THE session of 1887 was an exceedingly laborious one in the House of Commons. The debate on the Address, prolonged by all the arts of obstruction to inordinate length, furnished a convincing argument that further changes in the rules of procedure were indispensable if the House were to retain any control whatever over its own business, and these rules, including that regulating the application of the closure, were remodelled and adopted after long and heated discussion.

In pleasing contrast to the heat and rancour of proceedings within the walls of Parliament were those organised throughout the country to celebrate the completion of the fiftieth year of Queen Victoria’s reign. |The Queen’s Jubilee.| The weather throughout the summer months was of exceptional splendour, as if to give emphasis to the popular term “Queen’s weather.” London lay for weeks under a cloudless sky, and no day in the year was more perfect than Jubilee Day, June 21. |Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey.| On that morning the Queen went in procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey to attend a thanksgiving service, accompanied by a number of European monarchs, princes, and distinguished persons, as well as by many Indian potentates, gorgeously attired in many-coloured silks and jewels. Temporary galleries, fitted up in the abbey church, afforded seats for peers and members of Parliament and officers of the Army, Navy, and Civil Service, and, as the wearing of uniforms was obligatory, the display of bright colour was such as may very seldom be seen in Great Britain. The coronation chair was set on a daïs covered with red cloth, between the sacrarium and the choir, and here the Queen took her seat with the robes of state placed on her shoulders while the service, which lasted just an hour, was performed.

It would be impossible, within reasonable limits, even to mention the various schemes started, institutions founded, or funds set on foot to commemorate the Royal Jubilee of 1887. |The Imperial Institute.| Of these the most conspicuous outwardly has taken the form of that pile of architecture in South Kensington, known as the Imperial Institute, in the foundation, permanent organisa­tion, and direction of which the Prince of Wales has taken as energetic a part as his father had done in the temporary Exhibition of 1851.

During this year a series of events took their rise out of the publication in the Times of a number of articles headed “Parnellism and Crime,” in which Mr. Parnell and his colleagues were charged with active complicity in the long prevalence of outrage and terrorism in Ireland. |“Parnellism and Crime.”| The facsimile of a letter, purporting to be written by Parnell, was published on April 18, containing the following sentence, referring to the Phœnix Park murders:—“Though I regret the accident of Lord F. Cavendish’s death, I cannot refuse to admit that Burke got no more than his deserts.” This letter was repudiated by Parnell in his place in the House of Commons; but the Government resisted a motion to the effect that the Times, in publishing these articles, had been guilty of breach of privilege. Mr. Gladstone then moved for a Select Committee to enquire into the truth of the charges, but this also was refused by the Government. The request for a Select Committee was renewed in the following year by Mr. Parnell, in order to enquire into the authenticity of certain letters produced in an action for libel brought against the proprietors of the Times by Mr. O’Donnell, one of Mr. Parnell’s followers. |Appointment of Special Commission of Judges.| Mr. W. H. Smith stated, in reply (July 12), that, in the opinion of the Government, a Select Committee of the House of Commons was not a suitable tribunal to try charges arising out of the action of political parties, but that the Government were willing to appoint a Special Commission of Judges to enquire into the whole allegations. Unfortunately, the debates on the Bill necessary to constitute this Commission were excessively heated. The fact, an infelicitous one, it must be allowed, that the Attorney-General, a member of the Government, had acted as leading counsel for the Times in the late trial, gave colour to the unfounded charge that the Government had been acting all along in collusion with the Times.

The Commission consisted of Sir James Hannen, Sir J. C. Day, and Sir A. L. Smith. Once more the Attorney-General appeared as leading counsel for the Times, and from the outset the enquiry had all the appearance of a Ministerial impeachment of certain Irish members. The exposure of the atrocious character of Pigott, one of the chief witnesses relied on by the Times, and his subsequent suicide, caused that part of the charge which depended on the authenticity of certain letters attributed to Parnell to be abandoned. |Their Report.| The judgment of the Commission was not delivered until February 13, 1890. While exonerating the Irish members from some of the heaviest charges made against them by the Times, and pronouncing the facsimile letter to be a forgery, it was to the effect, inter alia, that (1) they had joined a conspiracy to promote by coercion and intimidation an agrarian agitation against the payment of rent, in order to expel “the English garrison” of landlords from Ireland; (2) that they had disseminated newspapers tending to incite to the commission of crime; (3) that although some of the respondents did express bonâ fide disapproval of crime and outrage, they all persisted in the system of intimidation which led to crime, with knowledge of its effect; (4) that they made payments to procure the escape of criminals from justice and to compensate persons injured in the commission of crime, and (5) that they invited and obtained assistance and subscriptions from known advocates of crime and dynamite.

In no other country, perhaps, has the private misconduct of a public man such fatal effect on his career as in Great Britain, where flagrant immorality proved against a statesman puts an immediate end to his reputation and influence. |Fall of Parnell.| Parnell fell; Parnell, who for sixteen years had led the Irish Party with unswerving will and undisputed authority; Parnell, whose sagacious leadership had brought the vision of Home Rule to the very brink of accomplishment. Mr. Gladstone wrote that, in his opinion, Mr. Parnell’s “continuance at the present moment in the leadership would be productive of consequences disastrous in the highest degree to the cause of Ireland.” The ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland pronounced against him, and the weight of priestly authority in the political affairs of that country can hardly be overestimated. The Irish Party in Parliament was divided. The majority of forty-five, henceforth known as Anti-Parnellites, renounced their old chief at a stormy meeting in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons; but the minority of twenty-six remained staunch. The crisis saved the Government.

Parnell died on October 6, 1891. |Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith.| On the same day the Queen lost one of her most devoted servants, and the House of Commons its leader, in the person of William Henry Smith, whose health had broken down under the strain of constant attention to the ever-increasing work of Parliament. Added to this anxiety came the financial crisis brought about by the failure, in November 1890, of the great house of the Barings to meet their enormous liability of £22,000,000. The stability of the whole of British finance was threatened, but the Governors of the Bank of England came to the rescue, undertaking the liquidation of the concern and opening a guarantee fund, which was subscribed readily, and thus the disaster was averted.

The two measures by which Lord Salisbury’s second Administration will remain distinguished in the memory of most people were immediate and exceedingly far-reaching in their effect; that, namely, which revolutionised the whole system of local government by the creation of County Councils, and that which rendered elementary education free of payment of school fees. |County Councils.| Of the first of these measures, Mr. Ritchie, President of the Local Government Board, was the author, and it was produced during the session of 1888. Member though he was of a Conservative Cabinet, the most ardent Radical could not complain that Mr. Ritchie had not dealt with ancient institutions in a sweeping manner. The levying of county rates, the maintenance of roads and bridges, asylums, the conduct of registrations, and nearly all the duties hitherto reposed in country gentlemen in their capacity of members of Quarter Sessions, were transferred to purely elective councils chosen by the ratepayers. London, as defined by the Metropolis Management Act, was constituted a county, and the old Metropolitan Board of Works ceased to exist.

|Free Education.| Free education was given a place in the Government programme of 1891, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Goschen, was able to produce a surplus of £2,000,000 in his Budget—just about the sum estimated as the cost of remitting school fees out of the public funds; half of it was taken in order to render elementary education free from September 1 following.

The mysterious epidemic which, for want of a more precise term, is known by the Italian one of influenza, carried off a very large number of persons in the winter and spring months of 1892, 1893, and 1894. |Death of the Duke of Clarence.| Of these the most distinguished by position was the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the Prince of Wales, and consequently ultimate heir to the throne of Great Britain. He died on January 14, 1892, shortly before the date fixed for his marriage with the Princess May of Teck.

The summer of 1892 was a period of great political agitation, in preparation for the General Election, which was fixed to take place in July. Mr. Gladstone, notwithstanding his fourscore and two years, set out with no manifestation of failing vigour on his fourth Midlothian campaign. |Mr. Gladstone’s Fourth Midlothian Campaign.| The object nearest to his heart was clearly the concession of Home Rule to Ireland; but there was put forward also on behalf of the Gladstonian Liberal party a scheme of general social legislation, known as the Newcastle Programme, containing a long list of measures, some of them of a very drastic nature, calculated to attract the support of the labouring classes. The indifference felt by the bulk of English and Scottish electors to the establishment of an Irish parliament was overborne by the hopes excited among disestablishers, prohibitionists, eight-hours’-day men, land-law reformers, and other enthusiasts, and their votes went to secure the victory for the cause of Home Rule. The Unionists, who had entered office in 1886 with a majority of 116 in the House of Commons, had suffered so many losses by defection and in by-elections that they could only reckon a majority of sixty-six when Parliament was dissolved. This was changed by the general election, into a minority of forty, which was the exact figure by which was carried, when Parliament re-assembled in August, a vote of no confidence in Lord Salisbury’s Administration, after which Mr. Gladstone proceeded to form his fourth and last Cabinet.

On February 13, 1893, the Prime Minister proceeded to fulfil his chief pledge to the electorate by introducing his second Home Rule Bill. |The Second Home Rule Bill.| Mr. Gladstone’s speech lasted two hours and a quarter, a marvellous performance for an octogenarian; and although he failed to excite the same enthusiasm among his followers as was so remarkable on the former occasion, the Bill eventually passed the second reading by 347 votes against 304. But the opposition in Committee was so vigorous and sustained, that the Government resolved to force the Bill through by applying the closure at fixed dates to groups of clauses, so that the whole Bill should be through Committee by the end of July; and this was effected, after animated resistance had been offered to what was denounced as the “gag.”

It was September before the measure reached the Upper House, whence it was thrown out by the unprecedented proportion of 419 to 14 votes. |Its Rejection by the Lords.| Among the majority were numbered no less than sixty-two peers whom the Queen had created on Mr. Gladstone’s own recommenda­tion. The attention of the Ministerial party was then directed to stirring up popular indignation against the House of Lords on account of their resistance to the popular will. But it has to be confessed that this appeal evoked remarkably little response. On the other hand, considerable impatience was manifested on the part of many supporters of the Government at the general election, on account of the neglect to carry out the multiform promises contained in the Newcastle programme. Accordingly, Parliament was summoned together for a winter session in November in order to consider the Parish Councils and Employers’ Liability Bills. These important measures, which went through the successive stages to completion in the course of 1894, remain the principal achievement of Mr. Gladstone’s last year in the public service. |Mr. Gladstone Resigns the Leadership.| Early in 1894 his withdrawal from active politics was announced; the leadership of the House of Commons devolved upon Sir William Harcourt, and, although Mr. Gladstone did not resign his seat for Midlothian, he brought to a close a period of sixty-two years’ attendance in the House of Commons. His last utterance from the Treasury Bench was a vehement denunciation of the action of the House of Lords in dealing with the Bills last referred to.

The removal of such a puissant personality from their head could not but have a serious effect on the Ministerial array, composed as it was of such Old Liberals as had embraced Home Rule out of confidence in Mr. Gladstone, New Liberals of an extremely Democratic type under the nominal lead of Mr. Labouchere, the Labour representatives, Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites (the last-named being further split into sections at war among themselves). On no single subject were these various groups united save in a desire to get Home Rule out of the way. Home Rule, indeed, had been disposed of, but not in the only way to satisfy its advocates. The difficulty of the situation was intensified by the successor to Mr. Gladstone chosen by Her Majesty. |Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister.| In sending for her Foreign Minister, the Earl of Rosebery, she was acting, doubtless, on the advice of Mr. Gladstone himself, but in the choice of a peer there was abundant cause of dissatisfaction to most of the Ministerialists in the House of Commons, who had placed the “mending or ending”—preferably the ending—of the House of Lords in the forefront of their programme. Besides, it was considered by very many that Sir William Harcourt had done more to earn the leadership of the party than Lord Rosebery, and it soon became apparent, not only that this appointment was a cause of further disunion in the Home Rule ranks, but that Lord Rosebery and Sir William Harcourt were far from cordial in their official relations. On June 21, 1895, a listless debate was in progress on the Army Estimates, the House was far less than half full, when Mr. Brodrick moved a reduction of £100 in the salary of the Secretary for War, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, in order to call attention to the alleged deficiency in the stores of small-arms ammunition. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman offered his personal assurance that the amount in store was adequate, but the Opposition declined to accept it in view of the official figures laid before the House. A division was called; there was nothing to indicate the critical nature of it till Mr. Ellis, the chief Ministerial Whip, to whom the Clerk at the Table had handed the paper automatically, passed it on to Mr. Douglas, the chief Opposition Whip, when it was found that the Government were in a minority of eight—132 votes to 125.

A mishap like this might have passed without immediate effect on the fortunes of the Government, had it not been that the form of the amendment carried was one reflecting on the departmental administration of one of the Secretaries of State. |Lord Salisbury’s Third Administration.| Lord Rosebery tendered his resignation, and the Queen sent for Lord Salisbury, who commenced at once to form his third Administration. The Liberal Unionist contingent, with the Duke of Devonshire as their chief, elected to maintain their organisation independent of their Conservative allies; but the Ministry was formed by a coalition of the two wings of the Unionist party. They approached the general election in July with such confidence of success as very rarely can be entertained under a system of household suffrage; but the result far exceeded their most sanguine calculations. Sir William Harcourt lost his seat for Derby on the first day’s polling, the prelude of such discomfiture as has scarcely any parallel in the history of a political party. Reckoning the Gladstonian or Home Rule majority in the previous Parliament at forty-three, it was converted at the polls of 1895 into an Unionist majority of 152. The new Ministry, in entering office, found domestic affairs in a very tranquil state; but troubles had been gathering for some time, endangering the peaceful relations of Great Britain with several foreign Powers, which called for the exercise of all Lord Salisbury’s experience and foresight in undertaking once more the administration of foreign affairs.

The Eastern question had passed once more into an acute stage. The incorrigible vices of the Government of Turkey had led to a series of horrible massacres of the Christian subjects of the Sultan in Armenia. |The Eastern Question.| Sympathy with the sufferers was readily aroused in this country; Mr. Gladstone, though no longer in Parliament, responded to appeals made to him by various individuals, and wrote a number of letters, in which, though at first he was careful to use no expression to increase Lord Salisbury’s difficulties, he gradually glided into his accustomed vehemence, and indicated his desire that England should take vengeance on the “Assassin of Europe,” single-handed, if need be. In the course of 1896 he appeared on a public platform in Liverpool, and supported this view with great energy. This precipitated a further calamity on the Liberal party, for, in the course of 1896, Lord Rosebery announced that he differed so strongly from the views expressed by Mr. Gladstone, and was, besides, so sensible of the want of cordiality in the support given to him by some of his followers, that he felt compelled to resign his leadership. It would be premature to attempt more than brief allusion to events which are still in progress. The insurrection of the Cretan subjects of the Porte, the invasion of the island by Greece, and the war which ensued between Turkey and Greece, in which the latter so quickly collapsed, have proved, thus far, to be disturbances severely localised by means of the Concert established among the Great Powers, who, while resolved to compel the Sultan’s Government to administer his realm with humanity and even justice, have resisted the attempt made by the Greeks to wrest away part of his territory by violence.

The affairs of the Transvaal rose into prominent notice towards the close of 1895. Commercial enterprise had for some time been actively directed towards South Africa, notably by the British South Africa Company, at the head of which was Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the Premier of the Cape Colony, who had been sworn a member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council. |Trouble in the Transvaal.| Miners and settlers in general poured into the Transvaal to the number of 60,000, converting the quiet village of Johannesburg into a large and busy town. The Transvaal Government viewed this movement with no favour; the industry of the Boer population was chiefly a pastoral one, and President Krüger steadily refused to comply with the claim of the new-comers to rights of citizenship. The Uitlanders, as the new settlers were called, numbered three to one of the native Boers, and were paying nine-tenths of the taxation: meetings, summoned to protest against the action of the President and Volksraad, were prohibited; a deaf ear was turned to all petitions for redress, and, at last, a movement was started to obtain by compulsion what was refused by law. A force of all arms, commanded by Dr. Jameson, and comprising several officers in the British service, invaded the Transvaal in the expectation of a concerted rising in Johannesburg. This did not take place: after a smart encounter with the Boers, the English force surrendered on January 1, 1896. The principal officers were put on their trial under the Foreign Enlistment Act, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and, in some instances, to forfeiture of their commissions. The claim for indemnity put forward by the Government of the South African Republic has not yet been settled. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to investigate the origin and conduct of what has become known as the “Johannesburg movement,” and its enquiry is still proceeding. Perhaps the most important result of the Transvaal raid will prove to be the insight suddenly afforded into the true sentiments of the German Government towards Great Britain. The numerous bonds uniting the German and British Courts, added to the racial sympathies existing between the two nations, had given rise to the belief that the policy of Germany was more friendly towards Great Britain than that of some of the other great Powers. This belief was rudely dispelled by a message from the German Emperor to President Krüger encouraging him in resistance in any dispute that might arise with the British Government.

While the trouble with the Transvaal was still pending, there came a still more formidable surprise from a quarter whence it was little expected. A controversy between Great Britain and the insignificant South American Republic of Venezuela had been dragging its course for many years on the subject of a disputed frontier between the latter country and British Guiana. |The Venezuelan Dispute.| Suddenly, on December 17, President Cleveland startled the world by a message to Congress declaring that the action of the British Government in this matter was an infringement of the Monroe doctrine; that it was the duty of Congress to resist the infringement of that doctrine, and that a Commission should be appointed by the Executive to examine and report on the rights of the case. Then, continued the President, it would be “the duty of the United States to resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands which, after investigation, may be determined of right to belong to Venezuela.”

This was open menace, and it required the utmost forbearance on the part of the British Cabinet to avoid precipitating a conflict. Finally, the question of the Venezuelan Frontier was referred to arbitration, and diplomacy seems in a fair way to earn one of its best merited triumphs.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Material Progress during the Reign—Modern Locomotion—The Bicycle—Motor Carriages—The Proposed Channel Tunnel—Steam Navigation—Ironclads—The Telephone—The Phonograph—Electricity as an Illuminant—Photography—Its Effect on Painting and Engraving—Victorian Architecture—Absence of Principle in Design—Universal Education—Its Effect on Moral Character and Literary Habits—The Predominance of Fiction—The Growth and Character of British Journalism—The Advance of Natural Science—Surgery and Medicine—Vaccination—Antiseptic and Aseptic Treatment—Bacteriology—The Röntgen Rays—Sanitary Legislation—Conclusion.

ALLUSION has been made in earlier chapters to the development during the reign of Queen Victoria of the powers of steam applied to locomotion, of electricity applied to the conveyance of news, to the institution of the penny post, and to the invention of anæsthetics in surgery. |Material Progress during the Reign.| But no survey, however brief, would be satisfactory which took no note of a few other stages in the progress of applied knowledge—progress which, up to the present moment, shows no sign of slackening.

First, as to locomotion: when Sir Walter Scott was writing the opening chapters of the “Heart of Midlothian,” in 1818, he referred to the wonderful development of facilities for travel, and may have thought he was exceeding the limits of the probable when he penned the sentence: “Perhaps the echoes of Ben Nevis may soon be awakened by the bugle, not of a warlike chieftain, but of the guard of a mail coach.” Scott was by no means deficient in imaginative power, but the maximum speed he can have contemplated was ten miles an hour, for the standard of speed in those days was the pace of a horse (we still reckon the strength of our engines at so many “horse” power). |Modern Locomotion.| What would he think now, were it possible for him to take his seat in a luxurious saloon and be whirled round the flanks of Ben Nevis, along the West Highland Railway? Eleven years after the publication of the “Heart of Midlothian” a competition of locomotives was held on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the prize was taken by Messrs. Stephenson’s “Rocket.” Weighing 7 tons 9 cwts., this engine was able to draw a load of 9 tons 10 cwts. at an average speed of thirteen miles an hour. One of the first-class express engines on the London and North-Western line at the present day weighs 77 tons 2 cwts., and draws a load of 160 tons, at an average speed of forty-seven miles an hour.

But it is not only by steam that the standard of speed in locomotion has been displaced. |The Bicycle.| The invention and constant improvement of the bicycle has not only caused the rise of a most important industry in their manufacture (about half a million cycles are being turned out of the factories annually, representing a value of at least £5,000,000), but it has supplied a means of locomotion of incalculable convenience to persons of all classes and of both sexes. This invention must be reckoned a great boon, not only as a means of recreation to persons in crowded towns, to whom the cycle affords easy access to the country, but also to working-men living at a distance from their employment.

With respect to the mechanical propulsion of carriages along ordinary streets and highways, stringent regulations were in force until 1896, under which such carriages were not permitted to travel at a higher speed than four miles an hour. |Motor Carriages.| But the invention of “motor” carriages, propelled by steam, gas, oil, or electricity, convinced the authorities that these restrictions should be relaxed. This accordingly was done by Act of Parliament, and their removal was celebrated, on November 14, 1896, by the excursion of a number of horseless carriages from London to Brighton. Evil weather marred the display, nevertheless large numbers of persons turned out to witness it. It is too early to predict the extent to which horses may be displaced by motor carriages, but it can scarcely be doubtful that their obvious imperfections will yield to the ingenuity of inventors, so as to render them at least dangerous rivals to the old kind of equipage.

Before leaving the subject of terrestrial locomotion, allusion must be made to the project of carrying a tunnel under the Straits of Dover to the French coast, to enable trains to be run without interruption from Great Britain to the Continent. |The Proposed Channel Tunnel.| The tunnel, the favourite scheme of Sir Edward Watkin, Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, was begun some years ago, and was actually carried for several hundred yards under the sea. But the strategic advantages of an island realm are too substantial to be sacrificed by the creation of a highway, command of which would certainly be insisted on by any Power or combination of Powers which, in the future, might overcome Great Britain in arms.

|Steam Navigation.| Turning now to loco­motion by sea, or navigation, steam had been applied to the propulsion of vessels as early as 1802, and its use had been gradually extended till, in 1835, the first steamer with mails for Egypt and India was despatched from Falmouth; but it was not until the second year of the present reign, 1838, that the first vessel entirely propelled by steam crossed the Atlantic. Greatly as the appearance and strength of our mercantile marine fleet has been altered to meet the requirement of speed, a still greater contrast is presented in the construction of warships since the invention of rifled ordnance. When our Queen ascended the throne, the famous wooden walls of Old England were moved by sails alone. Greater speed was subsequently secured by the introduction of engine room to vessels of the old type, with paddles or screw-propellers. But experience proved how easily engines might be thrown out of gear by a single shot, a danger which grew more imminent with every fresh improvement in guns. |Ironclads.| Then began the long contest between armour-plating and projectiles: the armour had to be made thicker and ever thicker to resist the increasing weight and velocity of projectiles, until, by the reduction of masts and spars to the bare necessities of signalling, the submergence of the hull to reduce the vulnerable surface, the increase of engine space, and the reduction of the armament to a few pieces of great power, our battleships have lost almost all semblance of the fabrics which used to move in such stately manner under towers of canvas, and have acquired the character of floating forts. Still, Britannia rules the waves; her seamen, of whom it was predicted that the adoption of steam would deprive of their superiority, have no equals in the world; and her people have proved, by their enthusiasm in furnishing the necessary funds, that they will endure almost any sacrifice rather than suffer the British Navy to be second in power to any other.