Chapter XXXVIII: Section III: of article 111 of the federal constitution is (6)

(ii)
if the workman does not leave any such dependants, but leaves
any dependants in part dependent upon his earnings at the time
of his death, such sum, not exceeding in any case the amount
payable under the foregoing provisions, as may be agreed upon,
or, in default of agreement, may be determined, on arbitration
under this Act, to be reasonable and proportionate to the
injury to the said dependants; and

(iii)
if he leaves no dependants, the reasonable expenses of his
medical attendance and burial, not exceeding ten pounds; (b)
where total or partial incapacity for work results from the
injury, a weekly payment during the incapacity after the
second week not exceeding fifty per cent. of his average
weekly earnings during the previous twelve months, if he has
been so long employed, but if not, then for any less period
during which he has been in the employment of the same
employer, such weekly payment not to exceed one pound."

_60 & 61 Victoria, chapter 37._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (May-October).
Reassertion of suzerainty over the South African Republic.
Refusal of arbitration.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1897 (MAY-OCTOBER); and 1898-1899.

{208}

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (June).
The "Diamond Jubilee" of Queen Victoria.

The sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Victoria
was celebrated in London on the 20th of June, by religious
services of great solemnity and impressiveness, and, two days
later, by pageants of extraordinary pomp and magnificence, in
which representatives of every people who acknowledge the
queen's supremacy bore a part. Numerous functions and
ceremonies followed, to many of which the aged sovereign was
able to lend her presence. At the end of all, on the 15th of
July, she addressed the following letter to the millions of
her subjects throughout the world: "I have frequently
expressed my personal feelings to my people, and though on
this memorable occasion there have been many official
expressions of my deep sense of the unbounded loyalty evinced
I cannot rest satisfied without personally giving utterance to
these sentiments. It is difficult for me on this occasion to
say how truly touched and grateful I am for the spontaneous
and universal outburst of loyal attachment and real affection
which I have experienced on the completion of the sixtieth
year of my reign. During my progress through London on the
22nd of June this great enthusiasm was shown in the most
striking manner, and can never be effaced from my heart. It is
indeed deeply gratifying, after so many years of labour and
anxiety for the good of my beloved country, to find that my
exertions have been appreciated throughout my vast empire. In
weal and woe I have ever had the true sympathy of all my
people, which has been warmly reciprocated by myself. It has
given me unbounded pleasure to see so many of my subjects from
all parts of the world assembled here, and to find them
joining in the acclamations of loyal devotion to myself, and I
would wish to thank them all from the depth of my grateful
heart. I shall ever pray God to bless them and to enable me
still to discharge my duties for their welfare as long as life
lasts.
VICTORIA, R. I."

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (June-July).
Conference of colonial premiers with the Secretary of
State for the Colonies.
Discussion of important questions.
Denunciation of commercial treaties with Germany and Belgium.

"On Thursday, the 24th of June, the Prime Ministers of Canada,
New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, Queensland, Cape
Colony, South Australia, Newfoundland, Tasmania, Western
Australia, and Natal, assembled at the Colonial Office,
Downing Street, for the discussion of certain Imperial
questions with the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was
decided that the proceedings should be informal and that the
general results only should be published. With the view of
giving a definite direction to the discussion, the Secretary
of State, in opening the proceedings, set forth the subjects
which he considered might usefully be discussed, so as to
secure an interchange of views upon them, and where they were
ripe for a statement of opinion, a definite resolution in
regard to them. [He did so in a speech of some length, after
which the several questions brought forward in his remarks
were discussed in succession at a series of meetings in the
Colonial Office.] The commercial relations of the United
Kingdom and the self-governing Colonies were first considered,
and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:

1. That the Premiers of the self-governing Colonies
unanimously and earnestly recommend the denunciation, at the
earliest convenient time, of any treaties which now hamper the
commercial relations between Great Britain and her Colonies.

2. That in the hope of improving the trade relations between
the mother country and the Colonies, the Premiers present
undertake to confer with their colleagues with the view to
seeing whether such a result can be properly secured by a
preference given by the Colonies to the products of the United
Kingdom. Her Majesty's Government have already [July 31, 1897]
given effect to the first of these resolutions by formally
notifying to the Governments concerned their wish to terminate
the commercial treaties with Germany and Belgium, which alone
of the existing commercial treaties of the United Kingdom are
a bar to the establishment of preferential tariff relations
between the mother country and the Colonies. From and after
the 30th July 1898, therefore, there will be nothing in any of
Her Majesty's treaty obligations to preclude any action which any
of the Colonies may see fit to take in pursuance of the second
resolution. It is, however, right to point out that if any
Colony were to go farther and to grant preferential terms to
any Foreign Country, the provisions of the most favoured
nation clauses in many treaties between Her Majesty and other
powers, in which the Colonies are included, would necessitate
the concession of similar terms to those countries.

"On the question of the political relations between the mother
country and the self-governing Colonies, the resolutions
adopted were as follows:

1. The Prime Ministers here assembled are of opinion that the
present political relations between the United Kingdom and the
self-governing Colonies are generally satisfactory under the
existing condition of things. Mr. Seddon and Sir E. N. C.
Braddon dissented.

2. They are also of opinion that it is desirable, whenever and
wherever practicable, to group together under a federal union
those colonies which are geographically united. Carried
unanimously.

3. Meanwhile, the Premiers are of opinion that it would be
desirable to hold periodical conferences of representatives of
the Colonies and Great Britain for the discussion of matters
of common interest. Carried unanimously. Mr. Seddon and Sir E.
N. C. Braddon dissented from the first resolution because they
were of opinion that the time had already come when an effort
should be made to render more formal the political ties
between the United Kingdom and the Colonies. The majority of
the Premiers were not yet prepared to adopt this position, but
there was a strong feeling amongst some of them that with the
rapid growth of population in the Colonies, the present
relations could not continue indefinitely, and that some means
would have to be devised for giving the Colonies a voice in
the control and direction of those questions of Imperial
interest in which they are concerned equally with the mother
country. It was recognised at the same time that such a share
in the direction of Imperial policy would involve a
proportionate contribution in aid of Imperial expenditure, for
which at present, at any rate, the Colonies generally are not
prepared.

"On the question of Imperial defence, the various points
raised in the speech of the Secretary of State were fully
discussed;" but on this, and on some questions of minor
importance, no conclusions were definitely formulated.

_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command, C.-8596, 1897)._

{209}

The following reference to the "denunciation" of the treaties
appeared in the "London Statist" of August 7, 1897: "Last week
the British Government gave notice to Germany and Belgium of
its intention to terminate the commercial treaties with those
countries at the end of July next year, at the same time
expressing its willingness to conclude fresh treaties. This
important step is a fitting sequel to the jubilee festivities.
It is a graceful recognition of the great loyalty displayed by
our colonies toward the mother country and prepares the way to
that closer union which this paper has strongly advocated. In
twelve months' time, therefore, we shall be free from our
embarrassing engagements not to permit our colonies to place
higher or other import duties on the produce of Germany and
Belgium than upon the produce of the United Kingdom. Our
colonies will thus have complete freedom to place what duties
they choose on any produce they care to purchase from the
United Kingdom or from any other country, and if they so
desire they may place discriminating duties on their own
exports. The action taken indicates no change in the policy of
this country, and foreign nations need have no fear that
British markets will be closed to their produce. It is quite
possible that at some future time, when the colonies have much
further developed their resources and the struggle for
existence becomes still keener, we may be disposed to give a
greater preference to colonial than to foreign produce, but
that period has not yet come. Of course, the time may be
greatly hastened by the attitude of foreign countries. The
unfriendliness of Germany last year caused a wave of feeling
in this country in favor of a duty upon German goods, and the
Canadian offer of preferential duties to the mother country
has created a responsive desire to assist Canadian trade.
Should our other colonies follow the lead of Canada, which,
from Mr. Chamberlain's statement, appears most likely, a
strong movement might arise for giving them preferential
treatment, especially if, at the same time, Germany, Belgium,
or anyone else were disposed to raise their duties on British
goods."

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (July-October).
Discussion with American envoys of a bi-metallic agreement.

See (in this volume)
MONETARY QUESTIONS: A. D. 1897 (APRIL-OCTOBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (August).
Report on condition and prospects of West India colonies,
and Parliamentary action.

See (in this volume)
WEST INDIES, THE BRITISH: A. D. 1897.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897-1898.
Campaigns on the Nile.
Anglo-Egyptian conquest of the Sudan.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1897-1898.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897-1898.
Insurrections and mutiny in Uganda.

See (in this volume)
UGANDA: A. D. 1897-1898.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897-1898 (June-April).
Wars on the Afghan frontier of India.

See (in this volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1897-1898.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1897-1898 (July-January).
The great strike and lock-out in the engineering trades.

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

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898.
Alleged treaty with Portugal.

See (in this volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1898.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898.
Results of British occupation of Egypt.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1898.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (February).
British troops fighting in eight regions of the world.

"We are a people of peaceful traders—shopkeepers, our rivals
of the Continent affirm—and are consequently at war on only
eight points of the globe, with forces which in the aggregate
only just exceed sixty thousand men. There are thirty-five
thousand on the Indian Frontier fighting the clansmen of the
Northern Himalayas, who, according to the Afridi sub-officers
interrogated by Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, are all eager to
enter our service; twenty-five thousand about to defeat the
Khalifa at Omdurman; a thousand doing sentry duty in Crete;
four hundred putting down an outbreak in Mekran; three hundred
crushing a mutiny in Uganda; and some hundreds more restoring
order in Lagos, Borneo, and Basutoland. All these troops,
though of different nationalities—Englishmen, Sikhs, Ghoorkas,
Rajpoots, Malays, Egyptians, Soudanese, Haussas, and Wagandas—
are under British officers, are paid from funds under British
control, and are engaged in the self-same work, that of
solidifying the 'Pax Britannica,' so that a commercial
civilisation may have a fair chance to grow."

_The Spectator (London), February 5, 1898._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (February).
Resentment shown to China for rejection of a loan,
through Russian influence.
Chinese agreement not to alienate the Yang-tsze region
and to open internal waters to steam navigation.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (February-May).
Native revolt in the Sierra Leone Protectorate.

See (in this volume)
SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (March-April).
Unsuccessful opposition to Russian lease of Port Arthur
and Talienwan from China.
Compensatory British lease of Wei-hai Wei.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (MARCH-JULY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (April-August).
Further exactions from China.
Lease of territory opposite Hong Kong, etc.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-AUGUST).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (May).
Death of Mr. Gladstone.

After a long and painful illness, the great statesman and
leader of the Liberal party in England, William Ewart
Gladstone, died on the 19th of May. His death drew tributes in
Parliament from his political opponents which exalted him quite
to the height of great distinction that those who followed him
would claim. It was said by Lord Salisbury that "the most
distinguished political name of the century had been withdrawn
from the roll of Englishmen." Mr. Balfour described him as
"the greatest member of the greatest deliberative assembly
that the world had yet seen": and expressed the belief that
"they would never again have in that assembly any man who
could reproduce what Mr. Gladstone was to his contemporaries."

Lord Rosebery paid an eloquent tribute to the dead statesman.
"This country." he said, "this nation, loves brave men. Mr.
Gladstone was the bravest of the brave. There was no cause so
hopeless that he was afraid to undertake it; there was no
amount of opposition that would cowe him when once he had
undertaken it. My lords, Mr. Gladstone always expressed a hope
that there might be an interval left to him between the end of
his political and of his natural life. That period was given
to him, for it is more than four years since he quitted the
sphere of politics. Those four years have been with him a
special preparation for his death, but have they not also been
a preparation for his death with the nation at large?
{210}
Had he died in the plenitude of his power as Prime Minister,
would it have been possible for a vigorous and convinced
Opposition to allow to pass to him, without a word of dissent,
the honours which are now universally conceded? Hushed for the
moment are the voices of criticism, hushed are the controversies
in which he took part; hushed for the moment is the very sound
of party faction. I venture to think that this is a notable
fact in our history. It was not so with the elder Pitt. It was
not so with the younger Pitt. It was not so with the elder
Pitt, in spite of his tragic end, of his unrivalled services,
and of his enfeebled old age. It was not so with the younger
Pitt, in spite of his long control of the country and his
absolute and absorbed devotion to the State. I think that we
should remember this as creditable not merely to the man, but
to the nation." With the consent of Mrs. Gladstone and family,
a public funeral was voted by Parliament, and the remains of the
great leader were laid, with simple but impressive ceremonies,
in Westminster Abbey, on the 28th of May.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (June).
The Sugar Conference at Brussels.

See (in this volume)
SUGAR BOUNTIES.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (July).
The Local Government Act for Ireland.

See (in this volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1898 (JULY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (July-December).
In the Chinese "Battle of Concessions."

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (September-November).-
The Nile question with France.
Marchand's expedition at Fashoda.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1898 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (December).
Imperial Penny Postage.

On Christmas Day, 1898, the Imperial penny postage came into
operation,—i. e., it became possible to send for a penny a
letter not above half an ounce in weight to all places in the
British Empire, except the Australasian Colonies and the Cape.
"Thousands of small orders and business transactions and
millions of questions and answers will fly round the world at
a penny which were too heavily weighted at two-pence
halfpenny. The political effect of the fact that it will not
now be necessary to think whether an address is outside the
United Kingdom, but only whether it is inside the British
Empire, will be by no means insignificant. If people will only
let the Empire alone we shall ultimately weave out of many
varied strands—some thick, some thin—a rope to join the
Motherland and the Daughter States which none will be able to
break. Not an unimportant thread in the hawser will
be,—letters for a penny wherever the Union Jack is flown."

_The Spectator (London),
December 31, 1898._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898-1899.
Joint High Commission for settlement of pending questions
between the United States and Canada.

See (in this volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1898-1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1898-1899 (June-June).
Convention with France defining West African and
Sudan possessions.

See (in this volume)
NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899.
Dealings with anti-missionary demonstrations in China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (January).
Agreement with Egypt, establishing the Anglo-Egyptian
Condominium in the Sudan.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1899 (JANUARY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (March-April).
Agreement with Russia concerning railway interests in China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1899 (MARCH-APRIL).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (May-June).
The Bloemfontein Conference with President Kruger.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1899 (MAY-JUNE).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (May-July).
Representation in the Peace Conference at The Hague.

See (in this volume)
PEACE CONFERENCE.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (June-October).
Arbitration and settlement of the Venezuela boundary question.

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

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (July).
Passage of the London Government Act.

See (in this volume)
LONDON: A. D. 1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (July-September).
Discussion of proposed amendments to the Franchise Law
of the South African Republic.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1899 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (August).
The Board of Education Act.

An Act of Parliament which became law on the 9th of August,
1899, and operative on the 1st of April, 1900, created a
national Board of Education, "charged with the superintendence
of matters relating to education in England and Wales," and
taking the place of the Committee of the Privy Council on
Education, by which that function had previously been
performed. The Act provided that the Board "shall consist of a
President, and of the Lord President of the Council (unless he
is appointed President of the Board), Her Majesty's Principal
Secretaries of State, the First Commissioner of Her Majesty's
Treasury, and the Chancellor of Her Majesty's Exchequer. … The
President of the Board shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and
shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure." The Act
provided further for the creation by Her Majesty in Council of
"a Consultative Committee consisting, as to not less than
two-thirds, of persons qualified to represent the views of
Universities and other bodies interested in education, for the
purpose of—(a) framing, with the approval of the Board of
Education, regulations for a register of teachers, … with an
entry in respect to each teacher showing the date of his
registration, and giving a brief record of his qualifications
and experience; and (b) advising the Board of Education on any
matter referred to the committee by the Board."

_62 & 63 Victoria, chapter 33._

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (August).
Instructions to the Governor of Jamaica.

See (in this volume) JAMAICA: A. D. 1899.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (September-October).
Preparations for war in South Africa.
The Boer Ultimatum.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL AND ORANGE FREE STATE):
A. D. 1899 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (October-November).
Opening circumstances of the war in South Africa.
Want of preparation.

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

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (November).
Adhesion to the arrangement of an "open door" commercial
policy in China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1899-1900 (SEPTEMBER-FEBRUARY).

{211}

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (November).
Withdrawal from the Samoan Islands, with compensations in the
Tonga and Solomon Islands and in Africa.

See (in this volume)
SAMOAN ISLANDS.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899-1900.
Renewed investigation of the Old-Age Pension question.

On the initiative of the government, a fresh investigation of
the question of old-age pensions was opened in 1899 by a
select committee of the House of Commons, under the
chairmanship of Mr. Chaplin. The report of the Committee, made
in the following year, suggested the following plan: Any
person, aged 65, whether man or woman, who satisfied the
pension authority that he or she"

(1) Is a British subject;

(2) Is 65 years of age;

(3) Has not within the last 20 years been convicted of an
offence and sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment
without the option of a fine;

(4) Has not received poor relief, other than medical relief,
unless under circumstances of a wholly exceptional character,
during twenty years prior to the application for a pension;

(5) Is resident within the district of the pension authority;

(6) Has not an income from any source of more than 10s. a
week; and

(7) Has endeavoured to the best of his ability, by his
industry or by the exercise of reasonable providence, to make
provision for himself and those immediately dependent on
him—"should receive a certificate to that effect and be
entitled to a pension. The amount of pension to be from 5s. to
7s. a week.

As a means of ascertaining approximately the number of persons
in the United Kingdom who would be pensionable under this
scheme, a test census was taken in certain districts made as
representative as possible by the inclusion of various kinds
of population. In each of the selected areas in Great Britain
a house-to-house visitation was made with a view of
ascertaining how many of the aged would satisfy the conditions
of the scheme. In Ireland a similar census had to be abandoned
as impracticable because "the officials, although they
proceeded courteously, were received with abuse"; but the Poor
Law inspectors framed some rough estimates after consultation
with local authorities. Altogether the inquiry in Great
Britain extended to a population of rather over half a million
persons. From facts thus obtained the following estimate of
the cost of the proposed pensioning project was deduced:

Estimated number of persons
over 65 years of age in 1901 2,016,000
Deduct:
1. For those whose incomes exceed 10s. a week 741,000
2. For paupers 515,000
3. For aliens, criminals, and lunatics 32,000
4. For inability to comply with thrift test 72,700

Total deductions 1,360,700

Estimated number of pensionable persons 655,000

Estimated cost (the average pension being
taken at 6s. a week) £9,976,000
Add administrative expenses (3 per cent.) £299,000

Total estimated cost. £10,275,000

In round figures. £10,300,000

The Committee estimated, still further, that the cost would
rise to £15,650,000 by 1921. No legislative action was taken
on the report.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899-1900 (October-January).
Troops from Canada for the South African War.

See (in this volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1899-1900.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1899-1901.
The Newfoundland French Shore question.

See (in this volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1899-1901.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900.
Industrial combinations.

See (in this volume)
TRUSTS: IN ENGLAND.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900.
Naval strength.

See (in this volume)
NAVIES OF THE SEA POWERS.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (January-March).
The outbreak of the "Boxers" in northern China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1900 (JANUARY-MARCH).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (February).
Compulsory education.

A bill introduced in Parliament by a private member,
unsupported by the government, providing that the earliest
date at which a child should be permitted to leave school
should be raised from 11 to 12 years, was passed, only one
member of the Cabinet voting for it.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (February).
Negotiation of a convention with the United States relative
to the projected Interoceanic Canal.

See (in this volume)
CANAL, INTEROCEANIC: A. D. 1900 (DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (March).
Overtures of peace from the Boer Presidents.
Reply of Lord Salisbury.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1900 (MARCH).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (May).
Annexation of Orange Free State by right of conquest.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (ORANGE FREE STATE): A. D. 1900 (MAY).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (June-December).
Co-operation with the Powers in China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (July).
Passage of the "Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act,"
federating the Australian Colonies.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1900;
and CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRALIA.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (September).
Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1900 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (September-October).
Dissolution of Parliament.
Election of a new Parliament.
Victory for the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists.

By royal proclamation, September 17, the existing Parliament
was dissolved and order given for the issue of writs calling a
new Parliament, the elections for which were held in October,
concluding on the 24th of that month. The state of parties in
the House of Commons resulting from the election was as
follows: Conservatives, 334, Liberal Unionists, 68; total
supporters of the Unionist Ministry, 402. Liberals and Labor
members, 186, Nationalists (Irish), 82; total opposition, 268.
Unionist majority, 134, against 128 in the preceding
Parliament. The issues in the election were those growing out
of the South African War. Although most of the Liberals upheld
the war, and the annexation of the South African republics,
they sharply criticised the prior dealings of the Colonial
Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, with the Transvaal Boers, and the
general conduct of the war. A number of the leading Liberals
were uncompromising in condemnation of the war, of the policy
which caused it, and of the proposed extinction of Boer
independence. The sentiment of the country was shown by the
election to be strongly against all questioning of the
righteousness of the war or of the use to be made of victory
in it.

{212}

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (October).
Anglo-German agreement concerning policy in China.

See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1900 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (October).
Annexation of the Transvaal.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1900 (OCTOBER).

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (November-December).
The Fourth Ministry of Lord Salisbury.
Brief session of Parliament.

For the fourth time, Lord Salisbury was called to the lead in
government, and formed his Ministry anew, making considerable
changes. He relieved himself of the conduct of Foreign Affairs
(which was transferred to the Marquis of Lansdowne), and took,
with the office of Prime Minister, that of Lord Privy Seal. Mr.
Brodrick, who had been an Under Secretary, succeeded Lord
Lansdowne as Secretary of State for War. Mr. Balfour continued
to be First Lord of the Treasury, and Leader of the House; Mr.
Chamberlain remained in the Colonial Office. Mr. Goschen
retired.

Parliament met on the 6th of December, for the purpose set
forth in a remarkably brief "Queen's Speech," as follows: "My
Lords, and Gentlemen, It has become necessary to make further
provision for the expenses incurred by the operations of my
armies in South Africa and China. I have summoned you to hold
a Special Session in order that you may give your sanction to
the enactments required for this purpose. I will not enter
upon other public matters requiring your attention until the
ordinary meeting of Parliament in the spring." The estimates
of the War Office called for £16,000,000, and it was voted
after a few days of debate, in which the causes and conduct of
the war were criticised and defended by the two parties, and,
on the 15th, Parliament was prorogued to the 14th of February,
1901, by the Queen's command.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (December).
Fall of stones at Stonehenge.

See (in this volume)
STONEHENGE.

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (December).
Parliamentary statements of the number of men employed in the
South African War, and the number dead and disabled.

In the House of Commons, December 11, Mr. Brodrick, Secretary
of State for War, moved a vote of £16,000,000, required for
the current year, to meet additional expenditure in South
Africa and China. In the course of his remarks, explanatory of
the need for this supplementary supply, he made the following
statement: "When the war broke out we had in South Africa in
round figures 10,000 men, all Regular troops. We have in the
14 months' which have since elapsed sent from this country and
landed in South Africa 175,000 Regular soldiers, a number which
exceeds by far any number which any Minister from this bench
or any gentleman sitting behind these benches or in front of
them ever suggested that this country ought to be in a
position to ship to any part of the world, and a number far in
excess of that which during any period that I have sat in the
house any member of the House, except an official, would have
been willing to believe that the War Office could find to
dispose of. But they are not the only troops. We have called
on them, I will not say to the extreme limit of our power,
but, at all events, with an unsparing hand. But you have in
addition, as this return will show, some 40,000 Volunteers of
various descriptions from the United Kingdom—40,000 including
the Imperial Yeomanry, whose service is spoken of by every
officer under whom they have served with such satisfaction; 30
Militia regiments, who are also Volunteers, since their term
of service was only for the United Kingdom and who have gone
abroad at great personal sacrifice to themselves; and the
volunteer companies who have joined the Regular battalions.
You have also got 40,000 colonial troops, to a large extent,
no doubt, men raised in the colonies affected, and as
everybody knows to a still larger extent consisting of men who
have gone for a year from Australia, Canada, and other
places."

Sir William Harcourt replied to Mr. Brodrick, not in
opposition to the motion, but in criticism of the conduct of
the war. Referring to a return submitted by the War Office, he
analyzed its showing of facts, thus: "Now just let us look at
this table. By some accident it only gives the rank and file
and non-commissioned officers. It is a very terrible return,
and I think it is worthy of the attention of the men who
delight in war, of whom, I am afraid, there are unhappily not
a few. I have made a short analysis of the paper. It shows
that the garrison at the Cape before the war was 9,600.
Reinforcements of 6,300 men were sent out in October last year
and from India 5,600, which with the former garrison made up
21,000 in all when the war broke out. Up to August, that is,
after the last estimate for 1900, according to this table
267,000 men had been in arms in South Africa—that is without
the officers. Therefore I will call it 270,000 men in round
numbers. I think the right honourable gentleman made a mistake
when he said that the colonial troops were more numerous from
beyond the seas than they were in the Cape. This return shows
that the men raised in South Africa were 30,000, and, apart
from them, the colonials from beyond the seas were 11,000.
According to the last return there were 210,000 men in South
Africa. You will observe there is a balance of some 60,000 or
70,000 men. What has become of those men? You would find from
this return, one would suppose, that a good many of these have
returned safe and sound to England. No, Sir; the men who have
returned to England according to this paper, not invalids, are
7,500 and to the colonies 3,000 more. That makes 10,000 men,
or with the officers about 11,000 men. But since July you have
sent out 13,000 men to South Africa, more, in fact, than you
have been bringing home, and yet you have only 210,000 men
there. Now, Sir, how is this accounted for? First of all you
have the heading, 'killed or died of wounds,' 11,000 men. You
have 'wounded,' 13,000, you have 'in hospital in South
Africa,' 12,000, and you have 'returned to England, sick,
wounded, or died on passage,' 36,000 men. That is the balance.
Seventy thousand men have been killed, wounded, or disabled,
or have died in this war. And now what is the prospect that is
held before us with this force, once 270,000 men, and now
210,000, in South Africa? Lord Roberts has declared that the
war is over, yet you hold out to us no prospect of diminishing
the force you have in South Africa of 210,000 men."

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ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (January).
Death of Queen Victoria.

The following notice, which appeared in the "Court Circular,"
on the 18th of January, dated from the winter residence of the
Queen at Osborne House, in the Isle of Wight, seems to have
been the first intimation to the country of its sovereign's
failing health: "The Queen has not lately been in her usual
health and is unable for the present to take her customary
drives. The Queen during the past year has had a great strain
upon her powers, which has rather told upon her Majesty's
nervous system. It has, therefore, been thought advisable by
her Majesty's physicians that the Queen should be kept
perfectly quiet in the house and should abstain for the
present from transacting business." It was subsequently found,
as stated in an "authoritative account" by the "British
Medical Journal," and the "Lancet," that "the Queen's health
for the past 12 months had been failing, with symptoms mainly
of a dyspeptic kind, accompanied by impaired general
nutrition, periods of insomnia, and later by occasional slight
and transitory attacks of aphasia, the latter suggesting that
the cerebral vessels had become damaged, although her
Majesty's general arterial system showed remarkably few signs
of age. … The dyspepsia which tended to lower her Majesty's
original robust constitution was especially marked during her
last visit to Balmoral. It was there that the Queen first
manifested distinct symptoms of brain fatigue and lost notably
in weight. These symptoms continued at Windsor, where in November
and December, 1900, slight aphasic symptoms were first
observed, always of an ephemeral kind, and unattended by any
motor paralysis. … A few days before the final illness
transient but recurring symptoms of apathy and somnolence,
with aphasic indications and increasing feebleness, gave great
uneasiness to her physician." Before the publication of the
cautious announcement quoted above, the symptoms had become
too grave to leave any doubt as to the near approach of death.
It came on Tuesday, the 22d of January, at half past six
o'clock in the evening, the dying Queen being then surrounded
by a large number of her many children, grandchildren and
great grandchildren, whom she recognized, it is said, within a
few moments of the end. The eldest of the Queen's children,
the Empress Frederick, was kept from her mother's side a this
last hour by serious illness of her own; but the Emperor
William, of Germany (son of the Empress Frederick and eldest
grandson of Queen Victoria) had hastened to the scene and
showed a filial affection which touched English hearts.

On Friday, the first day of February, the remains of the Queen
were borne from the island where she died to Portsmouth, between
long lines of battle-ships and cruisers—British, German,
French, Italian, Japanese, Belgian and Portuguese. The scene
of the funeral voyage was impressively described by a
correspondent of the New York "Sun," as follows: "Nature was
never kindlier. The smiling waters of the Solent were as calm
as on a summer's morning. It was 'Queen's weather' to the very
last. The cavalcade which wended slowly through the narrow
lane, green even in midwinter, down through the streets of the
little town of Cowes to the Trinity pier was a funeral
procession such as the world had never seen before. Kings and
princes, a Queen and princesses, walked humbly between black
lines of mourning islanders, escorting the coffin of the dead
sovereign. Then followed a sight far more notable and more
impressive, indeed, than the great tribute the great capital
of the empire will pay to-morrow. It was the transit of the
funeral yacht across the waters between lines of steel which
are England's bulwarks against the world. Battleship after
battleship thundered its grief, band after band wailed its
dirge and crew after crew bowed low their heads as the pigmy
yacht swept past, bearing no passengers save an admiral on the
bridge and four red-coated guards at the corners of the
simple, glowing white bier resting amidships. It was a picture
neither a painter's brush nor an orator's eloquence could
reproduce. … The boat slowly glided on in the mellow light of
the afternoon sun, herself almost golden in hue, sharply
contrasting with the black warships. The ears also were
assailed in strange contrast, the sad strains of Beethoven's
funeral march floating over the water being punctuated by the
roar of minute guns from each ship. Somehow it was not
incongruous and one felt that it was all a great and majestic
tribute to a reign which was an era and to a sovereign to whom
the world pays its highest honors."

On the following day the remains were conveyed by railway from
Portsmouth to London, carried in solemn procession through the
streets of the capital, and thence by railway to Windsor,
where the last rites were performed on Monday, the 4th. The
Queen was then laid to rest, by the side of her husband, in
the mausoleum which she had built at Frogmore.

Of the sincerity with which Queen Victoria had been loved by
her own people and respected and admired by the world at
large, and of the genuineness of sorrow that was manifested
everywhere at her death, there can be no doubt. To the
impressiveness of the ending of an unexampled period of
history there was added a true sense of loss, from the
disappearance of a greatly important personage, whose high
example had been pure and whose large influence had been good.

Among all the tributes to the Queen that were called out by
her death none seem so significant and so fully drawn from
knowledge of what she was in her regal character, as the words
that were spoken by Lord Salisbury in the House of Lords, at
the meeting of Parliament on the Friday following her death.
"My lords." he said, "the late Queen had so many titles to our
admiration that it would occupy an enormous time to glance at
them even perfunctorily; but that on which I think your
lordships should most reflect, and which will chiefly attach
to her character in history, is that, being a constitutional
monarch with restricted powers, she reigned by sheer force of
character, by the lovableness of her disposition, over the
hearts of her subjects, and exercised an influence in moulding
their character and destiny which she could not have done more
if she had bad the most despotic power. She has been a great
instance of government by example, by esteem, by love; and it
will never be forgotten how much she has done for the
elevation of her people, not by the exercise of any
prerogative, not by the giving of any commands, but by the
simple recognition and contemplation of the brilliant
qualities which she has exhibited in her exalted position. My
lords, it may be, perhaps, proper that those who, like noble
lords opposite and myself, have had the opportunity of seeing
the close workings of her character in the discharge of her
duties as Sovereign, should take this opportunity of
testifying to the great admiration she inspired and the great
force which her distinguishing characteristics exercised over
all who came near her.
{214}
The position of a Constitutional Sovereign is not an easy one.
Duties have to be reconciled which sometimes seem far apart.
Much has to be accepted which it may not be always pleasant to
accept; but she showed a wonderful power, on the one hand, of
observing with the most absolute strictness, the limits of her
action which the Constitution draws, and, on the other hand, of
maintaining a steady and persistent influence on the action of
her Ministers in the course of legislation and government
which no one could mistake. She was able to accept some things
of which, perhaps, she did not entirely approve, but which she
thought it her duty in her position to accept.

"She always maintained and practised a rigorous supervision
over public affairs, giving to her Ministers her frank advice
and warning them of danger if she saw there was danger ahead;
and she certainly impressed many of us with a profound sense
of the penetration, almost intuition, with which she saw the
perils with which we might be threatened in any course it was
thought expedient to adopt. She left upon my mind, she left
upon our minds, the conviction that it was always a dangerous
matter to press on her any course of the expediency of which
she was not thoroughly convinced; and I may say with
confidence that no Minister in her long reign ever disregarded
her advice, or pressed her to disregard it, without afterwards
feeling that he had incurred a dangerous responsibility. She
had an extraordinary knowledge of what her people would think.
I have said for years that I always thought that when I knew
what the Queen thought I knew certainly what view her subjects
would take, and especially the middle classes of her subjects.
Such was the extraordinary penetration of her mind. Yet she
never adhered to her own conceptions obstinately. On the
contrary, she was full of concession and consideration; and
she spared no effort—I might almost say she shrank from no
sacrifice—to make the task of conducting this difficult
Government more easy to her advisers than it would otherwise
have been. My lords, I feel sure that the testimony I have
borne will be abundantly sustained by all those who have been
called to serve her.

"We owe her gratitude in every direction—for her influence in
elevating the people, for her power with foreign Courts and
Sovereigns to remove difficulties and misapprehension which
sometimes might have been dangerous; but, above all things, I
think, we owe her gratitude for this, that by a happy
dispensation her reign has coincided with that great change
which has come over the political structure of this country
and the political instincts of its people. She has bridged
over that great interval which separates old England from new
England. Other nations may have had to pass through similar
trials, but have seldom passed through them so peaceably, so
easily, and with so much prosperity and success as we have. I
think that future historians will look to the Queen's reign as
the boundary which separates the two states of England—England
which has changed so much—and recognize that we have undergone
the change with constant increase of public prosperity,
without any friction to endanger the peace or stability of our
civil life, and at the same time with a constant expansion of
an Empire which every year grows more and more powerful. We
owe all these blessings to the tact, the wisdom, the
passionate patriotism, and the incomparable judgment of the
Sovereign whom we deplore." [sic]

In the House of Commons, on the same day, Mr. Balfour, the
leader of the House, spoke with fine feeling, partly as
follows: "The reign of Queen Victoria is no mere chronological
landmark. It is no mere convenient division of time, useful
for the historian or the chronicler. No, Sir, we feel as we do
feel for our great loss because we intimately associate the
personality of Queen Victoria with the great succession of
events which have filled her reign and with the development of
the Empire over which she ruled. And, associating her
personality with those events, surely we do well. In my
judgment, the importance of the Crown in our Constitution is
not a diminishing, but an increasing, factor. It is
increasing, and must increase, with the growth and development
of those free, self-governing communities, those new
commonwealths beyond the sea, who are bound to us by the
person of the Sovereign, who is the living symbol of the unity
of the Empire. But, Sir, it is not given, it cannot, in
ordinary course, be given, to a Constitutional Monarch to
signalize his reign by any great isolated action. The effect
of a Constitutional Sovereign, great as it is, is produced by
the slow, constant, and cumulative results of a great ideal
and a great example; and of that great ideal and that great
example Queen Victoria surely was the first of all
Constitutional Monarchs whom the world has yet seen. Where
shall we find that ideal so lofty in itself, so constantly and
consistently maintained, through two generations, through more
than two generations, of her subjects, through many
generations of her public men and members of this House?

[Image: Descendants of Queen Victoria.]

"Sir, it would be almost impertinent for me were I to attempt
to express to the House in words the effect which the
character of our late Sovereign produced upon all who were in
any degree, however remote, brought in contact with her. The
simple dignity, befitting a Monarch of this realm, in that she
could never fail, because it arose from her inherent sense of
the fitness of things. It was no trapping put on for office,
and therefore it was that this dignity, this Queenly dignity,
only served to throw into stronger relief and into a brighter
light those admirable virtues of the wife, the mother, and the
woman with which she was so richly endowed. Those kindly
graces, those admirable qualities, have endeared her to every
class in the community, and are known to all. Perhaps less
known was the life of continuous labour which her position as
Queen threw upon her. Short as was the interval between the
last trembling signature affixed to a public document and
final rest, it was yet long enough to clog and hamper the
wheels of administration; and I remember when I saw a vast
mass of untouched documents which awaited the hand of the
Sovereign of this country to deal with it was brought vividly
before my mind how admirable was the unostentatious patience
with which for 63 years, through sorrow, through suffering, in
moments of weariness, in moments of despondency, it may be,
she carried on without intermission her share in the
government of this great Empire.
{216}
For her there was no holiday, to her there was no intermission
of toil. Domestic sorrow, domestic sickness, made no difference
in her labours, and they were continued from the hour at which
she became our Sovereign to within a very few days of her
death. It is easy to chronicle the growth of Empire, the
progress of trade, the triumphs of war, all the events that
make history interesting or exciting; but who is there that
will dare to weigh in the balance the effect which such an
example continued over 63 years has produced on the highest
life of the people? It is a great life, and had a fortunate,
and, let me say, in my judgment, a happy ending."

The especial and peculiar importance which Queen Victoria had
acquired in the political world, and the weight in its
councils which England owed to her personality, were
impressively suggested by Lord Rosebery, in a speech which he
made at a special court of the Governors of the Corporation of
the Royal Scottish Hospital, when he said: "We hear much in
these days of the life of the Queen and of what we owe her.
But I sometimes wonder if we all realize how much we do owe
her, for you would have had to know much about the Queen to
realize adequately the debt which the nation was under to her.
Probably every subject in Great Britain realizes that he has
lost his greatest and his best friend. But they do not
understand of what enormous weight in the councils of the
world we are deprived by the death of our late Sovereign. She
gave to the councils of Great Britain an advantage which no
talents, no brilliancy, no genius, could supply. Think of what
her reign was! She had reigned for 63 years. For 63 years she
had known all that was to be known about the political
condition of her country. For 63 years she had been in
communication with every important Minister and with every
important public man. She had received reports, daily reports
almost, from her successive Ministers, or their deputies in
the House of Commons. She had, therefore, a fund of knowledge
which no constitutional historian has ever had at his command.
That by the stroke of death is lost to us to-day. All that was of
incalculable advantage to our Monarchy. But have you realized
what the personal weight of the late Queen was in the councils
of the world? She was by far the senior of all the European
Sovereigns. She was, it is no disparagement to other Kings to
say, the chief of all the European Sovereigns. The German
Emperor was her grandson by birth. The Emperor of Russia was
her grandson by marriage. She had reigned 11 years when the
Emperor of Austria came to his throne. She had seen two
dynasties pass from the throne of France. She had seen, as
Queen, three Monarchs of Spain, and four Sovereigns of the
House of Savoy in Italy. In all those kingdoms which have been
carved out of the Turkish Empire she had seen the foundation
of their reigning dynasties. Can we not realize, then, what a
force the personal influence of such a Sovereign was in the
troubled councils of Europe? And when, as we know, that
influence was always given for peace, for freedom, and for
good government, we feel that not merely ourselves but all the
world has lost one of its best friends."

A statement in the "London Times" of January 26 shows the
descendants of Queen Victoria to be in number as follows: "The
Queen has had

9 children of whom 6 survive
40 grandchildren of whom 31 survive
37 great-grandchildren of whom 37 survive

[A total of] 86 [of whom] 74 [survive].

"Of the great-grandchildren 22 are boys and 15 are girls; 6
are grandchildren of the Prince of Wales; 18 are grandchildren
of the Empress Frederick; 11 are grandchildren of the late
Princess Alice; 6 are grandchildren of the late Duke of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This would appear to make a total of
41, but three of them are grandchildren of both the Empress
Frederick and Princess Alice, while one is grandchild of both
the Princess Alice and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

"It will be seen that in the course of nature the future
rulers of Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Greece, and Rumania
will be descendants of her Majesty."

ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (January-February).
Ceremonies of the accession of King Edward VII.
His speech in Council and his messages to the people
of the British Empire.

On Wednesday, the 23d of January—the day following the death
of the Queen—her eldest son, Albert Edward, long known as
Prince of Wales, went from Osborne to London to take up the
sceptre of sovereignty which his mother had laid down. The
proceedings in Council which took place thereupon were
officially reported in the "London Gazette" as follows:

"At the Court at Saint James's, the 23rd day of January, 1901.
Present,

"The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. His Majesty
being this day present in Council was pleased to make the
following Declaration:

"'Your Royal Highnesses, My Lords, and Gentlemen, This is the
most painful occasion on which I shall ever be called upon to
address you. My first and melancholy duty is to announce to
you the death of My beloved Mother the Queen, and I know how
deeply you, the whole Nation, and I think I may say the whole
world, sympathize with Me in the irreparable loss we have all
sustained. I need hardly say that My constant endeavour will
be always to walk in Her footsteps. In undertaking the heavy
load which now devolves upon life, I am fully determined to be
a Constitutional Sovereign in the strictest sense of the word,
and as long as there is breath in My body to work for the good
and amelioration of My people.