1871-1878 The foreign policy of the Government made it unpopular. One result of the great war between France and Germany in 1871 was that Russia refused to be any longer bound by the treaty of 1856 to abstain from keeping ships of war in the Black Sea, and the English Government, as a matter of necessity, but to its own griev ous injury at home, agreed to a conference being held between the representatives of the great Powers in London, at which the stipula tions objected to by Russia were annulled. Another cause of the unpopularity of the Government was its agreement in 1871 to refer to arbitration the claims which had been brought forward by the United States for compensation for damages inflicted on their com mercial marine by the ravages of the Alabama. In 1872 a Court of Arbitration sat at Geneva and awarded to the United States a sum of 15,000,000 dollars, or rather more than 3,000,000l. The sum was regarded by many in England as excessive, but, whether this was so or not, it was well spent in putting an end to a misunderstanding between the two great branches of the Englishspeaking race. Since that time there has been an increasing readi ness to submit disputes between nations to arbitration. In 1873 the ministry brought in a bill to establish in Ireland a new university. This bill being rejected by the House of Com mons, the ministers resigned. As, however, Disraeli refused to take office, they continued to carry on the Government. In January. 1874, Parliament being dissolved, a large Conservative majority was returned. The ministry then resigned, and Disraeli became Prime Minister a second time. It was the first time since Peel's resignation that the Conservatives had held office except on sufferance. After the great war with France, which ended in 1815, the colonies retained and acquired by England were valued either like the West India Islands because they produced sugar, or like the Cape of Good Hope, because they afforded stations for British fleets which would be of the highest value in time of war. There were British emigrants in Canada and Australia, but their numbers were not very great, and at the Cape of Good Hope the population was almost entirely of Dutch origin. Since that time the West India Islands have decreased in importance in consequence of the abolition of slavery, the throwing open of the British market to foreign sugar, and to defects in a system of cultivation which had been adopted in the time of slavery. On the other hand there have 1815-1872 grown up great and powerful communities mainly composed of emigrants from Great Britain, self-governing like Great Britain herself, and held to the mother-country by the loosest possible ties. These communities are to be found in three parts of the globe— the Dominion of Canada, Australasia, and South Africa. It had been supposed in England that the troubles which had resulted in Canada from the dissensions between the British and French settlers had been brought to an end in 1841 by the legislative union of the two provinces. The British inhabitants of Upper Canada, however, complained of the influence exercised by the French of Lower Canada. To provide a remedy an Act of the British Parliament created, in 1867, a federation known as the Dominion of Canada, into which any existing colonies on the North American continent were to be allowed to enter. There was to be a governor-general appointed by the Crown, and a Dominion Parliament seated at Ottawa and legislating for matters of common concern, which was to consist of a Senate, the members of which are nominated for life by the governor-general on the advice of responsible ministers, and a House of Commons, the members of which are elected by constituencies in the provinces in proportion to the population of each province. The Parliaments of the separate provinces retained in their own hands the management of their own local affairs. The provincial Parliaments of Upper and Lower Canada were separated from one another, bearing respectively the names of the Province of Ontario and the Province of Quebec. To them were added as component parts of the Dominion Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Between 1870 and 1872 Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island joined the Dominion. Newfoundland continues to hold aloof. The unoccupied lands of the Northwest are placed under the control of the authorities of the Dominion, which thus combines under one government the whole of America north of the territory of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific with the exception of Alaska, Newfoundland and its subject territory of Labrador. ever, Disne's Governme arge Coce gned and which enk and were r roduced ed stations time of lia, but the d Hope the that time consequence. British cultivati the other The Australasian colonies are divided into two groups, those of Australia and those of New Zealand. The first British settlers in Australia were convicts, who arrived at Port Jackson in 1788. For many years the colony thus founded under the name of New South Wales remained a penal settlement. The convicts themselves, after serving their time in servitude, became free, their chil 1806-1901 dren were free, and there was a certain amount of free emigration from Great Britain. In 1821 New South Wales had a population of 30,000, of which three-fourths were convicts. It had already been discovered that the country was peculiarly adapted to the production of wool, and the number of sheep in the colony rose from 25,000 in 1810 to 290,000 in 1821. From this time success was assured. Other colonies were founded in due course. Van Diemen's Land, afterwards known as Tasmania, was established as a separate colony in 1825. In the same year a small convict settlement was founded under the name of West Australia. South Australia received a separate government in 1836 under a British Act of Parliament passed in 1834. Victoria was separated from New South Wales in 1850. By this time the free population, indignant at the constant influx of British criminals, resisted the importation of convicts so strenuously that in 1851 an end was put to the system of transportation to Australia except in the small and thinly populated colony of West Australia. In that year the population flocked to the newly discovered gold fields, and the attraction of gold brought an enormous number of immigrants from Great Britain Queensland became a separate colony in 1859. In 1901 the white population of the whole of Australia numbered about 3,700,000. After a long delay, Tasmania and the five Australian colonies fol lowed the example of the North American colonies, and set up a federal government. The Commonwealth of Australia came into being on January 1, 1901, in accordance with an Act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in the previous year. New Zealand, in which the white population reached 772,000 in 1901, has, since 1876, been governed by a single Parliament, the seat of which is at Wellington. The Cape Colony finally passed under British authority in 1806. In 1820 a stream of British immigration began to set in. The colony was under the disadvantage of having fierce and warlike Kaffir tribes on its northeastern frontier, and from 1834 onwards a series of wars with the Kaffirs broke out from time to time, which taxed to the uttermost the resources of the colonists and of the British regiments sent for their defense. Many of the Dutch, who were usually known as Boers or farmers, were dissatisfied with British rule, and in 1835 they began to migrate further north. Some settled in Natal, which, in 1843, became a British colony. Others founded the Orange River Free State and the Transvaal Republic, both of which the British Government Sath We finally recognized as independent states. In spite of emigration and Kaffir wars, the British colonists continually pressed further north, and in 1871 the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley attracted immigrants and capital to the colony. That which dis heep From this: d in de mania, a year a s est Ans 1835: was se free p s, resiste edwar he sta ear the the ants in 859. £== nbered br Ausalt of Ast han A 5 year 100 00 the seat tinguishes the South African settlements of Great Britain from River F Chapter LXI THE LAST YEARS OF THE NINETEENTH LEADING DATES REIGN OF VICTORIA, A.D. 1837-1901-REIGN OF EDWARD VII, A.D. T HE Conservative ministry formed under Disraeli in 1874 contented itself for some time with domestic legislation. In 1876 troubles broke out in the Balkan Peninsula. caused by the misdeeds of the Turkish officials. Servia and Montenegro made war upon the Turks, and in January, 1877, a comference of European ministers was held at Constantinople to settle all questions at issue. Nothing, however, was done to coerce the Turkish Government into better behavior, and as other European powers refused to act, Russia declared war against Turkey. After a long and doubtful struggle the Turkish power of resist ance collapsed early in 1878, and a treaty between Russia and the Sultan was signed at San Stefano, by which the latter abandoned a considerable amount of territory. Disraeli, who had recently been made Earl of Beaconsfield, insisted that no engagement between Russia and Turkey would be valid unless it were confirmed by a European congress, and a congress was accordingly held at Berlin. By the Treaty of Berlin, which was signed in the course of 1878, Roumania and Servia became independent kingdoms, with some addition to their territory; Montenegro also enlarged, and Bulgaria erected into a principality paying tribute to the Sultan; while a district to which the name of Eastern was |