF THE ENGLISH CROWN: GENERAL VIEW OF CORFU


culminating in the canal of Suez. The extended ; railways carried to Khartoum
British demanded in compensation the and the Red Sea the Sudan reconquered
;

permission to build railways and to open and administered to the infinite blessing
the overland route. The Franco-German of its native inhabitants, the enrichment
War weakened French influence, and 1882 of Eg3^pt, and the advantage of European
found Great Britain with an almost pre- and American trade and, finally, the
;

scriptive right to interfere in the Sudan, a people of the khediviate brought within
control of the railway system, a virtual sight ofsound representative institutions.
monopoly of the steamship traffic on the The British occupation of Egypt,
Nile, and a vested right in the Suez Canal. without the slightest doubt, has been the
Egyptian bankruptcy having compelled happiest event, in its results, which has
her intervention, ^gypt since 1882 has ever befallen that country since the
been under the control of the British memorable expulsion of the shepherd kings.

5609

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
XIV G.C.M.G.

BRITISH EXPANSION IN AMERICA


FROM A BRITISH POINT OF VIEW
IN this survey we are treating the as Bering Straits. Southwards, the Es
United States historically as an out- quimaux seem to have penetrated on the
growth of the empire of which they formed east coast of America as far as 50' N.
a part until their independence. When Lat., in Newfoundland and Labrador, and
the British first landed as colonisers on the to have come as a conquering race
Atlantic coast of North America, in the driving before them Indian tribes. It was
_ year 1578, the Spaniards had still farther to the south of these regions,

_ f "^ already overrun Florida, and where the Esquimau prevailed over the
. . had occupied a good deal of
. Indian, that the Norse colonies of the
Mexico. Otherwise, the ninth and tenth centuries had been
American Continent to the North of the estabhshed (in Nova Scotia and Massa-
Gulf of Mexico was free from the presence chusetts) and had in turn been over-
of the Caucasian. It was at that time thrown, mainly through the attacks of
populated sparsely by Indians, who, as the Esquimaux, or at any rate of some
compared to the races conquered by the race which in default of better kno^^iedge
Spaniards further south, were leading the we identify with the Esquimaux.
life of savages, though there were under- —
The Esquimau the word is derived
lying indigenous civilisations in the tem- from an Indian nick-name meaning " eaters
perate or sub-tropical portions of North of raw flesh," the people's own term
America which had existed and had died for themselves being Innuit —
differs in
away, or had been overthrown by the the main from the Indian stock (which
arrival of nomad savages from, the north. Tiri.
Where ^u
the
is identical with the existmg in-
,• , ,. r a •

race probalx^^ extended


The Amerindian . digenous population of America
J.
in those days as far north as the Mac- ^'*^^"^ ^^^' ^^^ north right down
Or?Tnatcd
"^ ^
kenzie River and the shores of Hudson's to Tierra del Fuego) in being
Bay. (The writer of this essay thoroughly moderately dolichocephalous— long-headed,
approves the fused word of " Amer- instead of round or short-headed. Other-
indian " to indicate the autochthonous wise the Esquimaux, like the Amerindians
races of North and South America.
" American " is more aptly applied to the
in a less pronounced form — seem to be-
long to the Mongolian sub-species of the
white peoples " Indian " is too likely
; human race. Probably the Esquimau is
to lead to confusion with the Dravidian one of the most primitive representatives
peoples. Yet physically the Amerindians of this third main division of the human
are nearly connected with the Malays, species. The straight-haired, slanting-
Dayaks, and Mongoloid races of further eyed, large-cheekboned, yellow-skinned
India and the Malay Archipelago. variety of humanity, which differs from the
" Amerindian " is a happy blend of the —
other two main divisions the Negro and the
„ a .. ion characteristics of the "Ameri-
&
. —
Caucasian in having a very sparse growth
)
^^^ Indians.") Here they im- of hair on the face and body, originated
r . pinged on the Esquimaux, whose
^ in North-eastern Asia, and spread thencc
Esquimaux -7
range m the sixteenth
., j.i- ^
century northwards round the Polar regions.
was not far differentfrom what it is at the The type may be a very ancient one,
present day — along the Greenland coasts, however, that existed as far back as the
the great islands of the Arctic regions that time when a land connection remained
lie between Greenland and the North between North America on the one hand,
American Continent, and along the con- and Northern Europe on the other, by
tinental shores of the Arctic Oceaji as far way of Iceland and Spitzbergen. The
5610
BRITISH EXPANSION IN AMERICA
Esquimau type indeed may even during the objection. Yet the British settlers in the
Glacial periods have penetrated with the hinterland of New England also made
glacial conditions of life into the British friends here and there with Amerindian
Islands, France, and Scandinavia. tribes. At last the Indians became
The Amerindians {i.e., all the existing involved in the hundred years' struggle
indigenous races in America) belong, in between France and England for predomin-
the main, to a Mongoloid type, but one ance in North America and at this game,
;

that has developed special features of its though the Europeans throve and increased,
own, and which may have absorbed pre- E 1 a' L °^^ ^ Indians decreased in
existing long-headed, Aino-like tribes of a numbers, dying out from the
rugge
St** '"^i for
more generalised type, such Caucasoid extremely savage attacks of
North America , •, ' °. ,
. .
i_ ,i_
tribes having preceded the Mongolian in tribe agamst tribe, both
the occupation of North America. waging that quarrel of the white man
When the British colonists founded the which was not theirs. By the time the
settlement of Virginia, the Amerindians United States were recognised as an inde-
were, from our present point of view, pendent power, and France had definitely
savages, leading an existence more or less abandoned political sway over any part of
nomadic, with a preference for tents or (in the mainland of North America at the —
the West) caves over huts. It is doubtful beginning of the nineteenth century, let us
whether any of them dwelt in stone houses —
say the Amerindians of North America
such as had once existed in the southern had diminished in numbers both in Canada
regions of North America, or in Mexico. and the United States from the hypothet-
They lived largely as hunters, but ical 5,000,000 which were there when the
probably did not number in all more than white man first arrived to possibly not more
5,000,000, if as much, throughout North than 3,000,000, distributed mainly over the
America from the northern frontiers of countries west of the Mississippi and of the
Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Their relations Canadian Rocky Mountains.
. with the British settlers of The middle of the nineteenth century
Extermmating
^^^ sixteenth and seventeenth saw the United States carrying on many
the
centuries were in the main an Indian war, which had arisen from the
Amerindians
hostile. Tribe after tribe was unchecked rapacity and shameless beha-
gradually exterminated by diseases intro- viour of the white colonists, who were

duced by the Europeans, by warfare often pushing determinedly westwards towards
civilwar between tribe and tribe, instigated the Pacific. Locations were set up by
by the European, or by alcohol. which it was hoped to provide a definite
France, late in the race for American territory for one Indian tribe or another.
colonisation, made up for lost time during A few of these locations are still maintained
the seventeenth century by the vigour and (87,237 square miles in 1906), but there is
ability with which she colonised. By the practically now no purely Indian territory on
early part of the eighteenth century she the soil of the United States or in Canada.
had laid the foundations of a Canadian But the decrease of the Indians in the
empire and of a magnificent domain in whole of North America, which may have
what are now the southern states of North brought their total as low as 1,300.000
America. She dominated the Mississippi somewhere about 1875 this estimate —
River from its mouth northwards so far as would include all Northern Mexico,
to bring her colonists of the south almost with about 900,000 Amerindians has —
into touch with her colonists on the Great apparently been checked of late years.
Lakes. Through her missionaries and her In Canada and in the United
Better Times
settlers she obtained a far-reaching influ- States conscientious legislation
for
ence over the Amerindians, with whom has arresied the drink curse,
the Indians
the French " habitants " mingled more and the greed of a European
freely — —
sexually than did the Puritans or education is spreading amongst the Indians
Hollanders of the Anglo-Saxon settlements. together with settled habits. Men and
The results are the French-speaking women of purely Indian blood are slightly
half-breeds of to-day in Canada —a more numerous now than they were
handsome, stalwart race, often so pre- thirty years ago. Including all Mexico,
possessing physically that they have Yucatan and Alaska, as well as the
been reabsorbed into the Caucasian United States of America and the Cana-
community with little or no racial dian Dominion, there are seemingly at

56H
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the present time 1,474,000 pure-blood undoubted negro women has decreased,
Amerindians in North America. Yet they being now
forbidden by motives of racial
are less and less discernible to the traveller pride — at
any rate, on the side of the
from abroad, inasmuch as they tend to white man. The two races, therefore,
dress and demean themselves increasingly co-exist side by side with far less tendency
more like the Americans of Caucasian race. to intermingle than was the case when
They intermarry, or, at any rate, mix they were respectively master and slave.
sexually with white men, the half-breed But the negro has taken increasingly
being of a comely type so that to the American climate and soil. Were
P ;

eventual absorption of the


^^^ it not for the opposition of the white man,
f*N tk
American
. Indians into the Cau- he would have overrun the whole of the
J.
casian community of North continent, and adapted himself eagerly
America seems to be inevitable. Indeed, to the most rigorous climate. His future
more than one anthropologist has con- is one of the greatest problems of the
sidered the non-Esquimau American world. The white races, to begin with,
aborigines to have resulted from an early are numerically as three to one with the
intermixture in far-back prehistoric days negro. They are beginning to refuse him
between a primitive type of Caucasian (like permission to extend as a settler beyond
the Aino of Japan) and an Esquimau certain geographical hmits, and even within
Mongoloid. At any rate, the cross between these limits they are yearning to find some
the Caucasian of North Europe and the excuse to eject him from his lawful rights
Amerindian is a handsomer type of human and expel him beyond the continental
being than the hybrid between the same limits of North America.
race of white men and the negro. If the tendencies of the extreme negro-
The future of all English-speaking and phobes rule American state policy, where
French-speaking North America is no doubt will these ten millions of negroes and
the future of a white race, but before this negroids find a permanent home ? An
result can be definitely achieved a solution . . attempt was made to solve
,

"^
will have to be found for the black problem A*4 .• t this problem by the institu-
Attr&ctions for ,
• < t i • •
i ^
in the United States. Within a relatively ..
j^ tion of Liberia eighty years
small geographical area of the United States ago. Liberia has achieved
east of the Mississippi there are at the some results, and may yet be a very valuable
present moment something like 9,500,000 essay in negro self-government but so far ;

negroes. This estimate includes some she has proved a failure as a dumping
2,500,000 persons of mixed negro and Euro- ground for the American negro, for the
pean blood. The tendency of public feeling simple reason that negroes born and bred on
at the present time in the United States American soil find as great a difficulty in
is to lump together as negroes

" coloured establishing themselves in Tropical Africa

people " all men and women of recognis- as does the European. They are almost
ably negroid appearance and ancestry. equally subject with him to the effects of
In some parts of the United States malaria, and they seem unable, as a general
it very awkward socially for anyone
is rule, to procreate healthy, vigorous chil-
to be born with black hair and brown dren, unless they mingle with the indi-
eyes even if they have a lively pink genous races and thus allow themselves to
complexion. No doubt, many of these be reabsorbed into the savage or semi-
handsome brunettes owe their black hair civilised negro tribes of the Dark Continent.
and brown eyes either to Spanish inter- But the Americanised negro colonist
or to an older strain of clings instinctively, passionately, to Ameri-
Th Bi * k rnixture
p .. Amerindian. These are the can civilisation. He will literally die
. . explanations they strive to put
. rather than give up European clothing
forward, but woe betide them if and "American notions of life, and slip
their complexion is sallow ! During the back into the palaeolithic or neolithic
days when slavery was an institution, the conditions of the African savage. It
planters in the south mixed freely (sexu- seems to the writer of this essay that if
ally) with the negro or half-caste women the cruel injustice of the white man in
whom they kept as their mistresses. But North America is to refuse to the negro
since the great Civil War and the emanci- a portion of the United States which can
pation of the negro, sexual intercourse become his permanent home, his only
between undoubted white men and resort will be the islands of the West
BRITISH EXPANSION IN AMERICA
Indies and the states of Northern South from Uruguay. British interest in the
America. Though in Africa he can scarcely Falkland Islands, and consequently her
withstand malaria better than the Euro- relations with the terminal portion of the
pean, he can resist the sun. In America, South American continent, have, however,
as in Africa, the man of negro blood can done a great deal to mend the lot of the
perform manual labour under circum- miserable inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego,
stances of heat and sun exposure which chiefly through the work of British mission-
are fatal to the white man. A new Africa, aries. The Fuegians, a people of the
therefore, may arise in Tropical America. Amerindian race, were first
Great Britain is concerned with this
AA T1 rtbute
-1. *
,
.
10 , . •
ii
brought prommently to our
J

Missionary
problem, because at the present day the ^^'''^. ^Y the wntmgS of
Enterprise
British West Indies are in the main peopled Darwm, who visited South
by negroes and negroids. In the British America in the Beagle in 1833. At the
West Indies themselves there were very few time of his visit these people were leading a
indigenous inhabitants (Amerindian) when completely savage existence under miser-
Britain took over the different islands, able conditions of chmate. They were
except in St. Vincent, Dominica, and almost entirely nude, and led the simple
perhaps Trinidad. In St. Vincent there existence of the Stone Age, being unac-
were Caribs of more or less mixed type, quainted even with the use of fire, practising
sometimes hybridised with negroes. In hardly any arts, and living the hunter's hfe.
Trinidad the few indigenous people linger- The attention paid to Tierra del Fuego
ing on the west coast belonged more or by the contending nations of Argentina
less to the Carib stock, but they were very and Chili, more especially by the Anglo-
few in number at the time of the British Saxon and Irish pioneers in the nominal
occupation of the island in 1796, and soon service of those governments, led, in
became absorbed in the mixed population the second half of the nineteenth century,
of negroes and Creoles. This island will to the usual introduction of spirituous
eventually become peopled by liquors and syphilis, and from one cause
n"'* . a homogeneous race of mixed and another the Fuegians were rapidly
Races in ,9
-,.... negro, European, andj t- East tIn-
i.
becoming exterminated. But the advent
dian origin. In British Guiana of the South American Missionary
the Amerindian population forms a con- Society has, during the last quarter of
siderable item, perhaps 10,000 to 12,000 ;
a century, not only saved the remnant
though has probably diminished in
it from perishing but has infused into them
numbers rather than increased during the such a degree of reasonable civilisation
hundred years of British occupation. as may enable them to recover their
These people belong to the Arawak, numbers and better their position.
Wapiana, Atorai, and Carib groups, Elsewhere, in Chili or in Patagonia, the
related to South American stocks in the influence of British settlers, captains
adjoining regions of the northern basin of industry or officials in the service of
of the Amazon and to the former in- the Chilian and Argentine Governments,
habitants of the West Indies. They do has stayed any tendency there might have
not seem to take very kindly to civilisa- been to provoke or extend wars between
tion, and are probably destined to be the European settlers and the local
absorbed info a negro or negroid peasantry, Amerindian tribes. But the inevitable
which may be further complicated by tendency of these people in temperate
intermixture with the Indian coolie and South America, as in temperate North
the Portuguese colonist, the resulting _, . America, will lie towards fusion
race emerging as a type very like the
f'th""
^^^^ ^"^ absorption by the
Papuan of New Guinea or the Melanesian -, .. invading Caucasian, from whom
of the Western Pacific. they are not removed so far
In the Falkland Islands there were no physically as the latter is from the negro ;

indigenes to be exterminated or saved. no doubt because among the strands that


The islands were uninhabited by man go to weave the Amerindian type are
when they: became the resort of whaling Caucasian threads, traces of very ancient
ships. The present inhabitants are largely intermixture with the basic stock from
composed of British (Scottish, Enghsh, which arose the European white man,
and Anglo-Saxon North American) stock, whether that intermixture took place in
with an admixture of Spanish Americans far North-eastern Asia or came by way

5613
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of the Pacific archipelagoes. Both routes Amerindian in North America will be
may have been followed. The summing gradually absorbed, and will improve
up, therefore, of the effect which the rather than spoil the vigour and beauty of
British Empire will have produced on the American race. It will have much the
humanity in the United States and British same racial significance as the Mongolian
North America, in the West Indies and strain which permeates parts of Scan-
in South America, is this •
dinavia, Russia, Germany, Alsace, Brittany
In the English-speaking regions of North and Ireland.
America, north of the hmits of Mexico, The Canadian French and the de-
there will grow up a people which would be scendants of the French colonists of
best represented at the present day by a Louisiana, the Spanish tinge in Texas,
composite photograph of all the races of California, and Florida, the million or so
Europe between Spain and Siberia, Greece Italians settled in America during the
and Scandinavia. The black drop in the last fifty years, the other millions of
blood of this potent race of the future Iberian Irish, the darker types of Hun-
will be no greater than that which has garians, will leaven the blond masses,
infused anciently the populations of Spain, the descendants of the settlers from
Southern France, Sardinia, and Sicily, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Russia,
or which makes itself noticeable in such Poland, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Ger-
cities as Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol and many. The most stalwart of the peoples
London, which traded with the West promise to arise in Canada the Canadian
;

Indies and thereby mixed with negro may be the aristocrat of the New World
slaves in the three last centuries. The in the last half of the twentieth century.
/-/Ju.-J i/jf ti. II Misit
IS.1NU tDWAKD Vll.
From the Sutue by Caorge Wade erected at RMdin^
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
XV G.C.M.G.

BRITAIN'S GREAT INDIAN EMPIRE


THE MARVELLOUS EFFECTS OF A CENTURY
AND A HALF OF BENEFICENT GOVERNMENT
r\^ Asia, whatever may be the ultimate fleet has been sufficiently powerful to
^^ fate of the British Empire and the deter Great Britain from the risk of an
length of its duration, traces of its existence avoidable war. In other words, in her
will have been left as far-reaching and in- days of imperial rapacity the 'eighties —
effaceable in their nature as those of Rome and 'nineties of the last century— Britain
on the Mediterranean world or of Macedon put up with the growth of French dominion
on the Nearer East. The peninsula of India _,. „ over Annam, Tonkin, and East-
The Era o- i,
is at once the nucleus and the starting-point ^^^ Siam, because, up to a cer-
j.

of E i^s^<^ d' s
I

of the British Empire in Southern Asia. point, she had too much to
^g^^j^
paci y
An inhabitant of Mars, looking at the ^gj^ ^^ going to war with
outlines of the land surface of our planet, France at sea to interpose a determined
would certainly never have guessed veto on her plundering of China and Siam.
that the people of the southern half of an At such movements, of course, Britain ex-
island off the north-west coast of Europe pressed an unaffected disapproval with a
would have made themselves the masters naivete the more extraordinary as the
of Hindustan. It was virtually England French activities, after all, were merely coin-
that conquered India down to the close of cident with her own conquest of Burma and
the eighteenth century, largely as Ireland the Shan States and her determination to
and Scotland have subsequently com- acquire undisputed political rights over the
pleted and strengthened the achievement. Siamese provinces of the Malay Peninsula.
That a military power uprising in the In the eighteenth century Britain found
Balkan Peninsula should ex- India to be a prey to internecine war.
Britain's
tend its sway continuously over After many invasions from the north-
Indian
Asia Minor, Persia and India west, going far back into prehistoric days,
Empire
is easily conceivable, as also the people of North Central India had been
that India should have fallen a prey to the conquered by a Turkish prince at the head
Russians or the Turks of Central Asia. of an army composed of Moguls, Turks,
Yet, of course, the Indian Empire is not Afghans, and Persians.
much more remarkable as a political Thus in 1526 was founded the Mogul—
achievement of the eighteenth and nine- —
properly spelt Mughal Empire. Prior to
teenth centuries than is the Dutch Empire this, much of Western and South Central
over the Malay Archipelago or what would India had been Mohammedanised and
have been a French overlordship of the Arabised, so that the irruption of Babar
Indian Peninsula. The first two conquests slightly intensified the Mohammedan ele-
are the results of the development of sea ment, and enabled his descendants for
power, and France, in the main, failed the next two centuries to rule with fairly
to take the place now occupied by Great sway over about
undisputed
Britain in Southern Asia because when her *!iT* 120,000,000 people, consider-
° "* "
ably more than two-thirds of
sea power was put to the test it vielded
'

before that of the Anglo-Saxon. whom belonged to the Hindu


If France has satisfied her Asiatic aspira- religion, and were thus violently opposed in
tions by the acquisition of large dominions their social customs and traditional beliefs
in —an almost
Indo-China sufficient com- to the ruling Mohammedans. The Hindu
pensation for what she lost to England element began to revive in power and cour-
in Hindustan — because
it is at one time age in the seventeenth, and above all in the
or another in the nineteenth century her middle of the eighteenth, century. Had
5615
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
united in religion it may be then with Malaysia, was almost
the country been firmly
under a dynasty that practised the faith certainly the place of origin of the human
of the majority of its subjects, England's genus, and of the three species or sub-
military and naval forces of the seven- species into which modern man is divided.
teenth and eighteenth centuries would not When, however, the Ganges Gulf had dis-
have been able to defeat the Portuguese, appeared, and the peninsula occupied very
Dutch, and French, one after the other, much its present form— in short, some
and conquer in turn the native vassals ten to twenty thousand years ago— this
or the foes of the Mogul dynasty till portion of the world was inhabited mainly
at last that dynasty became in the by what are styled the Dravidian races,

nineteenth century ^it did not expire till a low type of Caucasian man, higher in

1858 the tool and pensioner of the development than the generalised black
Australian or Veddah of Ceylon, yet not
British Chartered Company. India,
speaking from the point of view of the so distinctly a " white man " as the
human race and of the origin of many next upward step, the Iberian or brunette
other important M e d i t e r r anean
This last
mammalian race.
furnishes the
types, is perhaps
principal racial
the most remark-
element in the
able portion of
the earth's sur-
peoples of
face. It is in the Afghanistan,
main the great Persia, North
Africa, Southern
Mother Country
— fi r s 1 1 y,of and Western
humanity as a ^Ml^-^ Europe at the
genus of the ape
present day. On
these Dravidians
order; secondly,
recoiled pre-
it may be, of
historic invasions
human civilisa-
of Mongols, of
tion, and almost
certainly of the the yellow, bare-
skinned, straight-
principal relig-
haired type of
ious ideas that
now pulsate humanity which
through the may have arisen

human world. from the existing


Ii^ the Tertiary
human species
either in India or
Epoch there seem
in Further India.
to have arisen in
India, not only
These Mongolians
penetrated here
the human genus
and there in pre-
and species from --^^^ ^ ^^3^^^ ^^^^ THROUGH THE FOREST historic times
out of a pithec-
anthropoid form, but possibly also three amongst the Dravidian peoples, who them-
amongst the types of surviving anthropoid selves had overlaid pre-existing negroid
ape, and also the baboon genus. Moreover, Australoid races, for the more ancient
this productive region appears to have been negro type likewise originated in India so ;

the birthplace of the bovine, antelopine, that here and there in Northern and Central
capricornine ruminants, several groups of India, and perhaps along the east coast,
carnivora, of dogs, deer, and swine. there are Mongolian elements older than
Here, perhaps, arose the true elephant those which penetrated India from Tibet
genus from out of the mastodon. Here was and the Pamirs within the last 2,000 years.
the great radiating centre' of the gallina- At some unknown date, this side of

ceous birds. India ranks with North America 7,000 years ago, occurred one of the great
and North-east Africa as one of the great landmarks in the unwritten history of
evolutionary breeding grounds from which India— the invasion of the Aryans. The
have arisen and dispersed the principal —
name Aryan itself of Indian origin—
forms of animal life. Southern India, j oined has been applied in past times with a
5616
CUTTING A ROAD THROUGH THE JUNGLE IN THE FEDERATED MALAY STATES
357
56^7
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
degree of looseness which led for a while that of Buddha. From them and their
to its falling into disrepute. Its hnguistic intrusion and infusion of superior northern
purpose was confused with a racial desig- blood arose the idea of caste. The origined
nation, which is probably of a far more blond hair and grey eyes of the Aryans
abstruse and limited scope. One may soon disappeared in their physical absorp-

perhaps as a not altogether improbable tion into the millions of dark-haired,

theory identify the original inventors of brown-eyed, swarthy Dravidians or the
the Aryan tongues with the blond, grey- yellow-skinned, black-haired Mongolians.
eyed Europeans of Russia,
. The traces of this northern physical type
The Ancient
Cg^tral and Northern Europe. still linger in the highlands of Afghanistan
Aryan
g^^ ^^^ several thousand years and of the Hindu Kush. Curiously enough,
nnguages
^j-yg^j^ languages have been these brown- haired, grey-eyed Afghans
spoken by all the types of Caucasian man resemble strikingly the brown-haired, grey-
in Europe and Western Asia, except Lap- eyed Berbers of the Atlas Mountains of
land, Finland, North-east Russia, part of Tunis and Algeria.
Hungary, a small part of Turkey, Syria, The Aryan influence may also have
and the borderlands of France and Spain. penetrated beyond India to the recesses
These languages seem —
from such of Si am and Cochin China ; but at the
knowledge as we now possess to have — present day the mass of the population
arisen somewhere in Eastern Russia or eastwards of Bengal belongs in the main
Western Asia, north of the Caucasus, and to the Mongol type in varying degrees,
to have been the appanage of a white- with an underlying stratum of Negrito.
skinned people of pastoral habits, physi- The people of Bengal the familiar
cal beauty, and of a stage of culture which " Babu " type, no doubt also have an
had reached the age of metals copper, — infusion of the Mongolian in their blood.
bronze, and perhaps iron. Some have These Aryan invaders of prehistoric
maintained that this golden-haired or red- times were reinforced as regards language
haired, grey-eyed people may have deve- and fighting power by subse-
loped in North Africa from the brunette * quent incursions, legendary and
th D
Mediterranean race or from some more - „. historical, from across the Hindu
generalised type of Caucasian man. The " *"^
Kush. Across the lower valley
only clues that we possess at present of the Indus, however, at the dawn of
as to the origin of Aryan languages history, races of Dravidian stock seem-
would seem to lie in the direction of a ingly were pushing westwards through
Finnic or Mongolian stock. Baluchistan and Southern Persia to Meso-
But in prehistoric times, from ^,000 to potamia and Eastern Arabia. Indeed,
5,000 years ago, possibly more than that, it would appear as though there had been
Aryan conquerors had entered India from a strong set of the Dravidian peoples
the north-west, and had produced much towards Arabia at a remote period in the
the same impression on the dark-skinned history of that peninsula, and that there
Dravidians as was made on the pristine may be even a Dravidian element in the
negroes of Africa by the prehistoric in- blood of the Semitic and Hamitic tribes
vasions of Hamites from Egypt. of Arabia and Ethiopia.
The Aryans introduced to the millions Alexander the Great definitely linked
of Northern, Central and Western India a the fortunes of Europe with those of
language of the same family as that to India. From his celebrated invasion on-
which Lithuanian, Slavic, Greek, Latin, wards Europe never completely lost
... and Keltic tongues belong. This touch with the peninsula of Hindustan.
the Buddha
language, represented pretty Even Alfred the Great, King of Wessex,
„ ,.
Keiigion
.

,, -
by
Sanskrit, developed
closely caused inquiries to be made about India.
m
.
r -^ .y
the course of several thou-
^
The invasion of the Greeks 300 years
sand years into the modern dialects of before Christ further strengthened the
India and of Southern Ceylon, leaving Aryan influence over North-western India,
only outside its influence the Dravidian as is testified by the remains of a debased
speech of Southern and South-eastern Greek art in the Northern Punjab and even
India and the tongues of a few aboriginal Greek types of face amongst its people.
tribes. The Aryans brought with them The next great event in the history of
religious ideas which modified the religion this motherland was the invasion of the
of Brahma and eventually gave rise to Mohammedau Arabs, which began m
56l3
SCENES IN MAN'S FIGHT AGAINST NATURE
5619
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
looi A.D., and which, carried on by the conduct the affairs of their kingdoms and
Arabised Turks and Persians, culminated principalities with decorum and justice.
in that Mogul Empire for which the British The wealth of India during the last
Crown was substituted in 1858 and 1876. hundred years, since the British became
England found India in the seventeenth the masters over this region,
effective
century more or less completely under the must have increased tenfold, while the
sway of the Mogul emperors. The India population has nearly doubled.
which they ruled, directly or indirectly, Magnificent public works have been car-
though it included Southern Afghanistan, ried out —
thousands of miles of railways,
scarcely extended to Baluchistan, and canals for communication and irrigation,
certainly stopped in the Far East at the gigantic dams and reservoirs for the storage
mouth of the Ganges. It did not include of water, bridges across rivers that are
Ceylon, which remained more or less wonders of the world, the sounding,
governed internally by an ancient dynasty charting, and buoying of great capricious
of Aryan origin and Buddhistic religion, rivers up which ocean ships may travel
but the coasts of which were controlled . hundreds of miles the British have devel-
;

ever since the sixteenth century first? oped coal-mines that have added enor-
by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch, and mously to the wealth of India gold-mines, ;

finally, inthe nineteenth century, by the diamond-mines. They have introduced


British. The India of the seventeenth the tea plant, and have made its cultiva-
century, ruled by the Mogul emperors, tion one of the great industries of North-
probably contained a population of eastern India the cinchona tree, with
;

150,000,000. The its fever-healing


Indian Empire of bark the coffee-
;

to-day, excluding tree from Africa,


Ceylon, extends and many other
from the Persian useful products
Gulf to the of the tropics
frontiers of and the tem-
Tonkin and con- perate zo nes
tains some- which thrive on
thing like Indian soil. They
297,000,000 liave taken up
people. To about nd I developed
150,000,000 has indigenous pro-
been brought the ducts like jute,
means at the indigo, cotton,
present day of wheat and rice.
acquiring an ex- They have im-
cellent education, proved the indi-
scarcely inferior genous breeds of
in its scope to horses;taken
that which is measures to
provided for Eng- j
)reserve the wild
lishmen at home. elephant from
To the whole of RAILWAY SCENE IN BURMA H. C. White Co. extinction;
The above interesting picture not only shows how closely the railway
the 300,000,000 system of Great Britain is copied in Burma, but also illustrates
the
checked the
of Baluchistan, spread of the English langfuage in that country. Compartments devastations and
Kashmir, Little reserved for women have the words Women only painted on tha the numbers of
" "

Tibet, of the doors, while the picture of a woman above the lettering indicates the harmful wild
purpose of the compartment to those who have not learnt to read.
Indian peninsula beasts and
proper from the Himalayas to Cape poisonous snakes. More important by far-
Comorin, of Burma and the Shan States than this interference with the tiger and
England has given security of life and the viper is the tracking down of the
property to a degree never known by plague, cholera, malaria and syphilis bacilli^
these Asiatic peoples in all their recorded and the war that has recently been waged
history. Equal security has been given on microbe-bearing rats, fleas and mosqui-
to the native dynasties of kings and chiefs toes. The British have fought famine in
who have accepted her suzerainty, and whp those recurring years of scarcity wherein the
5620
;

Downie & Shepherd


NATIVE EDUCATION IN INDIA : SCENE IN A MOHAMMEDAN SCHOOL
rainfall wasdeficient, and have striven being only half what it is now, disease
to retainthe rainfall necessary to the was not so rampant from overcrowding
country by a careful control of the forests in towns, while famines were less frequent
and the replanting of trees. When England and severe.
took up the rule of India in the guise is doubtful whether these counter
It
of a great amorphous trading company, assertions are correct. Some of the people
India was rapidly being ruined by inces- were no doubt lightly taxed, or paid no
sant warfare between degenerated Turkish taxes at all, through leading the life of
and Afghan dynasties and their Hindu savages. Others again were subjected to
and Sikh opponents. such considerable and such irregular
The country was becoming disforested by extortions that private enterprise was
by the unchecked browsing of goats
fires, often crippled. The effects of the old
and cattle, and by clearing for cultivation. regime have not quite vanished yet.
And though this destruction of the wood- Rulers and people were accustomed not
lands could hardly affect the mighty only to put their savings into bullion of
ranges of the Himalayas or the tropical gold and silver, but, in the uncertainty of
jungles of Southern India, it was, together their lives, to trust no man, no institution,
with the neglect of irrigation, slowly no government, with their hoards of wealth
extending the area of the waterless desert rather to bury their gold and silver in the
region in the north-west and centre. ground against such time as they should
Temples and mosques and other marvels need it. In this way many a store of
of Indian architecture at their best bullion has disappeared which might
were crumbling into decay through the otherwise have been circulating through
decline of art and the incessant wars the country and stimulating commerce.
between Mohammedans and Hindus. It As to the records of disease, so little
is said, nevertheless, that the people attention was paid to these questions in
were less taxed than they are under the the native annals that there is scarcely
existing regime, and that the population any evidence on which to base a
5521
HISTORY OF THE >^ORLD
comparison between the death-rate now inhabiting this sub-continent, for that is
and the death-rate a hundred years ago. nearly as difficult as to fuse all the states of
The great increase in the population, and the Europe into a single polity ; but, at any
going to and fro. hither and thither across rate, she has set the Parsees on their feet,
the Indian Empire, have no doubt spread has raised the sect of the Sikhs to be deser-
certain diseases at one time restricted to vedly one of the dominant forces of India,
special localities. But through the measures has enabled the Mohammedans of Bengal,
undertaken by British medical science some Oudh, and Agra, and also of the Punjab
diseases like small-pox have and of Haidarabad, to develop their religi-
The F* ht
..- • been robbed of their terrors, ous ideas in unfettered liberty of opinion,
With n-
iv-tk Uiseasem , ,, ,:.
and others, like cholera,
, ,
till, if any group can save the teaching of
jj^jjj^
malaria, and the plague, are the Arabian prophet from falling com-
being brought gradually under control. pletely out of harmony with our present
Progress in the elimination of disease life, it will be the prosperous, educated,

would have been quicker but for the reasonable Moslems of the Indian Empire.
suspicion, the prejudices, the religious She may in the same way save the
fanaticism of Hindus and Mohammedans. Hindus from themselves by sapping the in-
It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that tolerable nonsense of caste, of the Brahman
only two or three thousand natives of cult the non-hygenic principles that direct
India out of three hundred millions have this and that restriction on wholesome food
as yet grasped sufficiently the principles or drink, of the worship of black goddesses
of natural science to realise the true with two dozen breasts, of
Consequences
causes of disease, and to be convinced that ^j^ ^^^ ghastly rubbish which
O s
sensible people would not allow either "l^'l^ g^jjj j.g^y(>g5 200,000,000 of
Good Rule ^t- j ui
superstition or misapplied religious prin- Hmdus xto a negligible
i-
quan-
ciples, or foolish social customs and preju- tity in the weights of the intellectual
dices, to stand between an enlightened world. England also will have had
government and the elimination of such the privilege of assisting and rendering
diseases as the plague. prosperous and numerous one of the very
The effect of 150 years of British rule few good and noble religions which have
on the peoples of India has been stupen- arisen in the world — the sect of the Jains.
dous. England has put an end to Afghan The effect of the British Empire on the
raids which at intervals since looi Malay Peninsula and in Borneo has been
scattered the accumulated capital de- the abolition of piracy, the stoppage of
stroyed the cities and the public works of internecine wars between one Malay
the industrious races, and punc- sjltan and another, and of the Arab slave
India's
debt to
tuated the annals of India with trade ;and the great recent increase of
holocausts of human victims. population which has resulted from the
Britain
She has done away with abatement of the dense forests and their
Thuggism, widow-burning, and her in- profitable exploitation, the discovery of
fluence is rapidly making child-marriage tin and coal, and the hundredfold increase
an obsolete custom. Under her rule there of human health, happiness, wealth and
is complete religious hberty for all who do intellectual progress in these parts. If
not want to adopt murder or torture as an there is any portion of the British Empire
article of faith. England may not last without a blemish in purpose or achieve-
long enough to make a homogeneous ment, it is the Malay Peninsula, the Straits
undivided people out of the 300,000,000 Settlements, and all their appurtenances.

THE GOLDEN TEMPLE OF THE SIKHS AT LAHORE


5622
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
XVI G.C.M.G.

BRITISH EXPANSION IN AFRICA


AND THE PACIFIC
AND ITS EFFECT ON THE NATIVE RACES
""PHE existence of a great island or that any approach was made by English or
continent to the south of the Malay
•••
French towards discovery and settlement.
Archipelago had been suspected by the But the nature of the inhabitants of
Portuguese early in the sixteenth century. these Australian lands was a more powerful
This dim knowledge was crystallised into deterrent than the dangers of navigation.
an allusion to " Greater Java." The The complete absorption of the Malay
Dutch were the first, in 1598, to refer Archipelago and Peninsula
Mohammedan
to this continent to the south of New within the European
Religion Spread
Guinea as "Australis Terra." The sub- political area in a few years
by the Arabs
sequent history of the discovery and after discovery had been
settlement of Australia has already enormously facilitated by the civilisation
been given in preceding chapters. of the Malay race at some unknown
What were the conditions of Australasia period by Hindu influences, and, much
when white men in the seventeenth century later, by their conversion to Islam.
were feeling their way towards fresh Just as the Islamising of the northern
conquests and occupation ? Why, when half of Africa shed a flood of light on a
island after island in the Malay Archipelago country the indigenes of which (south
was rapidly conquered and occupied by of N. Lat. 10°) were in a stage of early
the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch or Eng- culture singularly akin to that of Austra-
lish, did these lands of the southern hemi- lasia, so the carrying of the Mohammedan
sphere so long evade the white man's sphere religion by Arabs through India and along
. ,
Australasia
e
. . ,

si
of practical politics ?
westernmost
.
The' .

promontories

the trade route to China amongst the Malay
Islands did more for mediaeval geography
islands of New Guinea
^^^ and the linking up of the worlds of Europe
I habitants
were included by the Dutch and the Far East than the attempts of
within their sphere of commercial and Greece, Rome, and Constantinople or the
political influence as early as the end of growth of the Chinese Empire.
the sixteenth century but the whole of
; The conversion of the Malays to
the remainder of New Guinea, Australia, Islam definitely attached the coasts of
New Zealand, and the adjacent Pacific the East Indian Islands and promontories
archipelagoes were left to themselves to the civilised world. The plumes of
till the last half of the eighteenth century. New Guinea birds of paradise, the cam-
The reasons for this late development phor of Formosa, the spices and even the
were principally the savage and ferocious cockatoos of the Moluccas may have
nature of the inhabitants, who lay utterly reached the Persian Gulf, the Mameluke
outside Hindu, Malay, and Mohammedan rulers of Egypt, the Greek emperors of
influence, and the existence of the Great _. _ _ Byzantium, the merchants
Barrier Reef, which hindered approach to ^t
of °r.. .?-! of Venice, and the Arab
Australasian
the coast of North-east Australia. rulers of Grenada before the
Aborigines
The extent of this reef southwards was oversea exploits of the
probably over-estimated. But where it Portuguese made these regions of the Far
came to an end the seas were sufficiently East tributary to Western and Northern
far south to be affected by heavy gales. Europe. The culture which prevailed over
It was not until better and bigger ships New Guinea, excepting the small Malay
and rtiore scientific navigators entered these sultanates of the far north-west, over all
waters, with Captain Cook as a pioneer. Australia and Tasmania, was of such a
5623
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
low order that it might be called Palaeo- from the Polynesian archipelagoes. It
lithic. The aborigines of New Guinea, is themain element of the popula-
Australia and Tasmania were, in the main, tion of Fiji, and is traceable in Tonga.
of a more primitive, less differentiated The Papuans of New Guinea are fairly
character than any living races at the abundant, of medium height, and good
present day, except their outlying relations proportions, though some of the tribes
such as the Veddahs and Negritoes. The of the interior tend to a shortness of
lowest Australian types of men bear in legs which recalls the forest negroes of
cranial formation a striking Africa. The skin colour is sooty brown
similarity to the Neanderthal like that of the Australian.
of iYce
^c^ ia
species of the genus Homo which
11^
The dark races of South-eastern Asia differ
Australia •- j t-
from the " black " negroes in that there
i i •

mhabited Europe at a very i.

remote period. They are, indeed, the is less red colour in the skin, and in the
nearest living representatives of early case of the Papuans and Australians there
Palaeolithic Man in Europe. Elsewhere is a much greater projection of the brow-
this generalised type of our species has ridges; the nose, moreover, being seldom
been developed, specialised, or exter- absolutely fiat in the bridge, though the
minated. At the present day the Papuan tip is wide and flat at the nostrils, and
race of New
Guinea makes a distinct the lips, though thick and projecting, are
approximation towards the negro, and this not so largely everted as with the average
negroid type penetrates eastward and negro. The hair of the Papuans is black
northward, mixed in varying degrees and frizzly, and grows semi-erect, like
with the Polynesian, till it reaches a mop. That of the Australians is curly
Hawai, Formosa, and Japan. in a large way, but except for its coarse
The theory sometimes advanced to texture grows very much like a European's.
account for the physical attributes of the Like the lower races of Europe and India
extinct Tasmanians is that this negroid the Australian's body, in the male, is very
type migrated southwards along the -,. • hairy. This is one of the
t f
east coast of Australia and crossed thence . / characteristics which points
to Tasmania, being afterwards succeeded „ , . to a basal affinity between
Polynesians ,, * j "^
j x,
on the continent of Australia by races Austraioid and
the
i. i
the
with straighter hair and more prominent Caucasian. The Polynesians seem to be
noses, akin to the Dravidian. a Far Eastern prolongation of Malay in-
In New Zealand there was a different fluence, though in physical characteristics
state of affairs. The first European ex- perhaps nearer akin to the Caucasian.
plorers that landed on its coasts French — They differ from the Western Caucasian
and English, at the close of the eighteenth in the relative absence of body-hair, and
century —
observed two types amongst the a tendency to the straight, coarse head-
aborigines : a short, dark-skinned negroid, hair of the Mongol, Malay, and Amerindian.
and the tall, light-skinned Maori and ; It may be that before the Mongols of China,
the theory was advanced some thirty years Japan, North Asia and the Esquimaux
ago that the arrival of the last named had become differentiated and had reached
from Polynesian archipelagoes had been their present habitat an early Caucasian
preceded by a Tasmanian immigration. But type threw off a smooth-skinned, straight-
it is inconceivable that this low race could haired branch which migrated to North-
have constructed canoes to cross a thousand eastern Asia and thence colonised much of
odd miles of sea between Australia and America, while it made its way also south
New
New Zealand it is difficult
Zealand's
; and east to the Pacific archipelagoes, to
enough to believe that such absorb culture from the more Mongolian
Early
a primitive type could even Malay and mingle his blood with his.
Inhabitants
have crossed on rafts a strait In many of their physical characteristics
of a few miles in width between Wilson the Polynesians recall the Indians of
Promontory and Tasmania and it has ; Western America. In modern times they
been surmised that their colonisation of have mingled with the negroid Melanesians,
this island dates from a time when it was inheriting from them wider noses, undu-
connected by an isthmus with the Aus- lations in the head-hair, and darker skin
tralian continent. Therefore, it is more colour. Yet, when all has been said and
probable that if there was a negroid element done, the best Polynesian type recalls the
in New Zealand, it accompanied the Maories European, and fimdamentadly the two
5624
BRITISH EXPANSION IN AFRICA AND THE PACIFIC
races may be akin, a fact which will " South " Australia. Queensland has had
probably have the Tiappiest effect on the as merciless a record, but here the territory
future status of the Polynesians, inter- was vaster, hotter, and a larger proportion
marriage with whom will no more
be of the indigenes have survived to profit
prejudicial to racial beauty and mental by the development of Queensland public
development than the intermixture with opinion on to a higher plane of thought.
the Amerindian or the Northern Mongol. Their treatment now is vastly improved
The effect of the British Empire on the in this direction. Western Australia in
autochthonous races of Australia and ^^^ back blocks, and above all
Polynesia cannot be described in terms
of such glowing praise as I have applied
The Nati
IT-.!-
Under f-
^ruel
Treatment
I
. ...
in the far north-west, has stiU
"luch scourgmg to receive and
,

to the altogether splendid record in India, atonement to make ;from


Ceylon and Malaj'-a. From the point of the half-suppressed reports of clergymen
view of the anthropologist and the and missionaries the Westralian treatment
philanthropist it is here that the record of the natives under their control has been
is sorriest and most ignoble. When the quite as bad as anything recorded of the
British invaded Australia and Tasmania Congo. But in these matters, where the great
the welfare, rights, and anthropological daughter nations are concerned, the British
importance of the indigenes seem to have Press is inclined to complacent silence.
been completely absent from their minds. The black Australian, as he was first
Their Imperial conduct, in fact, in these found, was certainly a savage, and an
regions rank much lower in the scale of imamiable, treacherous savage. " Cet
morality than that of the late King of the animal est ires mechant! Quand on
Belgians, who, if he afflicted and dimin- Vattaque il se defend I" If England's fairest
ished the native tribes of the Congo, coast regions were suddenly invaded by
at any rate contemporaneously illus- an almost irresistible race of Martians, she,
trated their arts, customs, and beliefs in her futile defence of her homeland, might
whilst such things could be show herself equally treacherous. For
Great Britain's
recorded. The treatment of a long time he was said to be an " irre-
Black Record
the Australian and Tasma- claimable " savage. But this has been
in Australia
nian blacks has been stupid shown to be as true as the dictum of King
and brutal down to about 1896, long before Leopold's Congo Ministers that the Bantu
which time the Tasmanians were extinct, negroes of Congoland were " outside the
and England deserves to be scourged for it pale of the family idea." The irreclaim-
before the world's tribunal quite as much ability of the Australian — as announced
as the Spanish nation for its treatment of —
by the white colonist is as true as the de-
the Amerindians, or Leopold of Coburg for pravity of the lamb in the eyes of the wolf.
his merciless exploitation of the Congolese. Fortunately, however, there were other
But for the missionaries and, in addition, and nobler forces at work in Australia, and
the fighting qualities of the Maories the the result of their efforts, and those of the
Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand colonists and governments helping them,
would have been as mercilessly dealt with. is that there are many police, stock-

When England laid hands on all Austra- riders, trackers, farm servants, and other
lia, from the point of view of keeping other workers of use to the general community
European Powers out, say, in 1800, the at the present day, who are of pure
native population of the entire island Australian blood. It is no longer probable
continent cannot have been less than that this wonderfully interesting race will
200,000 to-day it is computed at 65,000. n ut ^6 exterminated it is less un-
;
AA Brighter
• ;

^.^^^^ ^^^^ j^ ^-j^ ^^ absorbed.


Extermination seems to have been the

order of the day extermination by rum, the°Nttive
^^^ half-caste between white
syphilis, starvation, and later the more man and Australian aborigine
merciful and direct assassination by the is not such a disappointment as are some
rifle bullet. In about forty years from other human hybrids, either physically or
1800, the natives of New South Wales, mentally. And again, from this cross to
and of South Australia, had been
Victoria, further intermixture with the whites or, —
reduced from a possible 100,000 to about as seems now more customary, with such
5,000, not, of course, including those of the Afghans, Indians, Chinese, or Poljmesians
central and northern regions, which are as the rigid immigration laws may per-
Still so inappropriately linked with —
mit, or fail to prevent may in time create
5625

,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


a small but prosperous class of dark-eyed, men's diseases, is silently melting away
pale-skinned, black-haired, not uncomely before the Indian coolie, the Japanese,
people, who may find a place and a Chinese, and Portuguese immigrants. It
decent recognition for themselves in the is said that native women are more fertile
future great Australian nation. with Japanese, Chinese or European
England had no recognised empire in the husbands it may chance, therefore, that
;

Pacific until she annexed New Zealand in the fate of this Polynesian race may be
1840, but the unofficial influence of the reabsorption, to form with these other racial
^. . . British on the Polynesian and elements another and stronger Polynesian
Missionaries ,^1 , ', -,,
people, an amalgam, like the predecessors,
as n
...
Builders ,, ^ /„ began
Melanesian peoples
, » ,
With
of Emoir
,

Voyages of Cook and the whom Cook first described, of Australoid,


first settlement of Australia. Caucasian, and Mongolian strains.
The way for the empire was prepared, In other ways, the effect of the empire
unconsciously no doubt, by missionaries, on New Zealand, and on these "Summer
whalers, and traders in small sailing ships, Isles of Eden set in dark purple spheres
together with the frequent cruises of men- of sea," has been wholly good, so far as
of-war. The missionaries, most of all, the general enrichment of the world is
brought the Pacific islanders to the idea concerned. New Zealand has become in
that their only way of political salvation the last century a young nation of magni-
decimated as they were by their own inter- ficent vigour, with a mighty future before
tribal quarrels, and constantly under her, and a population of nearly a million.
menace of attack from European pirates Fiji now does an annual trade in exports,
was to offer the supreme rule or wardship such as sugar, dried coco-nut kernels, and
over their countries to the British queen. fruit, and imports of the value of
No doubt, they were instinctively right. $6,000,000. This archipelago, extraordi-
At any rate, if the islands had not hoisted narily endowed as to climate and healthful-
the British flag they would have been ness, scenery, and fertility of soil, is of only
placed under that of France, the United small area, and supplies both
States, or Germany. But it is sad to Australia and Canada with tro-
Pacific*^°"*
think that since New Zealand became P^^^^ produce. The inhabitants
I si and s
British its indigenous population has of nearly all the other Pacific
decreased from a hypothetical 100,000 to islands under British jurisdiction are con-
about 48,000 at the present day. The verted to Christianity, and have given up
population of Fiji was estimated at about cannibalism and civil war. They are, for
200,000 in the middle of the nineteenth the most part, busily engaged in the copra
century, and is now no more than 87,125 — —
dried coco-nut trade, but a number of
souls, and is diminishing rather than them still seek service in Queensland, in
increasing. Elsewhere in the Pacific, Pacific islands belonging to France or
Tonga, Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands, Germany, or even go as far afield as
Gilbert Islands, Ellice Islands, the popu- Mexico, confident that their British nation-
lation of native strain is on the increase. ality will afford them ample protection.
Many of these islands were depleted of Thus, after vicissitudes extending over
their able-bodied men by the labour traffic —
more than a century since their first
of 1870-1890, which at first kidnapped, and discovery, or rediscovery, by British and
later lured them for work on plantations —
French mariners the Pacific islands seem
in Eastern Tropical Australia. Many of to have found peace, prosperity, compara-
these labourers have since returned to tive freedom and political stability. Ex-
—^ _ , their homes, materially and cept in New Zealand, the British have
The Future ,, j u
by j.u
,

- . mentally improved their nothing to regret in their treatment of these


' ^^^^^- There is no cause now Polynesian and Melanesian races, since a
Pol ^ a'
but the inherent weakness of direct government control was established
racial stamina why the Polynesians and -
over the islands, large and small but there
;

Melanesians should not once more begin remain some seventy or eighty years of
to increase in numbers. Yet in Hawai, previous unofficial British or British
under the Americans, and in Fiji under colonial dealings with the peoples that are

the British both governments showing a sorry record of slavery, kidnapping,
the utmost solicitude for their Poly- alcohol-poisoning, debauchery, disease,

nesian wards the native race is ceasing ridiculous or even vicious ^vrangles
to have children, is d5ring of white between Christian sects and churches,
5626
BRITISH EXPANSION IN AFRICA AND THE PACIFIC
cannibalistic outbreaks and sanguinary than the nourishment of unintellectual
revenges, farcical governments got up by idleness in cannibalism and sexual orgies
European or American adventurers, and of 2.000,000 brown Polynesians. Such
floated with repudiated paper currencies. fragments of the Earthly Paradise are
These influences combined must have worthier .to be the home of 50,000,000
reduced the total native population of men and women endowed with the finest
Oceania, excluding New Guinea but qualities of mind and body.
including New Zealand, from a possible What has been the effect of the British
2|- milhons to about a million at the Empire on Africa ? In the west, the scene
present day. Of course, it must be remem- of her earliest attempts at settlement as
bered this 2 1 millions had been living traders and rulers, she first encouraged
lives of useless happiness, apart from the to an enormous extent the trade in slaves.
rest of the moving world, aloof from the This has led to much intertribal warfare,
sorrows and struggles of the toiling and even the disappearance of certain
thousand millions in temperate or torrid coast peoples. Between 1560 and i860 the

G. Hughes
THE PRIMITIVE SYSTEM OF LANDING ON THE WEST AFRICAN COAST
continents. Seemingly, a policy of secluded West African slave trade certainly tended to
selfishness does not enter into the scheme the depopulation of parts of Guinea, Daho-
of the Higher Power for the development meh, the Niger Delta, and the Kameruns.
of the human race. Nature insists on a The British from 1815 and the French
unification of the genus, and to attain from about 1835 set to work to suppress
this end extremes meet —the Dutchman the slave trade they had once encouraged.
mingles with the Hottentot, the English- This, of course, led to their increased inter-
man with the Polynesian, Scotsman with ference in West African affairs, and by
West Indian negro, Portuguese with degrees to a widespread use of the English
Dravidian, Arab with Bantu, Frenchman language as a medium of intercommunica-
with Amerindian. The Summer Isles of tion. The trade in palm oil and palm
Eden and the 104,000 square miles of —
kernels said to have been invented in
pasture, meadow, woodland. Alp, lake, —
Liberia was, in its early days, a British
and orchard, which constitute the noble industry ; and so lucrative did it become
patrimony of New Zealand, were meant to natives as well as white men that it
for better things in the destiny of man probably proved a more efficient corrective

5627

HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of the slave trade than the vigilance of the territory, and the proceeds or profits
British cruisers. But the palm-oil trade therefrom are publicly accounted for, and
gave rise to incidents and tendencies which form part of the local revenue. In the

provoked further and often unwilling administration which controls these sources
interference on the part of the British of public wealth the voice of the real
Government with native chiefs. These last natives of the country will have a larger
would frequently attempt to make a corner and larger part as education increases in
in palm oil, by preventing the interior the native community and fits the people
_, _. natives from coming into con- of the soil for playing a responsible part.
tact with the white traders, Whilst foreign capital is required to
the \xT
on it Westi , ., 11 j a
were thus compelled to fructify industries and to turn the re-
Afric C t
deal with the oil-markets by sources of the country to profitable account,
making use of the coast negroes as inter- that capital must be allowed a fair repre-
mediaries and middlemen. Thus the pro- sentation in the local councils, and receive
ducing peoples of the interior received a guarantees as to its investments
sufficient ;

poor price for their industry, and the otherwise the native community will
European had to pay too dearly for the never obtain money on cheap enough
oil which was becoming so increasingly terms for creating its industries. But
necessary to his home industries. the ambition of all these negro states
Now all these questions are regulated under the British flag in West Africa and
equitably. The coast men share in the Nigeria should be to obtain their working
general advantages of the coast govern- capital in time through their own re-
ment, which is partly supported by the sources and in time to show themselves
customs duties levied on general imports more and more worthy of home rule.
and exports. The
natives of the interior In East Africa, between the Nile Basin and
can dispose of their produce without let or the Zambesi, the chief effect on the native
hindrance for the prices determined by the peoples has been produced by the abroga-
law of supply and demand. But it is in —^ . tion of Arab authority in the
* "^^
the coast regions, above all, that the -. coast lands and the even-
.
Oppression la , r j.i. a u
tual suppression 01 the Arab
.

advantages of an enlightened British .


J, .J
administration have been shown. Here slave trade, and, finally, of
a system of petite culture has been brought slavery. The Arab treatment of East and
into existence, in the Gold Coast Colony Central Africa has followed much
the same
especially, which has had the happiest lines as European behaviour elsewhere.
results, especially in the cultivation of First of all, the land was ravaged for slaves
cacao. In this a trade of something like a and ivory. No thought was taken for the
million sterling has been developed. welfare of the indigenes at all. They were
A glance at the revenues and expenditures originally transported in thousands to
of all the British West African colonies and Arabia, Persia, Madagascar, and the Co-
protectorates will at once show their —
moro Islands a few also going to Western
prosperity. It is, above all, the prosperity —
India and, later, they were used to de-
of the people of the soil, whose rights have velop clove, sugar, coco-nut plantations
been most rigorously respected and rea- in Zanzibar and along the East African
sonably defined. The British West African littoral from Lamu to Cape Delgado.
possessions are setting an example to the When the Arabs appreciated the possi-
rest of British Tropical Africa, and to a bilities of Congoland, the slaves of the
great deal of Africa and Asia which is under populations they harried were turned on
°*^^'" ^^^' °^ *^^ "^^ policy, to create vast rice-fields, orange groves,
New Policy
w^^c^ ^s going to spread like a lime orchards, plantations of sugar-cane,
B
f "f
West Africa
h
iiew religion —ample recognition bananas, ground nuts, and maize in the
of the rights of the indigenous valley of the Lualaba-Congo. When
peoples to the land they live on and to the conquered at this epoch, the close of the
natural produce of its soil. This theory nineteenth century, the domain of the
does not prevent the reservation of abso- Arabs on the coasts of Nyassa and Tan-
lutely vacant lands or lands containing ganyika and in Eastern Congoland pre-
forests or mines, which must be 4ealt with sented to the British, Germans, and
in the general interests of the community. Belgians a certain appearance of well-
Such are held in trust for the community being, civilisation and contentment which
by the established government of the was in marked contrast to the savage
5628
. —

BRITISH EXPANSION IN AFRICA AND THE PACIFIC


regions outside the Arab settlements. more civilised conditions. But most of
To some extent this contrast was an these cold countries were No-man's-lands
unfair one to the pagan African, because when they were discovered, and England
the unsettled regions outside the Arab zone has not felt called upon to hand them over
had been reduced to a condition of heed- to the black man. For many years there
less savagery by the raids of the Arabs have been Scottish and English coffee
and their negro allies. The wretched planters (colonists) in Nyassaland. Re-
remnant of the natives only secured some cently England has been permitting the
immunity from attack by simply offering . appropriation of vacant lands
J.
no temptation to robbery. They accumu- ^y white men on the healthy
e'^Tki"'***
lated no stores of food, and avoided giving p"^ .y uplands of East Africa. Here,
any evidence of culture. as in Western Uganda and
Had no European intervention taken Northern Nyassaland, there are earthly
place, matters would have taken more — paradises still awaiting the people. Con-

slowly the same course under the Arabs sequently, the political future of Eastern
as under the white man's predominance. Africa is likely to be far more complicated
First, the Arabs would have cultivated as an entity than that of West Africa,
millions of acres by forced labour then, ; purely a black man's land, or South Africa,
as it became more and more difficult to where the white man is quite resolved to
coerce great negro populations raised to be the predominant partner.
the same level of culture as the Arabs In British East Africa, including Somali-
themselves, the Arabs would have sought land and Nyassaland, there will be small,
to work by means of hired labour. Lastly, compact, powerful colonies or enclaves
they might have had the intelligence to of Europeans and Asiatics surrounded
perceive what we are just appreciating by a very numerous, prosperous, and,
thanks to the teaching of men like E. D. I hope, friendly, population of negroes
Morel, Albert Chevalier, Vandervelde, and negroids. The Arab element will
. Charles Dilke, Fox-Bourne, remain and will permeate the leaven of the
Tropical
^^^ Theodore Roosevelt— docile Bantu with a sense of self-respect
Africa s Negro . i > 1_
and personal pride which will compel a
-

p . that the negro is an m-


eradicable plant in Tropical decent treatment at the hands of the
Africa and that, this being the case, it is
; British and Indian fellow-colonists.
better to treat him as the owner and The effects produced by the British
dominant factor in the country, inspire Empire on the native races of South Africa
him with the pride of ownership in- — have been most potent. The Dutch and
dividual and communal and by means — Huguenot settlers who preceded us had
of trade allurements tempt him to exploit, conquered the feeble Hottentot and
as a free man and a person with a stake Bushman tribes of the south-western
in his own commonwealth, the resources angle of Cape Colony sufficiently to be
and riches of his dwelling-place. able to dispose of the land between the
This theory has its imperfections when little Namaqua coast, the sources of the
contrasted with actual contemporary Zak, and the Great Fish River amongst
facts, but on the whole it has proved the European farm settlers. These last at
best working hypothesis with the negro times were almost at war with the un-
peoples of Eastern as well as Western and sympathetic, selfish, stupid government of
Central Africa. But there are other the Dutch East India Company. The Boer
factors in the East African problem that pioneers of the future white South Africa
do not exist in West Africa and the Congo . shirked any contest with the
The Racial
Basin. Half the area of British East pQ^gj-ful Bantu peoples to the
Struggles in
Africa, a quarter of Uganda, a quarter of east and north of the land from
South Africa
Nyassaland are regions of considerable which they had ousted the
elevation above sea-level and partly on
; Hottentot. Indeed, the drift of the racial
this account, partly from other causes, are struggle was rather the other way when the
— or were when England entered the British first took possession of Cape Town.

country devoid of native inhabitants. To Should the Kaffir and Basuto be
tell the truth, although the negro may have allowed to drive the Boer farmers' back
avoided settling on these elevated plateaus on to the Cape Peninsula and occupy the
when he was a nearly naked savage, he lands of the Hottentot in their stead ?
has shown himself quite able to do so under For centuries the big Bantu negroes had
5629
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
been pressing south from their original bred Hottentots and strengthening the
home Central Africa.
in They had race. But, thanks to the staying of civil
absorbed or exterminated the Hottentots war and mad superstitions among the
and most of the Bushmen in South-eastern Kaffirs, holocausts of slaughter and
Africa on the south-west their advance
; incessant murderous raids by all the Zulu
was hindered by the aridity of the Kalahari clans, conquests and ravages by the differ-
Desert and Namaqualand, but they had ent Suto or Bechuana tribes between the
already turned the obstacle by coming Upper Zambesi and the Orange River, the
_ , round the south coast of settled Bantu population of Southern
ri *>a
»
Greftt Work in
^Y\e _continent
,,
and
-u

ad-
i

Africa Zambesi to Algoa Bay-rhas in-
vancmg creased probably from 3,500,000, as we
i i

e it Ar thus on the delect-


South Africa

° , ,/,!/- .
r
able region of the Cape ot may compute it to have been in 1806, to
Good Hope (one of the world's paradises). nearly 6,000,000 at the present day.
The Sneeuwbergen and the Great Fish The increase has been most marked in
River were the limits on the north and Eastern Cape Colony, Natal, Basutoland,
east which temporarily detained them Bechuanaland, Eastern Rhodesia, and
when the Briton arrived on the scene. Portuguese South-eastern Africa, where
But for his armed support the — the conditions of native Ufe have been
resources of Britain in men, money and vastly improved by the wages of the

ships it is doubtful whether the Boers, mining labour market in Kimberley,
left own resources, could have
to their the Orange State, and the Transvaal.
stemmed this impetuous flood of Basuto Unfortunately, although the Imperial rule
and Kaffir warriors. Supposing even of Britain has been —
no honest person or
that Holland had remained the sovereign —
competent judge can deny a very great
of Cape Colony, could the Dutch nation blessing to humanity in West, East, and
at that juncture have fought and van- South Africa, it has in the south and south-
quished two or three millions of Bantu centre, and a little in the east, spelt ruin
negroes of the Zulu and Suto calibre when, mammalian fauna.
to the magnificent wild
even with all the resources of modern The Boer hunters counted for something
warfare and the unquestioned bravery of in this work of thoughtless destruction,
her troops, she has not been able to subdue but only as the disciples of British sports-
the small sultanate of Achin (Sumatra) men. These were originally officers in the
since 1815. army, for the most part visiting the Cape
It seems very probable that the assump- on their way to or from India. India had
tion of British control over Cape Colony initiated them into the joys and thrills of
in 1806, and later over Natal, saved South big-game shooting, the rifle had come into
Africa for the white man, who, in the general use as a sporting weapon of pre-
temperate regions of the south-west, had cision, and thus were provoked the won-
just as much right there as the Bantu. derful crusades against elephants, buffalo,
The subsequent effect of British rule has antelopes, rhinoceroses, giraffes,
Hunters'
not been to lessen the black population of hippopotami,
lions, zebras,
Destructive
Trans- Zambesian Africa. The Bushmen, which have ended by leaving
Crusades
already half absorbed by the Hottentots nearly all Cape Colony with
and nearly exterminated by the Bantu, no more notable wild beasts than a few
are, it is true, only about 4,000 to-day, baboons, leopards, jackals, civets, spring-
where there were perhaps 10,000 seventy boks, and rodents a campaign which has
;

years ago, and the Hottentots are a decay- placed the quagga and the blaubok on the
ing people to some slight extent. They list of extinct animals, and has brought
seem more likely to exist in a half-caste the white rhinoceros. South African oryx,
type, the original hybrids with the Boers and several other interesting mammalian
— —
Griqua mixing again with the pure types very near the vanishing point.

BRITISH ENTERPRISE IN AFRICA: THE NYASSA-TANGANYIKA ROAD


5630

THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
XVII G.C.M.G.

MAN'S TRIUMPH OVER NATURE


THE WONDERFUL RECORD OF BRITISH
ACHIEVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
'X'HE British nation has not merely fought which has revolutionised the economics
* with rival or recalcitrant men for the of Northern America. Energy, either of
colonisation, retention, and development of direct or indirect British origin, is com-
its empire has done things more worthy
; it bating the Glacial Period in North-western
of remembrance perhaps than that. It has Canada, in the region of the Yukon,
steadily fought the reactionary forces of grappling with the permanently frozen
Nature, and has often scored a victory. soil, extorting riches and com-
P ossi hit'
1 les
Surely something of the genius of old 1 ^^^^ iTcoxn the icy north, driving
of Energy u ^ u l
Rome must have left its germs in British
1 i j.

and Science ^^""^^ '^ "^^y ^%' ^^^^^ ^^'J^y


soil and been absorbed by British men and the resources of science that
women, whether they were Kelto-Roman, hatefuUest affliction of our mother earth,
Danish, Saxon, Norman, or French in that possible foreshadowing of the end of
their ancestry. The Roman nature
of her all things we shall never see —
the icy
public works not of to-day or the last
is touch which brought about many succes-
century only. Even the roystering, dissi- sive glacial periods, and rendered the
pated, drunken, peculating soldiers and Polar regions, north and south, un-
officials of Charles II. left traces of their inhabitable. It is just possible that the
brief occupation of Tangier in the massive energy of Britons or the descendants of
masonry of the mole. Though it is over Britons may push back artificially the
100 years since she lost Minorca, Britain realm of ice to the shores of the Arctic
has dowered that island with magnificent Ocean, bringing in happier conditions of
_ roads, bridges, quays, and bas- climate, and turning to account millions
ui ers
|.-Qj^g Corfu bears the impress of acres of rich soil now locked in ice that
of the practical British mind has not melted for 100,000 years.
Empire
more thoroughly than any civil- In Tropical America and the West Indies
ised influence that has preceded or followed. England's achievements have not been so
The pubHc works of Aden are tremendous, colossal. Here they should lie in the ex-
awe-inspiring, even though they may be termination of disease. They have, how-
but the logical continuation of cyclopean ever, erected and endowed colleges, built
tasks begun by prehistoric Arabs.
"
railroads, roads, and bridges — Jamaica,
almost from end to end, Barbados, British
In Canada, before the united " dominion
days, the British and colonial govern- Honduras (uncompleted), and Trinidad
ments had constructed canals across the and regulated forests. In 1898 was
Niagara Peninsula, alongside the rapids of founded the Imperial Department of
the St. Lawrence. These have been sub- Agriculture for the West Indies under
sequently extended and improved by the Sir Daniel Morris. This de-
eve oping
dominion government, until now the partment is at present paid
waters of Lake Superior 2,200 miles in- — -„
West* ,Indies
.. for by the Imperial Govern-
^ J J

land and the other great fresh-water seas
T. !_
J.
ment. It has rendered great
J.

of the St. Lawrence system, including the services to torestry, agriculture and horti-
port of Chicago, are in direct steamer com- culture in the West Indies. A great deal
munication, for reasonably small steamers, has been done in recent years to open up
with Britain and the rest of the world. —
the asphalt resources the lakes of pitch
Since Canada became a self-governing — in Trinidad and Barbados, the diamond
country, British capital and credit almost and gold mines of British Guiana, together

entirely besides British heads and arms with the water power developed by the
— ^have built the Canadian Pacific Railway, cascades that tumble from the edges of
5631
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the Venezuelan Plateau. Forestry in and the Afghan frontier. Since then, the
British Guiana, British Honduras and railways have been creeping on towards
Trinidad, has received some attention. the Persian Gulf, on the one hand, and
Horticulture has been much and wisely Burma on the other. Before long, no
developed in Jamaica, and the more im- doubt, therQ will be direct railway com-
portant of the West India Islands. From munication from some port on the Persian
Jamaica, indeed, West and Central Africa Gulf, from which again a connection
have received most valuable contribu- across Persia with the Russian railway
_ tions in the shape of improved system is inevitable, to Singapore.
" Some of us who read these lines may
" varieties of cotton, coffee,
.
J
., bananas, oranges and many use- —
yet live still enjoying health and vigour^
ful plants for tropical cultiva- to travel from Calais to Singapore without
tion. In the Falkland Islands, since the changing the carriage, or, if something less
British assumption of authority in 1833, " 1850 " than the present condition of
much has been done to develop the possi- the South- Eastern Railway can be brought
bilities of cattle and sheep breeding. Lat- into existence, we may enter our travelling
terly, sheep have become more important and sleeping compartment at Charing
than anything else, not necessarily for ex- Cross, and enjoy a marvellous panorama
port in the form of mutton and wool, but of the most varied landscapes, races and
for the rearing of good rams for breeding products of the earth's surface before we
purposes. These are exported to South quit our compartment at the southern-
America. Here also has been made an most extremity of the Malay Peninsula.
important coaling and provisioning station The engineering works of India, such
for vessels going round Cape Horn. as the great bridge across the Indus at
The first great public works of Britain Attock, are worthy examples of the
in India were probably trunk roads. These mechanical achievements of the British
were begun as far back as 1790, when the Empire. So is the bridging of the Zambesi
East India Company settled down seriously at the Victoria Falls in South
to taking up the reins of government.
A Series of Central Africa ; so is the
Engineering
The great trunk road from Calcutta and Triumphs
damming of the Nile at
Bengal to Peshawar was first projected Assuan, Esna, Assiut andZifta.
by an Afghan emperor, Sher Shah, and These engineering works, conducted
was more than half completed by the under the auspices of Great Britain in
Mogul rulers. It was continued by the Egypt, have conferred enormous benefits
East India Company, and finished about on the peasantry and the industries of
1830. A great triumph in roadmaking, that country. Water has been brought
achieved early in the nineteenth century, from the foot-hills of Ethiopia to Port
was the road up the Ghats from Bombay Sudan, and also to the town of Suakin.
Island to the interior plateau. The roads The Red Sea has been united with
of British India now run to 193,000 miles Khartoum by a railway, and Khartoum
of metalled and unmetalled surface. with Upper Egypt. Steamers now ply on
Canals in India followed the damming the Nile from Khartoum to the Uganda

of streams -especially parallel with the frontier, and right into the heart of Africa
sea-coast of Malabar, where they linked up the tributaries of the Bahr-el-Ghazal

one lagoon to another and then came or to the Abyssinian frontier on the Sobat.
the construction of great irrigation On the West African coast the public
works. There are now 4,055 miles of works have not been altogether worthy of
_. _ navigable canals in India and the British Empire until quite recently.
.... about 43,500 miles of irriga- Down to a very few years ago everyone of
^^^ canals bnngmg water to high and low degree who desired to land
Railways
13,606,000 acres. In 1850 began or embark on the Gold Coast had to do so
the era of railways. By the end of the more or less at the peril of his life, in
nineteenth century the Indian Govern- heavy surf-boats, through breakers that
ipent had constructed about 25,000 mUes occasionally capsized the boats and
(at present over 30,000 miles) of rail- drowned the passengers. Even at the
ways, from the hill stations of the Hima- present day, Freetown, the capital of
layas, such as Darjeehng and Simla, Sierra Leone, is very early nineteenth
to Cape Comorin, opposite Ceylon, and century, and compares unfavourably with
from the frontier of Arakan to Quetta the new French cities of North-west
5632
.

MAN^S TRIUMPH OVER NATURE


Africa,where the ocean-going steamer A telegraph line crosses the inhospitable
can draw up alongside a magnificent interior of Australia from north to south.
quay. At Freetown the passenger has It has seemed to the present writer that
still to embark
or land in a small boat. this was one of the most marvellous
But things are moving, even in British achievements in its way to be placed to
West Africa. The public works of the the credit of the British Empire. The
Sierra Leone Protectorate are worthy of central part of Australia is a more terrible
portions of India in the way of roads and desert, perhaps, than any part of the
bridges, and a railway of 230 miles con- ^^e time the
nects Freetown with the north-western
Australia ^^^f ^\ ^\
Overland telegraph hne was
Spanned by the
frontier of Liberia, and has already doubled conceived it was practically
Telesraph
the exports of the country that was once an unknown country all;

called the " white man's grave." that was recorded of it was the death or
There is also a railway advancing from disappearance of explorers. It was not
Lagos to the Niger, and from the Niger uninhabited, though almost uninhabitable
across to the commercial centres of (in its pristine conditions), but the in-
the Hausa country, perhaps linking up digenes were hostile and treacherous.
some day with the railways of Egypt and Yet these difficulties were overcome, and
of French West Africa. No enterprise in a few years. The spanning of Austraha
would be more beneficial to the commerce by this wire deserves to rank among the
and peoples of Africa than a railway from great Imperial achievements.
the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea Although carried out by commercial
across the Sahara Desert for the railway
; companies and not directly by the govern-
causes the desert to blossom as the rose. ment, mention must be made here of the
If only the dread of Germany could be put deep-sea cables which are another source
aside, and Britain and France could turn of gratification to her national pride.
their entente to the magnificent end of Great Britain was long the first to con-
. crossing the Sahara by a rail- struct and lay a deep-sea cable. The
j"* '"* way, they would have achieved whole conception and working out of
a triumph over recalcitrant this feat in all its parts was the work of
Empire
Nature as grand as the attacks British minds. All the great oceans, the
on the Glacial Period which are going narrow connecting seas of the world, are
on in North-western Canada. One of the now spanned by British cables. Africa is
best schemes conceived by Rhodes his — girdled with them, so is South America.
own especial scheme, started and main- Thus England has striven to conquer
tained by his own —
money was the distance and efface time. In the course of
trans-African telegraph, a line which a few hours a message can be sent from
was to run from the Cape to Cairo. London to the heart of Central Africa, to
Thus far, the communication is inter- the watershed of the Arctic Ocean, to the
rupted in several places. Through the hill stations of the Himalayas, and receive
efforts of the British South Africa Company, a reply and the agency principally or
;

Cape Town is linked with Lake Nyassa and wholly employed will have been a British-
the south end of Tanganyika, and even with laid cable or a British-hung land wire. We
Ujiji in German East Africa. The next can travel from Cape Town to the Victoria
gap to fill will be from Ujiji to the tele- Falls in five days where Livingstone fifty
graph system of the Uganda Protectorate. years ago took five months. We can
This extends no further, at present, than traverse India from Baluchistan to the
Lake Albert. Probably by the time these _ ,^ , vicinity of Burma in another
Results of c. J J i X-

lines are in print it will have reached „ . . five days or, in a period of time
. ;

Gondokoro. From this point there is scarcely longer, rush from the
E t 'r rise
no further break till Alexandria is reached, snows of the Himalayas to the
near the mouth of the Nile. A land line Equatorial luxuriance of Ceylon. Already
now goes from Lagos to the heart of Egypt, under British guidance, is feeling
British Nigeria, and from Sierra Leone to her way in railway construction towards
the north-west frontier of Liberia. Tripoli and across Arabia.
This last will soon be linked with the If Turkey can be brought to see the
French land lines of Senegambia, and advantages of co-operation, there may be
these again, before many years are past, still within our lifetime a delightful alterna-
will have traversed the Sahara Desert. tive railway route to India, say for the winter

358 5633

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


season, when the hne through France, of Glasgow in 1839 the Cunard in 1840. ;

Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Roumania, In this same year the Pacific Steam
Russia, and Persia is too cold. By the Navigation Company began running
alternative route we may travel via Paris, steamers to South America. The Wilson
Madrid, Algeciras, Tetuan, Algiers, Tunis, Line of Hull was founded in 1845 the ;

Tripoli, Cairo, and Basra unless before — —


Natal Line Bullard and the Inman Line —
that time airships or aeroplanes that are in 1850 the Bibby in 1851
; the Anchor ;

really safe, certain and commodious have Line (Indian) and the African Steamship
_ .. made railways only useful for Company in 1852 the Union Steamship ;

**
^*/?,. goods traffic. The present
fts a Civilising ^
. Company (of South Africa) in 1853 the ;
., ,
f ,,. ,
writer would be sorry lor this.
,
Allan in 1854 the British India Steam
, „ !
Influence xt xi_ •
x xi- ^u-
Nothing nothing fertilises, Navigation Company in 1855. Several of
pacifies, nothing a railway.
civilises like these lines of steamships began as associa-
Perhaps, in fairness, something should be tions trading with sailing-ships, so that
said about what Britain has done about some of the great houses with their won-
steam communication at sea. The British derful modern, fleets of passenger and
Empire has given birth to a marvellous cargo steamers have a history beginning
mercantile marine. Being of necessity the with the nineteenth century.
creation and dependent of sea power, British statesmen have left one blot on
this fleet of 9,000 or 10,000 steamships the record of British prescience, in that
has always had a strong navy as its corol- they never believed in or encouraged the
lary. But the triumphs of peace have been cutting of the Suez Canal, nor realised till
those of the mercantile marine, a marine the work was an accomplished fact what
that has grown up and prospered with very a marvellous gain it would be to the
little direct encouragement from the state. shipping industry of the British Empire.
The practicable British steamers
first Ferdinand de Lesseps was one of the

paddle-wheelers plied about the west
coast of Scotland from 1812 onwards. In
greatest benefactors of the British Empire.
_ The remembrance of that fact
. ,

*'" *
1833 the first thorough-going steamship jj" should be an additional incite-
i.e., not a sailing vessel with auxiliary _ . ment to an everlasting friend-

steam power crossed the Atlantic, the
Frenchman , .

ship with
.-, -r^
1^ ranee.
T^
I^or many
Royal William, of Quebec. This steamer years the British steamship companies held
made the journey from Nova Scotia the field in regard to all long sea journeys.
to Gravesend in twenty-two days. She Then there grew up rivalry in the Mediter-
had been entirely built by Canadians ranean, the Red Sea, and Indian waters
on the St. Lawrence, and was engineered on the part of steamship lines from Mar-
by them across the Atlantic. The return seilles, Trieste, Genoa, and Barcelona to
voyage was first made by an Irish steamer Tropical America Hamburg to the West ;

of the Cork Packet Company. The City Coast of Africa Rotterdam to the Malay
;

of Dublin Steam Packet Company had been Archipelago and, after 1880, that mar-
;

founded in 1823, ^.nd really became the vellous development of German shipping
parent of the great Peninsular and Oriental enterprise, which created first-class steamer
Steam Navigation Company in 1826. communication between the north-eastern
This line originally started by a feeble ports of Germany and almost all parts of
steamship service to Gibraltar, then the world. In speed the British vessels
was extended in 1839-1840 to Alexandria still hold their own, though it is a neck and
to meet the demand for the overland neck race with Germany. In comfort,
route. Others of its steamships modernity of appliances, and food, it is to
^^^ painfully laboured through be feared that the German, French, and
D»*8 ofthe
°. * stormy seas round the Cape,
. Austrian liners are superior to the British.
St*^*
earns ip
^^^ established themselves on The Nobel Prize, however, has yet
the Red Sea side of the Isthmus of Suez. to be awarded to that steamship line
The General Steam Navigation Company which introduces the surest element of
was founded in 1824 the first steam voyage
; civilisation into its passenger traffic one —
to India, round the Cape, was made in passenger, one cabin. It ought to be made
1825 the Aberdeen Line George Thomp-
; — penal to compel two, three, or four unre-

son had been founded in 1824 the ; lated strangers to share a single sleeping
Harrison Line in 1830 the Royal Mail; compartment. In forestry and horticulture

West Indian Line in 1839 the City Line 5 the British Empire has taken a leading
5634
BRIDGE SPANNING 7 MBESI NEAR THE VICTORIA FALLS

THE REVERSING RAILWAY STATION AT KHANDALLA IN INDIA ^"'h

OVERCOMING NATURE'S DIFFICULTIES: TRIUMPHS OF BRlTl:>ri ENTERPRISE


5635

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


part, though it has frequently borrowed sides to the account, though the debit
from Germany its adepts in forestry and balance of humanity is largely in the ascen-
economic botany, to the great advantage dant. Britons are credited, and only too
of British research in those directions. The truly, with having caused over Tropical
names of Gustav Mann, West Africa and Africa a devastation in the mammalian
India; of Brandis and Kurz, the Hima- fauna which it might have taken a whole
layas Sir Julius Vogel, New Zealand ;
; geological epoch to have brought about.
Dr. Otto Stapf, Kew Gardens, will at Gordon Cumming, Cotton Oswell,
once occur to the mind of any William Webb, WilUam Baldwin, and F. C.
n- ^^^^^^' interested in these Selous led the way in that crusade against
o lo ogica
i"*^' 1
^^^j ^^^^ g^^ there have been the big game of the South African penin-
great exponents of what might sula which has gone far to rob that future
be termed Imperial botany of wholly confederation of one of its most attractive
British descent —men like Sir Joseph possessions in the eyes of educated men
Banks, Sir Joseph Hooker, Professor Daniel and women. Oswell, Baldwin, and
Oliver, Sir W. Thiselton Dyer, Sir Daniel Selous were, at any rate, naturalists who
Morris, and Lieut. -Col. D. Prain. —
greatly Selous very greatly enriched —
The work of these men is of even greater scientific zoology with specimens and
fame in Germany, France, Belgium, and the information as to life and habits.
United States than to the careless minds The rampant desire to kill, kill, kill, to
of Britishers, so indifferent in the main to have the joy of hearing the bullet go plunk
scientific research. Purely scientific re- into a mighty carcass, or some form of mar-
search, and the reading of the world's past vellous beauty and swiftness, still animates
history, the very secrets of the origin and the minds of most South African pioneers
development of living forms, have owed who are carrying on the work of empire
nearly as much to the exploring journeys ever nearer to the Equator. Much of the
of Hooker in the Himalayas and on the big game of Somaliland near the coast
Atlas Mountains of Morocco as they did - , ,.
. has been killed out. Every-
Leaders in the u 1j- 1 j
to the king of British biological research, „ - one who has been divorced
Ke&lm of

,

J-
Darwin Darwin, who also qualified as an 1
or who wishes to divorce,
, i

^ ,
Natural ,„. ,
History ,,i_ • j j.!
agent or servant of the empire when he who IS threatened with a
accompanied the Beagle on its famous breach of promise action, or has made an ass
cruise in the interests of science. of himself —
in the phrase of his relations
Sir John Kirk, in a somewhat similar hies to East Africa to wipe out an unpleasant
capacity in connection with Livingstone's little piece of past by big-game shooting.
government expeditions, opened our eyes There are, and have been, of course,
to the wealth and the economic importance important exceptions to this category
of the East African flora. British enter- men who have shot wisely and well, and
prise has introduced the tea-shrub into who have observed and annotated, and
India and Ceylon, cotton into all parts of have thus enriched not only our museums
Africa and the Pacific, cacao into West with important specimens skins, bones, —
Africa, coffee into Ceylon, Nyassaland, —
and pickled corpses but who have given
Jamaica, and Trinidad. us the life history of the animals they
Sir Clements Markham won his eventual pursued. Natural history, a better term
C.B. and his first renown by his splendid in this last respect than biology, owes
attempts to secure the seed of the cin- much to the writings of Livingstone, Sir
chona-tree, jealously guarded as its trans- Samuel Baker, W. C. Oswell, Baldwin,
mission was by American In- Selous, J. G. Millais, R. Crawshay, Alfred
y sings (jja^j^s
.

and South American Sharpe, Alfred Neumann, E. N. Buxton


n- governments.
Discoveries '^.
• He enabled the in Africa, Sir Emerson Tennant in Ceylon,
, , , ji i
, •
i
cmchona to be planted widely Sir Samuel Baker, Dr. W. T. Blanford,
over the tropical regions of the world, B. H. Hodgson, and R. Lydekker in India
and brought down the price of quinine, and Central Asia. One of the leaders in
the most potent drug yet known against this modem movement of the camera
malaria fever, till it eventually came versus rifle, himself distinguished as a
within the reach of poor sufferers. If shot and pursuer of shy beasts over
in this field of botany and agriculture difficult ground, is Edward North Buxton,
there have been triumphs, what are we to who has illustrated the rare wild beasts of
say about zoology ? Well, there are two Corsica, Sardinia, Central Africa, and the
5636

MAN'S TRIUMPH OVER NATURE
Sinai Peninsula, besides those of Eastern tsetse disease and, in concert with
Africa. J. G, Millais has perhaps done Drs. Nabarro and Castellani, solved the
the most striking work of all, in founding problem of sleeping sickness. An Indian
a school in the artistic and faithful por- army medical officer, Colonel Lambkin,
trayal of the wild life of beasts and birds in has discovered a means of inoculating for
Britain, South Africa, and Newfoundland. syphilis — syphilis, like sleeping sickness, is
As regards great naturalists —
biologists produced by a flagellate protozoon, in this
if you will men — to whom the study —
case a treponema which may eventu-
of all living things was one, indifferent as
to whether they exercised their wits on
^ ,p ally stamp out that horrible
"malady. Theeagernesstoopen
of Sleeping
geology, botany, zoology, anthropology "P Equatorial Africa brought
Sickness
what a crown of glory will rest over the the sleeping sickness into
British Empire as long as British records Uganda, and has cost that protectorate
remain !Darwin at the apex, Huxley, in allnearly 100,000 lives. This is a
Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Joseph Hooker, terrible item at first sight, but one we can
Alfred Russel Wallace, Sir John Murray balance at once by discounting the (at
of the Challenger a — Canadian, Sir least) 100,000 lives probably lost in
Richard Owen, Sir William Flower, Henry Uganda and Unyoro during the reigns of
Walter Bates, Sir E. Ray Lankester, the kings Mtesa, Kabarega, and Mwanga,
Alfred Garrod, W. A. Forbes, P. L. Sclater, by the internecine wars, poison ordeals,
E. B. Tylor, Alfred Newton, F. M. Balfour, slave-raids, famines, and other causes of
and Wyville Thomson. Britons first re- depopulation which have been abolished
vealed the curious water fauna of Lake by the introduction of law and order

Tanganyika J. E. Moore and Dr. W.

Cunnington and then that of the Victoria
under the British aegis.
It is a mistake to suppose also that the
Nyanza, not less remarkable because of its indigenous population of Africa was exempt
coincidence. —
They Falconer, Lydekker, from these awful visitations of disease
Bain, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Lyons, before white men mixed them all up be- ;

-J
_.** ^ Capt. Gregory, and others —dis- fore we opened routes this way and that
covered, elucidated, and illus- way across the continent, which conveyed
f M
trated the wonderful extinct disease through insect agencies from one
mammalian fauna of North-west India, the lot of people to another, hitherto separated
strange beast-reptiles of South Africa, the by mutual distrust or l3y pathless forests.
early elephants, Sirenia, hyraces of Eocene On the contrary, before the white man
Egypt, the extraordinary giant mar- arrived on the scene, the population of
supials and birds of Pleiocene Australia. Africa was, I surmise from native legends
These achievements not only led to the and traditions, constantly being wiped out
purest of all joys, the increase of abstract by epidemics, first of one disease, then of
knowledge, but have aided us in our fight another by famines due to unexpected
;

against the real reactionary Nature. droughts, locusts or other insect plagues,
For, in the most part the deadliest foes or by attacks on food crops by herds of
of man are the minutest organisms at the elephants, and the destruction of live-
bottom of the tree of life, simple develop- stock by lions and leopards.
ments of living matter scarcely to be These are all evils which have been or are
classified as animal or vegetable. In being abated by British energies. I confi-
the fight against the bacillus, spiril- dently expect that we shall soon have
lum, amoeba, coccidium, treponema and mastered the mysteries of sleeping sick-
trypanosome, the British Empire has . , ness, blackwater fever, cholera,

taken a leading place a dominant place
Saaitation
the Enemy
^^^ many other diseases, and
prevent them or
almost, not forgetting the splendid co- ^^ ^^^^ ^^
of Disease
operation of France, Germany, Italy, and ^^ ^^^^ them with certainty.
America. Sir Patrick Manson, Ronald In India it has been realised for the last
Ross, and others, discovered the whole ten years that sanitation, a cleanlinesswhich
process by which amaeboid spores are would suppress the flea, other precautions
introduced into the human system by which would exterminate the mosquito,
such agencies as the mosquito, tick, and might reduce the mortality from plague,
flea, thereby producing malarial fever cholera, and other dreadful maladies of
and other dread diseases. Sir David the tropics to small dimensions, ever
Bruce elucidated the mystery of the dwindling to cessation and this has been
;

5637

;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


one of the hardest, most disinterested, only to the wealth of the world in general,
most thankless tasks which the British but to that of the indigenous peoples of the
Empire has taken on its shoulders. Un- gold areas. The same may be said about
happily, though the education of India the tin of the Malay Peninsula, the coal of
has advanced by leaps and bounds, the India. NataL Borneo, Australia, and
masses of ignorant Moslems and fanatical British Central Africa. They have dis-
Hindus do not appreciate the value of covered and worked petroleum and bitu-
science and of a scientific men in Burma, Nigeria, and Barbados.
J^
'*'^.^,
^ conduct in our lives, any more Copper has enabled Britain by its in-
Opposition to
^j^^^ do the peasants of trinsic value to gain for the general use of
Science t _x
i i r
Ireland, of some parts of
j.
man the ghastly deserts of South-west
England still, of Spain, Italy, or Russia. Africa and Australia. Diamonds have
India has once or twice been brought brought water, hvestock,
trees, flowers,
nearer to general revolt by honest human settlers, and the amenities
of a
and sincere attempts to get rid of highly civilised life to bare, stony, lifeless
plague and cholera than she has by the plateaus of inner South Africa. Their
imposition of salt taxes or the insuffer- attraction is enabling us to combat the
able snobbishness of " mem-sahibs " or choking vegetation of British Guiana.
eyeglassed officers. It is impossible in the space at my com-
British efforts to improve the breeds of mand to enumerate the names and the
horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, dogs, individual services of those British sub-
and many domestic birds are world- jects whom the special conditions of the
famous. They have
domesticated the empire have impelled to wonderful dis-
ostrich, introduced the Angora goat into coveries m
all the unenumerated branches
South Africa, the Merino sheep into of pure science philology —comparative ;

Australia, New Zealand, and South study of religious beliefs, mythology, and
Africa the camel into Australia
;
the ; folk lore comparative anthropology, and
;

horse into South and South Central ,


all branches of human
ri ain s
Africa, Australia, and New Zealand deer ; anatomy and medical iuris-
Predomin&nce j-
into New Zealand and Mauritius. The •
*!. »»7 ij
in the World
prudence:
^ ',
medicme andj
, -^


m •

surgery, m law and the fram-


j
mountain streams of New Zealand, British
. i j-

Central and East Africa have been ing of legal codes in military and naval ;

abundantly stocked witn trout. They strategy industrial appliances


; electri- ;

have systematised the preservation of the city ;ship construction the invention ;

Indian elephant, his capture and training and improvement of locomotives, steam-
for industrial purposes. engines, bicycles, automobiles, and tur-
When they first took Cyprus in hand, bines in chemistry and
; metallurgy
the forests and the native agriculture were in sanitary engineering in architecture, ;

disappearing under the combined attacks photography, painting, etching, engraving,


of domestic goats and swarms of locusts. book illustrating, printing, cabinet-making,
The goats were soon kept outside the pro- tailoring, dressmaking, and upholstery (the
tected area, but the fight against the carpets of the British Empire deserve a
locusts was a struggle that lasted for many special mention) in the drama and;

years. This hateful insect pest is now literature, prose and poetry.
practically extinct in Cyprus, to the very Innumerable works of reference would
great gain of the island's prosperity. They show either the active participation or
are now bracing themselves for an attack the predominance of British citizens in
on the mosquitoes, rats, spar- all the spheres of great intellectual and
.
" rows, flies, fleas, and other small practical achievements. It is to this
^"* significant pests of the em- record I
appeal in maintaining that
Prro ducts'
uc s
p[j.Q jj^g mineral discoveries of with all its imperfections, shortcomings,
the British have already been alluded to in blunders, or episodes of wrongdoing,
the chapters dealing with their economic violence, or injustice fully discounted
aspects. This exploitation of the gold the British Empire has been a greater
of India, British Columbia, Australia, blessing to the world at large and to all
New Zealand, West Africa, South Africa, the countries within its scope than any
Egypt, British Guiana, and the Far North- congeries of states under one head that
west of Canada has added appreciably not has preceded it in history.

5638
THE BY SIR
BRITISH HARKY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON.
XVIII G.C.M.G.

CIVILISATION AND CHRISTIANITY


EMPIRE'S DEBT TO MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE
has been the custom until quite denounce Mohammedanism or idol-wor-
IT
recently to sneer at missionaries, pro- ship, just as lively interest in a new
any
pagandists of the Christian religion, in all metrical arrangementof the Psalms is
circles except those of the professedly almost impossible to find, even in the
devout. The late Lord Salisbury, in veiled unexplored parts of New England. My
terms, once or twice described them as a own lawless views, if Imay obtrude them
nuisance. They have often been regarded without impertinence, would be rendered
as such by statesmen who conducted the thus That nearly all religions
:

e upreme
foreign or colonial affairs. I am not going ^^^^ been a great burden, an
to deny that there has been misdirected -,. . ..
Christianity
incessant clog
..
° on the upward
j.. ., j . 1
zeal in the past, and that in some cases the progress of humanity, and the
wrong kind of missionary did a great deal only teaching which seems to the present
of harm and put Great Britain to much writer to be in consonance with progress
anxiety and expense. is the teaching of Christ and the words of
Elsewhere I have animadverted on the such of His apostles as caught His spirit.
somewhat crack-brained, uneducated mis- Christ's teaching, like two or three other
sionaries who wandered into Abyssinia to great utterances of humanity, seems the
convert the Abyssinians to a different kind goal of which we are never quite abreast ;
of Christianity to that which they already it is always a little ahead of the ideals of

professed, and who involved Great Britain true Socialism it is a religion which is an
;

and the British taxpayer in a war which expression of the truest Liberalism.
cost quite a thousand lives and several Many versions of Christianity have
„. _ . millions sterling. This is the developed into fetish worship and fatuous
The Good n ito
_„
Work ,
of,
only case T1 can call
,
,

-^
,
mmd
.
J
formalities, mystic rites bordering on
„. . where missionary enterprise sorcery, Judaism run mad; the letter has
Missions -'.,,
, ,. f. 1
was excessively ill - directed, killed the spirit ; the Incarnate Love has
and where it gave just ground for the been lost in fanatical hate. Still, this
animadversions of the i860 type of religion, even in its most violent or foolish
statesman, who would not dream of omit- phases, has never quite left the skirts of
ting attendance at church on a Sunday commonsense, the middle path of sanity
morning, yet was perfectly indifferent along which man advances, with occasional
to the spiritual or moral welfare of the checks and deviations, towards the goal
myriads of black or brown people with of the Millennium.
whose affairs Great Britain was begin- What has, Mohammedanism done for
ning to interfere politically. the world ? What has been accomplished
When our descendants are able to look of permanent good by Buddhism, and by
back on things from the large end of the the wild, raving, nightmare nonsense of
telescope, and the history of the nineteenth Hinduism ? It is true that the
e igions
and twentieth centuries is concentrated g^ century after
^j-g^i^g iggg ^jj^jj
into a single readable volume, I think a . death of Mohammed ab-
^^^
E
very large part of that volume will be sorbed Persian and Byzantine
taken up with the results of mission work, culture, and spread this through Syria,
possibly a larger space than is accorded to Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. It is also
the successful campaigns of great con- true that, to a limited extent, they kept
querors by sea or land. The point of view the lamp of civilisation burning, some of
from which I write is a peculiar one, which the old Greek culture living with them,
will probably please no one set of thinkers. while Roman civilisation in Northern and
I know it is no longer fashionable to Western Europe was overwhelmed by the
5639

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


Goth, Hun, Frank, and Lombard. To a have sought to implant in the backward
great extent the civihsation of the Arabs and foolish places of the world during the
in pre-Turkish days was the distorted religious revival of the nineteenth century.
civilisation of Rome. Rome and Byzan- The Christian propaganda of the Crusades
tium, the direct inheritors of Hellas, had was, of course, no better in any one whit
implanted their civilisation too strongly than the holy wars of the Moslems.
along the shores of the Mediterranean for anything, the Christians of the eleventh
If
it to be annihilated by that mixed herd of to the thirteenth centuries conducted
Saracens, which after all only included a themselves worse in Syria and the
proportion of Arabs of the desert in its Holy Land than did the Mohamme-
ranks, and was recruited largely from the dans, when it was their turn to be
Mediterranean world. uppermost. The motives of many of
But there was something in the Moham- the Crusaders were not Christian, but
medan religion which prevented intellectual selfish, and they were guilty of deeds
advance. Like the other great religions of of violence and oppression essentially
Asia, it was a case of arrested development. un-Christian. The Crusaders' type of
The results are plain to the minds of all but Tk r»
Christianity lasted down to
ihe uuakers I,

fantastic perverts. Why is the Christian ^^^ sixteenth century and


.10
real or nominal —
top dog to-day ? Because
as Pioneers
^. .
of, Missions Vl
t.

T^
j-
the Spanish discovery and
A 1
j

he is healthier, stronger, far wiser, much


J-
conquest of 1 ropical America.
superior in mental capacity to the millions It was the Quakers that really started
of Asia and Africa. What have the Turks on the missionary path the churches out-
invented ? They have conquered mainly side the pale of Rome. They seem, first
by Christian weapons, by the arts invented —
of all, to have conceived apart from the
and perfected under the comparative Jesuits, Capuchins, and Franciscans of the
freedom of Christianity. seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the —
The Japanese have emerged from the idea of peoples of a different race and a
vassaldom of Asia because they have dark-coloured skin enjoying equal rights
copied the arts and sciences of Christen- of humanity with theconquering Caucasian.
dom, because they are unhampered by any

The Society of Friends "Quakers " is a
binding religion which makes it impossible silly nickname which might surely be
for them to live after the manner of Chris- —
allowed to die in fact, had not long been
tians. It was the more primordial and pure in existence as a definite sect of thinkers
type of Christianity that, consciously or before they had begun a crusade against
unconsciously, the great Protestant and the slave trade, which was never to
Catholic missions of the British Empire die out or even perceptibly to slacken

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL AT LAGOS IN WEST AFRICA N. w. Holm

5640
THE HANDSOME MISSION CHURCH AT BLANTYRE IN BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA
until the trade in slaves was exterminated. Clive,anything like a Christian propaganda
The Anti-Slavery Society of Great Britain was sternly discouraged by the honourable
and Ireland, which exists to this day, was East India Company from the fear that it
founded and has been mainly supported by would arouse Mohammedan and Hindu
Quakers. In the eighteenth century the — fanaticism ; also because in England itself
unsectarian missionary Society for Pro- interest in religion had very much slack-
moting Christian Knowledge was founded ened, and official Christianity was not
in 1698 the Society for the Propagation
; considered an article d'exportation.
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in 1701 The Church of England had no zeal for
— other Nonconformist bodies in the propaganda amongst the heathen as a body,
West Indies and the United States cham- though there were a few notable excep-
pioned the cause of the negro. It was not tions amongst its clergy who went abroad.
until the time of Wesley that any section Bishop Heber (1783-1826) was probably
of the Church of England interested itself the first to arouse the sympathy of the
actively in humanitarian propaganda. The members of the National Church in regard
... . interest that the Quakers, to the deplorable condition of the natives
issionary
ga,ptists,
^ and Wesleyans took, of India. The Church Missionary Society
Interest in n
the Negroes
^^^^

especially m
• fi r ^ r
the fate of was founded in 1799. Its first field of
the West Indian and North operations was India. It was supported by
American negro, drew them inevitably to the Low Church rather than the High,
the coasts of Africa, firstly to repatriate and in its early days it drew down a certain
negroes who had attained freedom, and amount of ridicule on mission work by,
who found themselves outcasts in the body possibly, an excess of sentimentalism.
politic of white men's colonies or states In its desire to make up to the negro for

and secondly with a much greater en-
;

the wrongs that he had suffered at the



thusiasm and success to evangelise the hands of the white man for the two cen-
indigenous savage negroes of West Africa. turies, during which the exponents of
India offered an immense field for Anglican teaching were too much in-
missionary enterprise. The kings of Den- clined to stand behind the slave-owner,
mark, from 1705 to the early part of the the negro was placed on a pedestal by the
nineteenth century, promoted actively Church Missionary Society, and credited
Danish, German, and Nonconformist with quahties of head and heart that he
British missions to the east coast of did not, unfortunately, always possess.
Hindustan. For some fifty years after the The Baptist Missionary Society, founded
British dominion had been founded by in 1792, began a great educational work

5641
— —
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
in India at the close of the eighteenth remarkable degree in India, China, and
century, and soon afterwards began to Africa. Along these lines of approach it
work among the West Indian negroes. is not easy to overestimate the sheer good
It laid the foundations of a negro civilisa- that has been effected by Christian
tion in Fernando Po during the middle of missions. This leads me to my plainest
the nineteenth century, which even under speaking and the core of my argument.
the once unfriendly rule of Spain and many The whole of the Christian world itself
other difficulties grew slowly to its modern is far from being in agreement on even
developments. The same thing fundamental dogmas of its religion, and
Livingstone
was done for the coast country so long as each sect, branch, or church
the Great
of the Kameruns, and is being adhered rigidly to the exposition of its
Missionary
done now for the central basin own version of Christian dogma and of
of the Congo. The educational work of that alone, so long much of its work with
the same society in India and China is intelligent non-Christian races was fruitless
als^ being conducted on a gigantic scale. and even baneful, since it revived the dis-
The London Missionary Society came like and distrust of the Christian as an
into existence in 1795, and represented the official or ruler. But when, as has been
aspirations of the Congregationalists and the case almost universally for the last
Wesleyans. One of its first great pioneers thirty years, each mission in its turn
was David Livingstone. It is difficult to thought more of the teaching of Christ as
exaggerate the benefits that the Bechuana a means of beginning, and endeavoured
tribes in South Central Africa and the to deal fraternally rather than paternally
peoples of the Nyassa-Tanganyika Plateau with the people it had come to teach,
and of Madagascar have owed to the agents Christian propaganda began to achieve
of the London Missionary Society. success by leaps and bounds. When
The Universities' Mission was founded some historian of the world sums up its
in i860, after the appeal of Livingstone in results a hundred years or so hence, he
1856, and has since taken a large share
A Testimony will — I say with confidence
in the evangelisation of East Africa and be able to show that the great
to Missionary /--v ,• .•
Nyassaland. The great missions of the » .. / Christian
Achievement r y-
missions emanating
j a •

Presbyterian churches have done much from Europe and America


for education in India, China, British have conferred on the backward countries
Central Africa, Nigeria, and South Africa. of the world, to say nothing of the
The evangelisation of the Pacific has savage regions, a veritable renaissance,
been largely the work of the Church of an education, an elevation which has
England and of the Wesleyans. Most been conveyed in a better and more
people nowadays have read of the success salutary manner than it could have been
of the Church of England in Uganda. by soldiers or officials, whose teaching
There is an English Catholic Mission, was imposed by force and not persuasion.
directed from Mill Hill, at work in the I am well aware that that is not the ver-
eastern section of the Uganda Protec- dict of to-day in all respects. Missionary
torate. Some mention should be made of efforts, inChina especially, have not only
the struggling North African Mission, which, been extremely obnoxious to the
I believe, has also sent exponents of Pro- indigenous governing class and to unin-
testant Christianity to Persia and the formed public opinion in that region of
Turkish dominions. It has been an up-hill 400,000,000 conservative, industrious
task for the brave men and women of this people, but the troubles which have ensued
band to fight against Moham- have entailed armed intervention on the
"^^*^^^ prejudice, superstition, part of European nations. For these wars
° f M .* ^'"i
.
'*^*
and ignorance, especially in the missionaries have been held to blame.
Missions . " , t -i •
'^T',
matters of hygiene. This Several European and American statesmen
mission, so far as it has succeeded, has done have told them that they were not wanted
so by following the only means of access in China, and had much better go away.
to the citadel of the Mohammedan heart Yet, a hundred years hence, even if the
a thorough-going knowledge of Arabic, missionaries were to depart from China to-
of the history of Islam and the features morrow, it will be realised that they have
of its faith, and of medical science. done much to lay the foundations of a
Medical missions indeed, during the last new China, to harmonise the ideas of
quarter of a century, have developed to a China with those of Europe and America.
5642
CIVILISATION AND CHRISTIANITY
They have broken down more completely and inferior races. This policy, one may
than any other force the isolation of China hope, will still be maintained by the
from the world's movements and surely
; Aborigines Protection Society. Again and
it isnot well for the progress of the human again the responsible rulers of the British
race that 433,000,000 out of a total of Empire have been prevented by its
1,200,000,000 should be entirely out of influence from committing acts of injustice,
touch with the rest ? or allowing colonists or colonial officials to
What has been the result to China of do so, against the previous occupants of
her isolation and her degenerate pursuit the soil. Many of these had
of false knowledge ? That at the present **L * . never been conquered, but had
day, though she numbers 433,000,000 of ° * *^* accepted the advent of the
people under the nominal sway of the British Empire peacefully, and
Chinese Emperor, she is more or less under even with acclamation, as a force which
the thraldom of Japan (50,000,000), with would maintain law and justice.
an alternative of being under the thumb Unfortunately, the first instinct of
of Russia (150,000,000). Take one instance the impetuous colonist or pioneer has
alone of the false culture that missionary been to deprive these prior inhabitants of
teaching has attempted to remove the — their just rights. There has been, no
cramped foot of the Chinese woman. doubt, exaggeration on both sides. It
There may be some variation in a code of would have been manifestly unfair to
morals or accepted canons of beauty. attribute to inactive, ignorant savages the
The ultimate test of the value of both whole of the vested rights over vast areas
probably is the prosperity and happiness which have only been turned to profitable
of the people that adopt them. Put to this use by the expenditure of British capital
test, it must surely be admitted that the and British lives. In some few instances the
taste, morality, and good sense of the white European missionaries may have been
races of Europe and America are superior unjust towards the European pioneer or
to those of the backward trader, and have denied him the reward
What Chinese
peoples. The alternative is to to which he was entitled for his supreme
Women Owe
to Missions
admit oneself ignorant or of On the
efforts in the cause of civilisation.
unbalanced mind. We must other hand, these lay colonists would
cling to some standard in these things, and have reduced the indigenes to miserable,
all the evidence which can be submitted to landless serfs, have denied them a common
reasonable, sane men points to the fact —
humanity with us though that this tie
that the European standard has generally existed was soon shown by the hybrids
been the best. Well, according to the —
which sprang up but for the outcries of
European standard the cramped foot of the the missionary and the philanthropist.
Chinese woman is as silly as the precau- The final test of the right to survive
tions against defilement on the part can only be physical and mental fitness ;

of the Brahmans, the law which forbids but it is advisable that there should be a
the eating of beef to the Hindus, the brake on the reckless advance of the
Levitical prohibitions of the pig, the hare, Caucasian, and this drag is provided by
and the oyster, the Moslem disapproval both the teaching and the true practice
of pictures and statues, or the fetishistic of the principles of Christianity, There
practices of negro Africa. When Chinese should be a real Christian science, based
women all over China are able to walk upon a clear understanding- of the founda-
about with the ease and comfort intended tion principles of the Christian religion,
by Nature, they should put up some which should apply the prin-
commemorative tablet to the memory of
A Plea for ^iples of Christianity to the wild
the Christian missionaries whose advice ?:?". flora and fauna of the world.
.
Missionaries
and influence abolished this and other ^^^^^ human race and every
preposterous mistakes in the perverted type of animal or plant should be given
culture of the Chinese. a chance to show if it cannot find some
I have ventured in other places to niche in the mosaic of the wide world.
call the missionaries the tribunes of the There should be missionaries of biology as
people. Mission influence created Exeter well as missionaries of Christianity, and
Hall, and all which that now vanished both alike should plead the cause of the
place of meeting portended in the attitude overwhelmed, the backward, the im-
of the British Empire towards indigenous perfect that may yet be made perfect.

5643
THE BY S'R
BRITISH HARRY
EMPIRE JOHNSTON,
XIX G.C.M.G.

THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE


PROBLEMS OF GREATER BRITAIN THAT
DEMAND ATTENTION AND SOLUTION
A GROWING difficulty, the principal
unsolved problem of the immediate
future, is the regulation of the interrela-
of
The
the armed forces by land and sea.
desire to promote Imperial unity of
purpose induced several statesmen, such
tions between the different states, colonies, as Lord Randolph Churchill, Jan Hofmeyr,
protectorates, and other divisions of the and Joseph Chamberlain, in 1885, 1892,
empire in regard to mutual defence, or and 1903, and also important organs of the
a common action of offence, the conduct Press to modify their views on Free Trade,

The Question
.of Imperial diplomacy, and, and to advocate the restoration of differ-
^^^^^ ^jj^ ^^^^^_ ^^^ ^^^^^_ ential duties, in favour of the colonies and
."''*"* Imperial commerce. When India, at the ports of Great Britain and
F
through such workers on the —
Ireland in short, Protection.
imagination as Lord Beaconsfield and Sir So long as there was any chance of the
Charles Dilke (in his " Greater Britain ") an great raw-material-producing portions of
idea of the majesty, the marvellous scope the empire like India, Australia, and New
of the British Empire began to permeate Zealand and Canada caring nothing about
the minds of educated people, the question the fostering of local industries, but
of Imperial Federation became, and has agreeing to devote all their energies to the
remained, an important political idea. production of raw materials which might
The desire was born in England, and has be manufactured by the looms, forges, and
remained until recently an English aspira- factories of Great Britain and the North of
tion, not as yet warmly espoused in Ireland, there was much to be said in favour
Scotland, and only shared by that small of a commercial union of the
The Colonies
portion of Ireland that is English in whole empire which would
and
sympathies. South Africa in the 'seventies discriminate in all its cus-
Self-Protection
of the last century was so strongly Dutch toms Houses against the
in feeling, and so inherently hostile to goods arriving from countries not belonging
England, that the late Lord Carnarvon to the Imperial pact. Great Britain would
was unable to bring into existence even a then have become a privileged market for
confederation of the South African states, the sale of colonial produce (raw material),
though he had solved that difficulty and the colonies would have absorbed the
between French and English in Canada.
. bulk of the British manufactured goods.
A certain Irish element that prospered in There would have been small local sacrifices,
South-eastern Australia, and by its talent but such a bond as this would have knit the
and influence directed a good deal of the empire together, and the wealth and power
local Press opinion, threw cold water on derived from this close commercial asso-
the Imperial Federation idea so ciation would have made it irresistible by
Proposed
roan s
£^j. g^ ^^ concerned AustraUa. —
land and sea the mistress of the world.
jn^ja at that time possessed no Unhappily, as some think, India,
vehicle for the expression of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada did
Indian opinion. It merely spoke through not share these views. They wished not
the mouths of Anglo-Indian officials. only to produce enormous quantities of raw
Nevertheless, the idea made progress material, but to be equally endowed with
up to a certain point. It was dis- highly organised industries to manufacture
cussed on two lines A commercial union
: that raw material. They wished to protect
and the universal participation of all parts these nascent industries by a relatively
of the empire in the common support high tariff wall which would make it very
5644

THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE


nearly impossible for the Mother Country special arrangements with the United
to compete against local manufactures. States, to the disadvantage of Britain,
It is true that a somewhat illusory pre- but to the gain of local manufactures or
ference was to be granted to British goods products. India may enter into closer
in comparison to those coming from other arrangements with the empire of China or
countries, but this preference was not —
with Japan in matters of commerce
enough to make Australia, New Zealand, than with the two islands in the North
or Canada a better market for the manu- _ Sea. South Africa may con-
factures of Britain than any other civiUsed clude a commercial alliance
the British
country of the world. In India, as the with Canada or with Austraha,
Taxp&yer
government of King George has the to the great advantage of all
supreme controlling power, while there has these regions, but very much to the
been fair play to local Indian industries detriment of purely British commerce.
and administrative independence, Free The very unfair part of the entirely self-
Trade has been maintained throughout all seeking views now in vogue with colonial
Southern Asia under British influence, and statesmen is that to the British taxpayer
British manufactures are still able to find —
almost alone is left the onerous charge
a profitable market under the British flag. of supporting a navy which mainly exists
There has also been less attempt on the to defend the overseas possessions of
part of the self-governing colonies in Great Britain, and an army which must
South Africa to shut out British manu- be ready to strike at foes of the empire
factured goods than has been the case inany or all of the continents when called
with Austraha, Canada, and New Zealand. upon to do so.
This being the general position, there- If the self-governing sections of the em-
fore, the policy of Protection has fallen to pire contributed proportionately to their
— —
the ground inevitably since England's population and their commerce to the
trade with the non-British world is at pre- Imperial cost of the Imperial army and
_ . . - sent as three to one in compari- navy, then there would be less hardship to
^ ' .J son with her trade with the rest the British, their creditors and creators, in
^ of the British Empire. If she their utter disregard of their commercial
Commerce , , , ^ ^ ,

broke her commercial treaties requirements. But to continue to leave


in order to discriminate in her home ports England almost the entire expense and re-
in favour of her daughter nations, colonies, sponsibility of defending the empire, and
or protectorates, she would probably be maintaining law and order within its limits,
ruined as an industrial nation, for the self- is a policy which must in the long run split
governing portions of the ernpire offer her up the British Empire. There is a limit to
practically nothing in exchange. its resources in money, as weU as in men.
Unfortunately, to those who still take Colonial statesmen argue that there
an interest in Imperial federation, the shall be no taxation without representa-
great daughter nations are setting their tion ; that they have no unjbounded faith
faces towards the ideal of fiscal independ- in the wisdom, economy, or talent of the
ence and isolation. It may be, from the Board of Admiralty, the War Office, or the
point of view of all humanity, that this is Ministries for Foreign Affairs or for the
the best plan to cherish. If persisted in, Colonies ; they are not disposed to
it will mean that every separate section of furnish funds from out of their own internal
the empire which is independent of mone- revenues to be spent at the discretion of
tary subsidies or help from the British the government sitting in London. If
Parliament will frame its own tariff and they are to contribute, they must be pro-
initiate its own commercial relations, with portionately represented at
Case for
the point of view solely of local advantages, some Imperial council stationed
an Imperial
and without any regard to the commercial in London, and be able to in-
Council
welfare of the empire as a whole. fluence the general policy of the
If Jamaica can make better terms for her empire in all matters that might lead
sugar, fruit, or other products by joining to interstate trouble or external wars.
the Customs Union of the United States, to The opposition to any such Imperial
the disadvantage of British imports, she policy and to the intervention of delegates
will do so. Perhaps, from the Jamaican from the daughter nations or dependent
standpoint, she will be right. New Zea- kingdoms or empires in bureaucratic
land or Australia may also enter into affairs comes entirely from Britain itself,

5645

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


chiefly from that great and important Egypt, and all existing British Africa
body of permanent civil servants, trained down to River Zambesi, the Medi-
the
by generations exceeding discretion,
to terranean Islands, Gibraltar, the Falkland
reserve, and prudence.
Statesmen from Archipelago, the West Indies, Guiana and
the great colonies are often widely different British Hondura-, together with the com-
in nature from the n that serve m mercial outposts in China and the Pacific.
King George in the Home Country. And here, again, the British must not
They are neghgent of official secrets, look for finality. In all these regions they
_ „ ^. daring in public speeches, and are simply playing the part of educators.
Indiscretions _ i r
i x „
f co "I
reckless of consequences, for Their descendants will have to face the
I onift
^j^g ^ good and sufficient idea of a universally educated, self-
Statesmen -u u . -^ . j
reason that, "tuated where governing India, wherein the British
they are, they are so absolutely safe. They Empire may be only a subject of grateful
can say and do the most imprudent things remembrance, local nomenclature, and
to foreign Powers, and leave Great Britain innumerable votive statues. Perhaps the
to bear the brunt of their reckless actions. English language, if all European tongues
The statesmen of Canada know that have not been set aside for a universal
a punitory expedition or a great in- Esperanto^ mav remain as the commercial
vasion of Canada by another Power from medium in India. England will have left
across the seas is an almost impossible on that vast region of Southern Asia, the
feat, though it may
be much easier for original matrix of Man, an impress more
Germany bombard London.
or France to lasting and more creditable than the
Australia and New Zealand also know effect of the Roman empire on her own
that they are immune from serious attack land and kindred European countries.
on the part of the United States, Japan, The only way to counteract such a fate
Russia, Germany or France. On the other —and, as it may not come about for a
hand, the two home islands are exceedingly hundred years, it need not unduly agitate
vulnerable, more so, perhaps, than the the readers of this History
The Better
mass of their population or some short- ^q^j^j ^g ^^e suspension of
Government
sighted Ministers believe. race or religious prejudices,
of India
Whatever course may be taken by the inculcation of courtesy,
events, there is no real danger to the in- sympathy, and unswerving justice in all
dependence of Australia. New Zealand, the civil and mihtary officials sent from
South and
Canada. If Great
Africa, Great Britain to serve in India, and the
Britain were driven out of India as a patient education of the peoples of India
governing power she would not be re- to see the world a little more through
placed by any other European nation. her eyes, to take advantage of her own
It is possible that in course of time strong painfully acquired knowledge.
commercial relations may grow up be- On her part, she must associate the
tween South Africa and Australia. Both educated classes of India more and more
countries may maintain fleets, with New with the administration of her Indian
Zealand, perhaps, as a third, which Empire she must give them a share
;

would be sufficient to prevent the hostile in the councils which regulate the finance
action of Asiatic or European Powers in and taxation of their native land. India
the southern seas. The only danger to at the present day is not ripe for com-
Canadian independence is from the United plete self-rule the withdrawal of the
;

States, which, however, is hardly likely to British Civil Service and soldiery would
waste blood and money in an merely lead to devastating warfare
anger to
unprofitable war for the an- between the Mohammedans on the one
ana lan
nexation of Canada. If the side and the Sikhs and Hindus on the
Independenee t i t^ j ±- -j
either or both of these sections
j.
Imperial Federation idea is not other,
revived and carried through to ultimate enslaving and oppressing the unwarlike
success with an Imperial council that will races of Southern India or Burma.
be a real working element, and with some Much the same may be said about the
sacrifices on the part of the component future of Egypt and of British Tropical
daughter nations, the next stage or phase Africa ; the British are only in Egypt as
of the British Empire to be reviewed by educators. But this is a land which by
historians may be its restriction to the climate, even as far as some parts of the
control of India and Southern Asia, Sudan, is as favourable to the settlement
5646

THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE


of the races of Southern Europe as it is to have an island blest with a temperate
the indigenous people, who are com- and a healthy cHmate, set in seas remark-
pounded of an ancient mingling of Euro- able for their wealth of fish, a country of
pean, Asiatic and negro elements. There 32,605 square miles, which, if handled
may be a steady set of Greek, Maltese and scientifically in the way of agriculture,
Italian settlers towards the lands irrigated forestry and horticulture, ought to support
by the Nile and its tributaries. A new* a prosperous, robust, and intellectual
European nation may be compacted ; it population of 20,000,000. As it is, its
will contain very little that is North Euro- are less in
DesoerMe P^^P^^ (4,458,000)
pean and British in its physical elements, number than the inhabitants of
*
^
and it will some day ask to stand alone. ? London. Such as they are, they
J
In Uganda, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, are a notable race. Though
with the kindred Liberia alongside, work- they differ much in physical type, all their
ing on similar lines, England is building up types can be paralleled in the adjacent
educated negro nationalities. Little by island of Great Britain. Religion is mainly
little they will get a larger and larger share to blame for the desperate case of the
in their own self-government, until at last, Irish, and the intolerance on the part of
like India and Egypt, they may thank her all the principal religious bodies in Ireland
warmly for all she has done for them, and still stands to some extent in the way of
request to be allowed to manage their own a fusion of interests.
internal and external affairs in future. Home Rule would have been restored
Such, likewise, may be the fate of a new long ago but for the extremists of the
Cyprus, and of a Malta, which was never Nationalist party — that is to say, the party
conquered, but placed herself unreservedly of Irishmen mostly, but not entirely, Roman
and trustingly in British hands, and Catholics, who have openly clamoured
therefore deserves all sympathy within not only for the right to administer their
the limits of reason in the protection of —
own internal affairs which, with some
well-marked nationality reservations, is clearly due to them
A Possible her
and many claims to self ad- but for the power to sever their political
Alliance of
ministration. A day may dawn connection with Great Britain. This de-
* " "*"*
when British men and women mand is so wholly unreasonable from the
may no longer be sent from their shores to racial, the religious, commercial and
govern, control and educate races that are political points of view that it is little
no longer backward in the march towards a wonder it has been resisted so far by the
universal civilisation. It is to be hoped, majority of the electorate in Great Britain.
however, that if England has played her The Ulster minority in Ireland repre-
part fairly, these races and peoples that sents an enormous amount of profitable
she raised up from a condition either of industry it stands for the prosperous and
;

savagery or of hopeless confusion may well populated portion of the island.


unite with her on some basis of strict and Racially speaking, it is less Iberian and
honourable alliance, together with her autochthonous than the rest of Ireland.
white daughter nations ; an alliance Historically, its colonisation from the
which shall only be framed and directed adjacent coasts of Wales, England and
for the maintenance of the world's peace Scotland was much more recent than other
and the study of the world's happiness. settlements from these directions. This
Until the question of the internal ad- minority declines to place itself under
ministration of Ireland, Scotland, England the rule of the National party, since it
and Wales has achieved a proper and fairly fears injustice in fiscal and
Ireland's
complete settlement it can hardly be said religious matters. Extended
Need of Home
that the British are fully prepared for the measures of local govern-
Government
responsibilities of empire outside these ment would probably clear
islands. To some extent, almost enough away this danger. The administration of
for practical purposes, Scotland has at- their own internal affairs must be eventually
tained Home Rule, and Wales is well on accorded to the Irish people, coupled with
the way towards it. The arrangements for the same participation in the affairs,
quick legislation in and for England as responsibilities and charges of the United
regards purely English requirements are Kingdom as a whole, and of such of the
still very imperfect. But the question of British Empire as is equally adminis-
Ireland is an urgent one. In this case we tered by Scotland, Wales and England.
5647
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Beyond the seas, the idea of Home Rule power to maintain orderly government.
is no new one. The states of British origin These rights were granted to New South
that now compose the United States of Wales in 1824, 1842, and 1855 to ;

America all had their local assemblies Victoria in 1851 and 1855 South
;

and considerable powers of self-administra- Australia (Northern Territories added in


tion but a foolish king and an ignorant
; 1861-1863) in 1856 and Tasmania in the
;

Minister fought the battle of taxation 'same year Queensland in 1859


;
and;

without representation in the eighteenth West Australia in 1850 and 1890. The
century, and lost it. This im- enfranchisement of the six colonies cul-
Planted an idea in the minds of minated in the recognition by Great
BrTnd
British subjects beyond the seas Britain of the Australian Commonwealth
th^^S*
that has never been allowed to as a whole in the year 1900. New Zea-
die. The representative institutions of the land received Home Rule in 1882, and
component parts of the empire outside the status of a dominion in 1907.
the British Islands have been described South Africa has presented greater
elsewhere. It only remains to glance at difficulties in the framing of responsible
their past history and at the problems government because of the two rival
they may raise in the immediate future. —
types of European colonists British and
Assemblies of an elective and fully Britannicised Germans speaking English ;

representative character were early brought and Boers, with the descendants of
into existence in the West Indies at Huguenot Frenchmen, speaking Dutch.
various dates from 250 years ago. It is Further, there were the millions of in-
possible that in these instances the idea digenous negroes to be taken into consider-
of Home Rule was premature and carried ation. Cape Colony, which was by far
to extremes. Area, population, and the the " whitest " of the South African
future race-elements of the population states, was erected into the position of a
were not taken into consideration in self-governing colony in 1853 and a
granting these rights and at various
: _ ., ^ .responsible government in
times during the nineteenth century the ^^7^- Natal did not receive

representative institutions except in the
Sul'e?°o7""'*'
e *fi* ?, •
South Africa
full responsible powers of self-
Bahamas and Barbados — were abrogated
'
. i-ii o T^u
government till 1893. The
or seriously limited. Orange Free State and the Transvaal were
A constitution and elective lower respectively accorded the position of inde-
houses of parliament were conceded to pendent nations in 1854, and 1852-1858.
the two organised provinces of Canada in When the Transvaal was annexed in
1792 and responsible government for
; 1877, it was the intention of the British
Upper and Lower Canada, New Bruns- Government to bestow on it a few years
wick, Nova Sco.ia, and Prince Edward afterwards much the same powers of
Island was introduced in 1841, after what self-government as were already under
might almost be called a series of rebellions consideration for Natal. This solution of
between 1837 ^^^ 1839. ^^^ for this the difficulty, which would have probably
wise concession, the vast provinces of saved the South African War, was pre-
Canada would long ago have been part of vented by the Boer uprising in 1881.
the United States, to the detriment of Before the Orange River Colony and the
British commerce and British influence on Transvaal could be brought into line
the fate of the North American Continent. with the rest of the colonies in South Africa
A constitution was given to Newfound- they had to be conquered and annexed.
land in 1832, and full Home They were then as speedily as possible
Constitotiont
Rule in 1855. Home Rule was (Transvaal in 1906, Orange River Colony
i& the
accorded also in a reasonable in 1907) re-erected into responsible self-
Colonies
degree to the colony of British governing states, in the same quasi-inde-
Guiana in Northern South America in pendent position as Cape Colony and Natal.
continuation of the Dutch Constitution There still remain subject to a great
already in force in 1803. This was modified extent to the direct administration of
or extended in 1812, 1826, 1831, and 1891. Downing Street, Basutoland, Bechuana-
The provinces or colonies that now land, and the vast Rhodesian territories
compose Australia received constitutions, to the north and south of the Zambesi.
and finally Home Rule, as soon as they Bechuanaland and Basutoland will no
were able to show indications of the doubt remain for a very long time to
5648
I

THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE


come, black states, wards of the British Free Trade. But she should strive by het
Empire, with the guardianship either advice, her threats (if necessary), her
remaining in London or eventually en- cash influence to educate the native
trusted to the White Confederation of dynasties in the ever better government

South Africa not, however, until such and administration of the lands subjected
time as England can trust the colonists to to them. If these native rulers consider
give fair play to their black neighbours it advisable by degrees to enlarge their
and fellow -citizens, and until they are ,
native councils into elective
entirely able to relieve the Mother Country " **p*j. legislative assemblies, such a
'*^^
of the cost and responsibility of interven- •
^i] gan a a
course will not be opposed by
tion. The Rhodesian provinces south of Qj-gg^^ Britain, provided the
the Zambesi will eventually become self- native legislatures show themselves pru-
governing white man's lands of the same dent and observant of treaty obligations.
status as those other great states that will In Uganda the present writer was
with them form the Confederation of permitted to restore the indigenous legisla^
South Africa. The provinces north of ture, and more clearly to define and
the Zambesi will, no doubt, be grouped strengthen the prerogatives of the native
under the general government of British king. Other supreme chiefs were set up
Central Africa, and eventually be dealt by himself or by his successors as adminis-
with on much the same lines as the trators, and the peace and quiet which
country of the Basuto and Bechuana. have followed have shown the wisdom in —
They, at any rate, emphatically are black this part of Africa, at any rate —
of trusting
man's lands, and should certainly be to native dynasties to rule their own
regarded as a future home and privileged people. A
similar course has been followed
reserve for such negro peoples of South in the protectorate of Sierra Leone, and
Africa as may choose to migrate thither, is, no doubt, being adopted in Nigeria.

seeking a refuge from the incompatible Besides the questions of interstate


white man. The statesmen and commercial relations and Home Rule
i:l "Trl thinkers of the British Empire there are other problems and dangers to
Demand for
~'
Home Rule
are now beginning to face the —
be faced and solved not perhaps with a
question of self-government in rush, but as occasion serves. One of these
such territories under the administration is the colonisation of vacant lands, and
of the empire as are not inhabited in the consequently the distribution of the world's
main by white men and Christians. The racial types. Within the vast limits of the
lands of the Mohammedan have certainly Canadian Dominion there are perhaps a
the best of the premature claims to self- million square miles of fertile land with a
government, because the Mohammedan healthy climate still uninhabited by men.
religion is less unreasonable than that of Most notable perhaps are the coast-lands
the Hindu or the Buddhist. But at and islands of British Columbia, an
present the cry for Home Rule is louder earthly paradise for scenery, climate, and
and more menacing from the educated wealth of natural products. British
Hindus of East Central India than it is Columbia, calculated on its endowment by
from lands where the Mohammedan Nature, should be a country with the popu-
influence predominates. lation of France, and should be one of the
As regards the Straits Settlements (Malay envied nations of the world. At present
Peninsula and Borneo) and much of the it is inhabited by about 200,000 men and
surface of India, the question is partially women, mainly of British origin there —
solved by the preservation and educa- are also 13,000 Chinese, and 4,600 Japan-
Such, probably, —some of whom have
tion of native rulers.
will be the course followed in Egypt, in
Southern Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, and
a •
in British
Colttmbia
ese
r*' come direct from the Mother
Country, others by way of the
T^ ^'^, J-
-^

in Zanzibar. England will not grab at the Eastern Canadian provmces,


land of these countries, nor seek to or from the United States. There is,
substitute a white man for a yellow or in addition, an Indian population of
black as settler or colonist. about 29,000, living very much the life
England will work for free play and full of gypsies. This Indian type will —
protection for the white man's commerce —
venture to predict become fused into
and commercial agents, and also maintain the general community without harm to
as far as is reasonable the principle of it. Physically, it does not differ very

359 5649

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


much more from the modern type of The —
objection to this policy of throw-
British colonist than do some of the cotter ing open the Canadian Dominion to all
fishing folk of North-western Scotland and white immigrants on the easiest terms
Western Ireland from the more modern subject to the indispensable conditions of
race types of the British Islands. —
healthiness and morality arises from the
Still, 200,000 British colonists and labour leaders and trade unions of
29,000 Amerindians are not a sufficient Canada. " We will not have labour
population for the area and extraordinary' cheapened " is the substance of their out-
natural advantages of British cry. Their argument would probably be
Japans
^ Columbia and its dependen- that they do not want to repeat in Canada
Overflow.ng ^-^^
j^^ Japanese divined this the miseries of the Old World. " All labour
Popalation
i^^g ago. The hmits of Japan shall be highly paid in future," almost
are all too small for its overflowing equally paid, whether it be hair-cutting,
population. Korea may receive some of wood-sawing, teaching mathematics, paint-
the overflow China, on the other hand,
;
ing pictures, composing operas, writing
may resist Japanese immigration, and is books, reaping corn, preaching sermons,
quite vigorous and numerous enough in pleading or defending at the Bar.
her peoples to do so. Even if Japan should Perhaps they are right. But mean-
wrest the Philippine Islands from the time agricultural, mining, domestic work

United States as she may yet try to do is almost at a standstill in the Far West
this region does not offer great possi- while these laudable attempts are being
bilities for the building up of a powerful made to solve the social problem, to create
people. It is small wonder, therefore, that a white Canada in which there shall be no
Japan has hoped, little by little, by distinctions between skilled and unskilled
degrees, unobtrusively, to infiltrate the —
labour for that is what the argument
lands of British Columbia, Alaska, and the resolves itself into in the long run.
North-western part of the United States, Already young native Canadians are
and thus in time create a new Japan be- migrating to Mexico, and the
,
ana as
yond the seas which might resist aggression young married womanhood of
by the eventually effete races of Europe. ^°*^'f...
Conditions
the western parts
^
of the do-
• •, ir•

Canada and British Columbia, and mmion is wearmg itself into .

also the United States, are alive to this old age and ugliness in the endeavour
difficulty, and seemingly resolved to to be cook, washerwoman, housemaid,
resist it. This movement has done some- governess, nurse and wife in one. These
thing to weaken the Anglo-Japanese are the complaints voiced by many private
Alliance, and it may considerably em- letters, by signed and unsigned contribu-
barrass the Asiatic policy of the British tions in the colonial Press. The population
Government. Yet the problem of Cana- of Canada has not increased proportionately
dian-British Columbian colonisation will by anything like the same ratio as that of
not be solved by our keeping out the the United States, though there is an
Japanese and Chinese. almost equal area of territory suited to
The alternative seems simple " En- : the habitation of the white man.
courage white immigration." But the Japan may also turn her attention
emigration of poor whites, labourers, com- to the colonisation of Australia, but the
petitors with the working men already in lands left open to her here do not offer one
possession, is not encouraged rather ; tithe of the advantages and attractions
the reverse. One can understand the of British Columbia or of North-west
objection of Canadian citizens America generally. They are arid and
*^ having their Motherland extremely hot, and in some parts very
clnadUn
ana lan
j^^de the dumping ground for unhealthy. Possibly Japan may hope for a
white refuse. This they have tropical future. It is a people of extremely
every right to reject. But if they are not mixed elements, as hkely to develop
to admit for menial work, or for the less into a tropical race as into a people of
attractive walks of life, the Oriental races the temperate zones. In that case, Japan
also an exclusion with which we can sym- may accept in return for a promise to leave

pathise then something must be done to America severely alone the overlordship
attract large numbers of white settlers of the Philippine Islands, and little by
who will come ready to work, though with little become the mistress of the Dutch,
no more capital than their head and limbs. Grerman, and perhaps a part of the British
5650
THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE
Empire in that region of Malaya between the south-west. Speaking, however,
Australia and New Guinea on the south- racially,some sections of the Zulu-Kaffir-
east and Cochin China on the north-west. Bechuana peoples are no earlier colonists
Meantime, if any movement should be of South Africa than the Dutch and even
directed by the Imperial statesmen of the British. Some sections of them have
Great Britain, it should be the direction inherently no better right to the soil of
of British emigration towards British a No-man's-land than we have both alike ;


Columbia one of the world's paradises. have entered into the inheritance of a van-
There is a future before Trans-Zam- ishedBushmantype, if onecan
besian Africa, from a white man's point of r' f -^'t^of
t seriously ascribe full territorial
Colonists -^
.
r
, , ,
J •

view, that is scarcely realised. Before wandering


South Africa "^^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^
many years have passed, science will have human nomads, as much, and
found a means of extirpating such local no more, entitled to the fee-simple of the
germ-diseases as affect man and beast. soil they roved over than the wild beasts
The climate over nearly the whole of this they were attempting to dispossess.
region from the Zambesi to the southern In deciding such grave questions it
ocean is magnificent. Where the soil is has always seemed to the present writer
arid it is packed with precious metals, but that a very great distinction must be made
much of the aridity is caused by the ill- between nomads and agriculturists. An
regulated water supply. Afforestation is agricultural race that has distinctly bene-
already producing a change in this respect, fited the land it has occupied, by subduing
and increasing the rainfall. In fact, the Nature and making the country fit for
rainfall may be equalised by a moderate intelligent human occupation, has ac-
de-foresting of the too tropical eastern quired a fee-simple in the soil not so the ;

coast-belt coincident with the planting up nomad, who is a mere hunter. Pastoral
of the interior deserts. The streams pro- peoples should be given reservations in
duced by the heavy tropical or temperate return for the care they have bestowed
^^ rains will be made to supply on domestic animals, and for their having
The ,.rv ..
White
water for iu
r
the irrigation off
, • • 4.-
subdued more or less the wild beasts that
Mans _
-, , ^
Prospects ., , , P
. ... the less favoured regions.
°
would make the keeping of these flocks '

in Africa t,, . , ,
The coexistence of a negro and herds impossible or they may have ;

population of some five or six million within uprooted poisonous herbs, and have miti-
these limits is, together with the general gated marsh or thorny scrub.
question of unskilled labour, one of the To reduce a long argument into as few
problems that the empire has to face and words as possible, the future settlement of
solve before long. About 1,500 years ago, race distribution in Trans-Zambesian Africa
in all probability, there were very few big should follow these lines The existing :

black negroes dwelling in the lands to the agricultural races should be granted defi-
south of the Zambesi. This sub-continent nite areas of land, which would become
then was sparsely peopled by a Hottentot- as much theirs as land similarly taken up
Bushman race of low or arrested physique, by white men but every inducement of
;

and of poor intellectual development. teaching, allpersuasion, should be


fair
These men were leading the almost used towards these negro tribes to leave
animal life of the Stone Age. Then came the high, cold regions or the temperate
successive rushes of the powerful Bantu coast lands and migrate little by little
negroes from the north and east, and a good to the tropical eastern belt, and, most
deal of the centre and east of South Africa of to the basin of the Zambesi, especi-
all,
was populated by black men, the ancestors ally the magnificent territories
of the modern Bechuana, Zulu, and Nyanja ^^ British Central Africa. This
Central
tribes. The Hottentots in the south-west ... is a climate well suited to
had made a more determined resistance, negro physical development,
and when the European first arrived on the not so well suited to the white man. As
scene, in the sixteenth century, much of compensation for the gradual creation of
the south-western part of this sub- a white South Africa, the building up of
continent was still outside the Bantu a black Central Africa should be carried
sphere. The persecution or the control on simultaneously. No injustice should be
of the Hottentots by Dutch and British done to Basuto or Zulu, to Bechuana or
indirectly assisted the attempts of the Baronga. But actual inducements may
Kaffirs to extend further and further to be offered to the more vigorous and
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
enterprising amongst the black men to and Central Asia, but if the " White
migrate a little farther to the east and South Africa " ideal is to be lowered
north in return for a good substantial grant because the white man dislikes to work
of land. In exchange, the vacant soil of the as an unskilled labourer, the Indian must
high cold plateaux might be disposed of to be readmitted to take his share in the
European settlers. Gradually in this way development of this neglected region.
the two races might draw apart, the black There are few problems now to be
men living more to the east and north, and solved in British West Africa since it has
the white to the south and most wisely been decided it is the black
Bonds of
south-west. As in India, man's country, to be owned and developed
Union for Black
so in South Africa, the alter- by the negro and negroid. In Uganda
and White
native to this policy is the the same principle is in force, but in East
setting aside of racial prejudice and the free Africa the future is much more com-
interbreeding of black and white the same ; plicated a parti -coloured policy may be
;

education, the same laws, the same social the wisest to adopt. The rights to land,
organisation being made to apply to both. communally and individually, on the part
This consummation is less and less in of the indigenous blacks and browns are
favour. The blacks dislike interbreeding already recognised and have been secured.
with the whites quite as much as the There still remain territories, collectively
reverse is the case, and so far the result as large as Ireland —situated at altitudes
of such intermixture between the absolute between 6,000 and 13,000 feet above sea-
negro and the absolute white man has level, above sunstroke and most tropical
not been happy either in its physical diseases, except malaria, which is a matter
attributes or its political status. of infection —
which are in every way suited
On the other hand, the retention of to European settlement. Owing to former
five, six, ten millions of negroes as a wars between tribe and tribe, and to the
permanently servile force has likewise cold climate, there are no existing native
ceased to be possible. Sufficient educa- inhabitants.
, Will the British
tion has been brought amongst them by promote the colonisation of
'
A^i f
the white man, he has departed sufficiently these still vacant lands by
p^t/*^^"
from the ideas of the seventeenth and homelessBritishers or will they
eighteenth centuries, to have made the let them drift into the possession of Boers,
reinstitution of negro slavery a physical Italians, Greeks, or Russian Jews ? Then
impossibility. The negroes would resist in East Africa is also the Asiatic problem.
it to the death, and the white man has Are they then to encourage, dis-
not the numbers, the strength, or the courage or remain indifferent to the
money to reimpose such a condition on immigration on a large scale of natives
his still slightly inferior brother, whom of India, who will come not merely as
at one time he would, if he could, have employes, merchants or soldiers, but as
reduced once more to the level of a beast. settlers, bringing their women-folk and
Of course, if the white peoples decide determined to find in East Africa that
for a white South Africa they must face America which England is denying them in
and settle the problem of unskilled labour. Natal and the Transvaal? Can she refuse
Either they must consent to work with them this satisfaction ? Are the British as
the pick and shovel, the mason's trowel, Imperialists to shape new homes for white
the bricklayer's hod, the gardener's spade, men only ? Or should they expect the
to perform all the menial functions of do- overplus of India to be content with new

*
mesticity, to police, to be sig- fields of energy nearer home Southern —
"3.1man, pointsman and guard, Arabia, Southern Persia, Malaya, Borneo,
f Wh't
telegraph clerk and messen- Fiji, Northern Australia, Mauritius or in
S *tKAf'* ;

ger, postman, groom, carter, —


Tropical America Honduras, Jamaica,
shepherd, vine-dresser, ostrich attendant, Trinidad, Guiana, leaving Africa to the
and dock labourer or they must decide
; Negro, Negroid and Caucasian ?
for a partnership on equal terms with Egypt is one of the knottiest problems
the black and possibly the yellow man that offer themselves for solution. England
so far as South Africa is concerned. The has raised a Mohammedan people from
Chinaman need have no say in the de- the dust, has forced on it education,
velopment of South Africa. He has law and order, security and affluence,
quite a large enough sphere in Eastern has even assiduously taught it what it
5652
THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRfi
had forgotten since it was submerged and Asia. Under present circumstances, and
denationalised by Islam
(that lava flow until the navigation of the air is a common-
of human the lands of the
history), that —
place fact when there may be universal
Lower Nile and the people generated from peace and a world-federation it is vital to—
Nile mud and sand were once the cradle the continued existence of the British Em-
and the exponents of a mighty civilisa- pire abroad that it. should neutralise the
tion. By her intervention this modern geographical advantages of Egypt by con-
Egyptian race has been saved from dwind- trolling the destinies and the foreign policy
ling into virtual extinction, bled to death _, of that country. So much so,
by heartless Turkish pashas and their *hat,if need be, violence must
Circassian and Armenian servants.
U*d'' B *t* h
be done to the finer feelings of
jj I
Now, under an enlightened prince, who, the Egyptians by the declara-
like his father, has Egyptian blood in tion of an actual protectorate or suzerainty
his veins, and administered by a new — a clear intimation to the Sultan and his
school of Egyptian, Armenian, and people that they are, and must remain, for
Turkish ministers, Egypt desires to be an indefinite period within the diversified
allowed to run alone. The Sudan, it is confederation which is called the British
virtually acknowledged, is a totally Empire. This high-handed action should
different question; it has its own outlet be justified by an appeal to the civilised
to the sea at Port Sudan and via Uganda powers that count in the world's councils.
and Mombasa. The Sudan administered Ask educated India, Australia, East
by Britain will relieve Egypt from one Africa, Uganda, British Central and South
great menace on the south. If, argue Africa, Zanzibar, Mauritius, New Zealand,
some Egyptians, the British troops were and even Canada, to consider what would
removed from Cairo and Alexandria to the happen to them and to their commerce if
other side of the Suez Canal, in short, if the Suez Canal were under the control of an
the Sinai peninsula were definitely ceded absolutely independent power which could
_ to Great Britain and Egypt close it at any moment to British ships ;

q" 'f became an absolutely inde- or else in the keeping of a state so feeble
pendent kingdom, the British and so disorganised that it was at the

E ^^^
would obtain means of defend- mercy of a coup-de-main on the part of
ing the Red Sea route to
India and the Suez any strong Mediterranean nation.
Canal and yet might relieve the administra- With the proviso, however, of the full
tion of Egypt of that admixture of British recognition of Great Britain's supremacy,
officials, which, by its crushing superiority there is no reason whatever why Egypt
of attainments and ideals, galls the rising should not receive in time full representa-
generation of the upper and middle classes tive government under the ruler, who
of the native-born Egyptians. has now been raised to the rank of sultan,
There are other Egyptians who say or and even exercise almost completely
write that they are in no hurry to lose the independent powers in regard to internal
British civilian employes of the Sultan's administration and the foreign affairs of
administration the admirable qualities
; Egypt proper. Perhaps the best arrange-
of these as judges, financiers, engineers, or ment in the long run would be the cession
police officers, are fully recognised. It is to England of the Sinai Peninsula and the
the military officers who, for some reason, Sudan, the British troops being withdrawn
have made themselves disliked through from the sultanate of Egypt, but the sultan
want of tact, consideration, or sympathy. of that country acknowledging the over-
It is the army of occupation rather than lordship of the British Em-
I 1 PI•

the British officered Egyptian army which :!*lL*


** peror, just as Bavaria does
" If the British in the
is the thorn in the wound. that of the German Emperor.
Mediterrftnean
soldiers were removed to the Sinai Penin- Provided the vital rights of
sula," say the Young Egyptians, "we control over Egypt and Southern and
should be content to remain for some Eastern Arabia are recognised, the British
further period under British tutelage but : people would welcome most heartily the
let the Sultan be master in his own house." regeneration of Turkey. It may be neces-
This much is clear to people in the United sary to the peculiar position of Italy in the
Kingdom, that Egypt, by its mere geo- Mediterranean that Turkey shall cede some
graphical position, is the central connecting rights in Tripoli to the Italian kingdom, in
link of the empire in Europe, Africa, and return for assurances that Italy will not
5653
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
interfere in Albania. All of this must be In weights and measures we might very
determined at the conclusion of the great well adopt the metric system, and thus
European war. put ourselves in harmony with France and
Besides the reforms already touched the whole Latin world, Germany, Latin
on — local administration, commercial in- America, Turkey, the Balkan States,
terrelations, and secular technical edu- Roumania, Austria-Hungary, and Japan.
cation —
we must aim at making the In regard to coinage, see how ridiculously
English language a universal medium of the empire differs one portion from
p. . intercommunication. It must another. In Great Britain, Gibraltar,
become eventually the one Malta, Cyprus, British Central Africa,
jj .J
o^cial language of the whole South Africa, West Africa, St. Helena, the
La ua * e
empire. This need not lead West Indies, Falkland Islands and British
to the neglect of other forms of speech; Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and
on the contrary, for purposes of literature, the Western Pacific, we have a gold stan-
science, history, and the right under- dard and the pound sterling as unit of
standing of diverse minds and intellects, calculation, and a very sensible unit, too.
language study —
not merely Hebrew, In Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan there

Ancient Greek, or Latin must be en- is a monetary system nearly in accord with

forced on all persons in the Imperial that of Britain, but the Egyptian pound
service. But English should be taught is worth about threepence more than the

everywhere in all government or state- English sovereign. It is divided into


aided schools. 100 piastres. In British Arabia, the
And we must put our own pride in our Central Sudan and Zanzibar the Maria
pocket and make on our part concessions Theresa dollar of an approximate American
to commonsense. English must have its dollar still hngers. But throughout the
standard pronunciation fixed for a hundred Aden territory, British East Africa, Zan-
years, and must then be spelt phonetically zibar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Persian Gulf,
in the Roman alphabet, just as we spell Ceylon, and the whole Indian Empire, the
African and Indian languages phonetically. silver rupee of a more or less fixed exchange
Moreover, there must be but one alphabet, —value of fifteen rupees =five dollars-
one printing type all over the empire. At is the established currency.
present we tolerate the Irish alphabet In the Straits Settlements and the
in Ireland the Greek letters in Cyprus
; ;
federated Malay States the official currency
Coptic in Egypt Arabic in Arabia, Egypt,
; is a dollar, worth about 56 cents. At one
India, Central Africa, and Malaya about
; time there were three kinds of dollar in
fifty different alphabets in India and circulation as legal tender : the Mexican
'

Ceylon ;and the Chinese syllabary in dollar, say an American dollar the
;

Hong Kong. This leads to a sickening British dollar, value about sixty cents ;

waste of time, and to an obscurantism and the Hong Kong dollar, value about
beloved of schoolmasters, clerics, cranky fifty cents. These are still, with varying
professors, pedantic prigs, sulky bonzes, values, the currency of Hong Kong.
rebellious Hindus, intriguing Arabs, and all In 1902 a committee sat at the Colonial
those who are really opposed to the Office to consider and make recommenda-
enlarged study of languages and their tions regarding the currency question in
rapid acquisition by people in a hurry. . the Straits Settlements. They
No one can accuse me of a narrow nation- """'^r
***
recommended a return to the
'^^
alism in advocating the universal use \
gold standard, but, for some
s*tti
of the so-called Roman inscrutable reason, instead of
because this taking this occasion to introduce the
wtu 'B'.o.n. elegant,
. _. .
^'Ph^^;*.
clear, easily recog- Imperial coinage, they started this great
mpire
nised type was invented in Malayan colony off on a fresh currency of
Italy, and as regards its adaptation to its own, equivalent to the British dollar
the phonetic rendering of all known of an approximate value of fifty-six
languages is a German invention by the —
cents another unit of independent valuf^
great Lepsius. added to the Canadian dollar, the pourd
Besides a uniform alphabet we want a sterling, the rupee, the Hong Kong dollar,
uniform coin of standard value, uniform the five-franc piece (which is much usrd
weights and measures, and postal rates. in British Gambia and in Jersey). H
This last reform is nearly accomplished. is actions like these that stand in the way
5654

THE FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE


of Imperial federation. The currency of small cash, no coin below a silver three-
Hong Kong and Wei-hai-wei is enough pence being in circulation.
to make the brain whirl, and must cause Will no great Imperial statesmen arise,
many a suicide among cashiers and will no council of broad views and domi-
accountants. The Hong Kong dollar is nant authority come into existence which
at present worth about fifty cents. Two will cause the empire to agree on:
other dollars of totally different and con- I. A phonetic spelling and writing ol

stantly varying value equally pass current. the English language.


The copper coinage is shamefully bewil- ,2. Uniform weights and measures
dering. British Borneo shares the dollar (metric).
standard of the Straits Settlements. 3. Uniform coinage and unit values in
Canada has from its entry into the calculation (decimal).
empire adopted the dollar of the United 4. A single alphabet —
the Roman for—
States as its unit. Newfoundland also writing and printing all languages on an
keeps its accounts in dollars and cents identical phonetic system, the same that
(American), but British sterling is legal is applied to English ?
tender. British Honduras likewise employs I doubt if there are great men to devise
the American dollar as its unit of value. great measures, and if this magnificent but
In some parts of West, East, and unwieldy empire,, too loosely
The Drift
Central Africa the kauri shell is not compacted, too perversely in-
of
demonetised. In Nigeria, i,ooo kauris dividualistic in all its parts,
Empire
are worth threepence. This will give be not drifting on to eventual
some idea of what a worry they can be dissolution for the want of men in its
as cash or in accounts. In British China supreme councils "with head, heart, hand ;

there are copper coins representing one- like some of the simple great ones gone ;

hundredth part of the fifty-cent dollar for ever and ever by," who will impose
less than half a cent, and one-thousandth unity in essentials and allow liberty of
part of the same
coin, or one-twentieth judgment in what is unessential.
of a cent. On
the other hand, in South Harry Johnston
Africa there is a distressing dearth oi

5655
THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, SHOWING THE ROUTES FOLLOWED BY EARLY VOYAGERS
Separating the Old World from the New, and extending from one Polar circle to the other, the Atlantic Ocean has,
since the sixteenth century, been the chief commercial highway of the world ; but even earlier than that period, hardy
ovagers were bold enough to venture on its waters in their quest for lands unknown. In the above map the routes
tajcen by the various discoverer? are distinctly shown, while the dates of their famous voyages are also given.

5656
;

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN


AND ITS PLACE IN HISTORY
By Dr. Karl Weule
THE ATLANTIC BEFORE COLUMBUS
THEcanal
Atlantic may be regarded as long
which winds, in the form of a
i: Hanse towns and their rivals in Western
Europe made some use of the sea for
letter S,and preserving an almost uniform trade. But maritime enterprise on a great
breadth, between the Old World and the scale was not attempted by these peoples.
New. It extends from one Polar circle to the In the days before Columbus, only the
other. Such a configuration, when once it inhabitants of Western Norway made
became known to mankind, was bound to _ serious attempts to explore the
Features t'u •
h
favour international communications. The ocean. They were specially
narrowness of the Atlantic has had momen- ° .
^. favoured by Nature. A chain of
tous results for the history both of states islands, the Faroes, Iceland, and
and of civilisation. But it was long before Greenland, served them as stepping-stones.
the shape of the Atlantic was reahsed, and But the voyage from Norway to the Faroes
this for two reasons. First, the Atlantic is one of more than 400 miles over a
has few islands, and this is particularly dangerous ocean ; and this was a much
true of the zone which was the first to be more difficult feat than the voyage of the
attempted by navigators, the zone lying ancients from Gades to the Isles of the Blest,
opposite the mouth of the Mediterranean. if indeed that voyage was ever made. The
Secondly, the Mediterranean was a poor evidence for it is by no means of the best.
school for explorers. The broken coasts The Atlantic is not merely remarkable
and the numerous islands of that sea for its narrowness and dearth of islands,
make navigation too easy. The Mediter- but also for the great indentations which
ranean peoples did not, therefore, obtain are to be found in its coasts on either
that experience which would have fitted side. These have exercised a great and a
them for the crossing of the outer ocean. beneficial influence on the climate of the
Their explorations were never extended Atlantic seaboard. Those of the American
more than a moderate distance from the coast -line balance those of the Old World
Pillars of Hercules, either in the Greco- to a remarkable degree. It is true that the
Roman period or in more recent times. eastern coast of South America bends
Almost the same obstacles existed to the inward with a sweep less pronounced than
_.„. . navigation of the northern zone that of the west coast of Africa.
^^ the Atlantic. The North But there is a striking parallelism
in thcwTof

c ayo
aviga ion
gga. and Baltic are not easily and the same phenomenon strikes us
navigated ; they presented when we study the shores of the North and
difficulties so great that for a long time Central Atlantic, in spite of the fact that
they discouraged the inhabitants of their broken and indented coast-lines make it
littorals from taking to the sea. The difficult to perceive the broad similarities
dolmen builders, indeed, showed, some at the first glance. Thus the Mediter-
aptitude for maritime enterprise ; and ranean corresponds to the immense gulf
much later we find that the mea of the which separates North and South America.
565;
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
The part which the Mediterranean of accounts of many a northern country.
the Old World has played in history is so Three hundred, and even two hundred, years
important that it has demanded special ago the fishing fleets of the Northern Sea,
treatment in a previous chapter. The Medi- which were then numerous though clumsy,
terranean of America has no such claim gathered, no doubt, a harvest in no degree
upon the attention of the historian. It greater than do the steam fishing-boats of
facilitated the conquest and settlement of the present day ; but at that time the
the Spanish colonies. It has favoured the profits made a much more appreciable
development of those motley difference to the national wealth, and the
L* k" th
a1?
*?•* communities which fringe its
-tt safety of the national food supply was
Atlantic with ^ j t-i
j- j •

shores from Cuba and Honda


, ,

J.
p .,. more largely dependent upon their efforts.
on the north to the Cape of San Much more important, from a historical
Roque on the south. But when we have point of view, is the influence on character
said this we have exhausted the subject of this trading in the difficult northern
of its historical importance. More im- seas ; for the Teutonic nations of North-
portant it doubtless will be in the future. west Europe and for the French, it was
Up to a short time ago it afforded the sole the best of aU possible schools of seaman-
outlet for the Central and Southern States ship, and largely contributed to the fact
of the American Union but now that ; that these nations were able to play a
the Panama Canal is completed, this sea leading part in the general annexation of
has become the natural high-road between the habitable globe which has taken place
the Atlantic and the Pacific a great factor — during the last three centuries.
in political and economic history. It will be The fisheries are here in closest communi-
what the Eastern Mediterranean was in the cation with that other attempt, which, his-
early days of the Old World. But we are con- torically at least, exercised influence no less
cerned with history and not with prophecy. enduring, to find a passage round North
North of the latitude of Gibraltar the America or round Northern Europe and
two shores of the Atlantic present a Asia to the east shore of Asia.
ng an s
remarkable symmetry. In shape the Gulf Nothing did SO much to promote
upremacy
of St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay ^j^^ maritime efficiency of the
resemble the North Sea and the Baltic. British nation as the repeated
Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, attempts that were made to find the North-
and Cape Breton Island may be compared west and North-east passages, which began
with North-western Europe. The chief with the voyage of the elder Cabot, and
difference between the two coast-lines is continued to the middle of the nineteenth
one of scale. Hudson's Bay, for example, century. To the Atlantic as a whole
is considerably larger than the North Sea belongs the high service of having led the
and the Baltic put together. This does civilised peoples of the Old World out to
not detract from the importance of the the open sea from the confines of the
symmetry which we have pointed out. It Mediterranean and other land-locked
is all the more important because it is waters ; from the time of Columbus it
most striking on those lines of latitude hcis been a school of technical skill and
which have been most important in the self-reliance. However, its most northern
history of mankind. part, storm-lashed and ice-bound as it is,
The Northern Atlantic Ocean has is in no way inferior to the whole, in this
influenced the development of our general respect at least, that it gave to one sole
civilisation in two directions —namely, nation not otherwise particularly strong, to
-H.
Thc ^ .by
Ocean s i-
those physical character-
u- u x r • •
the English, the supremacy over the seas
- „ which ongmate from its
istics of the world within a short three centuries.
laflvence on /.j • -x
,

i

Civilitati
configuration, and by its situa- The Atlantic Ocean may be regarded
tion with reference to the other as a broad gulf dividing the western and
countries on the globe. The extensive eastern shores of the habitable world,
fishing grounds which it affords have been conceived as a huge band of territory ex-
a source of wealth to European popula- tending from Cape Horn to Smith Sound ;

tions. Even when we take into account this implies a limitation of our ideas
the colossal proportions of modem inter- regarding the age of the human race.
national trade, deep-sea fishing is none the Its share in universal history does not
less an industry of note, and makes a very begin before the moment when the keel
important difference in the profit and loss of the first Norse boat touched the shore
5^8
— ;

THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BEFORE COLUMBUS


of Greenland or Helluland. Thus, this sea, earliest distribution of existing humanity.
so important in the development of the If the theory be true that during the
general civilisation of modern times, is, Tertiary Age two broad isthmuses ex-
historically speaking, young, and its tended from the western shore of the
significance in the history of racial inter- modern Old World to modern America,
course is not to be compared with that of then from the point of view of historical
the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. development there can be no difficulty
When compared with those ages during in conceiving these isthmuses as inhabited
which these two giants, together with primeval settlers. That
Th Atl f ^^
our Mediterranean, our Baltic and North point of the globe over which at
Q Ij
Seas, made their influence felt upon the ^jp. . . the present day the deep waters
course of history, traditional or written, of the Atlantic Ocean heave
the thousand years during which the would then, in fact, have been not only
Atlantic has influenced history become the earliest but also the most important
of minor importance. The investigator, scene of activity for the fate of mankind.
indeed, who is inclined to regard as As regards the later importance of the
" historical " only those cases in which Atlantic Ocean, the collapse of these two
the literary or architectural remains of isthmuses marks the beginning of a period
former races have left us information which is of itself of such great geological
upon their deeds and exploits will length that those first conditions which
naturally be inclined to leave the Atlantic influenced the fate of our race appear to
Ocean in possession of its historical youth. its most recent representatives as lost
He, however, who is prepared to follow in the mists of remote antiquity. After
out the ideas upon which this work has the Atlantic Ocean appeared in its present
been based, and to give due weight to all form, the inhabitants of the Old World
demonstrable movements and meetings had not the slightest communication with
of peoples, which form the first visible the dwellers upon the other shore. The
sign of historical activity upon the lower Atlantic Ocean then became in fact a
_ . . planes of human existence, will gulf dividing the habitable world.
eginnings
(^Qj^gi(jgj. ^^le importance of the In all times and places mystery and
obscurity have exercised an attraction
M ki d Atlantic Ocean as extending
backwards to a very remote upon mankind, and thus, too, the Atlantic
antiquity. Our views of historical develop- Ocean, bounding as it did the civilisation
ment, in so far as they regard mankind gathered round the Mediterranean, at-
as the last product of a special branch of tracted the inhabitants of those countries
evolution within the organic world, have from an early period. As early as the
recently undergone a considerable change second millennium before the birth of
the most modern school of anthropologists Christ we find the Phoenicians on its
conceives it possible to demonstrate, with shores, and soon afterwards their western
the help of comparative anatomy, that the branch, the Carthaginians.
differentiation of mankind from other The inducement to venture out upon its
organisms was a process which began, not waves was the need of tin, the demand for

with the anthropoid apes that is to say, which increased with the growing use of
at a period comparatively late both in bronze and the rarity of this metal induced
;

the history of evolution and geologically them to brave the dangers of the unknown
but at a much earlier point within the outer sea. However, these two branches
development of the mammals. of the great commercial nations of Western
From a geological and palaeontological Asia did not attain to any great
point of view, however, this conclusion _* ^ * . knowledge of the Atlantic
carries us far beyond the lowest limits ° Ocean. We are reminded of the
th *S
previously stated as the beginnings of reluctance of the towns and re-
mankind. We reach the Tertiary Age, pubhcs of Italy to pass through the
a lengthy period, interesting both for the Straits of Gibraltar, though the high seas
changes which took place within organic had long been sailed by the Portuguese
life and for the extensive alterations that and Spaniards, or the cowardice of the
appeared upon the surface of the earth. Hanseatics, who hardly dared to approach
The nature and extent of these changes the actual gates of the ocean, when we find
must, in so far as the new theory is correct, these two peoples who ruled for so many
have been of decisive importance for the centuries over the Mediterranean, which
5659
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
is itself of no small extent, unable to from the east coast of Spain to the interior of
advance any material distance beyond the the country and thence to its western coast.
Pillars of Hercules. Even as regards the Notwithstanding the activity of Rome in
tin trade, the chief labour was probably colonisation, her supremacy in Iberia led
undertaken by the seafaring coast-dwellers to no enterprises by sea ; nor were any
of separate parts of Western Europe. such undertaken by the Romans until they
How small in reality were the achieve- had established themselves in Gaul, and
ments of both nations upon the Atlantic had thus gained possession of a consider-
—^ e _ ays o is shown by the amount of able seaboard upon the Atlantic Ocean.
pj-^j^g lavished upon the coast- It was in 54 and 55 B.C. that JuUus

j^g ^^y^g^ ^^ ^^7°' ^^ich, Caesar made his voyages to Britain ; a few
CWUisation
however important tor geo- decades later came the advance of Drusus
graphical science, was no great achieve- and of Germanicus into the North Sea.
ment of seamanship. It is a characteristic The nature of these conquests precluded
feature of all landlocked seas to limit not adventure upon the open sea. The Romans
only the view, but also the enterprise of were attempting only to secure their
the maritime peoples upon their shores. natural frontier against the threatened
In Greek civilisation the Atlantic Ocean, encroachments of the Germanic tribes, and
as such, is only of theoretical importance. confined their explorations to the southern
A few explorers did, indeed, advance from portion of the North Sea.
the Mediterranean northwards and south- During the first thousand years after the
wards into the Atlantic. Such were birth of Christ the North Sea is the only
Pytheas of Massiha (about 300 B.C.), who part of the Atlantic Ocean which can be
journeyed beyond Britain to the fabulous demonstrated to have had any enduring
land of Thule ; his compatriot and con- influence upon the history of Western
temporary, Euthymenes, followed by Europe. The Veneti, and other tribes
Eudoxos of Cyzicus (about 150 B.C.) and inhabiting the western coast of Spain,
the historian Polybius (about 205-123 B.C.) Gaul, and Germany, certainly
*" adventured their vessels upon
succeeded in reaching different points Q '^

upon the west coast of Africa but none


; , . the open sea southward in con-
of these undertakings led to any practical tinuation of the primeval trade
result. The reason for this fact is to be in tin and amber even the Romans, before
;

found in the length of a voyage from the indefinitely retiring from Britain, made
coast of Greece, which was a far more one further advance during the expedition
difficult undertaking for the sailors of those which Cn. Julius Agricola (84 a.d.) under-
days than it now appears. Especially im- took in the seas and bays surrounding
portant, moreover, is the fact that the Great Britain. Of other nations, however,
Greeks, although they were the general we hear nothing during this age which
heirs of the Phoenician colonial policy, would lead us to conclude that they carried
never attempted to overthrow the su- on communication by means of the ocean
premacy of the Carthaginians in the to any important extent.
western half of the Mediterranean Sea. The age preceding the tenth century a.b.
For them, therefore, the great western is entirely wanting in maritime exploits,
ocean remained permanently wrapped in with the exception of the expedition of
the obscurity of distance, a fact which the Norsemen, but is, on the other hand,
enabled them to people its illimitable rich in legends, the locality of which
breadth with creations of fancy, such as is the Atlantic Ocean. These are impor-
^^^ "Atlantis" of Plato; tant to the history of civilisation by reason
Rome's
but distance was too import- of their number they are the most
St *1 WtK ;

C 'tA
" *
^^^ ^^ obstacle to be success- striking proof of that general interest
fully overcome by their in- which was excited, even during the
stinct for colonisation and discovery. The " darkest " century of the Middle Ages,
Atlantic Ocean came into the purview of by the great and mysterious ocean upon
the Romans at the moment when their the west. Historically, too, they are of
struggles with Carthage for the Iberian importance for the influence which their
Peninsula ended definitely in their favour supposed substratum of geographical fact
(210 B.C.) it was not until then that this
; has exercised upon the course of discovery.
rapidly developing Power in the west of This interest appears, comparatively weak
the Mediterranean was able to advance at first, in the "Atlantis" legend. The
5660
THE ATLANTIC OCEAN BEFORE COLUMBUS
legend, together with many other elements fleetupon the North Sea to repulse their
forming the geographical lore of classical attacks, and this was the first step made
Greece, was adopted by the Middle Ages, by the German people in the maritime
but cannot be retraced earlier than the profession though we also see the mer-
;

sixth century. For nearly one thousand chants of Cologne from the year looo
years it disappears, with Cosmas Indi- sending their vessels down the Rhine and
copleustes, that extraordinary traveller over the straits to London, the com-
and student in whose works the attempt to mercial rivalry of Flanders and Northern
bring all human discovery into harmony _ . France following them in the
with the Bible, an attempt characteristic thirteenth century, and about
''^h"'*
of patristic literature, reaches its highest ^^j
^ the same time the fleets of the
point. In the " Atlantis " of Plato, Cosmas Easterlings visiting the great
apparently sees a confirmation of the harbour on the Thames. For the imme-
teachings of Moses, which had there placed diate estimation of existing transmarine
the habitation of the first men it was not
; relations on the Atlantic side of Europe,
until the time of the Deluge that these men these expeditions are useful starting-
were translated to the European continent. points they have, however, nothing to
;

The ten kings of Atlantis were the ten do with the Atlantic Ocean as a highway
generations, from Adam to Noah. between the Eastern and Western Hemi-
The power of legend as a purely theo- spheres. The navigators who opened up
retical force continued after the first the Atlantic for this purpose started from
millennium a.d. only in the north-eastern the point which past history and the
borders of the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic, commercial policy of civilised peoples
owing to its Mediterranean situation, was indicated as the most suitable ; that is,
at that period the theatre of so much from the Mediterranean.
human activity and progress that it has The sudden expansion of the Moham-
already received special treatment. The medan religion and the Arabian power
^'orth Sea, regarded as a land- over a great portion of the Mediterranean
TK Vk"* "^*^*
. ^. locked ocean, was not so greatly gave a monopoly of the whole of the
N rth Se benefited by its position as it trade passing from east to west to the
has been in the later ages of masters of Egypt and of the Syrian ports ;

inter-oceanic communication ; at the same a considerable alteration took place in


time, the coincidence of advantages, small those conditions under which for more
in themselves, but considerable in the than a century commercial exchange had
aggregate, have made it more important quietly proceeded between the Far East
than any other part of the Atlantic Ocean —
and the West an alteration, too, greatly
as an area of traffic. These advantages for the worse. Commercial intercourse
included one of immeasurable importance became so difficult that the chief carrying

to early navigation namely, a supply of peoples of the Mediterranean, the com-
islands which, as formerly in the Mediter- mercial city-states, began to consider the
ranean, conducted the navigator from possibility of circumventing the obstacles
point to point ;a further advantage was presented by the Moslem Power, which not
the character of its inhabitants, who even the Crusaders had been able to shatter.
were far too energetic to be contented From the year 1317 the traders of Venice
with a country which was by no means and Genoa regularly passed the Straits of
one of those most blessed by nature. Gibraltar to secure their share of that ex-
Hence we need feel no surprise at the tensive trade in England and Flanders which
fact that the North Sea was navigated had everywhere sprung
in all directions as early as the eighth .J^^'^ ^ into prosperity north of the
.t.
the Fourteenth a •
i i.u x
century by the Vikings their excursions to
;
^P^'
1

^^^'^S *° ^^^*
*^^
Century
Iceland, Greenland, and to that part of economic advance made by
North America which here projects farthest North-west Europe. Almost a generation
into the ocean, are fully intelligible when earlier they had advanced from Gibraltar
we consider the training which the stormy southwards in the direction which should
North-eastern Atlantic Ocean offered to a have brought them into direct communica-
nation naturally adventurous. tion with India, according to the geograph-
The example of the Norsemen was not ical knowledge of that day. This idea is
generally imitated in Europe at that time. the leading motive in the history of dis-
Charles the Great launched, it is true, a covery during the fourteenth and fifteenth
5661
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
centuries, so far as the history was worked band of earth. However,
as a closely united
out upon the sea. We
see it reahsed in the in the scientific treatment of the great
voyage of the brothers Vadino and Guido sea upon the west, views and conceptions of
de Vivaldi of Genoa in 1281, and that of the world as a united whole had made
Ugohno Vivaldi, who in 1291 sailed down their influence felt almost two centuries
the west coast of Africa in a ship of earlier. The fact that elephants are to be
Teodosio Doria with the object of discover- found both in Eastern India and Western
ing the sea route to India it is an idea
; Africa had led Aristotle to suppose that
^pparent in the voyages the two countries were separated by no
Arabs as the
-, . ,
Teachers of J
made by the Italians to Ma- great expanse of ocean.
- /- J i
.
w t
J.1
deira, to the Canaries, and to
J.
After the Patristic Age, the theory
was revived
the Azores, enterprises both by scholasticism upon
of nautical daring and of geographical im- the basis of Asiatic and Greek geo-
portance. Mention must also be made at graphy. As transmitted by the Arabs,
this point of the several advances upon the this theory respecting the configuration
west coast of Africa made by Henry the of the ocean assumed that form which was
Navigator this series of attempts occupied
; bequeathed by Marinus of Tyre about
the whole life of that remarkable prince. 100 A.D. and by Ptolemy to the Caliphs.
It is true that the Portuguese of the The Western Ocean, upon this theory,
fifteenth century, hke the Italians before was not reduced to the narrow canal which
them, proposed to use the Atlantic Ocean Seneca had conceived but, compared
;

as a means of communication only up to with the length of the continent which


that point where an imaginary western formed its shores, it yet remained so
mouth of the Nile came forth from the narrow that a man with the enterprise of
Dark Continent. Not in vain were the Columbus might very well have enter-
Arabs the teachers of the West, both in tained the plan of finding the eastern
what they did and in what they did not world by crossing waters westwards.
its
understand ;their additions to the know- . Ptolemy had given the extent
The Coming
ledge of river systems are even more ^j ^^^ continent between the
of
superficial than those made by- European west coast of Iberia and the
Columbus
geographers of the Dark Ages. The mis- east coast of Asia as 180° of
take of the Arabs most fruitful in conse- longitude thus one-half of the circum-
;

quences was their division of the Upper ference of the globe was left for the ocean

Nile into three arms one flowing into the lying between. He had thus considerably
Mediterranean from Egypt, one flowing reduced the estimate of his informant
into the Red Sea on the coast of Abyssinia, Marinus, who had assigned 225° longitude
and one flowing into the Atlantic Ocean for the whole extent of land, thus leaving
on the coast of North-west Africa. This only 135° for the ocean.
hydrographical myth, of which a hint Columbus was more inclined to rely upon
had been given long before by Ptolemy, Marinus, as Paolo Toscanelli had estimated
was transmitted to the West immediately the extent of land at very nearly the same
by the Arabs, number of degrees as the Tyrian. Relying
It is to the influence of this strange upon the stupendous journeys of Marco
theory we must ascribe the attempts Polo and the travelling monks of the
made by the Italians and also by thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, he
Prince Henry they hoped to find a
; observed that Marinus had estimated his
short cut to the realm of Prester John 225° of longitude only for that part of
.r* «.• .• and the Elysium of Southern Eastern Asia which was known to him
The Atlantic .
;

_ Asia.

Aa common tfeature
^
in whereas the fact was that this continent
^in*^ *t bl
^ ^^ theories of the time extended far beyond the eastern boundary
about the Atlantic Ocean is assumed by Marinus, and should therefore
the tendency to consider it as the illimit- be much nearer the Cape Verde Islands
able western boundary of the habitable than was supposed. This view strength-
world. In the history of discovery, this ened Columbus in that tenacity and en-
mental attitude continues until the time durance which enabled him to continue
of Columbus, whose westward voyage working for his voyage during ten years
cannot for that very reason be compared full of disappointments, and it gave him
with any similar undertaking, because it that prudent confidence which is the most
was based upon the conception of the world distinguishing feature of his character.
5662
THE BY
ATLANTIC
OCEAN DR. KARL
II
WEULE

THE AGE AFTER COLUMBUS


THE INFLUENCE OF THE ATLANTIC ON THE
WORLD'S COMMERCE DURING FOUR CENTURIES
/^NE of the most remarkable facts in the as a means of communication. Before
^^ history of geographical discovery is the the year 1500 a.d. we see the Mediterra-
failure of the discoverer of the New World nean and the Indian Ocean with all their
to recognise it in its true character as an branches, as well as the North Sea and the
independent portion of the earth's surface ;
Baltic, in constant use by mankind, and
Columbus died in the belief that he had during that long period we know of a whole
sailed on four occasions to the eastern and series of powers founded upon
southern shores of Asia, and to his last » w °.!!*'^
of M&ritime
purely maritime supremacy.
tj A political
i-,-
andj economic

.
breath remained faithful to that picture of j^
. But the 1

the globe which has already been described. history even of those peoples
His contemporaries were under the whose power was apparently founded upon
same delusion. This adherence to old pure maritime supremacy has been every-
beliefs regarding the hydrography of the where and invariably conditioned by
globe has produced the characteristic cir- changes and displacements in their respec-
cumstance that, in political history and in tive hinterlands even sea powers so
;

the history of exploration, the Pacific and entirely maritime as the Phoenician and
Atlantic are closely linked, until the year Punic mediaeval Mediterranean powers
1513, when Nuiiez de Balboa descended and the Hanseatics have been invariably
from the heights of Darien to the shore of obliged to accommodate themselves to the
r t w I
•the southern sea. The Pacific overwhelming influence of the Old World.
and Atlantic Oceans were To those peoples their seas appeared, no
Vo^I c o'
^i°^^f\° • considered as forming one doubt, as mighty centres of conflict but ;
the Victoria i •
1 1^ 1 ^1
sea, which lay between the to us, who
are accustomed to remember
western and eastern shores of an enor- the unity underljdng individual geograph-
mous continental island, the Indian Ocean ical phenomena, these centres of historical
being nothing more than an indentation action give an impression of narrow bays,
facilitating communication to the western even of ponds. On and around them a
shore. It was not until the return of the vigorous period of organic action may
Victoria from the voyage of circum- certainly have developed at times, but
navigation undertaken by Magalhaes that their importance to the geographical dis-
Europe learnt that between the western tribution of human life surpasses very
and eastern shores of their own world there little their spatial dimensions.
lay, not the narrow sea they had expected After the age of the great discoveries
to find, but two independent oceans, history loses its continental character,
divided by a double continent, narrower and the main theatre of historical events
and running more nearly north than south, is gradually transferred to the sea. At
and possessing all the characteristics of an the same time, the co-existence of separate
independent quarter of the globe. . historical centres of civilisa-
ThcAUantic ^-^^
An entirely new picture of the world ^^^^^ gradually to a
then arose before the civilisation of the ^^!^^^ close, and history becomes
Ed

age new in the influence it was to exert
*f
o uca ion
^orld-wide. The leap, how-
upon the further development of the ever,which the population of Europe was
history of mankind, which had hitherto then forced to make from its own con-
run an almost purely continental course. venient landlocked seas to the unconfined
In every age, from that of the early ocean was too great to be taken without
Accadians to that of Hanseatic ascendancy some previous training. This training the
in the Baltic, the sea has ever been used Atlantic Ocean provided in full in fact,
;

5663
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
during the sixteenth century its historical as a history and as a civilisation. We do
importance begins and ends with the task not see either Venice or Genoa crossing
of educating European nations to capacity the Straits of Gibraltar, or the Hanseatics
for world supremacy. No other sea upon crossing the Skagerrack or the Straits of
the surface of the globe has exercised such Dover, with the object of taking their
an influence, nor was any sea so entirely share in the struggle that was beginning
suited as a training ground by configura- for maritime supremacy. Those powers
tion or position. The Pacific Ocean lies were sufficiently skilled in seamanship to
entirely apart from this ques- maintain their supremacy within their
The Pacific
Greatest of
tion From 1513 the task natu-
: own narrow circles, but their experience
„ -. rally placed before the white was insufficient to enable them to venture
all Oceans -^ ^ .i x r 1 j.
races was that of learning to upon the open seas surrounding the globe.
sail this sea, the greatest of all oceans, and A strict and thorough maritime educa-
apparently the richest in prospects. Its tion has been from the age of discovery
importance is chiefly as a battlefield ; it the fundamental condition for the attain-
has nothing to do with military training. ment of the position of a modern civilised
In this respect the Indian Ocean can power in the hard struggle between
also be omitted particularly for geo- races and peoples. Of the nations whose
graphical reasons, though at the same voices are heard with respect in the
time the chief obstacle to its extensive use councils of peoples, there is none which
by European nations is its lack of some does not consider itself permanently
natural communication with the Mediter- equipped and armed for the wide and
ranean. Compared with these hindrances, mighty political and economic struggle
the political obstacles, varying in strength upon the stage of the world ; for of the
but never wholly absent, raised by the original combatants on the scene those
Moslem powers of Syria and Egypt are of who have obviously remained victorious
very secondary importance. How im- were forced to gain their early experience
portant the first obstacle has ever been is .in the hard school of maritime
The^Atlantic
shown by the results of the piercing of it g^ruggle. These original com-
in modern times by an artificial water- n*^x^ r. 1^ batants were Spain and Port-
Battlefield , f j tt 11 j
way, which is kept open by treaty to the ugal upon one hand, Holland,
ships of every nation. England, and France upon the other, and
Speaking from the standpoint of uni- the scene of struggle was the Atlantic
versal history, we may say that the Ocean. As regards Spain and Portugal, it
Mediterranean has exercised a retrograde is a remarkable fact that this sea con-
influence upon humanity, even more so cerned them only temporarily and within
than the Baltic. Both seas conferred definite limits, thanks to the Papal edict
great benefits upon the inhabitants of of May 6th, 1493, which divided the
their shores, and indeed the Mediterranean world between the two Romance powers
gave so much that we may speak of a at the outset of their career of colonisation
Mediterranean civilisation which had on conditions which placed their bound-
lasted for thousands of years, and did not aries within the Atlantic Ocean itself.
end until the growing economic, political, This line of demarcation was to run from
and intellectual strength of Northern and north to south at a distance of 100 leagues
Southern Europe transferred the historical from the Cape Verde Islands, extended to
centre of gravity from this inlet of the 370 by the Treaty of Tordesillas of June
Atlantic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean itself. 7th, 1494. Thus, as soon appeared, the
But neither of these two main portion of the New World fell within
Inflaence of the
^^^^ enabled the inhabitants the Spanish half, and only the east of
Mediterranean
on its shores to take the lead South America was given to the Portu-
on Humanity
upon the ocean, when the guese. The importance of their American
fulness of time appeared with the westward possessions was naturally overshadowed
voyage of Columbus, the eastward voyage by the far more important tasks which fell
of Vasco da Gama, and the circumnaviga- to the share of the little Portuguese
tion of the globe by Magalhags. These nation in the Indian Ocean during the
seas renounced the claims which they pre- next 150 years. Brazil served primarily as
ferred before that great decade, if not to a base for the further voyage to India and
be regarded as the transmitters of civili- the Cape of Good Hope. It was impossible
sation and history, yet to be considered to make it a point of departure for further
5664
THE ATLANTIC AFTER COLUMBUS
Portuguese acquisitions, as the Spaniards North Sea and the Northern Atlantic
opposed every step in this direction on the Ocean, the Spaniards and Portuguese were
basis of the treaties of partition. already fully occupied with their own
During the first half of the sixteenth domestic affairs, the Moorish domination.
century other European powers besides Their first advance in the direction of
England and Holland crowded into the nautical skill was not made until a con-
north of the Atlantic Ocean in pursuit siderable time after the liberation of
of the same objects we find not only
; Lisbon from the Moorish yoke (1147), when
French explorers and fishermen, but also _ the magnificent harbour at the
Spaniards and Portuguese, in the Polar - c*
of Spam
•''
andJ
mouth of the Tagus
°
had be-
,
waters of the American Atlantic. How- p come more and more a centre
* J
ever, none of the other nations pursued for Flemish and Mediterranean
their main object with such tenacity as trade even then it was found necessary
;

the two first-named peoples, above all, to call in all kinds of Italian teachers
the English ; the period between 1576 of the nautical art. It was only slowly
and 1632 belongs entirely to them, and and at the cost of great effort that Spain
was occupied without interruption by and Portugal became maritime peoples ;
their constant endeavours to discover and their subjects were never seafarers in
the north-west passage. the sense in which the term is applied to
The reward, however, which the English the English and Dutch of the present day,
people gained from their stern school of to the Norwegians, or even to the Malays.
experience in the northern seas was one of Indeed, the period of their greatness
high importance. England then was gives us rather the impression of an age
unimportant from a geographical point of of ecstasy, a kind of obsession which can
view, and a nonentity in the commercial seize upon a whole nation and inspire them
relations of the world at large but it was
; to brilliant exploits for a century, but
not until the middle of the nineteenth which results in an even greater reaction
century that clear evidence so soon as serious obstacles to their activity
"^ *** * was forthcoming that the com- make themselves felt. Only thus can we
"* °^^' munication by water between explain the fact that these two peoples,
BaffinBay and the Bering once of world-wide power, disappeared with
Straits, though existing, was of no use such extraordinary rapidity and so entirely
for navigation. But the high nautical from the world-wide ocean. The last
skill,the consciousness of strength, and Spanish fleet worthy of consideration was
the resolve to confront any task by sea destroyed off the Downs by the Dutch

with adequate science and skill in short, lieutenant-admiral. Marten Harpertzoon
the unseen advantages which the English Tromp, in 1639 about the same period
>

nation gained from these great Arctic the Portuguese were also considered the
expeditions, and from their slighter efforts worst sailors in Europe.
in the first half of the sixteenth century, The Dutch and the French held their
proved of far higher importance than the ground more tenaciously. In both cases
tangible results achieved. It was these Arctic training ran a somewhat different
long decades of struggle against the course than in the case of the English.
unparalleled hostilities of natural obstacles During the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
that made the English mariners masters turies they certainly took part in the
on every other sea, and taught the English attempt to discover the north-west and
nation what a vast reserve of strength north-east passages with a tenacity
;

they had within themselves. ^^§bly praiseworthy they ap-


Th * A.^* ° f
In considering the historical career of this .
j^ an ime
plied themselves to the more
extraordinary island-people from the six- practical end of Arctic deep-sea
Enterprise ^ j , v • ^1 / 1
teenth century onwards, we are forced to fisheries and sealing. That such
regard modern history as a whole from the occupations could provide a good school of
standpoint of national Arctic exploration, maritime training is proved by the energy
although this is far too confined for our with which the Dutch, and afterwards the
purposes as compared with the sum total English and the French, made the great
of forces operative throughout the world. step from the Atlantic to the Indian
During the age when maritime skill was Ocean further evidence is also to be seen
;

represented by the city repubUcs in the in the unusually strong resistance which
Mediterranean and the Northmen in the the two colonial powers in the seventeenth
360 5665
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
and eighteenth centuries were able to offer session of it in that quarter was only
to their most dangerous rival, the rapidly possible by the destruction of the two
growing power of Great Britain. powers that held it. This attempt was
Towards the end of the sixteenth cen- undertaken and carried through in part by
tury the historical character of the Atlantic open war, in part by piracy, which was not
Ocean undergoes a fundamental change. only secretly tolerated but openly sup-
From the beginning of the period of great ported by governments and rulers.
discoveries its special destiny had been to No stronger evidence is forthcoming for
provide a maritime training the value attached to these weapons and the
^"° M lor the nations of North-west free use of them during the last ten years
of, Licensed
r
t- j j.i-
t-urope, and to make these
j. i

p. of Elizabeth's reign than the honourable


" ^ positions of Sir Thomas Cavendish, Sir
nations sufficiently strong for
successful resistance to the two powers of Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and
Spain and Portugal, for whom the supre- Sir Walter Raleigh. On April 4th, 1581,
macy of the world seemed reserved by the maiden queen went on board Drake's
their geographical position, the world-wide ship, concerning which the Spanish ambas-
activity of their discoverers, and the pro- sador had lodged a complaint of piracy
nouncements of the Pope. Maritime on its return from the circumnavigation of
capacity they had attained by their bold the globe, and dubbed him knight.
ventures in the Arctic and Antarctic This irrepressible advance on the part of
waters of the Atlantic Ocean the struggle
; the North-west powers towards the east
was fought out by these nations inde- of the Old World is closely connected with
pendently or in common in the seas to the fact that the struggle for maritime
the south either of their own continent supremacy was confined to the Atlantic
or of the West Indies. Ocean only for a short period no sooner
;

We refer to the great epoch of the Eng- had England and Holland become con-
lish and Dutch wars against the " invin- scious of their strength than we find both
cible " fleets of Philip II.
; it was a period, powers in the East Indies, and
too, of that licensed piracy, almost equally
fruitful in political consequences, which
*i.*^*vi *•
the Nations
J,
...
.
1.1
on the west coast of America
in short, wherever it was pos-
•,
;

was carried on in the waters of East sible to deprive the two older
America by representatives of all the powers of the choicest products of their
three northern powers. The North Sea, first and most valuable colonies. So early
the Baltic, and the Mediterranean have all cis 1595 Comelis de Houtman sailed with

been scourged by pirates at one time and four Dutch ships to Java and the neigh-
another and in all three cases the robbers
; bouring islands he was followed shortly
;

plied their trade so vigorously and for so afterwards by the English and Danes.
long a time that the historian must take When the North-west European powers
account of them. began to extend their encroachments
This older form of piracy was undertaken beyond the limits of the Atlantic Ocean,
by ruffians beyond the pale of law, who this latter naturally ceased to be what
were every man's enemy and no man's it had been for a century past the —
friend, and plundered all alike as oppor- main theatre of the naval war not ;

tunity occurred, it being everybody's duty that it became any more peaceful during
to crush and extirpate them when possible. the next two centuries. On the contrary,
But towards the end of the sixteenth cen- the struggles which broke out amongst the
tury a different state of affairs prevailed on victorious adversaries after the expulsion
the Atlantic Ocean. After the of the Portuguese and Spaniards from
p owers
discovery of America as an inde- their dominant position were even more
ee mg a
pendent continent, it became a violent and enduring than those of earlier
question of life and death for days. This conflict, too, was largely
the North-west European powers, which fought out in the Indian Ocean, but it was
had grovm to strength in the last century, waged with no less ferocity on the Atlantic.
to find an exit from the Atlantic Ocean to The great length of the two coast lines
the riches of the eastern countries of the which confine the Atlantic Ocean, and the
Old World. It was possible that this exit general strength and growing capacity of
was to be found only in the south, in view the states of North-west Europe, led to
of the constant ill-success of expeditions the result that, during the course of the
towards the Pole ; and to secure the pos- last three centuries, repeated changes
5666
1 , , ;

THE ATLANTIC AFTER COLUMBUS


have taken place both in the locaUty and first in home waters, afterwards upon the
vigour of the struggle for the supremacy Atlantic, lastly on the Indian Ocean. This
of this ocean, and also in the personality policy produced the three great naval
of the combatants. Among these latter we wars of 1652-1654, 1664-1667, and 1672-
find Portugal and Spain long represented 1674, which, without resulting in decisive
after their rapid decadence. In the iirst victory for the English, left them free to
decades of the seventeenth century the proceed with the second portion of their
Portuguese colonies on the coast of Upper task, the overthrow of French sea power and
Guinea fell quickly one after the other into _ the acquisition of predomin-
England,, s
,
^, ^
the hands of the Dutch ;Elima was con- y^
ance m
the commerce of the
^

,

quered in 1537 in 1642 Brazil fell into world. Judged by the prize at
;
Land and Sea
the hands of Holland, after eighteen years' stake, this struggle must rank
struggle, though nineteen years later amongst the greatest of modern times.
it was restored to Portugal for an It began in 1688, when Louis XIV. opened
indemnity of $4,000,000; in 1651 the his third war of aggression it continued, ;

Dutch seized and held for 115 years the im- with some cessations of hostilities, until
portant position of the Cape of Good Hope. the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815),
In the West Indies the division of The struggle was carried on at many
the Spanish possessions began from 162 points. A
land war in India (1740-1760)
with the foundation of the Dutch West decided the future of the Indian Ocean.
Indian Company, " that band of pirates The contest to secure communications
on the look-out for shares." In the course with that ocean was fought out in
of the next ten years the majority of the Egypt (1798-1801) and at the Cape (1806)
Lesser Antilles were taken from their old but the main conflicts were waged on the
Spanish owners. In 1655 Cromwell took seaboard of the Atlantic or on its waters.
possession of Jamaica. The rest of the Supremacy in the Atlantic meant supre-
Greater Antilles remained Spanish for a con- macy in the world until the age ol
siderably longer period Hayti
; steam began and the Suez Canal opened
Fight for the
held out its eastern part until a new route to the Farther East.
Supremacy
of the Seas
1821, and Cuba and Porto Rico Some events which are otherwise of
remained Spanish until 1898. secondary importance deserve notice be-
The combatants in North-west Europe cause they prove how much the current
are divided into groups, according to their estimate of the Atlantic's importance
respective importance ; on the one hand, changed in the course of the struggle.
the three powers of England, Holland, and Tangier came into the hands of England in
France, each of which has made enormous 1662 as the dowry of Catharine of Braganza,
efforts to secure the supremacy of the the queen of Charles II. it was given up ;

Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and, on the in 1684 on the ground that it cost more
other hand, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia, than it brought in. Twenty years later
which pursued objects primarily commer- English opinion as to the value of Tangier
cial and on a smaller scale. Their efforts on had been materially modified and ;

the African coast are marks of the rising Gibraltar, on the opposite was
shore,
importance then generally attached to seized in 1704. Since then England has
trans-oceanic enterprise, and form points never relaxed her hold upon this fortress ;

of departure of more or less importance in it has been repeatedly strengthened and


the histories of the states concerned but
; defended under the greatest difficulties.
in the history of the Atlantic Ocean all of Were Tangier an English possession to-day,
these are events of but temporary import- -... ,, , Enghsh
" it would certainly re-
Gibraltar s u
ance compared with the huge struggle -. mam, even though j.v.
it were to cost
-t. i. j.

between the other three powers. .


B -J
• infinitely more than the yearly
The beginnings of this struggle, as far as vote of £40,000 which England
England and Holland are concerned, go has expended on Gibraltar for the last
back to the foundation of the English East two centuries. Equally significant is the
India Company the first serious outbreak
; attitude of England towards the solitary
took place upon the promulgation of the isle of St. Helena. The Portuguese, by
Navigation Act by the commonwealth on whom it was discovered in 1502, were
October gth, 1651. Henceforward English content to found a little church on the
history is largely the tale of repeated island the Dutch noticed St. Helena so
;

efforts to destroy the Dutch supremacy, at far cis to destroy the church in 1600. But

5667
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the East India Company, upon acquiring scale, and for the last time under it;

it in 1650, recognised its importance by England for the first time realised the
establishing upon it the fort of St. James. object towards which her policy had been
The island, however, was not appreciated directed for the last two hundred years.
at its full value until the English supremacy This situation, the most remarkable which
in the Indian Ocean and until Australia the Atlantic had witnessed since the days
had been founded ; that is, not before of Columbus, lasted for over thirteen
the beginning of the eighteenth century. years. It was not at once destroyed by the
_ „ The taking over of St. Helena Declaration of Independence (1776), but
.*.
*" by the English Government in the growth of the United States introduced
„ . 181 ^5 was the logical
° r ,1
sequel to a change into the existing conditions.
Possession ., .. ^z-
the occupation of the Cape. England's position was altered for the
Both of these new possessions were worse and the North Atlantic began to
;

intended to serve as calling stations on the play a new part in the history of the
main line of ocean traffic. It was not until world. Hitherto there had been a move-
the opening of the Suez Canal that this ment from east to west this was now ;

line declined in importance. The main reversed by slow degrees. Europe had
route now runs from Gibraltar, by Malta acted upon America America began at
;

^and Cyprus, to Egypt, Perim, and Aden. the open ng of the nineteenth century to
The eastern part of the Atlantic has react upon Europe and now, at the
;

served, like the Indian' Ocean, as an ante- beginning of the twentieth century,
room to the Pacific. The first explorers America has become a factor, sometimes
of the Atlantic, and those powers which a disturbing and unwelcome factor, in
first seized strategic points in it, had the European complications.
Pacific for their ultimate object. The The American War of Independence was
opening of the Suez Canal has taken away a chapter in the confhct for colonial and
this characteristic of the Atlantic, which commercial power between England and
is now important for its own sake alone. g .. France. The United States
The political history of the Atlantic «.". .**« .^. . were largely indebted to
Era in British t^
French support^ rfor xi.
, •

begins upon its western seaboard, though „. their vic-


not so early eis the history of exploration tory. The desire to obliterate
might lead us to expect. In the Spanish the humiliation of the Treaty of Paris and
and Portuguese colonies of South and to avenge the loss of vast tracts of territory
Central America a vicious system of in America and India had proved too much
government acted as a bar to political and for the French. Their interference was
economic development. In the French and repaid with interest by the British for ;

English colonies of North America pro- a long period the French marine was swept
gress was slow, owing to the existence from the seas for a considerable portion
;

of physical obstacles. Independent deve- of the nineteenth century Britain


lopment began in the American continent monopolised the seas of the whole world.
with the Declaration of Independence. Next to the period of Atlantic supremacy,
The American War of Independence from 1763 to 1776, that which followed the
marks from yet another point of view a Peace of 1815 is the most brilUant in the
turning-point in the history of the Atlantic " rough island story " of the British.
Ocean. After the Convention of Tor- Geographical conditions were favourable
desillas, in 1494, Spain had ruled supreme to them. But they also showed a quality
in the Atlantic, and had almost put her which few nations have possessed the —
_ , authority in a position above power of not only recognising, but also
the possibility Of challenge of securing, their true interests.
Sh'rred
when she attempted to use Hol- With the two conventions of peace
j^ ^"^
land as a base for attacking concluded at Paris on May 30th, 1814, and
England, the second of her rivals as an November 20th, or with the closing act
instrument for the destruction of the first. of the Vienna Congress on June 9th,
The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave England a 1815, the Atlantic Ocean begins a new
similar position of predominance in the period of its historical importance. In
North Atlantic, since it definitely excluded those conventions Britain had certainly
the French from North America and left condescended to return to her former
their navy in a shattered condition. The masters some portion of the colonial prizes
treaty created a mare clausum on a great that she had gained during the last twenty
5668
;

THE ATLANTIC AFTER COLUMBUS


years. These concessions were, however, along the Indian Ocean. In view of these
of very Uttle importance compared with undertakings, which claimed the whole
the extent and the economic and strate- of her attention, Britain had but little
gical value of that increase to which the energy to spare during this period for the
island kingdom could point upon the Atlantic Ocean. The occupation of the
Atlantic Ocean alone. Even at that time Falkland Islands to secure the passage
these concessions were more than counter- of the Straits of Magellan, in 1833, the
balanced by Britain's retention of the Cape, occupation of Lagos as the obvious exit
and the claims which such a position ^^om the Sudan district of
Th R ***£ "d
implied to the whole of South Africa. Central Africa in the year
Growth
Tobago and Santa "Lucia in the West 1 86 1, and iin ally the beginning
Steal Power
Indies, and Guiana in South America were 01 the further development of
to be considered, under these circum- a limited trade on several other points on
stances, as accessions all the more welcome —
the West Coast of Africa these were at
to Britain. These possessions could not that time the only manifestations of
compensate for the irrevocable loss of the British activity on the Atlantic shores.
North American colonies, but they implied The increase in the value of the Atlantic
an increase in the area of operations from Ocean to the nations of the world at large
which she could contentedly behold the only began with the coincidence of a large
development of the strong and independent number of new events. Of these the
life in the New World. The rocky island earliest is the surprisingly rapid growth
of Heligoland, which had been united to of steam power for the purpose of trans-
Britain in 1814 for seventy-six years, Atlantic navigation. Not only were the
narrow as it was, was only too well placed two shores of the ocean brought consider-
to dominate commercially and strategically ably nearer for the purpose of commercial
both the Skagerrack and particularly the exchange than was ever possible with the
mouths of the Weser and Elbe it gave Eng- ; old sailing-vessels, but passenger traffic
_ ,. land the position, so to speak,
. was increased emigration from Europe
;

„ .^ of guardian over the slow


. to the New World on the scale on which
.V t\ growth of (jermany and the it has been carried out since 1840 was
on the Ocean *=*
, , r -r^
slow recovery of Den-
no less only possible with the help of steam traffic.
mark. Britam's maritime predominance The European Powers of the last two-
after the conclusion of the great European thirds of the nineteenth century have not
wars was so strong, and the transmarine yet fully realised the importance, either
relations into which she had entered in from an economic or political point of view,
the course of the seventeenth and eigh- of the emigration to the United States, a
teenth centuries were also so numerous, phenomenon remarkable not only for its
that this energetic nation could not fail extent, but for the unanimity of its object
to draw the fullest possible advantage m yet the states thereby chiefly affected
every quarter of the world from the posi- had already drawn general attention to
tion which she occupied at the moment. the fact. This process of emigration and
The period of England's unlimited pre- its results only forced themselves upon the
dominance in the Atlantic Ocean, which she general notice upon either side of the
had gained at some cost to her own strength ocean after the youthful constitution of
by the wars against France (1755-1763), the United States of North America had
had been too short for the completion of coalesced into a permanent body politic and
those transmarine objects which she had had developed a new race, by a fusion,
in view but after 1815 she alone of
; _ unique in the history of
all the powers not only found herself humanity, of that growing
Developed"
at the height of her strength, but had also population which streamed to
m America
. . .

KK . r
. 1
the additional advantage of being able it from every country of the

to avail herself of a longer period of time world and, finally, when this new nation
;

to strengthen her position in other had applied its energies to the exploita-
respects precisely as she pleased. Then it tion of the enormous wealth of natural
was that Britain extended her Indian riches in its broad territory.
colonial empire in every direction, founded This highly important point was reached
an equally valuable sphere of rule in considerably earher than any human
Australia, and estabhshed herself in South foresight could have supposed, owing to the
Africa and on the most important points unexampled rapidity of the development
5669
; ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


of the United States ; and its importance of that development has been that home
holds good not only the Atlantic
for production not only suffices for the personal
Ocean but for the habitable globe. So needs of the United States, but has intro-
early as 1812 the United States, when duced a formidable and increasing competi-
scarcely out of its childhood, had de- tion with European wares in Asia, Africa,
clared war upon the mighty maritime and the South Seas, or has even beaten
power of Britain, for reasons of commer- them on their own ground moreover, the
;

cial politics. In consequence, the United abundance of economic advantages has


Tk 1^ 't A
States seceded from Great transformed the previous character of
iT^e United
gritain, and paid for its trans-Atlantic navigation materially to the
state* Secede c , /, T . -

, n •» • first attempt at trans-oceanic advantage of the United States.


from Britain K.
^ ir . -

aggression by confining itseli It is hardly likely that the bewildering


to its own internal aftairs for a long period number of trans-Atlantic lines of steam
in particular, the proclamation of the and sailing ships will in any way diminish
Monroe doctrine on September 2nd, 1823, in the face of the North American trust,
is to be considered as a political act materi- which was carried out in 1902. But
ally affecting the Atlantic Ocean. American control over British trans-
As a matter of fact, the doctrine still re- Atlantic lines and certain Continental
mains in force, notwithstanding the selfish lines most certainly implies a weakening
demands of France upon Mexico in 1861, of European predominance. Hencefor-
and certain views apparently entertained ward the Atlantic Ocean loses its old
by Britain and Germany with regard to character and becomes a great Mediter-
South America, as the American Press ranean sea. The teaching of history
affirmed, during the disturbances concern- shows us that its further* development is
ing Venezuela. To this sense of their own likely to proceed in this direction so ;

military and naval insufficiency is chiefly much is plain from the development of
to be ascribed the fact that the trans- circumstances on either side of the
marine efforts of the United States were 'ri. A I
• Atlantic.
' The European
applied first of all to the Pacific Ocean, which ' Mediterranean and Baltic are
Future''
is turned away from Europe, although the jj" J"^ not, perhaps, entirely parallel
.

European side still forms their historical cases, owing to their compara-
coast. Between 1870 and 1880 America tively smaller area yet the history which
;

secured her influence in Hawaii, while at has been worked out upon their respective
the same time she succeeded in establish- shores is in its main features nearly
ing herself in Samoa. It was not until she identical. Whether we consider the
advanced to the position of a leading state Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the Ionic
in respect of population and resources Greeks, or the modem French on the
that she ventured any similar steps upon shores of the Mediterranean, or turn our
the Atlantic side, and even then her attacks attention to the Hanse towns or the
were directed only against the Spaniards, Swedes upon the Baltic, the result is the
who had grown old and weak. same. First of all, we find tentative
The war of 1898 was the first great efforts at occupation of the opposite
transmarine effort on the part of the shores. Phoenicia occupies Carthage
United States. By their action at that Greece colonises Asia Minor ; France,
time they openly broke with their former Algiers and Tunis and Sweden, Finland
;

tradition of self-confinement to their own and Esthonia. In this way permanent


territory ; for that reason, above all lines of communication are slowly de-
. others, the United States veloped, though the mother country for
me r 1 c a a jja.ve become a factor in the
.

a long period remains the only base.


Factor m World ,.,• r j.i- x xu
p ... politics of the rest of the
j.
Independent commercial and individual
world, not on account of the life on the part of the colony only appears
military capacity which they then dis- as a third step. Both the Carthaginians
played: any European power could have and the Greeks of Asia Minor surpassed
done as much either by land or sea. Far their mother countries not only in the
more important to European civilisation extent and organisation of their economic
than their military development is the development but also by the boldness
economic development of North America, with which they carried it out. Apply-
which has advanced almost in geometrical ing these conclusions to the Atlantic
progression. The immediate consequence Ocean, the prospects before the Old

5670
THE ATLANTIC AFTER COLUMBUS
World seem somewhat doubtful ; even extent than the two former by the new
to-day, many an individual might find means of communication. The advantage
good reason for characterising the once of friendly shores lying beyond its harbours
boundless ocean as a future mare clausum, favoured extensive sailing voyages ever
access to which is to depend upon American since 1492, and this advantage naturally
favour. In any case, the times when the exists in increased extent for steam
European Powers could rightly regard the navigation. The general shortness of the
Atlantic Ocean as their special domain by lines of passage is more than a mere
right of inheritance are past for ever. geographical phenomenon.
Relations of
Probably, now that the Panama Canal l^ohtically and economically,
the Old d
opened, the Pacific Ocean and the
is
New Worlds ^^ brings the countries and
countries upon its shores will become continents into closer relation.
more prominent than hitherto however, ; Britain and North America are not only
the general direction of American life more closely related anthropologically and
will remain as before, directed towards ethnographically, but at the present
Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. day they carry on a larger interchange of
The reasons for this are both historical commercial products than any other two
and geographical. Historically speaking, countries. Improved communication be-
the closest national and political relations tween the harbours of these two countries
conjoin both shores of the Atlantic is certainly not the ultimate cause of the
Ocean. It is true that, when viewed in two phenomena above mentioned.
the light of the rapid growth of modern Upon the west of the Atlantic Ocean the
hfe, the dates of the foundation of the achievements of technical skill in steam
South and North American colonies appear navigation, together with
the political
considerably remote. None the less. Brazil and economic advance the United
of
at the present day considers herself a States, has increased the importance of
daughter of Portugal, and the united pro- this sea to an unforeseen extent so, too,
;

„ vinces of Canada recognise upon the east the achievement of connect-


Prosperous ii_ • •j.v • .>
cx . VT ^t their origin upon the other ing the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and
States ofr North ., .J? .A ,. ^^
. . Side of the Atlantic. These the political progress implied in the rise
old ties of relationship tend of the German Empire, have led to the
to reappear with renewed force. In the same result. To the southern part of the
financial year 1890-1891 2*4 percent, of the ocean as a whole the opening of the
United States imports went through New Suez Canal implied at first some loss ;

Orleans, 6 per cent, through San Francisco, since 1870 the old lines of steamship
but no less than 8i"5 per cent, through the traffic from Europe to India and the
great harbours of the Atlantic coast. More- Pacific, by way of the Cape, have been
over, notwithstarrding the rapid develop- deserted ; sailing lines carrying heavy
ment of the West, the most populous and cargo to the south and eastern shores of
the most commercially powerful colonies Asia and the steamship lines bringing
and states of North America are to be found Europe into direct communication with
on the Atlantic coast the great towns, the
; the west coast of Africa have remained.
most important centres of political and Notwithstanding the rise of a commercial
intellectual life, are also situated upon movement from west to east and a con-
the shores that look towards Europe. sequent lessening of the importance of the
The indissoluble character of these eastern ocean, the Suez Canal may in a
historical relations is reflected almost certain sense be regarded as the primary
identically in the geographical conditions. cause of the greater value
Soez Canal's
To a modern steamship even the great which has been recently at-
Commercial
breadth of the Pacific is but a comparative tached to the eastern Atlantic
Importance
trifle, and this meanscommuni- of rapid Ocean and its shores. The
cation is proportionately a more powerful opening of this —
canal of no use to
influence in the narrower seas. It was —
sailing-ships through the old isthmus at
not until steam navigation had been the end of the Red Sea was certainly not
developed that the full extent of the the first and only cause of the remarkable
Indian and Pacific Oceans was explored. sudden rise in oceanic communication,
In the case of the Atlantic the date of which is a feature as distinctive of the
exploration is much more remote, but this years 1870 to 1880 as is the decay in com-
ocean has profited to an infinitely greater munication by sail that then began this
;

5671
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


advance in trans-oceanic communication is time, this discovery of modern politics,
much rather to be ascribed to progress in which in our own day implies an imme-
the art of naval construction. The fact, diate commercial development, has again
however, remains that since that period made the adjoining area of the Atlantic
the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which had Ocean a prominent factor in the great
formerly been unknown to the maritime struggle for the commerce of the world,
nations of Europe, with the exception of more prominent, indeed, than could have
peoples like the English and Dutch who been imagined two decades previously.
had sailed on them for nearly The conquest of the ocean was success-
e o crn
^^^^^ centuries, have now been fully carried out for the first time at a
mpire
of Germany
thrown open to the maritime point where geographical configuration
i i i ..1
world at large these powers re-
; favoured the passage, while also demand-
quired but a very mild stimulus to become ing that maritime capacity which can only
aspirants for colonial possessions instead be acquired in a hard school of training.
of desiring merely commercial activity. Such a school was provided for nearly a
This impulse is now visible as an influ- century by the Northern Atlantic Ocean
ence affecting every district of the world for those nations who were forced to stand
that still awaits division, and it was aside — even after the discovery of the
Germany that performed the historical New World, and the clear delineation of its
service of giving it ; we refer, not to the hydrographical conditions, by two enthu-
old " geographical idea," but to the siastic and highly favoured nations of the
modem united empire of Germany, which south had greatly increased the sphere of
has realised the necessity of making influence of the white races.
strenuous efforts if it is not to go unpro- In the event, neither enthusiasm nor
vided for in the general division of the good fortune proved for success in this
world. All the old and new colonial labour; the honour due to the
powers at once gathered to share in the /th"*^
final conquerors of the Atlantic
process of division, so far as it affected the ^.j .. Ocean and the sea in general
islands and surrounding countries of the belongs chiefly to the English

two eastern oceans a fact that proves the nation after its training in the Arctic school.
importance of the new line of communica- The Atlantic Ocean has lost its Old World
tion which had immediately given an in- character as a boundary sea or oceanus ;

creased value to the districts in question. at the present day it is a Mediterranean


These attractions were nowhere existent dividing the two worlds. In the Old
in the case of the west coast of the Dark World, the narrow area of the European-
Continent, which has only recently been African Mediterranean once gathered the
opened, and perhaps not yet entirely, to material and intellectual wealth of anti-
commerce they would, no doubt, have
; quity upon its shores, and became the
remained unperceived even yet had it not nurse of widely differentiated civilisations
been for the surprising rapidity with which so at the present day the Atlantic Ocean,
Germany established herself on different especially on its northern shores, has
points of the long shore, and thereby become the intermediary of our civilisa-
attracted the attention of others to that tion, which embraces the world.
locality. So quickly did the value of the This ocean is novy the permanent means
continent rise that in the short space of a of communication between the two great
p . year not a foot of the sandy shore
.'
centres of civilisation, and the promoter
^f ^,
" remained unclaimed. Since that
. , of every advance in culture. We ask
Interior
date, almost the whole of the whether this is to be permanent ? The
interior of Africa, which had value of the Indian and Pacific Oceans,
remained untouched for four centuries, has of the Baltic and Mediterranean, to
been divided among the representatives humanity in the past can be traced without
of modem world policy. Owing to the difficulty, while their value at the present
massive configuration and primeval cha- is clearly apparent, but what their influence
racter of the district, the greater portion of will be upon humanity hereafter, how their
its history has so far been worked out relations may be adjusted with the Atlantic
within the continent itself behind its sand- Ocean, their latest and most successful rival,
hills and mangrove forests ; at the same only time can show. Karl WgULB

567a
5673
mi^mm'^j&i^^^sii^i^^i2o ^t^ a ^(>0>^33smrdmmf::^^6

la^0'^ii?S=a^OE^/S3.*3P,^i^-^^SJ^SH^(©re^^^45'^^e3
m. AMERICA BEFORE CDLUMBUS^
PRIMITIVE RACES OF THE CONTINENT
By Professor Konrad Haebler
WHERE DID AMERICAN MAN COME FROM?
HTHE problem how the first men may have of a continent between Europe and America
•*•
cometo America has always given in an age when one part of the earth was
much food for reflection to both learned inhabited by peoples whose traces are still
and unlearned. Many could not imagine to be found must in any case have left
that a continent should exist with count- some signs which could not have escaped
less different races for whom no place could the advanced investigation of the earth's
be found in the genealogy of Genesis, and surface. The attempt to trace the out-
for want of a better way out of the diffi- lines of this continent from the cliffs and
culty they assumed that the inhabitants _ _. shoals of the Atlantic Ocean is
of America were the descendants of the ten _ ^ also worthless trifling. On the
lost tribes of Israel. This naive assump- . . . other hand, geologists of note
to America , ,. .•• °j.u
.

tion did direct service to science itself by believe that they can prove
offering occasion to some intelligent ob- that the northern part of the Atlantic
servers to go thoroughly into the manners Ocean was not always covered by water,
and customs of the American Indians, in and they think it was by this way that
the hope of discovering analogies which man came from the Old World to the New^
might serve them as proofs. in times when the climatic conditions ex-
A second hypothesis regarding the origin isting in Europe were still considerably
of the Americans has received a far more different from those of history.
scientific colouring. The fabulous island- Finally, still a third hypothesis exists
world of the Western ocean, the 'oldest for the population of America. It would
evidence of which is the mythical Atlantis be the simplest of all did not the same
of Plato's Tim^eus, exercised an indirect science which admits the possibility of a
influence on the discovery of the New World, North Atlantic land-bridge having existed
in so far as even Columbus was under the dispute the same possibility for this.
spell of belief in it.Whether it was based Nowhere do the continents of the Old
on any historic or prehis- and New World approach nearer to one
Was there a
^^^.-^ j^^^ ^^ ^^^ hitherto another than in North-west America, where
Land-bridge over j td
But^ men
,
^.
*
.^, „ been proved. Bering Strait separates them by only a
the Atlantic ? r •
a ^ •

of science are not wantmg narrow arm of water, and the Aleutian
who answer this question in the affirmative, Islands also make it possible for a navi-
and who see in a land-bridge over the gator provided with but the most primitive
Atlantic Ocean the way by which the first appliances to cross from one to the other.
men came to the American continent. At all times vessels of the inhabitants of
Modern research no longer takes up so the Asiatic coasts have occasionally been
naive a position on this question as the old tossed by wind and weather as far as the
Spaniard who therewith attributed to the shores of Alaska, and that an immigration
Indians a Keltiberian origin. The sinking took place in this direction even in historic
5675
; ;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


times is almost a certainty. The resem- beasts in gnawing the bones of the game
blance of the American aborigines to Mon- he had killed, and if a hollow in the hills
golian peoples and the similarity of certain was the only shelter he knew, the dispute
ethnological peculiarities in races of the as to whether the civilisations of America
Pacific states of America to those of the are to be traced to Aryan or Semitic
civilised nations of Asia have long influences may be given up as idle. For
brought this hypothesis many adherents. this much at least is irrefutably proved by
Some, indeed, would find direct proof of the palaeontology and history of the New
. .
America s
intercourse between the Chinese
,

iu

World that its development from the
_ .. andj America
a
in the accounts
a.
times of the mammoth to its discovery by
..... of the land of Fu-schan, and
. Christopher Columbus was continuous and
on the strength of this would was not influenced from without.
boldly claim the Aztec civilisation to have America is also highly interesting to the
been an offshoot of the Chinese. Such student of the early history of the human
inferences, however, have not been able race as well as to the geologist, in that it
to stand the test of strict examination. preserved the witnesses of a past of which
In the ages which we can connect with we find in the Old World only scanty and
even the earliest Chinese epochs America often obliterated traces until a later time.
was certainly not populated by this means This later tin;ae did not, it is true, possess
and if the geologists are right who assert such a developed method of research as
that the far north-west did not rise from the present day, but in its accounts, and
the waves of the Pacific Ocean which — in the memorials that it handed down to
once flowed with a boundless expanse to posterity, it has consigned to us far richer

the North Pole until after the Glacial material for research than has the Old
Period, then the first inhabitants of World, and has given us information of
America certainly did not get there in events and conditions in the early history
this way, for by this time the bones of of man which we should otherwise seek in
many generations were already bleaching vain. Even the most highly
e oae
on the soil of the New World. _ j^jy^iggfj races of America were
Since it has been proved that the human .** ^!^ only at the beginning of the
America ^ -^ . P .P
race on American soil can be traced back Copper Age when they were
to the same periods of the earth's history discovered, while most of the inhabitants
asjn the Old World, the question whence of the New World still lived entirely in
the first men came there has lost much of the Age of Stone.
its importance. It is true that the cradle Americans once asserted that they had
of the human race can hardly have been dug human bones out of strata of the
in America to cite one objection, the
; Tertiary Period but, like those who had
;

anthropoid apes, which are indispensable made similar assertions regarding finds in
to the theory of evolution as the connecting the Old World, they failed to give scientific
link between the animal world and man, proof. On the other hand, human relics
have at no time been native here, any have come to they have there,
light here, as
more than they are now, as the fossil finds that belong to the Period
Interglacial
in all American excavations have proved. nor are such relics, although naturally not
But, however, if the first men came very numerous, limited to a small area,
over during periods in which the distribu- but are found both in the mountainous
tion of land and water on the earth's regions of California and in the vast plains
surface was still quite different from that of the Argentine pampas. In America, too,

Problem ^^°^^ ^^ history, then geology man was the contemporary of the mam-
. .
of America s
. will one day, at least, be able
,

, •
-^
, '
moth and other ancient g gantic species of
^^^^ ^^ answer to our ques- animals, and at a later but still prehistoric
First Man
tion. Yet even this negative period the New World even had a popula-
result is of unqualified scientific import- tion which in places was fairly considerable.
ance, for it puts all those in the wrong who That this was the case is evident from the
pretend to see in the customs of the savage considerable number and unusual size of
and civilised races of America the influ- the refuse accumulations of prehistoric
ences of certain ethnographic units familiar man that are known by the name of
to our ideas. If the first man made his " kitchen-middens." These refuse mounds
home in America at the time when his exist in North and South America, on the
fellow in the Old World still vied with the shores of the ocean, on the inland seas,
5676
WHERE DID AMERICAN MAN COME FROM?
and on the banks of the great rivers, and, western foot, with the terraces in which
besides their scientific name, are called these mountains rapidly rise to consider-
" shell -mounds " in the North and "sara- able height, was almost in its whole extent,
baquis " in the South. They consist of from Alaska down to Chili, the seat of
accumulations of the inedible parts of fish civilised and half-civiUsed races ;at any
and other aquatic animals, especially shell- rate, their degree of civilisation was far
fish, and naturally contain among this refuse above the level of that of the population
fragments of objects that were used by the of the vast plains and extensive lowland
men who inhabited their sites. That these p . . , through which, east of the Cor-
objects belong chiefly to the earliest human j^ . dilleras, the mightiest rivers of
culture, the Palaeolithic, was to be antici- ^. the earth roll their waters to the
J.
pated, but it must not be forgotten that sea. Here lay the two great
refuse mounds are also met with, especially centres of civilisation of Peru and Mexico,
in South America, which belong not only the latter of which, it is true, spanned the
to the Neolithic Period, beyond which the American continent from ocean to ocean
wild Indian of Eastern South America has near its narrowest part.
never advanced, but even with certainty In the regions east of the Cordilleras,
to historic times. which probably form three-fourths of the
What number of people and what time whole area of the continent, man was still,
it may have taken to throw up these at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
mounds, which are often hundreds of feet in a primitive stage of civilisation. North
long, and of considerable height, we have America showed him then at best as
as yet no reliable means of determining. beginning to rise from his state of " natural
But it can scarcely be assumed that they man" whereas in the southern continent
;

were formed very slowly, for otherwise the no traces of this are to be discovered.
action of the elements, especially on the The clever paradox that hunger is the
sea-coasts, would scarcely ever have allowed father of all progress, because it forces man
accumulations to be made to fight with his surroundings, has probably
IS ory r m have stood the test of
^^.j^j^^j^ nowhere been more strikingly confirmed
the Ancient j ,, wr
thousands of years. We are.
r
c. ,, . than in South America. The Peruvian of
Shell-mounds ,, , n i ,-
i , .

therefore, undoubtedly justi- the mountains, for example, on a soil


fied in concluding, from the large extent and from which he wrung his living by energetic
wide distribution of these mounds, that toil, created one of the most ingeniously
large areas of the continent were thickly organised of bodies politic in the world's
populated even in prehistoric times. history, while his eastern neighbour, revel-
This fact must especially be kept in view, ling in the luxuriant wealth of tropical
in order to estimate at their proper value the Nature, roved about in a condition which
hypotheses regarding the civilising influ- did not even bring before his mind the
ences of the peoples of the Old World on principal difference between man and beast.
those of the New for if in times when even
; It is true that Nature held the Indian
Asia and Europe still possessed an exclu- back, keeping him at the lowest possible
sively uncivilised population America was stage of civilisation, not only through its
already inhabited by man in exactly the bounteous gifts, but also by reason of
same manner, then, considering the geo- other and less beneficent influences. On
graphical conditions of the continent, the vast plains which accompany the
foreign influences can only be called in great rivers far along their upper courses
to account for culture phenomena when the Nature denied to man even a permanent
supposition of independent development abode, one of the most neces-
,

a ure s
is insufficiently strong. ^ conditions for the develop-
Influence -',
If we now view the American continent J.
r
ment of progress m ,. --rf
culture. 1 he
in its entirety on its appearance in floods which recurred periodic-
historic times, it affords us surprising ally, placing areas of many square miles
confirmation of the extraordinary influence under water for weeks and months, com-
of geographical position on the develop- —
pelled the Indian who had to build his hut
ment of human culture. The compara- close to the banks of the rivers on account
tively narrow strip of coast which accom- —
of the fish that gave him food regularly
panies the mountain-chain of the to abandon his dwelling and leave it to

Cordilleras the backbone of America, as destruction. It is no wonder that he
it has been significantly called at its — became an indefatigable swimmer, an
5677
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
excellent boatman, and an expert fisher- much as game, and every man was strange
man ; but his mind became as little to him who was not of his clan. This
associated as his body with the soil he explains the war of " all against all " that
lived on, and the water that washed away existed among most of the Indian tribes.
his light hut effaced also from his mind Whether we have to regard this same
any remembrance of his past history. conception as accounting for the anthro-
Historical research was for a long time pophagy which seems at times to have
helpless as regards these primitive races. existed throughout the whole American
Attempts were first made to continent, from one end to the other, may
" "'**
pick out from the endless mass perhaps be disputed. In any case the
.... of races and tribes the groups
Aborigines ,, , ^,
Indian pursued his human enemy with the
.
\
that were more or less closely same unmercifulness as he pursued his
related to one another ;but even these worst enemies in the animal world, and his
attempts encountered the greatest ob- war was, as far as the male portion of
stacles. The outward appearance of the the hostile tribe was concerned, a war of
aborigines, their complexion, and the form annihilation. But he behaved otherwise
of their skulls and bodies, were first towards the women. In the restless life of
tried as distinctive marks. It proved the nomadic Indian a great share of the
that races of different complexions ex- daily toil and care fell to the female sex,
hibited signs of relationship, whereas the and the Indian knew well how to ap-
same complexion and figure were repeated preciate the faithful services of his women.
in races that were not related at all and
; Thus, when he succeeded in capturing
the skull measurements often gave every the women of a hostile tribe in battle,
gradation from the dolichocephalic to the it was only rarely that he wreaked his

brachycephalic among the individuals of wrath on them far oftener he saw in them
;

a single small tribe. a welcome addition to the hands that


The only guide that has hitherto proved provided for his bodily well-being. It is
at all trustworthy is the linguistic one. „ clear that these strange women
J.
On the bases that we obtain with its aid is _, ..
^ who were adopted into the
Tribes were .•, 1 u j
founded, almost exclusively as regards „ J
i.
tnbe must also have exercised
F ormed ^ r ,

South America, the little we know of the an influence tor change upon
history of these races, or rather the little it under certain circumstan(5es, especially

we know in the way of facts. The un- if such adoptions happened repeatedly.

civilised Indian knows nothing of the It must often have come to pass that a
history of his tribe. He rarely knows tribe, whose outward circumstances were

more than the names and perhaps, in favourable rapidly increased, so that at
the country not subject to floods, the last all its members could no longer find

dwellings of his father and grandfather. room within its circle. It was then
After a few generations the knowledge —
naturally the youngest members those in
of long migrations fades away into a dim —
the first stage of manhood whorn the
tradition, and in his legends the over- uneasy pressure first affected, and whom
growth of mythological fantasies com- must have first migrated. Only a few
pletely stifles clear historical recollection. women, or none at all, would have followed
This also explains how the Indians them on their journey into the unknown,
so easily changed under the influence for their diligent hands could far less be
of new surroundings. Language alone spared at home than the surplus warriors.
followed this process of transformation So that, in order to establish a home,
comparatively slowly, and these warriors would have to resort to
Th * M'"* A
, . contained elements of per- the abduction of women. The nearest
aaguages o
gjg^gjj(,y ^j^jch asserted them- village would then be attacked ;the
the Indians ,
-'
i ,• i -in
selves more lastingly amid all men that could not escape would be
change. But far more importance must be slaughtered ; but with the women the
attached to the influence exercised by mix- band of warriors would combine to form a
ture on the languages of the Indians. It new tribe, which must naturally show in
will seldom have resulted from peaceable every respect the mixture of different
intercourse. The Indian in his natural elements. This formation of new tribes is
state, while looking on the beasts of the not only logically quite admissible, but it
forest almost as his equals, considered is also verified by historical instances
every strange man, on the other hand, among the many races of South America,
5678
PRIMITIVE
AMERICA
BEFORE
RACES
COLUMBUS OF AMERICA
11

PREHISTORIC SOUTH AMERICA


THE EARLY PEOPLES & THEIR CIVILISATIONS
r^ROM the few historical facts that we are seem at all times to have been, as they are
^ able to glean with the help of the to-day, a nomadic race of hunters, and
sciences of language, ethnology, and anthro- never a race of navigators and fishermen.
pology, we are still only able to ascertain Only such a race, and a comparatively
in rough outline the past of the chief sedentary race, too, could have consumed
races of South America. Of those that such quantities of shell-fish as form the
we can still recognise the Tapuyas are _ mounds of the sambaquis. The
considered to be the oldest. " Tapuya " is Tapuyas have played an his-
¥^Vd°C^ ^
really not a name at all, but the term in the th T
torical part only passively.
Tupi language for" strangers," or
all They were probably once the
" enemies." Karl von den Steinen, an sole masters of the whole of Brazil,
authority to be frequently cited, calls from the watershed of the Amazon down
this group that of the Ges tribes others ; to the Parana but probably even in pre-
;

follow the example of some of their historic times they were hemmed in on
Indian neighbours and call them the Crens, all sides so that at the time of the Spanish
meaning the " old " or " ancient ones." conquest they ruled practically only the
They have become most popular under hill-country of the interior of Brazil.
the name of Botocudos, from the lip-peg Tribes of them were also drawn into
(botoque), which, however, is worn as the great racial migration which, several
an ornament of distinction not only by centuries before their discovery by the
them but also by most of the other Spaniards, set out from the east to make
primitive races of South America even ; an onset upon the more highly civilised
the warriors of the Chibchas, races of the Andean highlands but the ;
p .

" °" who must be unconditionally Semigaes, who on this occasion pene-
""

apuyas
reckoned among the civilised trated into the region of the upper tribu-
races, stuck as many pegs taries of the Amazon, became differen-
through their lower lips as they had killed tiated in character from their race, and so
" "
enemies in battle. The name Tapuya assimilated themselves with the sur-
recommends most, because in history
itself rounding Tupi and Carib tribes that only
it has been specially applied to the Ges their name and their language still show
tribes, and did not, like all the other names, their old connection.
actually belong only to a small number of There have probably never been any
the tribes that are called by it. The age races of the Tapuya stock on the north
of these tribes is shown by the fact that side of the Amazon. Here, until a few
their neighbours, who have driven them centuries before Columbus, one of the
farther and farther from their former most extensive races of the New World,
abodes, call them " the ancients." the Aruacs, held unlimited sway. They,
The most decisive proof that they too, belong indisputably to the oldest
have lived in the regions of Brazil Wh ii'Ltions of America.
th
Where
from the earliest times, long previous to . their real original abodes may
history, is the circumstance that the palaeo-
H la s
have
been can be only ap-
zoic skulls from Lagoa Santa, which Lund ^ proximately determined. The
brought to light in the caves there, exhibit Aruacs also represent the type of an
all the characteristics peculiar to the inland race. Although in later times many
Tapuya skull. On the other hand, it is of their tribes were quite at home on the
doubtful whether the " sambaquis," or water as navigators and fishermen, their
refuse- mounds, of Brazil are also attri- primitive culture points unconditionally
butable to them, because the Tapuyas to an inland home. And although they
5679
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
were subsequently the undisputed masters much earlier than theirs. There is abun-
of the vast regions north of the Amazon dant proof that the Aruacs were the
from the Andes to the shores of the ocean, teachers of their younger conquerors.
their original abodes cannot have been When the Aruac group may have begun
in the luxuriant, tropical lowlands of the to spread from the hill country of Eastern
great river territories of South America ;
Bolivia to the north-east, east and south-
on the contrary, the characteristics we east, and whether in its advance it found
find common to all their widespread the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon
branches, as the original elements of their and their tributaries still unpeopled or in-
culture, lead us to the conclusion that habited by other races, cannot be ascer-
their home was situated above the region tained even approximately. It is probable
of periodical floods, and yet was still in . that it found these new regions
J,. *°'^*
tropical climes. Now, as we find them on uninhabited, because Aruac
/th*
the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras, D -. races have formed a uniform
A-.-- Kaces
Aru&c
from the peninsula of Goajira in the north ^ , .
substratum over large areas
i

down to the borders of Chili, and in of Northern South America, which sub-
specially large numbers in Eastern Bolivia, stratum of race reappears wherever the
the original home of all these tribes is later conquerors did not completely fill
probably to be sought in this direction. the area. But to judge from its extent,
The tribes of the Aruac group, among and from the great deviations in the
which must also be counted those called language of its various branches, this
the Nu tribes by Karl von den Steinen, group of races took not only hundreds
ranked far higher in civihsation than the but thousands of years for its migrations.
Tapuyas and although Tupis and Caribs
; In spite of this the Aruacs were not a
Subsequently became fully their equals, rude, savage race when this process
the civilisation of the Aruacs was founded began, for even the original race knew an

A GROUP OF INDIAN ARUACS, ONE OF AMERICAS EARLIEST RACES


Until a few centuries before the coming: of Columbus, the Aruacs, one of the most extensive races of the New World,
held unlimited sway on the north side of the Amazon. Higfher in civilisation than the Tapuyas, this group was by
no means a rude, savage people, for even the original race knew an agriculture that cannot be called quite primitive.

5680
;

THE ELABORATE HEAD DECORATIONS AND UTENSILS OF THE INDIAN ARUACS


agriculture that cannot be called quite certainly correspond to the special climatic
primitive. In large parts of South America conditions necessary for the manioc
the agricultural Indians live not only on it is conceivable that they, too, were first
maize, which is grown all over America, but instructed in the art of preparing the
even to a greater extent on the tuberous manioc by a still more highly civilised race.
root of a species of euphorbiacece, the But this certainly took place in the
manioc {Manihot plum.) or cassava. original home of the race, which, with its
In the raw state these roots are highly gradual expansion, spread the cultivation of
poisonous, owing to their containing prussic the manioc, so that finally the Indians of
acid ; otherwise they are rich in nutritious other stocks also learned the art from them.
properties. Now, in early times some The Aruac races are further distinguished
unknown Indian tribe made the discovery by their skill in making earthen vessels.
that the manioc is deprived of its poisonous This is still so characteristic of them at
,:. n properties by squeezing the
t.- the present day that, of the races of
p.. sap out of the root and pre-
, Central Brazil, Karl von den Steinen
Uiscovery of an ^. .11.- •.
paring the latter in a suit- classes those of the Aruac stock under the
1 J- T -k
ludian Tribe ° j-
i 1
able manner I
a discovery
: name of " potter tribes." It is certainly
of far-reaching importance, considering that not a coincidence that, the farther one goes
the manioc afterwards formed almost the from the east coast of the continent
sole means of subsistence of hundreds of towards the mountains, the better and
thousands of Indians. As the manioc shrub finer the pottery becomes. All the races
does not flourish in the tropical and flood- that inhabit the eastern slopes of the
exposed lowlands, neither the Tupis nor Cordilleras were comparatively far ad-
the Caribs, both of whom probably were vanced in the working of clay, and the
originally pure fish-eaters, can have been products of their industry are distinguished
the inventors of this process still less
; by variety of form and purpose and by
the Tapuyas, who did not practise agri- —
elegance of decoration which ranges from
culture at all. It does not naturally follow simple lineal ornament to the plastic imita-
that the honour of this discovery is due to —
tion of living things from the products of
the Aruacs, whose probable original abodes the primitive races of the lowlands. This
361 5681
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
distinction is certainly not limited to the peopled the high valleys of the Cordilleras
Aruac races. South of them, among the long centuries before the founding of the
races of the Gran Chaco, which are still Inca dynasty. But an important circum-
regarded as belonging to other stocks, the stance stands in the way of this hypothesis.
same thing is observed, and the pottery The Aruacs, as we meet them in history,
which has been dug up from the ruins of never developed a really higher civi-
the old Indian lisation than, as we
settlements in have shown, prob-
Catamarca vies ably belonged to
with that produced the original race ;

by many civilised the latter must


nations. There can therefore, have
be scarcely any reached the limit of
doubt that with its progress — that
the Aruacs it is not is, it must have
a case of inde- passed the culmin-
pendent develop- —
ating point before
ment but of an the expansion of
influence exercised the nation over the
by the ancient whole north of the
civilised races of South American
the Peruvian high- continent began.
lands or their Here we have a
eastern neighbours. contradiction. A
But this influence nation whose pro-
must also belong to gressive develop-
an extraordinarily ment is over can no
early period, for longer generate an
even the Aruac STONE SEATS USE THE ARUACS expansive force
races, who have never risen to a higher such as is seen in the spread of the
mode of life, and still live at the present Aruac stock, and all that we know of
day, hundreds of miles away from their the history of In4ian migrations shows
ancestral home, in the state of almost pure that they have proceeded only from com-
savages, are the providers and teachers of paratively young and rising races.
their neighbours in the matter of pottery. We shall therefore have to explain the
The Aruac races have acquired quite a historical process thus. At a period when
special claim to a comparatively higher their original stock on the plateaus of
culture from the fact that anthropophagy Bolivia began to develop vigorously, the
had long been absent from their ranks, Aruacs were raised from the pure natural
whereas round about them it still existed, state by the cultural influences of the
at least as a religious rite, even among more highly civilised races in the west, and
races of an unquestionably higher civilisa- were advanced in a manner that indirectly
tion. It is remarkable that the great mass served to strengthen the aspir-
Th T 'h
of the Aruac races, in spite of the fact that * ing power of the race. In the
some of their tribes lived for generations in
m Search of old
• cs V
,S V ,,
home there was no scope
XT
New Lands
I J
r ,,
• , , ,
,^
the closest contact with tribes of other for this abundant energy, and so
stocks among whom the enemies killed the emigration began. Whether this moved
or captured in war were regularly eaten, simultaneously in a southern and northern
never relapsed into this barbarous custom. direction cannot be ascertained. We meet
This progress in culture also must have with detached tribes of this family south
belonged to the period that preceded the of their original abodes and likewise in the
migrations of the Aruac races, because it far east. But they throw no light on the
was common to every tribe. When we date and direction of their migrations. On
consider that this ancient race was already the other hand, we can trace the northern
familiar with agriculture, skilled in the current for a long time, and fairly clearly.
preparation of earthen vessels, and dis- As the Aruacs had already begun to till
inclined to anthropophagy, we are almost the ground in their home, their migrations
tempted to look for the ancestors of the will, on the one side, have progressed
Aruacs among the civilised nations that much more slowly than those of races that
5682
PREHISTORIC SOUTH AMERICA
did not know any artificial means of pro- between it and the southern continent,
curing food on the other side, they
; which does not seem ever to have been
must certainly have moved first in a effected. Meanwhile, their brother tribes
direction that did not compel them to on the mainland still followed the sea
accommodate themselves to other habits. coast in their new change of direction.
This was only possible if they followed the Through Guiana they turned again to the
spurs of the Cordilleras northward. We south, and even the Amazon did not prove
find them in the sixteenth century in the an insuperable obstacle to them. Aruacs
mountains between Santa Marta and are found, with the sure signs of an immi-
Venezuela, and at the present day in the gration from the north, as far as the
peninsula of Goajira, their most northern watershed between the tributaries of the
continuation. The Carios in the neighbour- Amazon and of the Paraguay.
hood of Coro also practised agriculture on The migrations of the Aruacs came to a
Venezuelan soil, and lived in standstill only when they were met by
Aruac
permanent abodes at the time other races with the same desire for ex-
Tribes on
the Sea
of the discovery. At the Cabo pansion. This probably took place com-
de la Vela, Nature checked their paratively early, the tribes that were
northern advance but their migration
; advancing south-eastward coming upon
was continued in an easterly direction, and the Tupi races. At a later period they
reached, still centuries before the discovery encountered the Caribs, to whom finally,
of America, the mouth of the Orinoco. in a struggle which lasted for centuries, the
Meanwhile, a change had taken place in majority of the northern Aruacs fell victims.

respect to part of the race Aruac tribes Although the Tupis have had unin-
had become used to the water, and had terrupted intercourse with the white man
become navigators and fishermen. Whether from the first discovery of Brazil down
this change began among the coast tribes to the present day, the methodical in-
or among those which had penetrated from vestigation of this race is considerably
the old home into the flood districts of the behind that of others. The reason for
upper tributaries of the Orinoco is doubt- this lies in the fate that awaited the race
ful ; the latter appears the more probable, upon the occupation of the land- by Euro-
as the sea offers 1 peans. At an early
too many diffi- date the mission-
culties for elemen- aries formed, from
tary navigation. a dialect of the
Moreover, Aruac Tupi language, the
tribes are re- so-called lingua
peatedly found geral, in which a
scattered in the series of grammars,
basin of the Ori- translations, etc.,
noco. At any rate, have been written.
the race must still It is due to this
have possessed a that the study of
considerable power the wild Tupi
of expansion, for languages, if they
even the ocean on may be so termed
the east coast set as opposed to the
no limit to its mi- lingua geral culti-
grations. The vated under Euro-
Aruac navigators pean influence, has
ventured out from been improperly
the mouth of the neglected, and thus
Orinoco upon the i one of the best
open sea, and grad- tombs of the ARUAC PEOPLES means of ascer-
ually gave the whole island-world of taining the ancient history of the Tupi
the Caribbean Sea what is supposed stock has been withheld from us. The
to have been its first population. A same circumstance —
long familiarity with
little and they would have
farther, —
the race has also kept ethnologists from
reached the North American continent giving their closer attention to the Tupis,
from the islands and made the connection whose characteristics have, meanwhile,
5683
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
been gradually succumbing to the influence it had no special need of expansion.,
of civilisation, so that for the ethnograph- On the other hand, the migration of the
ical and -historical study of the best-known Tupis along the coast of the Atlantic
stock of the South American Indians we Ocean in a northerly direction seems to
are restricted to inadequate material. have proceeded, comparatively speaking,
The original home of the Tupis has also much more rapidly. Up to the mouth of
been said to have been in the highlands the Amazon they never occupied a broad
of the interior, but this is based on quite area, but satisfied themselves with driving
unreliable data and is in contradiction the old Tapuya races from a narrow
to what is showTi by the characteristics strip of the coast-land, on which, always
of the race in historic times. The mother with an eye to the water, they settled,
country of the Tupi races is presumably That their territory at the time ol
*.o be sought not very far from where the conquest still formed an exceedingly
Europeans first met them, although their narrow strip as compared with its length,
expansion and migrations had then been but one which was nowhere broken by the
going on in different directions for cen- return of the hostile nations they had dis-
turies. Their original home was, in any placed,goes to prove that its occupation took
case, in the region of the northern affluents place quickly and at no very remote period.
of La Plata, but scarcely on the other The migrations of the Tupis must have
side of the watershed been of a considerably
from which the rivers different character from
run northward to the those of the Aruacs.
Amazon. In contrast to Whereas the latter evi-
the Aruacs, the Tupis are dently proceeded slowly
a decided water-race. and without serious
Although most of their fighting (in the territory
tribes, but not all, also of the Aruacs we scarcely
tilled the ground to a ever find clear traces of
limited extent, in the six- a strange population not
teenth century they still merged in them by
lived almost exclusively assimilation), the migra-
by fishing and hunting. tions of the Tupis bear
On the Paraguay and its throughout the stamp of
tributaries, and on the having been warlike in
rivers of the regions of their nature. Even the
which their wandering name Tapuya (strangers
hordes further took or enemies), which they
possession, they boldly gave to all races with
launched their canoes in which they came in con-
peace and war. In early tact, is historical evidence
times they peopled the of this. In their inter-
few islands that lie at course with Europeans
Inconsiderable distances the Tupis by no means
from the coast, and they proved to be a particu-
were evidently at home larly savage and cruel
on the sea itself so far race ; they were the
as their small craft per- good friends of the first
mitted. Even the Tupi settlers, and subsequently
tribes who went far into became tractable material
the interior in their mi- in the hands of the Jesuit
grations still remained missionaries. But in their
navigators and fishermen relations with their
A
^
map*.A
of the races of _.
, «
The idol . . ,
^^^J^'^u
represented in the'°u°^
above •., ^ ^-
illustration,
Indian neighbours
j. i i_
they
South America shows at which throws an instructive sidelight on the Seem to have been pre-
once the direction in eminently the aggrcssors,
worshipoftheCaribs, was discovered in 1792
in a cave in Carphenters Mountain, Jamaica,
which the Tupi race ex- ^^d with prOud Self-
panded. It first followed the affluents consciousness the southern Tupis cafled
of La Plata in a southerly direction to themselves Guaranis (wairiors). Nor
the ocean, but only slowly so long as must we forget that with fev/ exceptions,
5684
REMNANTS OF AN ANCIENT RACE: PRESENT-DAY CARIBS AT HOME "^'"'"""^
The youngestof South American races, the Caribs were at one time a powerful
exceedmgiy low. Eatrng their enemies was so characteristic of the Caribs that people, with a deeree of civilisation
theirVanTe of -canniblr harbecome
Identical with the term for man-eaters. The Caribs of the present day
bear little resemblance to their remote ancestor!
to be explained by special circumstances, he received the fatal blow immediately
;

the Tupi tribes were given to cannibalism. thereupon followed the definitely pre-
It was certainly no longer a scarcity scribed dissection of the corpse, and the
of food that made them cannibals, nor distribution of the portions among, the
was it a sacred ceremony springing members of the tribe. The women and
from religious conceptions, such as we even the sick who were prevented from
find among several civilised races of attending the feast also received their
ancient America. The Guarani ate the share. In this form of cannibalism it is
prisoners he made in battle to celebrate his obvious that the characteristic features
victory over his enemies. The custom of different stages of culture come into
observed in this connection is almost a contact. It still contains reminiscences
characteristic of the Tupi tribes. of the time when the flesh of an enemy, like
The prisoners were not put to death im- that of a wild beast, served to appease
mediately upon their captors' return from hunger. But it is already pre-eminently the
the warpath, but were first kept for some expression of proud triumph over the
tirne in by no means severe imprisonment, conquered enemy, for we have special
which became lighter and lighter the nearer testimony that the feast bore the character
the time of their end approached, and of the celebration of a victory. But
terminated with most luxurious living, finally, ceremonial influences also begin to
during which the prisoner was not only show themselves to such an extent that
abundantly provided with the best of food the transition from the cannibalism of the
and drink, but was even married to the Tupis to the human sacrifices of the Aztecs
daughters of the tribe. Meanwhile, with- appears near at hand.
out his being aware of it, preparations were As anthropophagy, in this or in a similar
made for the feast which was to be form, is a common trait of almost all
crowned by his death. In the middle of Tupi tribes, it must have begun in the
the ceremonial dances of his enemies origiucil home of the race. This is a
5685
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
further argument against the Tupis having sufficient water to allow them to remain
come from the highlands of Bohvia. The true to the characteristic of their race.
Tupi tribes which hve nearest to
this Numerous hordes of Tupis may have been
region, and should accordingly present the scattered and destroyed in the network of
most archaic forms, are the only ones the Amazon, and we cannot now ascertain
which have entirely done away with canni- to what circumstance it was due that the
balism, and have generally reached the ancestors of the Omaguas and Cocamas
highest degree of civilisation of any mem- managed to break through the central
_. _, bers of the race : these are the mass of the Nu-Aruac tribes and penetrate
-, ?. *f ^ Omaguas between the Putu- almost to the foot of the Cordilleras. Prob-
^ jj.
mayo and Caqueta, and the ably the report of a rich cultivated land
Cocamas at the confluence of led them up the Amazon and its tribu-
the Maraiion and Ucayali. How these tribes taries, as in later times the legend of the
of the Tupi stock could be cut oft so far Omaguas and of the ever-vanishing Eldo-
from the others is not difficult to explain. rado led the Spaniards down the same way.
The Aruacs coming from the north halted According to the traditions of the Spanish
at the great waterway of the Amazon at chroniclers the remembrance of an inva-
about the same time as the Tupis from sion by the hostile population of the low-
the south reached its other bank. lands had not quite died out even among
So that, to the difficulties that Nature the Indians of the civilised states. Be-
set in the way of a farther advance, tween the immigration of the Omaguas to
was here added the hostility of new and their later abodes and the discovery of
powerful tribes. It was probably this, even America there must in any case have been
more than the river with its innumerable a considerable space of time, for the

sluggish arms which is no grave obstacle Omaguas not only rose far above the
to a race familiar with boats that was the— average degree of civilisation of the Tupi
chief reason why the main body of the races under the influence of more highly
Aruacs could not advance any more to the _ civilised peoples, so that they
ari s an
south bank than the main body of the renounced cannibalism, tilled
Tupis could advance to the north bank. Q. ... .. ground,
the and occupied
That attempts could not have been want- permanent dwelling-places in- —
ing on both sides is shown by the small deed, even founded large towns but the —
detached tribes of each nationality that knowledge of all these achievements had
are met with in turn on the hostile bank. even had time to spread abroad among
But, on the whole, the division is sudden their less civilised neighbours, who
and sharp. To the Aruacs it meant the reported the name of the Omaguas to the
end of their onward movement. They seem Spaniards as being a race of fabulous
still to have possessed the power to offer the wealth and extraordinary power.
Tupis an invincible resistance, but not to The youngest of the races of South
continue their advance in a new direction. America is that of the Caribs. It is partly
But the Tupis continued to advance. due to this circumstance, and to good
Their traditions show that they followed fortune in the field of ethnographic re-
the Amazon and its tributaries upward ;
search, that we know its history somewhat
and that the passage up the Amazon did better than that of the other groups. The
not appear an impossibility to these original abodes of the Carib race probably
Indians was proved in the year 1641, when lay near the original home of the Tupi race.
some of them served the Portuguese as As the latter peopled the upper affluents
guides during the first expedi- of the Paraguay, the Caribs peopled the
p ^
° tion of the kind undertaken by
f' upper basin of the Tapajoz and of the
S*Ji'*
thelmazon^he latter. Owing to the rivers flowing in the same direction to the
enormous extent of the Amazon, lower Amazon. The degree of civilisation
it no longer appears possible to follow the attained here by the Caribs must be de-
Tupi migration upward in its basin, but scribed as extraordinarily low their
;

probably even the tribes of the Xingu and language could not count farther than
Tapajoz did not come down from the three, really only to two, and we must
watershed to the Paraguay, but from the imagine that their other conditions of life
Amazon up its tributaries. For, in con- corresponded to this poverty of ideas.
trast to the Aruacs and Tapuyas, traces of Even here mutual intercourse will have
Tupi tribes only occur where there was taken place between them and the Tupis,
5686
;

PREHISTORIC SOUTH AMERICA


which may have had lasting influence on terror far around, as we find them in the
both races. Their development was so fifteenth century, is, of course, a mystery.
similar that one of the first investigators But the fact that the Caribs made their
in this field, Karl von Martins, even re- language prevail over almost the whole
garded the Tupis and Caribs as brother region north of the Amazon, including a
tribes and descendants of a common race. large part of the Antilles, and this, so
At present, however, one is more inclined far as tradition leads us to infer, by violent
to the view that the Tupis and Caribs methods alone, shows that the race must
came from different stocks, but were early ^. -, ..
The Caribs
have '^possessed quite extra-

j-
ordmary ^power. wru
When ,. j.u
and closely co-related. Known as ^ , ,,
-^ •
the
The Caribs were likewise chiefly a race ^ r
Man-Eaters
. Caribs
.
began
» their migrations
b
of fishermen, and their relations to the they were still at the stage when
world of water were those which earliest the flesh of their enemies was welcome food
reached a higher development. They, too, and they apparently never rose above this
like the Tupis, the more the old home rather rude standpoint of anthropophagy.
became too small for them, followed the Eating their enemies was so charac-
rivers of their native land downward, so teristic of the Caribs that among the
that they gradually got to the Amazon Spaniards their name was identical with
itself and so to the open sea. The traces the term for man - eaters, and in its
of their migration in this direction are corruption to '' cannibals " this term has
obliterated, and it is not impossible that become the common property of all
their arrival at the mouth of the Amazon civilised nations. This circumstance has
preceded the appearance of the Tupis. fatally affected historical research, as, of
But in that case it was probably course, races of other origin also adhered
also the Caribs, and not the Tupis, who to the custom of anthropophagy, and it
first checked the advance of the Aruac was generally sufficient for the dicoverers
races indeed, the enmity between the
; of the sixteenth century to ascertain that

A Check Caribs and the Aruacs has left


widespread traces, whereas be-
a race was given to cannibalism to count
it at once among the Caribs. It was only
to the
tween the latter and the Tupis later and often most recent research
Aruacs
contact took place at compara- that succeeded in bringing order into this
tiv^ely few points only. What may have confusion. In the cannibalism of the
given the impulse to the migrations of Caribs, as in that of the Tupis, there are
the Caribs is no clearer than the causes no signs of the beginning of a refined
of the other great movements of
all conception. It is true that actual hunger
the races of the American continent. will have but rarely driven them to it, for
On the other hand, we are better informed as fishermen and hunters they knew how to
as to the manner of their progress, gain their livelihood from a bountiful
owing to the fact that it was still fresh Nature moreover, as soon as their
;

in the memory of the generation of expansion over Aruac territory began,


aborigines found by the Spaniards when their women probably continued the
they discovered America. Of all Indian agriculture practised by these tribes,
races the Caribs were by far the most although on a more limited scale.
feared. Even to the Europeans these But it is chiefly the expression of
dauntless sons of the wilderness offered a warlike triumph that ser\^es to explain
stubborn resistance, and indeed frequently their cannibalism, and their wars with all
came off victorious in their bloody battles hostile tribes were wars of extermination, in
with the first bands of discoverers, but only which no male captives were
The Shy
to fall, later on, before better equipped made, but all the adult men
and Peaceable
expeditions. The Caribs were ruthless in were put to death. The shy and
Aruacs
their warfare, not only with Europeans, peaceable Aruacs could not
but also with the Indian population, have been dangerous opponents they even ;

before the white men appeared. met the Europeans upon their first appear-
At what period they were transformed ance with respectful timidity, which was
from a comparatively harmless race of only changed to fearful flight after they
fishermen, as Karl von den Steinen found had learned by years of suffering what
them in the original home of the race bitter experiences were in store for them
on the Upper Xingu, into the nation of in intercourse with the white man. So
bold and savage water-pirates, spreading that even weak parties of Carib warriors
5687
. — —
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
must often have succeeded in overcoming make their race the prevailing one from
far superior bands of their opponents. the mouth of the Amazon to the lagoon of
But if the Carib on the warpath behaved Maracaibo. Their extreme outposts broke
with ruthless ferocity towards the male through the belt of the Cordilleras,
portion of hostile tribes, he, too, spared presumably at no great distance from the
the women. On the restless expedi- —
northern sea-coast even in the basin of
tions that he undertook, often for con- the river Magdalena there is still a tribe
siderable distances, in his narrow canoe, of Carib origin, although rather as a de-
e ... . women could ,,not accompany tached horde amid nations of other races.
Settlements ,,
-, ... the warrior ; they would t, haveu But, generally speaking, the higher
r ounded by , r •
i j ^
*i. <^ .. been a far °erreater hindrance to civilisation of the races in the mountain
the Caribs ,
. ,, ,, ,
him than on expeditions by regions of the Andes placed an insuper-
land. But as at least the longer expedi- able obstacle in the way of their progress.
tions were not undertaken exclusively for In the basin of the Orinoco, whose
the purpose of spoil and plunder tributaries they navigated in their canoes
although the warlike expeditions of the far into their upper courses, right to the
Caribs are often decidedly distinguishable foot of the mountains, spreading fear

from migrations but had for their object and terror among the dwellers on their
the founding of new settlements, the banks, Carib tribes seem to have settled
Caribs probably mixed extensively with only to a limited extent but at its mouth
;

the women of another race. And it is only we find them numerously and almost
owing to the circumstance that the Carib ex- exclusively represented.
peditions were made exclusively on territory That here they established their dominion
inhabited by Aruac races that the inter- on a stratum of Aruac races is unquestion-
mixture did not become more multiform. able, although direct proof of it is not so
The time of the Carib migrations can be clear as in other parts. The last conquest
somewhat more precisely judged than of the Caribs, which had not come to
that of any other similar event. We have an end at the time of the dis-
already indicated that the advance of _ * *** f covery of America, was that of
onques o
the Caribs to the mouth of the Amazon
tne C/ariDS
^^^ Antilles.
..,,
When the Cor-
1 1 j 1 1
seems to have preceded the arrival of the dilleras checked his advance
Tupis at that river. But the Tupi races westward, the Carib, whose continual
must also have been pretty near the roving into new lands for centuries had
same goal at that time. Otherwise it can become to him a necessary of life, looked
scarcely be explained why the Caribs around for new objects. While some
should have extended their conquests made their raids up the Orinoco, others
exclusively in a direction in which they got made their aim the small islands lying
farther and farther from the tribes they off the Venezuelan coast, often within
had left behind, so that finally they lost sight, of whose Aruac population they
all touch with them. The discovery of these presumably had heard from the coast-
almost venerable remains of a people at tribes of the mainland. It was probably
the most primitive stage of development here that they made a further and
on the Xingu is really due to mere chance. for American conditions —
important ad-
From there to the Amazon the Tupi vance in the art of navigation they :

population forms a perfectly continuous learned to use the sail, an art probably
mass in which sprinklings of the Carib known by none of all the other aborigines
stock are nowhere to be found. So that it of the New World except the Maya races,
- . must have been the advance of but by these more perfectly.
i*ft*A
of the Aruac
the Tupis
^
that gave the Carib
° ..i
The circumstance that the conquest of
. ., i j-
Tribes
movement its northerly direc- the islands took place in such recent
tion, and the weak resistance of times is of special importance in judging
the Aruacs must then have enticed the the nature of Indian migrations. On the
Caribs farther and farther, and have allowed large islands of the Antilles the first
them to spread over the north of South Spanish settlers found an almost unmixed
America very much more quickly than we population of the Aruac race a peace- —
can cissume to have been the case with the able, friendly, good-natured people, living
migrations of the Aruacs, or even with on the abundant produce of their agri-
those of the Tupis In spite of this, it was, culture, with a little hunting and fishing
cf course, centuries before the Caribs could added. But even these Aruacs already
5688
:

PREHISTORIC SOUTH AMERICA


lived in constant fear of the Caribs, who multiplicity of the American languages, and
sprang up on the coasts in their fast- to the bounds, effaced almost beyond recog-
sailing canoes, sometimes here, sometimes nition, between the races of one indepen-
there, and plundered and burned one settle- dent linguistic stock and those of another.
ment Aruacs after another, murder-
of the For, though not in the conquering genera-
ing the men and carrying off the women. tion, in the offspring proceeding trom
Tlie Aruacs were well aware, from the , . . the intermixture with strange
fate that had befallen the smaller islands -, .. women both the anthropolog-
in the course of the last generation, r
Excursions
. the ethnic
ical-physical and
i ,• • ,• ,

what the ultimate issue of this unequal and elements must


linguistic
struggle would be. When the continual naturally have blended in such a manner as,
raids had sufficiently weakened the male attaining a new fixity, to form a new race.
population of an island, the Caribs no The question has been much discussed
longer appeared merely as flying robbers, whether the excursions of the Caribs
but came in larger bands to crush the may not have extended to the mainland
last resistance of the islanders. A war of North America, which is at no great
of extermination would then be waged distance from the Antilles, and thereby
upon the occupants of a permanent have brought the native populations of
settlement on the island, a^
after the the northern and southern continents in
massacre or probably the flight of the last contact with one another, of which there
of these the settlement furnished a new is no trace on the isthmus connecting the
centre of expansion to the unscrupulous two parts. But what one was inclined
Caribs. On the Lesser Antilles the Spariards to regard as Carib influence in the art
iound almost everywhere the remarkable productions of northern Indians has not
_, . phenomenon that the language
. stood the test of scientific investigation.
nguis ic
^j ^1^^ women was different certainly singular that the two
It is

V ,
Explained
• from that of the men. In early
,.
.
,, . .
-^
parts of the American continent on —
which for thousands of years man had
,

times this gave rise to every


possible kind of incorrect conjecture, until been making slow progress in the develop-
a closer study of the linguistic elements —
ment of his faculties not only remained
revealed the fact that the language of uninfluenced and unknown by mankind
the women was a dialect of Aruac, while of the other continents, but should also
that of the men was Carib. have remained equally strange and un-
This discovery, in connection with the known to each other, in spite of isthmus
stories told by the islanders of the invasion and island -bridge. And yet it seems to
of the Caribs, showed that the Antilles have been so. The line dividing the
had been conquered during the existing northern and southern races on the land
generation, and that the women of the bridge of Central America certainly does
Caribs, with their different language, were not come at the narrowest part on the ;

none other than the female portion of contrary, the territory occupied by the
the Aruacs, who had become the wives nations of southern oiigin extends to the
of the conquerors. To the historical primitive sphere of culture
The Line
student of Indian migrations this fact was of Central Ameiiea. Bnt
Between North
of no ordinary significance, for it shows the line is a sharp one
and South
us, in the first place, how slowly the different races do not over-
expansion of one race over the territory lap one another here, as we so frequently
of another proceeded, it having taken find to be the case in the interior of nearly
generations to fill districts so small in every continent. Neither can we trace
extent as the islands of the Antilles. On the slightest influence of any consequence
the other hand, it gives us the key to having been exercised by the inhabitants
the explanation of the extraordinai y of the one half on those of the other.

5669
The Avondale Mounds in Washington County, Mississippi

NORTH AMERICAN MOUNDS AND THEIR PURPOSES


The American mounds were sometimes used for burial purposes by the primitive peoples. But the mound also entered
Into their worship, and the third illustration shows a religious ceremony centring round a small mound with
symbolic
shell and reversed arrows, while the chief huts of the village are How
burning. large some of the mounds were is
well illustrated in the second picture, some of them having from three to seven million cubic feet of material.

5690
.

PRIMITIVE
AMERICA RACES
BEFORE
OF AMERICA
COLUMBUS III

RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST


THE STORY OF THE PAST AS REVEALED
BY THE ARTIFICIAL EARTHWORKS
I IKE the southern half, North America the Indians themselves no longer play
'— 'also witnessed extensive migrations in any part in large portions of this territory.
prehistoric and even in historic times, but Where they have not already been quite
the investigator who seeks to trace them exterminated or absorbed by civilisation,
is in a much more unfavourable position their traditions, although not generally
on the soil of the northern than of quite so scanty as those of the Indians
the southern continent. The civilisation of South America, are still of very limited
brought to the New World from Europe value for, apart from the remembrance
;

has already extended its victorious march „. of their struggles for generations
over almost the whole of the United " °'^ with the white man, their
States, a triumph which has filled the
J,
.. shadowy reminiscences of the
mother civilisation with undivided admira- time when the Indian was still
tion and the daughter with pride. sole lord of wood and prairie have been
This victorious march has swept away almost entirely effaced. Here, too, the
with unusual inconsiderateness the traces most valuable part of our material is, on
left of the ancient civihsation of the the one hand language, and on the other
aboriginal population. Whereas in South hand what the oldest writers were able to
America we still find the Indian master of ascertain from the Indians when they
vast regions, under conditions of life that first met them.
evidently form to a large extent analogies To this are added the results of excava-
to the peculiar aboriginal civilisation found tions, which have been undertaken on a
. by the first Europeans, in larger scale than in South America. But
Driving the
^-^^.^^ America the Indian down to the present day the American
Indian from r , u j. •

V, .. A has for centuries been con-


• has had erroneous ideas concerning the
North America ^ i .
i .1 1 -

tmuously driven by the white most important marks of the earlier


man from the neighbourhood of his settle- history of his land, the famous artificial
ments only in isolated cases have there
; mounds of the pre-Columbian period. A
been men in North America in earlier far wider gap separates the history of
times who
took a benevolent interest in recent from that of olden times in the
the Indian, and attempted to reconcile northern than in the southern continent.
him to the new civilisation and win Both for geographical and for historical
him over to the new conditions. research North America falls into three
It is only in the last few decades that groups, not always sharply defined, but
the American people have also recognised clearly perceptible. The first is formed by
that they were on the point of destroying the lands in the extreme north of the con-
their solitary and last opportunity of tinent, extending from Alaska to
ascertaining the earlier history of their
, .
Ice-bound
.
/- 1 J 1 ? •

vjreenland, which are broken


11
up
L d f
home, and, with that liberality which is so ^^ numerous flowing and stand-
often found here, works have now been
the N rth
ing waters, though these are
undertaken on a large scale, some of which rigidly ice-bound for a considerable part of
have already been brought to a successful the year. It has been supposed that these
conclusion, with the object of ascertain- lands did not always bear the inhospitable
ing the historical meaning of the ethno- character with which the long-continued
graphical relics in the territory of the cold and gloom of the Polar winter has
United States. It is, moreover, true that stamped them in the present period of
5691
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
the earth's history. But if this supposition made other attempts at a southward
is at all correct, it refers at best to times advance elsewhere cannot be ascertained
that are not separated from us by his- from these finds but in any case they
;

torical, but by geological periods and ; must have met with the same hostile
if, perchance, the first man came to reception from the races of Indian blood as
America by way of these most northern met them in the north-west.
lands, this event was certainly followed Such a contact between the races cannot
by thousands of years in which his passage have been of long duration, as otherwise
Wh **"* A'' A^^ sunk in absolute oblivion. ethnographic proofs would have been
Not until times rather later found, as in the extreme west. Those
the Innuits
Come from ? than the decline of the
Roman who regard the Innuits as an Indian tribe,
Empire did a new migration gradually driven toward the Pole, would
take place here, which is of very little find proof of their view in the fact that the
importance in the general history of man- northern sagas which relate the voyages of
kind, but has left some slight traces behind. Eric Rauda to Vinland ascribe the destruc-
The Esquimaux — or, as they call them- tion of the settlements there to the
selves, the Innuits — have been taken Skraelings, a name giv^en by the northern
by many for an American race, or for Greenland to the Esquimaux.
settlers in
descendants of those Indians who had had Now, is
it an undoubted historical
a special development under the influence fact that the Vikings undertook voyages
of Polar nature. If certain resemblances to the north-east coast of America as tar
in build and in mode of life between them back as the year 1000, but owing to
and the most northern Indian tribes of the saga's poetic dress, in which alone the
the Pacific coast, the Haidahs and Thlinkits, little information relating thereto is pre-
are not to be traced to mutual influence, served, we do not know with certainty
we are certainly driven to such a con- where these settlements were, nor the
clusion. But, considering the strikingly character of the population found there.
Mongolian character of the Innuits and the _, . The
difference between the
JLixpansion
' ci
1° ^i xr'i ' '

still closer relationship that connects Skraelmg, the Vikmg s enemy


them with the races of Northern Asia, J
.. in Greenland, and the skin-clad
\\. is far more probable that their home is North Indian, with whom he
to be sought in Asia as immigrants they
; fought under similar conditions in Vinland,
have always been treated with hostility might easily make so little impression on
by the Indians. The custom of the Indians, the Viking's mind, used to the dress and
by no means confined to South America, manners of North European civilisation,
of annihilating the men in their tribal wars, that both would appear as one to the bard
but of incorporating the women in their who recited Viking deeds in saga song.
own tribe, involved the formation of mixed In spite of this the sagas give us a clue
peoples where the different races were in to the date of the migrations of the
close contact for a great length of time. Innuits. They doubtless made their way
In this case it was the north-west to Greenland from the American coast
coast of Alaska, opposite the Asiatic or from the islands lying north of it.
continent, and in a more favoured climatic As the Innuits were at war with the
situation, which, at all events, afforded northerners of Greenland about 1200, and
the first home to a large number of Innuit succeeded in driving them away during
tribes which gradually came over, or else the course of the two following centuries,
mutual influences have been at work we may conclude with a fair amount of
which explain the analogous certainty that the expansion of the Innuits
America
manners and customs of the over the North American Continent must
Peopled by
Indians
Innuits and the Indians of have come to an end about the same time.
North-west America. In any The migrations of the Esquimaux have
case, the Innuits found the American no connection with the history of the rest
continent already peopled by Indians up of America, whereas, on the other hand,
to the latitude of Bering Strait other- ; there was frequent contact between the
wise in their further migrations they Indian races of North America, as there was
would scarcely have turned to the in- between the races of South America. For
hospitable north, over whose vast area the northern as well as for the southern
their traces extend in scanty relics of half of the continent the eastern chains
I
houses and implements. Whether they of the Cordilleras formed an unmistakable
5692
AMERICAN RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST
boundary of culture. In the north as well southern regions of the peninsula of
as in the south the region of higher civilisa- Florida. On the west side the southern
tion lies on the Pacific side of the mountains, limit of the mound region has not yet
not on the Atlantic side. But the further been ascertained with certainty, but even
step in assuming a connection between there it extends to Texas and Mexico,
northern and southern civilisation and touching the region of civilisation of the
between the northern and southern primi- Pueblo Indians and the races of Central
tive races is not justified. America. Its bounds are scarcely narrower
If the Indian in the basin of the Mississippi in an east-and-west direction,
Home of
is more closely related, ethnographically, to
the Mound
for while the artificial mounds
the Indians in the basin of the Amazon or almost reach the 70th degree of
Builders
Orinoco than to his western neighbours on longitude in the State of Maine
the other side of the Cordilleras, this fact in the east, their most western outposts in
is sufficiently explained by the similarity the north are beyond the loist parallel.
of their conditions of life. Man at a low Now, the mounds in this vast area are
stage of civilisation is everywhere, both certainly not numerous everywhere or
in the Old and New Worlds, dependent in equally distributed. On the other hand,
the highest degree on his natural surround- it seems as if the real home of the mound-
ings, and where these produce similar con- builders lay in the basin of the central and
ditions the development of man will also upper Mississippi and its eastern affluents,
tread similar paths. especially the Ohio, while the groups of
On the whole, the Indian population of such erections lying outside this region are
North America east of the Cordilleras characterised more or less as radiations
exhibits a far greater uniformity of race from this centre.
than is the case in South America, and, When more careful attention was first
although with the aid of language a given to the earthworks in the states of
number of largely different stocks may be Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin in the early
distinguished (which presup- part of this century, people were quite
New World's
_,. . pose a separate development astonished at their large number, the con-
^ for hundreds if not thousands siderable size attained by some of them,
j^ ^
of years), the division of the and the original forms, sometimes border-
North American races is more recent than ing on the regularity of mathematical
that of the South American. This is shown figures, which they exhibited in many
by the mere fact that, of the thousand or instances. Astonishment grew when the
so different languages and dialects of the interest that was thus awakened led to
New World named by Brinton in his earthworks of like or allied character being
" History of the American Race," about constantly discovered in new parts, and
750 belong to the part south of the Isthmus when the excavations, which were at first
of Panama and only 250 to Central and made at only a few places, yielded inex-
North America. But at the same time plicable Thus
results. the conviction
the multiplicity of the latter races is also gradually dawned upon scientificand lay
so great as to have required an extra- investigators that the mounds must be
ordinary length of time. the relics of a long-vanished nation.
The most important problem of the Those whose conjectures were aided by a
pre-Columbian history of North America vivid imagination did not hesitate to con-
is formed by the question Who were the
: nect the race of the mound-builders directly
builders of the so-called mounds ? These with the Toltecs, the race that for a long
mounds of earth, or, more rarely, stones, time was held to be the stan-
Earthworks
erected by the hand of man, often with a dard-bearer of every civilisation
a Proof of
considerable expenditure of labour, are discovered on the soil of North
Civilisation
scattered more or less numerously over the and Central America. But even
greater part of the United States. We find the more cautious were convinced that
them in the north near the Great Lakes these erections proved the existence of a
and far into the territory of Canada. And highly developed civilisation in an epoch
although towards the south, from the con- thousands of years back. Unquestionably
fluence of the Mississippi and Arkansas, the artificial mounds were the work of a
they become rarer, their traces may be sedentary race, for the Indian who roved
found not only as far as the mouth of the about in the state of a nomad could not
Father of Waters, but even in the most possibly have had time, power, or inclination
5693
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
to erect even the most insignificant of naturally not give a very definite idea of
these earthworks, not to speak of the the people's accomplishments in weaving,

structures not very numerous, but of on account of the greater perishability
imposing dimensions — of Etowah, Cahokia, of all fabrics,but even of this art both
etc., the largest of which had a content coarse and specimens were by no
fine
of 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 cubic feet. To means wanting. It was thought that
erect such structures required a population special proof of a higher civilisation was
not only of far greater density than had ever given by the specimens of copper orna-
_ .,. .. been found anywhere on the ments brought to light in the earthworks.
""^ ^'^'^^ American Continent, The whole of America was in the Stone
Irthe"
%£••• *"
^^^ ^^^ ^^'^^ must also have Age when Columbus discovered it, so that
been excellently organised to if worked copper was found here, although
be able to subject such labour as these in no considerable quantity, it must neces-
gigantic works entailed to a common will. sarily have belonged to a race of higher
But what a race, what a state must that civilisation, and long periods must have
have been which not only produced these elapsed since the decay of this race for
structures but protected the banks of the its progress in culture to have been entirely
chief river-courses for many miles with lost again to after-ages.
extensive fortifications, such as would The race had certainly had a special
seem in early times to have accompanied knowledge of architecture. This was
the Mississippi in an almost uninterrupted proved not only by the almost incredible
chain from the mouth of the Arkansas up number of earthworks erected by them,
to the Illinois. And an almost incredible and the astounding massiveness of the
range of territory is given to this state if, large mounds, but, above all, by the variety
instead of merely taking into account the of form that they had been able to give
region most thickly covered with such to their works. It is true that the structures
earthworks, we extend its boundaries as far were often merely accumulations of earth
cis the earthworks can be found. of truncated conical form, or
A sedentary population of such density *'!
*°e/ oblong-oval or rectangular
Tell the Story S
must naturally have been mainly dependent
fth P
mounds or terraces, ubut
. i.
m

on a cultivated food supply, and that other places they exhibited


the mound-builders had been agriculturists the most surprising forms. The outlines
was evident from all that was brought to of some of them were unmistakable repre-
light in the excavations made in the —
sentations of living creatures snakes,
mound region. Not only were ears and birds, and mammals,
and even the
grains of maize found, with the vessels and human form. If this proved that this
implements necessary for its preparation, ancient race possessed an artistic eye,
but the excavations, or inferences from them, another kind of earthwork was still more
proved that other seeds and fruits were calculated to inspire respect for its achieve-
also possessed by the mound-builders. ments in culture. Earthworks were dis-
Indeed, their agriculture must have covered which reproduced the mathematical
been already highly developed, for careful figures of the circle, rectangle, square, and
investigation revealed not only irrigation polygon with an accuracy which investi-
works and aqueducts of considerable extent gators pronounced to be quite inconceivable
in places, but, in the valleys of the great without the use of instruments.
rivers, even cultivated patches, on which In its religious ideas such a people must
the excess of moisture had been counter- certainly also have risen far above the
LM J n -ij acted by a raising of the naturalism and animism of uncivilised
Mound-Builders j-
ground u m j t-u
beds. The mound-
j
races, and of this, too, the remains seemed
and Their
builders must also have to offer proof. If a considerable part of
Advanced Arts
possessed nch experience m the earthworks had served as fortifications,
handicraft Their pottery exhibited not only
. dwellings, and cultivated land, there were
a great variety of forms, adapted to the most innumerable others which, from their
different purposes, but in the better articles position and form, would not have been
attained great technical perfection. Here, suited for these purposes. Many of them
too, no trace could be found of the use of proved to be graves, either of single
the potter's wheel, but some vessels persons or of whole families, and there were
seemed to have been given a glaze of even graves for large numbers and burial-
very fair quality. The excavations could grounds like cemeteries. The manner
5694
;

AMERICAN RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST


in which the dead had almost always things was discovered in the neighbour-
been interred with articles used in their hood of Bloomington, Wisconsin and ;

earthly occupations left no room for doubt several of the older archaeologists thought
that the race of the mound-builders they recognised in it the form of an
believed in a second existence. It even elephant or some other animal with a trunk.
seemed as if religion played an extra- Now, among the pipe-bowls in the form
ordinarily important part among them of animals that have been found in large
in all the concerns of life. Almost every- numbers in excavations in the mound
where that earthworks occurred with any . region, the representation of an
. ,

frequency there were mounds of a certain „ . animal provided


. . . with a real
^
kind which could not be explained at the
Prehistoric
. .
,. .- , j
trunk as distinguished from
J
,

— •
, /•

first glance. These mounds, generally of the trunk-like snout of the


conical form, had at their base, or even in tapir, which in Chiapas is a sacred animal
their higher strata, a horizontal layer of — also occasionally occurs they were ;

firmly beaten clay or clayey earth, which, therefore convinced that the builders of
upon the removal of the overlying masses, that mound must at least have had a tra-
in general proved to be a carefully levelled ditional recollection of the form of an
surface like a floor, rather inclined towards elephant or mastodon. But as the probos-
the middle, in the centre of which the cidians were extinct on American soil
traces of fire were often found. long before historic times, the tradition
The discoverers of this form of mound of the mound-builders must have gone
thought themselves justified in regarding back to the ages to which the mastodon
these floors as sacred places, and the remains skeletons of the Missouri valley belonged.
of fire as affording traces of sacrifices From the arrow-heads that were found
and as human bones were repeatedly found with those skeletons it was assumed that
in ashes, human sacrifices were supposed the animals had been kiUed by man.
to have played an important part in the Although the above view of the
_ ,. . „., mound- builders' religious mound-builders was formerly the pre-
Religious Rites ^v
- .
•,
ntes, as m many other ^
parts dominant one, for a long time scholars
^ J n -ij
Mound-Duilders
of
..
the New World. The have not been wanting who, doubting the
,^ r
discoverers therefore gave existence of a prehistoric civilised race on
these earthworks the name of altar- the soil of North America, are of opinion
mounds, and from their frequency they drew that the ancestors of the same Indians who
the conclusion that the old civilised state inhabit the United States to-day erected
must have possessed a numerous and these mounds in comparatively recent
influential sacerdotal caste, to which pre- times. The more the ancient history of the
sumably the most imposing of the great New World was subjected to methodical
earthworks, the terraced pyramids for investigation, the greater became the
sanctuaries honoured by special worship, number of the mounds. In the course of
owed their origin. the last few years the sytematic examina-
Thus the picture of the race that erected tion of the earthworks in the different
the earthworks was no longer shadowy parts of the Union, which has been under-
and indistinct ; on the basis of these taken on a very extensive scale by the
discoveries, and with the aid of the North American Bureau of Ethnology at
analogies of the civilisations found on Washington, has proved irrefutably that
American soil by the first Europeans, the mounds really possess neither the age
fairly definite ideas had been arrived at. commonly attributed to them nor all the
But it was thought that quite an extra- peculiarities demanded. On
The Mounds
ordinary age must be ascribed to this race, the contrary, they are not
Under
because at the time of the discovery of the work of one race, but are
Examination
America all memory of these peoples had probabl}' the relics of the
cdready vanished, and, from the high different Indian races which inhabited the
stage of civilisation they had occupied, it territory of the United States before and after
was thought that their gradual decline and the discovery of America by Columbus.
the extinction of all their traditions must The inferences as to the age of the
have taken a considerable space of time. mounds drawn from the " elephant
On the other hand, a particularly mound " had not met the approval even
remarkable discovery had been made. of many who still did not doubt that
One of the mounds representing living the builders of this mound intended to
5695
, ; a

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


represent an animal with a trunk. But unhistorical. In large tracts of North
after recent investigations this too seems by America there were, even in the sixteenth
no means certain. Tlie soil of the mound century, restless hordes of Indians, who
has undoubtedly been under cultiv^ation for
lived almost exclusively by hunting, of
years, but its form, although not so clear,
has remained quite recognisable. It now
which they were passionately fond.
appears that the ground is very light But near to them, or separating them,
sand, and that the trunk has probably been and probably throughout the greater
j^ oun s as
formed at the head-end merely part of the present United States, there
^^^^ ]ong-continued influence
num ns ^^ were also Indian races which had made,
^j ^^^^ elements, especially of
of the Past ~, ' ^ -^
compared with them, quite considerable
J
The moundJ was
, .

the wmd.
presumably meant to represent the bear, progress in the path of their culture
an animal often used as a totem. In a development.
like manner the most recent surveys have The Indian mounds and graves have
done away with other old erroneous ideas. left us evidences of a civilisation that tell
There is, at all events, no denying
an undeniable tale and an impartial
;
that a number of earthworks in the
valley of the Ohio, especially those examination of the oldest accounts of the
of the so-called Newark gi"oup, exhibit first meeting of the white man and the

forms of almost mathematical regularity red man on North American soil confirms
but the circumstance that of all the in numerous particulars what the mound-
circular circumvallations only one or two finds lead us to suppose. Individual re-
are almost perfectly round, while the great searches are certainly not j^et
majority only imperfectly attain this The Light of
f^j- enough advanced for the
evidently desired end, goes to prove that Research on
valuable material of the dis-
they were built experimentally rather than the Dark Ages
coveries to be used wholly
with the help of instruments of precision.
It likewise proves quite erroneous to
and fully. We know too little of the
regard the artificial mounds over the ancient migrations of the pre-Columbian
whole extent of their range as uniform, and Indians to be able with certainty to con-
therefore as the relics of a single race. nect the boundaries that archaeology
Closer investigation shows rather that a traces in certain districts with definite
number of different groups of mounds can racial boundaries. But where this has
be so clearly distinguished by their form become possible the antiquities serve
and contents that in certain districts we materially to clear up historical hypotheses,
are even able to trace the settlements of
and a combination of the different methods
two different mound-building populations
of research will further reduce the un-
at one and the same place.
The hypothesis of a particular ancient investigated area year by year.
civilised race being the mound-builders The whole basin of the Mississippi —
collapses. The mounds remain to us as a broad strip of land beginning at the Great
class of highly important monuments,
Lakes in the north and extending to the
from which we can derive information of
the earlier history of the North American
lowlands of the lower Mississippi was in —
earliest times peopled by tribes comprised
Indians that no other source can give.
Starting from the assumption that the under the common name of Algonquins.
state of Indian civilisation had Of the better known Indian tribes belong-
e ate o
j.gj^a,ined practically the same ing to them are the Chippewas in the north,
^. \'t^ .. since the discovery of America, the Delawares, Mohicans, and Ottawas in
if it had not advanced through the north-east, and the Shawnees in the
intercourse with the white man, the south-east. From their traditions it is
Indians were considered to have been supposed that their original home is to be
almost without exception nomadic races
sought in the north-east, beyond the Great
of hunters, whose unconquerable love of
Lakes, although they had been driven
unrestrained freedom would never and
nowhere have permitted them to form thence before the time of Columbus by
large communities and erect permanent the nations of the Iroquois race. Their
dwellings. This conception is perfectly migrations from the north seem to have
5696
i —

AMERICAN RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST


proceeded by two separate branches. The Indian tribes of the Pacific coast as far as
one went in a south-easterly direction, the Thlinkits and Haidahs on the borders
mainly along the sea-coast not, like the
; of Alaska. For this reason we may, at all
Tupis in South America, peopling only a events, regard races of this stock as the
narrow strip, but spreading out widely, builders of the peculiar earthworks known
and following the rivers that flow into the as effigy mounds. It is an interesting fact
sea far into the Alleghany Mountains, In that all the animals —
bear, snake, various
spite of their being near the water, the birds, fishes, etc. —
from which most of the
Algonquins were scarcely ever exclusively . designations and sacred objects
a race of fishermen. Whether they were ^^ ^^^ clans (the totems) were
f Eff
already agriculturists when they moved ^ \^^ derived are represented in
down the east coast is doubtful. these mounds. As these earth-
Even the eastern Algonquins practised works did not serve as burial-places, and
agriculture in later times, but their were little adapted for fortifications, we
fellows who moved along the Great Lakes may perhaps regard them, like the meeting-
on their way westward, and in earlier hall of the Iroquois or the " kiva " of
times inhabited their banks, certainly did the Pueblo Indians, as the centre of the
so even at the time of the migration. As cult of the clan. Whether Indians of the
was always the case, the farther the tribes Algonquin race were also the builders of
were led apart by their migrations, which the mounds on the central Mississippi and
continued slowly for centuries, the more on the Illinois we would rather doubt,
differentiated they became in customs and especially as this district exhibits mounds
mode of life. If it were not for the un- of various types that are all different from
mistakable sign of a kindred language, one those of Wisconsin. If a not very reliable
would scarcely suppose that the Chippewas tradition of the Lenapes or Delawares can
of the north-west and the Shawnees in the be credited, the answer would have to be
south were brothers of one and the same decidedly in the negative.
_,. .,
The Algonauin r
race.
. A number of nations
,-,
In spite of their great progress in the
»
.... of the Algonqum race are paths of civilised hfe, the Algonquins did
J,.
-
P .. . distinguished from all other not manage to build durable dwellings.
Indians of North America by This is the more peculiar, as they might
their comparatively advanced civilisation. have seen those of the neighbouring Pueblo
There is no doubt that even in early times Indians, with whom commercial relations
they had taken to a settled mode of life and seem to have existed. But we may not
devoted themselves to agriculture. place them lower in the scale of civilisation
Nor is it mere chance that in several solely on this account. The erection of
points their religious ideas border on —
stone buildings which are better able to
those of their neighbours in the extreme defy the destructive influence of time than
north-west. From certain peculiarities in wooden huts at best only coated with lime,
this respect one might be inclmed to seek and even than mounds of loose earth
their home in the north-west rather than creates only too easily an erroneous idea
in the east, for many of them remind us of of the degree of civilisation of a race.
the Tinnes on the one hand, and the Pueblo At the lower stages of ci\'ilisation man
tribes on the other. The Chippewas and is, however, primarily dependent on his
Lenapes already possessed, in their painted natural surroundings, and if the limestone
wooden tablets or sticks, a system of and sandstone plateaus of the west
interchange of ideas that had advanced offered the Pueblo Indians the opportunity
beyond the purely pictorial character to a p . . of easily becoming no mean
kind of hieroglyphic symbolism, which was builders, the wooded hill regions
speciallyemployed for preserving the
CoeT
^''^*' of the lake district denied to
remembrance of sacred rites. Their reli- the Algonquins the opportunity
gious system, with the worship of the sun of down to posterity similar
handing
and the four cardinal points as the homes impressive proofs of their civilisation.
of the wind-gods, we shall find further But the Algonquins achieved something
developed among the Pueblo Indians. that scarcely any other race of North
A further resemblance to the latter Atlantic Indians did they knew and
:

obtains in the cult of the totems, or clan worked copper. It certainly occurred in
tokens, which we meet with not only in such purity in the hills between Lake
the Pueblos but also among many other Superior and Lake Michigan that in the
362 5697

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


best specimens it could even be shaped by over them, but they are especially numerous
hammering in the cold state. Probably, in the small conical mounds on the
however, they also knew a primitive and southern tributaries of the lower Ohio,
not very efficient method of smelting and where the Shawnees and kindred Indian
welding, with the help of which they races lived down to historic times. We
formed beads and small plates of the metal, should expect these Shawnees to have
while they were able to emboss the latter been the builders of the graves and the
with figures. The bands of the Algonquins earthworks connected with them, and we
_ .,
Race Named
who were advancing south-
.
j u .
j ^i- •
are able to prove it. We thus obtain
eastward, having crossed the an important argument in judging of
Aft th
S ah
Savannah River, came upon the age of many groups of earthworks,
solid masses of strange Indians, in opposition to the fanciful theory of a
who rendered the continuation of their past of thousands of years.
migration in the same direction im- The custom of interring the dead in
possible. This probably led first to a stone receptacles, as above described, has
temporary halt, but, space eventually been practised by Shawnee Indians not
proving too limited for the gradually only in historic times, but, where there
increasing numbers of the Algonquins, was suitable stone, down to the last
their migrations were resumed in a century, and has been observed by
westerly direction. The Indians who numerous writers in different places in-
marched up the Savannah, crossed the dependent of one another. In accounts of
Alleghanies, and began to spread over the earlier times the erection of a mound a
valleys of the Green River and Tennessee, few feet in height and of conical form is
were called after the Savannah by their repeatedly mentioned. Moreover, if ex-
neighbours, from their long sojourn on this cavations have revealed that burial-places
river, and as " Savannees " which with — of this particular kind have repeatedly con-
time has become " Shawnees " have — tained articles of undoubted European
preserved the remembrance of this stage °"^^^ among the things
Check to
of their migrations down to historic times. ., placed with the dead, the
the Algonquin ^
^. .

mounds ofr this type are


•, . i • .

The Shawnees and Delawarerelated - .

tribes are proved to have taken an impor- certain proof that the parti-
tant part in the erection of the earthworks cular localities were at some time occupied
that occur throughout Tennessee and the by members of the Shawnee group of the
neighbouring states on the lower tributaries Algonquin race, whose migrations have
of the Ohio. A
large number of such been going on in this region down to
mounds in this district have been erected and even post-Columbian times.
historic
for burial purposes, sometimes singly, but The Indians who checked the advance
generally in groups, and very often in of the Algonquins in a southerly direction
connection with larger earthworks and belonged, presumably, to the group
circumvallations, and the manner of inter- of the Muskokis, whose best-known
ment has so characteristic a stamp that in representatives were the Creeks and
it we find undoubtedly a racial peculiarity. Chickasaws. Although these Indian tribes
Whereas in other parts of the mound were the first to come in contact with
area the dead were frequently buried in a Europeans at the time of the discoveries
crouching position, like the mummies of the best part of De Soto's adventurous
South America, or in bone-heaps after expedition from Florida to the Mississippi
removal of the flesh, the mode of interment having been made through the territory
_ . practised here reminds one of Indians of the Muskoki race they —
^ " . greatly of that usual in Europe. have hitherto been more neglected by
^^ bottom and four side-walls research than the more northern tribes.
the T "be
of a hole in the earth were lined As descendants of this race have been
with stone slabs, and the corpse was
flat found only on the banks of the rivers
laid in lying full length on its back.
it, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico parallel to
Flat stones served to close the sarcophagus, the Mississippi, and as in this district
and, if there was any fear of the earth they formed a compact body unmingled
falling through the spaces between them, with foreign tribes down to the discovery
these spaces were often covered by a second of America, we must assume that they
layer of smaller slabs. Such graves are were less given to migration than most
repeatedly found, even without mounds of the other Indians. The land occupied
5698
AMERICAN RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST
by them in the sixteenth century was leads us to infer that they had been a
presumably the ancient home of the race ; sedentary race for a very long time.
we may, perhaps, behold in them descen- Although the ground of the district they
dants of the earliest inhabitants of Eastern occupied did not afford them suitable
North America. In early times their material for massive buildings, yet they,
abodes near the Mississippi undoubtedly almost alone among the Indians of the
extended much further northward, and East, built stronger dwellings than could
possibly even further east so that
; be erected of purely vegetable materials.
there may be some truth in the tradition The most recent investigations
of the Lenapes that they drove the ^^^ excavations have proved
I a^ *B 'It
Muskokis from their more northern settle- _,. „. that some of the mounds that,
Their nouses ii
by reason ofx their .ailoor-like
, j.v
ments on the Mississippi.
The Muskokis were also by no means at layers of clay and the remains of bones
the low level of civilisation that, judging and ashes found in and beneath these,
by modern views, is usually attributed were pronounced by their first discoverers
to the earlier Indian population of the to be altar-mounds, in reality bore the
continent. They tilled the ground on houses of the Muskoki Indians.
the most extensive scale, and their agri- The ruins of these houses, which appear
cultural produce excited the admiration of here and there to have been round, but
De Soto's Spaniards. Their settlements generally square, show that these Indians
were called " towns " by the Spaniards, constructed their dwellings of a framework
and some of them contained a large of wooden posts, between which the ground-
number of inhabitants. They, too, took work for a stucco-like wall-plaster was
a large part in the erection of the artificial formed with cross-beams and interwoven
mounds, and the characteristics of their twigs and branches. The plaster was
work are speaking witnesses to the left rough outside, but inside it was
progress they had made. In the district smoothed and whitewashed, the as in
of the Muskokis are some of the archaic buildings of the Pueblo Indians.
p rac ica
largest mounds that the whole It was applied only to the side-walls,
Uses of the •
r -i j u -u
_ ^. , region of the mound-builders on which it seems to have reached
Earthworks '^ ,,
rather above the height of a man
, t,, ,

can boast.
,

Ihese earthworks above


— ^which probably bore at the same time rose an arched roof borne by the thin ends
;

the dwellings of the foremost members of the posts and by pHant staves, and
of the tribe, and formed a place of refuge covered with vegetable matter a remin- —
for the whole tribe when attacked by iscence of the leaf-hut that had been usual

enemies are not, like the smaller mounds, among most Indian races, and also in earlier
round or conical in form, but remind one times among the Muskokis. The bones
rather of the terraced erections on which and heaps of ashes in the mounds are
rose the temples and palaces of the civilised explained by the custom of consigning a
races of Central America. The De Soto man's house to the flames when he died.
mound, although it is not absolutely In Le Moyne's description the deceased
proved that it was erected by the Muskokis, seems unquestionably to have been
gives a fair idea of this type. buried outside the village circle, under a
The most imposing erection of this mound which, on account of its smallness,
kind is the Etowah mound in the we may perhaps regard as only the nucleus
south of Georgia, and it can be proved and beginning of the one to be erected.
that it was still inhabited by Muskoki But among the Muskokis the deceased
tribes at the beginning of the six- was generally buried in the
Peculiar
teenth century, being used as a palace house itself, and, as soon as
Burial
and fortress by their chiefs. As it is the fire had so far consumed
Customs
surrounded by a large number of smaller the walls that the building
mounds, which are enclosed by a kind of collapsed, the place was covered up
fortification, partly rampart and partly with earth. This peculiar mode of burial,
moat, we can form from this an idea of of which traces may likewise be found in
old Indian towns which agrees in so many historic times, characterises in its turn,
respects with Le Moyne's description that like the stonegraves of the Shawnees, an
a great degree of reUability may be ethnographic district, and enables us to
accredited to the latter. The Muskokis throw a ray of hght into the darkness that
had acquired a degree of civilisation that almost completely veils the earlier history
5699
;

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


expansion of the Iroquois. The races that
erected the effigy-mounds were, therefore,
probably past their prime, and had per-
haps even settled in other parts, when the
races of the Iroquois family received the
impulse that helped them to expand over
the greater part of northernmost America.
On the other hand, the separation of the
Cherokees from the main race belongs to
a much earlier period. The direction of
their migrations agrees admirably with
the theory that the original
home of the race was in
the extreme north-east.
The Cherokees would then
have moved off as a first
wave in a southerly direc-
of the Indian races. ^. tion, so that in course of
As in the south, so ^
\
.^y"^ time they
also in the north the came to the
territory of the Algonquins was bordered basin of the
by foreign races of Indians. The land Ohio, where
around the great North American lakes they are
and their outlet to the sea, the River St. proved to
Lawrence, was the abode of the races have long
of the Iroquois stock. Of all the Indians, had their
these were most distinguished by their fine abodes.
physical development and—probably as They do
its —
consequence by bravery, love of not seem to
fighting, and warlike virtues, which long
made them the most dreaded enemies.
The real Iroquois, however, only became
an important factor in the history of
these districts in the last few centuries
before the colonisation of North America.
In earlier times the race of the Cherokees
had seceded from them, and played no
less important a part in the earlier history
of America than they did subsequently in
the time of colonial rule. The original
home of the common race of the Iroquois
and Cherokees is supposed to have been
in the farthest north-east of the territory
A " PREHISTORIC " SCENE OF TO-DAY
they afterwards occupied. It is true that The above illustration of a Pueblo woman engag'ed in
in historic times the whole Lake region, making pottery is from a drawing made by an artist in
including the districts bordering it on the Mexico recently, and illustrates a scene which is no doubt
south and west, was occupied by the Iro- the same to-day as before the dawn of American history,
for the Pueblo Indians are a primitive people existing
quois and the kindred race of the Hurons. in a land where modern invention has attained its highest.
But this removal cannot have occurred
in very early times, for these races seem to have found these districts uninhabited
have taken but little part in the erection on the contrary, it certain that Algon-
is
of artificial mounds. We are, therefore, quin tribes not only sojourned there
forced to ascribe the earthworks of Michi- temporarily before them, but, as they did
gan and Wisconsin to an earlier occupation farther south and west, built permanent
of this districtby Algonquins. And as settlements and tilled the ground. At
these northern works are but rarely of a least some of the mounds in the farther
defensive character, it seems as if they course of the Ohio may owe their origin
were erected earlier than the period of to the latter and under Algonquin
;

struggle which must have attended the influence, but also in consequence of

5700
AMERICAN RACES OF THE NORTH AND EAST
continual fighting, the Cherokees in turn of the Cherokee district, and we must
proceeded to build artificial mounds, assume that the cultivation of tobacco
which once more form a special province, played an important part in the
agriculture of the whole
region. But the upper
valley of the Ohio furnishes
not only the most numer-
ous, but also, to judge from
their forms, the oldest
types of the Indian pipe,
and shows the uninter-
rupted course of its further
development so clearly that
we must suppose it to have
been the abode of a race
closely connected with the
history of the tobacco-pipe,
as the Cherokees were.
The mounds furnish the
most remarkable instances
of circumvallations of al-
most mathematical regu-
larity. But as these are not
exclusively Hmited to the
upper course of the Ohio, it
remains doubtful whether
the greater number of them
may not have been erected
by the earlier inhabitants
of the valley for protection
against the advance of the
Cherokees. but have been
restored by the latter, after
the conquest, to serve the
same purpose. Cherokee
graves certainly occur in
connection with many of
these groups of mounds and
,

at least bear witness to the


fact that the invaders
adopted the manners and
customs of the conquered
as far as the earthworks
PRIMITIVE PUEBLO WATER-CARRIERS Were Concerned what part
;

Thisscene, like that on the opposite page, is drawn from life of the present day, and theV mav liavC taken thcm-
is yet in every sense worthy to be regarded as a scene from prehistoric America,
cpi^pc in ripveloninp" this
within the vast mound region, by their primitive architecture is of course diifi-
ethnographic peculiarities. Two things cult to ascertain. The migration of
are characteristic of the Cherokee the Cherokees through the valley of
mounds in the first place, the dead are
: the Ohio took place practically in pre-
buried in a lying position, but only in a Columbian times, but it had not yet
more or less perishable covering (bark or come to an end when the white man
stuffs), and generally in mounds that entered this district.
served as burial-places for large numbers ;
Only a little farther south, in the valley of
in the second place, pipes, ranging from the small river Tennessee, the agreement
the most archaic to almost modern forms, between the still existing groups of mounds
such as are peculiar to the Indians, occur and the position of the so-called " overhill
in these graves. Pipe-smoking is found in towns " of the Cherokees, as recorded by
the mound region far beyond the borders the earliest visitors, testifies that these
5701
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Indians, having once adopted the custom the races that the first European settlers
of mound-building, remained true to it found on American the Iroquois best
soil
even on their further migrations. represent the type that has erroneously
Yet another large branch seems to have been regarded as characteristic of the
been detached from the Iroquois race in whole Indian population of North America.
the Hurons, who expanded in a westerly In the main the Iroquois were still a
direction along the south bank of the race of hunters, and one that pursued its
River St. Lawrence as far as the lakes. human game with the same cruelty and
«,• , Whether this took place at a ruthlessness as its animal game. As they
Five ^T
..
Natioas of ^•
time prior to j.u
, j. •

.. . . the migrations were an inland race, navigation and fishing


the Iroquois t t ^ m ^u
01 Iroquois tribes to the
i.
did not play the same part in their
and rr
,
I uscaroras ,^ , . ,
i i .

south cannot be proved, but economy as it did with the Tupis and
is very probable; for whereas the " Five Caribs, although they constructed excellent
Nations " of the Iroquois and the Tus- canoes of the bark of trees, and possessed
caroras in the far south had so strong a a skill in damming up streams, for the
consciousness of belonging to the same purpose of catching the fish, that told of
stock that at the beginning of the eighteenth long experience. But their element was
century the latter returned to the north and hunting and war. In build the Iroquois
were received into the league as a sixth were superior to most of their neighbours,
nation, even in the time of the first settlers and to their comparatively wild life they
there existed between Iroquois and Hurons owe a development of their physical powers
a bitter enmity which had lasted from such as was no longer possible even at the
time immemorial, and which had a decided beginning of a civilised life.
influence on the settlement of the land by By their strength, and still more by
Europeans in colonial times. their bloodthirstiness and savage cruelty,
As regards civilisation, these Iroquois they had made themselves a terror to all
races were doubtless behind the Chero- their neighbours far and wide. That
kees in most respects. They also were racial relationship did not prevent them
agricultural and sedentary to a small from displaying their warlike
extent. When the first colonists ascended *T*J^* M M propensities is proved by the
and Dreaded ^, ^ 1 -u xi, j
struggles between them and
j.
the River St. Lawrence, Hochelaga was .
J roquois
decidedly a town-like settlement of per- ^-^^ Hurons, in which the
manent character. Nor are earthworks latter, despite their equality in numbers,
entirely wanting in this district that mark on account of their more peaceable dis-
the sites of old Indian settlements. position were forced to retreat farther and
But they do not bespeak the higher civi- farther before their enemies. But the war-
lisation of the more southern districts. like expeditions of the Iroquois extended
They are clearly defensive works, and by no means exclusively, perhaps not
therefore were probably not built until even mainly, westward. Their southern
the real Iroquois undertook the forcible neighbours had also to suffer severely
extension of their dominion over the terri- from their hostility, and in all probability
tory of their neighbours. But this cannot their invasions were the cause of the
have been long before the discovery of latest American migration, which we have
America, as these wars were still going on still to mention, namely, that of the Sioux-
when the first white men began to pene- Dakotas, which must probably have taken
trate from the coast into the interior. place only in the last few centuries
By " Iroquois," in the narrower sense, are before Columbus. It is a characteristic
meant only the tribes that sign of the superiority of the Iroquois in
" irihabited the most northern war that the only bands that pushed
a I'h * h't
* *
A
^ states of the Union and the southward seem to have been small in
neighbouring districts of numbers at any rate they were able only
;

Canada down to the time of early colonisa- to establish tribes of moderate size in
tion. These, too, seem to have occasionally the conquered districts, such as the

erected earthworks a proof that even Conestogas, and the Susquehannas on the
they did not lead an entirely unsettled banks of the river of the latter name.
life, although permanent dwellings and What has made the Iroquois specially

agriculture these bases of progress in famous is the league in which the five
civilisation —
play a smaller part with them
than with most of the other nations. Of all
tribes that remained in the old home com-
bined with one another for attack and
5702
„• .. .
HIAWATHA, THE GREAT ONONDAGA CHIEF
beeTsent o„"eart\To"feach man'^thrarts o "civiliL'd^S'''?. "^ ^
and taught his people the sciences o^f
^'^
^' "iraculous birth, was supposed to have
the value of Xize as food!
Christianity, Hiawatha exhorted the
na^atioTandm^^^^^
Indians to receive the word^n? l^^H '"^^ "^M '^"i'^'' '" America to preach
land Of the "Hereafter." Lon^feUows ir^.^V:^ h'a^^^t
From the drawing by
t^^llfcr
l^blr.^*^^^^^^^
6 f *•=iTfA^^
iiieraiure.
J. Walter WUson. R.1.

5703

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


defence. This has been regarded as proof who is considered to have been the father
of a special talent for statesmanship, and of the idea, quite as prominent a place
as showing consequently a higher degree in history as has been prepared for him
of intellectual development than the in hterature by Longfellow's immortal
other Indians possessed. poem. In the whole history of the Ameri-
But weighty reasons are opposed to such can nations, and the civilised races by no
an interpretation. In the first place, it is means excepted, there is not on record
by no means certain that this league was a second instance of the natives having
the product of the uninfluenced had the insight to subordinate their sense
amous
j^gj^^g^j development of the of independence, which was carried al-
roquois
jj^^jig^j^g Hitherto it has been most to the point of unruliness, for any
*" pretty generally assumed that length of time to higher considerations.
the league of the Iroquois was concluded Among the Mexicans we also find alli-
in the fifteenth century —
about 1430. But ances of kindred races but these neither
;

the further the examination of Indian rested on so intelligent a basis as the league
tradition with regard to underlying facts of the Iroquois, nor were they destined
has been proceeded with, the more we to last so long or to exercise a similar
have been convinced that all that seemed . influence on the fortunes of the nation.
to appertain to the savage of an infinitely In the case of the Iroquois, the self-deny-
remote past, without history or record, in ing act of their chiefs had as its consequence
reality only applies to a few generations the maintenance of their supremacy among
back. According to the latest calculation, their neighbours until the time when the
the league was probably not made latter,even earlier than they themselves,
until about 1560 this assumption is
; sank into insignificance before the invasion
strengthened by the stories of dissensions of the white man.
between the various Iroquois nations, If the nations of the Iroquois league
which can scarcely belong to so remote a exhibit at the present day the highest
past as would result if the league was percentage of natives who have not suc-
created about 1430. -,. . cumbed to European civili-
J quois
If the alliance came about at so late a g^^JQj^ 1^^^ have been able to
Races at the -1.1 1 -,
^ ,
date, the earliest contact with the white reconcile themselves to it and
Present Da
man must have preceded it whether this
; become good citizens of a
was of a hostile or amicable kind, it must modem state, they owe this mainly to
have exercised a different influence on the the wise foresight of their forefathers,
origin of the idea of an alliance if the latter who, by forming the league, created the
had grown out of purely Indian con- first basis of a political order, from which
ditions. Too much honour has been done accrued to them power over their kind,
to the chiefs who formed the league by and respect and consideration on the part
the conception that has been spread of of the new immigrants.
its purposes. The idea that the league When the races of Iroquois stock began
was intended to do away generally with —
to expand southward a process which, as
the state of war, and bring about per- we have mentioned, belongs to the last
petual peace among all Indians, is in such few centuries before the discovery of
striking contradiction to the whole history America —they not only became involved
of the Iroquois race before and after it in with the Algonquins, but
hostilities
was made, that this interpretation may un- another race was also driven by them
hesitatingly be pronounced an erroneous from its abodes and forced to seek new
one. The exaggerated manner the Indians districts. This was the Sioux or Dakota
have of expressing themselves race, which certainly does not seem to
Hiawatha
in History aad
may certainly be credited have possessed in those times the import-
with having formulated it in ance that it afterwards acquired under the
Literature
such grandiloquent terms, government of the United States. That
although no more was intended by them the original home of these Indians, noted
than to put an end to the dissensions for the resistance they offered to settlers in
between the small Iroquois tribes, which the Far West in the course of the last
had previously been only too frequent. century, was also east of the AUeghanies
Even so, there still remains sufficient —
in Virginia and North Carolina is a dis-
in the League of the Five Nations to covery for which historical research has
assure to the Onondaga chief Hiawatha, to thank linguistics. For, in the language
5704
A SCENE FROM THE PRESENT THAT ILLUSTRAIHS THE PAST
A Pueblo hunter of Katzimo on the look-out*
5705
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
of the long-neglected Indians of the the Ohio valley. But they never seem to
central states, older forms of the same have settled permanently ; for Europeans
linguistic stock have been found whose who followed the Ohio downward came
later dialects are spoken in the vast region across no nations of this race on its banks.
of the Sioux and Dakotas west of the The names given by the Sioux themselves to
_. _. Mississippi. Even in the east the different groups reflect a long separa-
The Sioux ,, .f"^ r ,,

_ the nations oi this group were tion between the upper and lower part of
„ almost exclusively restricted the river. But when De Soto crossed the
to hunting; it seems that they American continent he came upon nations
never seriously took to agriculture or of the Sioux race only on the other side
possessed permanent dwelling-places. A of the Mississippi — a proof that the whole
race that grew so Uttle attached to the soil migration of the races from the eastern
as these restless hunters must naturally states to the borders of the region they
have retired more quickly before the still occupied in this century took
energetic advance of an enemy than the place in pre-Columbian times. Prob-
agricultural Algonquins and Cherokees. ably many other races peopled these
Whether they fought with the latter in vast regions when the first white men
the valley of the Ohio we cannot tell from set foot on American soil but what we
;

the obscure tradition of the Sioux tribes know of them is infinitely little.
regarding this migration from the east. Even what has been brought to light, by
The migration certainly belongs to a later laboriously following up scarcely percep-
period than the secession of the Cherokees tible traces, regarding the great races of
from the main race of the Iroquois. But the Algonquins, Muskokis, Iroquois, and
probably the courses of the two races came Sioux, is so scanty that it can scarcely be
but little in contact, as the Sioux, coming called their history. The extensive and
down the Big Sandy, reached the Ohio at a zealous researches that have
point lying on the south-west border of the
R^^u f ^"^y recently been begun on
territory over which the Cherokees expanded.
J.
. American soil will surely bring
As soon, however, as they were beyond to light many other memorials
reach of the hostility of the Iroquois the to which even historical attributes may
migration of the Sioux would also have be given; but unfortunately more than
assumed a slower pace, names of places and a few main features in the pre-history
rivers confirming the tradition that they of the American Indians science will
settled for some time in different parts of scarcely ever be able to trace.

CHIEFS OF THE SIOUX RACE OF AMERICAN INDIANS

5706

PRIMITIVE
AMERICA
BEFORE RACES
COLUMBUS OF AMERICA
iV

AMERICAN PEOPLES OF THE WEST


THE LIFE. CUSTOMS AND CIVILISATION
OF THE PREHISTORIC CLIFF-DWELLERS
TF we cross the Rocky Mountains from the ment. The same community also ruled
* we enter the region of a develop-
east, their outside the house
life : common the
ment in culture of an evidently different work, common the benefit. A special
kind. This difference is most striking if we feature with them was the system of
cross by the Upper Rio Grande and the totems, or clan symbols derived from living
affluents of the Colorado from the hunting- things, for which a reverence similar to
grounds of the buffalo-hunters into the fetishism was shown by all the
Slavery
territory of the Pueblo Indians. On Among the
members of the clan, but only
closer examination, however, it appears
Indians
by them. These totems certainly
that all the races of the Pacific coast, also had their share in deve-
up to the borders of the Esquimaux region loping the artistic efforts of the race, for
in Alaska, exhibit close agreement in the the representations of the clan fetishes
evolution of their customs, so that, in — sometimes of huge dimensions, as on
spite of linguistic differences, they are the wooden totem-posts of the Haidahs
more closely related to one another than —
and Bellacoolas are among the most
to their eastern neighbours. frequent proofs of their artistic sense,
The inhabitants of the far North-west which exercised itself on the most diverse
the Thlinkits, Haidahs, and Nootkas are — raw materials, such as wood, stone, and
almost exclusively races of fishermen, a bone, but not clay. Now, with time a
not very frequent occurrence on North more highly developed social system had
American soil. It is evident, moreover, grown out of the gentile system.
¥ t.
Inhabitants f
that they were not driven to
..
,, • <, e i-r ^ .1 •
Almost all the Indians of the North-west
f th F mode of life by their were familiar with slavery, and that in
^^^ural surroundings, but deve- its most pronounced form, according to
North-West
loped thus from the very begin- which the slave is the chattel and there-
ning. This we may infer from the fact that, fore the saleable property of his master.
in spite of their racial individuality being This presupposes a higher development
comparatively highly developed, they have of the ideas of clan, family, and property
no traditions indicating an earlier and than we find among many other Indian
different state of development. When they races, whose slaves were almost exclusively
firstcame in contact with Europeans they captives taken in war, who either met a
had developed, independently of foreign painful death or were amalgamated with
influences, a number of institutions that the tribe. The same development is
told of a very long period of gradual pro- shown by the fact that almost all these
gress in culture. That they were expert races carried on a more or less extensive
navigators and fishermen and skilled boat- —
trade the Sahaptins journeyed from the
builders was too natural under the pre- upper Columbia to the Mis-
vailing conditions to justify us in basing
Shell-Money
as a Medium
souri— and even used shell-
general conclusions upon it. money as a standard medium
of Exchange
Like some of the Indians of the East, of exchange, which seems to
the natives of the North-west also attached ttave been recognised throughout the
chief importance, not to the family, but greater part of the Pacific coast to the
to the gens, or clan accordingly they,; borders of the Mexican states. Finally,
too, did not occupy single houses, but all the Pacific tribes, although agriculture
built one house for all the families of a was either entirely unknown to them in
clan, in which each had only a compart- consequence of the climatic conditions, or
5707
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
only played a subordinate part, were present day, and under circumstances
sedentary, but with this peculiarity they
: which make it still possible to study among
possessed permanent winter dwellings built them the traces of their early civilisation.
of stone and earth, but in the fishing-sea- The boldest historical conjectures have
sons they erected also temporary summer been made about these races. Like the
dwellings at different places. In all these mound-builders, they, too, were supposed
peculiarities there prevails among the to have formed in prehistoric times a
Indians of Western North America, always mighty and extensive empire with a highly
excepting the sprinkling of tribes of much developed civilisation. Such theories con-
lower development in Central California, a nected them, far more directly
History
very general agreement, which is by no than was possible in the valleys
of the Aztec
means limited to the coast tribes who live ofthe Ohio and Mississippi,
Peoples
by fishing, but extends to the agricultural with the Central American
tribes living farther south and east. civilised states of the Toltecs and Aztecs.
South and south-east of the territory A peculiar tradition of the latter supported
of the north-west Indians, and separated this in a very remarkable manner. When
from them by a number of small tribes, the Spaniards, after the conquest of
some of them still at a very low stage of Mexico, inquired of the Aztec priests
development, is another large region of a and scribes the early history of their race,
similarly developed culture, which from they gave the following account. At
the earliest times has interested scholars a remote period they had set out from a
in no common degree — the region of the place called Aztlan, which lay on a great
Pueblo Indians. Remains of these races lake in the far north had wandered for
;

have been preserved through all the countless years, during which they had
vicissitudes of colonial wars down to the been split up into several tribes, and

COLLECTION OF INDIAN CARVED PIPES OF NORTH-WEST AMERICA M^«"


5708
INDIAN IMPLEMENTS, ORNAMENTS AND PIPES, SHOWING THE VARIETY IN USE
founded temporary settlements at the It isthought that linguistic affinity with
various places, and had finally settled on the races of the Nahua stock, among
the Lake of Mexico, to found the town of whom the Aztecs of Mexico became most
Tenochtitlan. This tradition has supplied famous, can be traced into the heart of
food for the imagination for centuries. the Pueblo region, as far as the group
In the great water on which Aztlan of towns called by the Spaniards "Tusa-
lay was seen a resemblance of the region yan." but better known at the present
of the great North American lakes, and an day by the name of the chief place,
enterprising American even gave a group Moqui. Resemblances in customs, reli-
of earthworks in Wisconsin the name gious ideas, and old traditions are un-
of Fort Aztlan. All erections of an un- mistakable in all these races. But quite
explained type that occurred north of as unquestionable, if not more important,
_ the borders of the Mexican are similarities of this character between
"' empire as far as the Lake the Pueblo Indians and their northern
1 Th
..^" district were considered to have
^ .

eig ours
neighbours, so that we should finally
j^ggjj stations of the Aztecs. arrive at the result that in the whole mass
But whether any actual facts can be of races, from Alaska nearly to the Isthmus,
proved to underlie this tradition is we have the members of one great family,
doubtful. As regards the direction in which, however, seeing that its linguistic
which a higher civilisation spread, we disunion is so great as almost to deny all
find in the history of the Central American connection, must have been broken up
races facts that are difficult to reconcile into different branches in very early times.
with the Aztec tradition. But the idea Considering how firmly half-civilised
that an indistinct knowledge of a pre- races in particular cling to ever5rthing
historic relationship between the civilised connected with their religious ideas, often
race of the Aztecs and their less civilised even when the original conditions on
northern neighbours may be reflected in which the traditional institutions were
the legend must not be rejected offhand. fowided have long disappeared, it is
5709
EXAMPLES OF DRILL BOWS USED BY THE EARLY INHABITANTS OF AMERICA
certainly noteworthy that in this very original rites, serve their old purposes. If
respect remarkable points of agreement we compare these kivas with those that
have been discovered between the Indians occur in the remains of old Indian towns
of the North-west and the Pueblo races. that have long been in ruins, it appears that
In the whole region of the latter the sacred centuries of intercourse with the white man
hall in which a great part of the religious have made scarcely any change in the kiva.
ceremonies are held, and the others at In the inhabited pueblos, and even in
least prepared for, is the " estufa," many that in all probability have sunk
erroneously so called by the Spaniards into ruins without being trodden by
from its peculiar structure. The Pueblo European foot, the kiva is a rectangular
Indians call it kiva. In structure the kiva hall; on the other hand, the older the
differs very considerably from all the other ruins are the more exclusively do we find
buildings of the Pueblo Indians in the kivas of circular form, although all the
most important points. It always lies dwelling- rooms of the same ruins are
more or less away from the rooms of which J,
rectangular, and circular build-
a pueblo (village) is composed, and j,. irtgs occur only rarely through-
which are built close to and over one Built
^^^ *^^ Pueblo region in the form
another. It has the peculiarity that it is of towers. The circular kivas
at least partly, and often entirely, sunk undoubtedly represent an older type;
below the ground, and is only accessible for whereas the four-sided kivas are lined
by a ladder from an entrance built in the with stone, carefully coated with plaster,
middle of the roof. and neatly whitewashed up to the posts
The kiva is to the Indians of the pueblos forming the roof, the stone wall of the
what their meeting-house is to the eastern round kivas reaches to only three-fourths
Indians ; here the men assemble to discuss of the whole height. This is then com-
common affairs, but especially to prepare pleted by horizontal beams fitting into
for and to perform their religious rites. one another, which approach roundness
Even to-day there exist in the pueblos owing to the number of angles they form,
still inhabited by Indians a large number and are constructed exactly like those
of such underground meeting-houses, of the log-house type of building which
which, so far as missionary activity has the pioneers of the West learned from the
not yet done away with the remains of the Indians. This form of the kiva is certainly
5710
;

AMERICAN PEOPLES OF THE WEST


a reminiscence of the time when the make a great feature in their religious
Pueblo Indians were not the skilled ceremonies of certain dances reminding
builders they afterwards became. Its one almost of theatrical performances,
being sunk below the ground, a custom which in both cases, if not exclusively
by which the Indians of various parts performed in the common dwelling- hall,
sought to give their dwellings greater were prepared in a part of it curtained
height and better protection from the off temporarily for the purpose. As in
elements, and its beam- work point un- these dances almost similar masks,
mistakably to other conditions of life fashioned as snakes, skeletons, etc., occur
but we can well understand how it is that in both cases, we are justified in assuming
only in these halls that served for religious that these races have a common stock of
purposes, long unintelligible to the Indians traditional customs that is not due to late
_ themselves, the memory of con- adoption or transmission, but to an
c igious
(3i|-ions has been preserved of original relationship.

th T 'b
which almost all trace has That stone structures of the
the
been lost in their general life. in the almost inaccessible
cliff-dwellers,
Now, it is undoubtedly very remarkable caiions of the rivers that cut their way
that round and square houses, partly dug through the central plateau, are to be
in the ground, lined with stone slabs, and, regarded as dwellings of the same races
at least in some cases, only accessible by whose last now inhabit
remnants the
an opening in the roof, occur as dwellings pueblos of regions of Cibola
the and
among various Indian races of California Tusayan under the name of Zunis and
who are not particularly closely related Moquis, is beyond all doubt. The transi-
to the Pueblo Indians either linguistically tion between the architectural forms is
or ethnographically. Moreover, these same unmistakable, and the connection between
Californian races, like the Pueblo Indians, cliff-dwellings and houses, both on the

STONE ARROWHEADS, KNIVES AXES AND HAMMERS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF AMERICA
,

HISTORY OF THE WORLD


plateau and in the river valleys, has also Indians, the latter e^^dently did not develop
been clearly proved by excavations, as into potters until after the separation of
has also the chronological sequence. We the groups. This stage has not yet been
must certainly not overlook the fact that discovered from the antiquities. We find
the migrations of the Pueblo Indians also the Pueblo races, even in their earliest
proceeded slowly, in consequence of their northern abodes, at a respectable stage of
living almost exclusively by agriculture. development, not only as architects, but
Indeed, at times events occurred which also as potters. In the central Pueblo
„ ., positively
^ caused a retrograde regions, on the Chaco and Chelley, we then
Pueblos -^
J ,
^ ,

J.
movement, and to such an ex- perceive a further advance, while the
tent that the wanderers returned culmination of their artistic activity was
p'tt r'**'^
to parts they had left long ago reached at Sikyatki, not far from Moqui,
and occupied anew their partly ruined which was destroyed only shortly before
dwellings. Such occurrences are even the arrival of the Spaniards.
related in the traditions of the present We are not without an explanation of
Pueblo Indians of times certainly later this. As is commonly known, the races of
than their first meeting with the Spaniards the west in the latitude of the Californian
about the middle of the sixteenth century. peninsula are divided up by the nations in
But although the most northern evidences the lowest stage of civilisation. Not only
of the Pueblo civilisation, the cave-ruins, do the traces of a struggle with these occur
reveal an architectural development that in the south, in the cave-dwelling and the
is in no respect inferior to that displayed pueblos built on easily blockaded spurs
by the carefully built pueblos of the of the plateaus, but dwelling-places agree-
valleys of the Chaco and Chelley, yet the ing remarkably with the pueblos also
other antiquities show an earlier type in occur in the north as far as the Haidahs,
the north, and furnish evidence of a later a proof that the Pueblo races sought to
development that continued down to the protect themselves from the aggression of
time of those degenerate Pueblo Indians _ . hostile tribes. This first attack
apposing
whom we know to-day. ^y Athabascan or Tinne tribes

Pottery especially affords us a further


aces in
— j^^ ^ ^^^j^ ^^ must regard
glimpse of the early history of these them, in spite of the scanty
races. It is not chance that the North —
proofs of hnguistic affinity although not
Califomian tribes, who
could work wood the immediate cause, probablj^ decided
and stone skilfully, and otherwise occupied the direction and subsequent development
by no means the lowest rung of social of the tribes that were driven south, which
culture, had no pottery. The potter's art are first met with in history at the Mesa
develops only where Nature is not bounti- Verde and the river San Juan.
ful with that necessary, water, and man The theory that the whole region of the
has to procure and preserve a supply. Pueblos, from the river Mancos in the
For races that live by fishing, wickerwork, north to the mouth of the Gila in the south,
more easily produced, suffices, and for this and from the Rio Pecos in the east to the
Nature had given them a suitable material Colorado in the west, ever constituted a
in the reed and other aquatic creeping plants. united body politic is quite as untenable
Of these they made baskets, which were as the similar hypothesis regarding the
often utilised as vessels in which fish region of the mound-builders. The states-
could be cooked in water heated by the manship of the American natives has
primitive method of throwing red-hot stones scarcely anywhere been great enough to
into it. But water could not form, much less maintain, an extensive state.
recess in these receptacles for
Y)^ \ie^t In the territory of the Pueblos there
^^y length of time, and when prevailed, probably during the whole
E ol°ti*n^
these races migrated into drier period of their social prosperity, the same
districts their need of pottery led to its system of small communities based on the
manufacture. The evolution of their pottery gens that the Spaniards found existing
from spinning and basket-making is un- there at the discovery ; its remains may
mistakable from the manner, peculiar to still be recognised without difficulty from
the Indians of both north and south, of the traditions of the Pueblo Indians, in
building their pots from an endless thread spite of the mixtures caused by the fusion
of clay. If the far North-west is the com- of the population. It has its root in the
mon home of the Californian and Pueblo soil. Their primitive agriculture, which is
5712
LARGE VASES OF THE COILED AND INDENTED VARIETY
WORK OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS: EXAMPLES OF BASKET-MAKING AND POTTERY
Investigations among the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde have brought to light from graves and refuse-heaps many
articleswhich help us to understand the people and their customs. The above examples of basket-making and pottery
show a most interesting manner how trie latter was modelled on the former. The baskets were coated on the outside
in
with a substance composed of clay mixed with rather coarse sand, stopping all the interstices and rendering them
watertight, and the pottery, as shown in the illustrations was made to resenible in its outward appearance the baskets.

5713
363
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
certainly said to have supplied in a good must also be assumed in quantity.
year crops sufficient to last for two or For the height of development in culture
three years, did not sufEer any great often comes after the first traces of decline
number of people in one place, owing to in a nation, but it scarcely ever precedes the
the unfavourable climatic conditions. The culmination of the material development.
Pueblo region was certainly more thickly The petty jealousies and feuds of the
populated in earlier times than it is now, small communities with one another had
but when the Spaniards first entered it its a fateful influence on the history of the
period of prosperity seems to have been Pueblo Indians. Occasion for these was
over. For although the earliest accounts incessantly given by outward circum-
give the number of large and small towns —
stances in the limited areas fit for cultiva-
of the Pueblo Indians at seventy or tion, and the insufficient quantity of
seventy-one, these he exclusively in the moisture, the most careful use of which
southern and eastern parts of the Pueblo could alone make the soil productive and

RUINS OF A CLIFF-DWELLING: "SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE" IN THE MESA VERDE, COLORADO


lu ^^/^^^ plateau, thirty miles long and twelve or fifteen wide, situated largely in the Indian Reservation, and called
the Mesa Verde, have been unearthed many examples of the communal cliff dwellings of the early inhabitants of
America. The chfiF-dweller has been described as " a dark-skinned fellow." His hair was usually black, and moderately
coarse and long. He was of medium stature, and the back of his skull was flattened by being tied firmly against
board in infancy. He had fair teeth, much worn as the years grew upon him from munching ill-ground corn.a.
This and illustrations on pages 5713, 5715, and 5717 are from Nordenskiold's " Cliff-Dwellers of the Mesa V'er-le."

region, the sameas are still partly peopled the land inhabitable. These outward
by the descendants of the old natives, while conditions had an influence on the develop-
the central and northern parts, in which ment of the Pueblo civilisation similar to
the most architecturally perfect buildings the influence they had on the inhabitants
have been found, seem to have been then, of Peru, who had to fight with the same
as they are to-day, forsaken and in ruins. climatic difficulties. We therefore not only
Although it is quite probable that find here, as we do there, surprisingly
many of the southern pueblos may not ingenious and extensive irrigation works,
have existed when the more northern ones but, from the analogy to Peruvian con-
were built and inhabited, the circumstance ditions and from the existing customs of
that the latter are also technically the most the present Pueblo races, we may also
perfect is a certain sign that the southern infer that a water law was carefully made
races already show the beginning of a and enforced among the old Pueblo peoples.
decline which, as it is displayed in quality, A continual struggle with drought is not
5714
THE MESA SUMMIT AT THE TOP OF THE OLD TRAIL

T, , w . r.v - ..-^^^ V-. ..,^^ v^t MEXICO


1 he natural formation of these mesas, or table-lands, of Mexico
appealed to prehistoric man as suitabV «fp« for I,!.

5715
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
indicated solely by the recollections of the northern —
settlements which almost en-
present Indians, or by the ruins of the old tirely lay protected, especially the
works, but dependence on the fertilising numerous and extensive cave-dwellings on
moisture plays so prominent a part in the the Rio Mancos and other northern
whole pronounced religious system of affluents of the San Juan —
were still
these races that we must suppose that the inhabited, and were adapted to form a
climatic conditions were little different barrier against marauding savages.
then from what they are now. According to European ideas we are
Excavations in the ruins have often much inclined to think cave-dwellers
proved the existence of old sources of water men at the lowest stage of culture. But
in or near them, and it has often required the cliff-dwellers of Western North America
only moderate labour in removing sand were not this at all. Sedentary, living
and rubbish to increase considerably the almost solely by agriculture, they had
yield of these springs. That a race whose already reached the stage of rearing
whole existence depended on obtaining water domestic animals, and as basket-
Culture
would have spared no pains to increase it makers, weavers, and potters
of the Cliff-
is testified beyond doubt by the discovery they were superior to almost
Dwellers
of artificial reservoirs and similar works. all neighbours.
their It was
In spite of this it would be wrong to see they who, the Mexicans, produced
like
in variations of the sources of a water those original feather-covered webs that
supply the only reason for the migrations excited the great astonishment of the
of the Pueblo races, because these migra- Europeans. Their pottery is quite equal,
tions were not from the dry districts to the in purity and simplicity of form and decora-
more favoured ones, but exactly the tion, to that of their neighbours.

reverse from the woodland farther and But there was one art in which the
farther into the arid sand-steppe. Pueblo Indians were superior to all the
If it were a mere hypothesis that the other races of the northern continent,
southward movement of the Pueblo —
including the Aztecs the Mayas, in part,
Indians was brought about from an —
excepted namely, the art of building. A
invasion of the Central Californian savages, race that was able to erect buildmgs in
there can scarcely be any doubt that caves like the Cliff Palace discovered by
the aggression of similar hostile races Gustaf Nordenskiold [see page 172 J in a
decided the further course of these side valley of the Mancos was no longer
migrations. And rude and primi-
if some of the tive ; it was a
magnificent ruins race which, if
of the valleys of not to be num-
the Chaco and bered among
Chelley are not civilised peoples,
well adapted for was at least well
a prolonged de- on the way to
fence, it only become one. Na-
proves that at ture herself had
the time of their certainly gone a
erection the pres- long way toward
sure of hostile making the in-
races had not habitants of this
yet begun. But district builders.
this easily
is In the sandstone
accounted for by that encloses the
assuming that narrow valleys
the buildings in of most of the
these valleys, waters of the
among which north-western
even cave-build- plateau-land in
ings are fairly layers of vary-
numerous, were ing resistance,
erected at a time the natives were
when the more weapons and utensils of the cliff-men offered a material

57^6
1

REMAINS OF THE GREATEST BUILDING OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS


On page 172 of the History appears a remarkable illustration of a palace under a cliff in Cliff Palace Canon, Colorado,
indicating how considerable was the culture of those early people of America, and another view of that striking monument
of the Stone Age is given in the above picture. "Literally hanging from a tremendous cliff," the buildings were
inhabited by the first settlers of Colorado, who had every reason to feel themselves secure in their inaccessible homes.

that can almost be shaped of itself. This probably learned from the long layers in
Stone broke down to a considerable the stone of their native valleys and —
extent, under the influence of atmospheric mortising the joints, an art not even known
forces, in pieces that required but little by the Maya architects of Chichen-Itza.
working to make them fit for house- Such skill naturally presupposes long
building. The rudest buildings sub- — practice in the art, but we cannot trace

structures such as are also to be seen its development. Besides the great
at the Clif^ Palace, were therefore assistance rendered by Nature, the migra-
probably constructed merely by piling tions of the Pueblo Indians undoubtedly
up stones selected for the purpose but ; furthered the development of their archi-
of these simplest beginnings only a tectural knowledge to an extraordinary
few traces have been preserved. The degree, by giving them occasion to use
material is for the most part the experience gained in the course of a
"*»* brought into the proper building period whenever they erected a
»"!i. 11
of the Pueblo 1 ° •- fi
, J.
Indians
shape with great care, the
, ' P
.

,
new settlement.
, ,

layers secured by an almost The migrations which we have had to


invisible but sufficiently strong cement, assume as having been from north to south,
and every joint so carefully faced with in historic times, have not to be included
small stones that the outer surfaces of in this respect. On the contrary, the
the buildings have not merely withstood buildings of the northern and central Pueblo
the action of the weather for centuries, —
regions for instance, the Cliff Palace,
but even at the present day seem to be and the ruins of Kintiel, Pueblo Bonito,
firm and smooth. and Nutria in the Chaco valley while —
Moreover, the Pueblo Indians had two bearing traces of greater age, exhibit the
other architectural accomplishments in highest development of Pueblo archi-
which few races of the New World equalled tecture, whereas the later settlements of
them : layering the material in strips the same regions and farther south are

of equal size an advance which they not so carefully built, although this
5717
CAVE-DWELLER IN DANCING ATTIRE AN INDIAN POTTER AT WORK

SCENES IN THE PRIMITIVE INDIAN HOMES OF AMERICA


of the customs of America's early Indian inhabitants are here illustrated. In the first of these pictures there
is
Some
represented a home scene at Shonghopavi, Arizona, where Hopi girls are shown in the act of gnnding the shelled
corn by rubbing it under flat stones of granite. The extraordinary fashion of hair-dressing depicted in the second
Ulustration belongs exclusively to the maidens of the tribe, as after marriage the hair is arranged
differently.

5718
v-

Sir

AN INDIAN RESERVATION INDIAN VILLAGE SCENE

Underwood
A MORNING PROMENADE PLAZA "PUEBLO" OF MISHONGINOVI

AMONG THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF TO-DAY: SCENES IN AN INDIAN RESERVATION


Six hundred feet above the desert, in the Hopi Indian Reservation, Arizona, stands the picturesque village of Wolpi
shown in the two upper views on this page. The people inhabiting these rocky eminences are also depicted, the
third Illustration showing women and children of Oraibi, situated in the same reservation as Wolpi.
Mishonginovi.
a vjew of which IS given in the last picture, is the second largest village of the ancient cliff-dwellers in Arizona,

5719
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
is by no means explained by a want of to the massive style in which they were
material. Thus there is no alternative built, a larger number of inhabitants
but to assume that the latter buildings would be always threatened at the
were erected at a time when the conditions same time, and therefore could easily
under which the Pueblo Indians lived combine for common defence.
had already changed for the worse. But as Furthermore, the older pueblos are far
even these buildings belong to a period more closely built even than those now
prior to the dicovery by the Spaniards, inhabited, so that outside they show an
we come once more to the
-J
unbroken wall several stories high, while
**
j^ . conclusion
. that the golden inside the stories rise in terraces from a

f D f
^g6 of the Pueblo races was central court. The entrance to this court
already past in the sixteenth was in most cases easily defended fur-;

century. Here we are led to the further ther, the ground floor had no entrances
inference that the migrations of the Pueblo opening on to the court, access being
Indians cannot have been spontaneous. obtained to the rooms of the occupants
Ideas drawn from modern warfare solely from the first platform, which could
have been applied too much to ancient be reached only by ladders.
times, and consequently the defensive The enemy were also educated by the
strength of the Pueblo towns has been continual struggle, and if the danger of
declared so inadequate that the purpose of their attacks and their numbers increased
defence has been positively denied them. in the same measure as the strength of the
But we have only to consider the offensive defenders diminished through unfavour-
and defensive weapons of the Pueblo able outward circumstances, the more
Indians, who were in any case considerably civilised and physically weaker Pueblo
superior to their opponents in social Indians would have eventually to yield
culture, to see at once that very primitive to the more robust and hardy sons of
means of defence must have sufficed. the desert. But this would take place
The war waged by the Indians upon one through circumstances mainly
another has always consisted in surprises ; *T*g* independent of the strength of
I
the idea of a siep;e, if only of days, or of the settlements. So at least
Peoples
the artificial cutting off of indispensable we must imagine the war that
resources, especially of water, which became gradually crushed out the civilisation
a dangerous weapon as the art of war of the Pueblo races over a considerable
advanced, need scarcely be seriously con- part of their ancient territory. They were
sidered in the wars to which the Pueblo surrounded north and east by Indian races
Indians were exposed. The attacks of the that belonged to the most savage and
enemy had for their object plunder that brutal of the whole continent. The
was of immediate use and easy to carry Apaches and Navajoes made themselves a
away, and, if possible, prisoners, especially terror even to the Anglo-Saxon pioneers
women and young persons. of the West in the present century, and
The enemy, moreover, would certainly they were nations of the same stocks that
have tried to damage the crops of the surrounded the Pueblo region on various
Pueblo Indians in these wars ; but to sides. Even when the Spaniards first
gather in the ripe fruit was a com- entered this region they heard of the deadly
paratively long business with the means enmity between the Pueblo Indians and
at the disposal of these primitive races, their neighbours, and were themselves
and so the plundering Apache or Navajo sympathetically drawn into the struggle.
^ . ... would let the Pueblo Indian Just as the peaceable inhabitants of the
Combmation
himself do this first he pre-
; pueblos were at continual war with the
for Defensive
ferred to fetch the stored-up flying robbers of the prairie in historic
Purposes
crop from the house rather times, so, too, did their forefathers fight
than the ripe crop from the field. But even with their enemies' forefathers for their
the pueblos that did not lie in the inacces- existence. From the circumstance that a
sible caves of the cafions or on the easily marked relationship exists in build and in
blockaded spurs or ledges at the edges of various customs between the Navajoes and
the plateau, but on the level ground of the Northern Pueblo Indians at the pre-
the river valleys or in the plains at the sent day some would draw the conclusion
foot of the tableland, afforded sufficient that the former are to be regarded, not
protection from a sudden attack. Owing so much as a tribe hostile to the Pueblo

^720
AMERICAN PEOPLES OF THE WEST
Indians, but rather as a kindred tribe that to south, we have left a whole group of
once itself occupied settlements in the —
Pueblo ruins and that the most southern
Pueblo region, and became a roving race of all —unnoticed. The attention of the
of robbers only through hostile oppression. first Spaniards who entered the Pueblo
Although the fact remains that the Pueblo region from Mexico was attracted by a
civilisation succumbed to the invasion of number of ruins that met their eye in the
hostile neighbours, these must certainly basis of the Gila River, the most southern
have been other than the Navajoes. It affluent of the Colorado. These were
is true that since the last century these remains of settlements which unmistakably
Navajoes have been known as a tribe that bear the character of the Pueblos, although
practises agriculture, though to a limited they constitute a group of themselves.
extent that possesses the largest numbers
; The Gila valley, however, did not
of horses and sheep of any Indians of the offer its inhabitants the suitable building
west and whose squaws weave the finest
; material that had made the Pueblo
coloured cloths of sheep's wool. But all Indians in the upper parts of the table-
these are acquirements that belong to land such excellent builders. The ruins
times subsequent to contact with the of this and the adjacent valleys are there-
white man. Moreover, the social progress fore distinguished by the material used,

WOODEN MASKS AND RATTLES OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AMERICA


of the Navajoes rests chiefly in the hands which is a kind of brick made of mud
of their women, whereas among the Pueblo mixed with vegetable substances and air-
Indians the main burden of tilling the dried ; a material known in many parts
ground falls to the men. This civilising by the Spanish name of " adobe," and
influence of the female sex may be traced, frequently used in historic times and even
however, in its ultimate origin, to the to the present day. But otherwise these
Pueblo Indians, whose women, captured buildings are also distinctly the work of
in their raids, have been their teachers. Pueblo tribes. Here, too, we have towns
This intermixture explains also the phys- consisting mainly of a single solid mass of
ical affinities of the races and resemblances houses, or really only rooms these rooms,
;

in their languages. built over one another in storeys, enclose


One more point in the early history of an inner court, from which they rise in
the Pueblo races needs mention : their terraces, while the outer walls are mostly
relations to their southern neighbours, perpendicular. This is therefore exactly
the civilised races of Mexico. If in the the character of the more northern settle-
foregoing we have assumed that the ments of stone, such as we found from the
Pueblo civilisation progressed from north cave-buildings on the San Juan to the open
5721
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
towns of the Moquis and These
Zufiis. settled in the vicinity of these ruins
buildings must have been erected by the since the last century they are almost
same races that built the more northern exclusively called houses, palaces, or for-
ones, or by races nearly related to them. tresses of Montezuma, and we- shall
Now, as these towns were found for- scarcely be far wrong if we regard this as
saken and in ruins by the Spaniards at a the survival of an indistinct recollection of
time when the central pueblos were still the deeds of Mocteuzoma I. Ilhuicamina.
largely inhabited, they must certainly But such a tradition was certainly not
belong to an earlier period than many of developed until after the conquest of
the stone pueblos. But no conclusions Mexico by the Spaniards. This is obvious,
may be drawn from this antagonistic to not only from the fact that the empire of
the view that the Pueblo civilisation deve- Mexico-Tenochtitlan never ex-
eve opmen
loped generally from north to south. The ^gj^(jg(j ^q anywhere near these
race that built the ruins of the Gila valley, ^ i-^/'f parts,
^.
but above all from the
Architecture , . i .v . . •

generally known as Casas Grandes, cer- circimistance that there is abso-


tainly did not learn its architecture here. lutely no style of architecture hke that
Generally speaking, the material, owing of the ruins of the Gila within the sphere
to its comparatively poor resistance to of civilisation of the Central American
atmospheric influences, is by no means states, and that the resemblances to the
calculated to induce man to erect hollow architecture of the Central American
buUdings above ground. In the ruins on are much less within the Pueblo region
the Rio Gila we can perceive only the than, for instance, in the region of the
endeavour to retain architectural forms mound-builders. It may be considered
that had gradually become a need of the historically proved that the spheres of
race, even in districts in which the natural civilisation of the Pueblo Indians and of
conditions were considerably less favour- the Maya and Nahua races, at least during
able. The race the time that
that erected them their respective
separated from characteristic
the body of the architectures
Pueblo Indians were developing,
only when the were entirely ex-
latter had fully clusive of one
developed its another and had
characteristic no connection
civilisation far- whatever. But
ther north, on , in all probabi-
the plateaus of lity this was
the sandstone not always so.
mountains, and Although the
as no traces of legends of an
the same civilisa- original home in
tion occur far- the far Aztlan of
ther south, it the north, in the
appears that this form in which
race, whether it they became
was harassed by known to the
hostile peoples, Spaniards, re-
or induced by ferred only to
natural causes comparati vely
again to change unimportan t
its abodes, re- changes of abode
joined the more made by the
northern mem- various nations
bers of the I ace of the Nahua
before historic race at no very
Underwood
times. In the remote period,
THE HANDICRAFT OF INDIAN WORKERS
legends
, ,
of the In this illustration are shown the artistic creations of Indian this does not
Indians who have weavers and potters in a Hopi house, Grand Canon, Arizona. preclude the
5722
"
TREES CUT DOWN BY PREHISTORIC MAN: REMARKABLE FIND IN ARIZONA '

This unique picture illustrates an extraordinary discovery near Phoenix, Arizona, where, in recent times, a petrified
forest was unearthed. It is supposed that the tree blocks, some of which are here shown, were chopped
thousands
of years ago by the prehistoric inhabitants of the country, becoming: petrified in the course of the long ages.

possibility that in the very earhest times itself furnishes no creatures as patterns
races lived even as far down as the region for such a form, the snake is often one
of Mexico who exhibited a racial relation- of the most dangerous enemies of man
ship to all the other nations inhabiting the in the legends of American races. Among
Pacific coast of North America. the Pueblo Indians it is also most closely
Besides wide-spread linguistic resem- connected with the deities, of fertilising
blaflces there is the recurrence of reUgious moisture, which to them is the essence of
idea.s and customs, which are too peculiar to all good. Besides these there are a
have been the result of simultaneous inde- whole number of other resemblances.
pendent development in .different places. We
may mention a parallel of a non-
The simultaneous worship Of the sun
. , religious character. Feathers, especially
and fire is certainly in itself an idea so those of the gorgeously coloured tropical
^^^rnilia-r to the primitive racei birds; or of the eagle as the symbol of
Primitive
Reli^'iottt
^^ ^^ ^Ses and all lands that power, have ..played an important part in
Ceremonies ^0^1
its occurrence in different the ornament of all primitive races.
tribes we could not infer that But only in very few parts of the earth has
they were related, even if it were not prac- the atte.mpt been made by primitive races
tised in like manner in other neighbour-' to imitate,, by weaving, the feather coat
ing tribes. On the other hand, it is very that adorns and protects the birds.
remarkable that Fpth among the Pueblo , The races of the Mexican Empire brought
.

Indians and among the civilised races of this art to a perfection that has never
Central America all the fires throughout since been attained, so that it is most
the tribe hatd to be extinguished at regular singular that of all the American races
inter\^als ;and that at one place only, only the Pueblo Indians practised a similar
amid elcCborate. religious
. ceremonies, art, although considerably more primitive,
priests appointed for the purpose, by . and that not. as a comparatively late
rubbing tvvo sticks, obtained the new jfire, acquirement, but where we first found
which was then spread from this one them, on the northern borders of their
centreby speedy messengers. Another territory, farthest from the Mexican
higlily characteristic religious idea common borders, dwelHng in the caves of the
to these same races that of the feathered
is Mancos valley, and producing their
snake. Apart from the fact that Nature characteristic archaic pottery.

5723
MOQUI INDIAN WOMEN BUILDING HOUSES
Among: the Moqui Indians of America the customs of the sexes with regard to the division of labour are different
from those generally prevailing among other tribes, the women performing heavy tasks, such as house-building,
while the men undertake the lighter household duties and engage in such occupations as blanket-weaving.

SCENES IN THE LIFE AND CUSTOMS OF AMERICAN INDIANS


5724
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