Sir J. Tenniel.] [From “Punch.”
WHO SAID “ATROCITIES”?
The Eastern question had passed once more into an acute stage. The incorrigible vices of the Government of Turkey had led to a series of horrible massacres of the Christian subjects of the Sultan in Armenia. |The Eastern Question.| Sympathy with the sufferers was readily aroused in this country; Mr. Gladstone, though no longer in Parliament, responded to appeals made to him by various individuals, and wrote a number of letters, in which, though at first he was careful to use no expression to increase Lord Salisbury’s difficulties, he gradually glided into his accustomed vehemence, and indicated his desire that England should take vengeance on the “Assassin of Europe,” single-handed, if need be. In the course of 1896 he appeared on a public platform in Liverpool, and supported this view with great energy. This precipitated a further calamity on the Liberal party, for, in the course of 1896, Lord Rosebery announced that he differed so strongly from the views expressed by Mr. Gladstone, and was, besides, so sensible of the want of cordiality in the support given to him by some of his followers, that he felt compelled to resign his leadership. It would be premature to attempt more than brief allusion to events which are still in progress. The insurrection of the Cretan subjects of the Porte, the invasion of the island by Greece, and the war which ensued between Turkey and Greece, in which the latter so quickly collapsed, have proved, thus far, to be disturbances severely localised by means of the Concert established among the Great Powers, who, while resolved to compel the Sultan’s Government to administer his realm with humanity and even justice, have resisted the attempt made by the Greeks to wrest away part of his territory by violence.
From a Photograph by Russell & Sons.]
THE STATE DINING-ROOM AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
The tables set for the wedding breakfast of Princess Maud of Wales. Princess Maud, youngest daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales, was married to Prince Carl, second son of the Crown Prince of Denmark, July 22, 1896.
The affairs of the Transvaal rose into prominent notice towards the close of 1895. Commercial enterprise had for some time been actively directed towards South Africa, notably by the British South Africa Company, at the head of which was Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the Premier of the Cape Colony, who had been sworn a member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council. |Trouble in the Transvaal.| Miners and settlers in general poured into the Transvaal to the number of 60,000, converting the quiet village of Johannesburg into a large and busy town. The Transvaal Government viewed this movement with no favour; the industry of the Boer population was chiefly a pastoral one, and President Krüger steadily refused to comply with the claim of the new-comers to rights of citizenship. The Uitlanders, as the new settlers were called, numbered three to one of the native Boers, and were paying nine-tenths of the taxation: meetings, summoned to protest against the action of the President and Volksraad, were prohibited; a deaf ear was turned to all petitions for redress, and, at last, a movement was started to obtain by compulsion what was refused by law. A force of all arms, commanded by Dr. Jameson, and comprising several officers in the British service, invaded the Transvaal in the expectation of a concerted rising in Johannesburg. This did not take place: after a smart encounter with the Boers, the English force surrendered on January 1, 1896. The principal officers were put on their trial under the Foreign Enlistment Act, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and, in some instances, to forfeiture of their commissions. The claim for indemnity put forward by the Government of the South African Republic has not yet been settled. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to investigate the origin and conduct of what has become known as the “Johannesburg movement,” and its enquiry is still proceeding. Perhaps the most important result of the Transvaal raid will prove to be the insight suddenly afforded into the true sentiments of the German Government towards Great Britain. The numerous bonds uniting the German and British Courts, added to the racial sympathies existing between the two nations, had given rise to the belief that the policy of Germany was more friendly towards Great Britain than that of some of the other great Powers. This belief was rudely dispelled by a message from the German Emperor to President Krüger encouraging him in resistance in any dispute that might arise with the British Government.
