Chapter XXXVII: Section III: of article 111 of the federal constitution is (5)

As between the two governments, then, such was the critical
situation of affairs when the Sirdar, who had been already
instructed how to act if he found intruders in the Nile
Valley, came upon M. Marchand and his little party at Fashoda.
The circumstances and the results of the meeting were reported by
him promptly as follows: "On reaching the old Government
buildings, over which the French flag was flying, M. Marchand,
accompanied by Captain Germain, came on board. After
complimenting them on their long and arduous journey, I
proceeded at once to inform M. Marchand that I was authorized
to state that the presence of the French at Fashoda and in the
Valley of the Nile was regarded as a direct violation of the
rights of Egypt and Great Britain, and that, in accordance
with my instructions, I must protest in the strongest terms
against their occupation of Fashoda, and their hoisting of the
French flag in the dominions of His Highness the Khedive. In
reply, M. Marchand stated that as a soldier he had to obey
orders; the instructions of his Government to occupy the
Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Mudirieh of Fashoda were precise, and,
having carried them out, he must await the orders of his
Government as to his subsequent action and movements. I then
pointed out that I had the instructions of the Government to
re-establish Egyptian authority in the Fashoda Mudirieh, and I
asked M. Marchand whether he was prepared—on behalf of the
French Government—to resist the execution of these orders; he
must be fully aware, I said, that the Egyptian and British
forces were very much more powerful than those at his
disposal, but, at the same time, I was very averse to creating
a situation which might lead to hostilities. I therefore
begged M. Marchand to most carefully consider his final
decision on this matter. I further informed him that I should
be pleased to place one of the gun-boats at his disposal to
convey him and his expedition north. In answer to this, M.
Marchand did not hesitate to admit the preponderating forces
at my disposal, and his inability to offer effective armed
resistance; if, however, he said, I felt obliged to take any
such action, he could only submit, to the inevitable, which
would mean that he and his companions would die at their
posts. He begged, therefore, that I would consider his
position, and would allow the question of his remaining at
Fashoda to be referred to his Government, as, without their
orders, he could not retire from his position or haul down his
flag; at the same time, he said he felt sure that, under the
circumstances, the orders for his retirement would not be
delayed by his Government, and that then he hoped to avail
himself of the offer I had made him. I then said to him: 'Do I
understand that you are authorized by the French Government to
resist Egypt in putting up its flag and reasserting its
authority in its former possessions—such as the Mudirieh of
Fashoda?' M. Marchand hesitated, and then said that he could
not resist the Egyptian flag being hoisted. I replied that my
instructions were to hoist the flag, and that I intended to do
so. … The Egyptian flag was hoisted … at 1 P. M. with due
ceremony in the presence of the British and Egyptian troops,
and a salute of twenty-one guns was fired.
{200}
I should add that, in the course of the conversation, I
informed M. Marchand that, in addition to my verbal protest, I
intended to make a formal protest in writing, and this I duly
handed him before leaving Fashoda. During these somewhat
delicate proceedings nothing could have exceeded, the
politeness and courtesy of the French officers. Having
officially appointed Major Jackson Commandant of the Fashoda
district, and leaving with him a battalion of infantry, four
guns, and a gun-boat, I proceeded south with the remainder of
the troops and four gun-boats. …

"I had no opportunity for a further interview with M.
Marchand, who, I venture to think, holds at Fashoda a most
anomalous position—encamped with 120 men on a narrow strip of
land, surrounded by marshes, cut off from access to the
interior, possessing only three small boats without oars or
sails and an inefficient steam-launch which has lately been
dispatched on along journey south, short of ammunition and
supplies, his followers exhausted by years of continuous
hardship, yet still persisting in the prosecution of his
impracticable undertaking in the face of the effective
occupation and administration of the country I have been able
to establish. It is impossible not to entertain the highest
admiration for the courage, devotion, and indomitable spirit
displayed by M. Marchand's expedition, but our general
impression was one of astonishment that an attempt should have
been made to carry out a project of such magnitude and danger
by the dispatch of so small and ill-equipped a force which—as
their Commander remarked to me, was neither in a position to
resist a second Dervish attack nor to retire—indeed, had our
destruction of the Khalifa's power at Omdurman been delayed a
fortnight, in all probability he and his companions would have
been massacred. The claims of M. Marchand to have occupied the
Bahr-el-Ghazal and Fashoda Provinces with the force at his
disposal would be ludicrous did not the sufferings and
privations his expedition endured during their two years'
arduous journey render the futility of their efforts
pathetic."

_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command: Egypt, Numbers 2 and 3, 1898)._

The "Fashoda incident," as it was described, caused great
excitement in both England and France, and threatened for some
weeks to involve the two countries in war. Both army feeling
and popular feeling in France very nearly forced the
government to persist in what was plainly an ill-considered
and inopportune movement, and to hold untenable ground. But
better sense prevailed, and, on the 2d of November, when the
Sirdar, Lord Kitchener, who had visited England, was being
feasted and given the freedom of London, at Guildhall, Lord
Salisbury was able to make a dramatic announcement of the
closing of the dispute. "I received," he said, speaking at the
banquet, "from the French ambassador this afternoon the
information that the French Government had come to the
conclusion that the occupation of Fashoda was of no sort of
value to the French Republic, and they thought that, under
those circumstances, to persist in an occupation which only
cost them money and did them harm, merely because some
people—some bad advisers—thought it might be disagreeable to
an unwelcome neighbor, would not show the wisdom with which, I
think, the French Republic has been uniformly guided, and they
have done what I believe many other governments would have
done in the same position—they have resolved that the
occupation must cease."

EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1899.
The Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum.

On an appeal from Lord Kitchener, funds were raised in Great
Britain for the founding of a Gordon Memorial College at
Khartoum, to be, in the first instance, a school for
elementary instruction to the sons of the heads of districts
and villages.

EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1901.
The Barrage and Reservoir works on the Nile.

In February, 1898, the Khedive in Council approved a contract
concluded with the British firm of John Aird & Company, for
the construction of a dam or "barrage" across the Nile at
Assouan, drowning the cataracts and turning the river above
into a vast storage reservoir; with another dam at Assiout,
for the irrigation of Middle Egypt and the Fayum. In the
report of Lord Cromer for 1898, Sir William Garstein, at the
head of the Egyptian Public Works Department, gave the
following description of the plan of the works, then fairly
under way: "The dam which is to form the reservoir will be
built at the first cataract, a few miles south of Assouan. It
is designed to hold up water to a level of 106 metres above
mean sea level, or rather more than 20 metres above the
low-water level of the Nile at site. Its total length will be
2,156 yards with a width at crest of 26.4 feet. The width of
base at the deepest portion will be 82.5 feet, and the height
of the work at the deepest spot will be 92.4 feet. The dam
will be pierced by 180 openings, or under-sluices (140 of
which are 23.1 feet by 6.6 feet and 40 are 18.2 feet by 6.6
feet) provided with gates. These sluices will pass the flood
and surplus water through the dam, and by them the reservoir
will be emptied when water is required for irrigation in
Middle and Lower Egypt. Three locks will be built, and a
navigation channel made on the west of the river to enable
boats to pass up and down.

"The dam at Assiout will be what is called an open Barrage,
and will be similar in construction to the existing Barrages
on the Rosetta and Damietta branches. The new work will
consist of 111 bays or openings, each 16.5 feet wide, and each
bay will be provided with regulating gates. The total length
of the work will be 903 yards. A lock 53 feet in width will be
constructed on the west bank, large enough to pass the largest
tourist boat plying on the river. By regulating on this
Barrage water will be supplied in spring and summer to the
Ibrahimieh Canal, which irrigates Middle Egypt. At present
this canal has to be dredged to a depth of some 2 metres below
the lowest summer level in the river, and even with these the
crops suffer in years of low summer supply. A regulation
bridge with a lock will be built at the head of the Ibrahimieh
Canal in order to allow of the supply being reduced, if
necessary, in flood."

_Great Britain, Papers by Command: Egypt,
Number 3, 1899._

By a singular happening, the Nile flood of 1899 was the lowest
recorded in the century, and gave an opportunity for the
barrage and irrigation works, barely begun as they were, to
give a convincing foretaste of their value. According to the
report of that year, "the distress was enormously less than on
all previous occasions of a failure of the flood. The area of
'sharaki,' or land unirrigated and therefore untaxed, which
had been 900,000 feddans in 1877 was only one-third of this in
1899.
{201}
Even in this area, which lay principally in Upper Egypt,
'distress,' says Sir William Garstein, 'was hardly felt at all
by the people. The immense amount of contract work in progress
in the country enabled them to obtain a good daily wage and
tided over the interval between the two crops.' In Lower Egypt
'the situation was saved by the Barrage, which, for the first
time in its history, was regulated upon throughout the flood.
Had it not been for the work done by this structure, there is
little doubt that large areas of crop would have been lost. As
it is, the cotton crop is very nearly the largest on record,
and the maize crop was up to the average.'" Of the progress of
the work at Assouan it is said: "After nearly a year had been
spent in accumulation of material and various preparations,
the foundation stone of the dam was laid by H. R. H. the Duke
of Connaught on February 12; and from that date the work was
carried on with less interruption than must have been
necessitated by a normal flood. Beginning on the east bank,
masonry was carried on throughout a length of 620 metres, and
of these, 360 metres were brought up to within two metres of
their full height. … Not less satisfactory progress was made
with the weir at Assiut, although the original design had to
be considerably altered."

On the 7th of February, 1901, a Press despatch from Cairo
reported: "Sir John Aird and Sir Benjamin Baker start for
England on Sunday next, having completed their visit of
inspection to the great engineering works at Assuan, where the
immense dam to hold up the waters of the Nile is being
constructed. The total extent of the dam is one mile and a
quarter, of which one mile and an eighth of the foundation is
finished. Temporary dams enabling the remaining section to be
put in are now carried across the channel. Pumps for getting
in the permanent dam foundations will be started next week.
The whole of the granite masonry required for the dam is cut
and ready to be laid in its place. The parapet alone remains
to be prepared. The portion of the dam remaining to be built
is that across the well-known deep western channel. The work
is of considerable difficulty, but the experience gained last
season in dealing with other channels has rendered the
engineers and contractors confident that equal success will be
obtained this year in the western channel. The dam is pierced
with 180 openings, about 23 feet high and 7 feet wide, which
openings are controlled by steel sluices. The work for the
latter is now well advanced. The discharge through these
sluices at high Nile may reach 15,000 tons of water per
second. The navigation channel and chain of locks are equally
advanced with the dam itself, and the lock gates will also be
in course of construction in about three months. Unless
anything unforeseen occurs the reservoirs will be in operation
for the Nile flood of 1903. This will be well within the
contract time, although owing to the increased depth of the
foundations the work done by the contractors has been largely
increased.

"At Assiut the great regulating dam across the Nile approaches
completion, the foundations being practically all in position,
leaving a portion of the superstructure to be completed. The
sluice openings here number 119, all 16 feet wide. This dam is
somewhat similar in principle to the well-known barrage near
Cairo, but the details of construction are entirely different,
as the foundations are guarded against undermining by a
complete line of cast iron and steel-piling above and below
the work. The barrage itself is constructed of high-class
masonry instead of brickwork as at the old barrage. Although
the Assiut barrage is overshadowed by the greater magnitude of
the Assuan dam, it will, doubtless, rank second as the
monumental work of Egypt."

EGYPT: A. D. 1899 (January).
The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established in the Sudan.

The following agreement between the British government and
that of the Khedive of Egypt, relative to the future
administration of the Sudan, establishing a condominium or
joint dominion therein, was signed at Cairo on the 19th of
January, 1899, and made public the same day:

Whereas certain provinces in the Sudan which were in rebellion
against the authority of His Highness the Khedive have now
been reconquered by the joint military and financial efforts
of Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Government of
His Highness the Khedive; and whereas it has become necessary
to decide upon a system for the administration of and for the
making of laws for the said reconquered provinces, under which
due allowance may be made for the backward and unsettled
condition of large portions thereof, and for the varying
requirements of different localities; and whereas it is
desired to give effect to the claims which have accrued to Her
Britannic Majesty's Government by right of conquest, to share
in the present settlement and future working and development
of the said system of administration and legislation; and
whereas it is conceived that for many purposes Wadi Haifa and
Suákin may be most effectively administered in conjunction
with the reconquered provinces to which they are respectively
adjacent; now, it is hereby agreed and declared by and between
the Undersigned, duly authorized for that purpose, as follows:

ARTICLE I.
The word "Sudan" in this Agreement means all the territories
South of the 22nd parallel of latitude, which:

1. Have never been evacuated by Egyptian troops since the year
1882; or

2.
Which, having before the late rebellion in the Sudan been
administered by the Government of His Highness the Khedive,
were temporarily lost to Egypt, and have been reconquered by
Her Majesty's Government and the Egyptian Government acting in
concert; or

3. Which may hereafter be reconquered by the two Governments
acting in concert.

ARTICLE II.
The British and Egyptian flags shall be used together, both on
land and water, throughout the Sudan, except in the town of
Suákin, in which locality the Egyptian flag alone shall be
used.

ARTICLE III.
The supreme military and civil command in the Sudan shall be
vested in one officer, termed the "Governor-General of the
Sudan." He shall be appointed by Khedivial Decree on the
recommendation of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and
shall be removed only by Khedivial Decree, with the consent of
Her Britannic Majesty's Government.

{202}

ARTICLE IV.
Laws, as also Orders and Regulations with the full force of
law, for the good government of the Sudan, and for regulating
the holding, disposal, and devolution of property of every
kind therein situate, may from time to time be made, altered,
or abrogated by Proclamation of the Governor-General. Such
Laws, Orders, and Regulations may apply to the whole of any
named part of the Sudan, and may, either explicitly or by
necessary implication, alter or abrogate any existing Law or
Regulation. All such Proclamations shall be forthwith notified
to Her Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in Cairo, and
to the President of the Council of Ministers of His Highness
the Khedive.

ARTICLE V.
No Egyptian Law, Decree, Ministerial Arrêté, or other
enactment hereafter to be made or promulgated shall apply to
the Sudan or any part thereof, save in so far as the same
shall be applied by Proclamation of the Governor-General in
manner hereinbefore provided.

ARTICLE VI.
In the definition by Proclamation of the conditions under
which Europeans, of whatever nationality, shall be at liberty
to trade with or reside in the Sudan, or to hold property
within its limits, no special privileges shall be accorded to
the subjects of anyone or more Power.

ARTICLE VII.
Import duties on entering the Sudan shall not be payable on
goods coming from Egyptian territory. Such duties may,
however, be levied on goods coming from elsewhere than
Egyptian territory, but in the case of goods entering the
Sudan at Suákin, or any other port on the Red Sea Littoral,
they shall not exceed the corresponding duties for the time
being leviable on goods entering Egypt from abroad. Duties may
be levied on goods leaving the Sudan at such rates as may from
time to time be prescribed by Proclamation.

ARTICLE VIII.
The jurisdiction of the Mixed Tribunals shall not extend, nor
be recognized for any purpose whatsoever, in any part of the
Sudan, except in the town of Suákin.

ARTICLE IX.
Until, and save so far as it shall be otherwise determined, by
Proclamation, the Sudan, with the exception of the town of
Suákin, shall be and remain under martial law.

ARTICLE X.
No Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents shall be
accredited in respect of nor allowed to reside in the Sudan,
without the previous consent of Her Britannic Majesty's
Government.

ARTICLE XI.
The importation of slaves into the Sudan, as also their
exportation, is absolutely prohibited. Provision shall be made
by Proclamation for the enforcement of this Regulation.

ARTICLE XII.
It is agreed between the two Governments that special
attention shall be paid to the enforcement of the Brussels Act
of the 2nd July 1890, in respect to the import, sale, and
manufacture of fire-arms and their munitions, and distilled or
spirituous liquors.

Done in Cairo, the 19th January, 1899.
(Signed) Boutros Ghali-Cromer.

_A. S. White, The Expansion of Egypt,
Appendix V. (New York: New Amsterdam Book Company)_

By a subsequent, agreement signed July 10, the exceptions in
the above relative to Suákin were abrogated.

EGYPT: A. D. 1899-1900.
Final defeat and death of the Khalifa.
Capture of Osman Digna.
Condition of the Sudan.

The Khalifa, who escaped from the scene of his overthrow at
Omdurman, in 1898, kept a following of his own tribe, the
Baggaras, sufficient to give trouble for more than another
year. At length, late in November, 1899, he was overtaken by
Sir Francis Wingate, who succeeded General Kitchener as
Governor-General of the Sudan, and was killed in a battle
fought near Gedil. Again Osman Digna, his able lieutenant,
escaped; but in January of the following year the latter was
captured and taken to Suez.

In a report to Lord Salisbury, made on the 20th of February,
1900, Lord Cromer, British Agent and Consul-General in Egypt,
gave the following account of the general state of affairs in
the Sudan:

"The territorial situation may be briefly described as
follows:—The frontier between the Soudan and the Italian
Colony of Erythræa has now been delimitated from Ras Kasar, on
the Red Sea, to Sabderat, a few miles east of Kassala.
Negotiations are proceeding which will, without doubt, result
before long in the delimitation of the small remaining portion
of the Italian frontier from Sabderat up to the point where it
strikes Abyssinian territory. The most friendly relations
exist between the British and Abyssinian Governments. The
general basis of a frontier arrangement in respect to the
country lying west of the Blue Nile has already been settled
with the Emperor Menelek. When the survey party, now being
employed, has finished its work, it may confidently be
expected that the detailed delimitation will be carried out
without much difficulty.

"An endeavour is being made to cut through the sudd which
obstructs the White Nile, and thus open up communication with
Uganda. To a certain extent this communication may be said to
be already established, for a mixed party, consisting of
British, French, and Belgian officers, with their followers,
arriving from the South, recently succeeded in getting through
and joining the Egyptian party, under Major Peake, which was
engaged in cutting the sudd. … From the moment of the
Khalifa's crushing defeat at Omdurman, the desert and Kordofan
tribes, with the exception of a certain number of Baggaras who
still adhered to the cause of their Chief, threw in their lot
with the Government. Most of these tribes, however, rendered
but little active assistance to the Government in the
subsequent operations against the Khalifa. Omdurman and the
Ghezireh [the tract of country lying south of Khartoum,
between the White and Blue Niles] were found to be full of
Arabs belonging to the Kordofan and far western tribes, who
had been brought from their homes by the Khalifa. They were
without any regular means of subsistence, but, in the existing
state of insecurity, it was for the time being impossible for
them to return to their own districts. … The inhabitants of
the districts which were raided by the Dervishes were obliged
to take refuge in the Ghezireh, with the result that the
situation remained practically unchanged until the Khalifa's
overthrow and death. Since then, the main objects of the
Government have been to send back to their homes the
inhabitants of the gum producing region, and to get rid of the
useless mouths from the Ghezireh. In respect to the first
point, some success has attended their efforts, but many
thousands of Arabs belonging to tribes whose homes are in
Kordofan and Darfour, still remain in the Ghezireh. … The
attitude of the Nubas and of other tribes in Central and
Southern Kordofan has, since the battle of Omdurman, been
perfectly satisfactory. … Some long time must certainly elapse
before prosperity returns to the tribes in the Soudan. The
population has wasted away under Dervish rule."

_Great Britain, Papers by Command:
Egypt, Number 1, 1900, pages 43-44._

----------EGYPT: End--------

{203}

ELAM.

See (in volume 1)
BABYLONIA, PRIMITIVE;

(in volume 4)
SEMITES;

and (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: BABYLONIA, and PERSIA.

ELANDSLAAGTE, Battle of.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1899 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).

ELBE-RHINE CANAL PROJECT, The.

See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899 (AUGUST); and 1901 (JANUARY).

EL CANEY, Battle of.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE-JULY).

ELECTRICAL SCIENCE, Recent advances in.

See (in this volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: ELECTRICAL.

ELIZABETH, Empress of Austria:
Assassination.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1898 (SEPTEMBER).

EL ZANJON, Treaty of.

See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1868-1885.

EMPLOYERS' FEDERATION, British.

See (in this volume)
INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES; A. D. 1897.

EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY BILL, The English.

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (MAY-JULY).

EMPRESS-DOWAGER, of China, The.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (OCTOBER), and after.

ENGINEERS, Strike and lockout of British.

See (in this volume)
INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES: A. D. 1897.

----------ENGLAND (GREAT BRITAIN): Start--------

ENGLAND: A. D. 1894.
The commandeering question with the South African Republic.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1894.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1894-1895.
Retirement of Mr. Gladstone from public life.
Earl of Rosebery Prime Minister.
His speech on the "predominant member" and Home Rule.
Weakening and overthrow of the Liberal Government.
Dissolution of Parliament.
Conservative and Unionist triumph.
Third Ministry of Lord Salisbury.

Mr. Gladstone, who had passed his 84th year, whose health was
failing, and who might justly consider that his public work
was done, resigned his post as Prime Minister, on the 2d of
March, 1894, and the Earl of Rosebery, on his recommendation,
was called by the Queen to take his place. Slight changes,
otherwise, were made in the cabinet, but the spirit in the
Liberal government was no longer the same. The new Premier
soon signified that his disposition in the matter of Home Rule
for Ireland was not quite what Mr. Gladstone's had been, by
using the following language in a speech (March 13) in the
House of Lords:

"Before Irish Home Rule is conceded by the Imperial Parliament
England, as the predominant member of the partnership of the
three kingdoms, will have to be convinced of its justice. That
may seem to be a considerable admission to make, because your
lordships will know that the majority of English members of
Parliament, ejected from England proper, are hostile to Home
Rule. But I believe that the conviction of England in regard
to Home Rule depends on one point alone, and that is the
conduct of Ireland herself. I believe that if we can go on
showing this comparative absence of agrarian crime; if we can
point to the continued harmony of Ireland with the great
Liberal party of this country; if we can go on giving proofs
and pledges that Ireland is entitled to be granted that boon
which she has never ceased to demand since the Act of Union
was passed. I believe that the conversion of England will not
be of a slow or difficult character. My lords, the question of
Home Rule is one that I regard not from the point of view of
Ireland only. It has for me a triple aspect. It has, in the
first place, the aspect that I believe that Ireland will never
be contented until this measure of Home Rule be granted to
her; and that, though you may come in on other issues and
succeed us who sit here, your policy of palliatives is bound
to fail. In the second place, I believe that not merely have
we in our Irish policy to satisfy those who live in the island
of Ireland itself, encompassed, as Mr. Disraeli once said, by
that melancholy ocean, we have not merely to satisfy the Irish
themselves within Ireland, but, for the good of our Empire and
for the continuity and solidarity of our relations with our
brethren across the Atlantic, it is necessary that we should
produce an Irish policy which shall satisfy the Irish people.
And, lastly, I view it from the highest Imperial grounds,
because I believe that the maintenance of this Empire depends,
not on centralization, but on decentralization, and that if
you once commence to tread this path, you will have to give
satisfaction under the same conditions certainly to Scotland,
and possibly to Wales, not in the same degree or possibly in
the same way, but so as to relieve this groaning Imperial
Parliament from the burden of legislation under which it
labours. I will not detain you further on this subject
to-night. I did not mean to dilate so much on the question of
Home Rule."

His remarks seemed to show an intention to postpone the
pressing of the measure. Distrust arose among the Irish and
uncertainty was created in the mind of the Liberal party. It
became evident very quickly that the Liberals, with the loss
of their old leader, had lost heart and faith in the policy to
which he had committed them, and that a serious weakening of
the political energies of the party had been produced. No
measures which raised troublesome issues were undertaken in
Parliament during the year of Mr. Gladstone's retirement: but,
at the session which opened in the following February (1895), the
government brought forward a number of high]y important bills.

{204}

The first to be introduced was a bill "to terminate the
Establishment of the Church of England in Wales and Monmouth."
The bill made provision for the creation of a representative
Church body, giving power to the bishops, clergy and laity to
hold synods and to legislate on ecclesiastical matters. It
entrusted ecclesiastical revenues to a commission; provided
for the transfer of churches and parsonages to the
representative body of the Church, and of burial grounds and
glebes to parish, district, and town councils; other property
of the Church to be vested in the commission before mentioned,
which should also have the charge of cathedrals, to keep them in
repair. The bill had its first reading on the 28th of
February, and its second on the 1st of April, but went no
further. It shared the fate of the other measures of the
Government, including a bill to establish local control of the
liquor traffic, and others for the remedying of defects in the
Irish Land Law, and for the abolition of plural voting, all of
which were extinguished by the sudden and unexpected overthrow
of the Government on the 21st of June. It was defeated on a
motion to reduce the salary of the Secretary for War, which
was made for no purpose but to start a question as to the
adequacy of the provision of certain ammunition stored for
use. When the vote was found to be against the Government
there was great surprise in both parties. But the Ministry had
been steadily losing support and was quite willing to resign,
which it did the next day. Lord Salisbury was sent for by the
Queen and accepted the task of forming a new Government, with
the understanding that Parliament should be dissolved as soon
as practicable, and the will of the country ascertained. In
the new Government, Lord Salisbury filled the office of
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with that of Prime
Minister; Mr. A. J. Balfour became First Lord of the Treasury;
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach Chancellor of the Exchequer; Mr.
Joseph Chamberlain Secretary of State for the Colonies; Mr. G.
J. Goschen First Lord of the Admiralty. Before the dissolution
of Parliament, which occurred on the 6th of July, a bill for
the amendment of the Factories Act, on which both parties
agreed, was passed. The elections that followed, beginning
July 13, resulted in the return of a majority of 152 in favor
of the new Ministry, which represented the coalition of
Conservatives and Liberal Unionists. The majority of the
popular vote on the same side in the three kingdoms was a
little more than 30,000, in a total poll of 4,792,512; but in
Eng]and the new Government received a majority of some
300,000. In Ireland the vote went heavily against them, and in
Wales and Scotland to a lighter extent. Of the Irish members
elected, 12 were of the Parnell faction and 69 Anti-Parnell.
The new Parliament came together August 12, and, after a brief
session, at which little was done, was prorogued September 5.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895.
Enforcement of claims against Nicaragua.

See (in this volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA (NICARAGUA): A. D. 1894-1895.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895.
The question of Chitral.

See (in this volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1895 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895 (January).
Agreement with France defining the boundaries of the
Hinterland of Sierra Leone.

See (in this volume)
SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895 (March-July).
Agreement with Russia concerning the northern Afghan frontier
and spheres of influence in the Pamir region.

See (in this volume)
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1895.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895 (July-November).
Correspondence with the Government of the United States
on the Venezuela boundary question.

See (in this volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1895 (JULY) and (NOVEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895 (November).
Action on the closing of the Vaal River Drifts by the South
African Republic.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1895 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895 (December).
Message of the President of the United States to Congress
on the British Guiana-Venezuela boundary dispute.

See (in this volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1895 (DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895-1896 (November-January).
Discontent and revolutionary conspiracy of Uitlanders in
the Transvaal.
The Jameson Raid.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1895 (NOVEMBER);
and A. D. 1895-1896.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1895-1896 (December-January).
The feeling in England and America over the
Venezuela boundary dispute.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1895-1896 (DECEMBER-JANUARY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896.
Establishment of the Sierra Leone Protectorate.

See (in this volume)
SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896.
Report on Old-Age Pensions.

The question of the practicability and expediency of a
national system of pensions for old age, which had been
agitated in England for some years, and which a royal
commission, appointed in 1893, had already examined with great
thoroughness and no definite result, was referred in 1896 to a
committee of financial experts, with Lord Rothschild at their
head. This committee reported that it could recommend no
scheme as satisfactory, though it put forward that of Sir
Spencer Walpole as open to less objection than others. The
scheme in question was as follows:

"1. Any person at 65 having an assured income of not less than
2s. 6d. and not more than 5s. may apply for a pension.

2. If the pensioning authority is satisfied as to the income a
pension may be granted.

3. The applicant must not be physically or mentally infirm.

4. To an income of 2s. 6d. 2s. 6d. is to be added.
To an income of 3s. 0d. 2s. 0d. is to be added.
To an income of 4s. 0d. 1s. 0d. is to be added.

5. 'Assured income' includes real estate, leasehold property,
securities, or annuities (Government, friendly society, or
insurance office), but not out-relief.

6. The guardians are to be the pensioning authority.

7. Not more than half of the pension is to be paid out of
Imperial taxation, the remainder out of local rates.

8. The pension is not to involve disenfranchisement."

The committee, however, pointed out some very strong
objections to this scheme, which they roughly estimated as
likely to apply to 443,333 persons, and to cost £2,300,000 a
year. On the whole, while they regarded the Walpole scheme as
the best suggested, the Rothschild committee held that, like
the rest, its inherent disadvantages outweighed its merits. In
effect, they pronounced the establishment of old-age pensions
to be impracticable.

{205}

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896.
Report of Royal Commission on the financial relations
between Great Britain and Ireland.

See (in this volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1896-1897.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (January).
Agreement with France concerning Siam.

See (in this volume)
SIAM: A. D. 1896-1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (January).
Excitement over the German Emperor's message to President
Kruger on the Jameson Raid.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1896 (JANUARY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (January-February).
Appointment of United States Commission to investigate
the Venezuela boundary.
Reopening of discussion with the government of the United
States on the arbitration of the dispute.

See (in this volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1896-1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (February).
New treaty with the United States for arbitration of
Bering Sea claims.

See (in this volume)
BERING SEA QUESTIONS.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (March-September).
Expedition to Dongola.
Beginning of an Anglo-Egyptian movement for the
recovery of the Sudan.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1885-1896.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (May).
The New Radical party.

A New Radical party, under the leadership of Sir Charles Dilke
and Mr. Labouchere, issued a statement of its policy (May 19),
setting forth as its chief aim "the democritisation and
devolution of Parliament."

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (June).
The Agricultural Land Bill.

Among the measures brought forward in Parliament this year and
carried by the Conservative government was one which aroused
bitter feeling and was sharply denounced, as being legislation
in the interest of the landholding class, at the expense of
the community at large. A ground of justice for it was found
by its supporters, however, in the extreme agricultural
depression of the time. This Agricultural Land Bill, as it was
styled, provided that, in the case of every rate to which it
applied, agricultural land should be assessed in future on
half its ratable value, while houses and buildings would still
be assessed on the whole of their ratable value. The bill
passed the Commons near the end of June, and went speedily
through the House of Lords.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (July).
Parliamentary movement to investigate the
British South Africa Company.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY);
A. D. 1896 (JULY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (August).
Suppression of an usurper in Zanzibar.

See (in this volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1896 (ZANZIBAR).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (September).
Papal Bull declaring Anglican orders invalid.

See (in this volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1896 (SEPTEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896 (November).
Agreement with the United States for the settlement of the
Venezuela dispute.

See (in this volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1896-1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896-1897.
"The Voluntary Schools Act" and
"The Elementary Education Act."

The Conservative Ministry of Lord Salisbury came to power, in
England, in 1895, under pledges to the Church that it would
revise the educational system in the interest of the
"Voluntary Schools" (mostly Church schools), as against the
secular or non-sectarian "Board Schools" which were steadily
gaining ground from the former, and proving superior
efficiency.

See, in volume 1,
EDUCATION, MODERN: ENGLAND: A. D. 1699-1870.

A bill to that end, for England and Wales, was introduced at
the end of March, 1896. In support of the bill it was stated
that, in the previous year, the voluntary schools educated
2,445,812 children, as against 1,879,218 educated in the board
schools, though the voluntary schools were, as a rule,
"understaffed," had less qualified teachers, and labored
generally under financial difficulties; but that a large
proportion of the members of the Church of England, as well as
Roman Catholics, made it a point of conscience that their
children should be educated by teachers of their own
denomination, and could not be forced to send them to board
schools without a gross exercise of religious intolerance;
that, finally, it would cost £25,345,635 to replace the
voluntary schools, and £2,250,000 yearly to maintain board
schools in their place, if they were not kept up. Therefore,
it was contended that they should receive a more liberal
allowance of state aid by parliamentary grant, to keep them
alive and improve their efficiency. Connected with provisions
to that effect were others which would completely reorganize
the system of school administration and control. They proposed
to take the administration to a great extent from the
Committee of Council on Education, where it had been
centralized, and to place it in the County Councils, to be
exercised by statutory educational committees appointed by
each Council. By what was called a "conscience clause," the
bill required separate religious instruction to be given to
children in schools (board or voluntary) wherever a
"reasonable number of parents" required it. The measure was
strenuously opposed on the ground that its aim was the
extinction of the board schools; that it would give them only
£17,000 out of £500,000, and give it, said Lord Rosebery,
"without any vestige of control, so that in 8,000 places where
only Church of England schools existed the Nonconformists
would have only the vague protection of the conscience
clause." So much debate was provoked by the bill, and so much
time was being consumed by it, that the Government was forced
to drop the measure in June, in order to save the other
business of the session from being spoiled,—promising,
however, to bring it forward again the next January. The
promise was redeemed, on the convening of Parliament in
January, 1897, in so far that a new Education Bill was brought
forward by the government; but the measure was very different
from that of the previous session. It was addressed solely to
the end of strengthening the voluntary or Church schools
against the board schools, firstly by increasing the aid to
them from public funds, and secondly by uniting them in
organized associations, under stronger governing bodies. The
main provisions of the bill were as follows:

"(1.) For aiding voluntary schools there shall be annually
paid out of moneys provided by Parliament an aid grant, not
exceeding in the aggregate five shillings per scholar for the
whole number of scholars in those schools.

{206}

"(2.) The aid grant shall be distributed by the Education
Department to such voluntary schools and in such manner and
amounts, as the Department think best for the purpose of
helping necessitous schools and increasing their efficiency,
due regard being had to the maintenance of voluntary
subscriptions.

"(3.) If associations of schools are constituted in such
manner in such areas and with such governing bodies
representative of the managers as are approved by the
Education Department, there shall be allotted to each
association while so approved, (_a_) a share of the aid
grant to be computed according to the number of scholars in
the schools of the association at the rate of five shillings
per scholar, or, if the Department fix different rates for
town and country schools respectively (which they are hereby
empowered to do) then at those rates; and (_b_) a
corresponding share of any sum which may be available out of
the aid grant after distribution has been made to unassociated
schools.

"(4.) The share so allotted to each such association shall be
distributed as aforesaid by the Education Department after
consulting the governing body of the association, and in
accordance with any scheme prepared by that body which the
Department for the time being approve.

"(5.) The Education Department may exclude a school from any
share of the aid grant which it might otherwise receive, if,
in the opinion of the Department, it unreasonably refuses or
fails to join such an association, but the refusal or failure
shall not be deemed unreasonable if the majority of the
schools in the association belong to a religious denomination
to which the school in question does not itself belong.

"(6.) The Education Department may require, as a condition of
a school receiving a share of the aid grant, that the accounts
of the receipts and expenditure of the school shall be
annually audited in accordance with the regulations of the
Department.

"(7.) The decision of the Education Department upon any
question relating to the distribution or allotment of the aid
grant, including the question whether an association is or is
not in conformity with this Act, and whether a school is a
town or a country school, shall be final."

The passage of the bill was resisted strenuously by the
Liberals in the House of Commons. "Whether they regarded the
bill from an educational, a constitutional, a parliamentary,
or a social aspect," said Mr. John Morley, in his concluding
speech in the debate, "he and his friends regarded it as a
mischievous and reactionary measure." But the opposition was
of no avail. The bill passed its third reading in the House of
Commons, on the 25th of March, with a majority of 200 in its
favor, the Irish Nationalists giving it their support. In the
House of Lords it was ruled to be a money bill, which their
lordships could not amend, and they passed it with little
debate. In April, the government brought forward a second
school bill, which increased the parliamentary grant to Board
schools by £110,000. The sum was so trivial that it excited
the scorn of the friends of the Board schools, and did nothing
towards conciliating them. It became a law on the 3d of June.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896-1897 (May-April).
Continued controversies with the South African Republic.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1896-1897 (MAY-APRIL).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (January-May).
Arbitration Treaty with the United States defeated in
the United States Senate.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1897 (JANUARY-MAY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (February).
Indemnity for Jameson Raid claimed
by the South African Republic.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1897 (FEBRUARY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (February).
Loan for national defense.
Purchase of 60 square miles on Salisbury Plain.

A bill which authorized a loan of £5,458,000 for purposes of
national defense was passed rapidly through both Houses of
Parliament in February. It included an item of £450,000 for
the purchase of 40,000 acres (60 square miles) on Salisbury
Plain, for military manœuvres.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (February).
Punitive expedition against Benin.

See (in this volume)
NIGERIA: A. D. 1897.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (February-July).
Parliamentary investigation of the Jameson Raid.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1897 (FEBRUARY-JULY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (April).
Increase of armament in South Africa.
The Government accused of a war policy.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1897 (APRIL).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (May).
Treaty with Menelek of Abyssinia.

See (in this volume)
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1897.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (May-June).
New cessions and concessions from China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1897 (MAY-JUNE).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (May-July).
The Workmen's Compensation Act.

A subject which had grown urgent, in England, for
parliamentary attention, was that of a better provision in law
for securing proper compensation to workmen for accidental
injuries suffered in the course of their employment. The
measure was not one that a Conservative government would be
likely, under ordinary circumstances, to take up; since the
class of large employers of labor, from which opposition to it
came, were mostly in the Conservative ranks. But the Liberal
Unionists, now in parliamentary coalition with the
Conservatives, were called upon to favor such a piece of
legislation by their creed, and rumor said that they bargained
for it with their political partners, in exchange for the
support they gave unwillingly to the Voluntary Schools Bill.
At all events, a bill which was first called the Employers'
Liability Bill, but finally named the Workmen's Compensation
Bill, was brought in to the House of Commons, by the
government, in May, and was carried, after much debate,
through both Houses in July. The essential provisions of the
Act as passed are the following:

"I.
(1.) If in any employment to which this Act applies personal
injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the
employment is caused to a workman, his employer shall, subject
as herein-after mentioned, be liable to pay compensation in
accordance with the First Schedule to this Act.

{207}

(2.) Provided that:

(a.) The employer shall not be liable under this Act in
respect of any injury which does not disable the workman
for a period of at least two weeks from earning full wages
at the work at which he was employed;

(b.) When the injury was caused by the personal negligence
or wilful act of the employer, or of some person for whose
act or default the employer is responsible, nothing in this
Act shall affect any civil liability of the employer, but in
that case the workman may, at his option, either claim
compensation under this Act, or take the same proceedings as
were open to him before the commencement of this Act; but
the employer shall not be liable to pay compensation for
injury to a workman by accident arising out of and in the
course of the employment both independently of and also
under this Act, and shall not be liable to any proceedings
independently of this Act, except in case of such personal
negligence or wilful act as aforesaid;

(c.) If it is proved that the injury to a workman is
attributable to the serious and wilful misconduct of that
workman, any compensation claimed in respect of that injury
shall be disallowed.

(3.) If any question arises in any proceedings under this Act
as to the liability to pay compensation under this Act
(including any question as to whether the employment is one to
which this Act applies), or as to the amount or duration of
compensation under this Act, the question, if not settled by
agreement, shall, subject to the provisions of the First
Schedule to this Act, be settled by arbitration, in accordance
with the Second Schedule to this Act. …

"2.
(1.)
Proceedings for the recovery under this Act of compensation
for an injury shall not be maintainable unless notice of the
accident has been given as soon as practicable after the
happening thereof and before the workman has voluntarily left
the employment in which he was injured, and unless the claim
for compensation with respect to such accident has been made
within six months from the occurrence of the accident causing
the injury, or, in case of death, within six months from the
time of death. …

"3.
(1.)
If the Registrar of Friendly Societies, after taking steps to
ascertain the views of the employer and workmen, certifies
that any scheme of compensation, benefit, or insurance for the
workmen of an employer in any employment, whether or not such
scheme includes other employers and their workmen, is on the
whole not less favourable to the general body of workmen and
their dependants than the provisions of this Act, the employer
may, until the certificate is revoked, contract with any of
those workmen that the provisions of the scheme shall be
substituted for the provisions of this Act, and thereupon the
employer shall be liable only in accordance with the scheme,
but, save as aforesaid, this Act shall apply notwithstanding
any contract to the contrary made after the commencement of
this Act. …

"7.
(1.)
This Act shall apply only to employment by the undertakers as
herein-after defined, on or in or about a railway, factory,
mine, quarry, or engineering work, and to employment by the
undertakers as herein-after defined on, in or about any
building which exceeds thirty feet in height, and is either
being constructed or repaired by means of a scaffolding, or
being demolished, or on which machinery driven by steam,
water, or other mechanical power, is being used for the
purpose of the construction, repair, or demolition thereof.

(2.)
In this Act— … 'Undertakers' in the case of a railway means
the railway company; in the case of a factory, quarry, or
laundry means the occupier thereof within the meaning of the
Factory and Workshop Acts, 1878 to 1895; in the case of a mine
means the owner thereof within the meaning of the Coal Mines
Regulation Act, 1887, or the Metalliferous Mines Regulation
Act, 1872, as the case may be, and in the case of an
engineering work means the person undertaking the
construction, alteration, or repair; and in the case of a
building means the persons undertaking the construction,
repair, or demolition. … 'Workman' includes every person who
is engaged in an employment to which this Act applies, whether
by way of manual labour or otherwise, and whether his
agreement is one of service or apprenticeship or otherwise,
and is expressed or implied, is oral or in writing."

The "First Schedule" referred to in the first section of the
Act prescribes rules for determining compensation, those
principally important being as follows; "The amount of
compensation under this Act shall be—(a) where death results
from the injury—(i) if the workman leaves any dependants
wholly dependent upon his earnings at the time of his death, a
sum equal to his earnings in the employment of the same
employer during the three years next preceding the injury, or
the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, whichever of those
sums is the larger, but not exceeding in any case three
hundred pounds, provided that the amount of any weekly
payments made under this Act shall be deducted from such sum,
and if the period of the workman's employment by the said
employer has been less than the said three years, then the
amount of his earnings during the said three years shall be
deemed to be 156 times his average weekly earnings during the
period of his actual employment under the said employer;