Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading

by George Park Fisher

CHAPTER V. EUROPE, THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC, AND THE UNION OF ITALY (1871-).

COMPLETED UNION OF ITALY.—When the war between Prussia and France broke out, the republicans in Italy were disposed to take possession of Rome at once. Mazzini urged them to this step. The king, however, was bound by the agreement with France to prevent this action; which, moreover, might have divided, instead of uniting, Italy. Mazzini was arrested, and sent to Gaeta. But with the fall of Napoleon, on the declaration of Jules Favre that the "September Convention" (p. 574) was at an end, Victor Emmanuel, professing that he was bound to maintain order in the peninsula, sent his troops into Rome. The Pope lost his temporal dominions, and was limited to the title and prerogatives of the spiritual head of the Catholic Church. The seat of the Italian government was removed to the ancient capital (July 1, 1871). The present king, Umberto I., ascended the throne 1878.

PIUS IX.: THE COUNCIL OF THE VATICAN.—The long pontificate of Pius IX. was distinguished by important acts having relation to the doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1854 he promulgated the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. He thus determined authoritatively a question which had long been debated in the schools of theology. Ten years later (1864) he issued an Encyclical, together with a Syllabus of Errors, in which, besides the condemnation of opinions in matters of faith which were adjudged heterodox, various alleged encroachments of the civil authority and heretical views respecting the control of the state in reference to marriage, education, etc., were denounced. The views thus condemned are such as the kingdom of Belgium had recognized, and France and some other Roman Catholic countries have shown themselves willing to accept. In 1869 the Oecumenical Council of the Vatican assembled, and after long debate sanctioned the doctrine of papal infallibility; that is, they promulgated the dogma that the Pope, when addressing the whole Church on a subject of morals or theology, is kept by the Spirit of God from enunciating error.

"OLD CATHOLICS."—Most of those who had strenuously endeavored to prevent this action, either because they considered it inexpedient, or disbelieved in the doctrine which it established, acquiesced in the decision of the council. There were some persevering dissentients, however, in Germany especially, of whom Dr. Döllinger was the most distinguished. They organized themselves as a distinct body, under the name of "Old Catholics." They were mostly educated persons; the party had no root among the common people. In France, the most distinguished of them was Père Hyacinthe, a preacher of much popularity and eloquence.

REVOLUTIONS IN SPAIN.—After the revolution attended by the flight of Queen Isabella from Spain (1868), a majority of the Cortes decided for a monarchy, although many desired a republic. In 1870 Amadeus, the second son of the King of Italy, accepted the crown. But he found it impossible to restore order and peace, and Feb. 11, 1873, abdicated the throne. A bloody conflict of factions ensued. Don Carlos, the new Pretender of that name, raised his standard in the North. The Cortes were for a federal republic. Castelar, who as president was at the head of the government, and after him Marshal Serrano, by whom he was superseded, made no decisive progress against the Carlists. Alfonso, the youthful son of Isabella, was proclaimed king by General Martinez Campos; and the army pronounced in his favor (Dec. 29, 1874). Serrano laid down his office. The Carlist revolt was crushed, and Don Carlos driven out of the country. Alfonso died 1885, and was succeeded by a regency during the long minority of his posthumous son, Alfonso XIII. Both Canovas and Sagasta loyally supported the queen-mother, Maria Christina, acting as regent.

STATE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE.—In July, 1875, the Turkish provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia rebelled against the intolerable oppression of the Sultan's government. The little mountainous kingdom of Montenegro—which for four centuries had preserved its independence through numerous struggles with Turkey, and had a quarrel of its own with that power—lent help to its Slavonian neighbor. Servia did the same. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, a composite of distinct provinces and nationalities, was strongly interested to avert war in that region. The revolt was not put down by the Turks. The three European emperors moved the Sultan to pledge himself to an extensive programme of reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina,—a pledge which there was no intention on his part to fulfill. England gave no aid to the revolt, but strengthened herself in the East by obtaining, through a purchase of shares from the Khedive of Egypt, the control of the Suez Canal (Nov. 25, 1875). Russia, as kinsman of all the Slavonic peoples, and protector of Greek Christians, assumed alone the part of a champion of the maltreated provinces. But England refused to join with Russia, Germany, Austria, and France, in threatening "more effectual"—that is, coercive—measures, in case of the Porte's refusal to pacify the insurgents by carrying out his promises. Great Britain was bent on keeping the Sultan's empire, as being a barrier in the way of Russian ambition and essential to the security of India, from being dismembered, and professed to be swayed by respect for the rights of Turkey as an independent power. A revolt in Bulgaria was crushed by the Turks, who were guilty of such terrible atrocities that the "Bulgarian massacres" shocked all Christendom (1876). In the course of the difficulties just narrated, two revolutions, by which sultans had been dethroned, had taken place in the palace at Constantinople. The ambassadors of the Great Powers, in a conference at Constantinople, agreed in demanding of Turkey a constitution and guaranties for the benefit of the oppressed subjects in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. This requirement the Porte refused to accept. A subsequent attempt of the same nature met with no better success (1877). Russia allowed its subjects to render effective help to the revolted districts. On the contrary, England was offended by the alleged ambitious schemes of the Muscovites, and advocated longer forbearance with the Sultan; but Lord Derby announced (April 19, 1877) that Turkey had been warned to expect no assistance from England. Nevertheless, the mission of Mr. Layard to Constantinople, and all the other circumstances, emboldened the Turks to refuse compliance with the Czar's demands.

THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.—The Turko-Russian war began in April, 1877. Russia, according to her previous declaration, took up arms alone. The Russian troops crossed the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, and seized on the important Shipka Pass. At first they seemed destined to a speedy triumph. But the Turks under Osman Pasha fought with unexpected valor and success. At length, however, their leader was obliged to surrender his army of forty-four thousand men at Plevna (Dec. 10). Adrianople was occupied by the Russians (Jan. 28). They were thus in the neighborhood of Constantinople. Meantime, after reverses in the East, the Russians had taken Kars, and pushed on to Erzeroum.

TREATY OF SAN STEFANO: THE BERLIN CONFERENCE.—Turkey now appealed to England to mediate; but Russia declined any such intervention, and insisted on treating separately with Turkey. England was now ready to interfere in behalf of the Sultan, and for the safety of Constantinople. Russia hastened to conclude with Turkey the Peace of San Stefano (March 3), the stipulations of which greatly reduced the Turkish power in Europe. Bulgaria was to be governed by a Christian prince, and fifty thousand Russian troops were to occupy it for two years. England concluded (June 4) a secret treaty engaging to protect Turkey in Asia: Cyprus was given up to be occupied by the British. Austria, as well as Great Britain, was anxious to deprive Russia of the advantages which she had naturally expected to reap by the war,—a war in which the other powers had declined to take part. Thus another great war was threatened, about the provisions of the San Stefano treaty. The conflict was averted by the Congress at Berlin (June 13-July 13, 1878), where D'lsraeli—who was then prime minister, and a friend of the anti-Russian policy—represented England. Austria and England were aided by Germany, and the diplomacy of Gortchakoff was thus overborne. Servia and Roumania, as well as Montenegro, were declared independent. Bulgaria was divided into two portions; the southern of which, called East Roumelia, was to be governed by the Sultan directly, but with a separate administration under a Christian governor. To Austria, the military occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which meant the possession of these provinces, was yielded. Thessaly had engaged in an insurrection, and Greece had hoped for an extension of her boundaries; but nothing effectual was done by England to forward this claim. Here Russia, always opposed to the building-up of a strong Greek kingdom, was at one with England. Russia obtained Kars, but her gains were far less than she deemed herself entitled to receive. The other powers, on the contrary, permitted Austria to advance far in the direction of Constantinople. During the war, the hostility of the Magyars (or Hungarians proper) to the Slaves had been ready to break out in the form of direct armed assistance to Turkey. On the other hand, the Slaves in Hungary, and in all the Austrian territories, were with difficulty restrained from enlisting actively in aid of the Russians. The arbitrary dealing of the Berlin Conference with Bosnia and Herzegovina occasioned an armed but ineffectual resistance, in these provinces, to the extension of the Austrian sway over them.

SITUATION OF RUSSIA.—Russia, embittered by Austria's refusal to aid in the Crimean War, had remained neutral in the struggle with Prussia, which ended in the exclusion of Austria from Germany. Russia was now offended with Germany for repaying her neutrality in the Franco-Prussian struggle by helping in the Berlin Conference the schemes of England and Austria. The attempt of Russia to form an alliance with France prompted Bismarck (Sept., 1879) to negotiate a defensive alliance with Austria. The activity of the Nihilists, and the refusal of France (March, 1880) to deliver up Hartmann, charged with an attempt on the life of the Czar, made the French alliance impossible. The sympathy of the Emperor William, after the endeavor made to assassinate Alexander (Feb. 17, 1880), tended to restore cordiality. Russia was embarrassed by these internal troubles. Alexander was murdered by Nihilists (March 13, 1881), and was succeeded by his son, Alexander III., who died after a lingering illness, Nov. 1, 1894. He was succeeded by his son Nicholas II. In 1891 and 1892 Russia was afflicted by famine and cholera.

NIHILISM.—The accession of Alexander II., following on the rigid autocracy of Nicholas, had introduced a more lenient rule. Alexander decreed (March 3, 1861) the emancipation of the serfs, who were also endowed with small possessions in land. The boon thus conferred, along with its advantages, brought with it hardship; for there were ways of oppression still open to the nobles, by which the emancipated class were made grievously to suffer. The great measure served to increase the national agitation which was connected with other causes. There had long been an enthusiastic party of "Slavophils," actuated by a strong race-feeling, and eager for "Panslavism," or a union of Slavonic peoples. It was the people in Russia which moved the court, against its will, to go to war, single-handed, with Turkey, in 1877. In the prosecution of the war, the abuses which were brought to light among officials, civil and military, heightened the indignation which the corrupt "bureaucracy"—the administration by departments, each under its chief—provoked. The failure to gather the harvest of the war, of which Russia was deprived by diplomacy, increased the popular unrest. A party of socialistic democracy, a revolutionary party, had developed itself as early as 1874. The way had been preparing for it for a decade of years. Out of this party came later (1878) the "Terrorists,"—the secret body which sought for a remedy for social and governmental evils by annihilating all existing authority in Church and State. They had begun with the demand of a constitution. The despotic, repressive measures of the government—in 1879 and 1880, sixty thousand persons were sent to Siberia without a trial—were followed by more desperate attempts of Nihilist conspirators upon the lives of the rulers of the land, and of their agents. These culminated in the murder of the Czar.

COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM.—A brief sketch of the various movements thus designated may be here in place. Communism is the name given to the theory that it is desirable to have a community of goods, and a total or partial abolition of private property. Socialism is often used to designate the same system, but is more commonly applied to the doctrine that government should own the land and all the implements of industry. Not a few religious sects of communists, like the Shakers (established in 1780, in the United States), have long existed. The hope of social amelioration by societies of a communistic character has led to a variety of movements for the formation of them on both sides of the Atlantic. Equality, education, deliverance from poverty and from burdensome toil, have been the blessings sought. Prominent leaders in such movements were Saint-Simon (1760-1825), whose ideas produced a strong effect in France; Charles Fourier (1772-1837), by whose influence "phalanxes," as the communities adopting his views were named, were formed in Europe and America; and Robert Owen (1771-1858), whose societies were built up at New Lanark in Scotland, New Harmony in Indiana, and in other places. Since the French Revolution of 1848, these particular attempts of philanthropic socialism have passed out of notice. Shortly after the Reign of Terror, Babeuf attempted (1796) to overthrow the authorities in Paris, and to bring to pass an equal division of property. The course of political struggles in France, in connection with the revolutions in industry and trade, which have occurred since the fall of the first Napoleon, have given rise to a disaffected working-class, or proletariat. The complaint has arisen, that the benefits resulting from political freedom in Europe have come to the middle class,—to tradesmen and manufacturers possessed of capital,—and that the laboring class are deprived of their due share of the profits of industry. One noted expounder of communism in France was Proudhon (1809-1865), who sought to give emphasis to his doctrine by affirming that "property is theft." Louis Blanc, who was a member of the provisional government in France in 1848, both before and after that time was an active promoter of the scheme under which government is to furnish labor on a large scale, and to become the grand employer of the working-class. In Germany, socialism in its later distinctive form, as defined above, has been advocated by a number of well-known writers. Perhaps the ablest of these was Ferdinand Lasalle (1825-1864). Like the other principal socialists, he would clothe the State with a vastly augmented power and responsibility. In this particular, socialism is directly antagonistic to the ideas of democracy which had previously prevailed. Lasalle's doctrine was that the State should lend capital at interest to associations of laborers. This, he thought, would be the first step in their emancipation. Karl Marx would go much farther. He would transfer to the State all capital and all means of production. He would, as he professes, "overthrow all the existing arrangements of society." With property, inheritance is to be abolished; labor is to be made compulsory; all means of transport are to be in the hands of the State, and so forth. The International Working Men's Association—popularly called "the International"—was organized in London in 1864. It has held congresses in Geneva, and in other cities. It entered upon the most destructive schemes of social agitation and revolution. But the society was divided in 1872, on the expulsion of Bakunin, a Russian Nihilist. A faction of the most violent class continued its activity for a while, and stirred up risings in several towns in Spain in 1873, in imitation of the insurrections in Paris in 1871. Different shades of socialistic theory have been advocated; from the "Christian Socialism" which aims at such objects as the creation of cooperative associations in the working-class, to the fanatics who would sweep away existing institutions by violence, and who resort to the use of dynamite as a means of inspiring terror.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION SINCE 1871.—Thiers had wonderful success in providing for the payment of the German indemnity. His term of office was prolonged (Aug. 31, 1871) for three years, with the title of President. Thiers had cooperated with MacMahon in crushing the commune, and in wholesome measures for the preservation of order. An adverse vote in the Assembly (May 24, 1873) caused his resignation. This was effected by a combination of the monarchical parties. MacMahon, his successor, took a very conservative position. The monarchists united to restore the Count of Chambord to the throne as Henry V., but the scheme failed. In February, 1875, a new constitution, of a conservative republican cast, was established, which provided for a president and a cabinet, a senate, and a chamber of deputies. The legitimists, Orleanists, and imperialists united with the president in his reactionary, anti-republican policy. The whole clerical party were on that side. The republicans were divided among themselves, the most radical group being under the leadership of Gambetta. The danger to the republic compelled a common policy. One of the great subjects of controversy related to public education, in the management of which the Church and the clergy desired to retain and extend their influence and control. To secularize education, was a main aim of the body of the republicans. The success of the republicans, against extraordinary efforts made to defeat them, in the elections of 1877, at last prevailed on the marshal-president to accept the verdict of the country; and late in the year a republican cabinet was formed. The measures of Jules Ferry and his supporters, for taking the business of instruction out of the hands of ecclesiastics and of the clerical orders, although most earnestly resisted by Bishop Dupanloup and the whole clerical party, and opposed by a section of the republicans led by Jules Simon, were, after heated contention, adopted, and were completely carried out (1880). The death of Thiers (Sept., 1877) did not weaken the party of which he was the most honored leader. The death of the young Prince Louis Napoleon (1879) in South Africa, where he was serving, under the British, against the Zulus, was an almost fatal blow to the hopes of the Bonapartist faction. The more recent death of Count Chambord (1883) was followed by the recognition, on the part of the legitimists, of the Count of Paris, of the Orleans house, as the next heir to the throne. A manifesto of Prince Jerome Napoleon (1883), after the death of the young Prince Napoleon, aroused an agitation against all pretenders to the throne,—in particular, against the Orleanists; which led, after protracted debates, to the forced retirement of all the princes of this family from active service in the French army. In November, 1881, Gambetta became the head of the cabinet; but the opposition to his policy within the republican ranks was stronger than had been anticipated. After a short time he laid down his office. He died Dec. 31, 1882. Jules Grévy (first elected Jan. 30, 1879) was re-elected president Dec. 28, 1885. He was forced to resign in 1887 because his son-in-law was implicated in corrupt transactions. His successor was Sadi Carnot.

FRENCH CONQUESTS ABROAD.—The failure of France, in the Oriental difficulties, to gain the power which she desired, impelled her to build up colonial interests and settlements. Partly to punish marauding tribes, in 1881, an expedition was sent against Tunis; and the Bey was forced to accept a protectorate of the French over his dominion. Thus the French enlarged their power in Africa. This proceeding gave great offense to England, Italy, and the Turkish Sultan. On the ground of a treaty of 1841, a French admiral demanded the submission of the north-west coast of Madagascar to a French protectorate; and when this demand was refused, he bombarded and captured the second city in the island, Tamatave (1883). The efforts of France to gain control over Tonquin and the adjacent territory in China attracted still more attention. Tonquin is the most populous province of the kingdom of Anam, of which it formed a part after 1802. Over this kingdom, China claimed the rights of a suzerain; which the French refused to acknowledge. In 1862, after a war lasting for almost four years, Napoleon III. obtained from Anam, by the treaty of Saigun, the provinces called Cochin-China. In 1874 the French Republic extorted from King Tuduc of Anam a treaty by which his foreign policy was placed under the direction of France. Against this treaty, China protested. In 1882 the French commander Rivière seized the city of Hanoi. The "Black Flags," a body of free-lances or pirates, whose leader had been one of the Chinese rebels, fought against the French; but it soon appeared that both the king of Anam and the government of China were in league with his hostile force. Two years later a treaty was signed bringing Tonkin almost directly under French rule and reëstablishing the protectorate in Anam.

THE CONFLICT OF PRUSSIA AND THE VATICAN.—The Roman Catholic Church in Germany is recognized as a legal institution. Its revenues are received from the state, which, in turn, exercises a supervision over the education of its clergy. In Prussia, especially under Frederick William IV., large privileges were granted by law to the Catholic body. The proceedings of the Vatican Council awakened in Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, the apprehension that the decree of papal infallibility might give rise to conflict between the authorities of the Church and of the State. Bismarck considered that the "ultramontane" party in the Church involved danger to the newly created German Empire. The Prussian government resisted the attempt of the Church, in 1871, to remove from office Catholic teachers who refused to subscribe to the Vatican dogma of papal infallibility. In other words, the government recognized and undertook to protect the "Old Catholics." The contest with the clerical or ultramontane party went on; and before the end of the year, the Catholic branch of the Prussian Ministry of Worship and Instruction was abolished. In a debate in 1872, Bismarck said, "Of this be sure, that neither in Church nor in State are we on the way to Canossa." His policy met with a determined resistance from Pius IX. The Jesuits were expelled from the German Empire. This law was afterwards construed to include other orders.

THE FALK LAWS: CONTINUED CONFLICT.—The laws proposed by the Prussian minister of worship, Falk, required that candidates for the clerical office in the Catholic Church should have a training in the gymnasium and university, and that every ecclesiastical appointment should be sanctioned by the civil authorities. They provided for a royal court for the settlement of ecclesiastical questions. These laws were passed in 1873. In 1875 civil marriage was made obligatory in the empire. These measures were stoutly resisted by "the Center," or the clerical party, in the Prussian Parliament, and in the Reichstag. They were declared by the Pope to be invalid, and Roman Catholics were forbidden to obey them. Other enactments, one of which forbade all payments to the bishops and clergy unless they should sign a promise to obey the laws of the state, were adopted by Prussia. Refractory bishops and priests were punished in various ways. The result was that the Roman Catholic party, led by Windhorst, ex-minister of Hanover, in opposition to Bismarck's measures, was consolidated. The struggle extended beyond the bounds of Prussia: it was Bavaria, a Catholic state, which proposed the law requiring civil marriage. After the accession of Leo XIII., there was on both sides an increased disposition to find terms of peace by which the numerous vacancies in Catholic clerical offices could be filled. The need which Bismarck felt of the support of "the Center" for his financial measures favored this result. Falk resigned (July 13, 1879), he being personally odious to the Roman party. After long debates, a bill was passed (Jan. 1, 1882) giving to the king and his ministers discretionary powers, which opened the way for filling the vacant places. Still, in the great festival at the completion of the Cologne Cathedral (Oct. 15), the clerical party stood aloof. But the mutual friendly approaches of the chancelor and his ultramontane opponents continued. Diplomatic correspondence was opened with the Vatican. Some of the harsher features of the anti-papal legislation were revoked.

BISMARCK AND SOCIALISM.—One motive in this modification of the chancelor's policy was the rapid progress of socialism. At first, while Bismarck was engaged in a struggle with the liberals, who impeded his plans in the Prussian Parliament, he had willingly availed himself of the support of Lasalle and his socialistic followers. But after the war with France, the party of the "Social Democrats" became more and more numerous and formidable. It was not, however, until a second attempt was made on the emperor's life, that Bismarck was able to carry, against the combination of parties, his measures giving to the government extraordinary powers for the stifling of socialistic agitation (1879). The law for the suppression of socialistic meetings, newspapers, etc., was rigorously enforced.

THE "PARTICULARISTS."—Bismarck was, moreover, obliged to contend with the "Particularists," who were hostile to the Empire, and with a large number besides them, who were opposed to a greater degree of imperial centralization at the expense of the power of the separate states. Unable to obtain for the imperial government the control over the German railroad system, he devised a plan (1879) by which Prussia would eventually control three-quarters of the railroads of Germany. An imperial code of laws was adopted (1877); but, from jealousy of Prussia, the seat of the supreme court of appeal was fixed at Leipsic. In his economical and financial measures, the chancelor was often charged with the exercise of arbitrary power. Free, representative government, according to the English system, did not accord with his idea of the Prussian monarchy, and with the character of the new empire, the unity of which he was naturally anxious to fortify. By his alliance with Austria in 1879, he placed Germany in a situation to resist Russia and France, in case Russia, aggrieved by the action of Germany at the Berlin Conference (1878), should join hands with France in acts of hostility against the German empire. In 1888 William I. died and was succeeded by his son, Frederick III., who held the sovereignty but a few months, dying June 15, 1888. His son, William II., succeeded him.

THE BRITISH SWAY IN INDIA.—British sway by degrees extended itself over India. The fall of the Mogul empire left the country in a state of anarchy. Strife arose with one tribe after another, until the authority of England came to be acknowledged as far north as the Himalayas. The English advance was made with the help of native auxiliaries, and could not have been made without it. It was quite as much an internal revolution as a foreign conquest. As the British enlarged their dominion, and came into conflict with the French, the appetite for supremacy grew. Under the rule of the Marquis of Wellesley (1798-1805), partly through the victories of Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards the Duke of Wellington), "the policy of intervention and annexation" was pursued with brilliant success. The Burmese were conquered, and parts of their territory annexed, in 1826, 1852, and 1885. The effort always was to secure a quiet frontier. In 1843 a war with Scinde resulted in its absorption in British territory. In 1849 the annexation of Punjab followed, a British protectorate having been found insufficient. The misgovernment of the native princes in Oude led to the assumption of the government of that province by the English in 1856.

THE INDIAN MUTINY.—There was hostility to British rule among the Mohammedans in India, and distrust among the Hindoos. The latter acquired a fanatical belief that the English, who had abolished the burning of widows, and even legalized their marriage, meant to force the people to lose caste by driving them to sacrilegious practices. The report that cartridges had been served out which had been lubricated with the fat of the swine, abhorred by Moslems, and of the cow, venerated by the Hindoos, stirred up a revolt among the native Sepoy troops (1857). The insurrection spread, and was attended with savage cruelties. There was a frightful massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, before General Havelock could arrive for its relief. The English, who were besieged in Lucknow, after terrible suffering, were relieved by the opportune coming of this gallant soldier. All the English residents in Delhi, who could not escape into the jungle, were murdered. The weak old king placed himself at the head of the rebellion. Delhi was recaptured by the British, and the conquest completed by Sir Colin Campbell (March 22, 1858). Oude was subdued. Gradually the rebellion was crushed, and merciless severity was exercised by the conquerors upon those most actively concerned in it. One consequence of the revolt was the entire transference of the government of India from the East India Company to the Crown. The measure was introduced into Parliament by Lord Palmerston (1858). Under the ministry of Disraeli, and on his motion, the Queen added to her titles that of "Empress of India" (1877).

BRITISH WARS WITH THE AFGHANS.—In the last century Ahmed Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, extended his dominion as far as Delhi. But he died in 1773, and his son Timour changed the seat of government from Candahar to Cabul. In 1838 the English declared war against Dost Mohammed, one of the three rulers of the country, whose seat of power was in this city. The British attack was successful; but insurrections broke out (1841), and they agreed to evacuate the country. The whole British army, which had to pass through the Kurd-Cabul Pass, was destroyed by cold and hunger, and by the harassing attacks of the mountaineers (1842). It numbered forty-five hundred fighting men and twelve thousand five hundred camp-followers. Another British army, under Gen. Pollock, forced the Khyber Pass, and took vengeance on Cabul. In 1855 Dost Mohammed, now an ally of the English, drove the Persians out of Herat, which, as "the key of India," the British were anxious to protect against ambitious schemes of Russia. In 1863 he took Herat from Ahmed, the sultan there, who was considered a tool of Persia and of Russia. Dost Mohammed died soon after, and was succeeded by his son Sher Ali Khan. After the acquisition of Quetta by the English, he began to side with the Russians. His intrigues with them, and his refusal to receive a British embassy, brought on the second Afghan war of the British (1878-81). The ameer died (Feb. 21, 1879); the Afghans were defeated by Gen. Roberts, who took Cabul, and installed as ameer Abdurrahman Khan (1880). The English then decided to evacuate the territory. On their march they were attacked by Ayub Khan of Herat. Later he was defeated by Roberts, and driven back to that place. The Gladstone ministry had succeeded the ministry of Disraeli, who had been anxious to establish a "scientific frontier" between Afghanistan and the Czar's territories,—such a frontier as would secure a "neutral zone" between them and India, to serve as a barrier against Russian invasion.

RUSSIA AND AFGHANISTAN.—The gradual approaches of Russia in the direction of Herat have been on two lines. The one is the line south-easterly from the Caspian. She gained a lodgment in 1869 at Krasnovodsk on the eastern shore of that sea. In 1880 Geopteke and Askabat were taken. The other line of aggressive approach is south-westerly from the neighborhood of the Oxus. On this line, partly from displeasure at the English occupation of Egypt, and in pursuance of the policy, adopted especially since the Berlin Conference (1878), to advance towards Herat, the Russians suddenly seized Merv, an oasis extremely important from a military point of view, over which Persia claimed a certain suzerainty. The Russians occupied it in force, under Gen. Komaroff (March 16, 1884). Subsequently England and Russia agreed to ascertain and fix the northern boundary of Afghanistan. The occupation of Penjdeh by the Afghans, followed by the advance of Komaroff,—of which the British complained as an aggression,—brought the two countries to the verge of war (1885).

THE WESTERN POWERS AND EGYPT.—"The Oriental question"—the question relating to Turkey and its dependencies—constantly took on new phases, and presented to the powers of Europe fresh difficulties and dangers of conflict. The Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, was a friend and admirer of Napoleon III. and of the French. He succeeded in obtaining from the Sultan repeated concessions, which reduced his dependence on Turkey to little more than an obligation to pay an annual tribute, together with certain marks of respect and honor. His conflicts with lands on the south, Dafour and Abyssinia, his extravagant outlays in public works of internal improvement, and the enormous interest paid to foreign capitalists for their loans, involved him in the utmost financial embarrassment. This furnished the occasion to the Western powers, in particular to England and France, to intermeddle still more in Egyptian affairs. The Khedive sold to the British Government his shares in the Suez Canal, and gave into the hands of the English and French (1878) the control of the financial administration of the country. This sort of dependence was repugnant to both the Khedive and the Egyptian people. The native officers were pushed into the background. The most lucrative stations were filled by foreigners, and the weight of taxation was almost intolerable. The attempt to throw off this yoke only resulted in the deposition of Ismail by the Sultan, on the demand of the two Western powers. His weak son, Tewfik Pasha, took his place. The control of the finances remained in foreign hands. The result of the discontent of the people, and of the disaffection of the Egyptian officers, was a revolt led by Arabi Pasha, a military officer (1881). The Khedive complied with the demands of the insurgents: their chief was made minister of war. The Western powers were bent on suppressing this movement, and, in addition to threats and diplomatic measures, sent their fleets to Egypt. A revolt broke out in Alexandria, in which the English consul was wounded and many Europeans were slain (June, 1882). The city was filled with terror, and all trade was suspended. The English fleet bombarded the city, and set it on fire. Arabi withdrew his troops to Cairo. He was now deposed by the Khedive, and declared a rebel. His troops showed little spirit. The fortifications of Tel-el-Kebir were taken by the English general, Sir Garnet Wolseley, almost without resistance. Aboukir, Damietta, and Cairo surrendered, and the Egyptian leader, Arabi, was captured and banished. From that time Egypt fell into a condition of helpless dependence on England. France found herself without the influence there which she had always coveted since the days of the first Napoleon. The system of administration in Egypt was now organized by the English, through Lord Dufferin. Great complaint was made against them by the other powers, for not taking sufficient precautions to prevent the introduction of the cholera from India. The principal troubles of the English grew out of the invasion of the false prophet called El Mahdi, who gathered to himself a host of followers in the Soudan, partly instigated by Moslem fanaticism, but largely impelled by their hatred of the Egyptian government established over that region. The people of the Soudan complained bitterly of the oppressive Egyptian officers. The slave-dealers there were exasperated at the prohibition of their traffic, on which England had insisted. In the course of the conflict with El Mahdi, Hicks Pasha, an English officer in the service of the Khedive, was defeated and slain, and his force cut to pieces, near El Obeid (Nov. 3, 4, and 5, 1883). There was great fear now for the province of Sennaar and especially for the city of Khartoum, where there were many Europeans. Mr. Gladstone, and the English ministry of which he was the head, were not disposed to hold the Soudan, but desired to give it up as soon as the garrisons could be rescued and brought away. To this policy the Khedive was opposed. The project of a military interference in the Soudan by the Sultan, the English took care to prevent by attaching to it impossible conditions. On the Red Sea, Osman Digna, a partisan of the Mahdi, made repeated attacks upon Suakim, the base of the operations of Baker Pasha, another former English officer, now become general of the Egyptian army. On account of the cowardice of the Egyptian troops, Baker was defeated with heavy loss (Feb. 4, 1884). The British troops from Cairo under Graham had better success; and Osman Digna was vanquished, and driven into the mountains. The English government adopted the extraordinary measure of sending General Gordon to Khartoum; his errand being to pacify the tribes of the Soudan, to provide for the deliverance of the garrisons, and to arrange terms of accommodation with El Mahdi. This last it was found impossible to accomplish. Berber was captured by the enemy, and garrison and male population were slaughtered. Gordon was shut up in Khartoum. The peculiar financial situation obliged the English ministry to hold a conference of the great powers (June 28, 1885) at London. Lord Granville insisted that only financial points, and not the general Egyptian question, should be considered, which did not accord with the views of the other powers, and the conference adjourned without effecting anything. The perilous situation of Gordon, and the feeling in England on this account, obliged the government to send out General Wolseley with a large force to Egypt; but before aid could be given Gordon, Khartoum, was betrayed, and he was slain. The course of England respecting Egypt had left her isolated as regards the other European powers, and had awakened much disaffection in England. It was the policy of the Gladstone ministry in relation to Egypt, even more than complaints growing out of their conduct in the troubles with Russia, that obliged them to resign, and to give place to the Tory cabinet of Lord Salisbury. Upon the death of Tewfik (Jan. 7, 1892) his son, Abbas Pasha, became khedive.

GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA.—On the cession of Canada to Great Britain (1763), the French inhabitants of Lower Canada were secured in the free exercise of the Catholic religion, and in the possession of equal rights with English settlers. "The Quebec Act" of 1774 made Canada one royal government, and brought in the English criminal code with trial by jury. During the Revolution, many loyalists emigrated to Upper Canada. A strong desire arose for a repeal of the "Quebec Act." In 1791, under Pitt, the two parts of Canada were made separate provinces. A constitution was granted, which provided for an elective legislature for each. The governors, the executive councils, and the legislative councils were to be appointed by the Crown. The governments were still subject to the Colonial Office in London. A spirit of opposition between the two provinces increased. Upper Canada, under English law, grew in numbers and prosperity; but the growth of population in Lower Canada was much more rapid. Here there was an antagonism between the Assembly and the English governors. There was an open rebellion in 1837, which spread into Upper Canada. The two Canadas were united in 1841; the executive department became responsible, as in England, to the popular branch of the legislature; and under the liberal and enlightened administration of Lord Elgin (1847-54), a better feeling arose. He was obliged, however, to suppress a mob of the conservatives, or "loyalists" (1849), who were hostile to the extension of a general amnesty to former rebels. In 1856 the Upper House was made elective. In 1857 Ottawa was made the seat of government. In 1867 the Dominion of Canada was constituted. It was at first a federal union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canadas; Upper Canada receiving the name of Ontario, and Lower Canada being named Quebec. Manitoba, formed out of a part of Hudson Bay Territory, was admitted to the Dominion in 1870, and British Columbia in 1871. Prince Edward Island was admitted in 1873; and the same year the territories were received by transfer from the Hudson Bay Company. The Dominion has a Senate and a House of Commons. The authority of the Crown is represented by the governor-general and the council. Legislation is subject to a veto from the sovereign. Each province has its local government, but whatever powers are not expressly reserved to the several provinces are granted to the General Government,—a provision the reverse of that found in the Constitution of the United States, which the Canadian system in various features resembles.

In the Peace of Utrecht (1713), France gave up its claim to Nova Scotia: the Peace of Paris (1763) surrendered to Great Britain New Brunswick, and Cape Breton and Prince Edward islands. These are known at present as the maritime provinces. When the American War of Revolution began, thousands of loyalists emigrated to Nova Scotia, as well as to Upper Canada, from whom many of the present inhabitants are descended. The island of Vancouver, on the western coast of British Columbia, was surrendered to the navigator of this name by Quadra, a Spanish commander, in 1792. In 1843 a trading-post was established at Victoria by the Hudson Bay Company. The island forms politically a part of British Columbia. The Government of the Dominion, when British Columbia was received, engaged to construct a railway to the Pacific across British North America. England acquired a title to Newfoundland in 1713. It first received a constitution in 1832. The government was made responsible to the Assembly in 1852.

GREAT BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA.—Australia, which covers an area of three million square miles, when it was first visited by Europeans was found to be inhabited by native tribes of the Papuan, Melanesian, or Australasian race, of whom about eighty thousand now remain. In the seventeenth century, various points along its coasts were touched by European voyagers, especially by the Dutch. The discoveries of Captain Cook (1769 to 1777) had an important influence in leading to settlements on this island-continent. New South Wales, a name given by Cook, is the oldest of the English provinces in Australia. Not Botany Bay, which he had selected for a settlement, but Port Jackson, was made a penal station (1788) for convicts from England. This place, however, continued to be erroneously called Botany Bay. The principal harbor was named Sydney Cove. In 1803 Van Dieman's Land, now called Tasmania, was first occupied. Thus the beginnings of colonization in Australia were made by the dregs of English society. The convicts labored for their own support, and, when their terms had expired, sometimes received as a gift small farms, and implements with which to till them. The character of the settlement, and the management of it, became much more humane after 1810, when Macquarie became governor. Free colonists, English and Scotch, came and joined it. The discovery of the upland pastures beyond the Blue Mountains, which were remarkably adapted to sheep, made an epoch in the history of the colony. Spanish merino sheep were introduced: wool became the chief staple; the production of it, especially after the invention of the combing-machine, became very profitable, and free emigrants poured in. The Australian Agricultural Company was formed in England. Western Australia began to be settled in 1829, but did not thrive. New colonies continued to be formed in Eastern Australia. South Australia was made prosperous by copper-mines. Victoria, which became a distinct province in 1851, owes its growth to gold mines. Melbourne, its chief town, was planted in 1837. The first British governors at Sydney were military officers, ruling with despotic authority. Representative institutions were gradually formed in the different provinces. The constitutions were framed on the model of the home government; but in Victoria and Tasmania the Upper House was made elective. After long conflicts with the home government, the Australian colonies escaped from the misfortune of being places to which convicts were transported. The discovery of gold in New South Wales and Victoria was made in 1851, and caused at once an immense influx of immigrants. Next to gold, the most important article of export has been wool. Wheat and copper have been exported in large quantities. The breeding of cattle has been a profitable employment in these communities.

NEW ZEALAND.—In 1838 the first regular and permanent settlement was made in New Zealand. Wellington was founded in the next year. New Zealand, with South Island and North Island, became a colony independent of Australia in 1841.

ENGLAND AND IRELAND.—The disaffection of the Irish, and their antipathy to English rule, broke out in different forms, as circumstances changed. For a long time the demand was for "Catholic emancipation." This was granted (p. 558); but most of the English concessions were made under such a pressure, and in appearance so grudgingly, that little was accomplished by them in placating Irish hostility. The outcry against tithes for the support of the Protestant Established Church was to a great extent quieted in 1838, when the odious features of this tax were removed. The Act disestablishing the Irish Protestant Church, carried by Mr. Gladstone in 1869, and put in execution in 1871, took away one of the great grievances of which the Irish nation had to complain. The repeal of the legislative union of England and Ireland was the watchword of O'Connell and his followers. In one form or another, the demand for local self-government or independence, which has been more lately urged under the name of "home rule," has been kept up with little intermission. It is about the special question of land reform that the most bitter conflicts have centered. The ownership of a great part of the land in Ireland by a few persons: the fact that great obstacles and great expenses—difficulties of late somewhat lightened—have existed in the way of the transference of land if any one had the means to purchase it: the circumstances that the owners have generally been, not residents, but absent landlords; that, in cases of dispute with tenants, the laws were for a long period framed in their interest; that the management of estates was left to agents or middle-men; that multitudes of tenants, whose holdings were small, could glean a bare subsistence from the soil, were doomed to famine if the potato-crop failed, and, when unable to pay the rent, were liable to "eviction," that is, to be turned out of doors, with their families, to perish,—these have been causes sufficient to give rise to endless disputes and conflicts. Add to these facts the inbred hostility arising from differences of race and religion; the memory, on the part of the Irish, of centuries of misgovernment, and the feeling that the lands held by sufferance were wrested from their ancestors by force,—and the animosity manifested in revolts and outrages is easily explained. The English government, in a series of measures,—in connection with which, acts of coercion for preventing and punishing violence have been passed,—undertook to lessen the evils that exist, and to produce a better state of feeling. The Encumbered Estates Court was established to render more easy the transfer of lands. This Act, and the Land Act passed the same year (1860), although well meant, failed to improve the situation of the tenants. Mr. Gladstone's great measure of disestablishment has been referred to. His second great reform measure was the Land Law of 1870, the effect of which was to make the landlord pay damages to the evicted tenant, to compensate him for improvements which he had made, etc. One object of this Act was to create a body of peasant proprietors in Ireland. Additional Acts, in 1880, were designed to assist tenants to purchase their holdings. The hopes as to the practical benefit to follow the Act of 1870 were disappointed. In 1877, 1878, and 1879, there was a partial failure of the crops. The Fenian movement, designed to secure Irish independence by force, was organized in the United States, 1857. By uniting with similar Irish brotherhoods, it extended itself in Great Britain as well as America, collected large funds, and, 1866, made ineffectual attempts to invade Canada. An armed rising in Ireland shortly after, under Fenian leadership, was suppressed. The national agitation consequent on these proceedings in Ireland, issued in the organization, 1870, of the Home Rule party, with Mr. Isaac Butt a leading promoter. The object was to secure an Irish Parliament for Irish affairs, and for the control of Irish resources; the Imperial Parliament being left to deal with imperial affairs. In this period (about 1874) Mr. Parnell grew to be conspicuous in politics. He became the leader of the Home Rule members of the House of Commons, who sought, by obstructing the progress of business, to compel the English government to withdraw its measures of coercion, and to legislate in accordance with the views of himself and his associates. The "obstructionists," by joining the Tories, effected the retirement of the Gladstone Cabinet (1885). In Ireland a system of "boycotting" was adopted for the punishment of landlords guilty of evicting tenants. This led to deeds of violence and blood. Parnell died in 1891. and Justin McCarthy became the leader of the Irish cause in Parliament. A Gladstone Cabinet again came into power in 1892, with an avowed object of securing Home Rule for Ireland.