DISRAELI AND THE NEAR EAST 613 as over the rights of the land, the church, and the sovereign; he revived the interest of the English people in their territories over the sea and taught them that with a large colonial empire England could play a larger part as a world power. He began to carry out his imperial policy by securing control of the Suez Canal (1875). He sought to bind India more closely to the British crown by reviving the Empire of India and proclaiming Victoria Empress of India (1877). He took a hand in the settlement of the Balkan question at the time of the last Russo-Turkish War. He annexed the Transvaal (1877) and thought favorably of a federal union for South Africa. He found a new field for English energies in Egypt (1879). But Disraeli is best known for the interest that he showed in the group of countries at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea which is commonly called the Near East. The Asiatic policy of England was determined largely by a fear that Russia may have designs on her possessions in India. Russia has a powerful fleet in the Black Sea which The fear of may some day sail out past Constantinople and seize the Suez Canal. To prevent this England was determined to keep the Bosporus a closed strait by leaving both shores in the hands of the Turk. In 1876 troubles broke out in Turkey which led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The Turks were defeated and made peace with Russia. But Disraeli (now Lord Beaconsfield) insisted that the Balkan question concerned all Europe and should be dealt with by a congress of the European powers. AccordThe Congress ingly such a congress met at Berlin under the presidency of Bismarck, England being represented by Disraeli and Lord Salisbury. The congress secured more favorable terms for Turkey. For the friendly assistance of England the Turks paid with the important island of Cyprus. of Berlin. 554. India. England also feared that India might be invaded from the northwest by way of Afghanistan. The Russian frontier in Turkestan is now less than one hundred miles distant from the northern border of British India. It is England and therefore a part of English policy to keep Russian Afghanistan. influence out of Afghanistan. To accomplish this Disraeli in 1878 sent an army against the Afghans. The country was overrun, but when Gladstone came to power he withdrew the British forces. Afghanistan is still independent but under British protection. in India. The greater part of India has now been annexed to the British crown. A number of independent states still remain, but they are independent in name only. To the west of India Expansion the Disraeli government extended British authority over the wilderness of Beloochistan in 1876; toward the east the British flag was planted in Burma in Salisbury's first ministry (1885). To the divided nations of India England has brought peace, order, and great material improvement.1 Much, however, remains to be done. The masses are still densely ignorant and miserably poor. Among the educated classes, especially among those who have come 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 79. into actual contact with western civilization, there is much discontent. There is some agitation among the Hindus for an independent and self-governing Indian empire; but the differences in race, language, religion, and social standing are so great and so dividing that British authority is not likely to be successfully disputed for some generations to come. 555. Summary. The closing decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a revival of interest in the colonial possessions of the United Kingdom. It appeared in a mild form in Disraeli's second ministry and was called a "spirited Imperialism. foreign policy." Twenty years later it had grown into a passion and was called "imperialism.” Imperialism has become an article of faith with the Unionist party, and many Liberals too have imperialistic leanings. The greatest exponent of the idea was Joseph Chamberlain. Imperialism has led to action in many fields, but its greatest achievements have been in Africa. Growth of the British Empire. Rhodesia In Africa large areas have been added to the British Empire. Egypt was occupied in 1882. Three years later a British trading company entered Nigeria in West Africa. The British East Africa Company began to operate from Zanzibar and Mombasa westward and northwestward later in the same decade. appeared on the map in the early nineties. General Kitchener conquered the Soudan in 1898. The Boer War added the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In Asia British authority was extended over the larger part of India and over the neighboring territories of Burma and Beloochistan. In Australia and America there has been continued progress, but the growth has been wholly along peaceful and material lines. During the last half century four "colonial nations" have been organized within the Empire: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. In the management The "colonial of their internal affairs these are practically nations." independent, but they have no foreign office. They are bound to England by strong sentimental and commercial ties; and it has recently been proposed to bind them even more closely to the mother country by some form of imperial federation. ENGLAND IN AFRICA. Queen Victoria, 572-574; 293, 301-308. REFERENCES Innes, History of England, 841-844, 908-913; Lee, Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 280– ENGLAND AND EGYPT. — Innes, 915-917; Lee, 465-469; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 681-684. IMPERIALISM AND THE NEW PROTECTIONISM. Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 624-636 (Hobson: imperialism); Innes, 949–951 (protection). THE RECONQUEST OF THE SOUDAN. Innes, 940-942; Tout, 692–694. THE BOER REPUBLICS. - Innes, 930-934; Tout, 724-725; Woodward, 293-295. THE BOER WAR. Cross, History of England, 1029-1035; Innes, 934-939; Lee, 523-528; Tout, 726-727. THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. Beard, 645-662 (Bryce); Master man, History of the British Constitution, 241-243; Woodward, 271-274; Wrong, History of the British Nation, 569-574. ENGLAND IN ASIA. - Innes, 910-915; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 1016-1019; Woodward, 308-311. CHAPTER XXIX ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 556. The Problem of the Unemployed. When the Reformed Parliament in 1833 began to enact its great series of industrial reforms, England was still the workshop of the world. Every year her output of manufactured products increased in amount and value; every year her foreign commerce showed greater totals. Where there was so much work to be done, it would seem that it ought not to be difficult to secure employment. There was, however, a tendency among factory owners to employ cheap labor: much of the lighter work was done by children; and women were sometimes engaged Industrial in tasks that were better suited to the strength of problems. men. Hours were long, and the employer showed little interest in the welfare of the laborer. In those days it was believed that, if the conditions under which men and women labored were improved, all would be well. With shorter hours, with the elimination of child labor, and with proper restrictions on the labor of women, able-bodied men would surely find suitable work, and with employment would come prosperity and con tentment. When the nineteenth century came to a close, however, England was greatly disturbed by the presence of hundreds of thousands of men who were temporarily or per- Causes of manently out of work. For this there were unemployment. several reasons. In the century that closed with 1911, the population of Great Britain increased more than threefold; but the demand for labor did not show a corresponding increase. Since the American Civil War the United States had developed into an industrial nation and was now competing with England |